THE LETTER TO THE CHURCH IN SARDIS (REVELATION 3:1). ‘And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, these things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.' Sardis is a dying church so they are being reminded of the powerful forces acting on behalf of the churches. Both the se... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Be watchful and establish the things which remain, which were ready to die, for I have not found any works of yours fulfilled before God. Remember therefore how you received and heard, and keep it and repent.' They are not only a church without the Spirit, they are a church without works of any ki... [ Continue Reading ]
‘If therefore you will not watch, I will come as a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.' Jesus' teaching was full of the need to be like servants waiting for their Lord to return, busy about His service, doing good, and honouring their Lord, with love in their hearts as th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But you have a few names (people) in Sardis who did not defile (spoil) their clothing, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.' Sardis was a centre for the manufacture and dyeing of woollen garments. They knew what it meant for clothing to be ruined in the process of manufacture... [ Continue Reading ]
‘He who overcomes will thus be arrayed in white garments, and there is no way I will blot his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels.' In Revelation 6:11 we are told of those who are given white robes. They were martyrs who had died for Chris... [ Continue Reading ]
‘He who has an ear let him hear, what the Spirit is saying to the churches.' The passage finishes with the usual refrain. ‘The Spirit is speaking, let him who will, listen'. It is one we must all heed.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LETTER TO THE CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA (REVELATION 3:7). ‘And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, These things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and none shall shut, who shuts and none opens.' ‘He who is holy.' The ‘Holy One' is a title o... [ Continue Reading ]
‘I know your works - (behold I have set before you an opened door which none can shut) - that you have a little power, and have kept my word, and did not deny my name.' The reference to the opened door clearly refers back in some way to the previous reference to the key and demonstrates that Jesus a... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Behold I give to you those of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews but are not and do lie, behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.' Once again we have reference to those Jews who deliberately sought to cause trouble with t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Because you kept my word of patient endurance I also will keep you from the hour of trial which is to come upon the whole world, to try those who dwell on earth. I come quickly. Hold fast what you have that no man take your crown.' For His ‘word of patient endurance' see Matthew 10:22; Mark 13:13;... [ Continue Reading ]
‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he will leave it no more, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from Heaven from my God, and my own new name.' Here is Christ's clear indication that... [ Continue Reading ]
‘He who has an ear let him hear, what the Spirit is saying or the churches.' And once again Jesus tells us, ‘he who has an ear to hear, let him hear'. The constant repetition demonstrates how important and urgent it is.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LETTER TO THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA (REVELATION 3:14). ‘And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write, ‘These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.' Jesus is the One who is the ‘yes', the ‘Amen' (‘so be it') to all the promises of God (1 Cor... [ Continue Reading ]
‘I know your works, that you are neither cold not hot. I would you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth.' Laodicea's water supply came from hot springs piped down from five miles away so that by the time it reached them it was luke... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Because you say I am rich, and have amassed wealth, and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are a wretch, a thing of misery, and poor and blind and naked.' ‘Wretched' and ‘miserable' both have the article before them suggesting they be read as nouns, thus ‘a wretched one, a thing of mis... [ Continue Reading ]
‘I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire that you may become rich, and white clothes so that you may clothe yourself and so that the shame of your nakedness should not be revealed, and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.' They were famed for buying expensive goods. Let them... [ Continue Reading ]
‘As many as I love, I reprove and punish for their own good. Be zealous therefore and repent (have a change of heart and mind).' (See Proverbs 3:11 for the idea of chastening, cited in Hebrews 12:3). The word for love is philo meaning great affection. Jesus wishes the Laodiceans to know that His hea... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Behold, I am standing at the door and knocking. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him and he with me.' We must remember that these words are spoken by the Son of Man in ‘the Lord's Day' (Revelation 1:10). They obtain their meaning from words of Jes... [ Continue Reading ]
‘He who overcomes, I will give to him the right to sit down on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.' The Laodiceans had much of this world's goods but they were not royalty. He can offer them so much more than their so-called riches. Here those who overcome are o... [ Continue Reading ]
‘He who has an ear to hear, let him hear, what the Spirit says to the churches'. It is up to every man how he hears. And we have been warned seven times. How foolish we would be not to hear! FURTHER THOUGHTS ON THE CHURCHES. The care with which the letters to the churches were compiled is demonst... [ Continue Reading ]