SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/17/2015
8:00 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Correspondent (Jesus Christ)
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
3:7c
Message of the
verse: “He who is holy, who is true,
who has the key to David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no
one opens, says this:”
As we have looked at the first five letters that are
found in the book of Revelation we have followed a pattern as to how we go
through them in order to better understand what is written. In each of the letters we have known that the
human author is John, but John is only the one who is writing down what the
glorified Lord Jesus Christ is telling him to write, and in each of the
previous letters the description of Jesus Christ was given from the vision that
John saw in the first chapter of Revelation, but not the case here, as the description
of our Lord does not come from that first chapter. We will look at this description in our SD
today and I think that all of us will be blessed by it. John MacArthur states that this description of
Jesus Christ has distinctly Old Testament features.
The first part of this description tells us of the
holiness of our Lord. I realize that
there are some people who do not realize that Jesus Christ is the second person
of the godhead, but He is and the trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit goes
all the way back to the book of Genesis where we learn of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit all involved in the creation of the earth and all of the stars and
of course the things that are on the earth including the plants, animals, and
human beings. We read in Ge 1:26 “Then
God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and
let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over
the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on
the earth."” We see that the
trinity is seen in this verse. Now as we
go back to Revelation we see that our Lord is described as being holy and only
God possesses absolute holiness and this is seen repeatedly in the pages of the
Old Testament, in fact “the Holy One” is a messianic title of our Lord. First we will look at a short list of OT
Scriptures that speak of God’s holiness:
“2 Kings 19:22; Job 6:10; Pss. 71:22; 78:41; Isa. 43:15; 54:5; Hab.
3:3).” (List acquired from MacArthur’s
Commentary on Rev.) As we go back to a favorite
part of the OT, Isaiah chapter six and verse three we read “And one called out
to another and said, "Holy,
Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His
glory."” Now let us compare this
with Revelation 4:8 “The four living creatures, each having six wings, were
full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:
"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!"
(NKJV).” What does it mean to say that
God is holy? “God is utterly separate
from sin; therefore His character is absolutely unblemished and flawless.”
Now we will look at some verses that speak of the Messiah
as being the “Holy One.” The first one
is given by a demon in Mark 1:24: “saying,
"What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You
come to destroy us? I know who You are-the Holy One of God!"” The demons knew who Jesus was, but unfortunately
many people did not then and still do not know who He is. The angel, while announcing His birth says “The
angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and
the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy
Child shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).” Peter affirms this as seen in John 6:69 “"We
have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God."” Peter will later on rebuke the unbelieving
Jew who crucified our Lord by saying in Acts 3:14 “"But you disowned the
Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,” and that
murderer was Barabbas.
Now we will look at the next section of Rev. 3:7c, “He
who is true.” MacArthur writes “Alethinos (true) denotes that which is
genuine, authentic, and real. In the midst
of the falsehood, perversion, and error that fills the world, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the truth (John 14:6).” When
Jesus Christ came before Pilate He told him the following “John 18:37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You
are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and
for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of
the truth hears My voice."” “John 18:38 Pilate *said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he
went out again to the Jews and *said to them, "I find no guilt in
Him.” Here we see that Jesus tells
Pilate that Jesus came to testify of the truth and then Pilate asked “what is
truth,” but did not stick around to have Jesus tell him the answer.” Also interestingly we see that Jesus says “. Everyone who is of the truth
hears My voice."” My
question to those who read this is have you heard the truth so you can
understand who Jesus really is? You will
not hear an audible voice, but your heart will be opened by the Holy Spirit to
understand what the truth is and how you can obtain that Truth, the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Next we see our Lord described as the One “who has the
key of David.” When we look at
Revelation 5:5 “and one of the elders *said to me, "Stop weeping; behold,
the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as
to open the book and its seven seals,"” and also Revelation 22:16 “"I,
Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am
the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star,"” we can
see that David symbolizes the messianic office. Now what does a “key” represent in the
Scriptures? It represents authority;
whoever holds a key has control “(cf. 1:18; 9:1; 20:1; Matt. 16:19).” MacArthur writes “The term ‘the key of David’
also appears in Isaiah 22:22, where it refers to Eliakim, the steward or prime
minister to Israel’s king. Because of
his office, he controlled access to the monarch. As the holder of the key of David, Jesus
alone has the sovereign authority to determine who enters His messianic kingdom
(cf. John 10:7, 9; 14:6; Acts 4:12).
Revelation 1:18 reveals that Jesus has the keys to death and hell; here
He is depicted as having the keys to salvation and blessing.”.
Lastly we look at “He who opens and no one will shut, and
who shuts and no one opens.” This speaks
of our Lord’s attribute of being omnipotent, all powerful, as MacArthur writes “what
He does cannot be overturned by someone more powerful.” Because there is no one more powerful than
Jesus, no one is able to undo anything He does.
If anyone was more powerful than Him, He would not be God. Now, of course all the Persons of the godhead
possess this attribute. MacArthur writes
“No one can shut the doors to the kingdom or to blessing if He holds them open,
and no one can force them open if He holds them shut. In light of the promise in verse 8, Christ
could also be referring to opening and shutting doors for service. In either case, the emphasis is on His
sovereign control over His church.
“That Jesus Christ, the holy, true, sovereign, omnipotent
Lord of the church, found nothing to condemn in the Philadelphia church must
have been a joyous encouragement to them.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: That last
statement is a very important statement to understand, and one that I truly
would like to have said about me whenever the Lord comes for His church, or
takes me to be with Him.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To better understand and to love the Lord
with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to better understand the
love He has for me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Rachel” (Genesis 29:18).
Today’s Bible
question: “What OT books are not
referred to in the NT.”
Answer in our next SD.
2/17/2015 9:01 AM
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