Revelation 3

Day 53: To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.’

The Spirit gives life but the church at Sardis was dead. Oh, yes, it looked quite good. The modern equivalent praises would sound like this: just look at that church! It’s wonderful how they are organized. Just look at all the activities they plan.

Day 54: Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.

Solomon says that a good reputation is better than fine perfume. You would do better to relinquish financial gain than your good reputation. Switzerland would do better to overturn the secrecy of their banking system to reveal the gold stolen during the Second World War by the Nazis from Jews

Day 55: So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

The return of Christ is a glorious event. It is the hope of the Church, to which it is looking forward with great longing, like the bride and the bridegroom long for the day of their wedding. The word ‘hope’ often has the following meaning in the New Testament: longing for Jesus’ Coming in Glory.

Day 56: Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.

You can know everything about righteousness through faith alone. You can turn against the Roman Catholic teaching of salvation by good works. You live by the five-point star, the five ‘solas’ of the Reformation: only by faith, only by grace, only by Jesus Christ, only by the Word of God and only to the Glory of God.

Day 57: 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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The right confession of faith is the confession that Christ will give about a person to His Father and His angels. That right confession have the overcomers. They are the ones who were ‘…strengthening the things that remain, which were about to die…’ Revelation 3:2.

Day 58: And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:..

Philadelphia is a small town in an area where earthquakes occur regularly, and which was therefore rebuilt many times. It was renowned for its viticulture, as a result of which the Greek god Bacchus (Dionysius) was worshipped there.

Day 59: 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.

The key of David opens the door to the Messianic Kingdom. The Jewish rabbis said that they were therefore able to open or close the access to the Kingdom, that they were able to ‘bind’ or to ‘loose’, i.e. make doctrinal statements as to what is permitted and what not, and to apply or annul a ban.

Day 60: 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.

This synagogue is called a synagogue of Satan, just as in the letter to Smyrna. Just as the Lord Jesus sometimes says very strongly: ‘the devil is your father.’ He uses strong language in His discussion with the religious leaders!

Day 61: 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 upon the earth.

The Greek word for testing is peirasmos, which is also used in the ‘Lord’s Prayer’: ‘Lead us not into temptation.’ The same word is used when the Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert.

Day 62: I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

The more difficult things become, the more we should continue to expect His Coming. Yes, let us look forward to His Coming in Glory with burning hearts full of expectation! He is coming soon!

Day 63: He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the Temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from My God, and My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’1

What is the Temple of God? Literally, it was the Temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem of course. That Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in 587 BC.

Day 64: To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: …

Just as Philadelphia is supposed to reflect the period of the mighty missionary and evangelical church movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, according to the historical view of the Church, beginning with the revivals in America and England

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