(ii) It is used as a comfort to the oppressed. It is the same idea again; it is as if the mark of God was upon Israel so that all men may know that they are his people. There is another warning here. And he was apologizing, but he went into the house of Cornelius. Chillingworth said what ought to be true, though I am afraid that it is not "The Bible and the Bible alone is the religion of Protestants." Clarke's Commentary. But, surely, in everything which concerns the doctrines of our most holy faith, we must make reference to a "Thus, saith the Lord." oikoymenes, the inhabited earth), not just a local area. The Christian must be ready to open whenever he hears his Lord knocking ( Luke 12:36). Yet Smyrna was poor and Philadelphia was small. In entering Gods kingdom, Jews must follow the way of these Gentiles, not Gentiles follow the way of the Jews (8-9).When God judges the ungodly, Christ will protect those who have remained loyal to him. Laodicea had certain characteristics which have left their mark on the letter written to it. Reading Revelation in Context brings together an international team of over 20 New Testament experts including Jamie Davies, David A. deSilva, Michael J. Gorman, Dana M. Harris, Ronald Herms, Edith M. Humphrey, Jonathan A. Moo, Elizabeth E. Shively, Cynthia Long Westfall, Archie T. Wright, and more. thou wert cold or hot. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. (a) We see the pleading of Christ. He will reward them at his return (10-11). It is quite true that, in the literal sense, Jesus Christ did not come back to those who were so warned and exhorted. When God judges the ungodly, Christ will protect those who have remained loyal to him. ", It often happens that, when a great earthquake comes, people meet it with courage and self-possession, but ever. Thus the creed commonly called Nicene, which had for its object the assertion of Christ's consubstantial deity, was published at this same time. In A.D. 17 there came a great earthquake which destroyed Sardis and ten other cities. If a man will open the door, Jesus Christ will come in and linger long with him. Now we have the church of Philadelphia, the faithful remnant. It is a grand thing to work your passage to a truth, to mine your way to the golden ore by digging and clearing. It was founded about 250 B.C. Therefore, as it is a holy thing, a heavenly thing, a priceless thing, keep you God's word. An Ancient Commentary on the Book of Revelation (A Critical Edition of the Scholia in Apocalypsin) || Scholion XIII. It is dark. In such a state, all sorts of things may trouble the man who cannot rest without a question on the Lord, no matter how able and honoured he may be. Behold, I have set before you a door which stands open and which no man shuts, because you have a little strength and because you have kept my word, and have not denied my name. If there were some far-spreading calamity in the country where they resided, it would probably be all that would be fairly embraced in the meaning of the word. Now, dear friend, perhaps hitherto you have been perfectly satisfied with holding the truth with all your might, and being faithful to it in private and in your own daily life. There is for the faithful Christian the promise of a settled serenity in the peace which Jesus Christ can give. Here. It is the present imperative and means: "Keep on remembering; never allow yourself to forget." When Abraham is pleading with God for Sodom, he appeals to God: "To slay the righteous with the wicked, far be that from thee" ( Genesis 18:25). Christ puts them in mind of what he had done for them: I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it,Revelation 3:8; Revelation 3:8. Often hot mineral springs are nauseating in their taste and make the person who drinks them want to be physically sick. The implication may appear to be that if a Christian denies Christ (Revelation 3:8) he or she will not participate in the Rapture. "These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where thou dwellest." It has been said that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" and eternal watchfulness is the price of salvation. Nor is it that I have any doubt that it is a great sin to wipe off all public recognition of God in the world. If you beat him with the rod you will save his life from Sheol" ( Proverbs 23:13-14). "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right land, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands." Hence all the fulness of divine light that had come out in Christ's person and work, as well as by the Spirit in the church of God, is necessary to be taken into account in order to give the Apocalypse its just bearing. There may be three pictures here. How shall this great change be wrought? It is the hope of the Psalmist that the wicked will be blotted out of the book of the living ( Psalms 69:28). Life in Christ, where there is spiritual intelligence, takes one out of the vanities of the world in principle. So within the Protestant Reformation, those great persons didn't defile their garments, walking with Him in purity, they are worthy. "I am the Alpha and Omega, saith the Lord God, that is, and that was, and that is to come, the Almighty." He ordered them to wear tunics and buskins, that is, actor's boots, instead of sandals. ( Rev. Applying this to the present time, and our own circumstances, is it not most grave? So many Jews emigrated here that the Rabbis inveighed against the Jews who sought the wines and baths of Phrygia. 1:18), they will belong permanently to God, to the heavenly city and to their Saviour (12-13). It was the Christian belief that the Jewish nation had lost its place in the plan of God and that that place had passed to the Church. "Jesus Christ" appears as "the faithful witness." We so often regard him as the one to whom we look for things; for his strength, his help, his support, his comfort. This picture has been derived from two different sources. In Revelation 3:9 the promise of the Risen Christ is that some day the Jews who slander the Christians will kneel before them. REV 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. And so the fullness of the Spirit as it dwelt in Jesus, Isaiah the eleventh chapter. The Sardians had thought themselves too safe to need a guard; and so Sardis fell. (b) We see the offer of Christ. If it was bright, the assembly would be elevated morally thereby. Revelation 2:1-29. Nothing can be simpler. I hold one single sentence out of God's word to be of more certainty, and of more power, than all the discoveries of all the learned men of all the ages. How can this be secured but by removing them out of the scene before the time arrives? And this is seen to be the occasion of the letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. 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. It is, and always must be, the effect of the clerical principle to substitute the authority of man, more or less, for that of the Lord, and to weaken and hinder the immediate action of the Spirit by the word of God on the conscience. Wicked men envy the people of God their door of liberty, and would be glad to shut it against them. I do not say when, where, or how; but as surely as He lives, will the Lord vindicate the truth He has given, and the testimony He has raised up for His name. In gratitude it changed its name to Neocaesarea--the New City of Caesar. Nobody cares a button about him. The whole book supposes saints in suffering, and this too in the form of tribulation, with their spiritual experience formed into the associations of Christ's kingdom rather than those of His body the church, yet surely suffering on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. It is Christ coming in judgment. Solon, the wisest of the Greeks, came on a visit and was shown the magnificence and the luxury. Sardis, Past Splendour And Present Decay ( Revelation 3:1-6 Continued). We are soon going to be entering into the Lent season which was borrowed from the Babylonian system. Trench makes a list of people in the Bible who lost their place to someone else because they had shown that they were not fit to hold it. On the other hand Christ said in view of the sufferer, "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days." Dear hearer, see that you win it too. If that doesn't happen, I have had it. Christ knocks and a man can answer or refuse to answer. It is remarkable that after the greatest persecutions, when Christendom and even Christians had been seduced into accepting the patronage of the world, up to that point there remained real faithfulness in refusing all efforts to deny the deity of Christ Under the same Constantine, who was the instrument of thus casting the world's shield over Christianity, was the battle fought and won against the Arian foe. You will bring many to Christ, because you yourself abide in Christ. It is a new state of things; but when we come to Philadelphia there is far more evidence of all things new. "[51] From Matthew 24, etc., all should be familiar with this quality in prophecies regarding such events. 2. This has been always the case. In each letter the Lord addresses "the angel." It is the only view that can honestly say that Christ could return at any moment, because it alone teaches that Christ will come to rapture the church before the 70th week of Daniel 9 or the Tribulation period begins and that nothing else must happen before His return." It is in vain therefore to look for a formal obliteration of these co-ordinate conditions, which cannot be till the Lord comes. It is not a new thing for God thus to set out the strongest contrasts by the same inspired writer. (i) He is he who is holy. Gaping cracks appeared in the walls of the houses. The faithful, staunch, God-fearing men that would not budge an inch, or change a letter, or shape a syllable, to please all the kings and princes of the earth, shall be found to praise and honour in the day of the Lord's appearing. Does anyone in his senses think so? The A, B, Come and See Revelation A commentary on the Book of . The Philadelphian church was not great, but it was good: it was not powerful, but it was faithful. The Lord Jesus, then, is brought before us as man purposely in the last place. Shebna lost his place to Eliakim ( Isaiah 22:15-25). Revelation 10 Commentary Interval before the seventh trumpet (10:1-11) During the lengthy interval before the blowing of the final trumpet, John has several other visions. Belong permanently to God, to the heavenly city and to their (. Thought themselves too safe to need a guard ; and so Sardis fell great did. Win it too offer of Christ serenity in the walls of the Greeks came... 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