SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/15/2015
7:28 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Christ Gives Counsel to the church of Sardis
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
3:5-6
Message of the
verses: “5 ’He who overcomes will thus
be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will
confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 ’He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Let’s begin with what I wrote on this verse on March 14,
2005: “As mentioned before overcomers
are the true believers in Jesus Christ, those who are born-again. True believers are the ones who have been
purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ when He died on the cross, and
because He died for them, and because His Father choose them before the
foundation of the earth, and because the Holy Spirit of God called them, they
will never be lost, and once their names have been written in the Lambs Book of
Life it will never be removed. All of those
who have been written in this book will be clothed in white raiment one day.” Now I will try and add some more to what I
wrote then.
The reward of believers as seen here is that they will
wear white garments and we read in Revelation 19:7-9 where they will be
worn: “7 "Let us rejoice and be
glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His
bride has made herself ready." 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen,
bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
9 Then he *said to me, "Write, ’Blessed are those who are invited to the
marriage supper of the Lamb.’" And he *said to me, "These are true
words of God."” This is an event
that all believers throughout the church age should be looking forward to for
it is here that believers will receive their rewards from our Lord for the
things that we have done in the body while here on planet earth, thing done in
the body that were empowered by the Holy Spirit who lives in all true
believers.
White robes were worn in ancient days at weddings and
also when battles were won and we see that believers will wear them at the
Lambs supper and we can note also that we are victorious through Christ, so
both fit in.
Now we come to a part where perhaps some believer are a
bit confused about and that is the part where Jesus says that He will not erase
their names from the book of life. I did
go over this a bit when quoting from my earlier notes on verse five but will
add some more here. Jesus never says
that He will erase names from the book of life here, just the opposite is said,
so this will never happen to a true believer and a non-believer will never have
his name there in the first place. Jesus
goes on to say that He will confess his name before the Father and before His
angels. This surely is a wonderful
statement to realize that when you become a believer Jesus Christ will confess
your name before the God who created all that is seen, the God who not only
created all we see, but is in control of all we see too. What a wonderful privilege we have as believers
in Jesus Christ.
John MacArthur writes “In John’s day, rulers kept a
register of the citizens of a city. If
someone died, or committed a serious crime, their name was erased from that
register. Christ, the King of heaven,
promises never to erase a true Christian’s name from the roll of those whose
names were ‘written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the
Lamb who has been slain’ (13:8).
On the contrary, Christ will confess every believer’s
name before God the Father and before His angels. He will affirm that they belong to Him. Here Christ reaffirmed the promise He made
during His earth ministry: ‘Everyone who
confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven’
(Matt. 10:32). The comforting truth that
true Christians’ salvation is eternally secure is the unmistakable teaching of
Scripture. Nowhere is that truth more
strongly stated than in Romans 8:28-39: 28
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who
love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also
predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be
the firstborn among many brethren; 30
and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called,
He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If
God is for us, who is against us? 32 He
who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He
not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against
God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns?
Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right
hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love
of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE
ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE
SLAUGHTERED." 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through
Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Now I will not go into the last verse which is the same
as in all the letters, but to say that the word “overcomes” refers to all true
believers and we are to make sure that we listen closely to what the Holy
Spirit is saying to the churches.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am thankful for
the promises that I have seen in this section, promises that are so much better
than what we have here on earth, things that sometimes I think are important,
but are not.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To continue to learn more about loving the
Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to better understand
the love Christ has for me so that I can live a better life for the cause of
Christ.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The angel of the Lord” (Luke
2:10).”
Today’s Bible
question: “The Jew in Jerusalem accused
Paul of taking Gentiles into what place?
Answer in our next SD.
2/15/2015 8:03 PM
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