SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/28/2015
10:52 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Author of Letter
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
2:12c
Message of the
verses: “The One who has the sharp
two-edged sword says this:”
Perhaps a little review is in order here as we look at
who the author is and how He is described.
When people wrote letters during the time this letter was written they
identify themselves first so the reader know firsthand who is writing to them,
and this is probably a better idea than what we do in modern times. We also remember that it is the Lord Jesus
Christ who is now glorified that is the author of all of these letters to these
seven churches, churches that existed during this time period around 96
AD. We also remember that Jesus will
identify Himself using the description of what is seen in the vision of Him
that John saw in the first chapter of Revelation. He identifies Himself in a way that is
helpful to the church that He is writing to.
Remember too that Jesus is the One who walks among the lampstands and
sees everything that is going on in His churches, and knows what they need to
have a better relationship with Him.
Remember that the seven stars mentioned in chapter one are the messengers
who will take these letters to their churches.
It is not known who these messengers, but they probably were the leaders
of their churches and in reading John MacArthur’s commentary he believes that
all of them set off to make the journey to their churches and when they got to
Ephesus, the first church mentioned then the one who had letter would stay on
at Ephesus while the six others would continue moving on to the next church
where the messenger for the church at Smyrna would stat there with his letter
and five would go on and so on until all the letters were delivered.
In the partial verse that we have for today’s SD we see
the gloried Christ described as having the “sharp two-edged sword” and this
comes from chapter one and verse 16 “In His right hand He held seven stars, and
out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun
shining in its strength.” The question
is what is this sharp two-edged sword?
Let us look at Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active
and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of
soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart.” The Word of
God is the sharp two-edged sword as seen in this verse. Now in my study of the book of Ezekiel I am
looking at this time in chapter 21 and in that chapter the word “sword” is used
19 times and the sword that is being used there is God using the swords of the Babylonians
to destroy the city of Jerusalem and the temple along with many of the Jews who
were living there. Why was God wheeling
His Sword there? Because they had
disobeyed Him breaking His covenant He made with them. Now we see in our verse from Hebrews that the
Word of God is a sword and it is used in the case of the church at Pergamum to
show them that they are not following the things that they should have been
following, they were living in sin. Let
us look at what James has to say about the Word of God and how he describes it “19
This you know, my beloved brethren. But
everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the
righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that
remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to
save your souls. 22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely
hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not
a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once
he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind
of person he was (James 1:19-24).” James
is saying to his readers that the Word of God is likened to a mirror and when a
person reads the Word of God it will show him the imperfections that he has,
but the key is to remember what is says and not do as these people in Pergamum
were doing and that is forgetting what it says and go on living like they were
before they read the Word of God.
In Ephesians 6:17 we read about the sword of the Spirit
which is the Word of God, and although the sword described there is a small
knife like sword and the one that is described here is a large sword I still
believe that they both speak of the Word of God. When we look at the attribute of God being
all powerful we can believe what He says from His mouth is all powerful and
these words in Revelation are coming from the mouth of the glorified Lord Jesus
Christ.
Jesus Christ is
described this way in this church because, as mentioned in our last SD, this
church was a compromising church, a worldly church and this is what is needed
from Christ to cause them to not being worldly or compromising.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It is wonderful
living in our great country, but one of the problems living in our society is
that there are many things that lure you away from following the Lord and
becoming worldly.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul,
mind, and strength. To recognize how
much I am loved by the Lord.
Memory verses for the
week: 2Peter 1:5-9.
5 Now for this very reason
also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in
your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and
in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in
your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in
your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For
if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither
useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he
who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his
purification from his former sins.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Darkness” (Exodus 7:12).
Today’s Bible
question: “In the Christian Armor, what
is the breastplate?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/28/2015 11:30 AM
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