Message to Sardis

 

Revelation 3:1

 

And to the messenger [future pastors] of the [local] church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God [God the Holy Spirit who provided the prototype spiritual life for the humanity of Christ: Isaiah 11:2] and the seven stars [orthodox pastors], communicates these things: 'I have known your works namely that you have a reputation that you are alive [false reputation], but in spite of that reputation, you are dead [functioning in the cosmic system: cosmic or carnal death]

 

Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Σάρδεσιν ἐκκλησίας γράψον· Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἔχων τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύµατα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀστέρας· Οἶδά σου τὰ ἔργα, ὅτι ὄνοµα ἔχεις ὅτι ζῇς, καὶ νεκρὸς εἶ.

 

“And to the messenger” is a Dative of Advantage in the Greek. It is to the advantage of a pastor to have a message from God, and it is to the advantage of the congregation to have a pastor with a message.

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“He who has the seven Spirits of God,”

 

Isaiah 11:1, “Then a shoot [a root that buds, a root shoot] will spring up,” a prophecy of the first advent. And the root-shoot will spring up from a dynasty which is no longer ruling in Israel, the dynasty of David. Since the fifth cycle of discipline was administered by Nebuchadnezzar no member of the royal family has ruled in Israel, so it is called “the stump,” “from the stump of Jesse,” that is David’s line defunct from the fifth cycle of discipline; “And a branch from his roots [Christ at the second advent] will bear fruit [His rule in the Millennium].” So, from verse one we have a prophecy of the two advents. It is because of a failure to properly interpret verse one that Jews have got into so much trouble in the 2000 years since Christ came the first time. Their failure to distinguish between the first and the second advents as in this passage is a part of their trouble. They can’t tell the difference between the root-shoot and the branch, and yet the root-shoot and the branch are one person, Jesus Christ, the God of Israel, the founder of Israel as the root-shoot. In the first advent He manifests Himself to Israel; in the second advent He comes back as the branch of a tree, the root-shoot grows into a great tree.

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Jesus was filled with the Spirit as prophesized in Isaiah 11:2.

 

The seven spirits are titles related to the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit first to the humanity of Christ and then to the Church Age believers. 

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These 7 titles are found in Isaiah 11:2 are as follows:

 

1. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him (The Holy Spirit’s power)

 

2. The Spirit of wisdom (wisdom extrapolated from truth and applied to people, circumstances, sufferings etc.)

 

3. The Spirit of perception (the means of learning doctrine)

 

4. The Spirit of counsel (the Spirit counsels through metabolized doctrine)

 

5. The Spirit of strength (the Spirit produces strength in the soul)

 

6. The Spirit of knowledge (the Spirit, the teacher of divine knowledge)

 

7. The Spirit who provides respect for the Lord

 

The Lord communicates these things (Τάδε λέγει). These two Greek words were used originally as the introductory formula for the Greek translation of the decrees of Persian kings. It is used here as an introductory formula to our Lord’s estimate of the situation in Sardis. This church has cosmic involvement related to hypocrisy.

 

The present tense is a descriptive present for what is now going on, a false reputation assigned to the church in Sardis. They have given a false impression to the world, but their false reputation is about to be exposed.

 

1. A false reputation for spirituality and maturity is a sign of cosmic involvement related to the function of hypocrisy.

 

2. To live by one’s reputation with people apart from integrity and virtue is to be a cosmic believer, the most miserable person on planet earth.

 

3. The only reputation that counts is the believer’s reputation with God who cannot be deceived.

 

4. It is impossible to have a good name or reputation with God apart from consistent residence and function inside the divine power system, and that includes consistent perception of Bible doctrine.

 

5. The majority of the believers of Sardis involved in the cosmic system talk a good fight, which means they have been exposed to excellent doctrinal teaching, but there was no application.

 

6. To talk a good fight, the believer only needs to know the doctrinal vocabulary, but to fight a good fight, as per 2 Timothy 4:7,8, the believer must be consistent in functioning under the two power options. 

 

7. It is easy for the cosmic believer to talk a good fight, but it is impossible for him to fight a good fight. Talking a good fight is exposure to doctrine, while living in the cosmic system growing in arrogance and functioning under the principle of hypocrisy. Fighting a good fight is learning doctrine, living in the divine power system, growing in grace, applying doctrine to experience.

 

8. The believer who talks a good fight makes bad decisions. He is spiritually and mentally lazy, and negative toward doctrine, but gives the impression of being a spiritual giant. His arrogance is stimulated by approbation from other believers which only stabilizes and crystallizes his facade of hypocrisy.

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Many believers in this church were suffering from carnal death. So, let’s briefly cover the different deaths mentioned in Scripture.

 

1. The first and most obvious death is physical death which is defined as separation of the soul from the body. (Romans 8:38-39)

 

2. The second category of death in the Bible is spiritual death, probably the least understood, especially when you link it with the cross. Spiritual death is the penalty of sin and is so given as a warning to our original parents in the garden. They were warned in Genesis 2:17 that if they disobeyed God and His prohibition, “dying [spiritual death] you will die [physical death]”. Adam’s original sin is imputed to our genetically formed old sin nature at birth, and so when it says the wages of sin is death in Romans 6:23, it is talking about Adam’s sin imputed to each member of mankind at birth. We are born physically alive, and simultaneously we are born spiritually dead. (Romans 5:12)

 

3. Positional death of the believer is the third category of death in the Bible. Through the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation the believer is identified with Christ in His deaths namely His substitutionary spiritual death, followed by physical death, burial and resurrection. (Romans 6:1)

 

4. Carnal death results from the function of the believer’s volition converting temptation into sin. (1 Corinthians 3:1; James 1:15)

 

5. Operational death is operating on human power resulting in the production of dead works. This category combines the arrogance of Christian service with the function of human good. (Hebrews 6:1) James 2:26, “Faith without production is dead [non-operative].”

 

6. Sexual death, the inability to copulate. It is only used in connection with men, and only one man in the Bible, Abraham. (Romans 4:17-21)

 

7. The second death is for the unbeliever only. It is the final judgment of those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ as personal savior; it is eternal separation from God in a literal lake of fire. It is described as judgment in Hebrews 9:27, “And inasmuch as it is destined for mankind to die once [physical death], but after this death the judgment [the second death].” That is why it is called the second death in Revelation 20:14.

 

8. The Sin unto Death: 1 John 5:16

 

Revelation 3:2

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Be constantly alert [a paraphrastic; a command to the pastor and the members of the congregation] and strengthen [support, stabilize; a command to the pastor] the rest [this is an adjective in the neuter plural for these Christians have been neutered of their strength but still have some interest in learning] who are about to die [they are being won over by their association with other losers and if this continues, they will die the Sin unto Death] for I have not found [intensive perfect] your accomplishments completed [the execution of God’s plan] in the sight of My God.

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γίνου γρηγορῶν, καὶ στήρισον τὰ λοιπὰ ἃ ἔµελλον ἀποθανεῖν, οὐ γὰρ εὕρηκά σου [τὰ] ἔργα πεπληρωµένα ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ µου·

 

“Be alert” This is a periphrastic construction which has two verbs and in this one we have a participle used with a finite verb in the imperatival mood. The periphrastic combines two verb forms to make a more forceful mandate for alertness which is translated “Be constantly alert,” but it is stronger than that. In fact, the strength of the periphrastic simply cannot be rendered into English.

 

You must be constantly alert all your Christian life. Alertness for every possible type of a problem. Alertness regarding temptation is basically where it starts; alertness regarding your failures and how to recover, alertness therefore to spend as much times as possible in the God’s power system; alertness to make sure that you are not distracted by others - by the one who teaches the Word, by people in the congregation, by your friends who are outside of the congregation, by others in general. Distraction is a major problem, and it requires alertness and finally, the believer must be alert regarding historical trends.

 

There is a second mandate which has the meaning to establish, to support, to confirm, to strengthen in the sense of support or stabilize. The original connotation of the verb was to support something so that it stands upright and immovable. In other words, this is a command to the pastor to continue teaching Bible doctrine in Sardis in spite of the tremendous surge of negative volition on the part of the believers.

 

One thing that men in the ministry must remember is that people in general are fickle. Crowds inevitably are fickle and unstable and easily led. That is why, of course, Christianity has mandates regarding crowds, not necessarily to stay out of crowds but to avoid the influence of crowds, and of people. Pastors through their own study of the Word must be able to interpret the historical trends since there is no prophecy to interpret for the Church Age. The historical trends are clearly delineated, and the pastor must be alert in relating historical trends to his teaching and the application of the Word of God for the benefit of his congregation. The pastor must also avoid discouragement when his message is rejected, ridiculed, refused, or when there is rudeness during the teaching of the Word. Every local church has its negative volition which should not discourage the pastor who must continue to support, to strengthen, to stabilize, to establish those who are positive to Bible teaching by continued faithfulness in teaching, no matter how much “booing” there is from the pew. Often a message is only geared to a small percentage of the congregation because those are the positive ones.

 

This was a local church where the majority talked a good fight but did not fight a good fight. They listened and picked up the vocabulary, but they distorted it into something that was meaningless. However, there was a remnant of believers still somewhat positive to learning God’s Word but were moving in the direction of the Sin unto Death. In other words, when the majority are negative toward doctrine, the minority of such a congregation tend to go negative as well. If everyone else is booing sometimes it is easy to join them, and the weak always do.

 

A few points to pull this together:

 

1. People influence people; believers influence believers. When you have a majority of people in the congregation that are negative toward doctrine it tends to cause those who are positive to become shaky, and often because they make close friendships with those who are negative and by those friendships are led astray themselves.

 

2. Cosmic believers, especially when they are in the majority, influence positive believers living in the divine power system, apart from the protection of faithful doctrinal teaching. They do this through friendship, flattery, and social life which takes precedence over spiritual life.

 

3. Strong believers therefore become weak, and no matter how strong or talented or great a person may be in any given area arrogance neutralizes that ability. So, strong believers become weak when they become arrogant through association with arrogant believers or for other reasons.

 

4. Arrogance is easily influenced by evil. That is because arrogance is preoccupation with self to the exclusion of any form of truth or any system of integrity.

 

5. Every positive believer living inside the divine power system must be constantly alert from perception of doctrine not to be disillusioned or distracted or misled by cosmic believers. The pastor must be alert in teaching the Word; the congregation must be alert in the perception of doctrine to make the right application.

 

6. The spread of cosmic believers as the majority in any local church means the potential spread of apostasy through cosmic involvement.

 

7. Every cosmic believer in the local church is an evangelist for Satan and the cosmic system. When this is detected, it should be squashed by the pastor.

 

8. Usually, dogmatic orthodox Bible teaching will drive most of the negative crowd out. However, when the pastor begins delivering watered down messages the negative crowd begins to flourish. Historically, it appears that the pastors of the church at Sardis were not that great.

 

Now for the last clause, “For I have not found your accomplishments completed [fulfilled, executed, accomplished] in the site of My God.” The English word “completed” seems to be in keeping with the facts of the context. There exists a remnant, a minority of positive believers in the church at Sardis. This remnant is functioning inside the divine power system but is shaky because they are in such a minority and not consistent enough to avoid the distractions caused by the Jezebel cult in nearby Thyatira and from the negative believers in their own congregation. There is, therefore, a historical downtrend in the city of Sardis. It is caused by inconsistency and instability of believers who vacillate between positive and negative volition, between the use of the Ten Problem Solving Devices/the spiritual life and the cosmic system. That vacillation is instability, therefore nothing is accomplished or completed, the Christians in this church are not able to enter the adult spiritual life by passing through the door of a Personal Sense of Destiny/Spiritual Self-esteem due to their instability, and thus were contributing to a historical downtrend in the Roman Empire.

 

The fulfillment of the Christian way of life and the completion of the plan of God for our lives must be motivated by that function of the royal priesthood inside the divine power system. Every believer is his own priest and therefore, in effect, does not have to be distracted from the Word by the majority who are negative toward doctrine. The believer must live his life as unto the Lord. In other words, not live his life as unto people who may lead him away from doctrine.

 

True motivation is from having personal love for God as the motivating virtue which in turn motivates functional virtue toward man (impersonal love). That impersonal love gives you the ability to have high regard for people without being influenced by people.

 

In verse three we see the alternatives to turning the tide: historical downtrend, a reversal of the great blessings that have come in the past to that area from maximum positive volition.

 

Revelation 3:3

 

So, remember what you have received and heard; and guard it [metabolized doctrine], and change your thinking [recover from reversionism]. Therefore, if you are not alert [regarding failure], I will come [to punish you] like a thief [suddenly, unexpected, and violently], in fact you will not know at what point of time I will come to you.

 

µνηµόνευε οὖν πῶς εἴληφας καὶ ἤκουσας, καὶ τήρει, καὶ µετανόησον. ἐὰν οὖν µὴ γρηγορήσῃς, ἥξω ὡς κλέπτης, καὶ οὐ µὴ γνῷς ποίαν ὥραν ἥξω ἐπὶ σέ.

 

Revelation 3:4

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But you have a few people in Sardis [a group of mature believers] who have not soiled their garments [the uniform of honor worn by the mature believer in time]; in fact, they will walk with Me in whites [the uniform of glory in eternity], because they are worthy [will be decorated with the Order of the Morning Star].

 

ἀλλὰ ἔχεις ὀλίγα ὀνόµατα ἐν Σάρδεσιν ἃ οὐκ ἐµόλυναν τὰ ἱµάτια αὐτῶν, καὶ περιπατήσουσιν µετí ἐµοῦ ἐν λευκοῖς, ὅτι ἄξιοί εἰσιν.

 

Revelation 3:5

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Thus, the winner [he who overcomes] will be clothed in white garments [a reference to the translucent uniform of glory worn by those who hold the Order of the Morning Star]; and I will never blot out his title [of knighthood ] from the book of eternal life, in fact I will acknowledge [the presentation of these winners in the court of heaven while the Tribulation is occurring on the earth] his title [of knighthood] before My Father and before His angels.

 

ὁ νικῶν οὕτως περιβαλεῖται ἐν ἱµατίοις λευκοῖς, καὶ οὐ µὴ ἐξαλείψω τὸ ὄνοµα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς βίβλου τῆς ζωῆς, καὶ ὁµολογήσω τὸ ὄνοµα αὐτοῦ ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρός µου καὶ ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ.

 

At birth, every member of humanity is written in the Book of Eternal Life. However, every unbeliever is blotted out of the Book of Life at his physical death.  This we have taught before.  So, even though all believers remain in the Book of Eternal Life only a few will have title prefixing their names, a title of knighthood.

 

Revelation 3:6

 

He who has an ear, let him hear what sort of thing [the content of doctrine] the Spirit communicates to the churches.'

 

ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ πνεῦµα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις.

 

Message to Philadelphia

 

Revelation 3:7

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And to the messenger [future pastors] of the church [assembly area: home, cave etc.] in Philadelphia.  The holy one [integrity of the Lord Jesus Christ], the truthful, [trustworthy] who keeps having the key of David [a reference to the Davidic dynasty], who [the Lord Jesus Christ at the 2nd Advent] opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens [quoted from Isaiah 22:22 and applied to the Lord Jesus Christ whose authority and power will be absolute] communicates these things.

 

Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Φιλαδελφείᾳ ἐκκλησίας γράψον· Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἅγιος, ὁ ἀληθινός, ὁ ἔχων τὴν κλεῖν ∆αυίδ, ὁ ἀνοίγων καὶ οὐδεὶς κλείσει, καὶ κλείων καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀνοίγει·

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At that time, John was the non-resident pastor of Philadelphia.

 

Philadelphia was a city of ancient Lydia 28 miles southeast of Sardis. The city was founded in 189 BC by Eumenes II who was the King of Lydia.  He founded it in honor of his brother, Attalus II whose faithfulness earned him the title of ‘Philadelphus’ literally one who loves his brother. The area is famous for earthquakes for it is located near the Anatolian Fault line. Thus, in AD 17, the city was completely, destroyed during the reign of Tiberius who then relieved the city of having to pay taxes.  (Laodicea was destroyed in 60 A.D., not far away). The city stood on a terrace about 650 feet above the Cogamus River. Behind the city were famous volcanic bluffs. Across the river, was very fertile land resulting from volcanic activity.  Also, the volcanic ash had produced a great soil for vineyards.  So, they produced the finest vineyards and wines of the Roman Empire.  As the center of the wine industry, they worshipped Bacchus in the Latin, the god of drunken sexual orgies (Dionysus in the Greek). It was also the location of a large Jewish population.

Regarding the keys of David: Hezekiah had appointed Shebnah as prime minister. Shebnah was a brilliant man and should have made one of the greatest ministers in history. However, he went from humility to arrogance and destroyed all of his ability. He would be replaced by a humble person, a plugger.  In replacing him, Hezekiah merely took the keys of David (the symbol of the office of prime minister) from Shebnah and gave them to Eliakim.  Upon giving them to Eliakim, Hezekiah said to him, “What you open, no one will shut and what you shut, no one will open.” Another words, Eliakim was given great power and authority. However, in this passage, this statement is being applied to the Lord Jesus Christ who will use his power to open doors for the Philadelphian believers.

 

Revelation 3:8

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I know your accomplishments [modus operandi and vivendi].  Now hear this, I have placed before you an open door [some form of opportunity] which no one is able to shut [the Lord uses his power for this purpose since the believer’s power is limited], because you possess a little power [to deal with the persecution coming from the powerful Jews in Philadelphia], even so you have kept My Word and have not denied My person [even though they have been under persecution from these religious Jews possessing much financial and other influence].

 

Οἶδά σου τὰ ἔργα ñ ἰδοὺ δέδωκα ἐνώπιόν σου θύραν ἠνεῳγµένην, ἣν οὐδεὶς δύναται κλεῖσαι αὐτήν ñ ὅτι µικρὰν ἔχεις δύναµιν, καὶ ἐτήρησάς µου τὸν λόγον, καὶ οὐκ ἠρνήσω τὸ ὄνοµά µου.

 

No adverse circumstance of history, nor a person nor Satan with all his power can shut a door of blessing which the Lord has opened.  Only the Lord can shut a door which he has opened. Only the Lord has the power to shut or open doors. In Philadelphia, though the believers had little power and influence in the community, the Lord would use His power to bless them, so that even the financially and politically powerful Jewish contingent living in Philadelphia could not hinder God’s blessing to the believers of the church in Philadelphia. 

 

This refers to the dynamic impact of the mature believers impacting the trends of history, a dynamic which is invisible and unknown to people in general. The impact of anonymous believers on history is far greater than any impact of any famous person in history. 

 

Revelation 3:9

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Now, hear this, I will cause [futuristic present] those who are from the synagogue of Satan [unbelieving Jews functioning in the Cosmic System], who allege that they themselves are [true] Jews.  However, in spite of that allegation, they are not [true Jews namely not regenerated], but they are liars.  Now hear this, I [Jesus Christ controls history] will cause them [1 Corinthians 14:24, 25: Jewish respect for gentile believers] to come [when the Jews are converted via exposure to the gospel and have learned some doctrine] and to show respect at your feet, also that they might know that I have loved you.

 

ἰδοὺ διδῶ ἐκ τῆς συναγωγῆς τοῦ Σατανᾶ, τῶν λεγόντων ἑαυτοὺς Ἰουδαίους εἶναι, καὶ οὐκ εἰσὶν ἀλλὰ ψεύδονται· ἰδοὺ ποιήσω αὐτοὺς ἵνα ἥξουσιν καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν ἐνώπιον τῶν ποδῶν σου, καὶ γνῶσιν ὅτι ἐγὼ ἠγάπησά σε.

 

Opposition to the church in Philadelphia was primarily coming from reversionistic Jews living in that city. These Jews had become very wealthy businessmen. Unfortunately, they had also become arrogant which is easy when one is smart, talented and successful.  Although these Jews were blessed in many ways, they became jealous of the vigorous church in their city (apparently the synagogue was not doing so well), and so they began to persecute the believers there in whatever way they could.  However, since their influence and power were related to business and management, the persecution had to be related to finance, to business opportunities and jobs. All the same the Christians in Philadelphia did not react to this unfair treatment but kept on doing their jobs as unto the Lord.  Why because they had impersonal love, humility and integrity which impressed the management of these companies. As a result, some of these Jews were won over. After having become believers, they came to realize just how great these gentile Christians were “to show respect at your feet.”

 

‘The Synagogue of Satan’ is an expression for those Jews who were both religious and revolutionary. As religious Jews, they attack the gospel and the spiritual life; as revolutionary, they attack the Laws of Establishment. If a person lives in the cosmic system, his life becomes a lie, and every facet of his life becomes a lie whether it be his conversation or his mental attitude.  He has no capacity for life, love, happiness, for truth or anything else. 

 

Opposition is opportunity to evangelize both by lip and by life, but Christian arrogance and reaction neutralizes this potential.  The Christian must remain under unfair treatment and even persecution that the Lord may neutralize the opposition and antagonism. However, if the Lord does not neutralize the opposition, then it is designed for punishment or undeserved suffering dependent upon the believer’s status.  

 

Judaism in arrogance had taken truth and turned it into a religion. Arrogance expresses itself in antagonism, persecution, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, and hatred. This is why Israel as a client nation had been removed just 26 years earlier. Religion destroyed them as a client nation.

 

Just because some Jews become evil, does not give a person the right to become anti-Semitic. When we speak of the Synagogue of Satan, we are not talking about great believers like Daniel, David, Nehemiah, Zechariah, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah et cetera, but we are talking about those Jewish unbelievers who had rejected the gospel and Jewish believers who had rejected the spiritual life. The Jews of the Old Testament were the greatest believers and most conservative people on the earth. Furthermore, who do you think not only wrote the Old Testament, but most of the New as well, and finally don’t forget that the Jesus himself was Jewish.

 

Revelation 3:10

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Because you have guarded the doctrine [the word] by means of my perseverance [The humanity of Jesus Christ functioning in his spiritual life during the first Advent was their role model] I will also guard you [the advancing believer with the wall of fire] out from [away from - the ablative of separation] the time of testing [historical disaster namely the ten special persecutions of the church as per Revelation 2:10] which is about to come upon the entire inhabited earth [technically for the Roman Empire] to test those who live on the earth.

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ὅτι ἐτήρησας τὸν λόγον τῆς ὑποµονῆς µου, κἀγώ σε τηρήσω ἐκ τῆς ὥρας τοῦ πειρασµοῦ τῆς µελλούσης ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκουµένης ὅλης πειράσαι τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ protects the advanced believers during historical blessing and historical disaster.  This is based upon our study of the doctrine of historical trends where if you have a large pivot of mature believers and a small spin-off of cosmic believers then the nation is blessed, prospered. But if you have a small pivot of mature believers and a large spin-off of cosmic believers then the nation begins the cycles of discipline. The wall of fire still protects even when God removes a nation. When He removed Israel as the client nation to God in 70 A.D., He still preserved the small pivot. Even when a nation is not going down under the cycles of discipline, Christians may still suffer persecution. In any case, the Lord promised to protect the great Christians of Philadelphia during periods of persecution.  The Lord always protects great believers during periods of persecution unless He has a special purpose in removing the wall of protection around the believers executing His plan. So, even though a nation may be destroyed the pivot of mature believers is always delivered.

 

1. There are no tragedies in history because both individuals and nations are the products of their own decisions. Tragedy belongs to drama; disaster belongs to history.

 

2. Individual decisions produce environment, not environment decisions; collective decisions produce environment in the nation, and environment in the nation does not produce decisions.

 

3. No one can become mature without taking the responsibility for his own decisions. Arrogance blames everyone else, but integrity takes the responsibility.  

 

4. As goes the believer so goes the historical trends at any point in the Church Age. Believers living in the divine power system produce an uptrend; believers living in the cosmic system cause a downtrend. So, the uptrend or the downtrend of the client nation is determined by the daily attitude of believers toward Bible doctrine.

 

5. A national downtrend begins with personal arrogance. Arrogance blinds the people or the nation to its own inconsistencies and the consequences of its evil.

 

6. Arrogant individuals or nations never see the disastrous consequences of their bad decisions related to the cosmic system. When Hegel said, “We learn from history that we learn nothing from history”, he stated the case that arrogance is unteachable.         

 

Revelation 3:11

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I am coming soon [the imminency of the Rapture]. Take possession of [hold on to] what you have [your very own spiritual heritage] so that no one [cosmic believers or possibly a cosmic unbeliever] may take away your crown [equivalent to the Latin ‘corona:’ Even after cracking the maturity barrier, one can lose his status and thus his rewards given at the Evaluation Throne of Christ].

 

ἔρχοµαι ταχύ· κράτει ὃ ἔχεις, ἵνα µηδεὶς λάβῃ τὸν στέφανόν σου.

 

1. Maturity must be achieved and maintained. Once you crack the maturity barrier and even go as far as passing Evidence Testing, your spiritual growth still must be maintained. The spiritual warfare is not over for us until we are safely in heaven. So, the attainment of maturity is no guarantee against cosmic involvement, you still have free will and so can still fail. Good decisions result in options for greater decisions and blessing; bad decisions destroy those options. Even mature believers can make bad decisions and decline spiritually.

 

2. The believer, after the achievement of maturity, must continue to learn doctrine. He must continue to reside and function in God’s power system. He must continue therefore to maintain the right priorities of life. Number one priority must always be Bible doctrine.

 

3. Many mature believers can pass the adversity test, but when prosperity comes, the subtleness of this testing is too much for them. So, though many mature believers can pass the adversity test, they flunk the prosperity test. You do not handle prosperity the way you handle adversity. When someone whacks you with a 2x4, you know that you are under adversity; when someone who loves you lures you away slowly from doctrine, it is not so obvious.

 

4. Divine blessing must be kept in its proper perspective so that the mature believer never forgets the source of blessing. Forgetting the source of prosperity is easy when a mature believer changes his priorities which can happen quickly if he neglects Bible teaching. You get so busy with what you are doing in life and so preoccupied with yourself that you forget that the wonderful life that you have on this earth is courtesy of our Lord.

 

5. All too often the mature believer seeks to maintain his prosperity and perpetuate his material blessings rather than maintain the source of his prosperity and perpetuate his spiritual maturity inside the divine power system.

 

6. Arrogance infiltrates when the mature believer relates promotion or success with himself rather than with the source, the source being the integrity of God imputing logistical grace to the indwelling +R, and as you advance to maturity imputing the greater blessings to that same +R.

 

7. Therefore, when the mature believer suddenly becomes involved in the cosmic system, the Lord comes suddenly with divine discipline to warn him of his danger and to bring him back to the reality of the divine viewpoint.

 

As our passage says, “hang on so that you do not lose your crown”. This is a reference to either the crown of life or the crown of righteousness. 2 John 8, “Look out for yourselves, that you do not lose your momentum that you have accomplished, but that you might receive a full reward.”

 

Revelation 3:12

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The winner, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God [historical record center], furthermore, it [the pillar] will never ever depart outside of the Temple [the Christian’s record of great achievement will never be removed from the Temple of God]; also I will emblazon on him [on his uniform of glory] the title of My God [the Father: indicating the fulfillment of his plan], and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem [the pass to enter into the satellite city of the eternal state], which will descend from heaven from My God, and My new title [is emblazoned on him: provides access to the New Jerusalem].

 

ὁ νικῶν ποιήσω αὐτὸν στῦλον ἐν τῷ ναῷ τοῦ θεοῦ µου, καὶ ἔξω οὐ µὴ ἐξέλθῃ ἔτι, καὶ γράψω ἐπí αὐτὸν τὸ ὄνοµα τοῦ θεοῦ µου καὶ τὸ ὄνοµα τῆς πόλεως τοῦ θεοῦ µου, τῆς καινῆς Ἰερουσαλήµ, ἡ καταβαίνουσα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ µου, καὶ τὸ ὄνοµά µου τὸ καινόν.

 

On this earth we have a tremendous difference among believers. Believers who are positive advance to maturity; believers who are negative or cosmic believers are failures, they have flunked the Christian life, they have failed to utilize the tremendous capital made available by the grace of God, logistical grace support. So, we have vast differences in time, but these differences are going to be dramatized in eternity for there we are going to have even greater differences. In heaven which is a perfect place there are going to be the mature believers who will have the Order of the Morning Star, they will have various crowns, they will have all kinds of decorations, they are going to become famous as rulers of nations in the Millennium, they are going to be famous in the records system of heaven forever, they will have a chapter devoted to them in the permanent historical records of history. This will be a record that cannot be destroyed because the records will be in the temple of heaven. We also have the eternal reward for maturity and historical impact cited in the coat of arms and the heraldry of the winner “emblazon on him the title of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem.”

 

1. While the temple of heaven is the record department of history the pillars found in the temple are the permanent records of Church Age heroes, the believers in this dispensation who advance to maturity and have maximum impact in history.

 

2. The Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written, so obviously our interpretation of a pillar in the temple must go back to the modus operandi of the ancient world where temple-pillars were chapters in history books.

 

3. Take, for example, the Temple if Artemis (Diana in Latin) where there was recorded history. This temple in Ephesus was 375 feet long and 180 feet wide, a rather large record-keeping area. Inside of the temple were 127 pillars on which were recorded the deeds of famous kings. On these pillars were hung priceless gifts, trophies of the kings involved. There were tablets and records engraved telling of the deeds of these kings and other heroes. In the analogy the priceless gifts which were on the pillars depict the decorations, the rewards which belong to the mature believer at the judgment seat of Christ. The written biography depicts the eternal history of mankind with emphasis on the true heroes of history.

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The aristocracy of the Millennium and the eternal state

 

1. The aristocracy of the Millennium and the eternal state is not based on physical birth or anything thereafter in the life, it is based on regeneration, the new birth, which occurred at the moment you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

2. The aristocracy of the Millennium and the eternal state is not based on human ability, human wisdom or human attractiveness, but on spiritual advance inside the divine power system.

 

3. Those who are entered on the lists of eternal aristocracy will rule with Christ in the Millennium and they will have special privileges, rewards, decorations for all eternity that other believers do not have.

 

4. The final aristocracy of history is the greatest aristocracy of history, the only one which avoids any concept of snobbery since it is not based on class distinction, racial distinction, human achievement, or personal attractiveness.

 

5. Neither race nor nationality has anything to do with the aristocracy of the Millennium and the eternal state.

 

6. Included in the new order of chivalry will be humble folk, famous folk, the attractive and the unattractive of this life; they will all have one thing in common namely maximum exploitation of logistical grace inside the divine power system.

 

7. Though being born again gives every believer opportunity, it does not guarantee every believer knighthood forever. It gives opportunity to use your free will, your volition, to achieve spiritual maturity and form that eternal and lasting aristocracy which glorifies our Lord Jesus Christ by its very existence in heaven.

 

8. While we today associate knighthood and chivalry as a mode of feudal tenure or a personal attribute of integrity, or a scheme of good manners, the aristocracy of eternity is associated with the plan of God for the Church Age believer.

 

9. Therefore the election to privilege in the Church Age is the greatest opportunity for becoming part of the order of chivalry in the Millennium and the knighthood for the eternal state.

 

Revelation 3:13

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‘He who has an ear [no merit involved], let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

 

ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ πνεῦµα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις.

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The believer has the free will to turn a positive ear toward doctrine or a negative one.

 

Revelation 3:14-22 Message to Laodicea:

 

Revelation 3:14

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To the messenger [Archippus, the pastor] of the church of Laodicea, write.  The Amen [used of Jesus Christ as the only object of faith in salvation], the faithful and true witness, the ruler over the creation of God, he communicates these things.

 

Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ ἐκκλησίας γράψον· Τάδε λέγει ὁ Ἀµήν, ὁ µάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς καὶ ἀληθινός, ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς κτίσεως τοῦ θεοῦ·

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The Greek word angelos means messenger.  It can be used for an angelic messenger or a human messenger.  Here it refers to the pastor-teacher of Laodicea. Archippus, the son of Philemon. Archippus was failing in his responsibilities as pastor. Colossians 4:17, “Say to Archippus, “Pay attention to your ministry which you took charge of because of the Lord [the Lord calls and assigns pastors], that you may fulfill it [your ministry].”

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Jesus is called, the ‘faithful and true witness’ regarding His responsibility in the pre-historic angelic conflict. On the cross, Jesus demonstrated the power of the Proto-type spiritual life and by successfully being punished for the sins of the world, strategically defeated Satan. Due to this work, Satan’s seed could become the children of God by one simple decision namely faith alone in Christ alone. So, in this way, Satan’s back as it were, was broken.

 

Jesus Christ is the present ruler of the new spiritual species namely the Church (Ephesians 1:22, 23; Ephesians 5:23, 24, Colossians 1:18), and the future ruler over the new racial species, the Jews in the Millennium: “the ruler over the creation of God.” The two creations namely the new racial species and the new spiritual species.

 

Laodicea was named in honor of the wife of Antiochus II (261–246 B.C.).  located in the confines of Phrygia in the Lycus Valley, about ninety miles East of Ephesus, a little over 9 miles northwest of Colossae, and about 7 miles south of Hierapolis. The town was located on a flat-topped hill located on a great highway juncture. From Bogazkoy (Boghazkeui) of the Hittite Empire in the northeast, a route led through Laodicea to several ports on the Mediterranean Sea. There was also a caravan route from the India and China from the east that went through Laodicea and then unto Miletus etc. Because of this juncture of two caravan routes, it became a great trading and banking center. Only one problem – no water! Since there was no water at this juncture point, a stone aqueduct about 5 miles long was built from the hot springs just south of Hierapolis to Laodicea.  From this highly mineralized water, a great eye ointment was processed, and so a most famous eye center was developed in Laodicea. It is now a heap of ruins, called by the Turks “old castle.”

 

It appears from the epistle to the Colossians (Colossians 4:15–16) that Paul never visited Laodicea, but send epistles there, and requested that his epistle to the Colossians should also be read in Laodicea and that an epistle sent to Laodicea (lost) be sent to Colossae. 

Revelation 3:15

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I know your works [modus vivendi: the spiritual life in the soul] that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold [unbelievers] or hot [aggressively advancing spiritually].

 

Οἶδά σου τὰ ἔργα, ὅτι οὔτε ψυχρὸς εἶ οὔτε ζεστός. ὄφελον ψυχρὸς ἦς ἢ ζεστός.

 

The Lord uses cold, hot, and lukewarm as metaphors for different categories of mankind in his critique of the Laodicean Christians. Cold is used for the unbeliever; hot is used for the believer advancing aggressively and lukewarm refers to the believer who was hot but lost his momentum in the spiritual life.

 

The Lord chose these metaphors due to the water situation in Laodicea. Since the city did not have a natural source of water, it attempted to obtain hot water from Hierapolis and cold water from Colossae.  In their attempt to obtain hot water from the hot mineral springs of Hierapolis, they built a water aqueduct.  Unfortunately, by the time the water arrived in Laodicea, it was lukewarm. When a Laodicean tried to drink this lukewarm highly mineralized water, they would regurgitate. From Colossae, they attempted to bring in the cold water from the springs of Mt. Cadmus. They did this by mule and cart, but by the time the mules and carts reached Laodicea, the water was no longer cold, but room temperature or slightly cool at best.

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“I wish that you were either cold or hot!”

 

1. The Greek word ‘ophelon’ introduces an unattainable wish.

 

2.  According to the next verse, they are now lukewarm, a metaphor for believers who have neglected Bible doctrine for some time.

 

3. Why does the Lord say that it would be better for them to be cold unbelievers rather than to be lukewarm believers?  The answer lies in the solution to these problems.

 

4. The solution for an unbeliever is simple namely faith alone in Christ alone and one minute later, he will be eagerly seeking the milk of the Word. The solution for a reversionistic Christian is not so simple. The reversionistic Christian has accrued a lot of scar tissue and demonization of the soul. He may have already reached emotional revolt of the soul and locked-in negative volition or even reverse process reversionism. (See the doctrine of the Eight Stages of Reversionism.)

 

5. If the Christian is hot and aggressively advancing, all he needs to do is to continue his perception and application of God’s Word.

 

Revelation 3:16

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So, because you are lukewarm [were aggressively learning the Word, but now barely spend any time attending Church service to learn the Word], neither hot nor cold, I am about to vomit you out of my mouth [the Sin unto Death].

 

οὕτως, ὅτι χλιαρὸς εἶ καὶ οὔτε ζεστὸς οὔτε ψυχρός, µέλλω σε ἐµέσαι ἐκ τοῦ στόµατός µου.

 

Jesus Christ regurgitating the Christian out of His mouth is a metaphor for the Lord administering the Sin leading to Death as per 1 John 5:16.

 

Revelation 3:17

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Because you say, I [the thinking of the average believer in this church] am rich, in fact I have become extremely wealthy and have need of nothing [not even of Bible doctrine].  As a matter of fact, you do not realize that you are under stress [a word for neurosis] and miserable [objects of pity, pitiable: no capacity for happiness, blessing and love] and poor [no values related to the spiritual life and eternity] and blind [no divine viewpoint: no perception of reality as related to Bible doctrine as a result of possessing no doctrine in the 7 compartments of the Stream of Consciousness] and naked [no Problem-Solving Devices on the FLOT line of their souls].

 

ὅτι λέγεις ὅτι Πλούσιός εἰµι καὶ πεπλούτηκα καὶ οὐδὲν χρείαν ἔχω, καὶ οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ ταλαίπωρος καὶ ἐλεεινὸς καὶ πτωχὸς καὶ τυφλὸς καὶ γυµνός,

 

Laodicea was the wealthiest city in the Roman Empire at the time of this writing and it follows that they had the wealthiest church. In 60 A.D. when an earthquake had completely leveled the city, the Roman Emperor offered to rebuild the city which offer they had refused. They simply rebuilt the city with some of their excess wealth. The average wealth of the Christian in this church probably by today’s standards had a bank account of 5 million. “I have become extremely wealthy.”

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They sought the World’s Prosperity at the expense of Bible Doctrine:

 

1. Wealth and Riches

 

2. Love and Romance

 

3. Promotion and Power

 

4. Success and Approbation

 

5. Achievement and Recognition

 

None of the things listed above are wrong in themselves, and the Lord never criticized any of them. However, when any of the above takes priority over advancing and completing the spiritual life, then the Christian is in deep trouble from having failed the prosperity test. 

 

Revelation 3:18

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I counsel you to buy from me gold which has been refined [Problem-Solving Devices extrapolated] by fire [the Problem-Solving Devices applied under pressures of adversity and prosperity] that you may become rich [investments in doctrine pays dividends in glory] and [to purchase from me] white clothes [the uniform of glory] that you may cloth yourself and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed [It will be revealed at the Evaluation Throne of Christ at the Rapture if they do not change their priorities] and [to purchase from me] collyrium [eye medication: analogous to the use of the Recovery Procedure] to rub into your eyes [consistent exposure to doctrine through the use of the Recovery Procedure] that you may keep on seeing [accumulate divine viewpoint and perspective through perception of doctrine].

 

συµβουλεύω σοι ἀγοράσαι παρí ἐµοῦ χρυσίον πεπυρωµένον ἐκ πυρὸς ἵνα πλουτήσῃς, καὶ ἱµάτια λευκὰ ἵνα περιβάλῃ καὶ µὴ φανερωθῇ ἡ αἰσχύνη τῆς γυµνότητός σου, καὶ κολλούριον ἐγχρῖσαι τοὺς ὀφθαλµούς σου ἵνα βλέπῃς.

 

The believer sees spiritually with the eyes of the seven compartments of his soul. Ephesians 1:18 "I also pray that the eyes of your right lobe may be enlightened so that you may know what is the confidence of his calling what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.”

 

Revelation 3:19

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Those whom I love [love based on a relationship; Jesus Christ is the ruler of the Church] I reprimand [warning punishment] and discipline [intensive discipline] with punishment.  Therefore, keep on being diligent [motivated, devoted] and change your thinking [about acknowledging your sins and learning doctrine].

 

ἐγὼ ὅσους ἐὰν φιλῶ ἐλέγχω καὶ παιδεύω· ζήλευε οὖν καὶ µετανόησον.

 

If you love, you discipline.  Proverbs 13:24, "He who spares the rod hates his son but he who loves him is careful to discipline him”. So, since the Lord Jesus Christ has both infinite divine love and the highest possible human love for the Christian, He will do everything necessary to turn the Christian around from his reversionistic trend.

 

Revelation 3:20

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Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone [in the Laodicean Church] hears my voice [responds to punishment of warning and intensive discipline] and opens the door [uses the Recovery Procedure], I will enter face to face with him and dine with him, and he with me [Fellowship with the Lord].

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ἰδοὺ ἕστηκα ἐπὶ τὴν θύραν καὶ κρούω· ἐάν τις ἀκούσῃ τῆς φωνῆς µου καὶ ἀνοίξῃ τὴν θύραν, εἰσελεύσοµαι πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ δειπνήσω µετí αὐτοῦ καὶ αὐτὸς µετí ἐµοῦ.

This verse has nothing to do with the unbeliever whatsoever.  Revelation 3:14-22 is written to the believers in the Laodicean Church.  To tell unbelievers to invite Christ into their hearts or life on the basis of this verse is the quintessence of ignorance.

 

1. Since the Lord is outside, there is no fellowship.

 

2. Metaphorically, mild knocking would be analogous to warning discipline; hard knocking would be indicative of intensive discipline.

 

3. The Christian must make the next move by opening the door analogous to using the Recovery Procedure.

 

4. If the Christian uses the Recovery Procedure learns the spiritual life and advances in that spiritual life, he will have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord with him.

 

Revelation 3:21

 

The winner, I will grant to him [the honor and privilege] to sit [one of the escrow blessings distributed at the Evaluation Throne of Christ] with me [gen. of association; close association] on my throne just as I also was victorious and I [the humanity of Christ] sat down with my father at his throne [one of the rewards the humanity of Christ received at His session].

 

ὁ νικῶν δώσω αὐτῷ καθίσαι µετí ἐµοῦ ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ µου, ὡς κἀγὼ ἐνίκησα καὶ ἐκάθισα µετὰ τοῦ πατρός µου ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ αὐτοῦ.

 

Revelation 3:22

 

The one having an ear let him hear what the Spirit communicates to the churches.

 

ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ πνεῦµα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις.

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Verses only: Revelation 3:14-22: 

 

The Christians of the Laodicean Church had become preoccupied with their wealth.  As a result of this, they neglected the intake of Bible doctrine and slipped into reversionism. So, the Lord began to knock at the door analogous to warning and intensive punishment.

 

To the messenger [pastor-teacher] of the church of Laodicea, write.  The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of the creation of God [description of Lord Jesus Christ], he communicates these things.  I know your modus operandi [lifestyle] that you are neither cold [an unbeliever] nor hot [an advancing believer].  I wish you were cold [easy solution: believe in Christ] or hot [keep going in the spiritual life].  So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to vomit you out of my mouth [sin unto death to the members of this church].  Because you say, "I am rich; I have become extremely wealthy in fact I have need of nothing.  As a matter of fact you do not realize that you are under stress [and moving toward neurosis] and miserable [no capacity for happiness, blessing and love] and poor [no values related to the spiritual life and eternity] and blind [no perception of reality as related to God’s word] and naked [no problem solving devices].  I counsel you to buy from me gold which has been refined [the problem solving devices learned] by fire [pressures of adversity and prosperity] that you may become rich [investments in doctrine pays dividends in glory] and white clothes [uniform of glory given to mature believers] that you may cloth yourself and that the shame of your nakedness [at the Rapture] may not be revealed, and collyrium [eye medication analogous to confession of sins] to rub into your eyes [consistent exposure to the Word] that you may keep on seeing [keep on being motivated by love for God].  Those whom I [Father] love, I reprimand and discipline with punishment. Therefore, keep on being diligent [motivated, devoted] and change your mind [about acknowledging your sins and learning doctrine].  Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door [rebounds, confesses his sins], I will come into him and dine with him and he with me [fellowship between God and the Christian].  The winner [the one who overcomes], I will grant to him [the honor and privilege] to sit [one of the blessings distributed at the Judgment Seat of Christ] with me on my throne just as I also was victorious and sat down with my father at his throne.  The one having an ear let him hear what the Spirit communicates to the churches (Revelation 3:14-22).