18 And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity
of the eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the
keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead).
·
Jesus totally
controls death and Hades, and this Truth should be constantly remembered while
reading this Prophecy of the end times. The Truth that sets us free is that Jesus is always in
control. He is in control of everything and His perfect love drives all fear
from us! What brings us so much peace with this is that we will only die when
our Lord calls us home and not one second before. Our lives on this earth are
never stolen from us.
·
There is no
fear in love [dread does not exist],
but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels
every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and
[so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet
grown into love's complete perfection]. 1
John 4:18
·
Satan doesn’t
control anything, especially death, Hades, or Hell.
·
Simon, Simon
(Peter), listen! Satan has asked excessively that [all of] you be given up to him [out of the
power and keeping of God], that he might sift [all of] you
like grain, Luke 22:31
·
Notice that satan
had to ask to attack the Disciples, he just couldn’t do what he wanted.
19 Write therefore the things you see, what they are [and
signify] and what is to take place hereafter.
·
Remember here from verse 1 that we are told that Jesus is going to show
us everything about the end times in their entirety.
20 As to the hidden meaning (the mystery) of the seven
stars which you saw on My right hand and the seven lampstands of gold: the
seven stars are the seven angels (messengers) of the seven assemblies
(churches) and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
·
We are shown what
the meanings are of these fourteen items, seven Churches and seven messengers.
Now a lot of people believe that these seven churches represent seven different
church ages, or a history of the Church. That may be the case, but the problem
that I have with that thinking is that Jesus is always the same, He never
changes. One thing is clear though, Jesus does tell John to write to the seven
churches that are in Asia. As I read what John writes to these churches one
thing pops out of the writings, the faults and experiences of all the churches
in Asia are shared by churches today. I can look around and see that many
churches have all of the traits and some have others. Here is the way that I see it, whether these
seven churches represent seven specific churches, or seven church ages, or seven
styles of churches, doesn’t seem to really matter to us as readers. What
matters is what Jesus is saying to these churches. Heaven and earth will pass
away, but Our Father’s Word will remain, and I am sure that the strengths and
weaknesses of these churches still apply to churches today!
·
[There is] one
body and one Spirit--just as there is also one hope [that belongs] to the
calling you received-- Ephesians 4:4
·
Also remember that Jesus is with us all, regardless of how we are
behaving. So Jesus is in and with all of these churches.
·
As we study in
the upcoming Chapters what Jesus tells six of the churches to do, I want you to
notice how He places all of the burden on them to change themselves. I will
point out specifics as we study each of the seven churches. But keep in mind
that only with the one church, the church of Philadelphia, does Jesus say that
He will keep them. So we are shown that Jesus will only keep one church. As for
the other six, He never proclaims that God will prune them, as we read that He
will do in John 15. We are never shown that God will strengthen the six
churches as we read that He will do in Ezekiel 36, or that He will Shepherd
them as we read that He will do in Hebrews 13, or that our Father
will keep them from the evil as we read that He will do in John 17. Jesus never
tells these six churches that He is actively involved in their changing, which
is the only way that they could ever succeed. Jesus told them to act, He never
used these scriptural references, or the many others that we can find in the
Bible, to tell the six that He would lead them to victory. Our peace is that
Jesus’ true church, His Bride, never fails. Jesus always has a remnant of
chosen ones, or in other words, the Church of Philadelphia. There is only one
body, one church, one hope, one love, and we are of one mind, and Jesus is
keeping us!
·
The real lesson
for me here has always been this, whether seven specific churches, seven church
ages, or seven styles of church, they all fail without Jesus being the force
within them that causes success! Jesus only tells one church that He is the
power within them that will keep them. With the six other churches, Jesus tells
them, you change this or you change that. But the Beginning and the End knows
that they cannot change on their own, because He Alone has to be the power
within us that allows change, John 15:5! This is why I personally believe that
these are seven church styles, because there is only one true church. The true
church is the one that is actually one with Jesus, the one that is being kept and
used to proclaim the Truth by Him. There may be believers spread out in the six
other churches, but even though the Holy Spirit has them serving in them, true
believers are still only one! If these were ages, that would mean that Jesus
only told one church age that He would keep them. And that just can’t be
true!
·
And this
is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I should not lose any of all that He
has given Me, but that I should give new life and raise [all them] up at the
last day. John 6:39
No comments:
Post a Comment