Revelation 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. PATIENCE. 'The word of my persevering endurance' is my Gospel word, which teaches it in expectation of my coming (Revelation 1:9). My endurance is the endurance which I require and I practice. Christ Himself now endures, patiently waiting until the usurper be cast out, and all "His enemies be made His footstool." So, too, His Church, for the joy before her of sharing His coming kingdom, endures patiently. Hence, (Revelation 3:11) follows, "Behold, I come quickly." I ALSO. The reward is in kind: 'because thou didst keep,' et...

7-13 The same Lord Jesus has the key of government and authority in and over the church. He opens a door of opportunity to his churches; he opens a door of utterance to his ministers; he opens a door of entrance, opens the heart. He shuts the door of heaven against the foolish, who sleep away their day of grace; and against the workers of iniquity, how vain and confident soever they may be. The church in Philadelphia is commended; yet with a gentle reproof. Although Christ accepts a little strength, yet believers must not rest satisfied in a little, but strive to grow in grace, to be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Christ can discover this his favour to his people, so that their enemies shall be forced to acknowledge it. This, by the grace of Christ, will soften their enemies, and make them desire to be admitted into communion with his people. Christ promises preserving grace in t...

Verse Revelation 3:10. _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. _THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION_] A _time_ of sore and peculiar trial which might have proved too much for their strength. He who is faithful to the grace of God is often hidden from trials and difficulties which fall without mitigation on those who have been unfaithful in his covenant. Many understand by the _hour of temptation_ the persecution under _Trajan_, which was greater and more extensive than the preceding ones under _Nero_ and _Domitian_. _TO TRY THEM_] That is, such persecutions will be the means of trying and proving those who profess Christianity, and showing who were sound and thorough Chri

BECAUSE THOU HAST KEPT THE WORD OF MY PATIENCE - My word commanding or enjoining patience; that is, thou hast manifested the patience which I require. They had shown this in the trials which they had experienced; he promises now, that in return he will keep them in the future trials that shall come upon the world. One of the highest rewards of patience in one trial is the grace that God gives us to bear another. The fact that we have been patient and submis sive may be regarded as proof that he will give us grace that we may be patient and submissive in the trials that are to come. God does not leave those who have shown that they will not leave him. I ALSO WILL KEEP THEE - That is, I will so keep you that you shall not sink under the trials which will prove a severe temptation to many. This does not mean that they would be actually kept from calamity of all kinds, but that they would be...

EXPOSITION REVELATION 3:1 _The epistle to the Church at Sardis. _This Church is one of the two which receives unmixed reproof. Smyrna and Philadelphia receive no blame; Sardis and Laodicea receive no praise. Sardis lies almost due south of Thyatira, on the road to Philadelphia, between the river Hermus and Mount Tmolus. It had been in turn Lydian, Persian, Greek, and Roman, and, like its last Lydian king, Croesus, had been celebrated for its wealth. The auriferous stream Pactolus, in summer almost dry, flowed through its marketplace; but its chief source of wealth was its trade. In A.D. 17 "twelve famous cities of Asia fell by an earthquake in the night … The calamity fell most heavily on the people of Sardis, and it attracted to them the largest share of sympathy. The emperor [Tiberius] promised ten million sesterces (£85,000), and remitted

BECAUSE THOU HAST KEPT THE WORD OF MY PATIENCE,.... The Gospel; so called because it gives an account of the patience of Christ, in the midst of all his outward meanness and humiliation; and because it is a means of implanting and increasing the grace of patience, which God is the efficient cause of, and Christ is the example of; that patience, which bears a resemblance to his, in enduring afflictions, reproaches, persecutions, desertions, and temptations, and in waiting for his kingdom and glory; and because both the preachers and professors of the word have need of patience, and should exercise it in like manner as Christ did. This word, the churches, in the Philadelphian state, will keep pure and incorrupt, and observe the ordinances of it according to the directions given in it; and will believe the promise of Christ's personal coming, and patiently wait for it: wherefore, Christ pro...

WORLD (Greek, "oikoumenē", means "inhabited earth"). (_ See Scofield) - (Luke 2:1). _...

CHAPTER 3 Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea _ 1. Sardis: The reformation period (Revelation 3:1)_ 2. Philadelphia: The faithful remnant (Revelation 3:7) 3. Laodicea: The indifferent and apostate Church (Revelation 3:14) Revelation 3:1 . We have traced briefly the decline during the 1450-1500 years of Church history. The climax is reached in Thyatira, prophetically the Roman abomination and apostasy. In Sardis we see the progress of evil stayed. Roman Catholicism, as already mentioned, is a fixed and unchanging religious system. Rome will yet have for a brief season a startling rev

REVELATION 2:1 TO REVELATION 3:22. THE LETTERS TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. These letters are addressed to individual churches, but their messages are intended for the Church as a whole. In every letter there occurs the phrase, He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches....

_PHILADELPHIA_ STOOD ABOUT TWENTY MILES FROM SARDIS AND WAS THE SECOND CITY IN IMPORTANCE IN THE PROVINCE OF LYDIA. IT IS FIRST MENTIONED IN REVELATION, AND THE PRAISES BESTOWED UPON THE CHURCH SHOW THAT IT WAS WORTHY OF. CITY OF _BROTHERLY LOVE._ THOUGH THE OLD NAME HAS BEEN LAID ASIDE BY THE TURKS, THE CITY STILL HAS THREE THOUSAND HOUSES AND. CHRISTIAN POPULATION. THERE ARE SAID TO BE FIVE CHURCHES IN THE PLACE, AND IT IS THE SEAT OF. GREEK BISHOP. THE SEVEN CHURCHES.--At the time when John wrote there were hundreds of churches in existence. On the Asiatic Continent many had been founded in Judea, Syria, and elsewhere, and in the district of which Ephesus was the commercial metropolis, and which was especially designated as _Asia,_ we know that in the last quarter of the first century there were not only the seven churches named, but Colossae, Hierapolis, and perhaps many more. Why th...