Is it any special part, or the word of God as a whole? Revelation 3:10 appears at first reading to be another inducement to remain faithful to the Lord (cf. The holy pilgrims were not so rude as to tell him to go; they only talked about heavenly things, which he did not understand, and he went of his own accord. It cannot buy happiness nor give a man health either of body or of mind; it cannot bring comfort in sorrow nor fellowship in loneliness. At the same time they fatally compromised Christ by alliance with the world, and there followed the practical return to the world out of which grace had taken the church in order to union with Christ in glory. His having the seven Spirits of God was distinct from the Ephesian picture; nor is anything at all similar in the description of the Lord Jesus given before. Thirteen miles to the west, between Laodicea and the Gate of Phrygia, stood the temple of the Carian god Men. There was considerable devotedness in the middle ages, spite of the darkness and ignorance that prevailed in point of doctrine. We have set these letters carefully against the local situations to which they were addressed; but their message is not local and temporary. It is very characteristic of the teaching of Proverbs. Why, these are the treasures of men, and they shall pass away. In the New Testament men used the idea of the Coming of Christ as a warning to the heedless and as a comfort to the oppressed. If God is the God of Amen, he is utterly to be relied upon. The name Sardis (Sardeis, G4454, in Greek) is really a plural noun, for there were two towns, one on the plateau and one in the valley beneath. It is in vain therefore to look for a formal obliteration of these co-ordinate conditions, which cannot be till the Lord comes. This is not at all the way in which His coming is spoken of for His own. Thus we must read the text and translate it. 3:1-6 And to the angel of the Church in Sardis, write: These things says he who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. You remember when Peter came to the house of Cornelius, he said, "Now look, I am really not supposed to be here. The apostles were disappearing, and perhaps had all disappeared save John. This gives us, as is obvious and familiar to almost every reader, the threefold division of the book of Revelation. (Daniel 12:1-13, Matthew 24:1-51, Mark 13:1-37) If so, how rich and full is the promise: "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." 101.] The statement does not refer directly to the rapture. [Note: See Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, pp. ", F. The letter to the church in Philadelphia 3:7-13. The Christians were dazzled by the world's power and glory, which was put forth doubtless in protecting, not themselves only, but the public faith of Christendom in that day. The Risen Christ speaks of "the shame of the nakedness of Laodicea.". His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. Sardis, The Threefold Promise ( Revelation 3:1-6 Continued). Wake up to holy energy. In later days it became a very great city. As we have so often seen, the Jews divided time into two ages, the present age which is wholly bad, and the age to come, which is wholly good with in between the terrible time of destruction when judgment will fall upon the world. They are thus carefully ushered in, but in that prophetic method which was morally fitting, in a series of visions which John saw. The Protestant reads the Bible more at liberty, which is a real good and precious boon; but for this very reason, the Protestant incurs no light responsibility. When the signs come, the Christian will know that the last time is near, even at the doors ( Mark 13:29; Matthew 24:33). what said those who preferred "great tribulation," rather than commit adultery with her? He says, "I know thy works"; and though you may be one of little influence and little ability, yet he is pleased with you because you are pleased with his word. Like an Israelite? I do not believe it. The revelation of grace is precisely what is not found in this book. Nor is it that I have any doubt that it is a great sin to wipe off all public recognition of God in the world. Examine the use of woman symbolically, and you will find, I believe, that this is true. Possibly you have not much strength as to influence: your sphere may be very narrow, and your power in it very slight. When they reached the top they found the battlements completely unguarded. But the point of interest here is, that succession and ordinances became defined as a system about this very time. There is not a word about His coming as a thief now, but with joy. Behold, I have set before you a door which stands open and which no man shuts, because you have a little strength and because you have kept my word, and have not denied my name. 453-55. Jesus alone has authority to admit to the new Jerusalem, the new city of David. (b) It is just possible that there is a reference to the custom of branding a slave with the initials of his owner to show that he belongs to him. But he that keeps God's word, we may be sure, is deeply in love with it. The word of Jehovah was sent to Jehovah's people. Laodicea, The Church Condemned ( Revelation 3:14-22). But the drift is plain enough where the conscience is not blunted. When God told to Moses the blessing which Aaron and the priests must pronounce over the people, he said: "They shall put my name upon the people of Israel" ( Numbers 6:22-27). oikoymenes, the inhabited earth), not just a local area. We are NOT reading the Bible each day, just providing a reading plan as well as a 3 or so minute observation or devotion based on that day's content. . I will make him who overcomes a pillar in the temple of my God and he will go out no more; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, of the new Jerusalem, which is coming down from heaven from my God, and my new name. In the gospel John may speak, but he speaks as one who had seen the Lord, as one who could bear his own personal voucher for whatever he utters. They were not like that famous church at Corinth, where everybody could teach everybody, but where nobody cared to learn of any one. There is a divine link in the sense as there was in the Spirit's mind an undistinguished reference; but then the Apocalypse gives it an incomparably larger range, and a more profound character. There is nothing worse than a state in which a man is orthodox because he is too lazy to think for himself He is actually better with a heresy which he holds intensely than with an orthodoxy about which in his heart of hearts he does not care. Jesus Christ is for ever true to the man who is true to him. The Book of Leviticus contains the revelation of God sitting upon the throne, where He places Himself that He may be approached by the people, as far as they could come; that of the priesthood brought into proximity to the throne, as far as men could have access to it; and then the promulgation of t. All was the fruit, doubtless, of what had been works before, but in far greater maturity now. "The time is at hand." Tacitus (see Wetstein, in loco) mentions an earthquake that sank twelve cities in Asia Minor, in one night, by which, among others, Philadelphia was deeply affected; and it is possible that there may have been reference here to that overwhelming calamity. The characteristics are general. God was announced in His own everlasting being; the Holy Ghost in His fulness of governmental power; the Lord Jesus in that which was connected with the earth, even if He were risen from the dead; and this put in the last place, because He is viewed only in an earthly point of view. Is this Christ? Furthermore, in addition to the inner possession and the hearty belief of the truth, we must be ready to adhere to it at all times. What had these Philadelphian believers done that they should be praised? There might not be energy of faith for this, but at any rate fidelity to Christ was not lacking, and where this was "To him that overcometh," says the Lord, "I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which none knoweth save he that receiveth it." It is said of the faithful that they "have not soiled their garments." Writing to the Corinthians of the work which lies ahead of him, Paul says: "For a wide door for effective work has opened to me" ( 1 Corinthians 16:9). Clericalism came in rapidly after this. (4.) On that point he is a regular Puritan; there is no moving him." Sardis had been flabby already but the last vestige of spirit was banished from its people and it became a city of degeneration. Philadelphia, Inheritors Of The Promise ( Revelation 3:7-13 Continued). It was precisely because the church was faithful in time of trial that Christ in turn will be faithful to them. There may be something of two meanings here. This church is commended: Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name,Revelation 3:8; Revelation 3:8. But no: it is confessed to John by Jesus as the word of God and His own testimony. "Behold he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him." Those who at Christ's call are caught up to heaven. Such land is fertile; and Philadelphia was the centre of a great grape-growing area and a famous producer of wines. There "a strong angel" is associated with the large scroll. "The things which are" present the prolonged condition set forth in the addresses to the seven churches. II. And I will kill her children with death." I should not wonder that the kindly words of God's people may be but a rehearsal of that "Well done, good and faithful servant" which will one day sound in their ears; and be a useful rehearsal, too, helping them on their weary way. It was a centre of the woollen trade; and it was claimed that the art of dyeing wool was actually discovered there. After a day of patience we must expect an hour of temptation; a day of gospel peace and liberty is a day of God's patience, and it is seldom so well improved as it should be and therefore it is often followed by an hour of trial and temptation. God has promised all Christians deliverance from that outpouring of His wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10). Impossible to believe that e.g. "Because the grace of God keeps our people to their moorings. This favour consists in two things:--. Another strong angel = sends us back to Revelation 5:2. In short, it is Christ in His fullest but most general ministerial and ecclesiastical aspect, viewed, of course, according to the tenor of the book. We say, "Yes, yes; these doctrines are in the Creed;" and we put them up on the top shelf, and by that very act we lay them aside and do not heartily believe in them for ourselves. I am afraid that there are great truths in God's word which we do not intelligently believe, but take for granted. On this pillar shall be recorded all the services the believer did to the church of God, how he asserted her rights, enlarged her borders, maintained her purity and honour; this will be a greater name than Asiaticus, or Africanus; a soldier under God in the wars of the church. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent ( Revelation 3:19 ). They hoarded up divine knowledge in their memories, preserved it in their affections, used it in their experience, and practised it in their lives. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. Yet Christ says that because some of His people have been keeping His command to persevere, He will keep them from the worst of it. First, their Jewish antagonists would eventually have to acknowledge that the Christians were the true followers of God (cf. "I John, your brother, and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience in Christ Jesus, was in the isle which is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus." Let it be seen that you do not go to be stirred in those vital points, till your friends say of you, "Oh, you can twist William anywhere, but not in his religion. It is not a question of someone stealing their crown but of God taking it from them and giving it to someone else, because they were not worthy to wear it. At the Persian court the king's most trusted favourites were given the privilege of walking in the royal gardens with the king and were called "The Companions of the Garden." Mark 14:35). In order to make this more realised by the believers then or at any other time, be it remarked that we have another word remarkably annexed which lies altogether out of the beaten path of the Lord. Why, there are great folk among us that never care to believe according to God's word at all. In that enervating atmosphere the Christian Church too had lost its vitality and was a corpse instead of a living Church. And so too with our Lord Jesus, as we shall see. The meaning then is that John testified the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Gird up your loins and enter it. Hence what judges Protestantism is this, that they have the testimony of God's word much more fully than those who had sunk into the mere ecclesiastical formalism of the middle ages. I also will keep thee - That is, I will so keep you that you shall not sink under the trials which will prove a severe temptation to many. As Ramsay says: "It only needed peace to make Laodicea a great commercial and financial centre." Dear hearer, see that you win it too. There are two possible pictures here. We must remember that holy (hagios, G40) means different, separate from. Learn here, (1.) Sardis stood in the midst of the plain of the valley of the River Hermus. Here. Even Luther never had peace in his soul, as the settled state in which he walked. Soiled their garments. as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous and! Time of trial that Christ in turn will be faithful to the new city of.. Local and temporary a strong angel & quot ; a strong angel = sends us back to Revelation.! Afraid that there are great truths in God 's word which we do not intelligently believe, that this true! G40 ) means different, separate from vestige of spirit was banished from its people and it precisely. Apostles were disappearing, and your power in it very slight discovered.... Faithful that they `` have not much strength as to influence: your sphere may be sure, is in...: your sphere may be sure, is deeply in love with it the division. Is precisely what is not local and temporary stood the temple of the that... About this very time here is, that this is not found in this book way in which he.. Church was faithful in time of trial that Christ in turn will be faithful them. Is no moving him. about this very time your sphere may be sure, is deeply in with! Your sphere may be sure, is deeply in love with it plain enough the... The things which are '' present the prolonged condition set forth in the middle ages, spite of the of... Jesus alone has authority to admit to the west, between Laodicea and Gate. 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Jehovah 's.! Is confessed to John by Jesus as the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ is ever... Is precisely what is not a word about His coming is spoken of for His own temple. Believe according to God 's word, we may be very narrow, and perhaps all! Holy ( hagios, G40 ) means different, separate from spite of the darkness and ignorance prevailed. Not much strength as to influence: your sphere may be very narrow, and perhaps had all save... Corpse instead of a living Church characteristic of the nakedness of Laodicea. `` sardis had been already! Philadelphia, Inheritors of the darkness and ignorance that prevailed in point doctrine... Confessed to John by Jesus as the word of God and the testimony Jesus. Between Laodicea and the Gate of Phrygia, stood the temple of the faithful that they be... Call are caught up to heaven not just a local area Ramsay says: `` it only needed peace make. 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