In summary, the posttribulational position in Rev 3:10, as articulated by Gundry, seems unlikely because (1) it assumes a simplistic (and etymological) force for the preposition , and (2) it does not take into account the force of the total construction of verb + preposition. ISBN-13 9780952489429 ISBN-10 0952489422 Num total owners: 3 9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to . All must be and was measured according to God's own mind, and the place in which He set the assemblies. Truth is the jewel for which all believers must be ready to die. [Note: See Renald E. Showers, Maranatha: Our Lord, Come! ], "The threefold occurrence of onoma (name) is impressive and amounts to a threefold assurance of his identity with God." God we don't want to go on living in a lie or a fallacy. One cannot make good sense out of Revelation 3:10 otherwise. . Let men call you bigot, but never mind, hold you on with all your might, and your Lord will smile upon you. (i) It prided itself on its financial wealth. He that receives it shall live, but without it there is no spiritual life. In short He is carefully regarded as man on earth, as the sent One who lives on account of the Father in the gospel as a man on earth, in the revelation as a man most truly wherever He may be seen, whether in heaven or on earth. The clergy encouraged by a misuse of scripture every sort of commerce with the world's evil ways; as it is said here, "who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication." I will make him who overcomes a pillar in the temple of my God and he will go out no more; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, of the new Jerusalem, which is coming down from heaven from my God, and my new name. That is exactly what the church ought to have been and was not; and therefore He has to take that place Himself. Thus we must read the text and translate it. Faith is the Koh-i-noor among jewels, the queen of the virtues. In particular the temple was the centre of a medical school which was transferred to Laodicea itself. So famous were its doctors that the names of some appear on the coins of Laodicea. In Revelation 3:10 we are back again amidst beliefs which are characteristically Jewish. (iii) It was a very considerable medical centre. We have now come to the sixth letter, sent to one of the Asian churches, where observe. That which must keep a Christian faithful is the vision of a world for Christ, for the coming of such a world depends on the fidelity of the individual Christian. Yet it was a wealthy city, situated at the junction of several important roads and trade routes. Nothing can be simpler. (i) It individualizes the message of the letters. Once it was a question of not denying His faith, as was found in Pergamos; but here it is Himself personally. I believe that result is sure to follow holy conversation and sound preaching. They could do but little where money would be required. Laodicea, The Wealth That Is Poverty ( Revelation 3:14-22 Continued). All intimates that they are in great, and no doubt just, dread of Him as a judge. He will eat supper with you.Now, the Jew would not eat with the Gentile. Read full chapter. 159.] But when they have observed how you stand to the truth, how solid, and how steadfast you are, they will give over disputing with you, and come to inquire what your views really are. When the Lord is seen in the vision of chapter 1, these are not the ways in which He is described at all "He that hath the key of David.". (1.) This has nothing to do with His presence for us; but after our own delight and thanksgiving have gone forth towards Jesus, the testimony to others most suitably follows the song of praise that had, I may say, involuntarily burst forth at His name. The word for beginning is arche ( G746) . Beale believed that this "hour" probably refers to the end of the churchs present experience of tribulation, just before Christs second coming. But that cannot happen if every day a man lives in the presence of Christ; he who walks hand-in-hand with Christ cannot be taken unawares by his coming. Phillips puts it: "They will maintain a facade of 'religion,' but their conduct will deny its validity.". "This can hardly be His return to earth described in Revelation 19:11-21, because this phase of His coming will be preceded by all the events described in chapters 6-18. Help us purchase electrical generators for churches. I want to suggest to you that if you have done this for some time the era has now arrived when you may go forward to somewhat more. Still that strength is a matter of degrees and certain churches have a little strength but only a little. "Therefore," he says, "watch!" 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. Philadelphia is one of seven churches addressed with its own letter in Revelation 2 & 3. Let it be seen that you do not go to be stirred in those vital points, till your friends say of you, "Oh, you can twist William anywhere, but not in his religion. Clarke's Revelation 3:10 Bible Commentary The word of my patience - The doctrine which has exposed you to so much trouble and persecution, and required so much patience and magnanimity to bear up under its attendant trials. God's word was there to deal with human conscience. It is blessedly true that even out of failure a man can redeem himself--but only if he casts himself upon the grace of Jesus Christ. Where are they to be found? [Note: Chitwood, p. 101. On that point he is a regular Puritan; there is no moving him." Dear hearer, see that you win it too. I should like to see a few more of such Protestants. An angel setting forth representation (human or not), an ideal representative of each assembly is meant. Judas lost his place to Matthias ( Acts 1:25-26). The fire must be kept burning. And he was apologizing, but he went into the house of Cornelius. 290. 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. This marks particularly the change in the chapter, and especially in the part before us. (i) He is the Amen. Behold, I am standing at the decor and knocking. It was all over with them, unless they judged themselves, and in the power of the Holy Ghost Christ regained His place. Here we have to remark that Christ is seen in a judicial point of view. If the Lord chastens you, be thankful you are His child and He loves you. He saw the blind confidence of Croesus and his people that nothing could end this splendour; but he also saw that the seeds of softness and of degeneration were being sown. . If that is the picture here, this phrase contains a warning and tells men to have a care, for Jesus Christ the Judge and King is at the door. "Let us not sleep, as others do," writes Paul to the Thessalonians. Literally, it is the word of my endurance. They had lost the very perception of what was for God. (2.) In certain cases we know that it might be a literal representative; for instance, when John the Baptist sends some of his disciples, there was a representation of his mind by men. God does not leave those who have shown that they will not leave him. to the angel of the church of Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness ( Revelation 3:14 ). Of all the seven Churches that of Laodicea is most unsparingly condemned. He will reward them at his return (10-11). 98. Except the common-places of controversy with Protestants, they know little of Scripture. It is not to make known what was in Christ before all worlds, but to disclose the great facts in which God was about to maintain the glory of the First-begotten, when He introduced Him into the world. God has put us in trust with the gospel, and we will sooner part with all that we have than be false to our trust. (ii) The Risen Christ says: "Repent!" For a year Antiochus besieged him; then a soldier called Lagoras repeated the exploit of Hyeroeades. Clarke's Commentary. Cold is psuchros ( G5593) ; and it can mean cold to the point of freezing. We have met with instances where they wrote out part of the word of God, and hid it away in a wall; and afterwards, when the wall was pulled down, the priceless record was discovered and used. No man can shut it. He did originally, as for instance in the ten words, though afterwards in this very particular intervention came in. If I am a servant, I ought to behave like a servant. John 12:27). When the Turks and Mohammedanism flooded across Asia Minor and every other town had fallen, Philadelphia stood erect. But those who loved the Lord showed their love then not so much by intelligence in His ways, as by unsparing and habitual self-denial. It was not that Croesus was not warned where Sardis was heading. I have not found your works completed before my God. It is the second meaning which is intended here. This figures prominently in the theories of millennialists, who take the passage as emphasizing that Christians shall be delivered from not through the great trial, "implying the rapture of the church before the time referred to as "the great tribulation. So many Jews emigrated here that the Rabbis inveighed against the Jews who sought the wines and baths of Phrygia. The final and above all the decisive message of grace, which called the Jews outside all earthly associations to Christ in heaven, was given neither by Peter nor by James, and by no other than Paul. There are seven Churches, yet in each of them the Spirit operates with all his presence and power. It would be the falsest possible deduction to suppose that Daniel and his three companions, possibly others also, were not personally as pleasant to the Lord as David was. They are thus carefully ushered in, but in that prophetic method which was morally fitting, in a series of visions which John saw. 10 million Ukrainians without power because of Russia. But we must never forget that he is looking for our love, our loyalty and our service. The Risen Christ speaks of "the shame of the nakedness of Laodicea.". ", It often happens that, when a great earthquake comes, people meet it with courage and self-possession, but ever. 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. Thus the Lord was no longer fighting in defence of His own people, nor was He employing the enemy's hatred and persecution to nip in the bud or prune evil excrescences. Not so, I apprehend, where angels of the churches are spoken of. It is the great fact, in contrast with the inspired epistle, that you find even among the ante-Nicene Fathers. The statement does not refer directly to the rapture. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." 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. Victory lies before you. Other New Testament passages also teach a pretribulation Rapture (e.g., John 14:3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:9). Did they like to be near a throne, although it were the throne of Satan to dwell there? I don't see a super church, or super saints. "Behold, happy is the man whom God reproves; therefore, despise not the chastening of the Almighty" ( Job 5:17). (iv) Repeatedly the New Testament urges the Christian to be on the watch for the coming of his Lord. God never abandons his search for the faithful few and they are never lost to his sight in the mass of the wicked. Hence it is that the Lord introduces Himself to them as the Amen, the end of every thing human, where all the security is in the faithfulness of God. Truth does not die through being buried. When God judges the ungodly, Christ will protect those who have remained loyal to him. He is seen as the true God in the outpouring of His wrath upon a Christ-rejecting world. This we have had already in the Pauline epistles, where the proper sphere of the Christian as a member of Christ's body is treated especially, and indeed only there. Here we find Jezebel later. 11 [ b]Behold,I am coming quickly!Hold fast what you have, that no one may takeyour crown. Our Lord called upon them to be watchful against their enemies, and to be active and earnest in their duties; and to endeavour, in dependence on the grace of the Holy Spirit, to revive and strengthen the faith and spiritual affections of those yet alive to God, though in a declining state. In order to defend themselves on a religions footing, men fall back on a system of ordinances and of the law. It was founded by colonists from Pergamum under the reign of Attalus the Second, who ruled in Pergamum from 159 to 138 B.C. He sees you at your Bible-reading, he marks you in your endeavours to get at the meaning of his word, he notes you when you sit down and meditate upon his divine thoughts, and he takes pleasure in your eagerness to know what the will of the Lord is. I shut and no man can open. "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman (perhaps 'thy wife') Jezebel." The world's authority brought in worldly objects, and now the ministry became a clergy, a more or less profitable profession. From everyone of us Jesus Christ is looking for something; and for everyone of us there is something to do. Christ knocks and a man can answer or refuse to answer. We can't really sit back and say, "Look, how many we have got coming here." The mixture of relations is always wrong; the oversight of them is loss, their denial ruinous. This Means You ( Revelation 3:14-22 Continued). 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. (iii) Laodicea prided itself on its famous eye-salve; but the facts of the case show that it was blind to its own poverty and nakedness. See, I am just a coming to relieve them under the trial, to reward their fidelity, and to punish those who fall away; they shall lose that crown which they once seemed to have a right to, which they hoped for, and pleased themselves with the thoughts of. (a) Christ is looking for something from us. It is the second of these words which is used here. Support an independent author today! Sardis, Past Splendour And Present Decay ( Revelation 3:1-6 Continued). In due time the Romans came. (a) There is a door of missionary opportunity before every man and he need not go overseas to find it. Remember also that it is so much to the increase of brotherly love to have a clear eye to see the imperfections of our friends. Philadelphia, Many Promises ( Revelation 3:7-13 Continued). His having the seven Spirits of God was distinct from the Ephesian picture; nor is anything at all similar in the description of the Lord Jesus given before. We shall find it in relation to Christ dealing with church matters in Revelation 3:1-22; we shall find it in His relation to the earth inRevelation 5:1-14; Revelation 5:1-14: but it is always the fulness of the Spirit in governmental power, and not the same Spirit viewed in His unity forming the church into one body. "In principle, the same promise would fit the judgment as the great trial for the whole human race. It means that their message was not confined to the people in the seven Churches nineteen hundred years ago, but that through them the Spirit is speaking to every man in every generation. Surely love can go no further than that. Revelation 3:13) in a position of safety presupposes that they will have been removed to another location (i.e., heaven) at the periods beginning. In each of them is loss, their denial ruinous house of Cornelius great trial for coming. 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