Request Scriptures For Growth In The Journey Of Salvation
Question : Praise the Lord! I request encouragement Scriptures for growth in the journey of Salvation. Amen. I also request for more Scriptural advice as a growing Pastor. Thank you.
Answer: Greetings in Jesus mighty name! Praise the Lord!
Very nicely you have asked for encouragement Scriptures for growth in the journey of Salvation, because though salvation is a one time event, the effect of salvation growth is a process and a journey for a lifetime.
That is why the writer to the Hebrews says like the following, "1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits." (Heb 6:1-2) and "32 ...recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; 34 for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise." (Heb 10:32-36).
The above verses are life changing and transforming if we understand it rightly. First the writer says to the new believers and those who are having lack of growth in their spiritual life with growth hormone deficiency to not just feed on and on with milk of the basic doctrine which is the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. The apostle is asking the new born believers and growth-impaired believers to leave the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, and is pleading them to accompany him to go with him on to perfection. There is a place of perfection for believers where they keep on growing without any hindrance due to any kind of lack of spiritual nutrition in their lives. This place of taking good and nutritious spiritual food must be accompanied by doing spiritual exercise regularly to put on spiritual muscles by faith and shape up supernaturally for a phenomenal growth by enduring great struggles with sufferings that God will allow in their lives. God will give a way out of temptation, but never out of suffering because without enduring such struggle with patience, they can never see growth in their spiritual lives.
There are believers who are very enthusiastic and zealous in the beginning of time after their salvation experience, but slowly seeing the world and the struggle with their flesh and Satan's tempting attacks, they grow weary in their lives, to the point of becoming discouraged and depressed due to it. So the believers need to look no further than the life of endurance that they have lived in the past after salvation in which they themselves were very fruitful in the Lord, once that recalling happens, the mind will be renewed to stand in the victory of faith! Then while there is shame involved in the public when we face suffering through reproaches and tribulations, they as believers also become companions of those who were so treated. So we see a gloomy atmosphere not only around a growing believer, but also around the other companions of them who are around going through their own suffering in their own lives. Even this apostle who was in prison writing these heavenly letters found solace when the believers having compassion on him, took a sacrificial offering for the writer who was encouraging them and let themselves be plundered of their earthly goods so that the apostle in the prison would be helped by them, and also they as the followers of Christ could be able to invest their money for a better and enduring possession for themselves in heaven. To give in the midst of need is the real sacrificial offering that God always honors. So the apostle encourages all the believers to face the suffering face to face, and keep moving in faith with great confidence, because soon that very confidence will bring a great reward in their lives now and for eternity. The writer to the Hebrews asks them to endure the suffering of their life a little bit of some more time, so that the promise of God they will be able to receive in the will of God. This is the encouragement all believer need in this phase of life after salvation, because we are no more walking to keep the salvation secure, but rather we are all out on a race to receive God's reward which will soon become our inheritance for eternity ahead! Truly a enduring possession of reward which a thief cannot steal or can never be eaten by moth, nor will rust out overtime, will surely be given by God according to His promise, for all the overcoming believers in heaven who will stay with Him forever and ever (Matt 6:19-20)! Praise the Lord!
Where are you standing today, you have to check your own faith whether you have genuine one or just a head faith that has never become a heart faith, you need not worry about getting disqualified if you have genuine faith (2 Cor 13:5-6)? Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave and strong through your suffering in love (1 Cor 16:13-14). Are you able to overcome your lust towards another man's wife, or are you still falling in to the same sin of pornography and masturbation which is making you its slave rather than you ruling over it and making it slave to you. Do not allow sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts (Rom 6:12), when you have the way out of all the temptations (1 Cor 10:13), by standing against lust by your choice to oppose it all and be victorious by the grace of God (Rom 6:14). During this period of growth many times, the devil will try to pull you down totally by making the lust to become physical from being a spiritual one, this is a dangerous ground, but trust the grace of God and commit yourself in to the hands of God and be determined to stand for your faith and never for your comfort to your flesh. The flesh has to die a thousand death, before it will loosen its hold on you, God is faithful and He will do it if you hold on to His hands faithfully day after day, month after month, year after year where a lot of spiritual progress will happen through facing temptation and overcoming it, along with the suffering your face justly for the sake of God in your life.
There may be suffering that will come for you from the believers themselves who are under your care, yet with a fatherly heart your must forgive and forget them each time you are back stabbed by their natural fleshly hold over them, love them and not retaliate back, that is allowed by God for your progress and their correction towards growth (Gal 4:12).
Make sure that you desire the gift of God by stirring it and en flaming it which will take you before kings (2 Tim 1:6-7; 1 Cor 14:1; Prov 18:16), but to stay in the company of kings and in the court of His, you have to consistently desire to grow in your character by allowing the sword of God which is the Word of God quickened by the Spirit of God to fall upon you day after day and allow the Holy Spirit of God to burn the tares of the flesh day after day (Matt 3:12). Apart from the admonition that I have discussed above to you, the following will be a very important admonition directly from Jesus to you.
The following may be the 7 different advice's Jesus would choose to give to a growing Pastor of a thriving Church, and your Church at a particular time would fall in to one category of it in its spiritual climate, so you must identify it and choose to be the Church which is commended by Jesus and correct the mistake when and where ever you are rebuked in love by Jesus to repent and overcome :
1) Ephesus The Beloved
The word Ephesus in Greek in 'Ephesos' which means it is , "desirable" or "beloved". Here we see Jesus holding in His hand the seven stars in His right hand, and walks among in the midst of the seven golden lamp stands. Jesus explains Himself that the stars are the messengers of the Seven Churches and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches (Rev 1:20). Jesus holds each messenger who shepherds the Church in His own right hand individually, and then walks in the midst of all the Churches of His. Specifically Jesus does not write to bishops of the province and then tells him to distribute, but directly writes the message to the five fold minister of the Church who shepherds it and reveals the spiritual climate of his own Church to him. This is the apostolic model for each Church.
Ephesus is a beloved Church to Jesus as the very name suggests. In using the title "These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands," the Lord identifies Himself as the One who came to visit John, the One with authority over the Church in the first century, and the One to whom the Church owes affection as well as allegiance.
Jesus is the chief shepherd under whom the pastor as a shepherd works to take care of the flocks that come to the Church to receive the light of Jesus. Jesus commends the Ephesus Church for a lot of things like the works they do, labor, patience, for not enduring those who are evil but throwing them out of the fellowship or excommunicating them, for testing them who say they are apostles and finding them as liars, they have persevered, have patience, have labored for Jesus' name's sake and they have not become weary. These are all great things that Jesus had appreciated.
Jesus not only encourages, but always corrects and rebukes those whom he loves, so that if anyone lacks in their life and in the life of their congregation, there will be improvement always in leaps and bounds. This is the true nature of Jesus' friendship with the messengers of the churches and the members (Prov 27:5-6). Jesus wants us to improve always in every aspect of our spiritual lives.
Against this Church the Lord Jesus' complaint was that they have left the first love they had for Jesus. There was a time their heart was burning with red hot love for Jesus, when they came early to worship and with passion shared the gospel, with love burning for Jesus they rose up early to speak to Jesus and slept even while speaking to Jesus in the night, the time when they spoke to Jesus and said that how much they love Him for saving them from sin, etc...all was lost somewhere when they were focused on the King's work and took the focus away from the King Jesus. Somewhere along the line they passed on from human being to human doing. Even today Jesus wants all the Churches to burn in their heart full of love for Him. Not just the new believers, but with the oldest believers he expects that kind of love. As always in marriage, in the beginning the passion and love burns, later it wears out old and cold. Jesus doesn't want His Church to be like that, and He feels very sad about it. Burn hot with the love of Jesus always at all times!
So Jesus wants us to remember the days of our first love for Him and wants us to get back from the height of love life we have fallen from. He wants us to repent which is to change our mind's thinking and do the first work which is to love Him and nothing more. Our work is of no value to Jesus if it is not done for the sake of love towards Him. Our love towards Him fires Him up towards us in a depth of love. If repentance is not genuinely there, the chilling warning of Jesus stands true to this day, that he will come quickly and remove the church from its place (Rev 1:20). The real Church is not present to entertain people as a social club, but to receive the light of Jesus and reflect back our love towards Him.
The Nicolaitans were a heretical sect that advocated a blending of pagan customs, like eating food sacrificed to idols of materialism and customs that leads to sexual immorality in the heart under the guise of evangelism which might lead to secret lives of sexual orgies though not openly, into Christian worship. There’s only One worthy to receive our worship, and worshiping Him devotedly with all of our love in one's heart is the Church’s primary purpose. Jesus hates the mixture of flesh and pagan customs, so should we as His lovers (Rev 2:14-15).
The Spirit of God is saying to the churches that we as shepherds who are taking care of the sheep's of Jesus today, that if we overcome individually that which Jesus said is lacking, He will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (Rev 2:7). Adam and Eve lost the right to eat of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, but then God promises in the eternal garden of the paradise of God, the eternal privilege to eat from the tree of life (Gen 3:22-24). Partaking of the tree of life gives us deep eternal insight of fellowship and intimacy of love with God and His life to live forevermore which is the greatest privilege for a child of God for eternity ahead. The promises of Jesus for all overcomers are not temporal and earthly, but eternal and heavenly. May no one deceive you of your eternal reward! Look to Jesus always, you will never be deceived.
Does our Church work for Jesus with fervor but with no feeling of first love in their heart? Repent!
2) Smyrna The Crushed
Smyrna means crushed. It comes from the same root word as myrrh, an embalming spice that releases its aroma when crushed. The grand title with which Jesus introduces Himself to the church of Smyrna saying, "These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again," shows that Jesus rules over death and life, because He is God the beginning of life and the end of it, no one can have power over this life and the life to come except Him. O what a assurance of life over death that Jesus gives as the captain of life who defeated death forever by resurrection!
This is the only Church which was working for Jesus through tribulation, and poverty. But Jesus is reminding them that they are very rich spiritually. There is nothing that works the soul to prosper than tribulation and poverty. Those who go through it are refined and the dross is taken out of their flesh like nothing else that works spiritually. Those who are poor and persecuted but still love Him are called to be rich in faith by God (Jam 2:5). The first to persecute the church were Jews. Polycarp, the most famous of the early martyrs was the Bishop of Smyrna and was burned at the stake there at age 86. When this great man of God Polycarp was told to reproach Christ, he said, “86 years have I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?" O what a Testimony!
Jesus encourages not to be afraid of what they about to suffer as the devil will put some of them in prison to test them, and they will suffer persecution for ten days. We know from history that the ten days which is here referred to are reigns of 10 Roman Caesars, covering a period of 250 years. The only call Jesus gave to these persecuted members of the crushed church is to be faithful, even to the point of death, and He has promised to give them all the crown of life. Surely the martyr's crown is a remarkable one in the sight of God and will be carry the valor for eternity ahead! This is the only church that has no rebukes until now, but only commendation and encouragement from Jesus.
But note that Jesus never promised deliverance from suffering but only eternal heavenly reward for it all in response to their valor. In various ways of cruel method these believers were killed and mocked in public, but the persecuted Church stayed with heavenly grace to face death with smile in their face of which many seeing it were astonished of the brave death that convicted them of something beyond for which these men looked forward to with excitement. Are we ready for such grace to receive if God gives us the privilege to be a martyr or are we looking to save our life and lose it (Matt 16:25; Luke 9:24)? As end time approaches the number of martyrdom will also increase whether we like it or not.
The challenge the Spirit of God gives to us is to open our inner spiritual ear to hear what He is saying to the churches, if we are born twice, we die only once. And as we overcome the test of being thrown in to prison for Jesus and persecuted until death, physical death can have no more have power further to hurt as second death hurts the after life of the godless who die and are hurt forever in hell fire. As life of God within a martyr rises up to keep him faithful until death, that same life overcomes death as it prostrates itself before the prince of life who receives the martyrs by standing to welcome these great heroes of life in heaven (Acts 7:56, 59-60; 3:15). Hurrah is the last cry of the Smyrna Church because life reigns for eternity as death loses power over it! The church of Smyrna is in heaven today enjoying every moment of heaven with God, do we aspire for a heavenly survival or an earthly end. The one with no end or the one with short end!
Does persecution pushes our church in to desperation of giving up the testimony? Be strong, don't give up. Life is too stronger than death for eternity ahead, life after death is more real than life before death, never give up your testimony for anything temporary on earth to miss the eternal of heaven!
3) Pergamos The Mixed Marriage
Pergamum ("married") - from the Greek word pergamos, which is a combination of two Greek words: pergos and gamos. The Church which is married and loved by Jesus now by covenant (Eph 5:25), has started to slide down in infidelity by mixing itself with other pagan worships and practices which is a disheartening thing for Jesus who has paid the price with his own life to redeem it (1 Peter 1:18-19). Pergamum also means mixed marriage and represents the merger of pagan and Christian practices in the 4th century when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Jesus titles Himself as the one who has the sharp two-edged sword, thus describing the power of His Word that is present with him to divide asunder the soulish from truly the spiritual, and bring out the spiritual thoughts separately away from the attitudes of the heart of pagan worships and practices that tries to deceive the spiritual man, it is like separating the strong bone from the leaky marrow (Heb 4:12). In other words, it is filling of strong marrow in to the bone rather than a hollow nothingness of the vanity of false religious pagan cults and practices which weakens the true worship and practice of faith within our heart and spirit.
In these days a man Antipas was a true follower of Jesus. Whenever Satan sees faithful followers of Jesus like Antipas, he is furious to go against them to kill them. But Jesus allows the martyrdom of such people for the Glory of God, because he turns the tide of evil to prove the valor and courage of His faithful army which follows the foot steps of His for their brethren (John 15:13; 1 John 3:16). Remember, the blood of a Christian is the seed of the Church. These martyrs hold fast to the name of Jesus without reproaching it in spite of the suffering received due to it, did not deny the faith of Jesus in the face of death threats and death. Satan seeing it moved his throne to this place so that he could dwell there to bring more suffering to such great faithful examples of Jesus. One thing we must understand, only where there is faithfulness, Satan steps in to attack the faith. So count yourself worthy of the Lord's name if you are persecuted and threatened every where you go, probably Satan might have moved his throne to dwell in that place to challenge the authority of the Lord's faithful generals and soldiers in that area (Acts 5:18-20; 40-41; 12:2, 7-9, 10-11).
With the establishment of Baghdad as the major distribution center between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea following Alexander’s death, Babylon had gone into decline so the original mother/child cult religion moved its headquarters from there to Pergamum. (It eventually settled in Rome.) The reference to Satan’s throne there shows the true source of this false religion.
When ever Satan is directly involved against the soldiers in the army of saints, he sees the weakest link within it and tries to attack those very persons with the doctrine of Balaam and Nicolaitans when He is wary of attacking them through persecution and failing against them first repeatedly. This doctrine of Balaam is an evil one of deception to put a stumbling block by luring the children of God in to eating things sacrificed to idols and then through beautiful women lure them in to sexual immorality through mixed marriage to defile their mind from the strength of the Word of God which lives within them (2 Cor 3:3). Then is the doctrine of Nicolaitans the same route that Satan failed previously against the Church of Ephesus which they hated because they discerned that Jesus hated its evil nature. But here in this church the weak links which were some began to break and they held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans because it fed their flesh to indulge with other type of subtle and stealthy idolatry which is materialism the same nature as Balaam but with idolatry of the heart and sexual evangelism for convincing pagans of the love they have towards them (Col 3:5; 2 Cor 6:14-16; Luke 16:11, 13). These weak links instead of hating the ideology of Nicolaitans which is a blending of pagan customs to prosperity rituals and sexual productivity, they added it into Christian worship, loved and held it, the very beginning of the demise of the spiritual vitality and usefulness for Christ. Their teaching perverted grace and replaced liberty with license. We also come to know with another point of view too, it is said Nicolaitans were not so called from any man, but from the Greek word 'Nicolah', meaning "let us eat," as they often encouraged each other to eat things offered to idols and indulge in sex like goats, leading a life of self-indulgence in the religious name of evangelism to the unsaved world with love.
Jesus in strong words said to these people to repent or else He promised to come quickly and will fight with the Sword of His mouth against His own people in this deceived group who were causing a mixture of filth within the Church to desecrate the sacredness of the place where Jesus stands in its midst.
The Holy Spirit challenged this Church by saying the them, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." In other words, if they are deaf enough not to respond to the sweet call of the Spirit, it is judgment time for them and no more mercy or grace, it is the end! Chapter closed sadly with a period when the rebuke of Jesus is rejected.
God promised a special reward of revelation and honor for overcomers of such deception from the evil one by saying, "To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it." (Rev 2:17). God seals the specialists with His grace who have overcome seductive deception to be among his special flock of people because it is a sacrifice to the Spirit over flesh. All sacrifices are rewarded by God! Even the sexual sacrifice we make for His name and fame.
As the Roman Empire grew in prominence, Rome soon became the world’s center for the practices and traditions of the Babylonian pagan religion. Pergamum slowly faded from the scene, but the mixed marriage of Christianity and Paganism that originated there has produced four offspring, Roman Catholics (Thyatira), Main Line Protestants (Sardis), Evangelicals (Philadelphia) and the Apostate Church (Laodicea). All are alive on Earth today. Though the character of the first three churches still exist in various places of the world, yet the very essence of the physical seed of it has not taken root and spread across as a organized Churches to follow unlike the offspring of it which are the above four have taken root to be a organized force in all the earth.
4) Thyatira The Continual Sacrifice
Thyatira means continual sacrifice. The yester year Bible teacher Jack Kelley makes a great connection to the fact of the meaning of this church saying, "In the Catholic Church, the Lord is still on the cross, and Catholics believe that the communion wafer becomes His actual body and blood as it’s consumed."
Jesus speaks to the above people saying, "These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze". This means that Jesus with the eyes of God who knows everything and having feet like burnished bronze of purity at its highest, stands to judge the living and the dead as the Son of God on earth now and not as a Son of man who is the Son of Mary anymore (1 Peter 4:5; 2 Tim 4:1; 1 Cor 11:31, 31; 1 Peter 4:17).
Jesus the Christ who is the Son of God sees clearly all your "deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and [all] that you are now doing more than you did at first." (Rev 2:19). The Roman Catholics are know world wide for their acts of compassion, mercy, educating people to receive the Gospel, and providing practical help to all of God's children.
Jesus has strong criticism for this church saying, "20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. 24 “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. 25 But hold fast what you have till I come." (Rev 2:20-25).
The real Jezebel was a daughter of the King of Phonecia, a pagan princess best known for her advice to her Israelite husband King Ahab on how to obtain a vineyard he wanted. She brought trumped up charges against the vineyard’s owner, hired witnesses to bear false testimony, and had him convicted and executed. Then she confiscated the vineyard in the name of the King (1 Kings 21:1-16). We know how Catholics received the kind of wealth that has been obtained by inquisition of the poor peoples land in many many places, and turning them in to palaces of wealth through all kinds of business through their influence and power. This Jezebel who is a evil spirit that calls herself as the spirit of Mary spiritually calls herself a prophetess and shows herself in vision and miracles of false doing to draw people to itself and spread the name of itself as the chief intercessor between people and Jesus, who then is believed to get favors from God because of her intervention. The Bible calls that there is no other Mediator between God and man except one God-man who is Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5, 6). Jesus is demeaned as baby and the son of Mary, who is only good enough to hear what his mother says and not have any idea of his own. With out the mother, no son. Virgin Mother and infant Jesus. Such blasphemies are only good for idolatry and fables to deceive the mind of people!
By telling the priest to stay unmarried the Catholics as a Church have denied them of their rights to marry and also for the women who serve as Nuns. By making celibacy as mandatory, many have been tempted in to secret life of sexual immorality rather than a open life of fidelity after marriage. The virgin spirit of Mary has taught and seduced many servants of Jesus to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. Nearly Jesus has given the longest time to this church for her to repent of these sins, but it is only getting worse and worse and not better in any way. Repentance has been rejected by them and spiritual adultery of idolatry is on the rise, they who are not born again in this church will be allowed to enter the Tribulation that is coming ahead for the whole world, and the sick bed of the birth pangs is already altering the church scenario of this sect to join hands to become a one world religious rebellion against God (Matt 24:8).
Jezebel is a loud and a brash, but seductive lady with no fear of anyone but only one Man, He was Elijah because he stood in the Presence of God and brought Word from the throne of heaven to the thrones on earth to operate over it. God had seven thousand servants who did not bow their knees to Baal idol worship that Jezebel promoted, but not one was able to stand against her except the true prophet Elijah. Even Elijah who stood by faith, at the end got so weary by self-pity, it brought fear in to him in such a way and gripped him that he ran for his life and hid in a cave, until God visited him and strengthened him to come out and finish the rest of his job to leave for heaven. This Jezebel spirit had caused blood to be shed of many many saints in the past and have killed countless prophets and apostles in the past and soon God will take vengeance on this Jezebelic Mary spirit to avenge all of those killing just moments before the end of the world, then this Babylon will burn and the whole world will watch it and be amazed, and will shout alas, alas the great Babylon. Roman Catholic Mary's reign will come to an abrupt end, along with her, her spiritual fornication and sorcery that deceived all nations will end (Rev 18:8, 20, 23-24; 19:2).
Arise and see my Catholic Brothers and Sisters, now is the time to repent of sin and turn to the living God. Turn away from idols and look to the living God through only Jesus Christ the Son of God who is seeing you with blazing eyes of fire and walking with feet like burnished bronze ready and ripe for judgment! Many of you are looking to be saved, but bound by tradition, rise up come out and be saved truly (Rev 18:4). And countless number of those from other religions "who commit adultery with her" will be thrown by God in to "into great tribulation" (Matt 24:21), unless they repent of their deeds. Jesus is not going to show mercy or grace just because they call themselves catholic christians instead, "Jesus will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that Jesus Christ the Lord is the One who searches the minds and hearts." To me that means, are their good works performed out of gratitude for the free gift of salvation He offers, or they have done in a futile effort to earn salvation on their own? And if they have done out of gratitude freely for the salvation received freely, He gives to each one the reward according to their works. "To the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." (Romans 4:5). Grace and works are like water and oil, and never mix one with the other. Without receiving the salvation grace, if they have worked their way all their life in the catholic church, and insist upon being judged by their works, they will be granted their wish. Sadly the emphasis on these religious works has clouded the true message of the gospel to the extent that some life-long Catholics never come to know the Lord on a personal basis. So unless the sexual immorality of spiritual adultery and idolatry are repented off, there is a real danger ahead for all the children of the catholic church!
There are the rest of the people in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine of Mary and infant Jesus but look to the Savior Jesus directly to get saved from sin, who have not known the depths of Satan which is the subtle and stealthy doctrine of lookalike of Jesus and his teachings but not the real one which makes God's people to take their eyes of God and makes them settle on idol worship and materialism, Jesus puts on these saints of faith no other burden but tells them to hold fast on what they have till Jesus comes so that He could reward them for their works of faith. Real saints hold on!
The fantastic promise that Jesus is giving to the overcomers of this church who keep their works of faith until the end is, He will give to them in the future power over nations, just like Jesus received rulership from His Father in heaven, these faithful people who stand faithful to the end shall rule the people on earth with a rod of iron for a thousand years, and those rebels against God through their authority which they carry will use it to dash the rebellion and rebellious to pieces like the potter's vessels And also Jesus promises to give them for eternity the glory of the morning star which is his own that He carries now in heaven a special anointing to be the light of heaven (Rev 2:26-27, 28). A special authority that is recognized in all of heaven for eternity will be theirs. There’s a little bit of Thyatira in all of us. Even after we’re saved by Grace, we all have our lists of do’s and don’ts. We believe the Lord Jesus and then we are saved by grace initially, yet we line up ourselves and others to a religion based on our works afterwards to please God, and not do the work out of gratitude for what God has already done for us. So let us repent and do the first work out of gratitude for the free salvation God has given us.
The Spirit of God gives the Challenge to hear if we have a spiritual ear to hear of what the Spirit says to the churches (Rev 2:29).
5) Sardis The Remnant
Sardis means remnant. As He did in the Letter to Thyatira, the Lord will distinguish between the lost and the saved (the remnant) in Sardis. In the Spirit of Elijah, Martin Luther rose up against the spirit of Jezebel and started to lay foundation of faith to get saved once again. He thundered, "The just shall live by faith," (Rom 1:17) and there arose a remnant of God that started to follow him. When Luther and others led the way out of Catholicism, it was in search of truth.
The call of the reformation was “Sola fides (only through faith), sola gratia (Only by grace), solus Christus (only with Christ), and sola Scriptura (Only His Word).”
Jesus titled Himself here saying, "These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars." This means Jesus is reminding the Sardis church that He is the one who gives the seven fold spirit of God, which includes "the Spirit of the Lord, and the Spirits of wisdom, of understanding, of counsel, of might, of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, here are represented the seven Spirits, which are before the throne of God." (Isaiah 11:2-3) and it reminds to the messenger ministers of God that Jesus Christ is the one who is holding them all in his hand in all the churches with all the empowerment anointing they need to stand and deliver his call over their lives, no matter what comes to them in the natural. O what a strength Jesus gives to all the shepherd under Him! The same comfort and confidence they should impart to all the sheep's in the churches.
The sad thing about Main Line Protestants Christianity right from the starting of time is that, they began to exalt the doctrine of faith rather than the faith which points to God for salvation in whom all must exalt and praise and live for His Glory! This led them to a unhealthy place where there was a lot of zealous work done for the Lord in His name, but the pride behind it altered their attitude which exalted them and not God. As a result of it, many succeeding generations had the very accurate doctrine of Main Line Christianity and boasted about the accuracy of their knowledge to say that they are very much alive and all others are dead, but little did they realize that due to their pride and arrogance they were never even born again because of such attitude of pride which is the biggest sin that caused the downfall of Satan himself from heaven (Rev 3:2).
In their quest for the truth, the Protestant reformers neglected the things of the Spirit and for several hundred years almost never heard the rustlings of the Ruach Elohim (Spirit of God) in their midst (John 4:24). When the Great Awakening of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s brought the Gifts of the Spirit into the open, again main line protestants denied their legitimacy. This caused many to leave the main line denominations, giving birth first to the Pentecostal and then the Charismatic movements. Even today we have a great lesson to learn from this, no matter how big the revelation we get from the Bible, it is a gift of grace that God has freely given us so that we cannot boast about it, but only boast about the Lord who has given it all through His Spirit! Glory to God!
Jesus then admonishes saying, "Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God." In other words, Jesus tells the rest of the remnant who are humble before Him to rise up and realize that all around them who are in the Main Line Protestants just like the Pharisees who who knew all the doctrine accurately but were never born again spiritually because of their pride, dying day by day in their foolishness of their pride in the doctrine they hold. So Jesus tell these true and humble servants of God to shake these people up and wake these people up, so that those who are about to die unsaved may be strengthened by the Spirit of God through salvation, so that their deeds may become complete in the sight of God (John 6:28-29; 39-40).
I believe as is the case in the Catholic church, there remains but a remnant of denominational protestants who are saved. Then after this Jesus is giving the call to them who are saved but have backslidden saying, "3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. 4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." (Rev 3:3-5).
Jesus clear call first is for those who are saved, but remain fruitless Main Line Protestants because of pride of doctrine in their lives. To them Jesus tells them to hold fast to faith and not the works they do for God, then repent of their own pride before God to be humble in His sight. If they are not ready to watch and pray to obey the Lord's command, they will lose the reward for their works as it will be done with pride and not in gratitude of humility for what the Lord has done for them freely. Either the Lord will come, or they will have to suddenly appear before the Lord because of death. Both ways they will lose their eternal reward unless they repent and hold fast to the admonition of Jesus. The salvation garments of a few names still have not defiled their garments because of things like pride and worldliness and arrogance, Jesus promises them that they will walk with Him in white garments of honor because they are worthily walked with Him in humility. But Jesus is saying to the general crowd that is saved, but fearful of God's judgment because of man taught fear that if they miss anything to keep legalistically from the Bible, they might get unsaved and thus because of fear have soiled their clothes with unbelief and doubt (Mark 7:6-9; Matt 15:9; 23:27), to them Jesus is assuring that He will not blot out their name from the Book of life if they just enough keep the faith and keep working for the Lord in gratitude for their free salvation, because once they are saved by confessing the Lord Jesus they are always saved (Rom 10:11, 13). The Lord Jesus has promised to declare their name before the Father and angels in heaven which cannot be changed for eternity (Matt 10:32; 26:75; John 21:17; 1:12; Luke 12:8, 10), thus here Jesus does not threaten to blot out the names of those that has been written in the Book of life for salvation, rather reassures the doubters of his unchanging promises which never changes if they are overcomers by faith and are saved (1 John 5:4-5). Praise the Lord! These two churches of catholic and Main Line Protestants defined Christianity until the 1800’s up to which the Lord again did a remarkable thing through these churches which was born again and sprang out of Pergamus.
The challenge of the Holy Spirit to this church is, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
May God help us hear the words of Jesus spiritually and make us live for His Glory!
6) Philadelphia The Brotherly Love
Jesus writes this letter to the minister in charge of the Church in Philadelphia. Philadelphia means brotherly love.
In the chronicle of church history, Philadelphia represents the evangelical church born in the 1800’s during the 2nd Great Awakening. (The first took place about 100 years earlier primarily in the Northern colonies.) For centuries scholars had taught an allegorical interpretation of scripture, especially prophecy, but in the mid 1800’s the rank and file was energized by a return to the literal interpretation. The pre-tribulation rapture and 1000 year reign of the Lord on Earth, views that were prevalent during the 1st century but abandoned with the allegorical interpretation were once again popular. The church was born again.
Here Jesus asserts Himself as the Messiah who holds the keys to the Davidic Kingdom of God. He alone has the authority to grant and refuse entry.
Then Jesus commends this church saying, " 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you." (Rev 3:8-9).
The open door is the one through which John will enter heaven in chapter 4 to stand before the Throne of God, a type of the Rapture. There was little strength with the Evangelicals because the Catholics and main line protestants began to persecute them with all their strength which is a type of Church in Philadelphia where Jews in the first century persecuted them, these receiving no criticism from Jesus, they were also granted admission in to heaven. This is symbolic of the fact that for those saved by grace through faith, it’s as if they’ve never committed a single sin and their lives are as righteous and clean as God Himself because their faith purified them perfectly (Acts 15:9). God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). Like the Jews of the first century who persecuted this church, the previous generations movement of God came against the evangelicals viciously but Jesus promised to show his love for them by how He will make them come and worship the Lord before their feet in surrender to what He will do through them in might and power. True to the words of Jesus, the healing's and miracles began in this period first with the evangelicals and started to increase more and more. And exactly when this happened, the main line denomination and Catholics began to be astonished by the power of God that moved with the evangelicals of these times after 1800's. Then many surrendered their lives to the Lord seeing the power of God in live manifestations with the evangelicals who challenged them all.
Jesus then says to the evangelicals, "10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown." (Rev 3:10-11).
This directly points to the literal belief of the Scripture these people believe by simple faith, that the tribulation will happen before the hour of trial which will come upon the whole world which in others places is called the "tribulation", "great tribulation", etc...of the end (Mark 13:19; Luke 21:36; Matt 24:21). Throughout the balance of Revelation the church is referred to as those who dwell in Heaven and those on earth are called as earth dwellers which shows that the rapture happens for sure for all the believers who wait for Jesus and purify themselves prayerfully and look for Jesus and not keep their eyes on anything other than Him and Him alone (Heb 9:28; 1 John 3:2-3; Luke 21:36; Heb 12:2).
Then Jesus is distinguishing saying I am coming quickly, so therefore, make sure you work for reward and not just be satisfied with your salvation faith, because your work will be rewarded for eternity if you do work out of gratefulness for your salvation, or else your reward will be taken by someone who deserves it for His work of sacrifice and commitment. Here’s one of those places that distinguishes the free gift of salvation from the crowns we’ll earn as prizes for things we do in the Lord’s name out of gratitude for His gift of salvation, and one of those crowns is reserved for those who long for His appearing (2 Tim. 4:8) and that describes the attitude of the Church in Philadelphia perfectly because the Lord has promised to suddenly come anytime. Don't lose hope Jesus is coming again! Anytime!
Finally the reward Jesus promises includes a special reward for these people of faith for the brotherly love church of evangelicals, "He Challenges him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name." (Rev 3:12). Who is it that overcomes the world, John asks? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:5). Through out the seven churches which Jesus writes, the overcomers are not those who will strive with the works to impress Jesus of what they are doing for Him, but rather those who have believed Jesus as the Son of God, and then continue to do the works of faith in gratitude to Jesus for what He has already done for them to get saved for eternity. In other words, forever we will be saved by faith through grace alone, and will be rewarded for the work of faith by our work alone. So once we are saved and work for our Lord, our Home is New Jerusalem and our future secure with the New Name of our Lord of Lords and King of Kings written on us to proclaim His glory upon us for eternity ahead! What more we need? Keep working for the Lord saints! There is no greater reward than to work for our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Promise) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Again the Spirit of God shouts to awaken and remind to make us hear what He is saying to the churches through our spiritual ear! Hear O saints, the reward and the future is great!
7) Laodicea The People Rule
Jesus writes this letter to the minister of God who is in charge of this Church and the collective ministers of God who shepherd his people at the end of the age. Laodicea means “the people rule.” The Laodicean church represents the apostate church at the end of the age. Many in the New Age and Emergent Church movements are part of this church.
Jesus introduces and asserts Himself as the "[the last] Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the [first ruler of the] Beginning of the creation of God" (Rev 3:14), thus saying symbolically to this end of the age people of God that He is the one who has the power to bring their prayer to pass when they say Amen! at the end of it, then they are not the rulers though it might seem to be like that for a while at the end of the age, but actually I your Master rule over all things including your lives. He’s letting us the believers of the end time to know that we don’t rule the church, but He does.
Then Jesus gives out His criticism for the Church to improve in all the aspects lacking in the church saying, "15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see." (Rev 3:15-18).
The church in Laodicea receives no commendation, only this criticism, rich in symbolic sarcasm. Laodicea got its water from nearby Heiropolis, a hot spring resort that still flourishes today, now called Pamukkale. The water came across the valley in an open aqueduct. Having begun its journey fresh from the hot springs, it was luke warm by the time it arrived. Too cool to be used for cleaning or bathing, and too warm to be refreshing, it was unfit for use until it could be either heated up or cooled down. Such is the state of this end time Church, useful for nothing, until it is either cold or hot for Jesus.
The moment Jesus says to this end time apostate Church, "I know your works", we should understand that He as the omniscient God knows inside out of our spiritual lives and every nook and corner of our physical and all aspects of our life. We cannot hide anything from Jesus, whose eyes burn like flames. Jesus found the lives of the end time church members of the apostate church neither hot nor cold which means he got no satisfaction out of the works that they did and boasted about it after salvation. That which Jesus vomits, he finds no pleasure in it but only irritation in tasting such works that is neither spiritual nor fleshly, either extreme would have been good enough to decide. The apostate church of the end boasting about itself saying, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’, shows that they have become senseless to the spiritual state of consciousness that comes from the Spirit of God and have totally been lost in the natural fleshly state of mind seeing all the pomp and the hi-fundas aspect of their own lives, ministries and their influence which has gained reputation among men.
This apostate church does not even realize that they need salvation to be part of the eternal bride of Christ, then after salvation they need to please God not themselves and then live for the Glory of God and not themselves. Jesus bring out the truth of the state of the apostate Church saying, "[You] do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold [which is true works of faith] refined in the fire [of suffering], that you may be rich [spiritually for eternity]; and [be in] white garments, that you may be clothed [with salvation], that the shame of your nakedness [i.e. life without God's righteousness] may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve [i.e. discernment of the Spirit], that you may see."
From the above statement of Jesus, we clearly see that a great majority within this end time church is not saved at all. The works they do is useless as they are first of all not saved at all, and so they are doing dead works with no eternal value before God or for man. Jesus wants these sinners to get saved and then want them to trust and live by God's righteousness and not their own, so that the reality of who they are in their own and who they can be in Christ can be clearly revealed to them by the Spirit of God. O Lord open our eyes O Spirit, that we might see spiritually and live!
Jesus finally gives a clarion call to this end time Church saying, "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Rev 3:20). Often called the great evangelistic call, this passage as assumed by certain people who think that it screams out one extraordinary fact, "The Lord’s standing outside! He’s knocking on the door trying to get in, hoping (dare I say praying or pleading?) that someone, anyone, will hear His voice and invite Him in." To these people I say, first of all in the introduction of all Churches, Jesus says that the ministers of the churches are in his hand, and the churches represented as lamp stands are His, and that He is walking in the midst of it, when did then Jesus has been locked outside his own Church which all belongs to Him. Even these people are challenging the previous saying of Jesus who said, that if He open a door, no one can shut. In other words, who can lock Him out of the Church He wants to enter? If they do think like that, He’ll say, “Better change your mind and repent to realize your need for a savior or else I will remove the lamp stand and your time will be about up to go only to hell fire which is burning red hot for all the hypocrites who think I myself need permission to enter my own church!”
So that passage is not about Jesus wanting permission to enter his Church, but rather an admonition to the believers to be sensitive enough to the rebuke and discipline of the Lord, to repent earnestly and turn back from their old fleshly ways, so that we who have repented and are hearing the voice of the Savior unlike before, can invite Jesus to have fellowship and communion with us willingly to reap the benefit of it for a lifetime on earth and eternity ahead (2 Cor 13:13)!
Finally Jesus challenges the unsaved religious nuts of the end time to get saved and reap the eternal benefit of His when He said, "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne." (Rev 3:21). Jesus never was striving to overcome and sit with His Father's throne, in the midst of all the suffering He by faith overcame all things through the grace of God and tasted death (Heb 2:9), then the Father showered on Him His Glory and seated Jesus with Himself in heaven because He Glorified the Father and not himself in anyway even to the point of death (Php 2:5-9; John 7:18; 8:54). Jesus is our example to follow, we must follow Him in our foot steps through suffering, and not striving by our faith, through His grace and not by our works of any kind (1 Peter 2:21), so that God might be glorified all in all. The reward for our overcoming faith on earth is a inheritance of rulership in our eternity of friendship with God in the new heavens and the new earth, where in the midst of it all in the New Jerusalem we will remain as a light to the nations of the world of new world order working under God joyfully and happily for eternity ahead! O what a privilege!
The above last challenge of Jesus shows us all that, right up until the time of the Rapture, anyone in the Church of Laodicea can recognize his or her need for a savior and look to the Lord for salvation. And even if it makes them the very last member of the Body of Christ they’ll receive full rights and privileges. The number’s almost complete. If you’re a Laodicean reading this, you just may be the one we’re all waiting for. Thank God for His mercy and grace that He has extended to the Church of all ages even until the present moment of this end time age of the apostate church.
Praise God for all His goodness and grace!
The Spirit of God cries out finally to gather the great eternal flock for the final time before the rapture happens saying, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”! O Lord come our Lord Jesus! Maranatha!
There’s a bit of the Laodicean in all of us. Some part of the Word we’re lukewarm about, some area of our life where we think we’re self-sufficient, some sin we’ve blinded ourselves to. Let’s get right about it while there’s time. The final call is up and we can almost hear the trumpet sound of the Lord!
Much Blessings....
Answer: Greetings in Jesus mighty name! Praise the Lord!
Very nicely you have asked for encouragement Scriptures for growth in the journey of Salvation, because though salvation is a one time event, the effect of salvation growth is a process and a journey for a lifetime.
That is why the writer to the Hebrews says like the following, "1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits." (Heb 6:1-2) and "32 ...recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; 34 for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise." (Heb 10:32-36).
The above verses are life changing and transforming if we understand it rightly. First the writer says to the new believers and those who are having lack of growth in their spiritual life with growth hormone deficiency to not just feed on and on with milk of the basic doctrine which is the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. The apostle is asking the new born believers and growth-impaired believers to leave the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, and is pleading them to accompany him to go with him on to perfection. There is a place of perfection for believers where they keep on growing without any hindrance due to any kind of lack of spiritual nutrition in their lives. This place of taking good and nutritious spiritual food must be accompanied by doing spiritual exercise regularly to put on spiritual muscles by faith and shape up supernaturally for a phenomenal growth by enduring great struggles with sufferings that God will allow in their lives. God will give a way out of temptation, but never out of suffering because without enduring such struggle with patience, they can never see growth in their spiritual lives.
There are believers who are very enthusiastic and zealous in the beginning of time after their salvation experience, but slowly seeing the world and the struggle with their flesh and Satan's tempting attacks, they grow weary in their lives, to the point of becoming discouraged and depressed due to it. So the believers need to look no further than the life of endurance that they have lived in the past after salvation in which they themselves were very fruitful in the Lord, once that recalling happens, the mind will be renewed to stand in the victory of faith! Then while there is shame involved in the public when we face suffering through reproaches and tribulations, they as believers also become companions of those who were so treated. So we see a gloomy atmosphere not only around a growing believer, but also around the other companions of them who are around going through their own suffering in their own lives. Even this apostle who was in prison writing these heavenly letters found solace when the believers having compassion on him, took a sacrificial offering for the writer who was encouraging them and let themselves be plundered of their earthly goods so that the apostle in the prison would be helped by them, and also they as the followers of Christ could be able to invest their money for a better and enduring possession for themselves in heaven. To give in the midst of need is the real sacrificial offering that God always honors. So the apostle encourages all the believers to face the suffering face to face, and keep moving in faith with great confidence, because soon that very confidence will bring a great reward in their lives now and for eternity. The writer to the Hebrews asks them to endure the suffering of their life a little bit of some more time, so that the promise of God they will be able to receive in the will of God. This is the encouragement all believer need in this phase of life after salvation, because we are no more walking to keep the salvation secure, but rather we are all out on a race to receive God's reward which will soon become our inheritance for eternity ahead! Truly a enduring possession of reward which a thief cannot steal or can never be eaten by moth, nor will rust out overtime, will surely be given by God according to His promise, for all the overcoming believers in heaven who will stay with Him forever and ever (Matt 6:19-20)! Praise the Lord!
Where are you standing today, you have to check your own faith whether you have genuine one or just a head faith that has never become a heart faith, you need not worry about getting disqualified if you have genuine faith (2 Cor 13:5-6)? Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave and strong through your suffering in love (1 Cor 16:13-14). Are you able to overcome your lust towards another man's wife, or are you still falling in to the same sin of pornography and masturbation which is making you its slave rather than you ruling over it and making it slave to you. Do not allow sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts (Rom 6:12), when you have the way out of all the temptations (1 Cor 10:13), by standing against lust by your choice to oppose it all and be victorious by the grace of God (Rom 6:14). During this period of growth many times, the devil will try to pull you down totally by making the lust to become physical from being a spiritual one, this is a dangerous ground, but trust the grace of God and commit yourself in to the hands of God and be determined to stand for your faith and never for your comfort to your flesh. The flesh has to die a thousand death, before it will loosen its hold on you, God is faithful and He will do it if you hold on to His hands faithfully day after day, month after month, year after year where a lot of spiritual progress will happen through facing temptation and overcoming it, along with the suffering your face justly for the sake of God in your life.
There may be suffering that will come for you from the believers themselves who are under your care, yet with a fatherly heart your must forgive and forget them each time you are back stabbed by their natural fleshly hold over them, love them and not retaliate back, that is allowed by God for your progress and their correction towards growth (Gal 4:12).
Make sure that you desire the gift of God by stirring it and en flaming it which will take you before kings (2 Tim 1:6-7; 1 Cor 14:1; Prov 18:16), but to stay in the company of kings and in the court of His, you have to consistently desire to grow in your character by allowing the sword of God which is the Word of God quickened by the Spirit of God to fall upon you day after day and allow the Holy Spirit of God to burn the tares of the flesh day after day (Matt 3:12). Apart from the admonition that I have discussed above to you, the following will be a very important admonition directly from Jesus to you.
The following may be the 7 different advice's Jesus would choose to give to a growing Pastor of a thriving Church, and your Church at a particular time would fall in to one category of it in its spiritual climate, so you must identify it and choose to be the Church which is commended by Jesus and correct the mistake when and where ever you are rebuked in love by Jesus to repent and overcome :
1) Ephesus The Beloved
The word Ephesus in Greek in 'Ephesos' which means it is , "desirable" or "beloved". Here we see Jesus holding in His hand the seven stars in His right hand, and walks among in the midst of the seven golden lamp stands. Jesus explains Himself that the stars are the messengers of the Seven Churches and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches (Rev 1:20). Jesus holds each messenger who shepherds the Church in His own right hand individually, and then walks in the midst of all the Churches of His. Specifically Jesus does not write to bishops of the province and then tells him to distribute, but directly writes the message to the five fold minister of the Church who shepherds it and reveals the spiritual climate of his own Church to him. This is the apostolic model for each Church.
Ephesus is a beloved Church to Jesus as the very name suggests. In using the title "These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands," the Lord identifies Himself as the One who came to visit John, the One with authority over the Church in the first century, and the One to whom the Church owes affection as well as allegiance.
Jesus is the chief shepherd under whom the pastor as a shepherd works to take care of the flocks that come to the Church to receive the light of Jesus. Jesus commends the Ephesus Church for a lot of things like the works they do, labor, patience, for not enduring those who are evil but throwing them out of the fellowship or excommunicating them, for testing them who say they are apostles and finding them as liars, they have persevered, have patience, have labored for Jesus' name's sake and they have not become weary. These are all great things that Jesus had appreciated.
Jesus not only encourages, but always corrects and rebukes those whom he loves, so that if anyone lacks in their life and in the life of their congregation, there will be improvement always in leaps and bounds. This is the true nature of Jesus' friendship with the messengers of the churches and the members (Prov 27:5-6). Jesus wants us to improve always in every aspect of our spiritual lives.
Against this Church the Lord Jesus' complaint was that they have left the first love they had for Jesus. There was a time their heart was burning with red hot love for Jesus, when they came early to worship and with passion shared the gospel, with love burning for Jesus they rose up early to speak to Jesus and slept even while speaking to Jesus in the night, the time when they spoke to Jesus and said that how much they love Him for saving them from sin, etc...all was lost somewhere when they were focused on the King's work and took the focus away from the King Jesus. Somewhere along the line they passed on from human being to human doing. Even today Jesus wants all the Churches to burn in their heart full of love for Him. Not just the new believers, but with the oldest believers he expects that kind of love. As always in marriage, in the beginning the passion and love burns, later it wears out old and cold. Jesus doesn't want His Church to be like that, and He feels very sad about it. Burn hot with the love of Jesus always at all times!
So Jesus wants us to remember the days of our first love for Him and wants us to get back from the height of love life we have fallen from. He wants us to repent which is to change our mind's thinking and do the first work which is to love Him and nothing more. Our work is of no value to Jesus if it is not done for the sake of love towards Him. Our love towards Him fires Him up towards us in a depth of love. If repentance is not genuinely there, the chilling warning of Jesus stands true to this day, that he will come quickly and remove the church from its place (Rev 1:20). The real Church is not present to entertain people as a social club, but to receive the light of Jesus and reflect back our love towards Him.
The Nicolaitans were a heretical sect that advocated a blending of pagan customs, like eating food sacrificed to idols of materialism and customs that leads to sexual immorality in the heart under the guise of evangelism which might lead to secret lives of sexual orgies though not openly, into Christian worship. There’s only One worthy to receive our worship, and worshiping Him devotedly with all of our love in one's heart is the Church’s primary purpose. Jesus hates the mixture of flesh and pagan customs, so should we as His lovers (Rev 2:14-15).
The Spirit of God is saying to the churches that we as shepherds who are taking care of the sheep's of Jesus today, that if we overcome individually that which Jesus said is lacking, He will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (Rev 2:7). Adam and Eve lost the right to eat of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, but then God promises in the eternal garden of the paradise of God, the eternal privilege to eat from the tree of life (Gen 3:22-24). Partaking of the tree of life gives us deep eternal insight of fellowship and intimacy of love with God and His life to live forevermore which is the greatest privilege for a child of God for eternity ahead. The promises of Jesus for all overcomers are not temporal and earthly, but eternal and heavenly. May no one deceive you of your eternal reward! Look to Jesus always, you will never be deceived.
Does our Church work for Jesus with fervor but with no feeling of first love in their heart? Repent!
2) Smyrna The Crushed
Smyrna means crushed. It comes from the same root word as myrrh, an embalming spice that releases its aroma when crushed. The grand title with which Jesus introduces Himself to the church of Smyrna saying, "These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again," shows that Jesus rules over death and life, because He is God the beginning of life and the end of it, no one can have power over this life and the life to come except Him. O what a assurance of life over death that Jesus gives as the captain of life who defeated death forever by resurrection!
This is the only Church which was working for Jesus through tribulation, and poverty. But Jesus is reminding them that they are very rich spiritually. There is nothing that works the soul to prosper than tribulation and poverty. Those who go through it are refined and the dross is taken out of their flesh like nothing else that works spiritually. Those who are poor and persecuted but still love Him are called to be rich in faith by God (Jam 2:5). The first to persecute the church were Jews. Polycarp, the most famous of the early martyrs was the Bishop of Smyrna and was burned at the stake there at age 86. When this great man of God Polycarp was told to reproach Christ, he said, “86 years have I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?" O what a Testimony!
Jesus encourages not to be afraid of what they about to suffer as the devil will put some of them in prison to test them, and they will suffer persecution for ten days. We know from history that the ten days which is here referred to are reigns of 10 Roman Caesars, covering a period of 250 years. The only call Jesus gave to these persecuted members of the crushed church is to be faithful, even to the point of death, and He has promised to give them all the crown of life. Surely the martyr's crown is a remarkable one in the sight of God and will be carry the valor for eternity ahead! This is the only church that has no rebukes until now, but only commendation and encouragement from Jesus.
But note that Jesus never promised deliverance from suffering but only eternal heavenly reward for it all in response to their valor. In various ways of cruel method these believers were killed and mocked in public, but the persecuted Church stayed with heavenly grace to face death with smile in their face of which many seeing it were astonished of the brave death that convicted them of something beyond for which these men looked forward to with excitement. Are we ready for such grace to receive if God gives us the privilege to be a martyr or are we looking to save our life and lose it (Matt 16:25; Luke 9:24)? As end time approaches the number of martyrdom will also increase whether we like it or not.
The challenge the Spirit of God gives to us is to open our inner spiritual ear to hear what He is saying to the churches, if we are born twice, we die only once. And as we overcome the test of being thrown in to prison for Jesus and persecuted until death, physical death can have no more have power further to hurt as second death hurts the after life of the godless who die and are hurt forever in hell fire. As life of God within a martyr rises up to keep him faithful until death, that same life overcomes death as it prostrates itself before the prince of life who receives the martyrs by standing to welcome these great heroes of life in heaven (Acts 7:56, 59-60; 3:15). Hurrah is the last cry of the Smyrna Church because life reigns for eternity as death loses power over it! The church of Smyrna is in heaven today enjoying every moment of heaven with God, do we aspire for a heavenly survival or an earthly end. The one with no end or the one with short end!
Does persecution pushes our church in to desperation of giving up the testimony? Be strong, don't give up. Life is too stronger than death for eternity ahead, life after death is more real than life before death, never give up your testimony for anything temporary on earth to miss the eternal of heaven!
3) Pergamos The Mixed Marriage
Pergamum ("married") - from the Greek word pergamos, which is a combination of two Greek words: pergos and gamos. The Church which is married and loved by Jesus now by covenant (Eph 5:25), has started to slide down in infidelity by mixing itself with other pagan worships and practices which is a disheartening thing for Jesus who has paid the price with his own life to redeem it (1 Peter 1:18-19). Pergamum also means mixed marriage and represents the merger of pagan and Christian practices in the 4th century when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Jesus titles Himself as the one who has the sharp two-edged sword, thus describing the power of His Word that is present with him to divide asunder the soulish from truly the spiritual, and bring out the spiritual thoughts separately away from the attitudes of the heart of pagan worships and practices that tries to deceive the spiritual man, it is like separating the strong bone from the leaky marrow (Heb 4:12). In other words, it is filling of strong marrow in to the bone rather than a hollow nothingness of the vanity of false religious pagan cults and practices which weakens the true worship and practice of faith within our heart and spirit.
In these days a man Antipas was a true follower of Jesus. Whenever Satan sees faithful followers of Jesus like Antipas, he is furious to go against them to kill them. But Jesus allows the martyrdom of such people for the Glory of God, because he turns the tide of evil to prove the valor and courage of His faithful army which follows the foot steps of His for their brethren (John 15:13; 1 John 3:16). Remember, the blood of a Christian is the seed of the Church. These martyrs hold fast to the name of Jesus without reproaching it in spite of the suffering received due to it, did not deny the faith of Jesus in the face of death threats and death. Satan seeing it moved his throne to this place so that he could dwell there to bring more suffering to such great faithful examples of Jesus. One thing we must understand, only where there is faithfulness, Satan steps in to attack the faith. So count yourself worthy of the Lord's name if you are persecuted and threatened every where you go, probably Satan might have moved his throne to dwell in that place to challenge the authority of the Lord's faithful generals and soldiers in that area (Acts 5:18-20; 40-41; 12:2, 7-9, 10-11).
With the establishment of Baghdad as the major distribution center between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea following Alexander’s death, Babylon had gone into decline so the original mother/child cult religion moved its headquarters from there to Pergamum. (It eventually settled in Rome.) The reference to Satan’s throne there shows the true source of this false religion.
When ever Satan is directly involved against the soldiers in the army of saints, he sees the weakest link within it and tries to attack those very persons with the doctrine of Balaam and Nicolaitans when He is wary of attacking them through persecution and failing against them first repeatedly. This doctrine of Balaam is an evil one of deception to put a stumbling block by luring the children of God in to eating things sacrificed to idols and then through beautiful women lure them in to sexual immorality through mixed marriage to defile their mind from the strength of the Word of God which lives within them (2 Cor 3:3). Then is the doctrine of Nicolaitans the same route that Satan failed previously against the Church of Ephesus which they hated because they discerned that Jesus hated its evil nature. But here in this church the weak links which were some began to break and they held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans because it fed their flesh to indulge with other type of subtle and stealthy idolatry which is materialism the same nature as Balaam but with idolatry of the heart and sexual evangelism for convincing pagans of the love they have towards them (Col 3:5; 2 Cor 6:14-16; Luke 16:11, 13). These weak links instead of hating the ideology of Nicolaitans which is a blending of pagan customs to prosperity rituals and sexual productivity, they added it into Christian worship, loved and held it, the very beginning of the demise of the spiritual vitality and usefulness for Christ. Their teaching perverted grace and replaced liberty with license. We also come to know with another point of view too, it is said Nicolaitans were not so called from any man, but from the Greek word 'Nicolah', meaning "let us eat," as they often encouraged each other to eat things offered to idols and indulge in sex like goats, leading a life of self-indulgence in the religious name of evangelism to the unsaved world with love.
Jesus in strong words said to these people to repent or else He promised to come quickly and will fight with the Sword of His mouth against His own people in this deceived group who were causing a mixture of filth within the Church to desecrate the sacredness of the place where Jesus stands in its midst.
The Holy Spirit challenged this Church by saying the them, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." In other words, if they are deaf enough not to respond to the sweet call of the Spirit, it is judgment time for them and no more mercy or grace, it is the end! Chapter closed sadly with a period when the rebuke of Jesus is rejected.
God promised a special reward of revelation and honor for overcomers of such deception from the evil one by saying, "To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it." (Rev 2:17). God seals the specialists with His grace who have overcome seductive deception to be among his special flock of people because it is a sacrifice to the Spirit over flesh. All sacrifices are rewarded by God! Even the sexual sacrifice we make for His name and fame.
As the Roman Empire grew in prominence, Rome soon became the world’s center for the practices and traditions of the Babylonian pagan religion. Pergamum slowly faded from the scene, but the mixed marriage of Christianity and Paganism that originated there has produced four offspring, Roman Catholics (Thyatira), Main Line Protestants (Sardis), Evangelicals (Philadelphia) and the Apostate Church (Laodicea). All are alive on Earth today. Though the character of the first three churches still exist in various places of the world, yet the very essence of the physical seed of it has not taken root and spread across as a organized Churches to follow unlike the offspring of it which are the above four have taken root to be a organized force in all the earth.
4) Thyatira The Continual Sacrifice
Thyatira means continual sacrifice. The yester year Bible teacher Jack Kelley makes a great connection to the fact of the meaning of this church saying, "In the Catholic Church, the Lord is still on the cross, and Catholics believe that the communion wafer becomes His actual body and blood as it’s consumed."
Jesus speaks to the above people saying, "These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze". This means that Jesus with the eyes of God who knows everything and having feet like burnished bronze of purity at its highest, stands to judge the living and the dead as the Son of God on earth now and not as a Son of man who is the Son of Mary anymore (1 Peter 4:5; 2 Tim 4:1; 1 Cor 11:31, 31; 1 Peter 4:17).
Jesus the Christ who is the Son of God sees clearly all your "deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and [all] that you are now doing more than you did at first." (Rev 2:19). The Roman Catholics are know world wide for their acts of compassion, mercy, educating people to receive the Gospel, and providing practical help to all of God's children.
Jesus has strong criticism for this church saying, "20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. 24 “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. 25 But hold fast what you have till I come." (Rev 2:20-25).
The real Jezebel was a daughter of the King of Phonecia, a pagan princess best known for her advice to her Israelite husband King Ahab on how to obtain a vineyard he wanted. She brought trumped up charges against the vineyard’s owner, hired witnesses to bear false testimony, and had him convicted and executed. Then she confiscated the vineyard in the name of the King (1 Kings 21:1-16). We know how Catholics received the kind of wealth that has been obtained by inquisition of the poor peoples land in many many places, and turning them in to palaces of wealth through all kinds of business through their influence and power. This Jezebel who is a evil spirit that calls herself as the spirit of Mary spiritually calls herself a prophetess and shows herself in vision and miracles of false doing to draw people to itself and spread the name of itself as the chief intercessor between people and Jesus, who then is believed to get favors from God because of her intervention. The Bible calls that there is no other Mediator between God and man except one God-man who is Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5, 6). Jesus is demeaned as baby and the son of Mary, who is only good enough to hear what his mother says and not have any idea of his own. With out the mother, no son. Virgin Mother and infant Jesus. Such blasphemies are only good for idolatry and fables to deceive the mind of people!
By telling the priest to stay unmarried the Catholics as a Church have denied them of their rights to marry and also for the women who serve as Nuns. By making celibacy as mandatory, many have been tempted in to secret life of sexual immorality rather than a open life of fidelity after marriage. The virgin spirit of Mary has taught and seduced many servants of Jesus to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. Nearly Jesus has given the longest time to this church for her to repent of these sins, but it is only getting worse and worse and not better in any way. Repentance has been rejected by them and spiritual adultery of idolatry is on the rise, they who are not born again in this church will be allowed to enter the Tribulation that is coming ahead for the whole world, and the sick bed of the birth pangs is already altering the church scenario of this sect to join hands to become a one world religious rebellion against God (Matt 24:8).
Jezebel is a loud and a brash, but seductive lady with no fear of anyone but only one Man, He was Elijah because he stood in the Presence of God and brought Word from the throne of heaven to the thrones on earth to operate over it. God had seven thousand servants who did not bow their knees to Baal idol worship that Jezebel promoted, but not one was able to stand against her except the true prophet Elijah. Even Elijah who stood by faith, at the end got so weary by self-pity, it brought fear in to him in such a way and gripped him that he ran for his life and hid in a cave, until God visited him and strengthened him to come out and finish the rest of his job to leave for heaven. This Jezebel spirit had caused blood to be shed of many many saints in the past and have killed countless prophets and apostles in the past and soon God will take vengeance on this Jezebelic Mary spirit to avenge all of those killing just moments before the end of the world, then this Babylon will burn and the whole world will watch it and be amazed, and will shout alas, alas the great Babylon. Roman Catholic Mary's reign will come to an abrupt end, along with her, her spiritual fornication and sorcery that deceived all nations will end (Rev 18:8, 20, 23-24; 19:2).
Arise and see my Catholic Brothers and Sisters, now is the time to repent of sin and turn to the living God. Turn away from idols and look to the living God through only Jesus Christ the Son of God who is seeing you with blazing eyes of fire and walking with feet like burnished bronze ready and ripe for judgment! Many of you are looking to be saved, but bound by tradition, rise up come out and be saved truly (Rev 18:4). And countless number of those from other religions "who commit adultery with her" will be thrown by God in to "into great tribulation" (Matt 24:21), unless they repent of their deeds. Jesus is not going to show mercy or grace just because they call themselves catholic christians instead, "Jesus will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that Jesus Christ the Lord is the One who searches the minds and hearts." To me that means, are their good works performed out of gratitude for the free gift of salvation He offers, or they have done in a futile effort to earn salvation on their own? And if they have done out of gratitude freely for the salvation received freely, He gives to each one the reward according to their works. "To the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." (Romans 4:5). Grace and works are like water and oil, and never mix one with the other. Without receiving the salvation grace, if they have worked their way all their life in the catholic church, and insist upon being judged by their works, they will be granted their wish. Sadly the emphasis on these religious works has clouded the true message of the gospel to the extent that some life-long Catholics never come to know the Lord on a personal basis. So unless the sexual immorality of spiritual adultery and idolatry are repented off, there is a real danger ahead for all the children of the catholic church!
There are the rest of the people in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine of Mary and infant Jesus but look to the Savior Jesus directly to get saved from sin, who have not known the depths of Satan which is the subtle and stealthy doctrine of lookalike of Jesus and his teachings but not the real one which makes God's people to take their eyes of God and makes them settle on idol worship and materialism, Jesus puts on these saints of faith no other burden but tells them to hold fast on what they have till Jesus comes so that He could reward them for their works of faith. Real saints hold on!
The fantastic promise that Jesus is giving to the overcomers of this church who keep their works of faith until the end is, He will give to them in the future power over nations, just like Jesus received rulership from His Father in heaven, these faithful people who stand faithful to the end shall rule the people on earth with a rod of iron for a thousand years, and those rebels against God through their authority which they carry will use it to dash the rebellion and rebellious to pieces like the potter's vessels And also Jesus promises to give them for eternity the glory of the morning star which is his own that He carries now in heaven a special anointing to be the light of heaven (Rev 2:26-27, 28). A special authority that is recognized in all of heaven for eternity will be theirs. There’s a little bit of Thyatira in all of us. Even after we’re saved by Grace, we all have our lists of do’s and don’ts. We believe the Lord Jesus and then we are saved by grace initially, yet we line up ourselves and others to a religion based on our works afterwards to please God, and not do the work out of gratitude for what God has already done for us. So let us repent and do the first work out of gratitude for the free salvation God has given us.
The Spirit of God gives the Challenge to hear if we have a spiritual ear to hear of what the Spirit says to the churches (Rev 2:29).
5) Sardis The Remnant
Sardis means remnant. As He did in the Letter to Thyatira, the Lord will distinguish between the lost and the saved (the remnant) in Sardis. In the Spirit of Elijah, Martin Luther rose up against the spirit of Jezebel and started to lay foundation of faith to get saved once again. He thundered, "The just shall live by faith," (Rom 1:17) and there arose a remnant of God that started to follow him. When Luther and others led the way out of Catholicism, it was in search of truth.
The call of the reformation was “Sola fides (only through faith), sola gratia (Only by grace), solus Christus (only with Christ), and sola Scriptura (Only His Word).”
Jesus titled Himself here saying, "These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars." This means Jesus is reminding the Sardis church that He is the one who gives the seven fold spirit of God, which includes "the Spirit of the Lord, and the Spirits of wisdom, of understanding, of counsel, of might, of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, here are represented the seven Spirits, which are before the throne of God." (Isaiah 11:2-3) and it reminds to the messenger ministers of God that Jesus Christ is the one who is holding them all in his hand in all the churches with all the empowerment anointing they need to stand and deliver his call over their lives, no matter what comes to them in the natural. O what a strength Jesus gives to all the shepherd under Him! The same comfort and confidence they should impart to all the sheep's in the churches.
The sad thing about Main Line Protestants Christianity right from the starting of time is that, they began to exalt the doctrine of faith rather than the faith which points to God for salvation in whom all must exalt and praise and live for His Glory! This led them to a unhealthy place where there was a lot of zealous work done for the Lord in His name, but the pride behind it altered their attitude which exalted them and not God. As a result of it, many succeeding generations had the very accurate doctrine of Main Line Christianity and boasted about the accuracy of their knowledge to say that they are very much alive and all others are dead, but little did they realize that due to their pride and arrogance they were never even born again because of such attitude of pride which is the biggest sin that caused the downfall of Satan himself from heaven (Rev 3:2).
In their quest for the truth, the Protestant reformers neglected the things of the Spirit and for several hundred years almost never heard the rustlings of the Ruach Elohim (Spirit of God) in their midst (John 4:24). When the Great Awakening of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s brought the Gifts of the Spirit into the open, again main line protestants denied their legitimacy. This caused many to leave the main line denominations, giving birth first to the Pentecostal and then the Charismatic movements. Even today we have a great lesson to learn from this, no matter how big the revelation we get from the Bible, it is a gift of grace that God has freely given us so that we cannot boast about it, but only boast about the Lord who has given it all through His Spirit! Glory to God!
Jesus then admonishes saying, "Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God." In other words, Jesus tells the rest of the remnant who are humble before Him to rise up and realize that all around them who are in the Main Line Protestants just like the Pharisees who who knew all the doctrine accurately but were never born again spiritually because of their pride, dying day by day in their foolishness of their pride in the doctrine they hold. So Jesus tell these true and humble servants of God to shake these people up and wake these people up, so that those who are about to die unsaved may be strengthened by the Spirit of God through salvation, so that their deeds may become complete in the sight of God (John 6:28-29; 39-40).
I believe as is the case in the Catholic church, there remains but a remnant of denominational protestants who are saved. Then after this Jesus is giving the call to them who are saved but have backslidden saying, "3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. 4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." (Rev 3:3-5).
Jesus clear call first is for those who are saved, but remain fruitless Main Line Protestants because of pride of doctrine in their lives. To them Jesus tells them to hold fast to faith and not the works they do for God, then repent of their own pride before God to be humble in His sight. If they are not ready to watch and pray to obey the Lord's command, they will lose the reward for their works as it will be done with pride and not in gratitude of humility for what the Lord has done for them freely. Either the Lord will come, or they will have to suddenly appear before the Lord because of death. Both ways they will lose their eternal reward unless they repent and hold fast to the admonition of Jesus. The salvation garments of a few names still have not defiled their garments because of things like pride and worldliness and arrogance, Jesus promises them that they will walk with Him in white garments of honor because they are worthily walked with Him in humility. But Jesus is saying to the general crowd that is saved, but fearful of God's judgment because of man taught fear that if they miss anything to keep legalistically from the Bible, they might get unsaved and thus because of fear have soiled their clothes with unbelief and doubt (Mark 7:6-9; Matt 15:9; 23:27), to them Jesus is assuring that He will not blot out their name from the Book of life if they just enough keep the faith and keep working for the Lord in gratitude for their free salvation, because once they are saved by confessing the Lord Jesus they are always saved (Rom 10:11, 13). The Lord Jesus has promised to declare their name before the Father and angels in heaven which cannot be changed for eternity (Matt 10:32; 26:75; John 21:17; 1:12; Luke 12:8, 10), thus here Jesus does not threaten to blot out the names of those that has been written in the Book of life for salvation, rather reassures the doubters of his unchanging promises which never changes if they are overcomers by faith and are saved (1 John 5:4-5). Praise the Lord! These two churches of catholic and Main Line Protestants defined Christianity until the 1800’s up to which the Lord again did a remarkable thing through these churches which was born again and sprang out of Pergamus.
The challenge of the Holy Spirit to this church is, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
May God help us hear the words of Jesus spiritually and make us live for His Glory!
6) Philadelphia The Brotherly Love
Jesus writes this letter to the minister in charge of the Church in Philadelphia. Philadelphia means brotherly love.
In the chronicle of church history, Philadelphia represents the evangelical church born in the 1800’s during the 2nd Great Awakening. (The first took place about 100 years earlier primarily in the Northern colonies.) For centuries scholars had taught an allegorical interpretation of scripture, especially prophecy, but in the mid 1800’s the rank and file was energized by a return to the literal interpretation. The pre-tribulation rapture and 1000 year reign of the Lord on Earth, views that were prevalent during the 1st century but abandoned with the allegorical interpretation were once again popular. The church was born again.
Here Jesus asserts Himself as the Messiah who holds the keys to the Davidic Kingdom of God. He alone has the authority to grant and refuse entry.
Then Jesus commends this church saying, " 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you." (Rev 3:8-9).
The open door is the one through which John will enter heaven in chapter 4 to stand before the Throne of God, a type of the Rapture. There was little strength with the Evangelicals because the Catholics and main line protestants began to persecute them with all their strength which is a type of Church in Philadelphia where Jews in the first century persecuted them, these receiving no criticism from Jesus, they were also granted admission in to heaven. This is symbolic of the fact that for those saved by grace through faith, it’s as if they’ve never committed a single sin and their lives are as righteous and clean as God Himself because their faith purified them perfectly (Acts 15:9). God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). Like the Jews of the first century who persecuted this church, the previous generations movement of God came against the evangelicals viciously but Jesus promised to show his love for them by how He will make them come and worship the Lord before their feet in surrender to what He will do through them in might and power. True to the words of Jesus, the healing's and miracles began in this period first with the evangelicals and started to increase more and more. And exactly when this happened, the main line denomination and Catholics began to be astonished by the power of God that moved with the evangelicals of these times after 1800's. Then many surrendered their lives to the Lord seeing the power of God in live manifestations with the evangelicals who challenged them all.
Jesus then says to the evangelicals, "10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown." (Rev 3:10-11).
This directly points to the literal belief of the Scripture these people believe by simple faith, that the tribulation will happen before the hour of trial which will come upon the whole world which in others places is called the "tribulation", "great tribulation", etc...of the end (Mark 13:19; Luke 21:36; Matt 24:21). Throughout the balance of Revelation the church is referred to as those who dwell in Heaven and those on earth are called as earth dwellers which shows that the rapture happens for sure for all the believers who wait for Jesus and purify themselves prayerfully and look for Jesus and not keep their eyes on anything other than Him and Him alone (Heb 9:28; 1 John 3:2-3; Luke 21:36; Heb 12:2).
Then Jesus is distinguishing saying I am coming quickly, so therefore, make sure you work for reward and not just be satisfied with your salvation faith, because your work will be rewarded for eternity if you do work out of gratefulness for your salvation, or else your reward will be taken by someone who deserves it for His work of sacrifice and commitment. Here’s one of those places that distinguishes the free gift of salvation from the crowns we’ll earn as prizes for things we do in the Lord’s name out of gratitude for His gift of salvation, and one of those crowns is reserved for those who long for His appearing (2 Tim. 4:8) and that describes the attitude of the Church in Philadelphia perfectly because the Lord has promised to suddenly come anytime. Don't lose hope Jesus is coming again! Anytime!
Finally the reward Jesus promises includes a special reward for these people of faith for the brotherly love church of evangelicals, "He Challenges him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name." (Rev 3:12). Who is it that overcomes the world, John asks? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:5). Through out the seven churches which Jesus writes, the overcomers are not those who will strive with the works to impress Jesus of what they are doing for Him, but rather those who have believed Jesus as the Son of God, and then continue to do the works of faith in gratitude to Jesus for what He has already done for them to get saved for eternity. In other words, forever we will be saved by faith through grace alone, and will be rewarded for the work of faith by our work alone. So once we are saved and work for our Lord, our Home is New Jerusalem and our future secure with the New Name of our Lord of Lords and King of Kings written on us to proclaim His glory upon us for eternity ahead! What more we need? Keep working for the Lord saints! There is no greater reward than to work for our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Promise) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Again the Spirit of God shouts to awaken and remind to make us hear what He is saying to the churches through our spiritual ear! Hear O saints, the reward and the future is great!
7) Laodicea The People Rule
Jesus writes this letter to the minister of God who is in charge of this Church and the collective ministers of God who shepherd his people at the end of the age. Laodicea means “the people rule.” The Laodicean church represents the apostate church at the end of the age. Many in the New Age and Emergent Church movements are part of this church.
Jesus introduces and asserts Himself as the "[the last] Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the [first ruler of the] Beginning of the creation of God" (Rev 3:14), thus saying symbolically to this end of the age people of God that He is the one who has the power to bring their prayer to pass when they say Amen! at the end of it, then they are not the rulers though it might seem to be like that for a while at the end of the age, but actually I your Master rule over all things including your lives. He’s letting us the believers of the end time to know that we don’t rule the church, but He does.
Then Jesus gives out His criticism for the Church to improve in all the aspects lacking in the church saying, "15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see." (Rev 3:15-18).
The church in Laodicea receives no commendation, only this criticism, rich in symbolic sarcasm. Laodicea got its water from nearby Heiropolis, a hot spring resort that still flourishes today, now called Pamukkale. The water came across the valley in an open aqueduct. Having begun its journey fresh from the hot springs, it was luke warm by the time it arrived. Too cool to be used for cleaning or bathing, and too warm to be refreshing, it was unfit for use until it could be either heated up or cooled down. Such is the state of this end time Church, useful for nothing, until it is either cold or hot for Jesus.
The moment Jesus says to this end time apostate Church, "I know your works", we should understand that He as the omniscient God knows inside out of our spiritual lives and every nook and corner of our physical and all aspects of our life. We cannot hide anything from Jesus, whose eyes burn like flames. Jesus found the lives of the end time church members of the apostate church neither hot nor cold which means he got no satisfaction out of the works that they did and boasted about it after salvation. That which Jesus vomits, he finds no pleasure in it but only irritation in tasting such works that is neither spiritual nor fleshly, either extreme would have been good enough to decide. The apostate church of the end boasting about itself saying, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’, shows that they have become senseless to the spiritual state of consciousness that comes from the Spirit of God and have totally been lost in the natural fleshly state of mind seeing all the pomp and the hi-fundas aspect of their own lives, ministries and their influence which has gained reputation among men.
This apostate church does not even realize that they need salvation to be part of the eternal bride of Christ, then after salvation they need to please God not themselves and then live for the Glory of God and not themselves. Jesus bring out the truth of the state of the apostate Church saying, "[You] do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold [which is true works of faith] refined in the fire [of suffering], that you may be rich [spiritually for eternity]; and [be in] white garments, that you may be clothed [with salvation], that the shame of your nakedness [i.e. life without God's righteousness] may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve [i.e. discernment of the Spirit], that you may see."
From the above statement of Jesus, we clearly see that a great majority within this end time church is not saved at all. The works they do is useless as they are first of all not saved at all, and so they are doing dead works with no eternal value before God or for man. Jesus wants these sinners to get saved and then want them to trust and live by God's righteousness and not their own, so that the reality of who they are in their own and who they can be in Christ can be clearly revealed to them by the Spirit of God. O Lord open our eyes O Spirit, that we might see spiritually and live!
Jesus finally gives a clarion call to this end time Church saying, "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Rev 3:20). Often called the great evangelistic call, this passage as assumed by certain people who think that it screams out one extraordinary fact, "The Lord’s standing outside! He’s knocking on the door trying to get in, hoping (dare I say praying or pleading?) that someone, anyone, will hear His voice and invite Him in." To these people I say, first of all in the introduction of all Churches, Jesus says that the ministers of the churches are in his hand, and the churches represented as lamp stands are His, and that He is walking in the midst of it, when did then Jesus has been locked outside his own Church which all belongs to Him. Even these people are challenging the previous saying of Jesus who said, that if He open a door, no one can shut. In other words, who can lock Him out of the Church He wants to enter? If they do think like that, He’ll say, “Better change your mind and repent to realize your need for a savior or else I will remove the lamp stand and your time will be about up to go only to hell fire which is burning red hot for all the hypocrites who think I myself need permission to enter my own church!”
So that passage is not about Jesus wanting permission to enter his Church, but rather an admonition to the believers to be sensitive enough to the rebuke and discipline of the Lord, to repent earnestly and turn back from their old fleshly ways, so that we who have repented and are hearing the voice of the Savior unlike before, can invite Jesus to have fellowship and communion with us willingly to reap the benefit of it for a lifetime on earth and eternity ahead (2 Cor 13:13)!
Finally Jesus challenges the unsaved religious nuts of the end time to get saved and reap the eternal benefit of His when He said, "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne." (Rev 3:21). Jesus never was striving to overcome and sit with His Father's throne, in the midst of all the suffering He by faith overcame all things through the grace of God and tasted death (Heb 2:9), then the Father showered on Him His Glory and seated Jesus with Himself in heaven because He Glorified the Father and not himself in anyway even to the point of death (Php 2:5-9; John 7:18; 8:54). Jesus is our example to follow, we must follow Him in our foot steps through suffering, and not striving by our faith, through His grace and not by our works of any kind (1 Peter 2:21), so that God might be glorified all in all. The reward for our overcoming faith on earth is a inheritance of rulership in our eternity of friendship with God in the new heavens and the new earth, where in the midst of it all in the New Jerusalem we will remain as a light to the nations of the world of new world order working under God joyfully and happily for eternity ahead! O what a privilege!
The above last challenge of Jesus shows us all that, right up until the time of the Rapture, anyone in the Church of Laodicea can recognize his or her need for a savior and look to the Lord for salvation. And even if it makes them the very last member of the Body of Christ they’ll receive full rights and privileges. The number’s almost complete. If you’re a Laodicean reading this, you just may be the one we’re all waiting for. Thank God for His mercy and grace that He has extended to the Church of all ages even until the present moment of this end time age of the apostate church.
Praise God for all His goodness and grace!
The Spirit of God cries out finally to gather the great eternal flock for the final time before the rapture happens saying, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”! O Lord come our Lord Jesus! Maranatha!
There’s a bit of the Laodicean in all of us. Some part of the Word we’re lukewarm about, some area of our life where we think we’re self-sufficient, some sin we’ve blinded ourselves to. Let’s get right about it while there’s time. The final call is up and we can almost hear the trumpet sound of the Lord!
Much Blessings....
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment