JEAN'S BIBLE STUDY COM

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1 "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: 'I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

Rev 3,1-7

(50e) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> Great endtime revival >> Church gets right with God -- These verses go with verses 11-22

Rev 3,1-5

(193j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Repent >> Consequences for not repenting

Rev 3,1-4

(203h) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Back-slider >> Withdraw from obeying God >> Withdrawing from God

Rev 3,1-3

(38c) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death (Satan) >> Resurrection overcomes death

(56a) Paradox >> Lose by gaining >> Gain your idea of wealth to lose God’s wealth -- These verses go with verse 11

(167f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind is set on the flesh >> Carnal mind is fueled by our emotions – the Church in Sardis has a name in the world, and by that name they consider themselves to be alive, but God says they are dead, in that they are merely exhibiting their spirituality in the emotional realm. They boast of having the great life of God around them and in them, but in fact they are hollow. God does not see Himself in them; all He sees is emotional hype. Those who stick to the basic doctrine of grace through faith don’t have to worry about finding Bible verses to explain their behavior, whereas the rowdy denominations are more likely to take a chance on believing something new, making them appear to be all the more alive in their beliefs, but God says, “Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die,” referring to the rudimentary doctrines of grace through faith that the more conservative denominations adhere as their core doctrines. God does not see their deeds as complete, that is, their love is lacking. The rowdy believers claim that the more conservative denominations have excluded certain doctrines and whole belief systems outlined in the Bible that are necessary to living the abundant life (Jn 10-10). Nevertheless, God is telling them to remember the roots of the cross, and unload some of their extraneous doctrines until they get better grounded in the rudiments of the faith, the blood of Jesus shed for the forgiveness of sin. If they don’t repent, God will come like a thief, and they do not know at what hour He will come.

(178g) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Hypocrisy of the Church is rebuked >> The Church is rebuked for disobedience

(184j) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Dragging God’s Grace Through The Mud >> Unwilling to honor God’s grace – So far, the only sin this group has committed is getting their emotions ahead of their faith, which doesn’t seem too serious, but suddenly the subject has turned to sin. Now we are getting a fuller picture of what is really going on with these people and the motives behind their emotional hype. There is more underfoot than pretending to be full of faith through loud noises and bodily gyrations. The problem goes deeper than that. They have a spiritual veneer, but underneath they are not just committing sin; they are practicing such a lifestyle. A Christian who commits a sin gets only his feet dirty; they wash their feet and they are clean, but those who get their clothes dirty have fallen in sin as in a mud puddle. This emotional façade is devoid of spirituality, nor is it capable of glorifying Him. Rather, they are in danger of losing their souls. They must learn to replace their emotional hype with love.

(196j) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual laziness >> Replacing God’s standard of excellence with yours >> Sleeping in the spirit

(202e) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Running to your sinful nature >> Laziness has plenty of ambition to run from God -- These verses go with verses 15-17

(241a) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Taking away the key of knowledge >> Hindering unity in the Church -- These verses go with verses 15-20

Rev 3-1,2

(26e) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Death is separation from Christ – Jesus is speaking to the church in Sardis that they have a name for themselves. They have become an entity of the world apart from Christ, but they are dead, just like the Church has become an entity of the world today, and our overall spiritual status is probably no different. The Church has indeed developed a name for itself in the world, beginning with the Roman Catholic Church in the third century. They got tired of being persecuted and tired of being pushed from their homes, the produce of their fields taken and set fire to the rest. This was a fairly regular occurrence for Christians in the first and second century when the Church was strong and faithful to Christ, until they sought to integrate into the world and developed a name for themselves, and they turned and persecuted the very people who were once their brethren, who remained steadfast in the faith. They became the Catholic Church and everyone who disagreed with them were considered heretics and many saints were martyred.

(174i) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Form of a servant but denying God your loyalty – Jesus said, “Wake up and strengthen the things that remain,” meaning that He has no intensions of resurrecting the things that we have allowed to die, but they will remain forever dead. That is a scary thought. We must remain faithful with the things God has given us or we will lose them. There are warnings in the first three chapters of Revelation that are aimed specifically at the Church of the last days, which points directly at us as the most likely generation to see the return of Christ, more than any generation before us; nevertheless, the Church today seems unaffected by this. They cry, ‘Grace, grace, grace,’ their favorite word, but there are other words in the Bible that speak of judgment, suggesting that His grace cannot solve every problem of man’s disobedience.

(191j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Set apart >> Set apart from the world – God does not want His church to be an entity of the world but to be a separate kingdom apart from the nations. Sardis got the wrong idea of God’s will for the Church integrating into the world, thinking they would win souls this way and they would fulfill the great commission, but we don’t fulfill the great commission by seeking acceptance and approval from the world. Our evangelism becomes ineffectual when we integrate into the world trying and lessen the offense of the cross, thinking that people will better relate to the gospel. The Church must be a separate entity from the world in order to effectively reach those who truly want to believe in Jesus. The Bible speaks of the Kingdom of God in terms of it being unique to all other kingdoms so that it cannot integrate into the world without losing its identity from God. We belong to God or we belong to the world, but we cannot belong to both. This is a very profound truth: we live in the world, but we are not of the world, a popular statement in Christendom, but most Christians don’t live this way. Most Christians who use this statement are saying it in a spiritual sense, but we need to live it in a natural sense. We should not be partaking of the world’s fruit or participating in its elementary principles. God has His own principles, His own fruit and His own kingdom, and we should be integrating into them. James said that a faucet cannot produce both fresh and bitter water (Jm 2-11), so if we are members of God’s kingdom, then we are not members of any worldly kingdom. We may have citizenship in a nation; that is part of being in the world, but our allegiance does not reside in that nation; our allegiance is in Jesus Christ. For this reason the world hates us. The problem with Sardis was they were seeking approval from the world to avoid its hatred.

(226a) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables about lamps – In the first three chapters of Revelation, each of the seven churches was assigned a lamp, and this is why these verses are related to the subject of Parables about Lamps. – Remember the parable of the Ten Virgins and their lamps (Mat 25,1-13)? The foolish said to the wise virgins, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are quickly fading.’ God gives us a lamp, lights it and puts some fuel in the tank, but He doesn’t give us matches. He gives us a good start and He expects us to maintain the flame for the rest of our lives. He requires us to occasionally purchase more oil at the store to replenish the oil we have burned. If the flame dies in our lamp, there is no way to relight it. Heb 6,4-6 says, “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.” What was the cause of their lamps dying in the first place? It was their lack of service to God and to their fellow saints! Obviously they had far more interest in the world than they had in the things of God.

Rev 3-1

(26a) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Death >> Dead to God through sin

(53c) Paradox >> Opposites >> Of life and death >> Die trying to live

(166l) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind cannot discern between good and evil >> The old mind

(169i) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory of man >> Loving the approval of men rather than the approval of God >> Coveting the favor of men

(178c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presuming the facts about the circumstances >> Presumption interprets our observations

(198f) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained by man >> Men place themselves in positions of authority >> Men who are ill-equipped to fulfill the ministry – There are lots of dead pastors in the pulpits these days who have been ordained by men, who have placed themselves in positions of authority, who are ill-equipped to fulfill the ministry, who preach dead sermons every week, when people who are better equipped to fill the position are expected to sit-down and shut-up, be sociable and a good constituent of their religion, or else be ostracized from their church. The religious establishment of today has the goal of self-sustainment, instead of furthering the Kingdom of God in the world, hence their token outreach programs. The number one priority of every church is its own existence and of course the pastor’s salary paid. If they actually served Christ, existing would be the least of their concerns, for God Himself would bear the fruit of the ministry through the efforts of the faithful. Christianity has become just another business in the world today after it merged with the state, starting in the third century. In the days of the early church pastors didn’t take a salary, and they were also persecuted and often martyred. They served without any hope of earthly benefit, and they did exploits for God, but in today’s church pastors receive a salary, and if persecution comes they run. That is the very definition of a hireling, and the Church is full of men like this. They are dead inside with nothing to offer. It is really hard to find a good church these days. We’ve all heard it said, ‘If you find a perfect church, don’t join it, because then it will be imperfect,’ but we are not talking about perfection here; we are talking about right motives in a sincere faith. If we are looking for a certain religious denomination, then we will certainly find one, but we are looking for a church that teaches and practices the truth, we can search the world-over and may never find it. In this verse when the Lord said that they are dead, He was saying that the Holy Spirit does not dwell in them. They are not born-again; many churches these days don’t even preach being born-again, because they don't believe in such doctrines. When a sincere-believing Christian wants to have a conversation with the pastor about his faith, if the pastor doesn’t believe in the basic teachings of Scripture, what can he say that the pastor could agree? What do they even have in common? How can the pastor call himself a man of God if he doesn’t even believe in the Bible? Being born-again is the first and foremost of all doctrines, because we must be saved before our faith is real.

(212j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> God is all knowing >> God knows everything about you -- This verse goes with verse 8

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2&3 'Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. 3 'So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

Rev 3,2-5

(105f) Thy kingdom come >> Pure in heart >> Lacking a pure heart

(227e) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> God rewards endurance >> Keeping our rewards through endurance -- These verses go with verse 11

Rev 3-2,3

(4j) Responsibility >> The choices you make >> Accountable for your deeds – These verses go with verse 8. In the parable of the Ten Virgins, all were asleep, both the wise and the foolish, like a soldier who is asleep at his post. The Ten Virgins awoke at the same time at the shout from their master’s voice. The five who were wise had enough oil in their lamps to prepare for His coming, but the five who were foolish Jesus said He would come to them like a thief. What will He steal from the five foolish virgins but the things that are about to die, and was about to die but the flame in their lamps? Perhaps we don’t know God as we should. God is our greatest advocate, but He is the unbeliever’s greatest adversary. If these things are about to die because we have failed to remember what we have heard, and have failed to keep it and repent, Jesus promises to come and steal what’s left of our faith by delaying His return, and assigning us a place with the unbelievers. The devil won’t steal it from us but God Himself. Jesus told the story about the sower of seeds, that some fell beside the road and the birds came and ate it up, the birds depicting Satan and his demons that came and snatched the word from their hearts, having never been planted. What Jesus is saying in Revelation chapter three is different. He is talking about Christians and seed that may have very well fallen in good soil and grew to be a healthy plant, but was never properly tended. If we allow our faith to die, God takes offense at that, interpreting it as counting Him unworthy of our service. He will come and steal what is left of our faith. We need to be careful that God does not become our adversary. We need to serve Him in fear and trust, walking in the joy and safety of our faith and love.

(45g) Judgment >> Believer’s sin >> God will judge us with the world if we live like them -- These verses go with verses 15-19

Rev 3-2

(9i) Responsibility >> Strengthen one another >> Be strong

(44c) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Complete >> Fulfill the requirements – Paul talked about being complete; James too said to be “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” This is in reference to our faith and our works, allowing no contradiction between them. If we claim to be Christian yet live like the world, this is an incomplete rendition of the gospel of Christ. These verses say that aspects the last days' Church will be incomplete. 

(48j) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged by withdrawing rewards

(83i) Thy kingdom come >> Jesus intercedes for us >> He prepares us to meet the Father – Jesus had a complaint about the Church of Sardis that their works were incomplete and that they were about to die. They were far too involved in the world and were no longer walking by faith but instead started walking by sight, and it subtracted from their faith in Jesus. It says they were asleep; Jesus woke them, as in the parable of the Ten Virgins. The flame that was in their lamp was their responsibility to make sure to keep burning and not to let expire, for if the flame dies, God has no intensions of relighting our lamps. God rejected those whose flame died of the five foolish virgins; if the things that are in us die that were motivating us, our ministry will die with it, and God will not revive us for the sake of the ministry. The same way in this verse, there was a shout, “Wake up” it says, and strengthen the things that remain, suggesting that if we let the things of God die in us, we cannot revive them, so we must be careful that the things of God remain alive.

(223g) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Miss God >> Missing the point >> Miss the meaning of being with Jesus

Rev 3-3

(7e) Responsibility >> Protecting the gospel >> God defends His own word – God defends His word by purging the Church in two ways: He will either purge sin from us, or if we refuse to work with Him, He will purge us from His Church.

(36e) Gift of God >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> The gift of authority -- This verse goes with verse 11

(45d) Judgment >> God judges our walk in the Spirit >> For not bearing fruit

(49i) Judgment >> Judgment day >> It will come like a thief in the night – Coming like a thief and catching people off-guard the Church has attributed to the world and not to themselves, but these words are aimed at the Church. It says that Jesus is coming like a thief for the Church at a time when they do not expect and will catch them off-guard. 1The 5,1-7 makes this crystal clear. The church of Sardis is one that won’t repent. They got saved at some point, and they were no doubt happy in their salvation for a while, but their happiness wore-off and now they have become discontent, and they are thinking about going back to the world. Jesus on a number of occasions said He would come like a thief, which is opposite of when He came the first time in the flesh. He never stole from anyone, but at His second coming, He will appear to many as a thief, and what is He coming to steal? Those who are prepared for His coming He will take in the Rapture. At His return those who are not ready will be left behind, their chances for deliverance stolen. Those left behind who have not taken the mark of the beast will have to face the bowls of God’s fierce wrath, while they attempt to make their way to Jerusalem, which will be the only safe haven on earth. The mark of the beast will be enforced during those days, and those in rebellion against God will most likely receive it, except for a very small sliver of people who will neither believe in God nor take the mark.

(113m) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Guard the anointing -- This verse goes with verse 11

(114e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Obeying the revelation from heaven >> Obeying the revelation by putting away the flesh

(176c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Ignorance lurks in darkness

(180h) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >> Rebelling against God’s narrow way >> Rebelling against the word of God

(201i) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Man’s will over God >> Man is unwilling to repent – Revelation is a book of prophecy; chapters two and three represent the Church in the last days. Jesus said that many people fitting the description of Sardis would refuse to repent. They do not know at what hour He will come, though in Mat 25-6 He plainly stated that He would come at midnight. It won’t help to tell them, though, for what good is it to instruct a sleeping person? For the last 2000 years the Church has prepared herself for the second coming of Christ, and so far He hasn’t returned. Jesus didn’t lie to them; He will eventually return, and it didn’t hurt them to prepare. It helped them to stay spiritually alert with the things of God.

(215g) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The judgments of God come suddenly >> Without warning – Jesus reminded the people of Sardis what they have received during the early days of salvation when their hearts were tender and the seed planted saved their souls. Since then they have become spiritually lazy, and He said that if they will not wake-up, the parable of the Ten Virgins teaches that both the wise and the foolish fell asleep, but the foolish did not bring oil with them, and they awoke just as their lamps were fading. When their lamps flickered for the last time and finally went dark, then their faith died, just as Jesus was making His return. Why is it that people’s faith died just as Jesus was returning? He waited for their faith to die before He came as a way of eliminating the disingenuous from His heavenly kingdom. Also, the presence of antichrist is the antithesis of faith. His power of darkness is so strong that it steals the light from every believer. The only way the Church can oppose him is in a state of unity, but in the last days with the Rapture having already occurred, and a mere remnant scattered throughout the world, it will be almost impossible to face him alone. They will be called to maintain their faith in the presence of antichrist, who will demand that every man, woman and child worship him by receiving his mark.

(218b) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> You cannot control the judgment of God >> You cannot control how God responds to rebellion -- This verse goes with verses 15-17

(238h) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Teachers "remind" their students >> Strong reminders

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

4-6 'But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 'He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

Rev 3-4,5

(32g) Gift of God >> Father will honor you if you die to self >> Your faithfulness

(98ka) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Endurance invites the Holy Spirit into your life >> The salvation of God >> Enduring the wicked is to overcome them -- These verses go with verse 21

(113c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Heaven’s clothes >> Clothe yourself with good works -- These verses go with verses 17&18. Garments are in reference to our works, and the fact that we have not soiled them means we have not sinned. The clothes we wear are what people see about us; they represent us in the world, just like our works. Underneath our clothes is our nakedness; that is why we wear clothes. God doesn’t condemn us for being naked; we were born naked, so it is not our fault, but He does criticize us when we wear filthy clothes. The Lord gave us some linens to cover our nakedness, which represent the good works that He prepared for us, but when we fall into sin, we get our clothes dirty, and this is what Paul was saying in his analogy about taking off the old man and putting on the new self (Eph 4,22-24). This new person whom we have become in Christ after we believed in Him and received the indwelling Holy Spirit, has mixed with our spirit to make us a new creation in His grace, and this new person that we have become is our spiritual identity. As though putting on our clothes in the morning, we put on a set of works that God would have us wear.

Rev 3-4

(71d) Authority >> Ordained by God >> Worthiness of man >> God makes us worthy of heaven

(92d) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> Trail of good works >> Putting on His good works – God has certain expectations of those who would approach Him. Those with dirty clothes He resists, but those who walk in white garments He allows in His presence, and they walk with Him for they are worthy. Are we willing to overcome our fleshly sins to avoid soiling our clothes so we can have a closer walk with the Lord? People who have soiled their clothes are still Christians; it is those who are naked who are not saved, indicating that they have no good works to show for their faith. Those with soiled garments are saved; they just have a shoddy walk with the Lord; they get dirty in this life and need to clean up their act. How close of a walk do we want with God? However we answer that question is the level of commitment to righteousness we need to avoid being soiled by the world, that we may walk with Him.

(93a) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> Keep yourself on the narrow way

(145h) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Demon possession >> Human state >> Filthiness >> Deeds of the flesh – Jesus said that a person who has bathed needs only to wash his feet. Even doing the will of God we get our feet dirty, but in this case we are doing more than collecting dirt on our feet. We have fallen into the mud, fallen into sin, and now we need to be cleansed. There will be a change of clothes at the transition from this life to the next; we will take off the old garments of the flesh and put on the new garments that befit our resurrected bodies, wearing pure white linens in the Kingdom of Heaven. Those wearing clean clothes in this life do not come close to the brightness of the clothing we will receive in heaven that represent the works we did for Him.

(164g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> His elementary principles of the world

Rev 3-5

(15g) Servant >> Angels >> The presence of angels denotes authority

(30k) Gift of God >> God’s favor qualifies you for heaven

(83h) Thy kingdom come >> Jesus intercedes for us >> He represents us before the Father

(150cb) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Confessing Jesus to be saved >> Confessing Jesus for the sake of heaven -- This verse goes with verse 8

(207c) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Eternal security? >> God will accept you into His heaven if you overcome >> Overcome temptation to give up the faith – How does a person who believes in eternal security get over a statement like this, "I will not erase his name from the book of life?" Jesus will smudge names from the book of life if certain Christians will not repent of their hollow faith. We must be born-again in order to have our names written in the book of life. People who need their feelings of security propped up by invented doctrines are the very people who are secretly planning to fall away from the faith. Those who want to believe in eternal security will continue believing it no matter how many verses like these we present to them. They will always find a way to make the Scriptures say what they want, but in the end we will be better-off forming our doctrines around the Scriptures instead of forming the Scriptures around our doctrines. If all you have is a hollow version of Christianity, as the parable of the sower of seeds exemplifies in Mat 13,3-9, beware of the birds that can snatch faith from your heart.

(217f) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> God gives up on you >> After you refuse to comply -- This verse goes with verses 16&17. What is the opposite of this verse? ‘He who does not overcome will not be clothed in white garments, and I will erase his name from the book of life, and I will not confess his name before My Father and before His angels.’ Jesus said, “Everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God” (Lk 12-8,9). That is, if his name were ever penned in the Lamb's Book of Life, it will be erased. This depicts a person losing his salvation. Some say that this is impossible, but we need to remember that the doctrine of Eternal Security is man-made and is not biblically supported. The Bible teaches that by the account of two or three witnesses all will be verified, so all we need is two or three Bible passages to debunk the doctrine of Eternal Security, but there are dozens of passages sprinkled throughout the New Testament all teaching that it is possible to lose one’s salvation, and the way that looks in heaven is that his name is erased from the Lamb's Book of Life, which no one wants to happen, or would even wish upon his worst enemy. Their names can be written once and erased once in this special book, but they cannot be rewritten if erased, for God says in Heb 6,4-6, “In the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.” Salvation reduces to whether a person is willing to publicly confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This is what the Bible teaches as the bottom line of a person’s salvation, it is determined by his confession of faith. “Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mk 8-38). A person can have a change of heart; it happens all the time. Lots of people get married and then divorced; they once loved each other and now they don’t. The same is true with God, whose relation to man is in fact a marriage relationship. A divorced couple can remarry, but if anyone divorces God, that is the end. These relationship transactions occur in the spiritual realm, and God takes them very literally, for the spiritual realm is just as literal to God as the physical realm is to us. If we say with our heart that we don’t want God anymore, and we live that way proving that we mean it, God will honor our choice and erase our name from the book of life. He doesn’t want anyone in His heaven who doesn’t want to be there or doesn’t love Him. He was willing to be tortured and nailed to a cross once, but He is not willing to bring into His home those who would treat Him that way in heaven.

(219hh) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> The elect >> God chooses us as we choose ourselves >> The Lamb's book of life – Those who believe in eternal security say that this statement merely confirms we cannot lose our salvation, since He will not 'erase our names from the Lamb's Book of Life.' However, if we had the hearing ear and the courage to properly view the Scriptures, and if we valued the truth enough to swallow our pride and understand it the way it was written, we would see that the Lord has erased some people’s names from the Book of Life, but He won’t erase our names who keep our clothes clean. We bring our fond ideas to the Scriptures, and we don’t want to abandon them. It takes courage to value the Scriptures over our preconceived notions, pitching them to keep the word of God intact, so we can understand it the way it was written. Nevertheless, it is extremely common for Christians to prefer their own ideas over the Bible, and some of these people are teachers of God’s word. They teach these things to others and promote false doctrine, and for this reason the Church is in disarray. If we are unwilling to acknowledge the potential erasing of our names from the book of life, then what else are we unwilling to acknowledge about God’s word? For every highly massaged passage they use to justify their belief in eternal security, there are three passages that speak otherwise without interpreting them.

(224b) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> Describing the kingdom after he makes all things new >> Description of the ascension

(253j) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is subject to the Father >> Jesus is under the authority of the Father -- This verse goes with verse 12

(254d) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is the life of the Spirit >> We live because He is life >> God gives life to our faith in Jesus

Rev 3-6

(79k) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word >> Listen to the word >> He who has ears to hear, let him hear -- This verse goes with verse 13. If we don’t develop the hearing ear, we could lose everything. We are to develop an ear for what the Holy Spirit is saying, not for what others think. We must often swallow our pride to maintain a relationship with God, because we are sinners and we have a proclivity for evil; our flesh more readily wanders from Him than walks with Him. So it is also with our mind; we have a greater tendency to believe a lie than the truth, and for this reason we need to cultivate the hearing ear, so we can properly understand the Scriptures. When God speaks to us, we will recognize His voice, rather than reject the Spirit, because what He is saying doesn’t fit into our rendition of truth.

(106e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Having the ability to hear -- This verse goes with verse 13

(110h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Born of the Spirit by the truth >> Hearing the Spirit -- This verse goes with verse 13

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

7 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:

Rev 3,7-13

(194c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Run to God >> Running to meet Jesus prior to His visitation

(113b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Heaven’s clothes >> Protection >> Shelter – The name “Christ” is literally translated as the anointed One. Consequently, “Christians” are the anointed ones, meaning all Christians must possess an anointing from God or they are not Christians. The anointing is not something we keep under a basket. This simple concept of a flame burning in a lamp is the illustration of the anointing. We teach it to preschool children in Sunday school but don’t believe it ourselves, truncating it from our doctrines. “Hide it under a bushel, no! I’m gonna let it shine….” We talk about the anointing as the light of our salvation, and it is, but it is more than that. God wants to save us for eternity and save us from this life; the problem lies in the fact that if we reject God’s salvation, we could potentially allow our eternal salvation to slip. Therefore, the light of our salvation and the anointing are treated by the Scriptures as one and the same. We need the anointing to protect our faith, yet most Christians don't even believe in the anointing, and as a result people are falling away from the faith by the droves. Ironically, obedient, born-again Christians who are on their way to heaven possess an anointing and don't even know it. We know that the Pentecostals and some of the Charismatics believe a variation of the anointing, yet many of their ideas are twisted beyond remedy, making those who discount the anointing almost further ahead.

(139j) Hiding Place (Key verse) – There are two ways to build the temple: with hands and without hands. Both are required if the temple is to be built at all. Building the temple with hands lays the foundation for the spiritual temple to be built without hands. Building the temple with hands is a matter of laying down the foundation of knowledge and obedience, while building the temple without hands is a matter of constructing the actual structure from faith. Knowledge and obedience are building materials that we use every day in the world, whereas faith is spiritual, which yields a spiritual product, capable of assembling a spiritual structure made of a substance that is not of this world.

(140a) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> The doorway – The implication of God setting an open door in front of the Philadelphian church was that they should pass through it, which is picturesque of the parable of the ten virgins who also had an open door set before them, and only the wise were able to pass through it. The people in the Church of Philadelphia were wise in their relationship with God; they had a true substance to their faith. Therefore, God put before them an open door that leads into the Holy of Holies, where they will discover a deep and profound anointing. The Holy of Holies is where the Philadelphian church will find safety while all the evils of the last days befall so many of their fellow church members who had not trimmed their lamps or prepared to enter such a holy place with God. We too who have prepared our hearts to enter this heavenly realm will wait for Jesus in the Most Holy Place where our enemies cannot come, a place where revelation knowledge and understanding of God’s wisdom comes easy, a place where the truth comes alive. It is the place that our flesh recognizes as the wilderness. They may deny it, but they know in their hearts that we know God, which is where it counts. Anybody who practices a hollow version of Christianity cannot partake of this dwelling of God in the Spirit. Not only are they unwelcome, they wouldn’t go there even if they could.

Rev 3,7-9

(217a) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> God Is Independent Of His Creation >> No one can make God do anything

Rev 3-7,8

(55g) Paradox >> Opposites >> As Jesus opens His door the Church close theirs -- These verses go with verse 20. God has set before us an open door, because we have a little power, have kept His word and have not denied His name. This suggests that if we don’t have a little power, if we have not kept His word but have denied His name, this door will be closed. The Church today interprets everything in terms of salvation, because most people have not gone beyond the born-again experience. This verse is not talking about salvation per se, but about possessing an anointing from God. He is not asking the moon from us, if we have some level of anointing, even a little, and if we have protected it by walking in it, that will be enough to keep this door open so we can pass through it, and what do you suppose is on the other side of this door? The Rapture is the end result, but an event must come before the Rapture that the Church has overlooked, the Great Endtime Revival. If we have any remnant of the Spirit at all, we have access to this door, but those who have allowed their fire to extinguish; the door will be shut to them, corresponding with the parable of the Ten Virgins. This little flame inside our lamps means something to God. He has given us a piece of Himself and commanded us to hold onto it until He returns; those who can produce what belongs to Him will be rewarded with eternal life, and those who can’t will be shut-out. God has called us all to embrace our possession from God with everything inside us to prevent letting go of it, because the forces that want to pull us from our faith in Jesus are great. This powerful little flicker of flame represents genuineness of faith. We don’t just believe a battery of doctrines; we possess something from God, the anointing, the manifestation of the Spirit who dwells in us. God requires that we manifest His kingdom on the earth; it is not a question or an option, otherwise there is nothing real in us, and the only way our faith can be proven real is that it manifest in the natural realm, and that manifestation of our faith is called the anointing, which is demonstrated through the righteous acts of the saints (Rev 19-8). All these concepts converge on a single point, at the threshold of this open door, where we are allowed to pass through it, into a spiritual place where God will protect us from the evil that will befall this world.

Rev 3-7

(15d) Servant >> Ministering spirits >> Angels Perform certain duties – This verse goes with verse 14

(107e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Truth of the trinity >> Jesus is truth

(133b) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Holiness >> God is holy >> Jesus is holy

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8 'I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.

Rev 3,8-12

(99a) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Enduring the will of God >> Enduring the word of God >> Endure obeying the word of God

Rev 3,8-10

(28k) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God protects us through prayer

(32i) Gift of God >> Father will honor you if you die to self >> Honor His word in you

(50h) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> Second half of the tribulation >> The saints flee into the wilderness - spiritual warfare  (Pre-rapture ascension) – Those who enter through this door into the Most Holy Place will obviously be participants of the Rapture, but before that, the fact that they entered through this door into the Most Holy Place, into a deep and profound anointing, will cause them to become immune to the trials and horrors of the great tribulation. They will still be in the world, as they are still in the body, but they will not be of the world. God’s relationship with them, His ministry and presence will be so strong that all the problems and troubles of the world will hardly register with them. They will be dead to the adversity of their flesh and to the difficulties that everyone else is facing. Those who feel the sting of the endtime tribulation will be those who look back and remember the “good times” when the stock market made them reams of dough, when they could get in their car and go to the store and buy whatever they needed, when they could pretend they believed in God and were honored members of society, and they lived their lives no different from the world. God wants a real relationship with His people; He has been mostly denied this throughout the last two millennia, but in the last days He will not accept anything less. He will make His church live the way He intended, persecuted on the outside while flourishing on the inside. Instead of an honored component of society that has a place in the world, God will expect more from His last days generation of Christians than He will from anyone else throughout all of church history, even more than from the early church. He will demand that we know Him and serve and worship Him in all holiness and righteousness of the truth.

(86k) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Be doers of the word >> Clothe yourself with the word of God >> Do the words of Jesus

(206a) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to living in the spirit >> Conditions to partaking in the spirit

Rev 3-8,9

(68c) Authority >> Jesus Delegates Authority To Execute Judgment >> Against Satan

Rev 3-8

(4j) Responsibility >> The choices you make >> Accountable for your deeds – This verse goes with verse 11.

(67h) Authority >> Jesus delegates authority >> Sacrificing your life for the name of Jesus

(111f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Word and the power (meaning) of God >> Word in obedience cannot evade the power of God

(150cb) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Confessing Jesus to be saved >> Confessing Jesus for the sake of heaven -- This verse goes with verse 5

(212j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> God is all knowing >> God knows everything about you -- This verse goes with verse 15

(236h) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Invest your treasures into the kingdom >> Invest everything you value

9&10 'Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie -I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. 10 'Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

Rev 3-9,10

(172a) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Devils among the saints >> False brethren among the people of God >> Antichrists among Christians – Does the Bible care anymore whether we are Jew or gentile? It says we are one in Christ (Gal 3-28), so this usage of the word “Jew” is actually referring to “Christians.” If we replaced the word Jew with Christian, it would make perfect sense. Therefore, we are talking about the false brethren, who make grandiose claims about their faith in God, but have no love to show for it, and they persecute those who do, as it is written, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman."  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free” (Gal 4,28-31). The false brethren are a thorn in the side to all who believe in Jesus. The false brethren will be mostly responsible for turning in Christians to the global authority of the antichrist in order to be rounded up and unceremoniously martyred for their faith. The false brethren will do this to us, those who believe they are Christians just because they have been going to church all their lives and hold to a certain denomination and believe in certain doctrines, yet have never asked Jesus in their hearts. All they have is their religion, and they insist on being Christians; they are totally convinced of it; they were raised in the Church by parents who also went to church, third and forth generation parishioners, possibly none of whom ever made a bona fide commitment to God or were born-again. It is these kind of people who will be most offended and most affected by those who enter through this door into the Most Holy Place, and demonstrate a faith in God through an anointing that is utterly profound.

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Rev 3-9

(31a) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> He favors the Church to spite the world

(46k) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Demons are subject to the Church through Christ

(49b) Judgment >> Nations are destroyed >> God judges the nations through the Church

(159c) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit godliness >> Counterfeit Christian

(174k) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Lip service

(183b) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Witchcraft >> Sin is the incubator of witchcraft >> Through satanic influence

(208fa) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being the friend of God >> Relationship with God through obedience >> We resemble Him through faith – In the last days during the great apostasy that has fallen upon the Church, prior to His second coming, Christ will differentiate between the righteous and the wicked within His Church, and those imposters who have essentially taken over the Church, Christ will make them bow at our feet and know that He has loved us. There are many of this sort of people in the Church today, and they have essentially hijacked the Church, and there are many imposters in the assembly also, so they have completely taken over the Church, but in the last days God will make everything right. Before His second coming those who are faithful in Christ will serve Him, and those who are merely playing a religious game will not. There will be a cleansing of the Church in the last days and a cleansing of doctrine, so people will begin to believe the truth as it is written in Scripture instead of believing all the fleshly inspired doctrines that have infiltrated the Church. Anything that pertains to this world, the flesh is willing to believe but will believe nothing that is spiritual. The flesh is banned from God’s promises of the new covenant, so in response man’s flesh has taken over the Church and naturalized it, making it worldly and secular. Secularism rejects everything that is spiritual and accepts only that which pertains to this natural realm, being the reason the Holy Spirit is rarely mentioned and being born-again is no longer necessary. This kind of “Christian” will bow at the feet of those who know and love God, and they come to realize that we are the true saints of the Most High, chosen and faithful, whom Jesus is coming to receive to Himself. There is nothing we need to do in order for this to happen; it will be a sovereign work of God; they will be forced to concede that we know and love God and that we love the truth and that we never believed in their phony doctrines.

Rev 3,10-20

(117j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit >> Acknowledging the presence of God

Rev 3-10

(49m) Judgment >> God judges the world >> Condition of the Church in the last days – There is a Great Endtime Revival coming, and it will come through the 144,000 Jews, and the Two Witnesses will lead them. Whether they remain together or scattered throughout the world, the Bible says, “the woman fled into the wilderness,” her and her children (gentile believers; Rev 12-5,6). God may set up various camps throughout the world, and He will command us to leave our hometowns and families and venture to a land that our fathers did not know, even as Abraham did, and join the camp of the saints to live out the rest of our days on earth, the days of the trumpets. There will be seven trumpets and each trumpet will signify a more severe judgment on mankind than the last; God will literally bring hell on earth, until it gets to the seventh trumpet. Then the Book of Revelation is silent about the seventh trumpet, about its severity. Being that it is the last trumpet (1Cor 15-52) and that it should have been more severe than the ones before it, yet was silent about its significance, the judgment of the seventh trumpet must be the Rapture (Rev 11,15-19). If we don’t find our place in one of these camps spotted around the globe, we will become a statistic of the last days.

(91m) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> Trail of good works >> The trail that Jesus walked – Pre-tribulation Rapture advocates scoop up this verse as one of their defenses for their beliefs, and if the rest of Scripture pointed in their direction, then this verse would seem to be parroting their creed, but when we take the rest of Scripture into account, it doesn’t teach the pre-tribulation doctrines that we hear today. This verse seems to be saying that if we will do God’s will, He will Rapture us before the tribulation, but a more mid-tribulation Rapture interpretation says that God intends to keep us from the hour of testing by protecting us just like God protected Israel during the plagues of Moses by remaining in the land of Goshen. They were instructed to stay in their homes and occupy themselves with the Passover feast and to paint their doorposts with the blood of the lamb that was slain for the feast, and this would exclude them from God’s judgment. Something very similar to this will transpire in the last days, which becomes especially clear when we see so many plagues of Moses written in endtime prophecy, suggesting that there will be a correlation between the days of Moses and the last days. So, when God says He will keep us from the hour of testing, it means He will prepare a place for us analogous to the land of Goshen. If we will do whatever the Spirit says, we will walk on the same trail that Jesus walked, and if we will obey a few easy steps tantamount to holding a feast in the presence of our enemies (Psalm 23-5) and trusting in the blood of Jesus to save us from the hour of testing, God will judge those who are seeking our death and pass over those of us who have obeyed His voice, just like the Passover in the days of Moses.

(100a) Thy kingdom come >> Perseverance (Working to keep in motion) >> Persevere in tribulation – The prerequisite for Christ’s deliverance is that we must keep the word of His perseverance. The difference between endurance and perseverance, the oak tree endures the many storms that assail it, but perseverance is like the beaver that tirelessly works to build the damn and his hut where he will live with its family throughout the long winter. God has commanded us to persevere, meaning He has given us something to do. What assignment has God given us in the last days? We are to train our ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. To perfect the hearing ear is what Jesus reiterated more often than anything else in the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches” (Rev 2-7). Therefore, obeying the Holy Spirit is the word of His perseverance, as Mary said to the waiters at the wedding in Cana, “Whatever He says to you, do it” (Jn 2-5). If we will do that, it will become the prerequisite to God keeping us from the hour of testing. Those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying will hear the voice of God speaking to them about His plan of protection.

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11&12 'I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; 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 out of heaven from My God, and My new name.

Rev 3,11-22

(50e) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> Great endtime revival >> Church gets right with God -- These verses go with verses 1-7

Rev 3-11

(4j) Responsibility >> The choices you make >> Accountable for your deeds – This verse goes with verse 20.

(25i) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Thief >> Someone stealing from you

(36e) Gift of God >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> The gift of authority -- This verse goes with verse 21

(56a) Paradox >> Lose by gaining >> Gain your idea of wealth to lose God’s wealth -- This verse goes with verses 15-18

(113m) Thy kingdom come >> The anointing >> Guard the anointing -- This verse goes with verse 3

(215i) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The Kingdom of Heaven appears suddenly >> Without warning >> God brings His kingdom to pass in its time

(227e) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> God rewards endurance >> Keeping our rewards through endurance -- This verse goes with verses 2-5. Just as we can lose our salvation, so we can lose our reward of a crown. James spoke of the crown of righteousness, which is a crown of glory. Everything God gives us we can lose through disobedience and unbelief; this is why He warned us to remain faithful to the end. Jesus warned us, and so did the book of Hebrews. When we meet God, we will not be able to say, ‘Yes God, I was saved at one time, but then I fell away; I hope that doesn’t matter.’ God will say, ‘Yes, it matters because you didn’t keep it!’ The same dialogue will happen regarding our rewards that we allow to slip away. Faith is like the children’s game of Statues; we get to run around and play, until the whistle blows, and everyone has to freeze. That is the position we will enter into judgment with God. Weather we think it's fair or not, these are the ways of God. 

(232g) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Embrace (Jesus during the storm) >> Hold on to your faith

Rev 3-12

(67m) Authority >> Jesus delegates authority >> There is authority in Jesus’ name – When we get to heaven, Jesus will have a different name, just as He will have different names for us. There are different names for Jesus here on earth depending on which language we use. For example, the Irish translate Jesus as Íosa, and in Italian it is Gesù. Therefore, the name of Jesus cannot have power in itself; it only points to the person who has all power in heaven and on earth. 

(136j) Temple >> Your spirit is the temple of God >> The body of Christ >> Body of Christ is the temple of God – Understanding this verse is a matter of properly defining the Temple. Paul taught in Eph 2,19-22 that we are God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus being the cornerstone. The whole building is being fitted together and growing into a holy temple in the Lord, suggesting that the saints themselves are the temple. Rev 21-22 says about the heavenly city, New Jerusalem, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” Jesus is its cornerstone, and we are part of the construction process and materials used as though bricks of the temple, or in this case a pillar, and it says, “[we] will not go out from it anymore.” The temple is understood through the unity of the saints, where unity itself is the temple. So when it says that we will not go out from it anymore, it means that the saints representing Jesus Christ in heaven will never be separated from God or from each other again. The temple does not have a specific location as we know of other buildings; rather, the temple represents unity between God and His people; they could be anywhere and still be part of the temple. God the Father will write His name on us, the new name of His Son and the name of His city, the New Jerusalem, so wherever we go, we will represent the Father, Son and Holy City. The New Jerusalem will be our permanent address and we will become one with it, but that doesn’t mean we will have to remain in the city; we can leave the city and return.

(140e) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> The entrance exam

(140g) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Christ builds the temple from the bricks of the Church – It says, “I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore.” Will we be prisoners in the heavenly city? The holy city, New Jerusalem, will be God’s version of the Garden of Eden, only God will place His new race of man on the earth outside the city and command them to be fruitful and multiply. The garden had certain dimensions, dimensions far too small to indefinitely accommodate a growing family had Adam and Eve been obedient. Had they not fallen into sin, over time they would have produced children, and their children would have had families and so on, until the garden was overrun with people. Likewise, when the earth is filled, a second planet will begin to house the children of God, just as the Garden of Eden would have eventually filled the entire planet and beyond. The holy city is a seed that God will plant on the earth and it will grow, and it will never stop growing. So, there will never be a need to leave the city because the city will eventually absorb the entire universe over the course of eternity. Human civilization throughout the universe will be an extension of the holy city. 

(216e) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Compelled by the Spirit >> God takes advantage of your love for Him >> God’s spirit is irresistible

(224f) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> We shall always be with the Lord – God will create a new people after us, and command them to be fruitful and multiply as He did with Adam and Eve, and there will be no death, and so their numbers will exponentially increase throughout eternity. This new race of man will inhabit the earth, and their numbers will spill over to the next planet and so on throughout the infinite universe. God will call us to rule over them as mediators between them and God. We will come and go from the holy city, traversing planets, spending time there, appointing people as rulers, and then returning to the New Jerusalem, our home, where we live with God. When problems need resolution and questions need answers, we will go and help them manage their planet. As much fun we will have traveling through the universe, stopping at resorts, vacationing, exploring God’s creation, our heart will always be with the heavenly city, with the Lord and with our fellow saints. Although we may be a quadrillion miles from home, we will still be connected to the temple (the Father, Son and Holy City), not in any kind of representative or symbolic way, but spiritually plugged into the temple as a pillar. We will come back with many stories to share with our fellow saints, and we will be able to communicate with Christ and with the Father and with each other at all times. We will be connected as though physically present regardless of our location in the universe, so if we have any questions or problems, we will be able to ask our Lord and Master, and He will be able to tell us right then and there, so we can convey that information to those who need to know.

(245a) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Literal manifestation of Jesus Christ >> Manifesting the body of Christ

(253j) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is subject to the Father >> Jesus is under the authority of the Father -- This verse goes with verse 5

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

13&14 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' 14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 

Rev 3-13

(79k) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word >> Listen to the word >> He who has ears to hear, let him hear -- This verse goes with verse 22 

(106e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Having the ability to hear -- This verse goes with verse 6 

(110h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Born of the Spirit by the truth >> Hearing the Spirit -- This verse goes with verse 22. The fact that God reiterated this statement seven times suggests if we don’t develop a hearing ear, our faith will not survive the last days. Without it we will abandon God and do the very thing we said we would not do, take the Mark of the Beast. Many who believe in the pre-tribulation Rapture also believe in eternal security, and irrespective of persons, even if they are born-again, they will go to hell if they take the Mark of the Beast. It is impossible to overstress the importance of developing the hearing ear as we see the day approaching. Lk 21-34 says these things will happen suddenly and without warning, and the events of the last days will occur in rapid succession; and if we are not ready, we will never have time to catch-up. It will be a major whirlwind, and every day that transpires is a day we had to prepare for what we must do to survive, and every day we squander is a day closer to the end, a day closer to the requirement of taking Satan’s mark. If we have not set it in our minds to die for our faith in Jesus rather than take the mark, we run the risk of joining Satan’s kingdom, knowing that it would mean forfeiting our souls. In contrast, the person with a hearing ear will be able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to him about these things, filling us with the importance of knowing God and leading us into a relationship with Him and guiding us through the tribulation to be raptured at the end of it (Mat 24,29-31).

Rev 3-14

(15d) Servant >> Ministering spirits >> Angels Perform certain duties – This verse goes with verse 7

(30b) Gift of God >> God is our source >> His creative ability supplies our needs

(102h) Thy kingdom come >> Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Trustworthy >> Loyalty

(107h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Church is of the truth >> God’s people are the true witnesses of God

(153b) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Jesus bears witness of the Father

(238d) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The kingdom is transferred to the Church >> Born again >> Jesus is born again from the dead – Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God, and what is God’s creation but the Church. The false religions of the world misinterpret this verse and say that God created Jesus first, and then He created everything else through Him, but that is not at all what is said here. The Church is the context; it is not talking about creating the heavens and the earth; that subject was not remotely mentioned. Jesus was saying that He was the beginning of the creation of the Church, being first born from the dead, for just as He was raised from the dead, so will we in like manner. The resurrection of the righteous will occur, marking the end of this age and the beginning of eternity for the saints and the thousand-year reign of Christ, so the creation of God refers to the resurrection of the righteous. The phrase “beginning of the creation of God” suggests that the Church is not yet fully created, that God will not be acquainted with the Church until it is fully formed and its members receive indestructible bodies, who will live forever, in that God cannot relate to anything that is temporal. He recognizes the physical aspect of his creation, and He recognizes those things that cannot die, but death and spiritual aspects that don’t have a physical equivalent is not something that God is willing to acknowledge. We currently have a body, but it is destined for the grave, and death is not part of the kingdom God is building, so when the Church comes into its fullness at the First Resurrection, then He will acknowledge the Church as complete, and Jesus is the beginning of that creation process, having been raised from the dead, never to die again.

(238f) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The kingdom is transferred to the Church >> New creation >> The new creation is our spiritual composition

(248g) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Jesus is first >> Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God – The Jehovah Witnesses and other false religions misconstrue this statement to say that Jesus was the first of God’s creation, that God created Jesus, and then used Him to create everything else, but when we compare that to other passages in the Bible that clearly teach Jesus as God, we must understand this verse differently. The beginning of the creation doesn’t mean He was created; it means the creation began with Him. The Father worked through Him to create all that was created, not to mean that Jesus Himself was created. The fact that there are so many passages in the Bible that speak otherwise makes their false interpretation inexcusable. For example, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am” (Jn 8-58). Had the Pharisees not picked up stones to throw at Him, then maybe the false religions have a point, but they were ready to kill Him for making this statement, suggesting they properly interpreted this phrase to imply that the person whom Moses met in the burning bush was the same person the Pharisees wanted to kill. “I Am” means God has always existed, He always will exist and He lives in the present. If He had a beginning, then to use this expression “I Am” would not fit, because then there would be a point when "I Am - not!". Instead, the Father spoke to the son and the son spoke the creation into existence. Jesus therefore is the origin of the creation, and now He is about to speak to the Laodiceans who have virtually no respect for Him. He told them that if they didn’t repent they would lose everything, their faith, their souls and their hope of eternal life.

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15 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 

Rev 3,15-20

(70h) Authority >> Sin of familiarity >> Familiar with the truth (enemy of discernment) >> Familiar with Jesus in the Spirit – There is a vast disparity between what God thinks of us and what we think of ourselves. We say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and God says, “You are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” What we need is “the mind of Christ” (1Cor 2-16). If we had His mind, we would know we were missing the mark. The Laodicean church is a description of a people who are going to heaven, only if they repent of their unbelief. The mentality of the Church today says, “I am disobedient, but I still believe.” This is actually a half-truth; we’re all sinners saved by the grace of God, but to admit these things without any mention of repentance is where God finds fault with us. If we confess to being sinners as the first step to our repentance, that is one thing, but to just shrug our shoulders is another. Instead of sacrificing God's plan for their lives, they ought to be sacrificing their flesh in order that they might know God's purpose and calling and do it.

(193a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Repent >> Stop practicing sin >> Be zealous and repent – Everything we do for God is based on repentance. Perhaps we want to do something grandiose for God; maybe we want to be a pastor and stand behind the pulpit and speak the oracle of God; without repentance we will never know if it is His will. Someone might argue that repentance is only a small aspect of our calling, but in some respects it is the entirety of it. When we are in bondage to sin, God doesn’t get flustered about it; he just tells us to repent. Sin places us in its bondage and it is usually very difficult to become free, and we need to fight to remain free. The devil returned to Jesus at opportune times, attempting to trip Him in His weakest moments. The difficulty of the Christian life is developing a perfect heart that loves God and hates sin, because our flesh wants just the opposite. We may not think it is fair, but we will be tempted to fall back in bondage to the same old rut that we have always known. The devil will return to us during some of our weakest moments, and God will expect us to overcome. Jesus did by the Spirit, and so can we, and if we fall, we return to our feet and continue. The mistakes we make are irrelevant to God. Falling back into sin is an issue, but it is not the end. It all boils down to our hearts; how committed are we against sin, and how zealous are we to repent?

(241a) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Taking away the key of knowledge >> Hindering unity in the Church -- These verses go with verses 1-3

Rev 3,15-19

(45g) Judgment >> Believer’s sin >> God will judge us with the world if we live like them -- These verses go with verses 2&3

(103k) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> God purifies His church >> Jesus purifies His people

(178i) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Hypocrisy of the Church is rebuked >> The Church is rebuked for making false judgments

(196i) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual laziness >> Replacing God’s standard of excellence with yours >> Lukewarm Christianity – The Laodicean church represents those Christians of today who despise religious fanatics, while they live half committed under the guise that God will pardon them of all sin, which frees them to choose any lifestyle they wish, allowing their favorite pet sins to dominate their lives without trying to become free of them. They are happy to serve sin under its bondage until they die, so they can go and be with the Lord. This is the mindset of lukewarm Christianity, and it is pervasive throughout the Church today. It is a Christianity that is not particularly interested in doing anything for God. They don’t care to make a difference or account for anything; they’re just trying to get through life so they can go to heaven. Those who call themselves by the name of God because they recited the sinner’s prayer umpteen years ago, like getting an inoculation from a disease, treating Christianity like a formula instead of a relationship, makes God sick. They are not so much interested in going to heaven as they are afraid of going to hell. This is not pleasing to God. The whole purpose of Christianity, the reason Jesus died for our sins, was for God to have a relationship with us.

(203e) Denying Christ >> Dishonor God >> Stepping out of position

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

Rev 3,15-18

(56a) Paradox >> Lose by gaining >> Gain your idea of wealth to lose God’s wealth -- These verses go with verses 1-3. A more accurate description of the contemporary church could not be better written than the depiction of the Laodicean church, perfectly framing the last day’s apostasy, which is the result of overemphasizing the grace of God, which seems impossible, but man has found a way. The Church is currently fixated on the grace of God at the cost of other concerns, such as faithfulness and holiness. Without being diligent in their quest for truth, they have allowed their minds to wander and interpret, reinterpret and misinterpret almost every aspect of the Bible, including the grace of God. They claim to deserve a heightened standard of living, as though the grace of God has furnished them with such promises, as though this life were a wealth-building springboard into the eternal future of heaven. Instead, the Bible teaches that this life is a character-building springboard into the next life, instructing us to sacrifice this temporal life in the flesh for the sake of heaven, teaching that the more we give ourselves to the gospel of Christ, the greater reward we will receive in the life to come. This understanding makes it impossible to invest in the flesh, since this life is what God is calling us to sacrifice. They might say this is fallacious doctrine, claiming that Jesus died for us so we wouldn’t have to make those sacrifices, but when we look at the apostles, they all gave their lives for the sake of the gospel; they were all martyred, except John, and he invested His entire life into the cause of Christ.

(94n) Thy kingdom come >> Perspective is your personal reality >> How you interpret your point of view – Constructing a sense of reality is similar to erecting a building; girders are placed in strategic positions to maximize the strength of the building. There is a history behind the construction process, experience from other generations supplemented by our own research, so in the same way our sense of reality is being constructed piece by piece. Each person constructs his own worldview as well as each society, all perceiving their end-product as the truth. People think it is conscientiously built, but to the contrary it is constructed mostly from lies and deceit. Just as one floor is built on top of another, so lies are built on top of other lies, a seemingly sensible and stable design with high believability, and so they continue adding floors to their perspective. Meanwhile, the truth is nowhere to be found throughout the process. There is one building that represents all other buildings that worked as an icon to social paradigms, called the Tower of Babble. It was a unique tower that was never remade, and society ever since has been constructing a version of it, a replica of that tower with mere cosmetic changes to its appearance. It represents man’s attempt to reach God on his own terms, denying the fact that we are sinners, denying the fact that we are haughty and arrogant, denying the fact that we are hostile against God, and denying the fact that at the first opportunity we would attempt to conquer God’s throne and take it for ourselves.

(145i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Demon possession >> Human state >> Filthiness >> Rejecting the opportunity to be holy

(175c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Wealth gives a false sense of godliness

Rev 3,15-17

(19h) Sin >> Having the mental disease of the world >> Worldly influence on the mind

(86f) Thy kingdom come >> Belief >> Mental ascent (believing a set of facts) – The Bible teaches that believing is tantamount to obedience, leaving mental ascent in the dark. Rebellious Christians (an oxymoron) don’t believe in God; they believe in doctrines about God. If we obey the doctrines we believe and tailor our lives after them, God says we truly believe in Him, but we display a discrepancy between our lifestyle and the doctrines we approve, the Bible says we don't actually believe. The Bible also teaches that there is a difference between belief and faith. Our beliefs are rooted in the Bible, the written word of God that we can hold in our hand, but faith comes from heaven. That is, faith is something God gives us when we demonstrate our beliefs. The Laodicean Church was completely devoid of these things; they merely approved certain doctrines they considered essential to salvation, but didn’t actually believe them, evidenced by a lacked of obedience. This is the Church of today, steeped in easy-believism.

(165e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not partake of the world >> Do not desire the treasures of the world

(166g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Wisdom of the world >> Nature Of Man’s Wisdom >> Man’s wisdom contradicts itself

(170d) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory of man >> Greed and lust are the glory of man >> Earthly riches are the glory of man

(171g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Decorating the outside to simulate the inside >> Playing the part to be accepted by God

(202e) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Running to your sinful nature >> Laziness has plenty of ambition to run from God -- These verses go with verses 1-3. The Church in the last days, the Laodiceans, is a lukewarm church. We might think God would prefer us lukewarm over cold, but according to this passage, lukewarm is nauseating to Him. Lukewarm Christians use their lazy commitment as proof of their faith, but what little commitment they have acts more to insulate them from God than it does to serve Him. In their minds they don’t think God has an issue with them, because they believe according to Eph 2-8,9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” They think they are doing everything they can to please the Lord; meanwhile, God throughout their lives has been speaking to them about incorporating His purpose into their lives. Each person has a special calling, and He wants us to fulfill it, according to the very next verse, Eph 2-10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Unfortunately for everyone involved, the only calling they plan to fulfill is their own. They just want a carnal life in the flesh, and afterward go to heaven because of a set of doctrines they believed about God, not allowing their belief system to affect how they live. Whether they actually believe is the question. On a pencil test they would give the correct answer, but that doesn’t mean they believe.

(218b) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> You cannot control the judgment of God >> You cannot control how God responds to rebellion -- These verses go with verse 3

(222b) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give what is holy to dogs >> God does not entrust his treasures to dogs >> God retrieves his treasures when sheep revert to dogs

Rev 3-15

(212j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> God is all knowing >> God knows everything about you -- This verse goes with verse 1

(248d) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> The will of God >> The will of God is acceptable to Him

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

16&17 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

Rev 3-16,17

(217f) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> God gives up on you >> After you refuse to comply -- These verses go with verse 5

Rev 3-17,18

(37h) Judgment >> Redemption of man >> His blood delivered us from destruction

(41h) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >> Seek His righteousness – The Laodicean Church was convinced that works were unnecessary, which sounds an awful lot like the Church today. They lived by the notion that since their works didn’t save them, any one who sought a righteousness through works did not believe in the righteousness of faith and were by that heretics, essentially considering works to be heretical. Without furnishing any proof of their faith in Jesus the Laodiceans considered themselves spiritual, and since they figured the grace of God furnished them with everything they needed, they could sit in their lawn chairs and watch the clouds all day. They thought they were like jellyfish to the grace of God, elegantly flowing with the currents, but instantly reduced to a gob of goop on a sandy beach. Peter talked about fiery trials testing and refining our faith as gold passes through a kiln. We are to joyfully follow Christ through the fiery trials of this life and to stop seeking our own way toward happiness that always leads to unhappiness and spiritual disaster. The Laodiceans were blind and didn’t even know it, naked and didn’t know it, poor and miserable and denied it. Essentially, they worked spiritually just as hard as Smyrna, only in fooling themselves about their true condition. They might as well have used all their effort to serve God than use it to think up ways to avoid serving Him.

(113c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Heaven’s clothes >> Clothe yourself with good works -- These verses go with verses 4&5. The Laodicean Church was naked in the eyes of Christ. The Bible uses clothing to denote the righteous acts of the saints (according to Rev 19-8) in that clothes cover our most outward parts. If we are embarrassed to show our naked bodies in public, how much more should we be ashamed to show our nakedness to Christ? Clothes hide our nakedness, so if we were wearing clothes, are we no longer naked, or does our nakedness remain underneath our clothes? If we cover ourselves, our nakedness is no longer shameful. Nobody faults us for being naked under our clothes, because we can’t help it. The righteous acts of the saints don’t resolve our nakedness; it only hides the fact, denoting that works are not the active ingredient of our salvation; it is our faith in Jesus that saves us, but without leading a righteous lifestyle we would still be naked, and that is inappropriate. The Bible teaches that we will wear clothes in heaven, yet not even Adam and Eve wore clothes in the beginning. This suggests that in heaven we will were clothes as a symbol of our knowledge of evil, since Adam and Eve felt ashamed of their nakedness after they sinned. If God creates a new species of man in heaven and commands them to be fruitful and multiply and never places the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in front of them, they will have no knowledge of evil and may not wear clothes, since they won’t know they are naked.

(153d) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Shame >> Hiding under a cloud of guilt >> Your sin will find you out

(159g) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit godliness >> Wealth is a form of counterfeit godliness

(169c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Blinded by Satan’s thoughts >> Blinded by a false sense of sight – The Laodiceans thought they could see; isn’t that what Jesus said of the Pharisees? He told them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains” (Jn 9-41). These Pharisees were by no means seeking the righteousness of God anymore than the Laodicean Church; it is questionable if the Laodiceans were even saved; the whole church was steeped in apostasy. There were seven churches mentioned in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, and each of them represented a mindset that would exist in the Church in the last days. What exists in the Church today is a Laodicean belief system that claims a person can live any way he chooses and still be a Christian. All we need to do is believe in Jesus and we are guaranteed a place in heaven. This is a very popular doctrine in the Church today, and God condemns it. He didn’t tell the Laodiceans to clean up their act before they go to heaven; He told them to clean up their act if they ever plan to see heaven.

(227h) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Dependence on Jesus >> Depending on Jesus to impart His gifts into us >> He gives us what we give to each other

Rev 3-17

(176b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Lacking experience with God

(180i) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >> Rebelling against God’s narrow way >> Rebelling against the will of God

(181h) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Imaginary perception of self >> Distorted perception of self – This church had a distorted view of itself, and if the people couldn’t see themselves correctly, how could it perceive God in any true light? They lied to themselves about their spirituality. They had better be careful when they say, “I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing,” because it sounds frightfully similar to the antichrist’s self-perception. “In her heart she boasts, `I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn'” (Rev 18-7). If the Laodicean church uses a language similar to the great whore of Babylon, how will they avoid siding with her during her atrocities of the last days? If her temptations have already led them to a near identical perception of self, how will they avoid turning in their fellow Christian when the antichrist comes to power, unless they repent? Had they known anything about the spirit realm they would have known that lukewarm Christianity produces mindsets of the devil. 

(198h) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained by man >> Having evil motives for seeking leadership positions >> Seeking to gratify their flesh through the ministry

(223h) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Miss God >> Missing the mark >> Miss the will of God for your life – Apparently some people can be wretched and miserable and not know it, at least in contrast to obeying the will of God. Maybe they were happy in some ways; maybe they had a good job and had a lot of money and had all the toys of the world, drove a fast car, lived in a big house and called themselves Christians. They seemed happy, but if they really were Christian, they would have been miserable, because they weren’t serving the Lord. All these churches outlined in Revelation chapter two and three were real churches in their time, and most of them had major problems, and they collectively represented the Church that would exist in the last days. They were not serving the Lord, and for that they were miserable. In the flesh and in the world they were happy, but in the Spirit and in the faith they were wretched and miserable. They made a great showing in the flesh, but they were poor just the same; they might have had 20-20 vision, but they were blind to the things of God; and maybe they wore fine clothes, but they were naked in the eyes of God. It is all a matter of perspective; we can be accepted by the world and conform to its standards, mindsets and belief systems, but a day is coming when their life in this world will end, and then they will be thrust into another world where they will meet God, and they will have to answer to Him, and this passage describes how He will see them, because they never sought His will for their lives.

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

18-20 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Rev 3-18

(63f) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Sarcasm >> Minimize the truth to make a point

(99b) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Enduring the will of God >> Enduring the death of your flesh

(113i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Anoint with oil

(118g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit >> Blind receive their sight

(190c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Passing through the fire

(232b) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Count the cost >> The cost is more than you can imagine so don’t count

(249g) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Wealth >> True perception of wealth >> The infinite and eternal wealth of God >> God’s perception of wealth >> Our hope in this life

(4m) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Disciples are chastened by the Lord

(33j) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> God serves His people who serve Him >> He treats His people with special care

(101f) Thy kingdom come >> Zeal >> Fulfill your calling with zeal – Everyone in Christendom is looking for his calling from God. What did Jesus say in this verse to the Church of Laodicea? “Be zealous and repent.” Since it is with zeal that we fulfill our calling, then why wouldn’t repentance be part of our calling? Every aspect of our calling is to be fulfilled with zeal, for if we grudgingly worked out our salvation, it would seem to communicate that we didn’t care what God had prepared for us. Many people automatically assume that being a pastor is God’s purpose for them. If they hear from God that this is what He wants from them, then fine, but if they assume it, even if it were God’s will, they still haven’t understood it by the Spirit, which is something they need to do. What happens when they run into a snag? The natural mind will say, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore,’ but if we know by His will by the Spirit, we will work through that snag and continue to fulfill our purpose and calling from God. What matters is that we repent and become established on the path that God has prescribed for us and stay on it to the end. Every person who dies in the Lord will see the trail in front of him continue. His trail didn’t end at his death; it never will end. Our trail will continue in heaven.

(124g) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Acts of love >> Love cherishes discipline

(138a) Reproof (Key verse)

(138b) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Reproof >> Jesus reproves His disciples for their unbelief

Rev 3,20-22 

(106g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Hearing His voice – We don’t understand God’s grace or mercy or his gracious choice of us. We are born-again among a multitude who are lost. We talk to them about Jesus, and they don’t listen, so we go back to God and say, ‘These people are hard to reach; how did you ever reach me?’ His answer is incomprehensible. We don’t know how God reached us; we only know that He did. God came knocking on our door and we responded to His call, and when we look back, it all seemed so natural; of course we responded to the call of God’s grace and mercy. The part that is so incomprehensible is the multitudes who have rejected the love of God, and the fact that we are not any different from them, except that God has chosen us, and we don’t know why or even how He did it. The Bible teaches that God chooses those who are His by giving them the ability to hear His voice.

Rev 3-20

(4j) Responsibility >> The choices you make >> Accountable for your deeds – This verse goes with verses 2&3

(55g) Paradox >> Opposites >> As Jesus opens His door the Church close theirs -- This verse goes with verses 7&8. The reason the door is shut in verses 7,8 of this chapter is that they never opened the door to Christ and allowed Him into their hearts; they have never been saved. The great lie perpetrated by demons against the Church today is that the anointing doesn’t exist; they say even if it does, it pertains only to certain persons, and even with them the anointing is optional. What verses 7&8 are saying is if we have a little power, have kept the word of God and not denied His name, it proves we are Christians; otherwise, we are not Christians. They need to get saved, and so Jesus is knocking on the door of their hearts in verse 20, asking if He can enter a relationship in the born-again experience.

(130a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Being in one accord >> Communion

(132b) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Holy Spirit is in God’s people >> Spirit of God in the spirit of man >> Spirit of Jesus

(172d) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Communion between the world and the Church >> Worldliness in the Church

(196a) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Lord, Lord >> Pretending to be a disciple

(202k) Denying Christ >> Running from God >> Wicked men cannot approach the throne of God >> Goats are unsaved church attendants

(209b) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Counterfeit relationship through religion >> Knowing about God, but not knowing God – Jesus has not come into the Laodicean church, meaning lukewarm Christianity does not refer to saved people who are disobedient; rather, it refers to a religious people who claim to be Christians, but have never asked Jesus into their hearts. They may have said the sinner’s prayer, but they are not born-again. It sadly represents a very large group of people in America who most likely will not make it to heaven, unless they repent. There are always a few, but the vast majority of people in a lukewarm church are not saved.

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

21&22 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' "

Rev 3-21

(34g) Gift of God >> God is willing to Give >> He is generous with His spiritual blessings – Jesus is inviting us to sit on His throne as He sits on His Father’s throne. This is the level of spiritual authority that Christians have in eternity. Take away all the promises of God except this one and we would still have them all contained in this promise. 

(36e) Gift of God >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> The gift of authority -- This verse goes with verse 3

(43b) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Conform to the character of Christ >> Conform to His nature

(66f) Authority >> Jesus’ authority >> His position with the Father >> Jesus has authority over all things from the Father

(67e) Authority >> Jesus at the right hand of the father >> We are with Him – Is there anyone else seated on God’s throne? Are the angels seated there? The short answer is no! We could go back to Lucifer and come to the determination that he was given the entire creation as his inheritance, except the earth, by evidence of all that is cursed. These are the things that Jesus now possesses, and He has given them to us, including God’s very throne, something He never offered to Lucifer. Knowing God, who structures His kingdom in a hierarchical fashion, Lucifer was commanded to disseminate his authority to all the other angels throughout the Kingdom, but knowing Satan, he was unwilling to relinquish his authority. Lucifer's intent was to instead supplant God's throne, suggesting that the throne was never given to him. Before he came close to accomplishing this, he was thrown from heaven and confined to the earth until the day of judgment. God never created Jesus; He has always existed, and His Father asked him to step down and give Lucifer his place, giving His creation to the lead angel, who would fumble it. God was proving that all authority and power is just too much in the hands of any created being, but the Father could trust His Son with it. This is the lesson he wanted to teach his creation. 

(70ja) Authority >> Believer’s authority >> We have been given authority over all creation >> We are the children of God >> We have a place on His throne – Although God tested the angels, he did not offer them His throne as He has offered man, why? The angels dwell in the very presence of God; they were never required to believe in Him, whereas it is required of man. This difference is huge, for God exists by faith; His very composition is faith, though we couldn’t possibly understand what that means and probably never will. The fact that we believe in Him is what motivated Christ to call us the children of God (Mat 5-44,45). When he created man, he commanded the angels to serve him, and in that way the angels are inferior to us; they are our servants, but because the Kingdom of God is opposite the world, that is, the least are greatest; therefore, the angels are greater than man, because they serve us. Nevertheless, God has not offered them His throne, as he has offered man, because of faith. After God creates a new heavens and a new earth, He will create a new breed of man and place him in the midst of His creation (no garden this time) and command him to be fruitful and multiply. Their numbers will continue into infinity, and we will be in charge of them and serve them as the angels serve us, and as Christ serves His creation. This new breed of man that God creates will not be tested. Rather, we will instruct them about sin; they will not know sin on an experiential level; they cannot sin. Even if they did something wrong, it would not be sin, anymore than an infant can sin.

(98ka) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Endurance invites the Holy Spirit into your life >> The salvation of God >> Enduring the wicked is to overcome them -- This verse goes with verses 4&5

(224d) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> Describing the kingdom after he makes all things new >> Children of God resemble their Father

(224l) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The holy of holies >> The throne room of heaven

Rev 3-22

(79k) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word >> Listen to the word >> He who has ears to hear, let him hear -- This verse goes with verse 6. See commentary at Rev 2-7

(110h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Born of the Spirit by the truth >> Hearing the Spirit -- This verse goes with verse 6

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