SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
2/21/2015 11:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Commendation
PT-3
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
3:8-11a
Message of the
verses: “8 ’I know your deeds.
Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you
have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9
’Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are
Jews and are not, but lie-I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and
make them know that I have loved you. 10 ’Because you have kept the word of My
perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is
about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 ’I
am coming quickly;”
In today’s SD we will be looking at verse ten and
hopefully verse 11a as we continue to look at the commendation that Christ
gives to the faithful church. I suppose
since my very early reading and studying of the book of Revelation that had a
good idea that Revelation 3:10 had to do with the Rapture of the Church, but
now I have some more info on this that supports what I knew before and that
info comes from the following words in verse eleven: “who dwell on the earth.” I have mentioned that in earlier SD’s on the
book of Revelation that a good way to study it is to have a concordance and
this will prove useful today as we look at different words that go along with
what I have quoted above.
The following is a list of verses that come from the book
of Revelation that talk about the phrase “who dwell on the earth.”
Re 3:10 ’Because you have kept the word of My
perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is
about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Re 6:10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying,
"How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and
avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
Re 8:13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in
midheaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on
the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels
who are about to sound!"
Re 11:10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice
over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these
two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
Re 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him,
everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in
the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
Rev. 13:12 He exercises all
the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and
those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
Re 13:14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth
because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the
beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who
*had the wound of the sword and has come to life.
Rev. 14:6 And I saw another
angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live
on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;
Re 17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed
acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the
wine of her immorality."
Re 17:8 "The beast that you saw was, and is not,
and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who
dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from
the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was
and is not and will come.
Now in his commentary and
on his sermon on this subject John MacArthur says that the believers in Philadelphia
were going to miss the Tribulation period because they had passed all of the
tests and did not need to take the final examine. Now let me explain something here and that is
I realize that none of the believers in that church are alive today but this
verse has to do with all believers, all those who are as John has been putting
it are “overcomers.” There is so much
evidence in the Word of God that shows us that the church will not go through
the Tribulation Period that I do not have the time to go over it, but will
recommend a book entitled “The Rapture Question” written by John F. Walvood,
and he even has updated it. The
Tribulation Period is the 70th week found in Daniel chapter nine and
that week of years (seven years) has to do with the nation of Israel and also
with the wrath of God that comes upon the whole earth. Look at this verse “Then I saw another sign
in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are
the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished (Rev. 15:1).” Notice that God’s wrath will be done once the
last bowel judgment has come upon the earth indicating that the last 3 ½ years
of the Tribulation Period are a time when God will judge those who are unbelievers
who dwell on the earth.
Let me quote what John MacArthur has to say about the
words “keep from.” “There has been much
debate over the meaning of the phrase tereo
ek (keep from). Those who argue that
the church will go through the Tribulation hold that this phrase means
preservation in the midst of them, so that the church will thus emerge
successfully at the end from the hour of testing. That view is unlikely, however, both on
linguistic and biblical grounds. The
basic meaning of the of the preposition ek
is ‘from,’ ‘out from,’ or ‘away from.’
Had the Lord intended to convey that the church would be preserved in
the midst of the Tribulation, the prepositions en (‘In’) or dia
(through) would have been more appropriate.
En is used three times with
the verb tereo in the New Testament
(Acts 12:5; 1 Pet. 1:4; Jude 21) and esi
once (Acts 25:4), always implying previous existence within with a view to
continuing in. Tereo with ek implies
just the opposite: continuous existence
outside.
“The only other time the phrase tereo ek appears in Scripture is in John 17:15. In His High-Priestly prayer, Jesus prayed, ‘I
do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil
one.’ He certainly did not pray that
believers be preserved within Satan’s power, for believers have been
‘rescued…from the domain of darkness’ and’ transferred…to the kingdom of His
beloved Son’ (Col. 1:13). Christians are
those who have turned ‘from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to
God’ (Acts 26:18). First John 5:19 says
that it is the unregenerate world that lies in Satan’s power, not believers.
2/21/2015 12:42 PM 2/21/2015 6:09 PM
“The meaning of tereo
ek in John 17:15, to be kept completely out of, argues strongly for a
similar meaning in Revelation 3:10. The
apostle John wrote both passages, and both are direct quotes of the Lord Jesus
Christ. To interpret tereo ek as a promise of preservation in
the midst of the Tribulation poses another difficulty: the Philadelphia church was never in the Tribulation,
which is still in the future.
“Another obvious objection
to interpreting tereo ek as a promise
of preservation in the midst of the Tribulation is that believers in that
terrible time will not be preserved. In
fact, many will be martyred (6:9-11; 7:9-14), leading to the conclusion that
promising preservation is meaningless if the believers face the same fate as
sinners during the Tribulation.
“Some hold that the promise of deliverance is only from
God’s wrath during the Tribulation. But a promise that God will not kill
believers but will allow Satan and Antichrist to do so would provide small
comfort to the suffering church at Philadelphia.”
Now to seal this deal we have to look at the first part
of verse eleven “’I am coming quickly.”
This is different than what Christ says to the other churches for those
churches had condemnation given to them by the Lord. Because of that the judgment given to them
was for their time period because of their sinfulness, but not so with the
church at Philadelphia, there is no sin to judge in their church. Now by saying this we are not saying that
they are sinless, but Christ is the One who was judging them and He makes no
reference to their sin. MacArthur writes
“The coming spoken of here, however, is to bring the hour of testing that
culminates our Lord’s second coming. It
is Christ’s coming to deliver the church (cf. 2 Thess. 2:1), not to bring
judgment to it. Quickly depicts the
imminency of Christ’s coming for His church; it could happen at any time. Every believer’s response should be, ‘Amen. Come,
Lord Jesus (22:20).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am happy that
as a believer in Jesus Christ that I don’t know the day or the hour of His
coming. One may wonder why I would say that. I am human and if I knew the time of His coming
for the church I would not have so great a desire to follow the Lord and tell
others about the salvation He provides for them. Paul had a great deal of problem with the
Thessalonians who decided not to work because they though the Lord was coming
very soon. This is the kind of problem I
am speaking of.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
To love the Lord with all of my heart,
soul, mind, and strength, and to better understand the love He has for me on a
daily basis.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The thief on the cross” (Luke
23:43).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘Give me now wisdom
and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/21/2015 6:30 PM
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