Revelation
And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write-
These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges
I know thy works,
and where thou dwellest
even where Satan’s seat is
and thou holdest fast my name
and hast not denied my faith
even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr
who was slain among you
where Satan dwelleth.
But I have a few things against thee
because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam
who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel
to eat things sacrificed unto idols
and to commit fornication.
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes
which thing I hate.
Repent
or else I will come unto thee quickly
and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna
and will give him a white stone
and in the stone a new name written
which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
*******
The historical time period this covers- Constantine, or perhaps, rather, from his professed conversion to Christianity in A.D. 323, to the establishment of the papacy in A.D. 538.
Who has a sharp sword with two edges? What is the two edged sword all about?
Psalms
{149:1} Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, [and] his praise in the congregation of saints.
{149:2} Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
{149:3} Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
{149:4} For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
{149:5} Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
{149:6} [Let] the high [praises] of God [be] in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
{149:7} To execute vengeance upon the heathen, [and] punishments upon the people;
{149:8} To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
{149:9} To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
Hebrews
{4:12} For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart
Revelation
{1:13} And in the midst of the seven candlesticks [one] like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
{1:14} His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes [were] as a flame of fire;
{1:15} And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
{1:16} And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance [was] as the sun shineth in his strength.
He who has the two-edged sword is Jesus. And from just noting a bit more about the two-edged sword it's easy to see that it's symbolic of God's quick and decisive manner. There is no deception, no guile, no toying when it comes to God and all He does is precise. His word is more powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. And the power and sharpness of such a sword is tremendous. Jesus speaking with such exacting vengeance in such a way that there leaves no doubt to the truth of his actions- none. Jesus speaks to us holding nothing back.
...
I know thy works,
and where thou dwellest
even where Satan’s seat is
and thou holdest fast my name
and hast not denied my faith
even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr
who was slain among you
where Satan dwelleth.
...
He knows our works! He knew them back in the days of John, He knew them in the early years of God's people- His church historically, and He knows us even now. It's safe to say Jesus has known us through all time and there was never a time He didn't know His people. Even when His people have caused Him grief He's known and has tried to guide them down the right path of His righteousness.
He knows thy works, where thou dwellest- where we live. He knows. And He knowns where Satan's seat is and make no mistake about it- Satan has his foothold in this world he was cast out to upon the birth of salvation realized in Jesus' entrance into our world as He took on the flesh of humanity. Satan cast to this earth never more to call heaven (God's seat) his home. Yes, Satan has his powers and his influence and he's used them to form his own plans that include a place where he would dwell and rule from. Satan's seat. Living among the very place where the evil one, the opposer, the deceiver was in power and holding fast to the true faith of Christ- what wonder! Holding fast to Christ! Not denying Christ's faith! When to be martyred for such faith, for holding firm and denying the power of Satan even in a place where Satan seemingly reigns supreme- so amazing!
Then, now. People say that there are no more martyrs, I say they're wrong. There are many, many marytrs today. In fact just writing what I'm writing would be cause for my death in some countries. We don't want to believe it, but it's true. Wherever we are living, in whatever situation we find ourselves even if it's the worst place imaginable- if we hold fast to Christ and remain faithful then we will have His blessing. I'm not just talking a life or death situation with a true sword ready to slice our head from our shoulders. I'm talking living in the world that Satan claims as His and holding fast. It's all too easy for us to give in and go along with the crowd. To laugh and smile, and seemingly agree with the goings on even when they bold-facedly ridicule all that is Godly. Inwardly we might condemn the actions about us and we cling to that inward man, but outwardly we seem to agree with the ungodliness and what does that mean? We're ashamed of our beliefs. If we won't hold fast to Christ and our faith in Him now in the little things, how will we do so later on when our very lives may depend on seemingly agreeing with the ungodly? Will we align ourselves with the ungodly so that we can live? Or be martyrs to hold fast to Christ?
The historical message, the message for all time, we need to learn, to listen, to take to heart what is being said.
...
But I have a few things against thee
because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam
who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel
to eat things sacrificed unto idols
and to commit fornication.
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes
which thing I hate.
Repent
or else I will come unto thee quickly
and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna
and will give him a white stone
and in the stone a new name written
which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
...
Hold the doctrine of Balaam... idol worship in all it's ugly forms.
Again just because you don't live in a town where they have festivals to worship the sun god Baal, does not mean there is no idol worship today. Among God's people there are those who hold fast to the belief that worshipping the world rather than God means the most. We can't worship any other than God! Search our hearts and our lives and examine what lies within- is it worship to anything other than God? Is there a self-worship? The worship of any thing that would take us from God?
Repent.
We need to repent and not face the righteous wrath of Christ.
Listen! We are told to LISTEN!
If we overcome through Christ we will be given hidden manna- heavenly food so precious. We will be given a white stone- a stone of purity and innocence in Christ. In that stone we'll receive our new name, a new name only we know. God made a point to give Abram and Sari new names and He also gave Jacob a new name. We who overcome as they overcame by faith in God and His righteousness we too will receive a new name.
By His mercy, by His grace, by His love and by His righteousness alone may we cling to Him and be found in Him to be overcomers through Him and Him alone. Forgive us oh Lord, forgive us our many, many tresspasss, our many failings and set us on Your path to Your righteousness- now and forever!
Amen.
8/30/10
Excerpt from Weight of Glory - "On Forgiveness" C.S. Lewis (Capitalization and paragraph separation -my emphasis)
'I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different. I am asking Him not to forgive me but to EXCUSE me. But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing.
Forgiveness says--
"Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology; I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before. "
But excusing says--
"I see that you couldn't help it or didn't mean it; you weren't really to blame."
If one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive.
In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposites.
Of course, in dozens of cases, either between God and man, or between one man and another, there may be a mixture of the two. Part of what seemed at first to be the sins turns out to be really nobody's fault and is excused; the bit that is left over is forgiven.
…. But the trouble is that what we call "asking God's forgiveness" very often really consists in asking God to ACCEPT our excuses.
What leads us into this mistake is the fact that there usually is some amount of excuse, some
"extenuating circumstances."
We are so very anxious to point these out to God (and to ourselves) that we are apt to FORGET the really important thing; that is, the bit left over, the bit which the excuses don't cover, the bit which is INEXCUSABLE but NOT, thank God, UNFORGIVEABLE . And if we forget this, we shall go away IMAGINING that we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves with our OWN EXCUSES. They may be very bad excuses; we are all too easily satisfied about ourselves. '
*******
Imagining we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves with our own excuses.
Come on, admit it there is truth in what Mr. Lewis is saying here, a lot of truth.
Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Do you imagine those who believe their evil is good- truly imagine it evil? People are deceived all the time. There is so much sin today that is acceptable to mankind that is unacceptable to God and has been since forever. We've drawn a sin cloak around our lives that hides the sins in our lives so that we can feel good about ourselves and not worry that we might be sinning. We EXCUSE our sins. We make excuses all the time. If only *this* wasn't like *this* then I wouldn't do *this*. If only I lived in a monastery I wouldn't have all these temptations around me. If only Soandso didn't do this or that, I wouldn't do this and that. It's horrible but we do it all the time and we've begun to do it on a subconscious level too. We tell ourselves- God understands. Haven't you done that before? Truthfully, haven't you thought those words before? Why do we do this? We do it because we believe if we don't then we'll NEVER have any hope of being God's. We call it giving ourselves hope. Am I excusing it? NO! I'm naming it. It's a FALSE hope, but we grasp onto it and hold it tightly in this tornado of sin whirling about our lives. Wouldn't it be better if we let go of false hope and released ourselves into the reality of the sin in our lives and TRUST in our LORD to save us. We have to stop trusting in ourselves to save ourselves. Our hope can't be in our goodness, but in HIS. We have to truly start looking at the sin in our lives as the deadly poison it is. Only when we stop making excuses will we be able to seek true forgiveness. Lay it all on the table as the saying goes. Put it all out there without any excuses and seek to repent and ask for the only path to true life we have- forgiveness from our Savior. Our Savior seeing us covered in vile, poisonous, deadly sins and choosing to give us forgiveness because we know only HE can save us, His blood covers our sins. We don't cover our sins, He covers them in His blood. We need the poison covered by the anti-venom of Christ's holy blood.
It's not easy to take stock in our lives. It's not easy at all. Not easy but a necessity.
May God help us all. We live in a world where satan and all his helpers are more than willing to give us delusions of ourselves. Please Lord, help us remove the blinders to the sin in our lives. Help us precious Savior to keep from excusing the sin in our lives. We throw ourselves at your merciful feet. Bless us Lord, please…bless us.
By Your Grace!
Amen.
8/30/11
Rev 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in
Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is
alive;
Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and
poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they
are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Rev 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou
shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may
be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the
second death.
If, as we talked about already, the
seven churches spoken of represent God's people throughout time- the period of
time suggested by others who have studied Revelation for the first chruch-
Ephesus is.. 'the period from the resurrection of Christ to the close of the
first century, or to the death of the last of the apostles.' And the second
church -Smyrna - 'the date of the Smyrna church would be A.D. 100-323.' The big
question is….how did they come to this date?
Well
first let's look at what's said.
'And
unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write...These things saith the first and
the last which was dead and is alive'
John
through the Spirit is writing to the angel of the people of God in Smyrna. The
first, the last, which was dead and is alive- this could be none other than-
Jesus.
'I
know thy works and tribulation and poverty but thou art rich'
He
knows the works- the actions of His people in Smyrna. He also knows their
tribulation. He understands what they're going through. Tribulation. If I say
I'm going through tribulation am I talking about a little bit of a hard time?
No. I'm talking about a very
hard time, a time of such suffering, of such affliction it doesn't compare to
ordinary upsets. Jesus knows the actions, the works, and He knows of the
intense suffering of those people. He also knows of their poverty- their
deficiencies, unproductiveness, their lacking, but He also knows they are rich.
A
conflict? Can one be in poverty and be rich at the same time? They sure can be
if we are thinking along the lines of being poor in one thing while rich in
another. You can have a person poor in finances and rich in optimism. Jesus
knows it all- the suffering the poverty and the riches. We are told in the
Bible this--
Matthew
{19:24} And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
With
this in mind it's easy to imagine the 'rich'es spoken of here
as something other than monetary riches. These are
riches of God- heavenly treasure, not an earthly treasure.
Matthew
{6:20} But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust doth
corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal
Heavenly
riches.
A
person can be rich in heavenly treasures and in extreme poverty upon the earth.
Yes,
you can be rich in one thing and lacking in another. You can have a richness of
love and a poverty of kindness. Jesus knows all of us, the good and the bad in
us - His people throughout time.
'and
I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the
synagogue of Satan.
Fear
none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold, the devil shall cast some
of you into prison- that ye may be tried and ye shall have tribulation ten
days'
Blasphemy-
1. a. A contemptuous or profane act, utterance, or writing concerning God or a
sacred entity. b. The act of claiming for oneself the attributes and rights of
God.
2.
An irreverent or impious act, attitude, or utterance in regard to something
considered inviolable or sacrosanct.
Excerpted
from The American Heritage® Dictionary
There
are those who claim to be God's but are really from where?
The
'synagogue of Satan.'
Devil
worshippers who claim to be God's people.
God
knows who those people are and truly there are those in all ages who are guilty
of this- of claiming to be God's people while their lives, their hearts, the
truth says otherwise.
God
doesn't want His people to fear things that will be suffered by them. Again in
all ages we face suffering for our faith and yet we are to fear not.
The
devil will put some of God's people in prison- those people will be tried and
have tribulation ten days. Now this is where we have to ask ourselves a
question- ten days? In prophecy days can stand for years. Is there any notable
ten year period of tribulation for God's people?
There
is...
'The
Diocletianic Persecution (or Great Persecution) was the last and most severe
persecution of Christians in the Roman empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletianic_Persecution
In
303, Emperor Diocletian and his colleagues Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius
issued a series of edicts rescinding
Christians' legal rights and demanding they comply with traditional religious
practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and demanded universal sacrifice,
ordering all inhabitants to sacrifice to the gods. The persecution varied in
intensity across the empire—weakest in Gaul and Britain, where only the first
edict was applied, and strongest in the Eastern provinces. Persecutionary laws
were nullified by different emperors at different times,
but Constantine and Licinius's Edict of Milan (313) has traditionally marked the
end of the persecution.'
303
to 313 - ten years!
The
revelation was-
'the
devil shall cast some of you into prison- that ye may be tried and ye shall
have tribulation ten days'
Ten
days- Ten years of GREAT tribulation, great suffering, great persecution.
The
prophecy goes on to say-
'be
thou faithful unto death
and
I will give thee a crown of life.
He
that hath an ear,
let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches
He
that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death'
Be
faithful unto death. Telling them what? They would die! God's people, His
church, would be persecuted to the death.
Faithful
unto death. In truth we all throughout time must be faithful unto death, we
must be determined to be God's until we die no matter what the cost might be.
Faithful unto death.
The
reward for such faithfulness is a crown of life! The crown of life given for
those who receive life eternal in Jesus. The price is well worth the sacrifice
to obtain such a priceless gift.
We
are told once more--
'He
that hath an ear,
let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches'
LISTEN!
And
the promise-
'He
that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death'
Meaning
the death that is eternal- the death that comes when the 1000 years in heaven
with Jesus are over and evil and sin are wiped out of existence the death of
all those who are evil and are destroyed forever- that deah will not hurt those
who are God's faithful.
Rev
20:6 Blessed and holy is he that
hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but
they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand
years
Rev
20:14 And death and hell were
cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev
21:8 But the fearful, and
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers,
and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
May
God bless and keep us through the tribulations we have and will have, may we
remain faithful unto Him forever. May the second death not hurt any of us as we
seek life in Jesus, our Lord and Savior now and forever!
Amen
Excerpt from Weight of Glory - "On Forgiveness" C.S. Lewis (Capitalization and paragraph separation -my emphasis)
'I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different. I am asking Him not to forgive me but to EXCUSE me. But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing.
Forgiveness says--
"Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology; I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before. "
But excusing says--
"I see that you couldn't help it or didn't mean it; you weren't really to blame."
If one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive.
In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposites.
Of course, in dozens of cases, either between God and man, or between one man and another, there may be a mixture of the two. Part of what seemed at first to be the sins turns out to be really nobody's fault and is excused; the bit that is left over is forgiven.
…. But the trouble is that what we call "asking God's forgiveness" very often really consists in asking God to ACCEPT our excuses.
What leads us into this mistake is the fact that there usually is some amount of excuse, some
"extenuating circumstances."
We are so very anxious to point these out to God (and to ourselves) that we are apt to FORGET the really important thing; that is, the bit left over, the bit which the excuses don't cover, the bit which is INEXCUSABLE but NOT, thank God, UNFORGIVEABLE . And if we forget this, we shall go away IMAGINING that we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves with our OWN EXCUSES. They may be very bad excuses; we are all too easily satisfied about ourselves. '
*******
Imagining we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves with our own excuses.
Come on, admit it there is truth in what Mr. Lewis is saying here, a lot of truth.
Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Do you imagine those who believe their evil is good- truly imagine it evil? People are deceived all the time. There is so much sin today that is acceptable to mankind that is unacceptable to God and has been since forever. We've drawn a sin cloak around our lives that hides the sins in our lives so that we can feel good about ourselves and not worry that we might be sinning. We EXCUSE our sins. We make excuses all the time. If only *this* wasn't like *this* then I wouldn't do *this*. If only I lived in a monastery I wouldn't have all these temptations around me. If only Soandso didn't do this or that, I wouldn't do this and that. It's horrible but we do it all the time and we've begun to do it on a subconscious level too. We tell ourselves- God understands. Haven't you done that before? Truthfully, haven't you thought those words before? Why do we do this? We do it because we believe if we don't then we'll NEVER have any hope of being God's. We call it giving ourselves hope. Am I excusing it? NO! I'm naming it. It's a FALSE hope, but we grasp onto it and hold it tightly in this tornado of sin whirling about our lives. Wouldn't it be better if we let go of false hope and released ourselves into the reality of the sin in our lives and TRUST in our LORD to save us. We have to stop trusting in ourselves to save ourselves. Our hope can't be in our goodness, but in HIS. We have to truly start looking at the sin in our lives as the deadly poison it is. Only when we stop making excuses will we be able to seek true forgiveness. Lay it all on the table as the saying goes. Put it all out there without any excuses and seek to repent and ask for the only path to true life we have- forgiveness from our Savior. Our Savior seeing us covered in vile, poisonous, deadly sins and choosing to give us forgiveness because we know only HE can save us, His blood covers our sins. We don't cover our sins, He covers them in His blood. We need the poison covered by the anti-venom of Christ's holy blood.
It's not easy to take stock in our lives. It's not easy at all. Not easy but a necessity.
May God help us all. We live in a world where satan and all his helpers are more than willing to give us delusions of ourselves. Please Lord, help us remove the blinders to the sin in our lives. Help us precious Savior to keep from excusing the sin in our lives. We throw ourselves at your merciful feet. Bless us Lord, please…bless us.
By Your Grace!
Amen.
8/30/11
Rev 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in
Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is
alive;
Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and
poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they
are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Rev 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou
shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may
be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the
second death.
If, as we talked about already, the
seven churches spoken of represent God's people throughout time- the period of
time suggested by others who have studied Revelation for the first chruch-
Ephesus is.. 'the period from the resurrection of Christ to the close of the
first century, or to the death of the last of the apostles.' And the second
church -Smyrna - 'the date of the Smyrna church would be A.D. 100-323.' The big
question is….how did they come to this date?
Well
first let's look at what's said.
'And
unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write...These things saith the first and
the last which was dead and is alive'
John
through the Spirit is writing to the angel of the people of God in Smyrna. The
first, the last, which was dead and is alive- this could be none other than-
Jesus.
'I
know thy works and tribulation and poverty but thou art rich'
He
knows the works- the actions of His people in Smyrna. He also knows their
tribulation. He understands what they're going through. Tribulation. If I say
I'm going through tribulation am I talking about a little bit of a hard time?
No. I'm talking about a very
hard time, a time of such suffering, of such affliction it doesn't compare to
ordinary upsets. Jesus knows the actions, the works, and He knows of the
intense suffering of those people. He also knows of their poverty- their
deficiencies, unproductiveness, their lacking, but He also knows they are rich.
A
conflict? Can one be in poverty and be rich at the same time? They sure can be
if we are thinking along the lines of being poor in one thing while rich in
another. You can have a person poor in finances and rich in optimism. Jesus
knows it all- the suffering the poverty and the riches. We are told in the
Bible this--
Matthew
{19:24} And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
With
this in mind it's easy to imagine the 'rich'es spoken of here
as something other than monetary riches. These are
riches of God- heavenly treasure, not an earthly treasure.
Matthew
{6:20} But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust doth
corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal
Heavenly
riches.
A
person can be rich in heavenly treasures and in extreme poverty upon the earth.
Yes,
you can be rich in one thing and lacking in another. You can have a richness of
love and a poverty of kindness. Jesus knows all of us, the good and the bad in
us - His people throughout time.
'and
I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the
synagogue of Satan.
Fear
none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold, the devil shall cast some
of you into prison- that ye may be tried and ye shall have tribulation ten
days'
Blasphemy-
1. a. A contemptuous or profane act, utterance, or writing concerning God or a
sacred entity. b. The act of claiming for oneself the attributes and rights of
God.
2.
An irreverent or impious act, attitude, or utterance in regard to something
considered inviolable or sacrosanct.
Excerpted
from The American Heritage® Dictionary
There
are those who claim to be God's but are really from where?
The
'synagogue of Satan.'
Devil
worshippers who claim to be God's people.
God
knows who those people are and truly there are those in all ages who are guilty
of this- of claiming to be God's people while their lives, their hearts, the
truth says otherwise.
God
doesn't want His people to fear things that will be suffered by them. Again in
all ages we face suffering for our faith and yet we are to fear not.
The
devil will put some of God's people in prison- those people will be tried and
have tribulation ten days. Now this is where we have to ask ourselves a
question- ten days? In prophecy days can stand for years. Is there any notable
ten year period of tribulation for God's people?
There
is...
'The
Diocletianic Persecution (or Great Persecution) was the last and most severe
persecution of Christians in the Roman empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletianic_Persecution
In
303, Emperor Diocletian and his colleagues Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius
issued a series of edicts rescinding
Christians' legal rights and demanding they comply with traditional religious
practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and demanded universal sacrifice,
ordering all inhabitants to sacrifice to the gods. The persecution varied in
intensity across the empire—weakest in Gaul and Britain, where only the first
edict was applied, and strongest in the Eastern provinces. Persecutionary laws
were nullified by different emperors at different times,
but Constantine and Licinius's Edict of Milan (313) has traditionally marked the
end of the persecution.'
303
to 313 - ten years!
The
revelation was-
'the
devil shall cast some of you into prison- that ye may be tried and ye shall
have tribulation ten days'
Ten
days- Ten years of GREAT tribulation, great suffering, great persecution.
The
prophecy goes on to say-
'be
thou faithful unto death
and
I will give thee a crown of life.
He
that hath an ear,
let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches
He
that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death'
Be
faithful unto death. Telling them what? They would die! God's people, His
church, would be persecuted to the death.
Faithful
unto death. In truth we all throughout time must be faithful unto death, we
must be determined to be God's until we die no matter what the cost might be.
Faithful unto death.
The
reward for such faithfulness is a crown of life! The crown of life given for
those who receive life eternal in Jesus. The price is well worth the sacrifice
to obtain such a priceless gift.
We
are told once more--
'He
that hath an ear,
let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches'
LISTEN!
And
the promise-
'He
that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death'
Meaning
the death that is eternal- the death that comes when the 1000 years in heaven
with Jesus are over and evil and sin are wiped out of existence the death of
all those who are evil and are destroyed forever- that deah will not hurt those
who are God's faithful.
Rev
20:6 Blessed and holy is he that
hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but
they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand
years
Rev
20:14 And death and hell were
cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev
21:8 But the fearful, and
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers,
and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
May
God bless and keep us through the tribulations we have and will have, may we
remain faithful unto Him forever. May the second death not hurt any of us as we
seek life in Jesus, our Lord and Savior now and forever!
Amen