Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Jesus is the Aurtor of the letter to Thyatira (Rev. 2:18c)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/3/2015 2:23 PM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  Jesus is the author of this letter.

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Revelation 2:18c

            Message of the verse:  “The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this (Rev. 2:18c).”

            I mentioned in our last SD on Revelation that the title “Son of God” is only used in this verse in the entire book of Revelation.  Now I am studying the book of Ezekiel also and the phrase “Son of man” is used many, many times in that book, and Jesus referred to Himself many times many times in the Gospels as the “Son of Man.”  My point is that we now see Jesus Christ as the glorified Son of God in the pages of the book of Revelation a state that He was not in when He was on earth. 

            “Son of God” does emphasize the deity of Jesus Christ, something that many people have a very hard time believing, but nonetheless it is made clear in the pages of Scripture that He is indeed God along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Now don’t asked me to explain this for no one can truly explain the trinity but the truth of its existence is made clear in the Word of God.  John says the following in John 5:18 “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”  Jesus told Philip in John 14:9 “Jesus *said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ’Show us the Father’?”  

            John MacArthur writes “The title Son of Man views Christ in His ability to sympathize with the needs, trials, and temptations of His Church.  In this passage, however, Jesus is identified as “Son of God, the emphasis is not on His humility, but on His deity, because His approach to the church at Thyatira is not as sympathetic High Priest, but as divine judge.  Not comfort, but judgment is in store for the church at Thyatira when Christ’s divine power moves against this adulterous assembly.”

When we look at Jesus as divine judge we see Him as having eyes like a flame of fire, and feet like burnished bronze.  Now we have already discussed this when we looked at the first chapter of Revelation, when John saw the vision of the Glorified Christ and then fell as a dead man after seeing Him, so in that vision we see Jesus in the ways that He will deal with the church, and this is the same way that He deals with it now and will until the last person in the church age comes to know Him as Savior and Lord and then He will come and claim His bride and take us to heaven. 

Jesus sees all things is the meaning of His eyes like a flame of fire, and this is also seen in the 19th chapter of Revelation when He returns to earth at the end of the tribulation period to end the battle of Armageddon.  MacArthur writes “The description of His feet as being like burnished bronze is reminiscent of Revelation 19:15, where it says of Christ that ‘He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.’  That Christ’s feet glowed brilliantly like burnished bronze depicts His purity and holiness as He tramples out impurity.”

Perhaps when reading their letter from the risen Glorified Christ the people of Thyatira were in shock, and hopefully many of them repented.  Peter writes the following in 1 Peter 4:17 “It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to keep a short list with the Lord so that I will not have to come under the things that are described in this letter to the church at Thyatira.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to better understand and appreciate the love that Christ has for me.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-10.

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.  10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Matthew.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Why did Jeroboam make calves of gold?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/3/2015 3:19 PM

 

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