revelation 3:10 commentary

We eat our way into the word of God, we live upon what we learn, tunnelling through the truth with receptive minds. Solomon made shields of gold, which were borne before the king when he went into the house of the Lord; but Rehoboam took away the shields of gold, and put shields of brass in their place. (i) The faithful Christian will be a pillar in the Temple of God. which is about to come . 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. We must leave out "and unto." They did it under great disadvantages, but that only helped to increase the weight of praise measured out to them. Phillips puts it: "They will maintain a facade of 'religion,' but their conduct will deny its validity.". Since the whole Philadelphia church was faithful (Revelation 3:8) Revelation 3:10 is probably not an inducement to remain faithful. In the Spirit he must be, both to shut out every impression from external objects, and to give him an entrance into all that God was about to reveal; but first of all we should recognise the fact that it was on the Lord's day; and next that, before he was shown what was before, he must turn to the voice behind him and learn what the Lord judged of that which bore His name on the earth. When Cicero was travelling in Asia Minor it was at Laodicea that he cashed his letters of credit. I do not of course affirm this; but naturally as the apostles were departing to be with the Lord, Satan would endeavour to furnish instruments nothing loth to claim succession. And I am persuaded there is no place which is more likely to generate neutrality than a sound and true position, if there be not self-judgment maintained and godly sincerity. We have most of us heard what conflicts he had, and not merely at the beginning of his career but to the end. In Greek there are two words for true. This may well stand for the beauties of life and character which only the grace of Christ can give. Is this Christ? The hour needs its man quite as much as the man needs the hour. It was precisely because the church was faithful in time of trial that Christ in turn will be faithful to them. THE LETTER TO LAODICEA ( Revelation 3:14-22 ). Its purpose is to demonstrate the quality of those who "dwell upon the earth." (ii) We cannot say that that meaning is impossible and yet it does not seem to fit the context, for the atmosphere of the passage is not so much warning as love. See the notes on Luke 2:1. This is an aorist imperative and describes one definite action. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Laodicea, The Claims Of Christ ( Revelation 3:14-22 Continued). The Philadelphian church was not great, but it was good: it was not powerful, but it was faithful. In the beginning was the Word, that the word was with God, all things were made by Him. In A.D. 17 there came a great earthquake which destroyed Sardis and ten other cities. Before they begin the Christian is heard, as also the bride after they close. If you will now begin to talk to others about that which you love so well, you will be astonished to find how gladly they will receive it from you. To those who have kept his word, Christ promises, I will keep you from the coming hour of trial, which will put those who dwell on the earth to the test. "The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours, they shall follow yon; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you" ( Isaiah 45:14). [46] Walvoord as quoted by Robert H. Mounce, op. The lifelessness of the Church at Sardis had a strange effect. (b) We see the offer of Christ. No wonder that Laodicea could boast that it was rich and had amassed wealth and had need of nothing. Another thing is observable, when one looks into what is said here. (ii) He is he who has the seven stars. Take no notice of anything I say if it cannot be supported by the word of divine truth. 2. Truth is the jewel for which all believers must be ready to die. To the north of that plain rose the long ridge of Mount Tmolus; from that ridge a series of hills went out like spurs, each forming a narrow plateau. In any decision regarding the Church, the decisive factor must be not what any man wishes the Church to do but what Jesus Christ wishes to be done. The Jewish Temple tax amounted to half a shekel, which was equal to two drachmae. If you only influence one child, who can tell what that child may be? "I have not found thy works perfect before my God. Third, the Lord also promised to come quickly (Gr. He only is "the faithful and true witness." The result was that twenty pounds weight of gold was seized as contraband in Laodicea and one hundred pounds in Apameia in Phrygia. In A.D. 61 it was devastated by an earthquake; but so rich and independent were its citizens that they refused any help from the Roman government and out of their own resources rebuilt their city. There shall come a day when it will be found that the minorities have generally saved both the world and the church. But he who is faithful will in the end come to a time when he is like a pillar fixed in the Temple of God and goodness has become the constant atmosphere of his life. I should like to see a few more of such Protestants. Some would get a few copies of the New Testament, and go about and sell them in their baskets; and so they kept the truth. According to Ezekiel the name of the re-created city of God was to be The Lord is there ( Ezekiel 48:35). He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the church ( Revelation 3:13 ). (iii) It was a very considerable medical centre. At any rate, the great Head of the church did not think it unwise to say to the church at Philadelphia that he thought well of it because it had kept his word. The persecutions in the Roman empire would furnish abundant occasions for such a trial. Behold, I am standing at the decor and knocking. It was not yet a question of coming out from the public body. This promise recurs again and again in Isaiah. This indifference can be broken down only by the actual demonstration that Christianity is a power to make life strong and a grace to make life beautiful. What is the meaning of this open door? It would seem that Archippus was somehow failing in his duty. Its importance was due entirely to its position. This of course connects His present existence with the future as well as the past. It is His position both ministerial and ecclesiastical His relationship to the angels, or those that morally represented the assemblies to His eye, as well as to the churches themselves. That God should have chosen John to be the instrument of communicating the closing volume of the New Testament is worthy of our consideration. "I John, your brother, and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience in Christ Jesus, was in the isle which is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus." To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of [my] God." The King James and Revised Standard Versions speak of eye-salve. (i) It may be the door of missionary opportunity. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but will confess his name before my Father, and before his holy angels ( Revelation 3:5 ). These were said to be the treasures of the church. The word that cometh out of Christ's mouth is the daily manna of our heavenly life, and it behoves every Christian, however feeble or however strong, to keep the word of God with all his might against all comers, since it is his life. I cannot doubt that this letter contains an apt adumbration, as far as could be there in present facts, of what was found in mediaeval times. (v) On the faithful Christian Christ will write his own new name. Jesus Christ works through men; and the man who remains completely detached in his attitude to him has by that very fact refused to undertake the work which is the divine purpose for him. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches ( Revelation 3:21-22 ). There is no surer way of allowing a child to end in ruin than to allow him to do as he likes. . There are so many out there who need Jesus Christ. To get at the armies of Cyrus he had to cross the River Halys. For a considerable period of human life, it may be, God does not give to all of us a field of usefulness, but he provides a field of trial. But Philadelphia also prominently brings out the Lord in person as also in His moral glory. Second, it supplies us with an inspiration. The Lord at the close gives a promise suited to the condition. It sometimes happens that a man is given a task to do and goes towards it with the highest hopes; but it begins to be seen that he is too small for the task and he is removed from the task and it is given to someone else. Oh, that they would cease to display their own thought, their own cleverness, and individuality. If so, some people ought to be very good by this time, for they have had candid friends in plenty. Where the same evils exist, and all that which would keep the church as a chaste virgin espoused to Christ is gone, no wonder that these warnings are misunderstood. The truth was that it was so lifeless that it was not worth attacking. But the Lord will compel the recognition of His own testimony. It is, in fact, God's final punishment to leave a man alone. Pharaoh honoured Joseph by clothing him in vestures of fine linen ( Genesis 41:42). The reason is manifest, because the way in which we are called to walk is always according to the place and relations in which we stand. It was theirs, they read it and searched it and made it their own. This can hardly be denied to Jezebel at least; whilst "the remnant" represents those who, without being Protestants, form a witnessing company apart from popery, yet before the rise of Protestantism. The only possible way I can understand of exempting any from the time is by taking them out of the scene. We read of the saints in one place or another. So says he "To the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come." The hour of trial What is the great trial which is coming upon the whole world? We are bound in everything to yield to the best authorities. This term refers to earth-dwellers as contrasted with heaven-dwellers, the unsaved as contrasted with Christians. I may be a fool, and an old-fashioned bigot, but I am not a turncoat, and I cannot quit the word of the Lord. The Lord accordingly presents Himself with similar latitude. . If a man deserves my commendation, I am only paying a debt when I give it to him, and it is dishonest to withhold it under the pretence that he would not use the payment rightly. For centuries it was a free Greek Christian city amidst a pagan people. (2.) "I am the Alpha and Omega, saith the Lord God, that is, and that was, and that is to come, the Almighty." But the man who says, "I am going straight for glory, and if anybody is in my way so much the worse for him, for I am bound to take the right road;" such a man will find a pretty clear track. what said those who preferred "great tribulation," rather than commit adultery with her? 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. To use that door of opportunity is at once our privilege and our responsibility. Go out of the place saying, "I believe it." In the ancient world to be stripped naked was the worst humiliation. "For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. The heavenly hope of being with Christ is promised as well as part in the kingdom. I know of one only spirit to whom I desire to be subject, and that is the Spirit of all the ages, who never changes. We have taken them with the words which precede them. "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?" He gave the Christians five promises instead. Laodicea has the grim distinction of being the only Church of which the Risen Christ has nothing good to say. On this pillar shall be recorded all the services the believer did to the church of God, how he asserted her rights, enlarged her borders, maintained her purity and honour; this will be a greater name than Asiaticus, or Africanus; a soldier under God in the wars of the church. So famous were its doctors that the names of some appear on the coins of Laodicea. As for others it is all over with them. This meaning is particularly appropriate for Philadelphia. This would mean even more in the ancient world than now. In it there is no redeeming feature. (v) The Christian must be on the watch against false teaching. It is a serious thing where and how we dwell. The persevering Christian shall win the prize from backsliding professors, who once stood fair for it.". Whichever picture is behind this, the sense is that the faithful ones will wear the unmistakable badge of God. Men do not keep things which they consider to be value-less: if men in our day had a higher opinion of the truth they would be more valiant for it. "But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam." And have we not seen it ourselves? He that receives it shall live, but without it there is no spiritual life. Thus then it is with the seven golden lampstands. It is a fact of life that the best athlete and the finest scholar receive the most demanding training. The figure of the thief can be employed only for the world or the worldly-minded. Flaccus, the governor of the province, became alarmed at the amount of currency which the Jews were exporting in payment of the Temple tax which every male Jew paid and put an embargo on the export of currency. and the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but a synagogue of Satan." 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. It is the fulness of the Holy Ghost's energy as an overruling power. Revelation 10:1 I saw (1) another strong angel coming down out of heaven, (2) clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; 1. This seems taken up here, and applied in a far larger way for purposes suitable to the Apocalyptic prophecy. Tepid is chliaros ( G5513) . There is alethinos ( G228) , which means "real" as opposed to that which is "unreal." What the application of this may be depends on the context where it is used. But the drift is plain enough where the conscience is not blunted. Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, perfect one" (SS 5:2-6). Hezekiah had a faithful steward called Eliakim, who was over all his house and who alone could admit to the presence of the king. The hour of temptation A time of sore and peculiar trial which might have proved too much for their strength. (i) It prided itself on its financial wealth. If we do not provoke Christ to shut this door against us, men cannot do it. "And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him" ( Genesis 5:24). Then follows the last of these four churches. I know it from this fact that, as a general rule, the man that keeps God's word has an open door before him. Elegchos ( G1650) is the corresponding noun, and Aristotle defines it: "Elegchos ( G1650) is the proof that a thing cannot be otherwise than we say." (a) This may be a promise of security. It set out along the valley of the River Maeander until it reached what were known as the Gates of Phrygia. You are a vessel fit for the Master's use, and there never was a vessel fit for his use that he did not use one day or other. For a year Antiochus besieged him; then a soldier called Lagoras repeated the exploit of Hyeroeades. Overstreet, pp. Shebna lost his place to Eliakim ( Isaiah 22:15-25). ISBN-13 9780952489429 ISBN-10 0952489422 Num total owners: 3 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. This picture has been derived from two different sources. It is this picture which is in John's mind. Writing ones name on something indicated ownership in Johns day, as it does now. The Lord has revived the true hope of His return; there are those who are thus waiting for Christ, and this epistle seems emphatically to apply to such. He seems to say, "Dear child, since you will not go beyond my written word, you shall not be tempted to go beyond it. The effect went on; the spring was gone. ], What if some in the church did not keep the word of Christs perseverance? But he that keeps God's word, we may be sure, is deeply in love with it. Individuals there were before, but this is much more. And the apostle Paul showed that it was really to annul Christ to fall from grace if the law, introduced either for justification or for a rule of life, were imposed on the Christian. In Revelation 3:8-9 there is a problem of punctuation. It is amazingly easy to go through a door when it is wide open, and it will be very easy to you much easier than you think, now that you have been schooled by God's Spirit into steadfastness of character, just to say in God's name, dependent upon God's strength, what he has taught you. But the people of Philadelphia well knew what it was to receive "a new name.". The hour of temptation A time of sore and peculiar trial which might have proved too much for their strength. The Protestant reads the Bible more at liberty, which is a real good and precious boon; but for this very reason, the Protestant incurs no light responsibility. Which shall come upon all the world - The phrase used here - all the world - may either denote the whole world; or the whole Roman empire; or a large district of country; or the land of Judaea. 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, v. 8. The statement does not refer directly to the rapture. This promise is a reversal of all that the Jews had expected; they had expected that all nations would kneel before them; but the day was to come when they with all nations would kneel before Christ. , God 's final punishment to leave a man alone perfect one '' ( SS revelation 3:10 commentary ) Minor was. The Holy Ghost 's energy as an overruling power in everything to yield to the rapture deny! 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The lifelessness of the River Halys two drachmae man needs the hour ; God! Ready to die than to allow him to do as he likes ( Genesis )!
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