Revelation Chapter 3
2022 - Yesterday, I was convinced that the angels of each church, to whom John’s message to each church is addressed, as in “Rev 2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write…” are messengers sent to John on Patmos to receive his message for each church and transport it back. Messengers. And that may be so, but today, it also occurs to me that as written, the messages are ADDRESSED to the angels/messengers. The messages are written TO the angels. So if we say the angels are men sent from each church to visit with John, why would his letters be addressed to the messengers themselves, and not rather to the church, or to the pastor of each church? We will see later in Revelation that sometimes "beasts" are men, in charge of a dominion. We saw yesterday how John the Baptist is called an angel several times, and in that role he has a message to preach. That lends some credibility to the idea that the seven stars in 1:20, which ARE angels, and in Jesus’ hand, are indeed the pastors of the seven churches – which are depicted as lampstands. Remember that Rev 1:20 is VISION. Things represent other things. This means that maybe, today, I am thinking that all those times I heard a preacher (Dad) say that these angels are probably the pastors of each of the churches...that was probably the right interpretation. I’m going with that interpretation from here on.
Sardis, 3:1-6
2. The words of “him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars". The first phrase looks back at vs 4, outside the vision, and the second is within the vision, in vs 16. So the one who has the seven spirits is the Father. We conclude this since they are before his throne, the throne of Theos. The one with the seven stars is the Son. So the message to Sardis is from both Father and Son, where the previous four churches were addressed by the Son only. Now isn’t that interesting!
3. The one who conquers “will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
First there is a lengthy discussion of white garments just below. Some are those martyred during tgt, and who will be raised in the first resurrection. Later, all those who return with Christ at his second coming are garbed in white…but the martyrs will not be with them, as they are not yet resurrected. So I will go with all the white robes in Rev 7:9, where all the raptured of the earth will stand before the throne IN HEAVEN for the bema judgment. These are the church, all the New Covenant saved. And if you stand before the throne at the bema, you will never need to worry about hell again, even at the GWT, which comes later. That last part, where Jesus will confess the conquerors to his Father…At the bema, when they read out our sins, and God asks us “Did you really do that”, Jesus will answer for us, and say “I died for that. I atoned for that. He is one of mine.”
2022 - "The words of him who has the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars.". But...in John's earlier vision of Christ there is nothing about the seven spirits of God. In the KJV "Spirit" is capitalized. There is only one Holy Spirit though, and there is no capitalization in the ESV.
2023 - This line is key: 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. [Rev 3:2 ESV]. Jesus, inside the vision, and the one sending this message, notes that God, outside the vision, finds fault with Sardis. That is why outside and in.
Starts off bad. Their reputation is good, but in reality, they are just dead. (2022 - dead is the Greek "nekros". Not much mistaking the meaning.) They are urged to wake up and repent. So they are "asleep" to the gospel that was preached to them. They are “asleep” to their own sins, to their shortcomings – as a church and as Christians. There works are not complete means, I think, that they are not really saved. God does not recognize them as saved.
Also this phrase:
3 …If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. [Rev 3:3b ESV]. This is like the parable of the Ten Virgins also where it says:
13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. [Mat 25:13 ESV].
Those virgins were unsaved. They had waited too long, they were ill-prepared, they lacked enough oil (Holy Spirit) to be invited in when the bridegroom came. They were in company with the wedding party, they waited “with them” but they were not “of them”. This is what was going on in Thyatira.
MSB says the church was full of unredeemed, unregenerate people. Quite different than my idea of lazy Christians. A few though, are the real deal, and they are promised white robes.
2022 - This church was, I think, more of a social club under the banner of Christianity than it was a church. To be sure, there were some saved people there. And those who were saved, despite serving in a dead church that might well cease to exist at any second over some kind of dispute, would never have their names blotted out of the book. It is not the quality of the church you attend that gets you to heaven, it is "not soiling your garments". What an interesting phrase. It might be tempting to add "beyond cleaning again", because we resist saying that anyone is beyond the possibility of salvation. It says they did not soil them at all. Not long ago I read something that said sometimes people/nations go so far that there is just no coming back. I think that was sin so intense that salvation would never be offered. Perhaps this is what is meant by not soiling the garment. Perhaps a soul can be so corrupted with some sins as to be unreachable - no that isn't it. God can forgive any sin. But that doesn't mean he does forgive them all. Here is a relevant verse:
Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord. [Hos 5:4 ESV] Surely these had garments soiled in the same sense as those in Sardis. (2023 - In the reading plan, Hosea is read at the same time as these first chapters of Revelation.)
The white garments....Here are all the references in Revelation:
11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. [Rev 6:11 ESV]. White robes are about martyrs here. I believe these are the ones martyred during the 70th week, the ones who will be raised in the first resurrection.
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ... I believe this is the bema, so all the saved are clothed in white here.
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" 14 I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. [Rev 7:9, 13-14 ESV]. Hmm...so they do not all match up. 7:9 and 13 present some problems. Deal with them when you get there...
14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. [Rev 19:14 ESV]. This is about linen...not just a "regular" robe?
Philadelphia, 3:7-13
2. The words of “the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens". All these are brand new, not mentioned in Chapter 1 at all. Not in the vision, not in the letter. So who is this? I think we find it here: 22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. [Isa 22:22 ESV]. There can be little doubt that this is the verse being recalled. But when I go and read that passage in Isaiah, the words are spoken of a man named Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who will take the place of a usurper named Shebna. But as I read it, Eliakim will also fall. MSB says that as holder of this key, Eliakim chose who would enter the Kings presence. Then MSB says that Jesus referred to himself in this way in Revelation 3:7, as the one who determines who will enter his earthly kingdom. And I don’t have an alternate explanation…but it does bother me to pull this out of the middle of that prophecy when I don’t think the last of that prophecy would apply at all. Here is what happens eventually to the legacy of Eliakim: 23 And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house. 24 And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25 In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken." [Isa 22:23-25 ESV]. Perhaps we should think of it in terms of those first titles, the holy one (who will not be allowed to see corruption) and the true one. These two don’t really apply to Eliakim, but they will to the Son. So we shall treat these words as coming from Jesus.
2024 - Jesus brought an offer of the kingdom to Israel when he came. It was all "hanging" on him. And they killed him. They broke the peg, and it all came crashing down. Their hope was in him, but they did not recognize how critical he was to their future. So in this, Jesus is like Eliakim. Does this make Eliakim a "type" of Christ? Well it doesn't go that far really. The word is not used.
2024 - Is it significant that this reference is used regarding the church at Philadelphia? As the "good Jews" in Eliakim's day did indeed look to him, this church in Philadelphia looks to Christ?
3. The one who conquers “I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. So we seem to be back now to the time after the GWT judgment, when there will be a new heaven and new earth, there will be a new Temple, and there will be no more changes.
2022 - An open door before them. They have "little power" but remain faithful. The Jews in the "Synagogue of Satan" will be made to bow before them. These Jews likely make up the rich elite of the city. They have all the power, and demean the Christians at least if not outright persecute them.
2022 - This verse:
"Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth." [Rev 3:10 ESV]
This verse seems to be talking about end times. I think this is saying that the church will be saved out of wrath. Wrath begins immediately after the rapture of the church. It is the rapture that keeps the church from this horrendous time that the Jews – saved Jews – will have to endure.
It is the Jews who will be tried through t/gt. The whole world will experience those trials. This promises that the people in Philadelphia will not be there. So it seems reasonable to argue here that Philadelphia is representative. The promises to the churches are not ONLY about the times they were living in, but about the kind of believers in the end times that they represent. This is not about the "church age", or the "Gentile Age", but about the last 7 years.
2025 - I would think this was about 70 AD and the testing leading up to that, especially given my interpretation of that first question in Matt 24. But it cannot be that if John is writing Revelation AFTER those events have already taken place. If that is so, then the testing must refer to what the returning Jews will go through during tgt, and the rapture will save the church from "the hour of trial". This matches up very well.
Laodicea, Rev 3:14-22.
2. The words of “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation". Amen is outside both vision and letter – but I would say it references the Son. I found this is BLB about the word: “The word "amen" is a most remarkable word. It was transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament, then into Latin and into English and many other languages, so that it is practically a universal word. It has been called the best known word in human speech. The word is directly related — in fact, almost identical — to the Hebrew word for "believe" (aman), or faithful. Thus, it came to mean "sure" or "truly", an expression of absolute trust and confidence. — HMM”. If a person is labeled “THE Amen”, then all these superlatives would apply. This MUST be about the Son. "Faithful witness" is from vs 5, outside the vision but clearly about the Son, beginning of creation is outside vision and letter, but is also about the Son. So these words from the Son.
2024 - There should probably be some discussion of that phrase "the beginning of God's creation". Jesus did the creating - that is, the Son created. Jesus began that creation, he was not the first created. This is a very big deal to have straight.
3. The one who conquers “I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” This seems likely to reference a “sharing” of authority, or an authoritative position. We have already seen that some will rule and reign with him during the Millennial. Perhaps this is about that.
2022 - Again, information about the vision is added. Or about the one in the vision, really. Additional attributes. We see also that he is the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. Each of these titles is worth some research, and some expanded explanation. Especially that last, in that it implies that God created Jesus, but we know that is not the case. Perhaps the phrase is best understood in the sense that Jesus did the creative work of God.
The lukewarm church. These are the sleepers, the drowsy, the "show up late and leave early" ones. They were apparently wealthy for the most part, and felt no need and consequently no gratitude for the things they did have. (2022 - The self-sufficient church. They have all in hand. Nothing to see here, move along.) The message to them is to reset their "value system" and look to the things of God for riches instead of resting on worldly wealth. It is at the door of this church that Jesus stands and knocks. He was "not needed" there, they had all they could use. I think. MSB agrees that this whole church was filled with non-believers. Not one saved among them. Yet it was known as a Christian church. Jesus wants to be a part of the church that bears his name. This is not about an individual heart, but about a church.
2024 - The "threat" here is that they will be spit out of his mouth. Like lukewarm/nearly cold coffee. I don't think a lot more needs to be read into that.
2022 - And the message for end times believers is...believe, and then seek what will last, rather than the earthly things that will be in such short and desperate supply at that time. Those who take the mark will have what they need, and kind of "remove" themselves from the struggle for mortal survival during that time. They can tell themselves they have what they need so they are doing ok. But they are not ok. Get your values right.
2022 - I wonder if the seven churches correspond to all the other sevens in Revelation. The first four seals are judgments on the earth, the last three judgments on mankind (or something along those lines) and this pattern shows up again in the trumpets. Were the first four churches having worldly problems, and the last four spiritual problems? Something along those lines could be in here.