The expression is very striking, because it not unnaturally implies that the churches were somehow to exist continuously. At one time that temple was the social, administrative and commercial centre of the whole area. A man should live every day as if it were his last. Secondly, he gives him a word of prospect. I do not of course affirm this; but naturally as the apostles were departing to be with the Lord, Satan would endeavour to furnish instruments nothing loth to claim succession. The Spirit says, "Thou hast a little strength." And have we not seen it ourselves? It was a centre of the woollen trade; and it was claimed that the art of dyeing wool was actually discovered there. Though others fall, you shall not; though you may be afflicted with others, yet you shall have grace to sustain you. And here He is loving the church in this sad condition. In short, "the hour of temptation" is, I conceive, a larger term altogether than the "great tribulation" ofRevelation 7:1-17; Revelation 7:1-17, and still more than the unparalleled tribulation which is to befall the land of Israel. He is seen upon His glorious throne with the Father in the Eternal Kingdom - the New Jerusalem. This poor creature has no power or influence; he is rather ridiculous than useful. 3:7-13 And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia, write: These things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no man will shut, and shuts and no man opens. This very thing condemned the state of Protestantism that resulted; because, while it was freely read, there was scarce any thought of forming all upon the Bible, and regulating all by it. The seven spirits signifies the completeness of the gifts of the Spirit and the universality of his presence. (4) The Spirit of Might: A lifeless dying church or individual needs new strength to enter into its lifeless body. Men who deserve praise can bear it, and some of them even need it. 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. III. The address is to the overcomer, who is accordingly put before the call to hear. 3. He who is not written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire ( Revelation 20:15); only they who are written in the Lamb's book of life shall enter into blessedness ( Revelation 21:27). (b) It denotes the Spirit in his sevenfold operation. In the three previous churches it may be noticed, the call to hear is first, because the Lord is still dealing with the general conscience of the church. In Revelation 3:10 we are back again amidst beliefs which are characteristically Jewish. Behold, I will make them come and kneel before your feet, and they will know that I have loved you. 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. God freely acknowledges that life today is full of mysteries; but it will not always be so. [49] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. I shut and no man can open. They meditated upon it; they sought to understand it; they took delight in everything which came from the mouth of God. The Risen Christ tells them that he is coming quickly. The seven stars are angels of the seven churches: and the seven lampstands are seven churches.". With Jesus Christ the new kingdom of David was inaugurated; and, just as in the ancient kingdom Eliakim had the keys to admit to the royal presence, so Jesus is the door to admit to the kingdom of God. All intimates that they are in great, and no doubt just, dread of Him as a judge. Originally Laodicea had been a fortress; but it had the serious handicap that all its water supply had to come by underground aqueduct from springs no less than six miles away, a perilous situation for a town besieged. What Christ promised is safety through trials, not exemption from trials. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TRIBULATION THE CHURCH WILL EXPERIENCE, AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION. Cyrus initiated the siege of Sardis, waited for fourteen days, then offered a special reward to anyone who would find an entry into the city. "The last day is a secret," says Augustine, "that every day may be watched." It is a quotation from Proverbs 3:12, but one word is altered. A Definitive Study of the Rapture of the Church, pp. That is the way in which the Church at Laodicea affected the Risen Christ. In the Christian life there must be a decisive moment, when a man decides to be done with the old way and to begin on the new. But when they have observed how you stand to the truth, how solid, and how steadfast you are, they will give over disputing with you, and come to inquire what your views really are. They had lost the very perception of what was for God. And I will kill her children with death." 71-72; Thomas R. Edgar, "An Exegesis of Rapture Passages," in Issues in Dispensationalism, pp. It would rather seem from this that the affliction was some form of persecution as adapted to test the fidelity of those who were affected by it. (ii) It generalizes the message of the letters. Let men call you bigot, but never mind, hold you on with all your might, and your Lord will smile upon you. Judas lost his place to Matthias ( Acts 1:25-26). They are neutral in principle and practice, being half-hearted about Christ. to the angel of the church of Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness ( Revelation 3:14 ). In particular the temple was the centre of a medical school which was transferred to Laodicea itself. (a) Christ is looking for something from us. It is not that the time is actually come so that we must go through all or any part; but the time is at hand. The royal apparel is for the man whom the king honours ( Esther 6:6-11). This can hardly be denied to Jezebel at least; whilst "the remnant" represents those who, without being Protestants, form a witnessing company apart from popery, yet before the rise of Protestantism. But the Lord will compel the recognition of His own testimony. Clericalism came in rapidly after this. As long as true apostles were on earth, Satan was never able to have Judaism recognized in the church of God. Surely love can go no further than that. (i) Watchfulness should be the constant attitude of the Christian life. I rebuke and discipline all those whom I love. There is no value in all the brass counters which circulate among the many; they are current with the world, but the Kingdom of God does not know them. Oh, that men who have ten talents would not be so anxious to be original in their teaching! I take it to be this: that the Lord had in view not necessarily an elder, nor a teacher, but one who might be either or both, and before His mind truly represented, and was in a special way bound up with the responsibility of the state of the assembly. It is not "from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." It was to her that one day all men would humbly make their submission. Habits grow upon him until he can no longer break them. Thus the place taken here is of course that of a Christian; but that is put forward which belonged to others who would not be in the same corporate standing as ourselves. He therefore "sent and signified this by his angel unto his servant John." I might have seen the Alexandrian library burned without losing a night's rest, for the mass of its contents must have been mere rubbish; but were there one single verse of the New Testament which it were possible to blot out from human memory and record, one might be willing to lay down his life to save the glorious sentence. I had sooner stand alone then yield with a crowd to an Act of Parliament which was passed to dictate to me the form in which I may worship God. If anything is to be rescued from the impending ruin of the Church in Sardis the Christians there must wake from their deadly lethargy and watch. It was founded about 250 B.C. If you only influence one child, who can tell what that child may be? The early fathers thus Judaized; and the leaven has gone on working ever since. The word of my patience The doctrine which has exposed you to so much trouble and persecution, and required so much patience and magnanimity to bear up under its attendant trials. If we do not provoke Christ to shut this door against us, men cannot do it. That, perhaps, is the central thought here, "Thou hast kept my word." There the king of Lydia ruled over his empire in oriental splendour. Greatest of the Sardian kings was Croesus, whose name is still commemorated in the proverb, "As rich as Croesus." This word, the churches, in the Philadelphian state, will keep pure and incorrupt, and observe the ordinances of it according to the directions given in it; and will believe the promise of Christ's personal coming, and patiently wait for it: wherefore, Christ promises as follows. Observe, First, The greatest honour and happiness any church can enjoy consist in the peculiar love and favour of Christ. 46-50, 108-37; and Jeffrey Townsend, "The Rapture in Revelation 3:10," Bibliotheca Sacra 137:547 (July-September 1980):252-66.]. On that point he is a regular Puritan; there is no moving him." Clearly such a position made it almost impregnable. But why should you not receive it? It was founded with the deliberate intention that it might be a missionary of Greek culture and language to Lydia and Phrygia; and so well did it do its work that by A.D. 19 the Lydians had forgotten their own language and were all but Greeks. Second, it supplies us with an inspiration. "Because the grace of God keeps our people to their moorings. The people of Philadelphia knew all about taking a new name. Impossible to believe that e.g. Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Spurgeon Collection" by: Tony Capoccia Bible Bulletin Board Box 314 Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022 Websites: and Email: Online since 1986. It is very possible, when the epistles were sent out in the days of John, that no particular emphasis would be laid on "the things that are;" but inasmuch as these things have been going on from that day to the present, we can see the immense force such a phrase thereby acquires. That in itself would have been enough to make Laodicea one of the great commercial and strategic centres of the ancient world. May we tonight, O God, listen to what you would say to us. It is a fact of life that the best athlete and the finest scholar receive the most demanding training. The Sardians had thought themselves too safe to need a guard; and so Sardis fell. They hoarded up divine knowledge in their memories, preserved it in their affections, used it in their experience, and practised it in their lives. For it is somewhat novel, especially in the New Testament. "You have kept my commandment," he says, "therefore, I will keep you." Galatians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:4-10). It was the deipnon ( G1173) that Christ would share with the man who answered his knock, no hurried meal, but that where people lingered in fellowship. Life in Christ, where there is spiritual intelligence, takes one out of the vanities of the world in principle. What He is is the main point. "Let your garments be always white," said the preacher, "and let not oil be lacking on your head" ( Ecclesiastes 9:8). This term refers to earth-dwellers as contrasted with heaven-dwellers, the unsaved as contrasted with Christians. As it is said here, "Because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess." They who are faithful will share in that whiteness of light which is the garment of God himself. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last." "These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes as a flame of fire, and his feet like fine brass." But it is another thing when we hear of the angel of this or that assembly. So, we find within the church today a lot of relics from the Babylonian system, the Babylonian religion. I do not doubt that God intended this, and that we are thus given a double aspect of the book. If you only help to strengthen one solitary Christian woman, who knows what may come to pass by her means? They had little strength, but they kept God's word, and they did not deny his name. But no: it is confessed to John by Jesus as the word of God and His own testimony. [Note: Chitwood, p. 101. Surely something is meant outside the ordinary course of things, where so unexampled a style of address is found. Still they become a witnessing body more or less in spirit, apart from that which set up the highest pretension but in profoundly wicked communion with Jezebel, as the Lord judged and stigmatized what man called "our mother, the holy Catholic, church." Even then Satan was not idle in forming his synagogue "of those that said they were Jews, and are not." The problem of modern evangelism is not hostility to Christianity; it would be better if it were so. To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. That which must keep a Christian faithful is the vision of a world for Christ, for the coming of such a world depends on the fidelity of the individual Christian. The truth was that it was so lifeless that it was not worth attacking. No, all Christians will experience transformation at the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). The salutation is from God in His own being, the ever-existing One, He who is, and who was, and who is to come. "He that denies me before men," Jesus said, "I will deny before my Father, but if you confess Me before men, I will confess you before my Father which is in heaven." 1:18), they will belong permanently to God, to the heavenly city and to their Saviour (12-13). There may be something of two meanings here. Hence all the fulness of divine light that had come out in Christ's person and work, as well as by the Spirit in the church of God, is necessary to be taken into account in order to give the Apocalypse its just bearing. 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. "And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest," etc. 2. The real innovators were those who departed by slip or by will from the very words of the Spirit; and the arbitrariness now would be in maintaining what has not sufficient authority, against that which is as certain as can be. But that situation had its perils, and these perils had left their mark more deeply on Philadelphia than on any other city. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of [my] God." Still hold on to the promise made to you in the word of God, and to the manifestation of God which is seen in Christ Jesus, and you will be doing your God the honour which he deserves at your hands, and he will say, "I know thy works; for thou hast a little strength, but thou hast kept my word." 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. This is the reason why they were golden. The road, therefore, detoured through the Lycus valley. Those who are holding to the Word of God. Revelation 3:10New International Version. Go out of the place saying, "I believe it." If that doesn't happen, I have had it. [1.] Thus we have had the general condition falling into decline; we have had the early persecution from the heathen; we have had the power of the world patronizing the church; and we have had finally Romanism, which alone (from the allusion to Christ's coming) is supposed to go on to the end. When they reached the top they found the battlements completely unguarded. These were proper characters for him, when speaking to a church that had endeavoured to be conformed to Christ in holiness and truth, and that had enjoyed a wide door of liberty and opportunity under his care and government. 7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; 8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not . [Note: Thomas, Revelation 1-7, p. It means: "Never stop keeping the commands of the gospel." This chapter completes the record of "the things which are" ( Rev. [1.] He is the new and living way into the presence of God. We all know of what small account He was on earth; and so it is with Philadelphia. Exodus 28:36). We agree with Beasley-Murray that it is certainly possible that, "an identical period of trial is referred to in both Revelation 2:10 and Revelation 3:1. "We are chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned along with the world" ( 1 Corinthians 11:32). Spiritually speaking, the Risen Christ declares that there was not a more poverty-stricken community. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown. The prayers of the saints will be answered (6:9-11; Matt. This may well stand for the beauties of life and character which only the grace of Christ can give. III. v. 12). They may express either the reason why the door stands open before the Christians of Philadelphia or the reason why they will be given those who belong to the synagogue of Satan. It is said of the faithful that they "have not soiled their garments." And he was apologizing, but he went into the house of Cornelius. "I became dead (records John), and, behold, I am alive unto the ages of the ages." We will enter into the third section, the things which will be after these things of the church. While, therefore, he had all that is properly Christian, he also had very special communications of another character for saints who will follow us at the end of this age. [Note: Beasley-Murray, p. I suppose that the Philadelphian church had but little strength in the following respects: the number of its members would be small, and it had therefore but little strength for undertaking any extensive enterprize which would call for numerous bands of workers. never to be marked by anything that men can wonder at or admire? He that receives it shall live, but without it there is no spiritual life. In the Protestant Reformation they drew with it many of the pagan practices that originated in Babylonian religion systems. There is for the faithful Christian the promise of a settled serenity in the peace which Jesus Christ can give. Now we have the church of Philadelphia, the faithful remnant. It is His position both ministerial and ecclesiastical His relationship to the angels, or those that morally represented the assemblies to His eye, as well as to the churches themselves. 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