SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
2/10/2015 11:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Correspondent, the church
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
3:1c, 1a
Message of the
verses: As we work our way through
the seven churches that are found in the 2nd and 3rd
chapters of Revelation remember that they were real churches that Christ was
writing to and there are churches like them throughout the entire church
history, including in today’s world. I
mentioned when we were studying the first church that there are some who
believe that the churches in Revelation were put into order due to prophecy,
that is that there were certain times when each church had a dominant time
period in the world. I also mentioned
that I have not truly made up my mind about this, but one thing I do know and
that is that there are these types of churches throughout the entire church
history. Perhaps when we study the
church of Laodicea we may be convinced that that is the dominant church type in
the world today. Anyhow the dead church
of Sardis time period according to what I found in Hal Lindsey’s “There’s A New
World Coming” is from 1517-1750.
We realize that the glorified Jesus Christ is the writer
to all of these churches as He dictates each letter to John who would then give
it to the leader of each church in order for that leader to read that letter to
the church he represents. Remember that
Christ is the One who holds those leaders of those churches in His hand which
are identified as the seven stars that are in His right hand. We also need to be reminded that the way that
John saw the glorified Christ in his vision are used to identify Him as He
begins each letter. In today’s study
Jesus Christ is identified as “He who has the seven Spirits of God and the
seven stars.” Remember that the person
who wrote a letter during those times identified himself at the beginning of
the letter which is what Christ does in each letter.
We seem to be a lot of reviewing in this SD, but that is
ok because remembering what we have studied is important to reinforce it as we
move along in our study of this wonderful and last book of the Bible. Besides that one of the best ways to study
the book of Revelation is by the use of a concordance for much of what we study
is found in other parts of the book as is the case today when we look back to
chapter one in order to see the verses that identify the glorified Jesus Christ
in John’s vision. “John to the seven
churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was
and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, (Rev.
1:4).” In this verse we see about the seven Spirits of God and we did go over
that when we looked at this before but will briefly look at this again. What we see here is that the seven Spirits of
God are the completeness of the Holy Spirit as seven is the number of
completeness. Two passages in the OT
speak of this and John MacArthur writes “The phrase may refer to Isaiah 11:2,
where the Holy Spirit is described as ‘the Spirit of the Lord…,the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of
knowledge and the fear of the Lord.’ It
may also refer to the symbolic depiction of the Holy Spirit as a lampstand with
seven lamps (a menorah), presented in Zechariah 4:1-10. In either case, the reference is to the
Spirit’s fullness. Jesus Christ is
represented in His church through the Holy Spirit.”
Now we will briefly look again at the “seven stars.” We have already mentioned that these
represent the seven messengers or leaders of the seven churches as seen in Rev.
1:20. MacArthur writes “The imagery
shows Jesus Christ, the sovereign Lord of the church, mediating His rule
through such godly leaders and pastors.”
It is a bit of a mystery as to why Christ identifies
Himself this way to a church that is said to be dead. In Rev. 2:18, to the church at Thyatira He
does identify Himself in a way that shows judgment, but not here. MacArthur writes “He depicted Himself as the
One who sovereignly works in His church through the Holy Spirit and godly
leaders. This introduction served as a
reminder to the Sardis church of what they lacked. Devoid of the Spirit, the church at Sardis
was dead, populated by the unredeemed.”
“The church in Sardis (Rev. 3:1a).” We again have to look at Acts 19:10 to get
the best idea as to how this church began.
Paul spent three years in Ephesus and the effect that He had on that
church cause them to spread the Word of God throughout all of Asia: “This took place for two years, so that all
who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” Even though this state’s two years Paul was
in Ephesus for three years.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I look at this
section that speaks about the seven stars and how the Lord uses the Pastors of
churches to bring about what it is He wants accomplished I am thankful that
this is done this way. Since the last
apostle died and actually even before John’s death this is the pattern that
Christ has used to speak what He wants said to His churches and this is also
done through the completed Word of God and through the ministry of the Holy
Spirit. God will give a call to those He
wants to be His pastors and then work through them to accomplish His will in
each local church.
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.
Memory verse for the
week: 2 Peter 1:10.
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: “John the Baptist” (Luke
3:2).”
Today’s Bible
question: “What Old Testament prophet
was put in the lions’ den?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/10/2015 12:28 PM
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