David Pawson - Revelation Seminar Part 1b

For the video of David Pawson on Revelation, visit https://www.inspirational.org.nz

Thoughtful Thoughts 24.5.24 by John Dunning. Revelation 1-3

INTRODUCTION…

We have looked at a small piece of Christian history. The first three chapters are part?of that history but we can still learn from those lessons. These early chapters are the easiest to understand.

The closer these churches were to Satan’s throne, the more compromising they were found to be… (ie to avoid hardship). However, faithful believers were persecuted. Jesus tells us also in Matthew 24, that things will get far worse before they get better. They will only get better permanently after Jesus returns.

A). OVERVIEW

-Revelation chapter 1

Chapter 1 provides an introduction where John explains that he is taken in a vision to heaven. He hears the voice of God who has charge of multiple heavenly armies. Then John sees the ‘One who looked like a Son of Man’, who was also the beginning and end of everything, and His glory caused John to collapse to the ground in a heap.?

What John saw was not how he remembered seeing Jesus the Messiah when He was on earth. Now when he saw Jesus as He really is, (His ‘parousia’) John’s legs gave way at the majestic sight, causing him to collapse

-Revelation chapter 2-3

Chapters 2-3 Jesus writes letters to seven churches, to encourage them to keep on, keeping on. Some believers were already becoming like the culture around them, whilst others were facing severe persecution.?

Jesus had a message for John to send to the seven churches. Even though they were written to specific churches two thousand years ago, we will see that they are still relevant today.

-Revelation chapters following the letters to the churches…

Jesus moves from the present time of John’s day, to what we call “end times”...

After details of Ch. 1-3 below, we will be moving on to chapters about the future…

B). DETAILS OF MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES…

1). The church at Ephesus had true doctrine but was warned for having lost its love for the Lord;? (Revelation 2:1-7.)?

This can happen to us too.

2). The church at Smyrna was going through severe persecution, so Jesus encouraged it. In Jesus’ eyes, the churches that had real value were the ones that were faithful, (and not the rich ones). Jesus says “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty but you are rich… Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life… He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death”, (Rev. 2:9-11).?

This is as relevant today because persecution is increasing worldwide.

3). The church at Pergamos was given a warning for being a compromising church; (2:12-170). The problems caused by Satan… Jesus said that Satan had his residence at Pergamon, which was very close to two of the churches. Jesus called this building ‘Satan’s throne’. That structure was an altar the size of a building, from which sacrifices went up continuously. It was in the shape of an armchair, and was found by archaeologists, who moved it to Berlin, where it is now located in a purpose-built building, called “The Pergamon Building”. (See the image of the actual Pergamon altar in Revelation 2:12-17.)

The churches that were further away from this ‘temple of Satan’ were not being challenged quite as much. They valued their privileges more than their principles and became lukewarm. The churches that had the most money were the ones Jesus called spiritually ‘poor’, and which Jesus threatened to close down.?

However, the ones that were ‘rich’ in Jesus’ eyes, were the ones with the least money. Rev. 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

This message needs to be taken on board by the ‘prosperity movement’ in America.

4). The church at Thyatira was given a serious warning for being a sexually immoral church, (2:18-29).

Today, this has become even more true than ever before.

5). The church at Sardis was warned about becoming a dead church, (3:1-6).

I think all of us will know churches where this is true now.

6). The church at Philadelphia was encouraged for being such a faithful church in 3:7-13.

Each day the Barnabas Fund posts prayer requests for the persecuted church. We provide a link to that in our weekly devotional. A link to those devotionals follows these homilies.

7). Finally, the Laodicean church was warned for having become a lukewarm church; (3:14-22). Jesus told the church at Laodicea (in Rev.3:20) that if someone opened the door to Him, then He would come in. Jesus wasn’t even welcome in their church. The church was just going merrily along without Him! Jesus wasn’t even in their church.

Some churches just copy whatever the culture of the day is. This applies to them.

C). EPILOGUE

Jesus had His disciples do all the ‘immersing’, (baptisms), for Him. They were ‘immersing’ even more than John the Baptist. Who you trust and believe in, is critical. Get the truth firsthand from Jesus by reading the Gospels… We are only disciples to the extent that we are obedient. Disciples obey. Jesus authorized His disciples to teach. They told us what to do. God’s family is made of those who have God’s Holy Spirit living in them, and you can start the journey of being in God’s family just by following what Peter summarised in Acts 2:38…

Jesus said;-

-a). “No man can come to the Father but by Me’. -b). “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me”. (Peter adds in Acts 4.12, ‘there is no other name under heaven by which man can be saved’.)

-c). “You must be Born Again”.

Peter said;-

“Repent, and be immersed, (in Greek “baptizo”), in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”, when a man asks Peter what he had to do to be saved, replied in Acts 2:38.

No church or organisation can save, as the church at Pergamos discovered.... Only Jesus can save anyone. Some denominations teach that membership of their church is enough to save you through christening. That is not the teaching of the Bible. To join God’s family we need to follow what Jesus said.

This is John Dunning signing off from “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.

This link takes you to the homepage version https://www.inspirational.org.nz ?

This link takes you to our devotional https://blog.inspirationalmedia.org.nz/

Inspirational Radio…?

We have launched our new online discipleship radio station….?

Our new discipleship radio station:- “Inspirational Radio”, has hour-long Bible readings, David Pawson sermons, testimonies, and classic hymns. Just follow the website links, to https://internetchristianradio.com/