March 29, 2018

Ken Miller

The High Cost of Compromise.

March 29, 2018

Ken Miller

12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

13 “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. 15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’” – Revelation 2:12-17 ESV

To the church in Smyrna Jesus referred to Himself as “the first and last, who died and came to life.” Now, He addressed them as “him who has the sharp two-edged sword.” Not exactly a welcoming image. If you recall, this description was also included in what John wrote in the opening chapter after having been transported to the throne room of heaven. There he saw and heard “one like a son of man” (Revelation 1:13 ESV). And John wrote that “In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword” (Revelation 1:16 ESV). That imagery of the sword coming out of Jesus’ mouth is intended to represent divine judgment. We see this same imagery used in conjunction with Jesus near the end of the book of Revelation.

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. – Revelation 19:11-15 ESV

Jesus is not only the Prophet, Priest and King, He is the righteous Judge of all mankind. But what is important is that this sword proceeds from the mouth of the Savior. It is symbolic of the Word of God. That Word is powerful and able to convict and comfort, condemn and commend. The author of the book of Hebrews writes:

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. – Hebrews 4:12 NLT

Paul told Timothy that the Word of God was of great value.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. – 2 Timothy 3:16 NLT

And Jesus introduces Himself to the church in Pergamum as one has the sharp, two-edged sword. He wields God’s Word, offering life in the form of forgiveness for sin and freedom from the condemnation of death – to all those who will receive it. But to those who refuse its offer of salvation, the Word condemns and rejects, relegating all those who turn down God’s gracious gift of eternal life to the very real outcome of an eternity lived apart from God.

Jesus is going to warn some within the church in Pergamum that, unless they repent, He is going to deal with them in no-uncertain terms.

“I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.” – Revelation 2:16 ESV

Jesus is well aware of what the church there in Pergamum is up against. He refers to the city as the place where Satan’s throne is located and where Satan dwells. Not exactly a description the local tourist board would welcome. Pergamum was an idolatrous city with temples, altars and sacred groves dedicated to such gods as Athena, Asklepios, Dionysus, and Zeus. The temple of Asklepios was a magnificent structure featuring an idol to its god in the form of a serpent. This city was antithetical to all that the church of Jesus Christ stood for. And yet, Jesus commends them for staying faithful in the midst of all the pressure from the surrounding false religions. In fact, Jesus points out that one of their own, Antipas, whom Jesus refers to as his faithful witness, was martyred, and yet his brothers and sisters in Christ did not deny their faith. They held fast.

But Jesus was not happy with everyone in the church. He accused some within the fellowship of following the teaching of Balaam. This is a reference to an Old Testament character of the same name, who tried to destroy the people of God through the encouragement of compromise. Balaam was a prophet who was offered money by the king of Moab, if he would curse the people of Israel. But God would not allow Balaam to do what King Balak had asked. Instead, Balaam ended up blessing Israel. But he provided King Balak with a workaround, suggesting that if the women of Moab could tempt the men of Israel to sleep with them, they would end up worshiping their false god. And that’s exactly what happened.

1 While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. – Numbers 25:1-3 ESV

Jesus is accusing some within the church in Pergamum of counseling spiritual compromise. They were encouraging their fellow church members to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to participate inthe immoral religious activities associated with the false gods of Pergamum. Whether the Christians were intermarrying with pagans in not clear, but there was definitely moral and spiritual compromise taking place that had weakened the testimony of the church. On top of that, there were others in the church who held to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Unlike the Ephesians, who hated the teaching of the Nicolaitans, the Pergamum church was embracing their false doctrines. And Jesus warns that these people must repent or face the consequences of His divine wrath and judgment. Whether Jesus’ warning of vengeance involved literal death or their physical removal from the fellowship is not clear. It is possible that these individuals were never really believers in the first place and that Jesus is predicting their actual deaths as a result of their damaging influence on the body of Christ. The apostle Paul had some very strong words to say about those who mislead the flock of Jesus Christ with false teaching.

Let God's curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. – Galatians 1:8 NLT

The Greek word Paul used that is translated as “curse” is anathema, and it can literally mean “to put to death.” Interestingly enough, the people of Israel, under the leadership of Moses, eventually paid back Balaam for his part in the moral and spiritual compromise of the nation. Numbers 31:8 tells us that they killed Balaam with the sword.

As He did with the first two churches, Jesus calls out, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:17 ESV). He wants anyone and everyone, in every church in every age, to listen to what He has to say. This message is not just for the 1st-Century church in Pergamum. It contains a timeless warning about spiritual compromise and the danger of embracing the culture of the day in an attempt to fit in and avoid persecution. That danger is alive and well in our own day. Tolerance is the word of the day, demanding that we lay aside our God-given mandate to be salt and light in the midst of a decaying and sin-darkened world.

Jesus calls us to conquer, not compromise. He demands that we stand up for our faith, not back down to the pressures of the fallen culture around us. And He offers the one who conquers three things: Hidden manna, a white stone, and a new name. What is He talking about? What is the significance of these three rather obscure items? The hidden manna is divine spiritual nourishment that the world cannot see or experience. Jesus had long ago claimed, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again” (John 6:35 NLT). He offered Himself as the source of eternal life. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh” (John 6:51 NLT).

The white stone is a bit more difficult to understand. There has been a tremendous amount of speculation over the centuries as to what this white stone actually symbolizes. There are many options, but the one that seems to make the most sense involves what was called a tessoron.

A tesseron was, “. . . given to those who were invited to partake, within the precincts of the temple [at Pergamum], of the sacred feast, which naturally consisted only of meats offered to the idol. That stone bore the secret name of the deity represented by the idol and the name was known only to the recipient.” – Frederick A. Tatford, The Patmos Letters

In keeping with the idea of manna, this explanation seems to suggest access to something unavailable to the larger audience. It was unique and provided access to something special. In this case, the white stone allows the believer access into the marriage feast described later in the book of Revelation.

Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb… – Revelation 19:9 NLT

Whatever the stone means, it conveys the idea of favor and acceptance. And the new name to which Jesus refers would seem to indicate His own. It should remind us of Paul’s wonderful description of Jesus’ glorification after He had successfully completed all that God had commissioned Him to do on this earth.

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:8-11 NLT

It would seem that the “new” name received by Jesus was His well-deserved designation as Lord. And every believer, Jesus infers, will have that name written on the stone they receive, inviting them to feast with Him in His Kingdom, on the authority vested in Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. As Paul pointed out in his letter to the Romans, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 NLT). The only ones who will receive the stone with Jesus named as Lord are the ones who confessed Him as their Lord.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

March 26, 2018

Ken Miller

The Book of Revelation

I Am Alive Forevermore.

March 26, 2018

Ken Miller

The Book of Revelation

9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. – Revelation 1:9-20 ESV

After having completed the salutation portion of his letter, John reveals why he even bothered to write the letter in the first place. He was commanded to do so, and that command came from Jesus Christ himself. John has already made it known that his letter was addressed to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia, but we will soon see that his eventual audience would be far greater in size and scope. It is in these verses that John reveals the names of the cities in which the seven churches reside: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. But why these churches? Ephesus is somewhat familiar to us, because of its distinction as one of the churches to whom the apostle Paul wrote. But the rest of the churches mentioned by John were relatively small and unknown congregations located in less significant cities than those of Rome, Jerusalem, and Antioch, where much larger congregations existed at the time of the writing of this letter. John provides us with no reason for his choice of these particular cities, but we have to believe that their selection had been up to God. There was a divine purpose behind their choice and as we study chapters two and three of this letter, we will see that these seven churches provide a symbolic representation of the global church of all ages. All located within close proximity of one another in Asia Minor, these seven churches were not separated by geographical distance or sociological barriers. And yet, we will see that each of them is addressed by God for their various virtues and shortcomings. They will receive commendations and condemnations from God based on the degree of their faithfulness. As stated earlier, the number seven stands for perfection or completeness, so this list of churches is intended to represent all churches of times. They provide us with a comprehensive overview of the church’s health over the ages, from faithful and alive to lukewarm and even dead. The descriptions of the spiritual state of these churches will even mirror the conditions of churches within a given age. As we will see, there are attributes of each and every one of these churches that can be found in their modern counterparts today.

John reveals that he wrote this letter while on the island of Patmos, a small, inhospitable island in the Aegean Sea southwest of Ephesus. The early church fathers wrote confidently that John was exiled to Patmos by the Roman emperor, Domitian. This was as a result of his preaching of the gospel, which is why John describes himself as their “brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus” (Revelation 1:9 ESV). And John makes it clear that his presence on the island was “on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 1:9 ESV).

At some point during his exile, John received a message from God. It came in the form of a vision. John reports that he “was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10 ESV). This most likely means that John was somehow empowered by the Spirit of God, enabled to escape the physical confines of Patmos, and provided with an out-of-body tour of heaven and an up-close-and-personal view of future events on earth. John indicates that this happened on the Lord’s day. While it would be easy to assume that he is referring to Sunday, the day on which the early church traditionally met for worship, this is most likely a reference to the day of the Lord. The word “Lord’s” is used as an adjective and is meant to indicate a future day, the day of the Lord. John was transported by the Spirit to a day yet to come, a day designated by God as unlike any other day. In fact, as we will see, John will be given a glimpse into a day or time period that spans vast periods of time, but it all lies in the future. But before John is allowed to see what will be, he is introduced to “one like a son of man” (Revelation 1:13 ESV). From the description John gives of this individual, it can be deduced that he was seeing Jesus, the Son of God. He is “clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest” (Revelation 1:13 ESV). These are the garments of a priest and judge. They represent Christ’s deity. The designation “son of man” is found repeatedly in the gospels and is commonly used to emphasize Jesus’ humanity and status as the Messiah. John describes Jesus as having bright white hair, eyes like flames of fire, feet like burnished bronze and a voice like thunder. He is pure, righteous, holy and stands ready to judge the world for its many transgressions. This is a distinctively different image than that of helpless baby in a manger or a crucified Jesus hanging lifeless on a cross. And this image of Jesus sets the stage for what is to come in the rest of John’s letter. The shock of seeing his friend, Lord and Savior in such a state left John in a state of awe and reverence. He fell down at Jesus feet “as though dead.” But Jesus raised John to his feet and said to him:

“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.” – Revelation 1:17-19 ESV

Jesus comforts John by reminding him that He is the first and the last. In other words, He is eternal. He is alive. He died, but was raised back to life by God the Father and his resurrection gave him victory over death and Hades, which is a reference to life after death. Jesus wants John to know that he has nothing to fear. While John had not seen Jesus since the day He ascended back into heaven, he was now given an opportunity to view His Savior in a whole new light, as the sovereign, all-powerful King of kings and Lord of lords.

When John first laid his eyes on Jesus, he saw Him standing amidst seven golden lampstands and holding seven stars in His right hand. These items meant nothing to John until Jesus explained them.

“As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” – Revelation 1:20 ESV

And we will discover the significance of the lampstands and stars in the following two chapters.

Verse 19 contains a critical element that will prove essential in understanding the rest of the book of Revelation. Jesus told John, “Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.” Notice that He describes three different aspects to the content of what John is to write.

The things you have seen
The things that are
The things that are to take place after this

This three-fold outline sets up a key for unlocking the entire book of Revelation. The things that John had seen refers to all that is contained in chapter one. He was to describe all that he saw as a result of his vision. Secondly, he was to wrote about the things that are. This is believed to be a reference to the content found in chapters two and three, where John addresses the seven churches, which were alive and well in his day. These were existing churches containing real live believers, and what John would write would be applicable to their current state of affairs. Finally, John was to write about all that was to take place “after this.” In other words, he was to put pen to paper and describe all the things that would happen after “the things that are.” The seven churches, while real churches existing in real time, also represent the church age. The fact that there are seven of them, informs us that they are intended to be representative in nature, providing a complete profile and description of the church, ever since its inception at Pentecost until the day Jesus returns to remove the church from the earth. This is commonly referred to the church age and ends with the rapture of the church. The “things” John was to write entail all that will happen after the removal of the church. And that will constitute the greatest portion of John’s letter, from chapter 4 all the way to chapter 22.

As we make our way through the rest of Revelation, we will be confronted with fantastic imagery and difficult-to-understand passages that seem incomprehensible. But we must always remember that this book was written to be read and understood. In fact, John indicates that reading it comes with a blessing. But that does not mean it will reveal its secrets easily. It will take work and a determination to understand what God is trying to tell us. In the following two chapters, we will repeatedly see the words, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We are about to encounter truth and it will require that we listen closely and carefully to what God has to say. It will also require that we look at the rest of the Bible in order to seek out other passages that will help enlighten us as to what God intends for us to know. There will remain unsolved mysteries when we’re done. Much of what we read will only be understood when the events themselves take place. But we can rest in the fact that our God has a plan and He is working that plan to perfection. The future is not arbitrary and the outcome of God’s redemptive plan is not up for grabs. The sovereign God of the universe has it all planned out down to the last detail, and His Son will play a significant role in bringing it all about. Of that, we can be sure.