cit., p. 101. 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 Christians and who were not. The Rapture and the Second Coming cannot occur back to back but must be separated by the seven-year Tribulation. Yet, alas! Things which are tepid often have a nauseating effect. To the church at Sardis 1. 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. (b) In the ancient world white robes stood for victory. This church is commended: Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name,Revelation 3:8; Revelation 3:8. Secondly, he gives him a word of prospect. Too many of us are Christian one moment and unchristian the next. Sometimes the trial is more general and universal; it comes upon all the world, and, when it is so general, it is usually the shorter. And in the twenty-second chapter of Isaiah in verse twenty-two, well, go back to twenty-one, we read this prophecy concerning the Messiah, "I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. Two other roads passed through the gates of Laodicea, that from Pergamum and the Hermus Valley to Pisidia and Pamphylia and the coast at Perga and that from eastern Caria to central and west Phrygia. It has been said that an author can write a good biography if he loves his subject or hates him but not if he is coldly indifferent. 'But he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as a vessel of the potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father." Sin, as Burns had it, "petrifies the feeling.". The road, therefore, detoured through the Lycus valley. ], THE LETTER TO SARDIS ( Revelation 3:1-6 ). See also Showers, pp. The address is to the overcomer, who is accordingly put before the call to hear. International delivery varies by country, please see the Wordery store help page for details. So, the promise of being kept from the Great Tribulation, because we have kept the word of His patience. If anything is to be rescued from the impending ruin of the Church in Sardis the Christians there must wake from their deadly lethargy and watch. There make your mark, and put your foot down. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the church ( Revelation 3:13 ). I am at this pass, I can sooner die than yield the gospel. Originally Laodicea had been a fortress; but it had the serious handicap that all its water supply had to come by underground aqueduct from springs no less than six miles away, a perilous situation for a town besieged. It was in an area where there was a very large Jewish population. It was theirs, they read it and searched it and made it their own. It is a new state of things; but when we come to Philadelphia there is far more evidence of all things new. For every position we are set in, no matter where it is or what, there is always the gracious power of God as our resource; but it is to sustain the person walking in consonance with the relationship in which God has been pleased to put him. The new name of Christ, the Mediator, the Redeemer, the captain of our salvation; by this it will appear under whose banner this conquering believer had enlisted, under whose conduct he acted, by whose example he was encouraged, and under whose influence he fought the good fight, and came off victorious. [2.] It was founded for a special purpose. In short, it is Christ in His fullest but most general ministerial and ecclesiastical aspect, viewed, of course, according to the tenor of the book. The hour of trial What is the great trial which is coming upon the whole world? But there is more also. In the pagan world devotees of certain gods often wrote the name of their god on their forehead (cf. In Revelation 3:3 we have a series of imperatives. But that situation had its perils, and these perils had left their mark more deeply on Philadelphia than on any other city. In the gospel it is said, God gives Him to have life in Himself. They know what they believe and they have no desire to change" If a man does not believe the doctrines of grace, he comes to hear me once, and he says, "I am not going there any more." If the Lord has rebuked you, then be thankful He loves you. There is the most careful exclusion of His heavenly position from the relationships of the Lord Jesus that are here brought before us. Sardis, Past Splendour And Present Decay ( Revelation 3:1-6 Continued). 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. "And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest," etc. Learn here, (1.) In no other place do we find anything akin to this. (i) The Risen Christ says: "Remember how you received and heard the gospel." Ramsay says of Philadelphia that it was "the centre for the diffusion of Greek language and Greek letters in a peaceful land and by peaceful means." "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shall shut; and shutteth, and no man shall open." It seems instead to refer to a blessing the whole church could anticipate. 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. They have slipped into the world, and share its fears and anxieties. "And I will give him the morning star." But this is here restricted: it does not mean the truth in general, nor the gospel in particular, though we cannot doubt that John did preach the gospel, and did nourish the church of God in all His revealed truth; but this is not the subject of the Apocalypse, nor the meaning of our text. "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?" The persevering Christian shall win the prize from backsliding professors, who once stood fair for it.". I answer, because it is a holy thing to treasure up God's word. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder, so he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut and none shall open." "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would that. Possibly if they had felt stronger they might have presumptuously quitted the word of the Lord for the opinions of men, as the Galatians did, and then they would have lost their reward. After a day of patience we must expect an hour of temptation; a day of gospel peace and liberty is a day of God's patience, and it is seldom so well improved as it should be and therefore it is often followed by an hour of trial and temptation. Mark 14:35). Trench points out that a witness must satisfy three essential conditions. Men who deserve praise can bear it, and some of them even need it. Wealth can do much but there are things that it can never do. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend" ( Proverbs 27:6). 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. It may have been some form of persecution, or it may have been some calamity by disease, earthquake, or famine that was to occur. I rebuke and discipline all those whom I love. The connection of the Son with creation is frequently made in the New Testament. The implication may appear to be that if a Christian denies Christ (Revelation 3:8) he or she will not participate in the Rapture. And no doubt also it was intended in this sense that they had obeyed the word of God. They could do but little where money would be required. "There is no promise in Revelation that God's people shall escape suffering and death, but there is the promise that no harm can come to their souls."[48]. The first of these epistles to the angel of the church in Ephesus denounced "the deeds of the Nicolaitans;" but now the iniquity in question (Antinomianism it would seem) had become a doctrine. Yet, spite of drawbacks, an open Bible was won for God's children in particular, and for man also. So many Jews emigrated here that the Rabbis inveighed against the Jews who sought the wines and baths of Phrygia. Here is Christ the lover knocking at the door of the hearts of men. He who is not written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire ( Revelation 20:15); only they who are written in the Lamb's book of life shall enter into blessedness ( Revelation 21:27). Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, [and here it is, because you've kept His Word], I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the eaRuth ( Revelation 3:10 ). Now there are many today who are not watching for the return of Jesus Christ. It is essentially a special case instead of the general one we have seen. A particular assembly, or even the assemblies of a district (Galatians 1:1-24), may be addressed. In entering God's kingdom, Jews must follow the way of these Gentiles, not Gentiles follow the way of the Jews (8- 9). "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." This flagrant church-world corruption was now a settled institution. But the point of interest here is, that succession and ordinances became defined as a system about this very time. About; Guide; API; Contact; Login | Join. Here is a warning against what we might call "spasmodic Christianity." Life in Christ, where there is spiritual intelligence, takes one out of the vanities of the world in principle. I open and no man can shut. 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. What a full exemption! This marks particularly the change in the chapter, and especially in the part before us. It is no mere transient cloud of error; it is a body in the highest worldly position a queen, but also pretending to the highest spiritual power a prophetess so-called, that was now permanently settled in Christendom, giving birth to a distinct progeny of iniquity "her children." Here the name of Jesus is enough to stir the heart in a sweet and suited doxology. Now, why should God's word be kept in this way? In short, "the hour of temptation" is, I conceive, a larger term altogether than the "great tribulation" ofRevelation 7:1-17; Revelation 7:1-17, and still more than the unparalleled tribulation which is to befall the land of Israel. I trust that many of us can say that the doctrines of grace are our jewels, our estate, yes, our very life. Thus have I explained what the Philadelphians did. All must be and was measured according to God's own mind, and the place in which He set the assemblies. "Behold," says the Risen Christ, "I am standing at the door and knocking." In order to make this more realised by the believers then or at any other time, be it remarked that we have another word remarkably annexed which lies altogether out of the beaten path of the Lord. Paul said, "You are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. Jesus Christ is for ever true to the man who is true to him. Sir W. M. Ramsay said of Sardis that nowhere was there a greater example of the melancholy contrast between past splendour and present decay. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name." Blessed and happy shall he be who followeth the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. ], Fourth, God promised that He will not just honor overcomers by erecting a pillar in their name in heaven, as was the custom in Philadelphia. The hour of temptation will catch them, no matter where they may hide. Even on the Emmaus road, "He appeared to be going further" ( Luke 24:28). we're increased with goods, we have need of nothing; you know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked ( Revelation 3:17 ): Interesting how the church observes itself and how Jesus observes the church. The revelation of grace is precisely what is not found in this book. While, therefore, he had all that is properly Christian, he also had very special communications of another character for saints who will follow us at the end of this age. ISBN-13 9780952489429 ISBN-10 0952489422 Num total owners: 3 We have most of us heard what conflicts he had, and not merely at the beginning of his career but to the end. (iv) We add a final fact about Laodicea. This wicked Jezebel not only persecuted the true saints of the Lord, but sought universal supremacy a world-wide dominion over souls. The man who will not submit to Christ has necessarily resisted him. The names of Paul's fellow-labourers for God are written in the book of life ( Php_4:3 ). "Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not." The problem is that the words "because you have a little strength, and because you have kept my word, and have not denied my name," can go equally well with what precedes them or with what follows. On the other hand, to be clothed in fine raiment was the greatest honour. (d) It has been suggested that the white robes stand for the resurrection bodies which the faithful will some day wear. (b) We see the offer of Christ. It is not what I think; it is not what some greater man may think; it is not what may be the consensus of all the enlightened minds of the period; the decision lies with what the Lord has spoken. Our faith stands not in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. God freely acknowledges that life today is full of mysteries; but it will not always be so. If you have been vacillating and shifty and tricky, and have believed everything and nothing, nobody will take any particular notice of what you say, except it be to shut the door against your uncertain prattle. The problem with the Protestant Reformation is that it wasn't complete. Clarke's Commentary. Verse Revelation 3:10. The Book is our ultimatum. "The time is at hand." The Apocalypse looks on things after the Holy Ghost had taken His place in the Christian and in the church on earth above all, after the Son had appeared, manifested God the Father, and accomplished redemption here below. Would that you were cold or hot! Does it mean what we commonly call an angelic being? Sardis gives the rise of the new state of things, not strictly ecclesiastical the Lord acting in the way of testimony, and not so much in ecclesiastical order. Remember what Solomon says, "The conies are a feeble folk," but he puts them down as wise people, for they have their habitation in the rocks. I counsel thee buy from me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness does not appear; anoint your eyes with eyesalve, that you may see ( Revelation 3:18 ). and keeps to it with all its force. I do not doubt that all this is symbolically expressed. "Thou hast patience, and didst bear for my name, and hast not wearied. We may first note that the key is the symbol of authority. John then, as it is said, "testified the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ." This is exactly what is not true of Philadelphia, which is rather formed after a rejected Christ. A return to earth could not be characterized as soon by any stretch of the imagination. Oh, that they would cease to display their own thought, their own cleverness, and individuality. (2.) "Because this period of tribulation will immediately precede the coming of the Lord to earth in power and great glory (cf. The Jews lost their place to the Gentiles ( Romans 11:11). There can have been few areas where the Jews were wealthier and more influential. Men's scheme was a mistake, their flight foolish. God has promised all Christians deliverance from that outpouring of His wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10). Surely something is meant outside the ordinary course of things, where so unexampled a style of address is found. It is nothing special. At the same time they fatally compromised Christ by alliance with the world, and there followed the practical return to the world out of which grace had taken the church in order to union with Christ in glory. He is going therefore to show unto His "bondmen" a term that would suit not only Christians now, but those who might be in another relationship after we have been taken away from the world. In Paul's last address to the elders of Ephesus he warns them that grievous wolves will invade the flock from outside and from inside men will arise to speak perverse things. 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. Let it suffice once for all to hope you will understand me always to speak of the text on the basis of the ancient and best authorities. But of this I would say but a few words, considering the late hour. Dear hearer, see that you win it too. Therefore they appear as golden lampstands. 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. It set out along the valley of the River Maeander until it reached what were known as the Gates of Phrygia. There were a few futile attempts at rebellion; but Cyrus followed a deliberate policy. Verse 2: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and hisleft footon the earth, It is to be feared many are doing the same at this moment. It is to the rest, or the remnant in Thyatira, "as many as have not this doctrine," that the Lord turns. 3:7-13 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 no man will shut, and shuts and no man opens. That night he led a party of Persian troops up by the fault in the rock. Nothing can more demonstrate. Of all the seven Churches that of Laodicea is most unsparingly condemned. There are many who in the church mock the idea of the Lord returning and interrupting history. . The main object of all prophecy tended rather to have thrown him forward. [Note: Gundry, p. The word for salve is kollourion ( G2854) which literally means a little roll of bread. 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. It was not till midway through the fourteenth century that it fell; and to this day there is a Christian bishop and a thousand Christians in it. Good men have many conflicts, let us minister to their comfort. (ii) The Church at Sardis was untroubled by any attack from the outside, neither by the heathen or by the Jews. Was it not thus when the epistle to the Ephesians was written by Paul? Again, we can understand an angel employed a real angelic being as the means of communication between the Lord and His servant John; but it would be harsh to suppose that His servant John writes a letter from Christ to a literal angelic being. So much, then, with regard to this word of praise. Revelation 3:10. But it is not at all wonderful as occurring here, where we do find what is extraordinary. Let us bear our protest: the gold is good enough for us. A Church with a positive message is bound to be one to which there will be opposition. Nobody cares a button about him. . Nothing is more common among Protestants, than to admit a thing to be perfectly true because it is in the word of God, without the smallest intention or thought of acting upon it. And that isn't to say that God doesn't call people as He did to the Jews, but He has not called me. "I am the Alpha and Omega, saith the Lord God, that is, and that was, and that is to come, the Almighty." It is no small privilege so to be taught of the Holy Ghost as to have a taste for the gospel, a deep attachment to the truths of the covenant. Let there be at least individual even if unvalued faithfulness to the Lord Jesus. The terrible accusation against the Church at Sardis is that, although it has a reputation for life, it is, in fact, spiritually dead. Is this Christ? [2.] No one goes to hades before he dies death being in relation to the body, hades to the separate spirit. (iv) Repeatedly the New Testament urges the Christian to be on the watch for the coming of his Lord. From everyone of us Jesus Christ is looking for something; and for everyone of us there is something to do. Because you have kept my command to endure, I, too, will keep you safe from the hour of testing, which is to come upon the whole inhabited world, to test those who dwell upon the earth. It vanished from history under Persian rule for two centuries. He ordered them to wear tunics and buskins, that is, actor's boots, instead of sandals. if Christ be the rule of life for the Christian, and the law be the rule of death for a Jew, it is evident that for a Christian to abandon that for this tends to apostacy. There is tragedy here. But here He has the seven Spirits of God. One knows how readily the heart can thus escape from what is really the blessedness of the witness which the Lord has placed in our hands. It is a fact of life that the best athlete and the finest scholar receive the most demanding training. Your book matters, let's make it your way! (iii) Sin is the death of all loveliness. In Revelation 3:12 we come to the promises of the Risen Christ to those who are faithful. So solemnly then does this language suppose that the assembly at Sardis have passed out of the practical attitude of waiting for the Lord as a loved object. The stated ground that follows is also to be weighed; for it is not, as men often assume, because we are to be in the predicted circumstances, it is not because the Christian or the church must pass through the troubles it describes: not a word to this effect is implied, but a different reason is given.