SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/11/2015
8:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The
Unfolding of the Vision PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Revelation 1:12-13a
Message of the
verses: As we begin to unfold this
vision we will be following the outline that is in the commentary that John
MacArthur has written on Revelation and before we jump into what this vision
means I want to quote his introductory comments on this vision found in
Revelation 1:12-16, 20. He writes “Having
described the circumstances in which he received it, John then related the
vision itself. The revealing and richly
instructive look at the present work of the glorified Son of God discloses
seven aspects of the Lord Jesus Christ’s constant ministry to His church: He empowers, intercedes for, purifies, speaks
authoritatively to, controls, protects, and reflects His glory through His
church.”
Christ Empowers His Church (Revelation 1:12-13a; 20b): “Then I turned to see the voice that was
speaking with me. And having turned I
saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like
a son of man…the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
I have mentioned that right after I was born-again in January
of 1974 that I was extremely interested in prophecy, mostly how the world would
end and so only days after I was saved I read through the book of Revelation,
and as you can imagine I did not understand a lot about what I was reading, but
one thing happened that has become a wonderful habit to me and that is I still
read God’s Word each day, and I love reading from the book of Revelation. I have probably read or listened to the book
of Revelation more than any other book in the Bible and when you do that you
kind of get meanings of certain passages that you are reading, you fix meanings
to them and that is the case of some of these verses that we are looking at
today. For instance I thought that the
golden lampstands were like the one that were used in the tabernacle or the
temple, but John MacArthur says that these were the kind of lamps that were
used to light up a room, but these were made of gold, the most precious metal
on earth. We know that the church is
suppose to be the light of the world and we only use lamps or in our case
lights to light up a room when it is dark which symbolizes that the world is a
very dark place and that the church is to light it up so that they can
see. Paul writes in Philippians 2:15 “so
that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God
above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you
appear as lights in the world.” The
lampstands were the first thing that John saw when he turned around facing the
voice that he had heard.
MacArthur writes “The church is to God the most beautiful
and valuable entity on earth—so valuable that Jesus was willing to purchase it
with His own blood (Acts 20:28). Seven
is the number of completeness (cf. Ex. 25:31-40; Zech. 4:2); thus, the seven
churches symbolize the churches in general.
These were actual churches in real places, but are symbolic of the kinds
of churches that exist through all of church history.” Perhaps this is a good time to talk about
something that I have learned many years ago about these seven churches and
that is that there are some who believe that these churches are prophetically
in order of the dominant church throughout church history. For instance those who believe this believe
that the dominant church in the time we are now living in is the church at Laodicea,
but they are careful to say that there are all of the types of the churches we
see here in parts of the world today, but the dominant one today would be the
last one, Laodicea. I am not sure if I
go along with this or not, but just though that this would be a good time to
mention it.
Next we look at the section that reads “In the middle of
the lampstands” John “saw one like a son of man.” First we will look at Daniel 7:13 “"I
kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One
like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was
presented before Him.” This title is
used some 90 times in the book of Ezekiel, and also here in Daniel and Jesus
used this to speak of Himself on many occasions too so we know that this is a
Messianic title. We see the Lord Jesus
in His glorified state moving among the churches and this is something that He
promised He would do. Matthew 28:20
tells us “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Let us look at Matthew 18:20 “"For where
two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their
midst."” This statement comes at the end of a section where we see how
church discipline is to be used and so this tells us that Christ is with His
church in the difficult times when there is sin in the church. Next we look at John 14:18 and 23 “"I
will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” “"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My
word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode
with him.” Next Hebrews 13:5b says “"I
will never leave you nor forsake you."”
Let us end with another quote from John MacArthur “Christians
do not worship a well-meaning martyr, a dead heroic religious leader. The living Christ indwells His church to lead
and to empower it. Believers personally
and collectively have the inestimable privilege of drawing on that power
through continual communion with Him.
Paul wrote of the Lord’s Supper, ‘Is not the cup of blessing which we bless
a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not
the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?’ (1 Cor. 10:16). The presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in His
church empowers it, enabling believers to say triumphantly with the apostle
Paul, ‘I can do all things through Him who strengthens me’ (Phil. 4:13).” This is truly a new and wonderful way for me
to look at these verses in the book of Revelation.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I want to
remember and live like the Lord Jesus Christ is walking among His church, and
He is there to empower it, and continue to pray that He will empower it as He
has promised us.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the Lord with all of my heart, mind,
and strength, and to believe and live like He loves me.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Peter 1:5-8.
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.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Judah” (2 Kings 16:1).
Today’s Bible
question: “What Old Testament married
his father’s sister?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/11/2015 9:35 AM
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