I am sure Luther is one from whom we may all learn much; whose courage, faithfulness, self-renunciation, and endurance are edifying and instructive. This seems to be one reason why it pleased God to give the visions of this book on the Lord's day. God is holy because he is different from men; he has that quality of being which belongs to him alone. There is no surer way of allowing a child to end in ruin than to allow him to do as he likes. It seems to me to mean just this, "You have been faithful; therefore I will use you. The Protestant Reformation in Europe is dead. The Lord sets before us an open door of opportunity and no man can shut it. Revelation 2:10 c, 25; Revelation 3:4). Go ahead! I know of one only spirit to whom I desire to be subject, and that is the Spirit of all the ages, who never changes. That stands for the gift of citizenship in the city of God to the faithful Christian. Revelation 3:10-11 New King James Version 10 Because you have kept [ a]My command to persevere,I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come uponthe whole world, to test those who dwellon the earth. No commandment appears more frequently in the New Testament than that to watch. They have exercised this influence in all ages, and this is where, as I judge, their formation as a system is stigmatized by the Lord Jesus Christ. But there is much more here. More, however, is meant than simply loving the word, though that is no small thing. Here is the picture of Christ searching for sinful men who did not want him. It is the beginning of the changed condition. Possibly if they had felt stronger they might have presumptuously quitted the word of the Lord for the opinions of men, as the Galatians did, and then they would have lost their reward. What Christ promised is safety through trials, not exemption from trials. "Let your garments be always white," said the preacher, "and let not oil be lacking on your head" ( Ecclesiastes 9:8). Seven hundred years before this letter was written Sardis had been one of the greatest cities in the world. (b) In John's gospel Jesus' statements often begin: "Truly, truly, I say to you" (e.g. I am coming quickly. In a very different form it is the topic of John everywhere: we may trace Him as going up to heaven, where Paul above all contemplated Him glorified; but John's task is ever to point to Christ in connection with what He was here below. Those who keep God's word, shall themselves be kept from temptation. They appreciated it: they fed upon it. It was a greater proof of fidelity when all was out of course to stand faithful than to be faithful when all things were regular. What injures, and finally ruins, is invariably from within, not from without. They have thought out what they believe; their theology is made out of their own substance, as spiders spin their webs out of their own bowels. "To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? It is "he that openeth, and no man shall shut." The phrase is the strongest possible way of putting the matter. It is rather an imminent event that will come suddenly and unexpectedly (Walvoord). Nevertheless, they will be aware of the next event including the end of the horrible counter attack represented by the sixth trumpet of Revelation 9:13-21 and 11:7-13 that corresponds to Daniel 11:40-43. Revelation 10:7 "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." "The mystery": A Greek term meaning "to shut" or "to close". (b) The main theme of Revelation concerns the overthrow of the Roman persecutors, and this "overthrow" actually took place with the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in A.D. 312-313. 1:10 + ). Go out of the place saying, "I believe it." They came out, but not far enough. We long to know Your truth. "The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest on my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The percentages are down around fifty to sixty percent that don't believe in these things. He will reward them at his return (10-11). At this stage in the Church's history baptism was adult baptism, and at baptism a man took his personal pledge to Jesus Christ. These went on diligently, as we learn here. He would give them grace to bear up under trials with a Christian spirit, and in such a manner that their salvation should not be endangered. The hour of temptation A time of sore and peculiar trial which might have proved too much for their strength. There will be indifference to all that is good; and the only kind of zeal, if there be zeal, will be for what is bad. Surely something is meant outside the ordinary course of things, where so unexampled a style of address is found. We need not make a choice between these various meanings; we may well believe that they are all included in the greatness of the promise. The word translated "sup" is deipnein ( G1172) and its corresponding noun is deipnon ( G1173) . Third, the Lord also promised to come quickly (Gr. What does this mean? If you will now begin to talk to others about that which you love so well, you will be astonished to find how gladly they will receive it from you. 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; this hour seems to refer not to any of the vials which will be poured out on the antichristian states, but to some affliction and distress which will befall the reformed churches, and will light upon the outward court worshippers among them It seems to be the last struggle of the beast of Rome, and to denote some violent and sharp persecution, such as what Daniel mentions, that never was before nor since; but it will be but short, but one hour, the twenty fourth part of a prophetical day or year, perhaps about a fortnight; yet it will be very extensive; it will reach all the world, the whole Roman empire, and all that dwell upon the earth, that are called by the name of Christians, and will try them, whether they are so or not; Christ will now have his fan in his hand, and purge his floor of all his formal professors and hypocrites; and it will be known who are his true churches, and pure members; and these he will keep close to himself, and preserve safe amidst all the distress and confusion the world will be in. (a) In the ancient world white robes stood for festivity. The Philadelphian saints, like the limpet, which has but little strength, stuck firmly to the rock, and they are commended for it. In the Sunday-school there are little children that you will be the means of bringing to Christ if you take a class; and out at the street corners there are folks that you will turn to the Saviour if you have but the courage to stand up and preach. When John wrote his letter to Sardis, it was wealthy but degenerate. You read the Gallup Polls and all and it is rather frightening to find out how many ministers do not really believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, do not believe in the virgin birth, do not believe that there is an actual heaven or hell. We have seen this just before. [Note: Beasley-Murray, p. "No, not at all." ], Gundry believed that God will fulfill the promise of this verse at the Rapture, but he believed the Rapture will occur at the end of the Tribulation (the posttribulation view). Life in Christ, where there is spiritual intelligence, takes one out of the vanities of the world in principle. It is not "from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." "This can hardly be His return to earth described in Revelation 19:11-21, because this phase of His coming will be preceded by all the events described in chapters 6-18. I must be crushed out of existence before my convictions of the truth of the doctrines of grace in the old-fashioned form can ever be taken from me. . There is an old Latin saying that "the gods walk on feet that are wrapped in wool." Philadelphia, Titles And Claims ( Revelation 3:7-13 Continued). In other things you may be easily persuaded, and readily talked over; but be you doubly stanch in the things of God. It is to be feared many are doing the same at this moment. If I am a servant, I ought to behave like a servant. I am joyous, glad, strong, happy if these doctrines be true. "Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers; with their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet" ( Isaiah 49:23). THE LETTER TO LAODICEA ( Revelation 3:14-22 ). 1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. [1.] "The time is at hand." The patristic party those commonly called "the Fathers" seem to be the leaders of the party here referred to. I will keep you . There are some to whom he early opens the gate of usefulness, because he sees in them a spirit that will bear the temptation of success; but in many other cases it is questionable whether they could bear promotion, and therefore the Lord permits them to be tried in different ways until he sees that they are found faithful, and then he puts them into his service, and gives them an opportunity of bearing witness for him. I will cause the enemies of the truth to leave you alone. (ii) Swete thinks that the white garments stand for the profession a man made at baptism; and that the phrase described the man who had not broken his baptismal vows. As the Te Deum has it: "Thou didst open the kingdom of Heaven to all believers." If you only help to strengthen one solitary Christian woman, who knows what may come to pass by her means? This promise is a reversal of all that the Jews had expected; they had expected that all nations would kneel before them; but the day was to come when they with all nations would kneel before Christ. Whether it be Christ that is represented or the description of the state of the church, whether it be the fault that is charged home, or the remedy that is proposed, whether it be the judgment that is threatened or the promise that is held out, all is of the most general description. The armies of Caesar travelled that road; the caravans of the merchant-men travelled it; and now it was beckoning the missionaries of Christ. I cannot but think that this state of things is referred to here: "Thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth." 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. The A, B, Come and See Revelation A commentary on the Book of Revelation by Elder James Stroud 9781644689851 (Paperback, 2021) Delivery UK delivery is usually within 10 to 12 working days. ], "The threefold occurrence of onoma (name) is impressive and amounts to a threefold assurance of his identity with God." It has been said that an author can write a good biography if he loves his subject or hates him but not if he is coldly indifferent. At first all addressed the people in His name. ( Acts 20:29-31). God does not leave those who have shown that they will not leave him. Trench makes a list of people in the Bible who lost their place to someone else because they had shown that they were not fit to hold it. Woe be to the man who is first a Calvinist, then an Arminian, then a Palagian, then a Unitarian; never finding rest for the sole of his foot; keeping nothing because he has nothing to keep. "He that believeth hath everlasting life," for "this is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." The overcomers in Philadelphia were promised future positions with Christ which appear to be described by the meanings of the names given to these two pillars. He who is faithful to the grace of God is often hidden from trials and difficulties which fall without mitigation on those who have been unfaithful in his covenant. Sardis had been flabby already but the last vestige of spirit was banished from its people and it became a city of degeneration. 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. We shall find it in relation to Christ dealing with church matters in Revelation 3:1-22; we shall find it in His relation to the earth inRevelation 5:1-14; Revelation 5:1-14: but it is always the fulness of the Spirit in governmental power, and not the same Spirit viewed in His unity forming the church into one body. There may be individual reality even where the associations are miserably untoward. Elegchos ( G1650) is the corresponding noun, and Aristotle defines it: "Elegchos ( G1650) is the proof that a thing cannot be otherwise than we say." And next week as we get into chapters four and five. You are children of the light, therefore walk as children of the light." In vain does Satan seek to cast down those who resting on Christ's love have Him as the loved object of their life and soul. Support an independent author today! You say you are alive, but really you are dead. the state of those that bore His own name was such that He was obliged to deal thus sternly with them. 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." Read commentary on this popular Bible verse and understand the real meaning behind God's Word using John Gill's Exposition of the Bible. Revelation (Life Application Bible Commentary) by Bruce B Barton at AbeBooks.co.uk - ISBN 10: 0842328742 - ISBN 13: 9780842328746 - Tyndale House Publishers - 2000 - Softcover In glory it is just the same, as we see in the book before us. On one of these spurs, fifteen hundred feet up, stood the original Sardis. They were not ashamed of revealed truth, but, on the contrary, they took it for their possession, their heritage, their treasure, their all. We will enter into the third section, the things which will be after these things of the church. He who is first is necessarily God; and He who is first, being God, must certainly be last. Esau lost his place to Jacob ( Genesis 25:34; Genesis 27:36). Jesus Christ will mark his faithful ones with his new name: what that name was we need not even speculate, for no man knows it ( Revelation 19:12), but in the time to come, when Christ has conquered all, his faithful ones will bear the badge which shows that they are his and share his triumph. I will also keep thee from the hour of trial Norris' Commentary on the Book of Revelation, Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible. He is going back to Isaiah 22:0 for this description. People do not care about knocking their heads against brick walls, or fighting against pillars of iron; and when they see that you are firm and unmoved, they will say, "We must let him have his own way." If so, some people ought to be very good by this time, for they have had candid friends in plenty. I am far from saying this because I do not feel for them much. But no man knows when eternity will invade his life and God will bid him rise and come; and that must warn the careless to prepare to meet his God and cheer the oppressed with the thought of the coming glory of the faithful soul. I know it from this fact that, as a general rule, the man that keeps God's word has an open door before him. Thank God that He has set before us the open door. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Behold, I will give you those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who call themselves Jews and who are not, but who lie. 10 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. [Note: Thomas, Revelation 1-7, p. Of temptation a time of sore and peculiar trial which might have proved too much their! 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Of my mouth. people ought to behave like a servant, will! Possible way of putting the matter and peculiar trial which might have proved too much for their strength of. Leave those who keep God 's word, though that is no small thing the last vestige spirit! You doubly stanch in the world in principle the people in his name 3:7-13 Continued.... Was wealthy but degenerate you have been faithful ; therefore I will use you be these! Testament than that to watch child to end in ruin than to allow him to do he. 27:36 ) simply loving the word, shall themselves be kept from temptation God and of! Time of sore and peculiar trial which might have proved too much for their strength had been of...
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