They had little strength, but they kept God's word, and they did not deny his name. The unwelcome visitation of a thief would be utterly incongruous if they were enjoying the sweet hope according to His own word, that He is coming for them quickly. I am speaking not of individual clergymen at all, but of clericalism wherever found, Catholic or denominational, nationalist or dissenting. True grace, though weak, has the divine approbation; but, though Christ accepts a little strength, yet believers should not rest satisfied in a little, but should strive to grow in grace, to be strong in faith, giving glory to God. "And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.". "But to you I say, the rest (or remnant) in Thyatira." They were true and ardent, but with no considerable light of knowledge if measured by a fuller and richer testimony which the Lord was afterwards to raise up, as foreshown in the next chapter. And all of the enemies of God we are just going to subdue when we are manifested finally as the sons of God before the world. A man comes, as Seneca had it, to hate his sins and to love them at the same rime. It is a false principle therefore that we can only be profited by that which concerns ourselves, and supposes us to be in the actual circumstances described. The mixture of relations is always wrong; the oversight of them is loss, their denial ruinous. In the temptation you will fall, for indeed you are fallen already. The Book is our ultimatum. The Risen Christ advises Laodicea to buy gold refined in the fire. The man is the agent that goes forward; the woman is the state of things that is produced. 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. Why, these are the treasures of men, and they shall pass away. Some think it a great thing to be members of a popular sect, but when the great curtain rolls up, and all things are seen as they are, and not as they seem, do you not think that that church will be most commended which was truest to the teaching of the Holy Spirit in everything? The Church was the Israel of God ( Galatians 6:16). To those who have been faithful comes the threefold promise. The road, therefore, detoured through the Lycus valley. It was so wealthy that it did not even need God. Be students of God's word and adherents of it. "I am the Alpha and Omega, saith the Lord God, that is, and that was, and that is to come, the Almighty." The state of the church in Ephesus has the same generality. It is in vain therefore to look for a formal obliteration of these co-ordinate conditions, which cannot be till the Lord comes. They wanted everything that was precious: "gold" or divine righteousness in Christ "white raiment," that is to say, the righteousnesses of saints; "that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." This is, I think, what is meant by the synagogue of Satan here. 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 was thus that Hanum treated the servants of David ( 2 Samuel 10:4). There were, I doubt not, some saints true to His name, though it was not the time when they were led or forced into the position of a remnant. People in Philadelphia well knew what security lay in a promise that "they would go out no more. Keep the word of God, and the word of God will keep you. (4.) Revelation 3 KJV. They may not know it as a whole, having never read it save (?) "[50] A secondary meaning applies the text to the final judgment. [Note: Chitwood, p. Cheer up, and get to work. Through the lower town flowed the River Pactolus, which was said in the old days to have had gold-bearing waters from which much of the wealth of Sardis came. The error then is not in seeking the best supported text, but in allowing tradition to tie us to comparatively modern and certainly to corrupted readings. True believers may be likened to those mites in the cheese which eat their way into it, and penetrate into the centre by feeding upon all that lies in their way as they advance. [2.] We grow very vexed if anybody denies them; but if there is no controversy over them we forget them. In Revelation 3:10 we are back again amidst beliefs which are characteristically Jewish. 'But he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as a vessel of the potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father." The Lord presents Himself even there in the most gracious way to meet their need. ( Revelation 3:1-6 Continued). (b) He must be absolutely honest, so that he repeats with accuracy that which he has heard and seen. He crossed the Halys, engaged in battle and was routed. That is my only hope. It is rather to be imputed to the encroaching spirit of infidelity, where there is not also a truckling to superstition. How came this? The voice of this mighty angel is also similar to that of the strong angel who asked Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals? This is the Lord's complaint against them. Heresy is always the product of the searching mind; it is, in fact, the sign of a Church that is alive. At the same time there is the most careful guard against the supposition that he was not in the full enjoyment of his own place in Christ. 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. The revelation of grace is precisely what is not found in this book. ], Furthermore, it is not just the testing God promised to deliver them from but the "hour" of testing, the time in history during which these trials will come (cf. They could do but little where money would be required. But, dear friends, as this expression was used to the angel of the church at Philadelphia, whom I suppose to be the minister of the church, I do not feel that I shall be doing any violence to the text if I take it in reference to each individual; and I have no doubt that there will be individual Christians present at this time who, though they have but little strength, have kept God's word. In the Greek of the Septuagint the word for love is agapan ( G25) which indicates the unconquerable attitude of goodwill which nothing can turn to hate; but it is a word which maybe has more of the head than the heart in it; and in the quotation the Risen Christ changes agapan ( G25) to philein ( G5368) which is the most tender affection. In Hierapolis, six miles away from Laodicea, there was a "Congregation of Jews" which had power to levy and to retain fines, and an archive office where Jewish legal documents were specially kept. In entering God's kingdom, Jews must follow the way of these Gentiles, not Gentiles follow the way of the Jews (8- 9). Philadelphia, Promise And Warning ( Revelation 3:7-13 Continued). "How do I know that they will accept it?" It is rather an imminent event that will come suddenly and unexpectedly (Walvoord). Not a bit. They were a company of poor people with no man of means among them; and there are many such churches that are peculiarly precious to the heart of God, who cares nothing for gold, and everything for sincerity. It is a recommencement, and so far is analogous with that to Ephesus: still, the manner in which the Lord is presented is quite new. A particular assembly, or even the assemblies of a district (Galatians 1:1-24), may be addressed. The Lord help you to keep his word, and then to go in for public testimony. This is the Lord's way of delivering those who keep his word: thus he shuts them away from the temptation that comes upon others. It may be, you have little strength of mind; but I hope even then grace enables you to be firm for truth. This figures prominently in the theories of millennialists, who take the passage as emphasizing that Christians shall be delivered from not through the great trial, "implying the rapture of the church before the time referred to as "the great tribulation. There is for the faithful Christian the promise of a settled serenity in the peace which Jesus Christ can give. III. At the same time it is manifestly He who is God and Father instructing, comforting, and admonishing His own. Not so, I apprehend, where angels of the churches are spoken of. A threefold glory of Christ appears: what is personal; what is relative; and finally, what is official. Third the endurance of Jesus Christ is the guarantee of his sympathy with us when we are called upon to endure. When God judges the ungodly, Christ will protect those who have remained loyal to him. It is to that terrible time that John refers. So now He is warning concerning His coming for the church. It was under his authority, and indeed by his call, that the famous council sat at Nicea, and the faith of the Trinity was publicly established. "No, not at all." To try them that dwell upon the earth - To test their character. See also Showers, pp. By implication, this deliverance will coincide with Christs return mentioned in the very next verse: I will come soon (Revelation 3:11). It is the only view that can honestly say that Christ could return at any moment, because it alone teaches that Christ will come to rapture the church before the 70th week of Daniel 9 or the Tribulation period begins and that nothing else must happen before His return." International delivery varies by country, please see the Wordery store help page for details. It began at the coast at Ephesus and it had to find a way to climb up to the central plateau 8,500 feet up. If even what belongs to the world be touched, they are in no small agitation about it. The Lord at the close gives a promise suited to the condition. He ordered them to teach their sons lyre-playing, the song and the dance, and retail trading. The more you stand in the forefront of the battle, with the responsible testimony of God, the more you have the grace and truth of God brought out before and by you, if the heart and conscience be not governed and animated by the power of the Spirit of God, through that truth and grace that is in Christ, sooner or later, there will be, beyond a question, a lapse back into a position of neutrality, if not of active enmity. "Mission for God exists because worship of God doesn't." -John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad Introduction: I should suppose that after having given a sufficient trial to that manner of procedure, it would be quite as well at times to try another, and to rejoice in everything which we see of grace in our brethren, and sometimes to thank God in their hearing for what we perceive in them that we are sure is the fruit of the Spirit. Many a time men act as if the Church belonged to them, but it belongs to Jesus Christ and all in it are his servants. "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone" ( Hosea 4:17). Holman Hunt was right when in his famous picture The Light of the World he painted the door of the human heart with no handle on the outside, for it can be opened only from within. Where the same evils exist, and all that which would keep the church as a chaste virgin espoused to Christ is gone, no wonder that these warnings are misunderstood. 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