SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/22/2015
10:28 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Continued
study of Smyrna
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
2:8
Message of the
verses: “The first and the last, who
was dead, and has come to life, says this: (Rev.2:8c).”
First I want all of us try to imagine a little bit about
what has happened since the Lord Jesus Christ has gone back to heaven as seen
in the first chapter of Acts. The church
began on the day of Pentecost as seen in the 2nd chapter of Acts and
it was made up only of Jews at first.
Then we come to the 10th chapter of Acts when Peter gives the
gospel to the Gentiles after seeing a vision.
Now keep in mind that this was something very hard for them to do because
of how the Jews felt about Gentiles for there was great hatred between Jews and
Gentiles at that time and I guess we can say that not much has changed along
these lines. The apostle Paul came to
know the Lord in Acts chapter nine and then in Acts chapter 13 we see the beginning
of Paul’s ministry as he goes on his first missionary journey, taking the
gospel to first of all Jews, and then after they refused he would go to the
Gentiles. We believe that Paul was
killed for the cause of Christ under Nero around 65 AD in Rome. Peter was also killed around this time and so
fairly soon after this all of the apostles had been killed for the cause of
Christ with the exception of John. Think
about what the church was going through as many though by this time that the
Lord would have returned to take all the believers to heaven in the
Rapture. People were being killed for
their faith as the persecution under Domitian was mainly the cause of all the
killings, and so I am sure that they were wondering what was going on. John is on the island of Patmos probably breaking
up rocks as a prisoner of Rome, and we wonder what his thoughts were about what
was going on in his world. Revelation
one tells us that he was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day, he was worshiping the
Lord when all of a sudden he is involved in the most remarkable vision known to
man and is given a job to write down what he saw, what he was seeing and what
he will see as the Lord takes him on a journey to the end of the world. I am sure that he had mixed feelings about
what He saw, but perhaps joy would characterize his overall feeling, for John
knew that first of all Christ was in control of His church, and churches, and
also Christ was in control of the future even after He would “un-create” this
old world as Peter wrote about in the third chapter of his second letter. When I was a small boy our family was taught
by my mother that at the end of the world it would be burned up, and although
this frightened me at that time it was what the Lord would use to bring me to
Himself as He saved me 41 years ago on the 26th of this month. Now as we again begin to look at the people
of Smyrna who were being killed for their faith in Christ they read a letter that
comes from their Lord as identifies Himself as “the first and the last, who was
dead, and has come to life.” This, I am
sure would bring much comfort to their hearts.
This identification of the writer was at the beginning of
the letter which was what people did at that time; it does make more sense to
do it that way, so much for progress.
The author of this letter is the glorified Christ as seen by how He
identifies Himself. First and Last is
seen in the Old Testament: “"Thus
says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ’I am
the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me (Isa. 44:6).” “"Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel
whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last (Isa. 48:12).” "Who has performed and accomplished it,
Calling forth the generations from the beginning? ’I, the LORD, am the first,
and with the last. I am He’ Isa. 41:4).”
The totally amazing thing about this statement is that
Jesus Christ, the Second person of the godhead became a man, yet totally
remained God, so that He could come to earth and die for the sins of all who
would accept His free gift as being their Savior and Lord. He died on the cross for our sins, and yet
three days later He arose from the dead and will never die again. John MacArthur writes: “He is a profound mystery: How can the ever-living One who transcends
tie, space, and history die? Peter
reveals the answer in 1 Peter 3:18:
Christ was ‘put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.’ He died in His incarnate humanness as the
perfect sacrifice for sin, but now has come to life (by His resurrection) and
lives forever ‘according to the power of an indestructible life’ (Heb. 7:16;
cf. Rom 6:9)” As we said the believers in Smyrna would receive comfort in
knowing this truth as so many others have received comfort from reading these
word through the church age. The people
of Smyrna were being tortured and killed for the cause of Christ, but when
Christ died He received the most unjust and severe persecution anyone ever
suffered. “3 For consider Him who has
endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary
and lose heart. 4 You have not yet
resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; (Heb.
12:3-4).” Because of this our Lord can
be a compassionate and understanding source of power to those suffering for the
cause of Christ: “17 Therefore, He had
to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for
the sins of the people. 18 For since He
Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the
aid of those who are tempted (Heb. 2:17-18).”
“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses,
but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin (Heb.
4:15).” Now for a moment let us think
about two things, first of all it was impossible for Christ to sin, and yet we
read that He was tempted in all things, similar to what we as believers are
tempted. Now some may say “well it was
impossible for Him to sin” and this is true, but think about how many times you
have been tempted, and how difficult it is to be tempted, and then think about
having this going on in your life and never fall to the temptation. Temptation is not a sin, but temptation is a
difficult thing to go through. Christ
was tempted to the point where He sweat blood, and yet did not sin, that is
something we will never do for we would give into the temptation before that
happened, but Christ did not.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Temptation is
something that I never want to give into, but I, like all believers, have three
enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, and there are time when I give
into temptation even though I try to learn how not to do that from books I read
and from the reading of Scripture. The psalmist
wrote “Thy Word I have written in my heart so that I might not sin against You.” He is saying that the Word of God is
powerful, so powerful that the writer to the Hebrews writes “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 (Heb. 4:12).” John writes what will happen when we do sin “1Jo
2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not
sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous.” Warren Wiersbe quotes an
old Scottish preacher who said “The successful Christian life is a series of
new beginnings.” This is something like
John wrote.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Learn to love the Lord with all of my heart,
soul, mind and strength, and then realize better that Jesus loves me, and by
doing this I will have a better way of saying no to temptation.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Peter 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 the qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification
form his former sins.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Sin” (Romans 3:9).
Today’s Bible
question: “What miracle did Jesus do
during Passover week at Jerusalem?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/22/2015 11:35 AM
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