The Leaders Here; The Leaders There
(Clicking on the links between the letters to the seven churches of Asia)
Ephesus
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks… Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Ephesus’ resume of nine: worked, labored, endured, eschewed evil, challenged wolves in sheep’s clothing, has borne, has been patient, labored in Christ’s name, did not faint, but after this strong resume of nine work experiences, there was still found a major-big something: thou hast left thy first love.
Remove= to shake. (compare: Revelation 6:14 ‘and every mountain and island were moved out of their places…’ earthquakes do shake things down.)
Shake is an interesting word to use here to describe what He will do because it fits with shakings that will happen later in the book: shakings that will jostle all the church systems of the entire world, and shakings that will involve the heavens also.
Notice that even though they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans, this one, present job description isn’t enough to cancel the warning of the removal of Ephesus’ candlestick if they persist. The abandonment of love (the great commandment) is at the foundation of every church experience.
So this idea of a possible removal of a candlestick becomes relevant in our day as we watch leaders abandon the first love. Instead of defending the Church of God by detecting and disproving those who say they are apostles, leaders of churches around the world are assenting to one who says he is not only delineated from the apostles, but that he is greater than Peter, their first pope. And if the leaders of religious organizations have put away their first love, then they also are putting away the ‘Love of the Brethren’, for the first love is certainly connected to it. And when that core principle of Christianity—which is connected to God and the church-covenant relationship—is abandoned, this will result in inadequate nourishment of the sheep and the lambs. Thus, the churches power is scattered.
First love among the leadership (as with Eve and Adam’s abandonment of same) is a very devastating detail; and when Adam and Eve lost it, it meant the immediate loss of home, covering, and kingdom. This is probably why the Book of Revelation, in chapters 2 and 3, starts the entire visitation with the head church of Ephesus by pointing out the paramount flaw in their impressive, and lengthy resume. (See supporting items in addendum). Attaching and becoming addicted to Love is the first great factor in a relationship with God for it changes the inner man, the memory and the body. This factor of loving God with all the heart, mind and soul qualifies and guarantees that one will feed the sheep and lambs.
Smyrna
And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive.
Jesus, with these words, pronounces comfort to this class of members, and expresses their richness to Him, and has adjudicated them rich in faithfulness. They already honor Him, but He asks them to honor Him further in their richness, even unto the death, of which He is thoroughly acquainted—even the second death.
Past Resume: tribulation, poverty and deeds of righteousness.
Future Resume: they will suffer: the devil will cast them into prison and try them. They will have tribulation for 10 days.
Try= to try, make trial of, test in order to ascertain quality of, or to tempt to sin
Tribulation= oppression, affliction, distress
10 days= Thayer’s: to last a short time
Suffer= undergo evils (plural); to be afflicted
Pergamos
And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges.
Past Resume: you have done righteous deeds, at your current address where Satan’s seat is, and where Antipas was martyred.
Current Resume: a few things: you allow Balaam’s people to teach Balaam’s doctrines of sacrificing to idols, eating that which is offered, and of committing fornication. You are also allowing the doctrine of the Nicolaitans to be taught.
He warns the leaders of Pergamos that He will come not for conviction of those who ‘priest for profit’, but will come to fight in judgment, and will remove them by sword from the assembly; His sword will cut them off from His good people. The sin to repent of is that pattern of sin that holds or allows those priests to practice bad nourishing habits under the leaders’ purview.
Thyatira
And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass.
Past resume: works of righteousness, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and the last to be more than the first.
Current resume: a few things against; thou sufferest that woman Jezebel (question: is she the leaders’ wife, or the wife of the entire church at Thyatira?), which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Not just a Balaam is allowed among the flock, but a sanctioned, married partner is given free reign like as Ahab’s wife. We have a church (woman Jezebel) within a church, as it may be.
Service= specifically refers to Spirit-empowered service guided by faith
Charity= Love, what God prefers
Suffereth= do not send away, discharge, permit (permit: grant liberty, leave; allow to be)
That woman= wife
Death= death of any kind.
Bed= to cast into a bed, i. e. to afflict with disease
Jezebel= a church, a high priestess
He has already waited for Thyatira’s wife to repent. She does not repent and so He will kill her children with death, and throw her into a bed of some kind of affliction. He still apparently has many servants in this family, and by killing her children with ‘death of any kind,’ He will let all the other churches know that He is God: this is that great purpose of the Book of Revelation, wherein the God of heaven shows up in the final movements and proves who is the genuine owner of this cosmos. And this final show will be a rapid, and a wrathful one.
Jezebel is a bad church. Christ’s church here is allowed by the leaders to cohabitate with this bad church. Instead of marrying a levite woman, the leaders have married a daughter of a Phoenician.
The Book of Revelation deals with the church of God during a time in which it goes forth into the final display of God’s dealing with sin. In each of the nine connected chapters of this book there is a recapitulation of the church’s last movement: the pinnacle, loud cry of the gospel. At the center of all this are three important pieces of real estate: the atonement, the capstone and the Sanctuary. At this time the church is received unto Himself as righteous still. He will display them before the world as permanently repatriated citizens of the Most High God. After this is shown a clear display of those things judged unholy still, those things transferred, and those things that are cut off and burned.
Sardis
And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars.
Past resume: “You used to be alive; had convictions that you nurtured and doctrines that you cared for; but you have only half-lived them, they were not completely believed. You therefore took the name of God in vain, i.e., took His name and did not do anything with it; it did not grow in you; you did not make Me famous in the only life you had control of choices in.” —Dumas fils
Current resume: “You are almost dead; you live the name of God in shadows, even as a sepulchre where inside you have long been odious and dead. Some parts of your original conversion remain. Some believers and leaders of Sardis still take the name of God not in vain and have done something with it: they have un-torn garments and they have worth to me because they have not hidden my talents in the earth, but have invested it in services made for mankind.” —Dumas fils
The leaders of Sardis are hypocrites, but a few names of men (presumably leaders) He can count on to refrain from ‘taking a knee for Baal.’ But the 90% -ish, He will watch to see if they repent; the choice is up to them. This pattern of weakness of belief often exists and foments, as in the cases of Lucifer and Judas, even from the beginning of the Christian life. Hypocrisy always enjoins a slow decline to death.
Philadelphia
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth.
Past resume: your works of righteousness have always been there. You are consistent in good work habits from the beginning of your hire, and you have gone on to develop good character in your inner man. Therefore I am setting open a door of opportunity for you. It is a door that will lead in time to translation.
Current resume: your church experience, even though you must walk through the valley of the shadow of death during the most evil time in earth’s history, you will become a miraculous remnant made from all the tribes of Israel. Above all the other churches, you keep my word and their meanings; you do not deny my name. You keep-keeping the word of my patience; I will therefore keep thee. You are precious above all groups that dwell on the earth. I am coming to receive you unto myself, hold fast your resume, for it pertains unto your crown.
Set= I have set before thee a door opened, i. e. have caused the door to be open to thee
Keep= “I will keep you…hour”: to keep one in that state in which he is
Kept= “and yet you have kept my word…”: I keep, I guard, observe, watch over.
Word= (highest sense) the doctrine concerning the attainment through Christ of salvation in the kingdom of God
Deny= to disown
Name= name, character, fame, reputation.
Patience= a patient, steadfast waiting for
Quickly= properly, swift (quick), without unnecessary delay; used of God's promptness characterizing how He has ordered all physical scenes of life to happen on His perfect timetable without unnecessary "delay"
Hold Fast= not to discard or let go; to keep carefully and faithfully
These leaders, and so too the sheep and lambs, keep-keeping His words and His meanings. It is this one point that is repeatedly exclaimed by Christ as the reason for the door being opened. Though John, during his evangelistic life, associated mostly with Ephesus, his life-long resume was that of this resume of Philadelphian condition. He persistently developed a love of the truth, and now a door of great understanding was opened in heaven to him. From a study of this ‘Sabbath School Lesson’ we see that the rest of the scenes written in the Book of Revelation are hinged particularly on the details of the inspection, correction, laude and visitation of the Philadelphia church. Here under Philadelphia is viewed the character-ripened maturity of the remnant church. This is, as it were, ‘the eighth church which is of the seven.’ And it goeth into God.
As a reward of consequence God will keep this church experience holy during the last hour of temptation. The plagues shall not come into them, nor will they by choice fall out of the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Laodiceans
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
Past resume: your works of righteousness have not been cold or hot; you have boasted that you are increased with goods, and have need of nothing: your opinion, estimate—your glory of self—is that you boast that you are rich and increased with goods.
Current resume: by ‘the angel of the sanctuary’: in my opinion, my estimate, my glory you all fall short and are deceived about your own wellness; you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. I see that you are in need of eye-salve for your blindness, of psychological counseling for your mental condition; in need of gold and white raiment that you may solve your poverty and your shame—as deep as the mind deceitful above all things, you are desperately in need of conversion.
Glory= (here used) Estimate, opinion, Thayer’s
Cold= of one destitute of warm Christian faith and the desire for holiness
Hot= fervor of mind and zeal
Lukewarm= of the condition of a soul wretchedly fluctuating between a torpor and a fervor of love (halt ye between two opinions…Elijah)
Blind= mentally, spiritually blind
Wretched= properly, wretched (beaten-down) from continued strain, leaving a person literally full of callouses–describing a person with severe side-effects from great, ongoing strain
Miserable= pitiable, wretched; in great need of mercy (desperate).
Poor= ptōxós (from ptōssō, "to crouch or cower like a beggar") (figuratively) deeply destitute, completely lacking resources (earthly wealth) the extreme opposite of the rich
Naked= unclad, without clothing
Nothing= no one; oudeís ("no one, nothing at all") is a powerful negating conjunction. It rules out by definition, i.e. "shuts the door" objectively and leaves no exceptions.
Raiment= a cloak; the outer garment, often made of wool with openings for the head and arms, and worn loosely
Counsel= to give (or take) advice jointly, i.e. Recommend, deliberate or determine -- consult, (give, take) counsel (together). “Come now let us reason together.” Isa. 1:18
Rich= properly: fully resourced; rich (filled), by having God's "muchness" – i.e. His abundance that comes from receiving His material and spiritual riches through faith
Goods = (is word-connected with wealth, resources, influence, etc, see above: rich=)
Buy= "acquire by purchasing"– i.e. where something becomes another's belonging
Increase= The Laodiceans had success in banking, trade, and commerce – but their spiritual lives paid low spiritual dividends (yields)!
Mouth= Properly, the mouth [Proverbs 10:11, ‘The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.’; so too, think of food that stays lukewarm for months days and I our case a century and half, must increase in salmonella, and worse. Christ’s mouth is a place of life.]
Laodicea’s works are neither cold nor hot because her religious fervor is neither cold nor hot. She is diseased, insane (mentally deranged), feeble and impoverish: without proper support, blinded (deceived), and shamefully naked. The leaders of Laodicea are distasteful and an embarrassment to him. He will spew them all out of His mouth; for His mouth is pure and with it He must give the final gospel before all the universe.
Conclusions: Those Things to Click On
In this passage concerning the conditions of the churches in Asia (and the churches today), there are only two out of the seven whom He shows His favor: those who die and those who cry. The other five are mixtures of a mire of theological messes. In the end of time some of those in the five conditions must/will see whom the God-who-Is-God has loved, and will repent and move to their side before the end of the atonement.
Visible Things to Highlight in Blue
When the Laodiceans are spewed out; when those who say they are Jews are given completely over to the synagogue of Satan; when the hypocrites are deceased; when He kills Jezebel’s children; when He slaughters with the sword those who teach error and pastor righteousness for money; when He has removed whole churches from His General Assembly, then He will lead His martyrs and those who keep the word of His patience as ‘one riding on a white horse’ going out conquering and to conquer…And so shall the ends of the world come.
Case studies of this five-fold condition of Laodicea:
(you may research them as you find time)
Samson….
Job….
Lucifer….
Adam and Eve….
Christ….
National Israel at the time of Christ, and at the time of Babylon….
Ahab….
Case study of the opposite of the five-fold conditions of Laodicea:
True spiritual Israel of today…those who stand in the day of the 144,000….
* * *
Addendum: Items of Support
Exodus 30:7
“…when he dresseth the lamps he shall burn incense…’
Rev 2 and 3 is where Christ is dressing, addressing and counseling the churches. He is preparing to purge His floor and remove from the altar the sins that have accumulated there; this final atonement is the core purpose of the Book of Revelation. Revelation, Chapter 8, as an example, is a scene from that final atonement. Here Christ holds the golden censer: the one that resides in the Most Holy Place, and cast down fire from that altar, which become notable events on the earth.
In the letters to the churches of Asia, seven conditions are written to the churches of Asia as a collective. John’s experience on Patmos, for example, can be clearly seen as that of the Philadelphian church: for more than 40 years he had kept Christ’s word and now a door was opened in heaven to him, and John wrote about those special adventures and tasks which he saw.
There were seven literal churches named here, and seven spiritual conditions of seven real churches addressed here. The messages were specifically directed to the Angel of each church (The leader, Pastor, Head of thousands.)
The messages were also directed to everyone in that church who had an ear. It is also demanded that those ear-persons listen to everything that the spirit is saying to all the churches. The words that are here in this passage show that each person reading this book was to have a listening and a personal experience with the spirit of God. The overall message is a comprehensive one, and applies not just to the leaders of these seven churches but to all the other many, many churches not expressly mentioned. They were written for our learning.
In general, all of the five negative messages exist in all time periods; they are conditions of the soul of man at varying times and in varying combinations throughout history. And it is possible that one person may have only one of the five conditions existing in their life, another only two of these, and then, for some, all of the five.
The other two messages concern those who belong to the martyrium and those who have doors opened to them because they have a love of the truth.
The number seven denotes completeness, or a comprehensive affect: these messages encompass all individual Christians, not just the seven churches in Asian. If serious heart searching is done, all of the seven conditions can be found close at view in every church group today.
John was told to physically send these message to the whole church. They needed to hear what Jesus was saying about their present conditions and what Jesus, because of His death, had a right to do to them if they didn’t repent. We should not treat as insignificant the order in which these letters are placed in the Book of Revelation, either, for they, like the command to love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart and soul are great statutes (requirements, debts owed). This first vision of Revelation is a large important one on which all the other section-visions hang in the chapters that follow.
Like as in ancient times, the people of Israel stood around the final atonement, repenting and searching of soul; those refusing to do so were cut off. On this once-a-year business of the Most Holy Place hung their lives. So too today, this talk around the candlesticks is a viable Sabbath School lesson during the final atonement that takes place just before the end. He is saying: listen, repent, remember, keep, redeem those things ready to die, stop allowing false teachers, divorce Jezebel, look up while they martyr you, be faithful, do exploits, go through the doors that He opens, Buy! Buy! Buy Gold! But don’t sell it, for any price—afflict your souls, for an end of the Sin Year has finally come.
This urgency is one of a raging ‘bomb-fire in the habitat of humanity’ with imminent and worldwide flashovers which will at any time combust and burn at temperatures of thousands of degrees.
Jezebel’s Children
2 Kings 10:26-33
The burning of the sacred pillars of Baal occurred during the coup and subsequent reforms of Jehu, who overthrew the House of Ahab and destroyed Baal worship in Israel. It was a violent, bloody era in both the northern and southern kingdoms' histories. After Jehu personally slew Joram, Ahab's son and heir (II Kings 9:24), he sent pursuers to kill the King of Judah, Ahaziah, who had married a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (verse 27), and later, ordered Jezebel to be thrown from an upper-story window and trampled her body under his chariot (verses 30-33).
He incited the inhabitants of Samaria to kill the seventy sons of Ahab living in the city (II Kings 10:1-7). "So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his close acquaintances and his priests, until he left him none remaining" (verse 11). For good measure, he killed all the sons of King Ahaziah (verses 12-14), "and when he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to Elijah" (verse 17).
Once he was firmly established as king, Jehu went after the worshippers of Baal, using deception to lure them into the temple of Baal, where he had them all killed (verses 18-25). Evidently, the entire temple had been packed with Baalists ("the temple of Baal was full from one end to the other"; verse 21), and eighty of his most loyal guards and captains slaughtered them without mercy. Thus, Jehu brutally purged Baal-worship in Israel. —Thayer’s Commentary
* * *
(Clicking on the links between the letters to the seven churches of Asia)
Ephesus
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks… Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Ephesus’ resume of nine: worked, labored, endured, eschewed evil, challenged wolves in sheep’s clothing, has borne, has been patient, labored in Christ’s name, did not faint, but after this strong resume of nine work experiences, there was still found a major-big something: thou hast left thy first love.
Remove= to shake. (compare: Revelation 6:14 ‘and every mountain and island were moved out of their places…’ earthquakes do shake things down.)
Shake is an interesting word to use here to describe what He will do because it fits with shakings that will happen later in the book: shakings that will jostle all the church systems of the entire world, and shakings that will involve the heavens also.
Notice that even though they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans, this one, present job description isn’t enough to cancel the warning of the removal of Ephesus’ candlestick if they persist. The abandonment of love (the great commandment) is at the foundation of every church experience.
So this idea of a possible removal of a candlestick becomes relevant in our day as we watch leaders abandon the first love. Instead of defending the Church of God by detecting and disproving those who say they are apostles, leaders of churches around the world are assenting to one who says he is not only delineated from the apostles, but that he is greater than Peter, their first pope. And if the leaders of religious organizations have put away their first love, then they also are putting away the ‘Love of the Brethren’, for the first love is certainly connected to it. And when that core principle of Christianity—which is connected to God and the church-covenant relationship—is abandoned, this will result in inadequate nourishment of the sheep and the lambs. Thus, the churches power is scattered.
First love among the leadership (as with Eve and Adam’s abandonment of same) is a very devastating detail; and when Adam and Eve lost it, it meant the immediate loss of home, covering, and kingdom. This is probably why the Book of Revelation, in chapters 2 and 3, starts the entire visitation with the head church of Ephesus by pointing out the paramount flaw in their impressive, and lengthy resume. (See supporting items in addendum). Attaching and becoming addicted to Love is the first great factor in a relationship with God for it changes the inner man, the memory and the body. This factor of loving God with all the heart, mind and soul qualifies and guarantees that one will feed the sheep and lambs.
Smyrna
And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive.
Jesus, with these words, pronounces comfort to this class of members, and expresses their richness to Him, and has adjudicated them rich in faithfulness. They already honor Him, but He asks them to honor Him further in their richness, even unto the death, of which He is thoroughly acquainted—even the second death.
Past Resume: tribulation, poverty and deeds of righteousness.
Future Resume: they will suffer: the devil will cast them into prison and try them. They will have tribulation for 10 days.
Try= to try, make trial of, test in order to ascertain quality of, or to tempt to sin
Tribulation= oppression, affliction, distress
10 days= Thayer’s: to last a short time
Suffer= undergo evils (plural); to be afflicted
Pergamos
And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges.
Past Resume: you have done righteous deeds, at your current address where Satan’s seat is, and where Antipas was martyred.
Current Resume: a few things: you allow Balaam’s people to teach Balaam’s doctrines of sacrificing to idols, eating that which is offered, and of committing fornication. You are also allowing the doctrine of the Nicolaitans to be taught.
He warns the leaders of Pergamos that He will come not for conviction of those who ‘priest for profit’, but will come to fight in judgment, and will remove them by sword from the assembly; His sword will cut them off from His good people. The sin to repent of is that pattern of sin that holds or allows those priests to practice bad nourishing habits under the leaders’ purview.
Thyatira
And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass.
Past resume: works of righteousness, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and the last to be more than the first.
Current resume: a few things against; thou sufferest that woman Jezebel (question: is she the leaders’ wife, or the wife of the entire church at Thyatira?), which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Not just a Balaam is allowed among the flock, but a sanctioned, married partner is given free reign like as Ahab’s wife. We have a church (woman Jezebel) within a church, as it may be.
Service= specifically refers to Spirit-empowered service guided by faith
Charity= Love, what God prefers
Suffereth= do not send away, discharge, permit (permit: grant liberty, leave; allow to be)
That woman= wife
Death= death of any kind.
Bed= to cast into a bed, i. e. to afflict with disease
Jezebel= a church, a high priestess
He has already waited for Thyatira’s wife to repent. She does not repent and so He will kill her children with death, and throw her into a bed of some kind of affliction. He still apparently has many servants in this family, and by killing her children with ‘death of any kind,’ He will let all the other churches know that He is God: this is that great purpose of the Book of Revelation, wherein the God of heaven shows up in the final movements and proves who is the genuine owner of this cosmos. And this final show will be a rapid, and a wrathful one.
Jezebel is a bad church. Christ’s church here is allowed by the leaders to cohabitate with this bad church. Instead of marrying a levite woman, the leaders have married a daughter of a Phoenician.
The Book of Revelation deals with the church of God during a time in which it goes forth into the final display of God’s dealing with sin. In each of the nine connected chapters of this book there is a recapitulation of the church’s last movement: the pinnacle, loud cry of the gospel. At the center of all this are three important pieces of real estate: the atonement, the capstone and the Sanctuary. At this time the church is received unto Himself as righteous still. He will display them before the world as permanently repatriated citizens of the Most High God. After this is shown a clear display of those things judged unholy still, those things transferred, and those things that are cut off and burned.
Sardis
And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars.
Past resume: “You used to be alive; had convictions that you nurtured and doctrines that you cared for; but you have only half-lived them, they were not completely believed. You therefore took the name of God in vain, i.e., took His name and did not do anything with it; it did not grow in you; you did not make Me famous in the only life you had control of choices in.” —Dumas fils
Current resume: “You are almost dead; you live the name of God in shadows, even as a sepulchre where inside you have long been odious and dead. Some parts of your original conversion remain. Some believers and leaders of Sardis still take the name of God not in vain and have done something with it: they have un-torn garments and they have worth to me because they have not hidden my talents in the earth, but have invested it in services made for mankind.” —Dumas fils
The leaders of Sardis are hypocrites, but a few names of men (presumably leaders) He can count on to refrain from ‘taking a knee for Baal.’ But the 90% -ish, He will watch to see if they repent; the choice is up to them. This pattern of weakness of belief often exists and foments, as in the cases of Lucifer and Judas, even from the beginning of the Christian life. Hypocrisy always enjoins a slow decline to death.
Philadelphia
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth.
Past resume: your works of righteousness have always been there. You are consistent in good work habits from the beginning of your hire, and you have gone on to develop good character in your inner man. Therefore I am setting open a door of opportunity for you. It is a door that will lead in time to translation.
Current resume: your church experience, even though you must walk through the valley of the shadow of death during the most evil time in earth’s history, you will become a miraculous remnant made from all the tribes of Israel. Above all the other churches, you keep my word and their meanings; you do not deny my name. You keep-keeping the word of my patience; I will therefore keep thee. You are precious above all groups that dwell on the earth. I am coming to receive you unto myself, hold fast your resume, for it pertains unto your crown.
Set= I have set before thee a door opened, i. e. have caused the door to be open to thee
Keep= “I will keep you…hour”: to keep one in that state in which he is
Kept= “and yet you have kept my word…”: I keep, I guard, observe, watch over.
Word= (highest sense) the doctrine concerning the attainment through Christ of salvation in the kingdom of God
Deny= to disown
Name= name, character, fame, reputation.
Patience= a patient, steadfast waiting for
Quickly= properly, swift (quick), without unnecessary delay; used of God's promptness characterizing how He has ordered all physical scenes of life to happen on His perfect timetable without unnecessary "delay"
Hold Fast= not to discard or let go; to keep carefully and faithfully
These leaders, and so too the sheep and lambs, keep-keeping His words and His meanings. It is this one point that is repeatedly exclaimed by Christ as the reason for the door being opened. Though John, during his evangelistic life, associated mostly with Ephesus, his life-long resume was that of this resume of Philadelphian condition. He persistently developed a love of the truth, and now a door of great understanding was opened in heaven to him. From a study of this ‘Sabbath School Lesson’ we see that the rest of the scenes written in the Book of Revelation are hinged particularly on the details of the inspection, correction, laude and visitation of the Philadelphia church. Here under Philadelphia is viewed the character-ripened maturity of the remnant church. This is, as it were, ‘the eighth church which is of the seven.’ And it goeth into God.
As a reward of consequence God will keep this church experience holy during the last hour of temptation. The plagues shall not come into them, nor will they by choice fall out of the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Laodiceans
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
Past resume: your works of righteousness have not been cold or hot; you have boasted that you are increased with goods, and have need of nothing: your opinion, estimate—your glory of self—is that you boast that you are rich and increased with goods.
Current resume: by ‘the angel of the sanctuary’: in my opinion, my estimate, my glory you all fall short and are deceived about your own wellness; you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. I see that you are in need of eye-salve for your blindness, of psychological counseling for your mental condition; in need of gold and white raiment that you may solve your poverty and your shame—as deep as the mind deceitful above all things, you are desperately in need of conversion.
Glory= (here used) Estimate, opinion, Thayer’s
Cold= of one destitute of warm Christian faith and the desire for holiness
Hot= fervor of mind and zeal
Lukewarm= of the condition of a soul wretchedly fluctuating between a torpor and a fervor of love (halt ye between two opinions…Elijah)
Blind= mentally, spiritually blind
Wretched= properly, wretched (beaten-down) from continued strain, leaving a person literally full of callouses–describing a person with severe side-effects from great, ongoing strain
Miserable= pitiable, wretched; in great need of mercy (desperate).
Poor= ptōxós (from ptōssō, "to crouch or cower like a beggar") (figuratively) deeply destitute, completely lacking resources (earthly wealth) the extreme opposite of the rich
Naked= unclad, without clothing
Nothing= no one; oudeís ("no one, nothing at all") is a powerful negating conjunction. It rules out by definition, i.e. "shuts the door" objectively and leaves no exceptions.
Raiment= a cloak; the outer garment, often made of wool with openings for the head and arms, and worn loosely
Counsel= to give (or take) advice jointly, i.e. Recommend, deliberate or determine -- consult, (give, take) counsel (together). “Come now let us reason together.” Isa. 1:18
Rich= properly: fully resourced; rich (filled), by having God's "muchness" – i.e. His abundance that comes from receiving His material and spiritual riches through faith
Goods = (is word-connected with wealth, resources, influence, etc, see above: rich=)
Buy= "acquire by purchasing"– i.e. where something becomes another's belonging
Increase= The Laodiceans had success in banking, trade, and commerce – but their spiritual lives paid low spiritual dividends (yields)!
Mouth= Properly, the mouth [Proverbs 10:11, ‘The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.’; so too, think of food that stays lukewarm for months days and I our case a century and half, must increase in salmonella, and worse. Christ’s mouth is a place of life.]
Laodicea’s works are neither cold nor hot because her religious fervor is neither cold nor hot. She is diseased, insane (mentally deranged), feeble and impoverish: without proper support, blinded (deceived), and shamefully naked. The leaders of Laodicea are distasteful and an embarrassment to him. He will spew them all out of His mouth; for His mouth is pure and with it He must give the final gospel before all the universe.
Conclusions: Those Things to Click On
In this passage concerning the conditions of the churches in Asia (and the churches today), there are only two out of the seven whom He shows His favor: those who die and those who cry. The other five are mixtures of a mire of theological messes. In the end of time some of those in the five conditions must/will see whom the God-who-Is-God has loved, and will repent and move to their side before the end of the atonement.
Visible Things to Highlight in Blue
When the Laodiceans are spewed out; when those who say they are Jews are given completely over to the synagogue of Satan; when the hypocrites are deceased; when He kills Jezebel’s children; when He slaughters with the sword those who teach error and pastor righteousness for money; when He has removed whole churches from His General Assembly, then He will lead His martyrs and those who keep the word of His patience as ‘one riding on a white horse’ going out conquering and to conquer…And so shall the ends of the world come.
Case studies of this five-fold condition of Laodicea:
(you may research them as you find time)
Samson….
Job….
Lucifer….
Adam and Eve….
Christ….
National Israel at the time of Christ, and at the time of Babylon….
Ahab….
Case study of the opposite of the five-fold conditions of Laodicea:
True spiritual Israel of today…those who stand in the day of the 144,000….
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Addendum: Items of Support
Exodus 30:7
“…when he dresseth the lamps he shall burn incense…’
Rev 2 and 3 is where Christ is dressing, addressing and counseling the churches. He is preparing to purge His floor and remove from the altar the sins that have accumulated there; this final atonement is the core purpose of the Book of Revelation. Revelation, Chapter 8, as an example, is a scene from that final atonement. Here Christ holds the golden censer: the one that resides in the Most Holy Place, and cast down fire from that altar, which become notable events on the earth.
In the letters to the churches of Asia, seven conditions are written to the churches of Asia as a collective. John’s experience on Patmos, for example, can be clearly seen as that of the Philadelphian church: for more than 40 years he had kept Christ’s word and now a door was opened in heaven to him, and John wrote about those special adventures and tasks which he saw.
There were seven literal churches named here, and seven spiritual conditions of seven real churches addressed here. The messages were specifically directed to the Angel of each church (The leader, Pastor, Head of thousands.)
The messages were also directed to everyone in that church who had an ear. It is also demanded that those ear-persons listen to everything that the spirit is saying to all the churches. The words that are here in this passage show that each person reading this book was to have a listening and a personal experience with the spirit of God. The overall message is a comprehensive one, and applies not just to the leaders of these seven churches but to all the other many, many churches not expressly mentioned. They were written for our learning.
In general, all of the five negative messages exist in all time periods; they are conditions of the soul of man at varying times and in varying combinations throughout history. And it is possible that one person may have only one of the five conditions existing in their life, another only two of these, and then, for some, all of the five.
The other two messages concern those who belong to the martyrium and those who have doors opened to them because they have a love of the truth.
The number seven denotes completeness, or a comprehensive affect: these messages encompass all individual Christians, not just the seven churches in Asian. If serious heart searching is done, all of the seven conditions can be found close at view in every church group today.
John was told to physically send these message to the whole church. They needed to hear what Jesus was saying about their present conditions and what Jesus, because of His death, had a right to do to them if they didn’t repent. We should not treat as insignificant the order in which these letters are placed in the Book of Revelation, either, for they, like the command to love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart and soul are great statutes (requirements, debts owed). This first vision of Revelation is a large important one on which all the other section-visions hang in the chapters that follow.
Like as in ancient times, the people of Israel stood around the final atonement, repenting and searching of soul; those refusing to do so were cut off. On this once-a-year business of the Most Holy Place hung their lives. So too today, this talk around the candlesticks is a viable Sabbath School lesson during the final atonement that takes place just before the end. He is saying: listen, repent, remember, keep, redeem those things ready to die, stop allowing false teachers, divorce Jezebel, look up while they martyr you, be faithful, do exploits, go through the doors that He opens, Buy! Buy! Buy Gold! But don’t sell it, for any price—afflict your souls, for an end of the Sin Year has finally come.
This urgency is one of a raging ‘bomb-fire in the habitat of humanity’ with imminent and worldwide flashovers which will at any time combust and burn at temperatures of thousands of degrees.
Jezebel’s Children
2 Kings 10:26-33
The burning of the sacred pillars of Baal occurred during the coup and subsequent reforms of Jehu, who overthrew the House of Ahab and destroyed Baal worship in Israel. It was a violent, bloody era in both the northern and southern kingdoms' histories. After Jehu personally slew Joram, Ahab's son and heir (II Kings 9:24), he sent pursuers to kill the King of Judah, Ahaziah, who had married a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (verse 27), and later, ordered Jezebel to be thrown from an upper-story window and trampled her body under his chariot (verses 30-33).
He incited the inhabitants of Samaria to kill the seventy sons of Ahab living in the city (II Kings 10:1-7). "So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his close acquaintances and his priests, until he left him none remaining" (verse 11). For good measure, he killed all the sons of King Ahaziah (verses 12-14), "and when he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to Elijah" (verse 17).
Once he was firmly established as king, Jehu went after the worshippers of Baal, using deception to lure them into the temple of Baal, where he had them all killed (verses 18-25). Evidently, the entire temple had been packed with Baalists ("the temple of Baal was full from one end to the other"; verse 21), and eighty of his most loyal guards and captains slaughtered them without mercy. Thus, Jehu brutally purged Baal-worship in Israel. —Thayer’s Commentary
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