"And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.". Every band of believers has some strength: weak as we are in ourselves, the very fact of our possessing faith proves that we have a portion of strength. This has ever been the chief snare, as it is now. Croesus embarked upon a war with Cyrus of Persia which was the end of the greatness of Sardis. "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman (perhaps 'thy wife') Jezebel." (John 5:1-47) And now that grace and truth were about to be utterly set at naught, as He Himself had been before by that which bore His name on the earth, John was more than any other suited to let us see the solemn visions of God avenging the slighted rights of His own Son; and this, first, by providential judgments; lastly, by Christ Himself coming in the personal execution of judgment. For the heathen this was an external thing; but this may describe the man who has kept his soul clean so that he can enter into the presence of God and not be ashamed. 62. Thus, besides what the apostle had in his ordinary relation with Christians, and his already lengthened tenure in the service of Christ, he receives now a new character of word and testimony. my beloved is knocking. 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. So, the promise of being kept from the Great Tribulation, because we have kept the word of His patience. [1.] It may have been some form of persecution, or it may have been some calamity by disease, earthquake, or famine that was to occur. If God is the God of Amen, he is utterly to be relied upon. The duty itself: "Hold fast that which thou hast, that faith, that truth, that strength of grace, that zeal, that love to the brethren; thou hast been possessed of this excellent treasure, hold it fast." Is not this the revival of that dreadful scourge that had afflicted the early church (even Smyrna)? Those men of old time whose influence upon their own age seemed so little, nevertheless prepared the way for those braver spirits who, by-and-by, shone forth like the stars of the morning. That stands for the gift of citizenship in the city of God to the faithful Christian. At any rate, the great Head of the church did not think it unwise to say to the church at Philadelphia that he thought well of it because it had kept his word. This too is special. Zechariah has a vision of the day when all men of all nations and languages shall turn to Jerusalem, "they shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you"' ( Zechariah 8:22-23). 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. Do not be afraid. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown. Antiochus, who became the ruler of the area in which Sardis stood, was at war with a rival called Achaeus who sought refuge in Sardis. "Pretrib Rapture" - Revelation 3:10. They had little talent, but they kept God's word. At the same time, if we do not start with the Old Testament revelations of Babylon or Jerusalem, or the instruction derived from the prophets generally, we are not prepared for appreciating or even understanding the Apocalypse as a whole. As God bears testimony in his word to his own dear Son, believe that testimony; accept the Saviour whom he has given, and find immediate salvation: find it to-night. Did they love the shadow or the glitter of human power? Help us purchase electrical generators for churches. (2.) 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. Again Croesus was warned, but he failed to see the warning. "Hereafter" gives vagueness: "after these" makes it precise, and is the plain literal meaning. People in Philadelphia well knew what security lay in a promise that "they would go out no more. "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would that. Is this wise? So within the Protestant Reformation, those great persons didn't defile their garments, walking with Him in purity, they are worthy. Clearly such a position made it almost impregnable. The Lord no longer dealt so when this kind of footing vanished for the responsibility of man. That it is here called "the hour" of trial does not mean that it will be over in an hour, or even in any relatively short time. Let them abide in the place of patience, even though there be tribulation, as there must be if they are content to endure for Christ's sake now. We have now come to the sixth letter, sent to one of the Asian churches, where observe. It was a sure token that all was over for the present, for any immediateness of communion between God and His people. 3:10 + is correct [that the church will be guarded and preserved during God's testing of earth-dwellers during the Tribulation], then one is left with the colossal problem of reconciling the fact that multitudes of believers will die under the fierce persecution of Antichrist during the Tribulation and yet God supposedly will preserve His people physically through the Tribulation."Keith H. Essex, "The Rapture and the Book of Revelation," in . Thus then it is with the seven golden lampstands. Is not this exactly what Romanism does? The address is to the overcomer, who is accordingly put before the call to hear. The salutation is from God in His own being, the ever-existing One, He who is, and who was, and who is to come. The Son of man is seen clad in the flowing robe reaching to the feet, and He is "girt about the paps with a golden girdle. Revelation 3:10, KJV: 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. No one goes to hades before he dies death being in relation to the body, hades to the separate spirit. How comes it, that for so many hundreds of years only a part of what the Fathers had laboured at sunk into the minds of men, a certain portion being rejected, as we know, by Protestantism; but now, when God brings out this fresh testimony, there rises a counter-testimony? If all men that live or ever shall live should throw up the old Calvinism, there remains one that will hold it, for this reason that he could not hold any other. And that isn't to say that God doesn't call people as He did to the Jews, but He has not called me. Some taught the gospel very quietly in their own family circle, and so kept it. We Jews are not supposed to go into the house of a Gentile, but the Lord told me to come so that is why I am here." Secondly, he gives him a word of prospect. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches ( Revelation 3:6 ). Sin, as Burns had it, "petrifies the feeling.". And here, it has been well observed, a notable change takes place. 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. The state of the church in Ephesus has the same generality. Too many of us are Christian one moment and unchristian the next. Another thing is observable, when one looks into what is said here. The words of men are trifling in value; it takes a mass of them to come to the value of a farthing; but any one word of the Lord is worth a mint of gold. In other words, will only faithful or watchful Christians experience the Rapture (the partial rapture position)? Sin is the killer of life's loveliness. Do not throw away the best for the sake of getting something that may be newer, but that must be far inferior. [2.] It set out along the valley of the River Maeander until it reached what were known as the Gates of Phrygia. We see the telegraph wires, but we do not see what messages they may carry. I do not the least doubt that those who are commonly called the Waldenses and Albigenses, and others perhaps of similar character, are referred to here. v. 12). Why, these are the treasures of men, and they shall pass away. The Risen Christ advises Laodicea to buy gold refined in the fire. 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. They are supposed to be not marked by such mighty doings, as Sardis was, Sardis did great exploits, Philadelphia nothing of the sort. It is true that neither of these new names lasted and "Philadelphia" was restored. It is implied indeed in the analogy of the Old Testament; for God did not always address His people there. Show yourself watchful, and strengthen what remains and what is going to die. What does Revelation 3:10 mean? Their approach is silent and unobserved, until a man finds himself without warning facing eternity. 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. '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." cit., p. 101. The ground of such a thought lies in the fact that the introduction to Sardis indicates the Lord beginning again a new state of things. (iii) The Risen Christ says: "Keep the commands of the gospel." "It is full time," says Paul, "to wake from sleep" ( Romans 13:11). First, it supplies us with an example. 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. We have met with instances where they wrote out part of the word of God, and hid it away in a wall; and afterwards, when the wall was pulled down, the priceless record was discovered and used. God as such is then introduced in Old Testament style and character, but at the same time applied to New Testament subjects; the Holy Ghost also is similarly brought before us. Daniel is clothed in purple by Belshazzar ( Daniel 5:29). 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. Sometimes the trial is more general and universal; it comes upon all the world, and, when it is so general, it is usually the shorter. "I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King" ( Isaiah 43:15). By whom this letter was signed; even by the same Jesus who is alone the universal head of all the churches; and here observe by what title he chooses to represent himself to this church: He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, c. You have his personal character: He that is holy and he that is true, holy in his nature, and therefore he cannot but be true to his word, for he hath spoken in his holiness and you have also his political character: He hath the key of David, he openeth, and no man shutteth; he hath the key of the house of David, the key of government and authority in and over the church. He promised to keep them from the hour of testing. Daniel sees the "Ancient of days" in one way, and the Son of man in quite another. "Hark! They were themselves corrupters and destroyers of true Christianity without knowing it. In the Protestant Reformation they drew with it many of the pagan practices that originated in Babylonian religion systems. 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. Jesus declares Himself to be all this; yea, more than this "the living one, and I became dead." 288, 289. He is not under law but under grace. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Rev 19:10) and a prophetic perspective promotes purpose. The unique new fact that Christianity brought into this world is that God is the seeker of men. The rebuke of God is not so much punishment as illumination. The hour of temptation must come upon all. It sometimes happens that a man is given a task to do and goes towards it with the highest hopes; but it begins to be seen that he is too small for the task and he is removed from the task and it is given to someone else. In any decision regarding the Church, the decisive factor must be not what any man wishes the Church to do but what Jesus Christ wishes to be done. At the same time it is useless to blink the fact: energetic as he was and used of God largely, he was far behind in the understanding both of the church and of the gospel. Two other roads passed through the gates of Laodicea, that from Pergamum and the Hermus Valley to Pisidia and Pamphylia and the coast at Perga and that from eastern Caria to central and west Phrygia. Reuben, unstable as water, lost his place to Judah ( Genesis 49:4; Genesis 49:8). "To you I say, the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not known this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. I cannot doubt that this letter contains an apt adumbration, as far as could be there in present facts, of what was found in mediaeval times. Thus we have all sorts of links in the chain. Under John's leadership, Grace Community Church's two morning worship services fill the 3,500-seat auditorium to capacity. They were not ashamed of revealed truth, but, on the contrary, they took it for their possession, their heritage, their treasure, their all. It was adapted by the church. That is what the Risen Christ means when he speaks of the open door that is set before Philadelphia. However the grace of the Lord might act, however He might animate as well as warn, still the address is made directly to His servant John, and not to the church; and even where we have addresses, as we shall find afterwards in the second and third chapters, they are not immediately to the churches, but sent to their angels. 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. He is seen upon His glorious throne with the Father in the Eternal Kingdom - the New Jerusalem. In each letter the Lord addresses "the angel." . How came this? He may not be described in His relationships to us, but He who is described is the one that we love. It is interesting to note that the third century work The Apostolic Constitutions (8: 46) says that Archippus was the first Bishop of the Church in Laodicea. It was one of the wealthiest cities in the world. When John wrote his letter to Sardis, it was wealthy but degenerate. A man should live every day as if it were his last. I hope for that day. Thus whether it be the depraving of souls or the forming sects after an earthly mould among those who were heavenly according to Paul, or whether it be the taking them away from the life of Christ, and from walking as He walked and simply putting them under Jewish ordinances, the Fathers, I fear, as a class, fully earned the awful distinction here assigned by the Lord. More Resources: Revelation 1: Jesus is the Heart of Revelation Read Articles By Subject Spiritual Deceptions Prophecy Walking through Revelation Revelation 1 Commentary: The Revelation of Jesus Seven Churches See the album Less. For whom it was more immediately designed: The angel of the church of Philadelphia; this also was a city in Asia Minor, seated upon the borders of Mysia and Lydia, and had its name from that brotherly love for which it was eminent. For every one that is in the first resurrection is destined to reign with Christ, as even will the Jewish sufferers, earlier or later, under the antichrist. And in the twenty-second chapter of Isaiah in verse twenty-two, well, go back to twenty-one, we read this prophecy concerning the Messiah, "I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. Christ would make this church's enemies subject to her. It was founded about 250 B.C. All is here limited to what he saw. This term refers to earth-dwellers as contrasted with heaven-dwellers, the unsaved as contrasted with Christians. I say not this of you all, but only of confirmed and faithful ones. Satan's synagogue. Thus he introduces himself here, not as a joint partaker of God's promise in Christ by the gospel, but in His kingdom and patience in Christ. To some it might appear a small thing not to deny Christ's name, but nothing is more precious to the Lord. Who that knows ecclesiastical history, who that has present acquaintance with souls, is not aware that the saints of God, with ever so little light, have been exceedingly nourished and helped by the Apocalypse; while men of learning have made it as dry as an old almanac? Now, why should God's word be kept in this way? 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