Clericalism came in rapidly after this. A day will come when all questions of this age will be answered. The unwelcome visitation of a thief would be utterly incongruous if they were enjoying the sweet hope according to His own word, that He is coming for them quickly. "Alas," said one minister to me, "I see some of my best people becoming sceptical; are you not worried by seeing the thoughtful ones drifting off into new views?" God's threat passed on by Nahum to the disobedient people was: "I will let nations look on your nakedness, and on your kingdoms shame" ( Nahum 3:5). There is alethinos ( G228) , which means "real" as opposed to that which is "unreal." The word of Jehovah was sent to Jehovah's people. (iv) Apart from all these things, for any man the door of prayer is always open. Men who deserve praise can bear it, and some of them even need it. "Pretrib Rapture" - Revelation 3:10. Philadelphia, The Open Door ( Revelation 3:7-13 Continued). But habitually God's messengers were sent to Israel, even when prophets were raised up. The reason is that a remnant is now formed. Christ would make this church's enemies subject to her. It is rather to be imputed to the encroaching spirit of infidelity, where there is not also a truckling to superstition. The fire must be kept burning. Your wisdom is not to try to gain keenness of mind that you may emulate the critic, but to lay hold upon God's word, and cling to it, for therein shall be your safety and your victory. Like an Israelite? Go ahead! What is still more in John the significant point, they lost all the truth of a real life given to us in Christ. We must walk looking to him, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame ( Hebrews 12:1-2). Omit the opening clause and begin, "saying, What thou seest, write in a roll, and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia." Revelation 10:7 "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." "The mystery": A Greek term meaning "to shut" or "to close". We will get the picture right if we remember that the eastern throne was more like a couch than a single seat. It need not be supposed that the whole world literally was included in it, or even all the Roman empire, but what was the world to them - the region which they would embrace in that term. Getting back to who it is promised to be kept from the Great Tribulation, let us now look at the context and audience of Revelation 3:10. It is very possible, when the epistles were sent out in the days of John, that no particular emphasis would be laid on "the things that are;" but inasmuch as these things have been going on from that day to the present, we can see the immense force such a phrase thereby acquires. Wake up to holy energy. Buy. Now one part of the city was in ruins, now another. If so, some people ought to be very good by this time, for they have had candid friends in plenty. It is another and a remarkable difference. Now, I shall speak for myself and for you, and I know that we can bear witness that this promise is true. (2.) And so too with our Lord Jesus, as we shall see. "And I will give him the morning star." Philadelphia was the youngest of all the seven cities. "Hereafter" gives vagueness: "after these" makes it precise, and is the plain literal meaning. How can this be secured but by removing them out of the scene before the time arrives? There are many who in the church mock the idea of the Lord returning and interrupting history. Is this Christ? In the writing to the angel of the church in Smyrna, a totally different state of things meets us. "Blessed is the man whom thou dost chasten, O Lord, and whom thou dost teach out of thy law" ( Psalms 94:12). (i) It may be the door of missionary opportunity. In our heart of hearts we believe that the stern words cannot possibly be meant for us and that the promises are too good to be true for us. It was not merely the tendency of individuals. Examine the use of woman symbolically, and you will find, I believe, that this is true. We so believe it, as to treat it as a matter of fact, valuable for everyday use; this is the surest way to keep in, even to the end. And no doubt also it was intended in this sense that they had obeyed the word of God. You shall be offensive to them, or they to you, and you shall soon part company." They came out, but not far enough. Because you have kept my command to endure, I, too, will keep you safe from the hour of testing, which is to come upon the whole inhabited world, to test those who dwell upon the earth. Philadelphia, Inheritors Of The Promise ( Revelation 3:7-13 Continued). Here. Own . I might have seen the Alexandrian library burned without losing a night's rest, for the mass of its contents must have been mere rubbish; but were there one single verse of the New Testament which it were possible to blot out from human memory and record, one might be willing to lay down his life to save the glorious sentence. The reference of the voice behind is exclusively to the seven churches. It is said of the righteous that "they will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father" ( Matthew 13:43); and it is said of God that he covers himself with light as with a garment ( Psalms 104:2). It was so before when He was here below in grace, and now He must resume its power and glory and judgment, than which one can hardly conceive a greater and more solemn rebuke on the condition of those who ought to have been His witnesses. All power, all governing might, is in His hands, and the seven stars, that is to say, all the instrumental means by which He acts upon the church. In this church we feel very little of the temptation which tries all the world: very seldom are any of our friends unsettled in their minds, or tormented with these hornets of heresy. How can it surprise those who are ever awaiting Him? Revelation 10:3 a loud voice Like Christ, the angel spoke with a loud or great voice ( Rev. Here is the picture of Christ searching for sinful men who did not want him. The seven stars are angels of the seven churches: and the seven lampstands are seven churches.". Yet Smyrna was poor and Philadelphia was small. The angel, it is needless to say, is not without good reason named in relation to the revelations which God was here giving. The state of things might be ever so ruined; it might be even gross and false (as much was in several); but still there was an ecclesiastical profession if only for His judgment, which we do not find afterRevelation 4:1-11; Revelation 4:1-11. It is the beginning of the changed condition. Since the whole Philadelphia church was faithful (Revelation 3:8) Revelation 3:10 is probably not an inducement to remain faithful. There is not a word about His coming as a thief now, but with joy. Most of the population lived outside the city in huts and feared even to go on the city streets lest they should be killed by failing masonry. 208-18.]. I dare say that some of us remember when people used to fly to Canada in order to escape "the great tribulation" which they expected to fall on the empire of the beast. Truth does not die through being buried. True grace, though weak, has the divine approbation; but, though Christ accepts a little strength, yet believers should not rest satisfied in a little, but should strive to grow in grace, to be strong in faith, giving glory to God. We are told afterwards what those meant. Thyatira does, and so Sardis, and also Philadelphia. Such land is fertile; and Philadelphia was the centre of a great grape-growing area and a famous producer of wines. Even when time comes to an end, and the world as we know it ceases to exist, he who is faithful to Christ will still be said in his keeping. But for all that the voice of the Christian is at once heard and so much the more remarkably, because it is one of the few exceptional ripples which cross the ordinary current of the book at the end as well as at the beginning. Since John wrote both of the passages under consideration, and both are quotes from Jesus Himself, it makes sense to interpret them similarly, enforcing the idea that Revelation 3:10 means to literally "keep from" rather than to preserve through. I could not be in communion with a church whose chief guide and authority is another book than God's word, and whose acknowledged Head is other than the Lord Jesus Christ. For instance, the standard for the Christian is not in anywise the law (which was so for the Jew); for us it is Christ Himself, and cannot without loss be anything else. Let us bear our protest: the gold is good enough for us. Keep the word of God, and the word of God will keep you. In it there is no redeeming feature. I have gone into the churches on the Continent, and I have seen gold and silver plate in the sacristy, understood to be worth one or two or three millions of money. The Christian must be ready to open whenever he hears his Lord knocking ( Luke 12:36). Through Christ, who has the key to life and death (see v. 7; cf. [49] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. So now He is warning concerning His coming for the church. No call to repentance, just a commendation for keeping the Word, the promise that He would also keep them.Now the final apostate condition of the church, the church of Laodicea represented by those ministers that sued President Reagan for announcing the year of the Bible. They will not be in that hour. It was picked up by the Protestants. The way and manner in which he performs these acts, and that is absolute sovereignty, independent upon the will of men, and irresistible by the power of men: He openeth, and no man shutteth; he shutteth, and no man openeth; he works to will and to do, and, when he works, none can hinder. So thoroughly does the Lord adhere to topics of the largest and most common import in the letter to the angel of the assembly in Ephesus. It is sad. Even in Sardis there are the faithful few. It means that He wants to become one with you. 290. And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: (1) he who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars, says this: I know your deeds, that you have a (2) name that you are alive, but you are dead. We have set these letters carefully against the local situations to which they were addressed; but their message is not local and temporary. In other words, will only faithful or watchful Christians experience the Rapture (the partial rapture position)? As Beasley-Murray said, "This is not a designation of a period of time, but of the trial itself. Writing ones name on something indicated ownership in Johns day, as it does now. Such terms alone become one who is divine. Solon, the wisest of the Greeks, came on a visit and was shown the magnificence and the luxury. We must remember that holy (hagios, G40) means different, separate from. Jesus himself tells of the wicked servant, who took advantage of his master's absence to conduct himself evilly and to whom the master made a sudden return that brought judgment. The Roman Christians are men who have been brought from death to life ( Romans 6:13). John 1:51; John 3:3; John 3:5; John 3:11). "Behold, I come quickly!" Constant reference is made to the law, Psalms, and prophets, but it is never a mere repetition, as the literalists suppose, of what was found there. Not only is the same principle general or constant, but it is remarkably characteristic of John's own writings. For whom it was more immediately designed: The angel of the church of Philadelphia; this also was a city in Asia Minor, seated upon the borders of Mysia and Lydia, and had its name from that brotherly love for which it was eminent. Good men have many conflicts, let us minister to their comfort. To the church at Sardis 1. 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