Revelation Chapter 3

Revelation 3:1-2

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.

This is an extra long post but worth the read. It is interesting that Jesus decided to use the description of Him holding the seven spirits and seven stars, showing His complete power. He then comments on how incomplete their works are.

If ever there was an age that churches could be described as being reputably alive but are actually dead, it is the time we are living in now. Now at the time this was written, people did not church hop; there was often only one church group in an entire city (if that), so if you walked away from church there was nowhere you could go. I think this is partially what is being talked about when He says strengthen what remains and is about to die; that if the remnant that are doctrinally sound stay amongst such utter nonsense then they too will find themselves as dead as the rest of the church. Notice that the message is NOT to leave church all together, which is our outlook on church when we come across things we don’t like. Now to comment on some things that point to us being alive but actually dead, there would be too many to list so I will try to keep it to the most common and/or blatant.

First thing is the way we worship in song, dance, drama, jumping through the aisles, speaking gibberish, and generally falling out and making a mockery of God and His Son, who died composed on the cross for you and I. Too often we attribute these types of things to the “Spirit” moving and that God has poured Himself out to us, and I dare say this is mostly not true. Does the Spirit move in these ways; I would say He can and does. Often though this takes place before any of the word of God has been spoken. It is that very word that changes the heart of men and especially with all the modern era songs that contain very little if any scriptural backing, it is difficult to believe the Spirit is the one causing this. Saying that, I’m not necessarily saying the word needs to be spoken as a precursor to the Spirit moving in these ways, but how often do you see people performing these “righteous acts” when the word of God is being read. Almost never. It is because we have become indifferent to the word but have attached our emotions to song and dance, neither of which can I find a biblical reference to saving anyone. So in that way we can act up when our favorite worship song is sung but then moments later are able to fall asleep when the word is read because it is no longer the word that sustains us but a preference for entertainment, which the church has become increasingly good at delivering. A good litmus test for this would be that if your church could not be sustained for a period of time without any of the things listed and survive solely off of the words of God; your reputation for being alive may rest with men.

Something else we have changed (mostly for good) is who attends the actual church service. In the time this was written, unbelievers didn’t come to church; they were converted mostly by disciples of Christ who shared the word and love of Jesus and then once this has taken place they were brought into church to learn how to be a disciple. This kept unbelievers from tithing/offering gifts to God, taking holy communion, being placed in charge of things, and being baptized. We have reverted from this and I think this is mostly a good thing. Where it is extremely bad is that we feel we no longer have to disciple men. Invite them into church, the preacher will do the rest, all the rest. We abstain from any responsibility for people and their behaviors. By doing that we invite in all sorts of destructive heresies and make it difficult to rebuke someone because we have grown accustomed to worshipping with them and not really finding out if the god they say they believe in is a god that can be found in the pages of the Bible. This is a very fundamental problem inside of all of our churches and something that needs to be watched closely. The difficult part today is finding teachers that are able to teach a sound doctrine and are not afraid to do so without sugar coating it in order to make the word both sweet in your mouth and in your stomach. If you have found a church home that has teachers who can teach the whole word of God without hinderance consider yourself blessed.

I will cut this off for now but a few other topics that are relevant to this passage are that the size of your church building and/or congregation are not indicative necessarily of a church that is living. Also a church that lacks compassion to help widows and/or orphans may be dying as well as a congregation that cares nothing for the poor and homeless. Wake up and strengthen what remains.

Revelation 3:3

Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. (ESV)

Wake up!! But if you don’t...Jesus once again being the merciful savior that He is, gives us time to repent. Can you imagine that a Christian would need to repent and there would be a consequent if they don’t? And that consequence is not a light one! It’s not that your life might be harder for a while or that He would allow Satan to toy with you for a while. The punishment for not waking up and repenting of this particular disobedience will cause Jesus to come against you. This gives me goosebumps. There are some terrible things that happen in this world; abortion, or child pornography/molestation, from family lying and stealing from you to murder, from the government oppressing you to that ancient serpent himself destroying everything in your path including you. Of all these things nothing should frighten us and give us a natural fear of the Lord than transitioning from a sinner saved by grace into a full on enemy of the one who will tread the winepress of the fury of God’s wrath. Now a lot of people would disagree with someone saying such a thing; that scaring people into the service of the Lord is somehow not something we should be doing and we talk about such people like they are blasphemers or something. Say what you will but Jesus is saying here that if the people inside of this church, and them being Christian, don’t repent; He will catch them by surprise and and come against them. This teaching makes us angry at the person delivering this news and causes us to lean upon our own understanding and lash out against them as heretics, when it should cause us to pause, regard him as Lord of all, and repent like the righteous Christians we proclaim to be.

Revelation 3:4

Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

There are some in the church who have not soiled their garments, so they will walk with Jesus dressed in white. Humans being dressed in white is an idea we will see several times in later chapters. In those instances they usually (if not always) happen after they are dead but this in not necessarily the case here. Wearing white is a sign of righteousness and in this instance some in Sardis have acted righteously and have failed to soil their clothes. This is not the same as not sinning for they most certainly did but not to the point where the garments were no longer white. The most interesting part of this verse I think is Jesus commenting that they are worthy to walk with Him. We give Jesus (or at least we ought to) full credit for worthiness and while He definitely plays a part in their righteousness, they play a part as well and that part made them worthy. We too often give excuses on why we lack righteousness and in part it seems we do it in order to be able to show how great God is to others and ourselves; but God does not need us to be sinners in order to show His greatness. He is a necessary being by definition whether Adam would have fallen or not; if you don’t believe me ask the angels who do not receive salvation. Jesus commented once, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” My point is that if every person had followed this command we might think then there would be no need for God but this is not true simply for the fact that we are not God, so we would still have need for Him. Now whether these people in Sardis were perfect as Jesus wants us to be, I don’t know. What I do know is that He did say that they were worthy to walk with him and that sounds like one of the greatest compliments someone could receive and one we should always be striving for.

ref: Matthew 5:48

Revelation 3:5-6

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. '

As stated earlier unlike other references to white in Revelation, these people will not have to change their clothes into white ones but are already dressed in white (righteous acts), and the ones that continue to not soil their clothing will not be blotted out of the book of life.

Not much is said quantity-wise about this book, but what is said shapes a ton of theological doctrine, so I will spend some time on it and it will be revisited later as well. First, this particular book was written with names in it from the foundation of the world. Yes, Jesus knew before earth was created whose names were to be written into this book and to be found in this book is of the utmost importance. Scripture does not say that names are added to this book so I can’t speak much on that so it would appear that Jesus, being all knowing, knew before you were created if your name was to appear or not. Scripture does say that if your name is not found in the book that you will submit to the authority of the beast and worship it. Now we’ve heard of the saying, “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” That’s easy, it was the chicken. But a deeper question to ponder is, “was a name not written because Jesus knew they would worship or do they worship because there name is not written?” It is also interesting to note that instead of marveling at God, who was, who is ,and who is to come; this group marvels at the beast for that very same reason. At the end of judgement it is said that, “if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” So God being omniscient knew before creation who would inherit life and who was to be thrown into the lake. But just because He knows doesn’t mean that we no longer have a responsibility to share the Gospel with people, but do so that He will be found righteous whether they accept it or not.

And now to the controversial part; being blotted out. Can you ever think of a time where Jesus wasted words? In fact it was Him who said that on the day of judgement everyone will give an account for every empty word they have spoken, of which I have said many. Some maintain and teach that no one will ever be blotted out; that once you are saved you are always saved. If that is a true statement then Jesus has just spoken empty words. Now I will not presume to list ways that can cause this to happen, because it is not my book and I have no power over the names in it; but I can however tell you what scripture has said about it. One way is to commit the unforgivable sin, which is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit; which it appears is something only a (former) believer is able to do. Along the same lines and adding re-crucification of Jesus, “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” The last example happens in Exodus where the Lord said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them."

I will leave you however with a last word of encouragement. These are all deliberate acts against the God of Heaven and not necessarily a haphazard event. Moses had proclaimed to God, “Now if you would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book You have written.” Moses couldn’t request in this way that his name be blotted out of the book. God stated that He will blot out those (on the mountain) that had sinned against Him. So hold fast your testimony about Jesus so that on that day He settles accounts, He will be able to proclaim your name to His Father and His angels.

ref: Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8-9; Revelation 20:15; Luke 12:10; Hebrews 6:4-6; Exodus 32:30-34

Revelation 3:7

"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. (ESV)

As Christians I think we have no problem seeing Jesus at face value as being the true one. We generally think truth is a good thing and mostly believe Him to be the true one, as long as He is saying the things that are fluffy and benefit us. In the gospels we constantly find ourselves changing what it is that Jesus is saying and constantly covering His words up with a lie about what grace and mercy are to us instead of what they are. If Jesus is the true one why can we not just believe the actual words that He says? One of the most prominent verses that we could make an excuse for is, “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Did he mean all others or some others? Does He mean all my sins or just the one pertaining to not forgiving that one person like He told me? If I am already covered by the blood of Jesus, the Father will HAVE TO forgive me, right? I think one of the most dangerous things we can believe is that we can somehow obligate God into doing something. If He said to be perfect, I think He intends us to be perfect. He says if you do not forgive others, you won’t be forgiven. This is what makes Him the true one and also the holy one. We are called to be righteous and not to make excuses. What makes Him holy and true is that He is able to make those tough decisions concerning the judgement of you and I. At one point the souls of the dead under the altar commented, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" These are the righteous crying out to their holy and true God to avenge them by judging all who dwell on the earth; and He will do it, but not on our timetable or even on their timetable (because He tells them to wait), but when He is good and ready. We would do well, when we read the very words of Jesus to actually believe what He says, that those things are what will actually happen.

One thing that is maddening is all the feel good sayings that are plastered over beautiful backgrounds all over social media. These things make us feel good about ourselves and always hold a glimmer of truth but are actually a full lie with no scriptural backing. One recently said, “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” As evil men we like that. It gives a glimmer of hope and that loophole that we are ever searching for. Nowhere in scripture does it say something so ridiculous. He says I shut a door and its shut, I open a door and its open, meaning it cannot be tampered with. If God shuts a door on you, you are locked in wherever you are. No one can help you. There is not a window for you to escape from and no amount of prayer makes the door suddenly go away. The one who is holy and true has shut it, to remain shut. This is the legacy and the key of David that he wields. David, in all his sin, was called a man after God’s own heart. Do we ever stop to ponder what that means? It means that when God told him to go and kill these certain people, he did it. He shut that door. God told him to do something and could rest assured that David would carry it out. If we are to be called men/women after God’s own heart, we must do the things he tells us to do.

In Isaiah when this prophecy was being spoken about Jesus, it was said that he will be a peg secured and the offspring and every vessel will be hung from it, and when that peg is cut down and off, everything that hung from it will be cut off. He was talking about a permanent cut off; the door being closed on them. That is why Jesus Himself said, “so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation...You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering." So the door is shut, even at that time before the resurrection for these teachers of the law; but the door remained open for those that they were hindering from entering. Where we go wrong, I think, is that deep down we think we might get to blame some of our misgivings about why we weren’t righteous on the teachers of the law, or Satan, or the other hypocrites in your particular church. The door may indeed be closing on them but you have your own door that you must walk through lest it be closed on you as well. That’s why Jesus is holy and true holding the key of David, that He can righteously make the “hard calls” on when to lock the door and when to leave it open; and you nor I nor the angels in heaven can have anything to say about it.

ref: Matthew 6:15; Revelation 6:10; Isaiah 22:22-25; Luke 11:46-52

Revelation 3:8

"'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

So now we see Jesus has set before the church of Philadelphia an open door. The door referred here is often associated to bringing faith and salvation to the gentiles. This door is being left open that the church in Philadelphia can bring in more converts from the gentiles. This church had little power due to its small size and apparently its persecution from the outside world and the Jews who were actually a synagogue of Satan. Yet despite these setbacks they remained faithful in the Lord Jesus. We often talk about being persecuted and that being by Satan himself but that is often not necessarily the case in our current situations. We think when things go wrong in the church we get to yell persecution when most times it is just flat out laziness and stagnation on our part. I believe that when/if persecution really were to come it will be just like in the early church and in places today that are actually hostile toward Christianity, the church will grow; and not in numbers necessarily but in piety and righteousness. This is what the church desperately needs today but we think that we are alright in the Lord’s sight and ready to enter into His kingdom but what we really need is to be cleansed, and in that cleansing not deny the name of Jesus but rather accept it.

ref: Acts 14:27; 2 Corinthians 2:12; Colossians 4:3

Revelation 3:9

Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.

We see here the Jews in the church being referred to as a synagogue. These are those who are jews outwardly but are still uncircumcised in their hearts as Paul would put it. They would be the sort that Jesus spoke of over and over again such as the scribes and pharisees who being so legalistic travel over land and sea for a single convert and make that person twice as much a child of hell as themselves. It should be a humbling idea to Christians that we are able to be forgiven and become spiritual children of Abraham in order that these types of Jews might behold them in the end and know that Jesus, their Lord and Messiah, has also become our Lord and Savior. Paul stated that, “Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs”. They are the beloved and because a partial hardening of Israel has happened and they have become enemies of the gospel, we get to be saved. How glorious a plan God has/had in store for us in order that they realize that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has loved us as well. He has not done this that they become jealous and then be destroyed but that they turn back to Him. Think about this very humbling statement, “A partial hardening has come to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved”. So due to this partial hardening, a certain number of gentiles (known by God) will be saved that the full number of Israel will be saved.

ref: Romans 2:28-29; Matthew 23:15; Romans 11:25-32

Revelation 3:10-11

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.

By now we have been told a few times that we should endure to the end and will hear it again, but here we hear about already patiently enduring a tribulation in this church. Because they have kept this command from the Lord this group of people will be kept from the tribulation that is coming to test the unbelievers...Just checking to make sure you are paying attention. The tribulation is coming to try the whole world, unbelievers as well as believers. If you dwell on this earth, as Jesus put it, this hour of trial is for you to find out who belongs to Him until the end. That’s right, there will be no whisking away of all the believers to leave the unbelievers here to suffer through the great test that is meant for the Christian. Jesus speaks about these times like this; “For at that time there will be great tribulation, the kind that hasn't taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again!” Think about this for a second. Think on some of the terrible things that have happened in the world in just the last 100 years: great depression, weather related famines, WWI, WWII, millions of Jews being slaughtered under Hitler, millions more by Stalin, a couple of million in Turkey, almost 2 million by Pol Pot, at least 5 million in different parts of Africa since the 70s, 100k here and a couple hundred thousand there all over the globe. Christians being killed and persecuted all over the middle east, being beheaded and such like this is a new occurrence. Governments everywhere turning if not starting off as completely corrupt, no justice for the poor, unborn infants being killed for the sake of convenience, food shortages in places where food is already scarce, global climate changes, and nature wreaking havoc upon the earth. The day of the Lord and the time leading up to it will be worse than that and we have to endure it...until the end.

But you might say, Jesus is saying here that we will be kept from that hour of trial; not so much. This is just one church of many and not even all of them will get to escape. But though they have been persecuted and some even killed and have patiently endured they must even still hold on to what they have so no one may take their crown; and we think that somehow we will escape our testing.

ref: Matthew 24:21; Amos 5:18-24

Revelation 3:12-13

The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, 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 my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. '

Almost every mention of pillars in the old testament were a reference to being a memorial stone of sorts; whether it was something they were wanting to remember or signify from the Lord or a standing stone for an idol. They were meant to be permanent stones that they needed or wanted future generations to remember, good or bad. In the new testament these pillars were firm and immovable and this is what Jesus is talking about here; someone immovable, unconquerable, to be stood as a pillar in the temple of God.

So far this group of people are promised that they will be withheld from the hour of trial that will come upon the earth and that they will be a pillar in the temple of God and never to go out of it. These people are some of but a few that we know get to visibly see the temple in heaven and may be who is spoken about in this way; “"Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.”

The part that’s hard to imagine is that they get to be in the presence of God. I think we too often get caught up in receiving our trip to heaven or getting back to the garden but the real prize is being in the presence of the Lord. Now I don’t know if the writing that Jesus is doing here is literal or figurative but I believe this is one of the reasons why there was a commandment not to get tattoos so that when the time came for us to be marked by Jesus that there would be nothing to hinder that. Can you imagine a marking from God with a background of whatever non eternal nonsense we might decide to tattoo on our bodies, the very temple of God?

One last note; with all these names being written on them, one that intrigues the most I think, is the new name of Jesus.

ref: Revelation 7:9-17

Revelation 3:14-15

"Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea: "The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God's creation says: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. (ESV)

This won’t happen often but I wanted to share a commentary on the word amen. “The word "amen" is a most remarkable word. It was transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament, then into Latin and into English and many other languages, so that it is practically a universal word. It has been called the best known word in human speech. The word is directly related — in fact, almost identical — to the Hebrew word for "believe" (amam), or faithful. Thus, it came to mean "sure" or "truly", an expression of absolute trust and confidence”. — HMM. So according to this when Jesus referred to himself as faithful and true it was more a descriptive term, where when He used the word amen as a name He was sharing that that’s how sure it is. His very name is Amen, meaning faithful. Now I do not know if that is His new name that He had referred to in the previous verse or if it was a reiteration of who He is. Because He is the very word of God, Jesus has a way of saying things that can leave our heads spinning. We use the word amen at the end of prayers meaning “so be it.” Here He uses it as His name and then describes Himself as the originator (beginning) of God’s creation. So in Him lies everything else. Everything after Him was lacking and needed Him to sustain it. Everything that is exists after and is beneath Jesus; from the angels in heaven to the dust of the earth, everything must and will be measured against Him who is faithful, faithful, faithful. Let that sink in a minute.

So because everything/everyone is His, He knows our works as lukewarm as they are. What does that mean that He wishes we were either cold or hot? Surely He does not wish that we were either righteous or evil? That is exactly what He is referring to. It is written; “For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.” Peter tells us that it would be better to have remained evil than to know about holiness and then act the way we act. I maintain that the book of revelation is for the Christian almost exclusively. There are bits with those that are righteous and die and are taken and then there are those that are evil and will receive the second death. Everything else that happens is for this group of lukewarm Christians that you and I most likely fall into. The tribulation is for us that we may be made either hot or cold again, being refined by the fire that we may inherit eternal life or inherit our portion of the lake of fire. By the time Jesus returns there will be no fence sitting. He wishes that we were either one or the other and this book is how He intends to make it so. A question that is asked a lot is what happens to sin in us after He returns? We think we magically are changed and sin is somehow erased from our remembrance. Now while I do concede that there is some sort of transformation that happens, I also believe that those who inherit the kingdom are somehow worthy to inherit it. Their very character and being has been transformed into a servant of God, and this by either righteousness or from refining and they have not been made into a new creature, AGAIN; but have been transformed into a person who in a real way, no longer wants to sin. The stain of sin was wiped away by Jesus and the desire wiped away by the refining. Both of these were spoken about in the Psalm by David saying, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.” Jesus did His part in washing with blood to make us as white as snow but most of us won’t hear joy and gladness until the bones that He breaks cause us to turn to Him only.

ref: 2 Peter 2:21; Psalm 51

Revelation 3:16-17

So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I'm rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,' and you don't know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, (ESV)

“If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers.” These bold words by Jesus are saying the exact thing that the above verse does; those that are His must remain in Him or else be destroyed. In an earlier selection we discussed the need to choose a side between good and evil. This is a problem now, it was a problem when John was writing this, it was a problem when Joshua was sending Israel into their inheritance; choose this day whom you will serve. In today’s world we tend to shy away from extremists but you have to at least respect them for their passion. We scratch our head as to why Hamas would continue firing upon Israel when they are so clearly outmatched but at least they have chosen a side and are willing to die for it. We don’t understand why ISIS would want to hunt down and behead people but they are not those that will be vomited out of the mouth of our Lord. They will be burned with the rest of the weeds but at least you know where they stand and are not lukewarm. It is an epidemic, especially in American churches, that we almost demand a certain lukewarmness of our church. We think Jesus would have us water down His word to grow a congregation rather than being hot or cold. Why as a church would we think that we should church a holiday up and celebrate Halloween like every other godless person? Why not be different? Why not stand up to something, to anything? We think that if we act a certain way and reject certain heresies then we cannot win souls for Christ. If that’s the case then that is on Him, as long as we are sharing the true gospel the harvest is His, not ours. If we do what He tells us in love and don’t win a single convert, we think that makes us failures but He has to provide the increase, we just plant the seed.

But we say I’m rich and need nothing. No need to live a pious life because I provide everything that I need, and you may. You are the one that works hard for your money and provides everything for your family and at first glance it looks like you have no use for God. What we need to realize though is that this life does not end at death and we must admit how wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked we are. In an eternal sense we are near useless. We can neither add nor take away anything from God so in the grandest scheme of things we are truly worthless. The only thing that we can do that has value and makes us significant is to correctly worship our Maker. Our purpose is to bring Him glory and if we fail to do that, even the rocks can take our place. If need be our usefulness can be overshadowed by a stone. Even if we don’t verbalize it we believe that somehow He needs us to fulfill some of His promises but John said it best; “For I tell you that God is able to raise up children...from these stones!” So count ourselves worthy that He might let us live that we will on purpose and continually find ways to bring Him glory.

ref: John 15:1-7; Matthew 3:9

Revelation 3:18

I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see. (ESV)

“Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.” We saw earlier Jesus speaking about those that think they are rich but are really poor. The prosperity teaching in America’s pulpits is an epidemic of which might send people to hell in droves. Above all things God wants us to simply follow him. He speaks about money in this way; “"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Now saying that if you love money you will hate Him, why in the world would we think that He would want us to be prosperous on this earth? When He speaks of prospering it is almost always in an eternal sense and not gaining wealth on earth. In the above quoted verse He claims that riches and honor are with Him. This is not saying that if we follow Him we receive it from Him but that they abide with Him and He will bring them when He comes. This gold was refined in the fire that we may truly become rich.

"Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!" White clothes in Revelation refer to righteousness; so in a real way we need to be clothed in righteousness that our shameful nakedness will be covered and not exposed. We must be diligent in this because we do not know at what hour He will come and do not want to be caught with our pants down. How often in the day do we think of our righteousness? We have got a stigma of not wanting to seem holier than thou to people lest we turn them away from Christ but we are called to actually, in a humble way, be holier than the world. Now this saying is used in a smug way but we are so conscientious about it that we often resort to unrighteousness in order to try to draw people. If Jesus was on earth today we would use that term for Him so often because He was holy and exuded power in His words. When He was with the woman at the well He set her up asking her to go get her husband and then saying, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.” She didn’t go away saying, “what an arrogant such and such”; but instead was amazed at His words and holiness. So stay clothed that your nakedness not be exposed.

We have heard times before that we need ears to hear but Jesus comments that we need to keep our eyes healthy that we may see. "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” There are obviously spiritual overtones to this teaching but I also believe that there are physical aspects to this as well. Today it is estimated that around 75% of Americans need prescription eyewear of some type. I wonder if this has always been the case through history and we just recently have the technology to correct the problem or if as we have become increasingly wicked that our eyes and body have increasingly deteriorated? This is only a study that God would be able to pull off; to find out if there is actually a correlation between good eyesight and righteous living, but it is interesting to contemplate. It would be easy to say that this is pretty ridiculous but there may be a correlation as well.

ref: Proverbs 8:18-19; Matthew 6:24; Revelation 16:15; John 1:1-45; Matthew 6:22-23

Revelation 3:19

As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent. (ESV)

“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons...If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons...For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

It would be putting it lightly that the book of Revelation is about discipline. We have disobeyed and God, in order to love us like sons, must rebuke and discipline us. Though He did not disobey, it was said even about Jesus; “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” And again; “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.” That founder being Jesus Christ and us being brought to glory. We will read over and over again that they refused to repent and that people will be cursing God because of the discipline given, but it is for our benefit. How hard is it to believe that Christians will have to endure throughout the entirety of this book (except for the martyrs and the church of Philadelphia) in order that we not be found illegitimate? It is our conditioning for receiving the kingdom and will bring peace if we allow ourselves to be trained by it. You might have heard it said that Jesus died so you won’t have to; this is a lie. He died that we might have eternal life. Jesus participated in discipline before and on the cross, never to have to receive it again; so what makes us think we can leave this earth scott free, raptured away before the discipline starts? You better pick up your bible and find out what it means to say God loves us!

“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” It is not exactly clear whether this is a spiritual reference or indeed physical but we must receive this discipline in a certain way as well. This discipline will obviously leave us battered and broken, weak kneed, downtrodden, and walking sideways. We are on our way to eternal life so it seems best that we gird ourselves up afterward and stand correct that we have received rebuking well and want to be healed straight and complete, whether that be spiritual or physical.

ref:Hebrews 12:6-1; Hebrews 5:8: Hebrews 2:10

Revelation 3:20

Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me. (ESV)

In the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus told of 5 virgins who were foolish and 5 who were wise. All of them were pure and considered Christians. All of them were awaiting His arrival but Jesus had taken a long time coming and the 5 foolish were not prepared and had left. When He finally came, the 5 wise went in and He ate with them and them with Him at the wedding feast. Those that came after He came in were locked outside, not able to enter in. Earlier we learned that a door that He opens no one can close and one that He shuts no one can open. Here we have a different scenario with Jesus knocking on the door and it being us that opens if we hear His voice. He doesn’t force Himself on us but rather permits us to choose to love Him. He doesn’t wait for us to come knocking asking Him to let us in but He is the one who beckons us. If we are His sheep then we will know His voice and hear Him when He calls. When He comes in we get to sup with Him. Can you think of a more glorious setting? To get to have a sit down over what I can only imagine is the most perfectly cooked meal ever; to dine with the Lord of all the earth. Dinner with the Lamb of God, the bread of Heaven, the living water. And to think that all of this might be passed over if we don’t hear His voice when He shows or don’t answer the door when He knocks because we are too upset at His discipline.

ref: Matthew 25:1-13

Revelation 3:21-22

The victor: I will give him the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also won the victory and sat down with My Father on His throne. "Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches." (ESV)

So as we get ready to enter the throne room of Heaven, Jesus leaves us speaking about thrones. Those who are victorious get the right to sit down on Jesus’ throne. These are those that survive to the end of the tribulation and are not raptured away into destruction. As it is written; “Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.” These people are truly victorious and have not skimped out by believing that they will be spared the Lord’s testing. Over and over again we have heard be victorious, endure to the end, hold on to what you have and we will receive the prize. If we have ears to hear we should listen what the Spirit is saying to the churches, for we are well on our way to discovering the types of things we must endure to inherit the prize.

ref: Revelation 20:4