Posts tagged with Meditations on Revelation 2-3

Meditations on The Seven Letters of Revelation (1) "Does your Church have an Angel?" (Revelation 2:1)... Keep Reading

Meditations on The Seven Letters of Revelation (2) "Loving Jesus in Ephesus" (Revelation 2:1)... Keep Reading

Meditations on The Seven Letters of Revelation (3) ???Christ in and over his Church?? (Revelation 2:1)... Keep Reading

Meditations on The Seven Letters of Revelation (4) ???I Know Your Works!?? (Revelation 2:2a)... Keep Reading

Meditations on The Seven Letters of Revelation (5) When God Crowns His Own Grace (Rev. 2:2a)... Keep Reading

Meditations on The Seven Letters of Revelation (6) The Limits of Love (Revelation 2:2,6)... Keep Reading

Meditations on The Seven Letters of Revelation (7) For His Name??s Sake (Revelation 2:3)... Keep Reading

Meditations on The Seven Letters of Revelation (8) When Doctrine Isn??t Enough (Revelation 2:4-5)... Keep Reading

Meditations on The Seven Letters of Revelation (9) Feasting on the Tree of Life (Revelation 2:7)... Keep Reading

Meditations on The Seven Letters of Revelation (10) Seeing the ???So That?? in Suffering (Revelation 2:8-9)... Keep Reading

Suffering comes in many forms and in varying degrees, as the Christians in Smyrna would no doubt testify. But regardless of how it manifests itself, suffering tends to evoke one of two reactions in the soul of the Christian: dependency or disillusionment. One example... Keep Reading

As I sit writing this meditation, I need only turn my head slightly to the left and gaze out the window of my hotel room for a stunning view of the Washington Monument in our nation’s capital. Two days earlier, on my way from the airport to the annual meeting of... Keep Reading

To whom do you look for strength when life is on the verge of imploding and there seems to be no avenue of escape? In what do you place your trust? On what beliefs have you staked your future? How do you persevere? Unless you’ve experienced an incredibly insula... Keep Reading

What I Deserve vs. What I Get The timing of this meditation is significant. I’m writing it on the day before Thanksgiving, 2006. Like most of you, I’ll soon be seated with my family around a table laden with more food than many people will see in a month... Keep Reading

By God’s providential design, my wife and I live in Kansas City, Missouri, known as “The City of Fountains.” Before this, we lived in Chicago, “The Windy City” (well, to be more accurate, we lived in Winfield, a suburb of Chicago). Paris,... Keep Reading

The letter to the church at Pergamum consists of “the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword” (Rev. 2:12; more literally, “these things says the one who has the sharp two-edged sword”). When we hear or read of someone who has a “... Keep Reading

There was in the church at Pergamum a strange and unacceptable paradox, an inconsistency that Jesus simply will not tolerate, then or now. Let’s not forget where they lived. Whereas it is true that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one”... Keep Reading

Although grace is surely amazing, it is also subject to distortion, especially by those who use it to excuse loose and licentious behavior (see Galatians 5:13; Jude 4). The justification comes in a variety of forms. For example: “If all my sins have been forgiv... Keep Reading

I suggested in the previous meditation that purity often comes with a hefty price tag. It may cost us “good feelings” and appear to be less than “loving” when we insist on repentance and moral rectitude. There’s no way around the fact tha... Keep Reading

The “white stone” in Revelation 2:17, given to those who “conquer” or “overcome,” has been subjected to as many differing interpretations as have the “two witnesses” of Revelation 11. That doesn’t mean we are hopel... Keep Reading

Consider this challenge that I regularly put to myself and now put to you. Recall to mind the early days of your Christian life, perhaps the first year or so after your conversion. Do you remember the zeal for God and fascination with all things biblical you felt in t... Keep Reading

How tragic, after reading of the splendid qualities in Thyatira, to discover that moral compromise was present in the church. “I have this against you,” said Jesus, “that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching... Keep Reading

I’m constantly stunned by the gracious and longsuffering character of our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to his words in the letter to the church at Thyatira: “I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw h... Keep Reading

Our Lord clearly states that the casting of Jezebel on a sickbed and the infliction of her children with great tribulation, to the point of physical death itself, will be an unmistakable sign to all that nothing escapes his gaze or slips in beneath the radar, so to sp... Keep Reading

How is it that this woman called “Jezebel” came to exert such incredible power over the lives of Christians in Thyatira? What accounts for the authority she possessed to convince the followers of Jesus to abandon their commitment to ethical purity and enga... Keep Reading

Much of the Church today is suffering from an advanced case of what I call spiritual osteoporosis. It’s not widespread throughout the “body” of Christ, but is concentrated along the spine. What I have in mind is the Church’s loss of its theolog... Keep Reading

I know that’s a provocative question, perhaps even incendiary to some of you! But let’s look closely at the promised reward in this letter to the church in Thyatira: “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give auth... Keep Reading

One of the more important lessons I’ve learned through the years, especially when it comes to church life, is that seeing isn’t always believing. I don’t want to sound cynical or pessimistic, but you shouldn’t always trust your eyes. What I&rsq... Keep Reading

If the surrounding culture declares that we are alive but Jesus says we are dead (Rev. 3:1), something’s seriously wrong with our standard of success. Our discernment is seriously flawed. Worse still is when we ourselves think we’re alive but in fact are d... Keep Reading

Let’s get right to the point. This letter to the church in Sardis ought to alert us to the fact that a church can be confident of its place in the community, increasing in membership, energetic in its religious activities, liquid in its financial assets, fervent... Keep Reading

The last few meditations, I admit, have been somewhat negative in that I have portrayed the plight of the church (both in the first century and in our day) in pessimistic terms. I’m not apologizing for that, in view of the fact that we have explicit biblical war... Keep Reading

The promise to those who conquer continues in Revelation 3:5, a passage that has stirred considerable discussion and controversy. “The one who conquers,” said Jesus, “will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the b... Keep Reading

I’m amazed at how seemingly little things in life can have such a massive impact on other people. Take, for example, when someone remembers your name. Perhaps it’s a person you admire greatly, whom you’ve only met once before, but they instantly smil... Keep Reading

One could make a strong case that the letters to Smyrna and Philadelphia are the most important of the seven, for in neither of them do we find a single word of complaint. They both receive unqualified praise and approval. These, then, are truly churches of which Chri... Keep Reading

I’ve mentioned before that one of my spiritual mentors was often heard to say, “Whatever God requires he provides; whomever God chooses, he changes; and whatever God starts, he finishes.” I’d like to add a fourth: “Whatever God promises, ... Keep Reading

Whatever God promises, God fulfills. This marvelous truth puts legs beneath our Lord’s declaration that the door he has opened for us no one can shut (v. 8). But there’s yet more in his promise to the faithful in Philadelphia and therefore more in his prom... Keep Reading

If you’ve ever wondered whether it mattered much to Jesus that you’ve kept the faith and maintained your commitment to him, this promise to the church of Philadelphia should put your fears to rest.   Sadly, today, more attention is given to sensatio... Keep Reading

The Bible has a remarkable capacity to challenge and overcome our misperceptions about who we are. When we are inclined to think of ourselves as orphans, the biblical text declares that we are the adopted children of God. If we are wracked with guilt, the inspired wor... Keep Reading

As mentioned in the previous meditation, Christians often struggle with a sense of identity. They fail to grasp who they are by virtue not merely of creation but especially regeneration and redemption. A failure to embrace our new identity and the privileges and respo... Keep Reading

I’ve lived in eight cities, for each of which I’m profoundly grateful. I was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, from which we moved when I was ten to settle in Midland, Texas. I attended high school in Duncan, Oklahoma, and went to college in Norman. My wife and I... Keep Reading

“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.... Keep Reading

I doubt if anyone reading this meditation has been exempt from betrayal, of one sort or another. One of life’s most painful and disillusioning experiences is putting your confidence in someone who in turn lets you down. Perhaps you’ve shared something and ... Keep Reading

“Sam, are you playing theological tricks on us with that title? Come on. Does it really matter?” Well, let me put it this way: the difference between Jesus as “the eternal Son of God” and Jesus as “Son of the eternal God” is the dif... Keep Reading

I doubt one could find words any more confusing and controversial than those uttered by Jesus in Revelation 3:15-16 to the church at Laodicea. Christians have expressed either befuddlement or revulsion, and sometimes both, at what our Lord says to this wayward congreg... Keep Reading

On July 8, 1731, twenty-seven-year-old Jonathan Edwards preached in Boston, Massachusetts, what would become the first of his sermons to be published. Entitled, God Glorified in Man’s Dependence, it was based on 1 Corinthians 1:29-31, a passage in which Paul was... Keep Reading

If Jesus is in fact “the Amen, the faithful and true witness,” wisdom would demand that we heed his counsel. If he can be counted on not only to confirm God’s purposes (“Amen”) but to speak truth without equivocation (“the faithful ... Keep Reading

Revelation 3:19 is nothing short of shocking. Earlier in v. 16 Jesus expressed disgust towards those in Laodicea, declaring that he is on the verge of vomiting them out of his mouth. Yet now, in v. 19, he affirms his love for them! May I boldly suggest that it is prec... Keep Reading

The foundation for a relationship of passion is a heart of purity. Sin kills intimacy. It comes as no surprise, then, that perhaps the greatest obstacle to a vibrant and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ is the failure or refusal to repent. This accounts for our... Keep Reading

Next to John 3:16, this is perhaps the most famous evangelistic passage in the New Testament. The question is, Should it be? To this lukewarm and backslidden church, Jesus issues this stunning invitation:   “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyon... Keep Reading

“The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” No matter how many times I read this promis... Keep Reading