“But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.”

---End of Scripture verses---

We noticed yesterday that after God’s “witnesses” have “finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them” (verse 7). This is a bird’s eye view of what will be depicted in greater detail in chapters 12 through 14, and especially in chapter 13. And for all intents and purposes, it seems that Satan has won the upper hand, and that God’s plans, purposes and people have been reduced to wreckage; but we see in today’s verses the inescapable truth that the triumph and jubilation of wickedness is always but for a season.

“After three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into” God’s two witnesses (verse 11), who as we noted previously, represented all of God’s faithful proclaimers of Truth during this great period of tribulation. As God’s enemies would make a public spectacle out of the murder and humiliation of His prophets (verses 8-10), so their exaltation and vindication would be a sight beheld by all as well. Once again, the purpose of this vision is to demonstrate that the purposes of Christ, the proclamation of His word and the perpetuation of His eternal kingdom would not be stamped out by Satan and his malicious horde of evil.

There is also a brief glimpse into the final resurrection to heaven’s eternal glory for God’s fearless faithful in verse 12. Robert Harkrider notes that, “This scene shows in mini-version the gist of all of the book of Revelation. When God’s word is preached it will be followed by persecution. But God’s cause will be vindicated in the form of divine retribution against his enemies… Though the saints are in the midst of persecution, they will not perish. God will overthrow all enemies. The true spiritual Israel will be protected and preserved by God in the troubles that lie ahead.”

Homer Hailey’s understanding is that, “Verses 1-13 of the chapter may be summarized as follows: The sanctuary with its worshipers is under the protection of God; Satan cannot touch these. However, the holy city, the personnel of the church, would be trodden under foot by her enemies for a troubled period of tyrannical opposition. In spite of the tribulation during that time, God’s witnesses would continue to bear testimony as they passed through trials, oppressions, and death. Ultimately they would be victorious.

“The time of witnessing falls into three periods. The first is the apostolic age, during which the witnesses could not be destroyed (vv. 3-6). When the apostolic testimony was complete, the church definitely established, and when truth had been preached and written, witnessing entered a second period. It was during this period that the beast out of the abyss attempted to destroy the witnesses, causing them to endure great trials, in which they were killed (vv. 7-10). The third period is one of victory for the faith and its martyrs, symbolized by their resurrection and ascension to heaven (vv. 11-13). Since that time the witnessing has been carried on by those who hold fast the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony to the faith, and who love not their lives even unto death (12:11). In the trial of this victory the corruption of the world-city and old paganism begin to break up as men come to recognize the power of God and truth. There is no wholesale conversion of the world, but there is a weakening of paganism’s former control over men.”

Please read Revelation 11:15-19 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

- Louie Taylor

“When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.”

---End of Scripture verses---

Some horrid things are depicted in today’s verses about what will happen to God’s “two witnesses” once they have “finished their testimony” (verse 7). It may appear that the Truth has failed and God’s plan has been upended when the world sees the lifeless bodies of His witnesses lying “in the street” (verse 8), and those “who dwell on the earth” rejoicing “over them and” celebrating (verse 10), but nothing could be farther from the truth. The greatest and most uplifting takeaway from this vision is that nothing will stop the work of God’s servants from being “finished”! Once God’s word has been set in motion upon this earth it always accomplishes His perfect and powerful will! “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

To the original recipients of John’s Revelation, there can be little doubt that Rome, the seat of power and capital of the mighty Roman Empire, was the “great city” and center of the first century world. “Three descriptions are used here to describe the spiritual decadence and persecution power of Rome. To refer to Rome as ‘Sodom’ is to bring to remembrance that Old Testament city’s universal and everlasting reputation for base immorality (Gen. 19). Likewise, the reference that Rome was like ‘Egypt’ brings to mind the Pharaoh who knew not the God of Joseph and who detained God’s people in bondage (Exod. 1:8; 2:23-25). Since both ‘Sodom’ and ‘Egypt’ are figurative, the last description ‘where our Lord was crucified,’ must be figurative also. Although Jerusalem is the city where our Lord was crucified, to say that Rome is that city casts her in the same truth-rejecting mold as Jerusalem. Rome, ‘the great city,’ possesses the same attitude like Jerusalem who put to death the Author of truth.” (Harkrider)

As we end today’s reading with verse 10, the world is depicted as throwing a huge party over the death God’s servants and the apparent defeat of His plans. They no longer have to hear the horrid Truth that tormented their wicked souls and hardened hearts day after day. Like Felix, as they were convicted of “righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come,” they “became frightened,” but they had no interest at all in hearing God’s message of salvation and condemnation at a “more convenient season” (Acts 24:25). Their fear led them to hatred and violence, and not godly sorrow and repentance. The light of truth only burns the eyes of the worldly wicked, and they are perfectly satisfied to remain shrouded in the darkness of ignorance and immersed in the sea of sin. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3:19-21)

Lord willing we will discuss Revelation 11:11-14 for tomorrow and see that it always ends well for God’s truth-practicing, light-loving, faithful servants!

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, ‘Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.’ These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.”

---End of Scripture verses---

Revelation chapter 11 poses some serious interpretative challenges, unless of course, we keep in mind (for the umpteenth time) that this book is written in the apocalyptic literary style with loads of vivid symbolism, AND we decipher the images in uniformity with previous symbols and visions. The “rod like a staff” (verse 1) that was given to John was a measuring instrument, and was an emblem for God’s written standard of truth by which all things religious and spiritual are measured against (1 Corinthians 4:6; 2 John 1:9). The word rendered “temple” is the inner sanctuary excluding “the court which is outside” (verse 2), and is a symbol for the church of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21; 1 Peter 2:5)—those who “measure up” to God’s standard and keep His word in all truth and obedience.

The “measuring” of “the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it,” is the equivalent of “sealing” the 144,000 in Revelation 7:3-8. As was the case in the interlude when the saints received God’s seal of approval and protection before the breaking of the seventh seal and the sounding of the seven trumpets, in this interlude before the outpouring of the seven bowls of God’s wrath, the Lord once again comforts and assures His obedient followers that He knows them, that they belong to Him, and He will protect them from the wrath about to be cut loose.

Even though God’s church had been “sealed” and “measured,” He was not going to insulate them from persecution from the heathen “nations” that found the saints to be offensive and threatening. “The holy city” (another reference to God’s faithful people – Revelation 21:10) would be trampled “under foot” for “forty-two months,” the time corresponding with the period in which God’s “two witnesses” would “prophesy” (verse 3). 42 months, 1260 days and 3½ years (Revelation 12:14) are all equal durations of time, and are symbols for a limited, indefinite interval. As “seven” is God’s symbol of perfection, half of that (3½) represents that which is “imperfect” or “limited”.

But who are these “two witnesses”? These is certainly no shortage of wild speculation about who they might represent. But when we think in terms of biblical symbolism and methodology, it becomes clear that they stand for those who faithfully taught and preached God’s word during this period of persecution of God’s people. The number “two” represents reliable testimony by God’s standard, for “by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed” (Matthew 18:16; Deuteronomy 17:6; 2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Timothy 5:19). Consider also that Jesus, in view of this truth, sent the “seventy” out in pairs of two to preach the word and prepare the way before Him in Luke 10:1.

It was the function of these two witnesses to “prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth” (verse 4) “because they lamented the world’s rejection of Christ and the workings of evil men who tread under foot God’s holy city.” (Harkrider) They also were empowered to perform miracles (verse 5-6), the very means by which the inspired, first-century apostles and prophets confirmed that their message (prophecy) was from God (Mark 16:20; Hebrews 2:3-4). This imagery was another form of bittersweet encouragement to God’s persecuted faithful that the Truth would not ceased to be preached during these dark and dreary hours, that God’s “lampstands” would continue radiate the true Light, that their (olive) oil would not burn out, that God’s enemies would not prevail, that God’s kingdom would reign triumphant!

Please read Revelation 11:7-10 for more on these two witnesses for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

“Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, ‘Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.’ So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, ‘Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.’ I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And they said to me, ‘You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

---End of Scripture verses---

The “voice from heaven” which had previously told John “do not write” the things which “the seven thunders” had spoken (verse 4), now tells him what he must do. The apostle was commanded to “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel” (verse 8), “and eat it” (verse 9). To figuratively eat a book is to literally immerse yourself in it to the point that your mind is saturated with it, and you have a proficient comprehension of and familiarity with its message. The word of God is frequently described as spiritual food that nourishes and strengthens us to know God’s ways and do His good will. When Satan tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread to satisfy His hunger, the Lord quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 in response: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). “Like newborn babies” we are to “long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it” we “may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). Yet we must not be satisfied with an infant’s diet, but move on to the “solid food” of maturity that will train our senses “to discern good and evil” (Hebrews 5:13-14).

When John proceeded to take God’s booklet and eat it, he said, “in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter” (verse 10). Consider the comparable vision of Ezekiel 2:8-3:3: “’Now you, son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.’ Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it. When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe. Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. He said to me, ‘Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.’ Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.” Ezekiel 3:14 says that the prophet “went embittered in the rage of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong on me.”

Ezekiel was embittered because the Lord sent him to preach to His “stubborn and obstinate people” who “will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me” (Ezekiel 3:7). Many of us remember the bittersweet sensation that John and Ezekiel experienced when we found and consumed the truth for the first time, and we were consumed by our joy and passion for the word. What a thrill it was to learn and obey the truth, and to know we were saved and heaven-bound, but our delight frequently turned to disappointment when we enthusiastically shared the Gospel only to learn that most people are satisfied in their sins and have little interest in God’s purposes and promises. Jesus truthfully said, “the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14). While it is “sweet” to know that we are one of the blessed “few,” the loss and “destruction” of the “many” (Matthew 7:13) leaves a bitter burn in our hearts. But as Ezekiel and John were commanded to do, we must continue to share heaven's message of joy and salvation just the same!

John was told that he “must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings” (verse 11). It must have been very comforting for the apostle to know that he would not die a lonely death on the prison island of Patmos, but that he would once again stand before “peoples and nations and tongues and kings,” proclaiming the powerful word of God. But how disturbing to know that the majority would not hear and heed the message of repentance and salvation. John was assured through the Lord’s “little book” that the kingdom of God would prevail and emerge victorious over the tyrannical rule of world empires (Daniel 2:44), and that was super-sweet. But the bitter truth was that much suffering and destruction would befall the wicked world that stood in opposition to the perfect and powerful will of the Almighty God of heaven.

Please read Revelation 11:1-6 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; and he had in his hand a little book which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land; and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.’ Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.”

---End of Scripture verses---

Today’s verses begin another lengthy interlude, this time between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpet. We are introduced to “another strong angel” who is obviously of the same class as the strong angel who proclaimed with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” (Revelation 5:2) The imagery of God’s messenger making a spectacular entrance “clothed with a cloud,” having a “rainbow…upon his head…his face like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire” (verse 1), “indicates that he was sent on a very special mission and that his work was of unusual importance… Of the twenty-five times that the word ‘cloud’ (nephelé) appears in the New Testament, in all but three…it is used in some relation to deity or of a divine appearance, often judgment. This indicates that the angel before us comes clothed with a divine mission relating to judgment.” (Hailey)

This angel was holding “a little book” (verse 2) or “booklet” that was sitting open in his hand. Unlike the book sealed with seven seals which included God’s dealings with man from the coming of His Christ to the execution of His Final Judgment, this booklet more specifically dealt with God’s impending judgment upon the Roman Empire, and it was already laid opened and ready to be implemented. The fact that the angel “placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land” indicated the far-reaching nature of his message, and that the coming judgment would have a great affect upon the whole world. Consider Revelation 18:9-11 for how the entire earth would be shaken by the sacking of the capital city: “And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more.”

This angel spoke as one commanding attention, even as the roar of a mighty lion (verse 3). When “he cried out…seven peals of thunder uttered their voices.” “As John was about to carry out the charge to write the things which he saw (1:11, 19), his hand was stayed, for he had not been told to write all that he heard. ‘Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.’… The purpose of inserting this in the revelation is most likely to assure His saints that God has many unrevealed weapons in His arsenal of judgments to be used at His discretion; man cannot know all of God’s ways.” (Hailey) “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

The time for warnings has now come to an end. There will be “delay no longer” (verse 6). It is time for “the mystery of God” to be “finished” (verse 7). “What is about to be revealed is how God will bring down this persecuting force of Rome and thereby firmly establish his kingdom as the only one that shall stand forever. About six hundred years before the birth of Christ, the Lord instructed Daniel to prophesy that His kingdom would be established in the days of the fourth kingdom—the Roman Empire (Dan. 2:40, 44-45). This was fulfilled when Christ arose from the grave and ascended to the right hand of God (Mark 1:14-15; 9:1; Dan. 7:13-14; Eph. 1:20-23; Acts 2:30, 33-36). God’s kingdom would be unlike earthly nations which inexorably rise and fall. God’s kingdom is spiritual, and it shall stand forever (John 18:36; Dan. 2:44). Daniel…foretold how God’s kingdom would be opposed by this fourth empire (Dan. 7:15-18). The Roman Empire…would make war with the saints, but it would not prevail. Instead, ‘the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever (Dan. 7:18).” (Harkrider)

Please read Revelation 10:8-11 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”

---End of Scripture verses---

As discussed previously, these trumpet blasts signified God’s “partial” judgment, but His primary aim for them was to warn the wicked to turn from their evil ways. When God sends these “plagues” (verse 20) upon the earth, there are always casualties, but the people who are “not killed” should hear the warning sirens and see the flashing red lights, and “repent of the works of their hands”. Natural calamities, represented by the first for trumpet blasts, should serve as a wakeup call for the people who witness their devastation and are fortunate enough to walk away unscathed. Earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, wildfires, and a host of other spectacular yet destructive phenomena, should arouse within us the sense of just how weak and vulnerable we are, and how unstable and uncertain life on earth truly is. When a disaster occurs, it should remind the survivors that worse things await the wayward, and prompt them to repent before eternal destruction is unavoidable (Luke 13:1-6)! They should turn us away from self and sin, and toward righteousness and God.

The same is true for the internal, moral decay (trumpet five) and the external, violent attacks (trumpet six). With the disintegration of common decency, and the moral threads of our society coming unraveled, the destructive consequences of sin should be obvious to all. Soaring divorce rates and pregnancies out of wedlock have produced generations of fatherless children who grow to be unruly, undisciplined, unrighteous, unscrupulous adults. The AIDS epidemic was a scourge which began in the homosexual community, and is now running rampant among untold numbers of drug addicts who share dirty needles. Our corrupted culture even teaches (from the grade school level!) that something as basic and obvious as a person’s hardwired, sexual gender is not determined at birth, leaving thousands of confused victims unsure whether they should use the men’s room or the women’s room. We are spiraling downward into the abyss of debauchery, and in dire need of a spiritual, moral, truth awakening! The frequency of the attacks from evil radicals will only increase because of our own, unrestrained wickedness!

No empire, nation, kingdom or person can avoid the destructive consequences of sinfulness left unchecked. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:24). “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7-8). The laws of cause and effect cannot be circumvented. That is true on the physical plane, and it is equally true on the spiritual stratum. But God’s judgment and punishment of wrongdoing is not merely a punitive action. Let us never lose sight of the fact that God’s love and mercy are the driving forces behind His correction and justice. It is in love that God warns us because He does not desire “any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Drawing upon Romans 1:18-32, Homer Hailey wrote: “The first section of the two categories of sins which brought judgment was idolatry, a violation of all regard and respect for the God of heaven, the Creator and Ruler of all (v. 20). The second section (v. 21) involves man’s relationship to man. Moral depravity grows out of idolatry, which expresses a condition of heart (Mark 7:21). The order of the process which leads to this condition is (1) exchanging the truth of God for a lie; (2) worshiping the creature, whether the human intellect or the works of human hands; and (3) decay and depravity which sinks into the basest forms of conduct toward self and contempt for the life and rights of others. John emphasizes the result of this sinful condition by repeating the charge, ‘They repented not…they repented not.’” Which resulted in the last group of sevens to be let loose upon the Roman Empire—the seven bowls (vials) of God’s wrath (chapter 16).

Please read Revelation 10:1-7 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

“Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind. The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.”

---End of Scripture verses---

The first of the three “woes” (verse 12) represented by the locust-scorpion-menaces that God sent to “torment” (verse 5) His enemies for “five months” being completed, the “sixth angel sounded” his trumpet for the second “woe” (verse 13). All of the trumpet blasts appear to be pointing to no specific events in the history of humanity, but teaching general principles about God’s dealings with the sinful rebellion of mankind, and the providential care he affords His faithful, dutiful followers at any given time and place. Homer Hailey wonderfully summarized the nature of the warnings God delivered by the trumpets in His Nevada Publications commentary on “The Book of Revelation”:

“God has been revealing that wickedness is self-destructive. At the sounding of the first four trumpets God sent forth partial judgments which were to have warned the unregenerated inhabitants of the earth. These first four pointed to (1) the collapse of the sinner’s world in which he trusted (8:7); (2) the fall of any great world power which would drastically affect the society involved (8:8-9); (3) the fall of earth’s eminent men and the folly of idolatry which brings its own waters of wormwood (8:10-11); and (4) the partial darkening of human wisdom and understanding (8:12). These symbols are all drawn from calamities in nature. The sounding of the fifth trumpet revealed the torment of men which accompanies the internal decay and rottenness of society without God; this torment does not kill, but it contributes to the final destruction of any community of men. The sounding of the sixth trumpet introduced the external forces which threaten and finally bring destruction to the ungodly world. Sin and rebellion against God bring terrible judgments, the consequences of darkened human wisdom and its folly.”

The “voice” which spoke to the “sixth angel” proceeded forth from “the golden altar which is before God” (verses 13-14). This is the golden altar of incense that sat before God’s throne containing “the prayers of the saints” which “went up before God” continually (Revelation 8:3-5). The sounding of the sixth trumpet and releasing of the second woe is God’s direct response to the pleas of His pious people for a more severe call to repentance for God’s enemies, and that justice be served. The “great River Euphrates” was a symbol for great military power. At the height of Israel’s dominance in the region, the borders under Solomon’s reign stretched, “from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt” (1 Kings 4:21). After Israel’s territory had been diminished, the world Empires of Assyria, Babylon and Persia launched their conquests for expansion from the banks of the Euphrates River.

At God’s perfectly appointed time (“the hour and day and month and year” – verse 15), the angels “released” an army so enormous that John could not count them, but he “heard the number of them” totaled 200 million (verse 16). The horses had “heads like lions” (verse 17) and “tails…like serpents” (verse 19), and the men who sat upon them had breastplates “the color of fire” (verse 17). This was a fierce, formidable, frightening, “fire-breathing” symbol for the fury that God unleashes against His foes in the form of invading forces. God had used the armies of wicked nations to execute His righteous judgment against rampant immorality and idolatry in times past, and He did so against the Roman world as well. They were weakened by a series of wars with the Parthians that ran well into the 2nd century A.D. before the Lord ultimately toppled the Empire by the Germanic invasions of the Goths and Vandals.

“The trumpets portray a culture collapsing on itself. They represent the demise of the foundational institutions of society, such as government, family, and commerce. The invasions from the insects and armies, coming like organized military forces, spread hurt and death everywhere. They represent the heavy toll that violence exacts upon society. Whether internal or external, this collapse finds its main cause in man’s rejection of God’s value system. Men bring this killing curse upon themselves.” (Harkrider)

Please read the saddest two verses in the whole book of Revelation for tomorrow – Revelation 9:20-21.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon. The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things..”

---End of Scripture verses---

We must be careful to not be “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). Just as “the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness” in the Garden (2 Corinthians 11:3), he continues to make sin look attractive and beneficial, even though it is abhorrent and destructive. At first glance, the locusts that arose from the smoke of the abyss looked appealing to the eye. They had the strong, gracious shape of horses, golden crowns upon their heads, faces like men and beautiful hair like that of women (verses 7-8). But, upon closer inspection, their beautiful appearance hid the ferocious teeth of a lion, impenetrable breastplates of iron and tails like scorpions (verse 9-10). Once again, we see that there is a painful, deadly stinger concealed inherently within sin and corruption.

The “king over” these agents of evil is “Abaddon” and “Apollyon” (verse 11). The Hebrew word means “Destruction,” and is associated with death and the grave (Job 28:22; 31:12; Psalm 88:11; Proverbs 15:11). The Greek words means “Destroyer”. There is much debate among scholars as to whether this “angel” refers to Satan himself, another lesser evil, demonic being or merely the spirit of evil and deception that drives these locust-scorpion-menaces forward on their destructive quest. Either way you choose to look at it, Satan, the serpent of old and great red dragon (Revelation 12:3, 9) is the source of all evil, and is the ruler over the wicked realm which is, and long-since past has been, at war with God and His creation. The devil was “a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). He is the destroyer and his single-minded resolve is to destroy all of humanity for eternity and his instrument of destruction is sin.

“The symbols described in the fifth trumpet as darkness and locusts causing pain, led by the Destroyer, seem to represent the consequences of moral corruption. One of the leading factors in the demise of the Roman Empire was self inflicted by its indulgence of Satan’s evil influence. The ungodliness of the Roman era is summarized by Romans 1:18-32. Greed, and all the evils that feed its fulfillment such as dishonesty, theft, and murder, characterized the Gentile world. Even the heathen temples promoted priestesses who committed sexual gratification in the name of religion. Divorce was common and the moral fabric upon which strong societies are built was undermined. Men gave themselves ‘over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness’ (Eph. 4:19), but these sins, unrepented of, led only to pain, sorrow, and ultimately the downfall of a strong empire.” (Harkrider)

Please read Revelation 9:13-19 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

-Louie Taylor

“Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“Historians agree that three major factors contributed to Rome’s demise: natural calamity, internal rottenness, and outside invasion. It seems that these three areas are symbolized, first, in the warning sounds of the trumpets, and again, but more completely, in the outpouring of God’s wrath from the seven bowls which are yet to be revealed. The first four trumpets were pictures of natural calamity used by God as an agent of destruction. The fifth and sixth trumpets emphasize mankind’s role in the downfall of Rome, an empire weakened by internal wickedness and finally overcome by external invasion. In this pageantry the symbolic details are used to make an impression. The lesson is missed if one attempts to interpret a meaning for each specific part of the vision rather than visualizing the scene in its entirety portraying a single message.” (Harkrider)

When “the fifth angel sounded” John saw, not a star “falling” from heaven, but a start that “had fallen” previously to the earth from heaven. This star likely represents Satan, the very one of whom Jesus said, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning” (Luke 10:18), and of which John wrote, “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Revelation 12:9). This dark star stands in stark contrast to Jesus, “the bright morning star” (revelation 22:16), in that he cracked open “the bottomless pit” which unleashed some terrible “woes” (Revelation 8:13) upon the inhabitants of the earth. The power (“key”) that God had “given to him” did not grant him free reign to do every dastardly deed he desired to do (Job 1:12; 2:6; Luke 22:31-32), but only limited mayhem which ultimately served the Lord’s purposes.

When the star “opened the bottomless pit” (the present realm of Satan and his demons), “smoke went up” and “the sun and the air were darkened” (verse 2). The darkness produced by the noxious smoke which ascended from the abyss is “the veil by which ‘the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ…should not dawn upon them’ (II Cor. 4:3f).” (Hailey) Whereas, in the Bible light and darkness are symbols for righteousness and evil, the “darkened” sun and air characterize Satan’s wicked influence which the Roman world had succumbed to and was greatly responsible for the empire’s downfall.

“Out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth” (verse 3). These were not ordinary locusts because they did not wreak havoc upon vegetation as is the norm for these irksome insects (verse 4). Their prey was of the human variety and they only brought “hurt” upon “the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” This scorpion-like “insect invasion” represents the “sting” of sin when men decide to follow the course of their own, lust-driven appetites, and are forced to suffer the consequences of their ungodliness. Galatians 6:7-8 warns us, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” The fifth trumpet depicts the moral corruption that rotted the Roman Empire from within. The next trumpet will represent the destruction wrought upon the Empire from the invasion of its external enemies.

This fierce assault only tormented God’s enemies for “five months” (verse 5), which represents only a limited period of time. The number 10 is the symbol for that which is perfect or complete, so half of 10 depicts that which is partial. God’s wrath had not yet reached its full capacity, so once again, much worse is yet to come!

Please read Revelation 9:7-12 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

“The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

---End of Scripture verses---

“The three series of sevens follow a uniform pattern with the first four being alike, followed by two, and then the final one. The first four trumpets affect areas of nature whereas the next two pronounce woes upon mankind. This same pattern is followed with the seven bowls of wrath (16:1-21). (Harkrider) Trumpets were used throughout the Old Testament to call God’s people to a wide variety of different purposes and gatherings (Numbers 10:1-10). Even in the New Testament the sound of the trumpet is used to symbolize the advent of the Great Resurrection and gathering together of the Lord with His people that will occur on the Final Day of Judgment (1 Corinthians 15:21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). It seems obvious that the trumpet blasts recorded in Revelation chapters 8-9 serve to warn the wicked to repent of their evil ways, and to rouse the righteous to greater faithfulness and a closer walk with Gog.

The supernatural calamities depicted in today’s verses are not literal, but they are used symbolically for natural disasters on the earth that should serve to remind mankind of their weakness and vulnerability, and total dependence upon their Creator. The sounding of the first trumpet sent forth “hail and fire, mixed with blood” upon the earth (verse 7). God has used fiery hail and brimstone as instruments of His divine judgment against the wickedness and rebellion of man (Genesis 19:24; Exodus 9:23-24), and the blood mixture of verse 7 was the penalty demanded for those who shed the innocent blood of mankind upon the earth (Genesis 9:6). Only “a third part of the earth was” affected, so the destruction depicted is not total annihilation. “The judgment is against the wicked and upon the realm in which the unregenerate find their life and objects of worship. Living only for the material and physical, theirs is a life spent in rebellion against God and the spiritual. With the destruction of that for which man lives, his pride is humbled.” (Hailey) Or should be, anyway.

“The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood” (verse 8). “This symbolizes the fall of an eminent unidentified power cast down as Babylon of old” (Jeremiah 51:25, 42). “The sea, which signifies the mass of humanity or society…is greatly affected… Men are not specifically mentioned, but they are probably included in the suffering. The vision indicates judgment upon a worldly society when its center of power is cast down and its economy falls with it.” (Hailey) The sea that “became blood” is reminiscent of one the Egyptian plagues, as many of these “trumpet disasters” are. So far we see the earth, the trees, the grass, and the sea greatly affected by the righteous wrath of the great God of heaven. Next comes the “rivers and springs of waters” (verse 10).

When the angel sounded the third trumpet, “a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters” (verse 10). As Rome is depicted to be “Babylon the great” (Revelation 17:5; 18:2), we are reminded of the prophecy against Babylon in Isaiah 14:12: “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations!” “Wormwood” (verse 11) is a bitter plant used to symbolize God’s censure and condemnation, and usually against the practice of idolatry (Deuteronomy 29:18). All things good and fresh turn harmful and bitter when we arrogantly elevate anyone or anything to the place of preeminence in our hearts that is only suitable for God. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18)!

“The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened” (verse 12). As the ninth plague plunged Egypt into blackness of night, the fourth trumpet darkened the light of the sun, moon and stars for “a third” of the time. First century Christians familiar with Old Testament symbolism would have understood that this was the terminology of God’s judgment against peoples and nations who practiced unrighteousness and refused to honor and serve the Lord in reverence and fear (Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 3:15; Amos 8:9).

The “eagle” is frequently used as a symbol for imminent disaster (verse 13). As this eagle flew about in “midheaven,” it screeched with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” The worst is yet to come for those who do not know the Lord and refuse to obey His righteous laws!!!

Please read Revelation 9:1-6 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.”

---End of Scripture verses---

When the Lamb broke open the seventh seal of the sacred scroll, there was a period of “silence” for a short period of time—figuratively “about half an hour” (verse 1). This was the dramatic “quiet before the storm” designed to build great anticipation and wonder for the spectacle that was about to unfold. With the closing of the first series of sevens (seals) a new series of sevens was initiated. During this silent interlude, the seven angels who stood before God were given “seven trumpets” (verse 2).

It is important to understand that the seven trumpets did not follow the seven seals on a strictly chronological basis, but ran parallel with them to a great degree. The breaking of the seals revealed the persecution of God’s people on earth, and the pleas of the saints that had already lost their lives because of it; and the trumpets represent God’s judgment against the persecutors as a (trumpet) call to repentance before He unleashes His full wrath upon them. “Trumpets are a symbol of warning and instruction (Num. 10:1-10; Ezek. 33:3), serving as a way God calls men to repent (Joel 2:1). God always warns first, for He is ‘longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (2 Pet 3:9).” (Harkrider)

This time of silence also represented a glimpse of heaven’s perspective of “the prayers of all the saints” (verse 3). “Another angel” was standing at “the golden altar which was before the throne” with “a golden censer” in his hand. When he added “much incense” to the censer, he added to the prayers, pleas and petitions of God’s people. We can take tremendous comfort in knowing that the Lord always hears our prayers, and that He always responds in the best possible ways.

If you’ve ever wondered if God is there and whether He is listening and if He really cares, the answer is a resounding “YES”! If you’ve ever questioned whether God is really present when the hurt is really hard, please know for certain that He is on His throne in heaven, watching and listening and preparing the very best plan of action for your life! And Jesus, our great Savior and Mediator is there as well, interceding for us (“adding to” and intensifying our prayers) and sending them “up before God” (verse 4). “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20)!

When “the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar” and “threw it to the earth” (verse 5), this indicated that God had indeed heard the petitions of His beleaguered saints and answered in an assertive and vigorous way. “This is the apocalyptic counterpart to Jesus’ parable of the importune widow, spoken ‘to the end that they ought always to pray, and not to faint.’ Jesus told of a judge who granted a widow’s request that he avenge her of her adversaries, not because he cared, but because he wanted her to stop bothering him. Jesus explained that the Father also grants requests, although He does not share the judge’s attitude: ‘And shall not God avenge His elect, that cry to Him day and night, and yet He is longsuffering over them? I say unto you, that He will avenge them speedily’ (Luke 18:1-8).”

And now God replies to the cry of His righteous elect by casting down the fire of His righteous indignation upon the world of wicked men. He responds in “thunder” and “lightning” which causes the earth to shudder and “quake” before Him! The effective, fervent prayer of righteous men and women accomplishes much (James 5:16)!

Please read Revelation 8:7-13 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.’ Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘My lord, you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

“After these things” which were revealed to John about the saints living upon the earth in verses 1-8, the Lord showed Him another vision of His triumphant saints gathered around His throne of glory in heaven (verse 1). This was “a great multitude which no one could count” standing in the presence of the Father and the Lamb. This would include the souls underneath the altar who had been slain for the word of God, and cried out unto the Lord, “How long?” (Revelation 6:9-11). Their faithful endurance and the wait was entirely worth it (Romans 8:18). This would also include the 144,000 who had been sealed by the Lord on their foreheads while living upon the earth (verses 3-4). This is a vignette of God’s redeemed of all times and places, gathered unto their Lord at the end of the ages, secure in His presence, relishing His glory, praising Him eternally (verse 3).

More than anything else, this is a portrayal of hope realized. This marvelous vision of God’s victorious children singing praises to Him personally in heaven for all eternity encourages us to keep fighting the good fight of faith no matter how rough the road may get. John describes a very joyful occasion of God’s children from all around the world, assembled in heaven’s holy sanctuary, purified in the sight of their Savior (dressed in white robes), singing jubilant songs of love and adoration, while waving palm branches in a celebration of life the likes of which has never been experienced before. The palm branches they carried in their hands remind us of the Feast of the Tabernacles, the most joyful of all Old Testament festivals, that was celebrated annually after the fall harvest. If we remain faithful until the end of the way, we will reap the harvest of everlasting glory and joy as we rejoice before the Lord our God forever and ever (Leviticus 23:40).

“These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (verse 14). Premillennialism teaches that “The Great Tribulation” is the specific designation for a seven year period on earth after God’s saints are “raptured” up into heaven, but before the Lord returns to set up His kingdom for a literal one thousand year reign on earth. Nowhere in the Bible is such a farfetched scenario plainly taught, and in fact the word of God teaches that Christ’s church is His kingdom (Matthew 16:18-19; Luke 7:21; Revelation 1:6, 9), and when He returns it will be to deliver that kingdom up to heaven (1 Corinthians 15:24) and destroy the earth forever (2 Peter 3:10).

But apart from these obvious truths, John wrote this letter primarily and immediately to his contemporary brethren in Christ who were suffering tribulation because of their faith in Jesus. This period of “great tribulation” was already being experienced by our brethren who lived under the oppression and tyranny of the Roman Empire. According to Homer Hailey, this period began “with Nero’s persecution (A.D. 64) and” continued “until the edict of Constantine (A.D. 313). Those saints are now beyond this life, before the throne of God, having gained the victory. Word of such victory offered tremendous assurance and encouragement to men and women facing trials and death, and likewise encourages all since who face similar tests.”

The argument can even be made this this “great tribulation” is not limited to any place or time because it was said to have been experienced by the “great multitude” of God’s people from all ages and locations (verse 9). Paul said to the Christians in eastern Asia Minor, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Jesus tells us, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). In fact, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

Verses 15-17 describe a very soothing description of a life of eternal comfort and providence in the intimate presence of the timeless, boundless God of glory. “They shall experience no unsatisfied desire. Saints in glory experience the sweetest, fullest, most intimate fellowship with God and the Lamb. Therefore no tears will be in heaven (Isa. 25:8). This same scene is presented again after the judgment, portraying the eternal condition of the Lord’s faithful (21:3-4; 22:1-5).”

Please read Revelation 8:1-6 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.’ And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.”

---End of Scripture verses---

Chapter 7 represents a quiet interlude between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals of the sacred scroll. It is provided to tell us exactly what will become of the saints dwelling upon the earth (verses 1-8), and the souls of the slain saints positioned under the altar (verses 9-17). Chapter six ended with the critical question: When the great day of the wrath of the Father and the Lamb comes, who will be “able to stand” (Revelation 6:16-17)? The answer: “the bond-servants of our God” who have His seal stamped “on their foreheads” (verse 3). God’s faithful servants will be spared His eternal wrath and destruction when “the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8)

God has not promised to insulate His faithful followers from physical harm or natural disasters (Ecclesiastes 9:11; Luke 13:4-5), so it must be understood that the restraining of natural phenomena depicted in today’s verses represents salvation of a spiritual, eternal nature. God’s judgment is about to be unleashed upon the earth, as represented by the destructive “four winds” (Jeremiah 49:36; 5:1-2) that the angels are “holding back” (verse 1), with the breaking open of the seventh seal. Before any portions of “the earth or the sea or the trees” (verse 3) were to be harmed, God’s elect must first receive His seal. “A biblical seal indicates several things: (a) protection against tampering (Matt. 27:66); (b) ownership (Song of Sol. 8:6); and (c) certification (Esth. 3:12). All of these meanings are true of Christians who are under God’s protection, purchased by the blood of Christ, and certified by the Spirit to be the sons of God (Eph. 1:13; Mom. 8:16).” (Harkrider)

Throughout the book of Revelation two distinct groups of people are differentiated from one another: those who bear the seal of God, and those who carry “the mark of the beast”. The “seal” and “mark” are not physical forms of demarcation, but spiritual brands that reflect the spiritual condition of the heart as evidenced by the fruit that it bears. God does not merely see the external shell as man sees, but is able to look into the deepest recesses of the human heart (1 Samuel 16:7), therefore He needs no exterior indicators to know who is who. Be not fearful or troubled about what may befall you upon this terrestrial testing ground. God knows, owns and protects those who belong to Him!

“And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand” (verse 4). One notable religious group teaches that only 144,000 people will go to heaven, and the rest of God’s people will live on a new, refurbished earthly paradise, based on their interpretation of Revelation chapter seven. But they have things backwards because in John’s vision, the 144,000 are situated on “the earth” (verses 1-3), and the “great multitude” of the saved (verse 9) are standing before God’s throne in heaven serving Him day and night (verse 15).

If we bear in mind that this number is symbolic and not literal, we understand that it represents all of God’s faithful children who dwell upon the earth at any given time, and particularly at the time of the Lord’s retribution. Twelve is the number that represents God’s covenant people (12 tribes of Israel, 12 Apostles), and the number ten indicates fullness or completion. 12 times 12 times 1000 (10 x 10 x 10) equals 144,000. “Every tribe of the sons of Israel” is a figurative representation of Christians (Matthew 19:28) who God considers to be His “inward Jews” and “spiritual Israel” (Galatians 6:16; romans 2:28-29).

Please read Revelation 7:9-17 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

“I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”

---End of Scripture verses---

With the breaking of the seals of the sacred scroll, and the unleashing of the four horsemen (verses 1-8) and their riders, Jesus and His redemptive work were proclaimed, but also the persecution and turmoil that ensue from following the Lord and remaining true and faithful to His Gospel. When Jesus broke open the fifth seal, the plaintive plea of the souls of the saints who had been slain for the cause of Christ was, “how long, O Lord” will this unjust oppression and torture be allowed to continue, and the wicked go unpunished for their evil deeds (verses 9-10). Even though there was no definitive answer given about the specific duration of time, with the breaking of the sixth seal, the Lord assured His loyal disciples that He will not allow evil to continue unabated. Satan will be toppled, his subordinates will be thwarted and God’s children will be vindicated.

“When He broke the sixth seal” (verse 12), a cataclysmic calamity on the cosmological scale was displayed. We must always remember that God reveals these visions, vividly, physically and figuratively to impress upon our minds just how consequential and inescapable matters of the spiritual nature are. The images of great quakes, fierce winds, a darkened sun and a bloody moon were used frequently in the Old Testament to portend God’s ferocious judgment upon the wickedness of mankind (Joel 2:10; Isaiah 13:10; Jeremiah 4:23-24). “What is symbolized is that things seemingly impossible of happening will occur. Those things wherein man feels secure shall be turned upside down when the Lord comes in his mighty power of judgment.” (Harkrider)

I believe that Final Judgment is depicted in today’s verses and not God’s vengeance against the enemies of His people in the first few centuries A.D. Even though Jesus revealed to John “things which must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1), it seems obvious that chapter six is a snapshot glimpse into heaven’s view of historical events that transpire from Christ’s arrival through the time that He returns. Chapter six gives a general overview from Christ’s advent until His return, while most of the rest of the letter hammers out these events with much greater attention to detail. Chapter 8 through most of chapter 20 deals with God’s judgment against the Roman world for the atrocities it committed against His people, and the remainder of the book depicts scenes of Final Judgment, and the eternal reward in realms above reserved for those who “overcome” the tempters attempts to lead them astray.

No one can escape the severity and certainty of God’s righteous wrath, all are included from kings to slaves, rich to poor, weak to strong (verses 15-17). “These catastrophic events in nature wreak dismay in the hearts of men who put their trust in things of this world rather than in God… Their fear is not of death. They seek to die rather than to face God.” (Harkrider) Beware “the wrath of the Lamb!” We dare not lose sight of the fact that this “meek Lamb” has “seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God” (Revelation 5:6)! Jesus is the all-powerful, all knowing and perfectly holy God of heaven and earth! His yoke is easy and is burden is light but His judgment will be without mercy to those who have shown no mercy!

Please read Revelation 7:1-8 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

“When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”

---End of Scripture verses---

The “souls who had been slain because of the word of God” are depicted as being “underneath the altar” (verse 9) of sacrifice. These are the “slain” saints who gave their lifeblood for their faith in and love for Christ. Jesus said, “He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:38-39) These were our brothers and sisters in Christ who overcame that slanderer, Satan and his vicious assaults “because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” (Revelation 12:11) The very word of God testifies of such individuals that they will forever wear the victory crown of righteousness because such unfaltering faith in the face of fierce persecution pleases God, and He pledges that their “reward in heaven is great” (Matthew 5:11-12).

These martyred brethren cried, “How long, O Lord holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood?” (verse 10), but the query was not given a direct answer by God. Matters of vengeance, justice and judgment are always the Lord’s business, and will be taken care of in His own perfect timing according to His own perfect knowledge and righteousness determination. “Unavenged blood cries from the ground (Gen. 4:10), for expiation must be made and covering provided by the blood of murderers (Num. 35:33…). These saints cry for justice because when God called to the heathen nations He promised His own people saying, ‘Praise his people, ye nations…for He will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to His adversaries, and will make expiation for his land, for his people’ (Deut. 32:43). The sacrificed souls are crying to God to fulfill His promise.” (Hailey)

These beleaguered saints had stayed the course, kept the faith and won the victory, even though they had not yet reached the eternal state of glory ultimately to be enjoyed when Christ returns to reclaim His own. Just the same, they had been given “a white robe” and provided “rest” from the toils and struggles and pain of earthy life. John is not describing a state of “unconscious slumber” that some in the denomination world teach is experienced by the faithfully deceased until the Lord returns. While it is true that these saints were “resting,” they were spiritually alive, mentally alert and perceptive of their situation. While “a little while longer” (verse 11) is a relative term, Homer Hailey suggests that this “short time” parallels the time of Satan’s “great wrath” because he “knows that he only has short time” (Revelation 12:12). “The ‘short time’ of Satan terminates when he is defeated and bound (20:1-3…), at which time the saints’ ‘little time’ ends and they are raised victoriously to sit on thrones and reign for a thousand years.”

Please read Revelation 6:12-17 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

-Louie Taylor

“Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, ‘Come.’ I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come.’ And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him. When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, ‘Come.’ I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.’ When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ‘Come.’ I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“This is the first of a series of three ‘sevens’—seven seals (6:1-8:5); seven trumpets (9:6-9:21); and seven bowls of wrath (15:1-16:21). These three series seem to run parallel to each other in a recapitulation pattern. This becomes most apparent when comparing the seven trumpets with the seven bowls of wrath because the objects affected are the same, only they suffer increased intensity of God’s judgments. The information revealed in the seven seals is more general in nature as the first six seals give a panorama of God’s dealings with mankind on earth, beginning with the coming of Christ and culminating in the scene of final judgment… All three series of sevens are simultaneous, although the trumpets and the bowls of wrath are more limited in time as they deal only with the ‘things which must shortly come to pass’ (1:1). (Harkrider)

When the worthy Lamb broke open the seven seals of God’s holy scroll, the contents were not revealed in written form but by vivid visions. When the first seal was loosened, the first of the fabled “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” bolted forth. It was “a white horse” and “he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown…and he went out…to conquer” (verse 2). Although opinions vary about who this white horseman is, the evidence strongly suggests that it is Jesus. White is the color of holiness and purity and the Lord is perfect in His virtue. The crown upon His head is the “stephanos,” or victory crown, and Jesus appeared to conquer sin, and destroy mankind’s greatest enemy and his works of evil. This is really the theme of the whole book of Revelation. Jesus came to rescue and redeem a people for Himself by destroying him who had power over death (Hebrews 2:14-15). The scroll with the seven seals begins, appropriately enough with Jesus Himself, the only one worthy to open the book, and His mission in this world of pain and woe.

The breaking of the second seal revealed a red horse, and power was given to the rider “to take peace from earth” (verse 4). When the Gospel enters the picture, persecution is certain to follow closely behind. The rider was given a “sword” with which to wreak his havoc upon the earth. This is the same word that Jesus used when He said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). This is the “short sword” and it is used to symbolize the persecution, mistreatment and violence people incur when they give their allegiance to Christ.

When Jesus opened the third seal, John was shown the image of a black horse with its rider holding “a pair of scales in his hand” (verse 5). There is more than one way to persecute a Christian, and this vision represented economic hardship. A denarius was an entire day’s wages for the average “day laborer,” so “a quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius” (verse 6) represented extremely exorbitant prices just for the basic nutritional necessities of life. Famine is not depicted here because luxuries were still abundant. The rider was commanded, “do not damage the oil and the wine.” The worldly, wealthy people of society would still have more than enough to eat, but the impoverished would find it nearly impossible to merely scrape by. This type of persecution was a real problem for Christians in certain parts of the Roman Empire who refused to burn incense in homage to the Emperor. They could be branded as heretics or traitors, and ostracized from society with no way left to make a living.

The opening of the fourth seal revealed “an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death” (verse 8). “This fourth horse has a sickly, gruesome color, symbolic of disease and death.” (Harkrider) “Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.” “When these common woes of mankind are added to the specific persecutions brought on the saints, one can easily understand the agonizing plea of the souls under the alter embodied in the fifth seal.” (Harkrider) That distressing plea was, “How long, O Lord?” (verse 10)!!!

Please read Revelation 6:9-11 for tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day!

-Louie Taylor

“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.’ And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.’ And the four living creatures kept saying, ‘Amen.’ And the elders fell down and worshiped.”

---End of Scripture verses---

Close your eyes and try to envision this breathtaking scene in your mind. Chapter five ends with a swelling chorus of heavenly beings vocalizing praises to the triumphant Lamb and to Him who sits on the divine throne. “Myriads of myriads” indicates an incalculable number of angels along with “the living creatures and the elders” extoling God’s virtues at a deafening pitch (verse 11). “Every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea” (verse 13) also joined in together to exalt the praises of the awesome King and the Lamb who was slain yet lives forevermore.

As this magnificent throne scene draws to a close, God’s loyal subjects cannot help but be enthralled and uplifted by the certainty that they do not serve their Lord in vain. The Ruler of the Universe sits upon His throne of almighty power, He sees and rules in the affairs of men who dwell upon all the created earth, He hears the prayers and cries of His faithful, suffering children, and He can and will supply provision to them and their ultimate vindication in a resounding and complete victory over their enemies. Praise be to God in the highest! To Him belongs all “power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (verse 12)!

Homer Hailey wrote in regard to the worshiping angels: “Christ’s sacrifice made no provision for fallen angels (Hebrews 2:16), and the holy angels need none; yet as ministering spirits doing service for the sake of the redeemed (Heb. 1:14), they desire to look into the grand scheme of redemption (Eph. 3:10; 1 Peter 1:12). As fellow-servants with men such as John and his brethren (Rev. 19:10; 22:9), they join in praising the Lamb who is worthy by virtue of His victory in conflict and sacrifice.”

Psalm 148: “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light! Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created. He has also established them forever and ever; He has made a decree which will not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, Sea monsters and all deeps; Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word; Mountains and all hills; Fruit trees and all cedars; Beasts and all cattle; Creeping things and winged fowl; Kings of the earth and all peoples; Princes and all judges of the earth; Both young men and virgins; Old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above earth and heaven. And He has lifted up a horn for His people, Praise for all His godly ones; Even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise the Lord!”

Please do not miss the fact that equal praise, glory and honor are given to both the Holy Father and the Beloved Son: “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever” (verse 13). Consider also the equality ascribed to the Father and Son when comparing 4:11 and 5:12. And how could that possibly be? It is clearly because Our Savior Jesus and our Father God are co-equal persons, along with the Holy Spirit, comprising the One True God of heaven (Genesis 1:26). The Father, Son and Holy Spirit share equality in essence, eternity, power and purpose. Tomorrow the Lion of Judah breaks open the seals of the holy scroll and begins to unleash God’s vengeance upon His enemies!!!

Please read Revelation 6:1-8 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

John turned to see “the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah” (verse 5), but instead saw “a Lamb standing, as if slain” (verse 6). Instead of the symbol for majesty and power, Jesus stood before him as a figure of humility and sacrifice. “He had overcome to open the book not by the power of kingly might, but by sacrifice through love. By this He had defeated His foes and had overcome the world (John 3:16), and by this His subjects must now conquer.” (Hailey) Isaiah prophesied that He would be led as a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7), but the Christ lay down His life as an act of love and not an indication of weakness. The Lamb in John’s vision had “seven horns and seven eyes.” Horns are symbols of strength and power (1 Samuel 2:10; Matthew 28:18), and eyes are figures of knowledge and keen awareness. The perfect number (seven) expresses that the Savior’s power and His perception are pure and perfect.

“The seven Spirits of God” are “sent out into all the earth.” The Holy Spirit, as the Divine Revelator, empowered the Apostles and prophets to speak and write down God’s perfect will, and spread God’s plan of salvation far and wide. The Spirit guided these men “into all the truth” (John 16:13), and Jesus commanded and commissioned them in Mark 16:15-16 to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who as disbelieved shall be condemned.” According to Colossians 1:23, Christ’s Gospel message of love, sacrifice and salvation has been “proclaimed in all creation under heaven.”

“And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne” (verse 7). “Only the nail-pierced hands of the Lamb were able to take the book from God’s hand and to loose the seals thereof. The Son of God is qualified to carry forward the purpose and plan of God the Father. It is he who ‘came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent Me’ (John 6:38).” (Harkrider) When the Lamb of God had taken the scroll out of the right hand of the Father, the twenty-four elders fell down before Him in worship and homage (verse 8). The “golden bowls full of incense” symbolized the “prayers of the saints” that are received in heaven and heard by God (Luke 1:10).

And as the golden bowls are symbolic in nature, so also are the “harps” that the elders held in their hands. These instruments were emblematic of the praise that was offered to God along with the prayers. The New Testament only authorizes God’s people to offer vocal music as praise and worship to Him under our covenant in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). The musical instruments mentioned in Revelation are symbols, just like the sea of crystal, the seven eyes and seven horns, the seals, trumpets, bowls of wrath, etc.

Jesus was “worthy…to take the book and to break its seals” because He was “slain, and purchased for God with” His “blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (verse 9). “O sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him. The Lord has made know His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.” (Psalm 98:1-2) Only the One who died for the sins of all people of the whole world, and purchased His people with His own blood, is worthy to reveal and accomplish God’s perfect plan of righteousness and redemption.

Please read Revelation 5:11-14 for tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day!

-Louie Taylor

“I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?’ And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; and one of the elders said to me, ‘Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

As the scene shifts from the glory, power and supremacy of God sitting on His majestic throne in heaven in chapter four, to the execution of His perfect, divine will in chapter five, John sees “a book,” or scroll “written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals” in the Creator’s right hand (verse 1). That this book is replete with writing and bound with seven (the perfect number) seals indicates that God’s full, complete and absolute will is contained therein. The seals were “to safeguard the material from being tampered with or exposed to view and to assure its reaching the proper destination intact. The seal was usually of wax or other soft substance on which the owner’s or sender’s name or emblem was impressed by his signet-seal.” (Hailey)

A “strong angel” issued a daunting challenge “with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals (verse 2)?” No created being “in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it” (verse 3). Not one of the 24 elders or living creatures. No one had the authority or credentials to open the book, read the book, implement God’s plan. The will and mind of God can only be known to mankind when the Lord decides and desires to reveal it. John “began to weep greatly” (verse 4) “because it appeared that the purpose for which he had been caught up to heaven, ‘to see the things which must come to pass hereafter’ (4:1), would not be realized.” (Hailey) John must have been fearful that Satan and his ministers would wield their power unabated, and win the victory over his brethren in the faith.

But there is One. One who is both human and divine, both a Lion and a Lamb. There is One deemed worthy by a perfectly sinless life and an all-powerful resurrection that has the will and right to break the seals, unleash God’s judgment and execute His plan of righteousness. He is “the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah” (verse 5). Israel promised and prophesied to his sons that “Judah is a lion’s whelp,” and “the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet” until God’s Anointed One, “the One to whom it belongs” (Shiloh), comes (Genesis 49:9-10). He is “the Root of David” (Isaiah 11:1-10). Jesus is both David’s descendant and His Creator and Lord (Matthew 22:42-45), and it was prophesied that God’s Son would enter the world as “a descendant of David according to the flesh” (Romans 1:1-4; 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Acts 2:25-36).

The fact that Jesus fulfilled these Messianic prophecies qualified Him to “open the book and its seven seals” (verse 5), and to “overcome” the great nemesis of mankind, Satan, his arsenal of sin, and his dominion of death. Those of us who belong to Lord of hosts should “stop weeping” over the plight of humanity, and the fear and dread of pain and death. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has overcome our mortal enemy, and He rules with a fist of iron and yet with a gentle hand. If God is for us, no one can stand against us (Romans 8:31)!

Please read Revelation 5:6-10 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.’ Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.’ And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

“After” John had recorded the words of exhortation, admonition and condemnation to the churches of Asia in the seven letters, the Lord showed him “a door standing open in heaven” (verse 1). There can be little doubt that the apostle and many of his brethren were discouraged because of the “tribulation” that they were enduring for their faith in Christ Jesus, and there was much more yet to come (1:9). So Jesus showed John, and all believers through Revelation’s vivid symbolism, the true reality that can only be appropriately viewed from heaven’s perspective. The takeaway from this vision is that God is in complete control. No matter how much power the worldly wicked seem to wield upon this earth, the Lord reigns supreme and rules with all majesty, power and authority from His heavenly throne.

Jesus shows us “what must take place after these things.” “Man can write history only after events take place, but God foretells history before it occurs (Rom. 4:17b; Isa. 42:9). Before the battle is fought, God knows the victory will be achieved (Ps. 46). From this viewpoint Jesus encouraged his disciples, ‘Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom’ (Luke 12:32). ‘In this world you have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33).” (Harkrider).

John was “in the Spirit” (verse 2) while under His power and shown “a throne…standing in heaven.” The “One sitting on the throne” was “like a jasper stone and a sardius stone in appearance” (verse 3). These precious, radiant stones symbolized God’s intrinsic attributes of divine glory and perfect judgment. Arced over and around the majestic throne glistened a brilliant rainbow of emerald green. Reverently placed around God’s throne of supremacy were “twenty-four elders” sitting upon “twenty-four” lesser “thrones” (verse 4). Twelve is the number that symbolizes God’s people, and perhaps it is doubled here to represent all of the Lord’s faithful under His previous covenants and current covenant in Christ Jesus combined. The elders were “clothed in white garments” and wearing “golden crowns”. When we are washed in the blood of Christ (1:5) we are purified, washed white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). Jesus promises us that if we suffer with Him, we will also reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12).

“Out from the throne came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder” (verse 5). This is reminiscent of the scene of God descending upon Mount Sinai in His awesome power in Exodus 19:16-19. The Holy Spirit is also present “before the throne,” the number “seven” emblematic of His perfect divinity. “Since the work of the Holy Spirit is that of illumination of the truth (John 16:13), ‘lamps of fire burning’ offer a graphic portrayal of this mission." (Harkrider) “Before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal” (verse 6). This “barrier” places a bit of shimmering separation between the glorious Creator and His lowly creation, but when the Lord returns and His people are perfected, there will be “no longer any sea” of severance (21:1).

The “four living creatures” that fly around God’s throne and “do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty” (verses 6-8) are similar in nature to the “cherubim” (Ezekiel 10:20) in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 1:1-20). The cherubim are a “very high order of angels who execute God’s will and are assigned the work of guarding holy things… Cherubims were placed at the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:24), and…placed at the two ends of the ark of the covenant…(Exod. 5:18-22)… The ‘lion,’ sometimes called the king of the jungle, represents strength. The ‘calf’ (‘ox’)…is a beast of patient service and endurance. ‘Man’ signifies intelligence, reason, and wisdom. An ‘eagle,’ the prince of the skies, perhaps represents penetrating vision and swiftness.” (Harkrider). The living creatures “do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty” just as the angels in Isaiah’s throne scene had sung (Isaiah 6:1-3).

“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created” (verse 11). It is only right for those closest to God (His angels and His children) to extol the praises of our most magnificent King! It is only right for us to humble ourselves and “cast our crowns before Him.” He is the Creator and Ruler of the Universe. He is the source of everything that is good in life. Only by His power can we overcome sin and death and an eternity of destruction. Only through Christ’s grace and power and blood and love and mercy can we reign with Him eternally in heaven, and sing His praises forever and ever in the beautiful city of God. Amen!

Please read Revelation 5:1-5 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

Jesus Christ is “The Amen” (verse 14). He is the Truth and He is always true. His very name guarantees that everything He says is factual, dependable, guaranteed. He is “the faithful and true Witness.” Any praise or condemnation that He offers to any individual or congregation is completely unassailable because He has firsthand, eyewitness knowledge of everything that happens, every word spoken, every thought contemplated. And Jesus had nothing but condemnation to bring against the church at Laodicea. Jesus is “the Beginning of the creation of God.” The Lord in no way implies that He is a created being, but that He is the “source” of all things that have been created (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-17).

Originally built as a military outpost on an important trade route, Laodicea came to be an extremely prosperous, wealthy city and renowned banking center in the days of the Roman Empire. It was famous for its eye salve that was developed by a nearby, celebrated medical school, and for a unique breed of sheep with silky, black wool that helped make it a leader in the garment industry. The city was so wealthy that when it was flattened in 60 A.D. by a massive earthquake, it refused financial assistance from the capital in Rome. Laodicea boasted a fiercely independent and self-reliant population, and it is obvious that the hubris of the local culture infiltrated the mindset of the local congregation.

The one major disadvantage for Laodicea was its lack of a high-quality water source, so they drew upon a hot springs located to the south of the city. “The water would have been lukewarm, even after flowing several miles…. In contrast, only a few miles away, Colossae had a good supply of refreshing cold water, and Hieropolis prized its hot spring water which helped to administer healing to the ailing. With all its prosperity, Laodicea could provide only tepid water. The church likewise rendered neither refreshment for the weary nor healing for the spiritually sick. It had become ineffective because of its inability to produce spiritual fruit.” (Harkrider)

The deeds of the Laodicean church were “neither cold nor hot” (verse 15). The halfhearted “faith” of these smug and blinded brethren was nauseating to Jesus, and because they were “lukewarm,” He was ready to “spit” or “vomit” them out of His mouth (verse 16). If they had been never awakened spiritually and converted (cold) then the Lord would have been more patient and understanding, and His word could have pierced their hearts. If they had been zealous and fervent in their faith and love for Him He would have heaped the highest praises upon them. But since they arrogantly trusted in their material wealth and viewed themselves as needing none of the “riches” that God alone could provide for them (lukewarm), they were just about at the point of the Lord’s total rejection.

“Christians are lulled to sleep when they trust in material prosperity, outward luxury, and physical health (Luke 8:13-14). Nothing can be done with the lukewarm, for they are satisfied” (Harkrider) The Lord reproves and disciplines those whom He loves (verse 19; Hebrews 12:5-10), and His sharp rebuke still held out a little hope for these lukewarm brethren, but things looked bleak. Therefore, we must be careful to not deceive ourselves into thinking we can do just barely enough in the kingdom to get by. God’s people must be fully committed to and invested in His word, work and worship if we desire to please Him. If we desire to satisfy our Master we cannot be satisfied with a “bare minimum” approach to faith. To “buy…gold refined by fire…white garments, and…eye salve” (verse 18) is to do whatever it takes to possess the spiritual riches that are cherished and treasured by the Lord (Proverbs 23:23; Matthew 13:44-45).

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (verse 20). Jesus does not just stand idly by and watch His people flounder. He actively seeks our love and faith and repentance (verse 19). He pleads with us through His word, He appeals to us through our brethren, He petitions us through our conscience. Open the door of your heart to Him and welcome Him in. He wants you to “dine” with Him, commune Him, “reign” with Him.

Please read Revelation 4:1-11 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

Most Americans recognize Philadelphia to be “the city of brotherly love”. The Greek word literally means “brother loving,” and true to its name, an Ancient King of Pergamum named this Asian city in honor of his brother whom he greatly loved and admired. Ancient Philadelphia was considered to be a “missionary city,” in that it was founded primarily to advance the Greek language and culture eastward, being established on a major east-west trade route as it was. “The vicinity about the city was especially conducive to grape growing, which made it famous for its fine wines. This gave prominence to Dionysus, the Greek god of the vine and of wine, and made this the chief pagan cult of the city. Philadelphia had so many temples and festivals to the pagan deities that it was often called ‘Little Athens’ (Hastings). However, opposition to the church and Christians stemmed from wealthy Jews…” (Hailey).

The churches in Philadelphia and Smyrna were the only congregations of the seven mentioned in Revelation 2-3 that Jesus pronounced no complaint or condemnation against. It can be a sobering thought to know that the Lord says “I know your deeds” (verse 8). But it can also bring us great comfort to know that the Lord is aware of the good that we do, and is pleased with us when we do His good will, even if no one else in the whole world recognizes the value that we bring into it.

Jesus had placed an “open door” before the brethren in Philadelphia. As the city was placed in its prime location for spreading the Greek way of life, so the Lord had opened up an ideal opportunity for the church there to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As God gives us various opportunities to do His will by serving Him and others, we have the obligation to recognize and take advantage of them as best we can. When the Lord opens doors for us, we must not be like the “wicked and lazy servant” who buried his talent in the ground (Matthew 25:14-30). We must put the resources, gifts and abilities that the Lord has blessed us with to good use.

The Christians in Philadelphia only had “a little power,” but they chose to keep the Lord’s word and not deny His name. It doesn’t matter if we are not financially well-off, have little or no social or political clout, or even if our local church is small in number. If we decide to follow Jesus, and take a strong stand for His everlasting truth, “nothing will be impossible” for us, and He will empower us to “move mountains” for His desires and purposes (Matthew 17:20). If we “hold fast” to the treasure that has been entrusted to us, no one can take away our eternal crown of life (verse 11).

If we remain faithful and loyal to the end of life’s way, God will make us “a pillar in the temple of…God” (verse 12). God will make us a permanent fixture in His heavenly sanctuary, and we “will not go out from it anymore.” This is probably another reference to one of the problems that the people living in the particular area addressed experienced. Philadelphia and the surrounding locale was prone to frequent earthquakes, and “when tremors occurred, its citizens fled in fear into the open countryside. In God’s eternal temple, the fearful will not do this because then there will be safety and security (Rev. 7:15; 21:3-4).” (Harkrider)

“And I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.” “Each individual was to have inscribed upon him a threefold name which would denote possession and relation: (1) The name of God the Father, to whom the individual would now belong in a permanent and fixed way… (2) The name of the New Jerusalem identifies the victorious saint as a citizen of the heavenly city, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband (21:2)… (3) Christ’s own new name, likewise new in kind, ‘the name written which no one knoweth but he himself (19:21), identifies the victor as sharing the glory which is Christ’s.” (Hailey)

Please read Revelation 3:14-22 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

-Louie Taylor

“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

Robert Harkrider writes that the city of Sardis was a great trading center of the ancient world, and “is best remembered as the birthplace of modern money because here the first coins were minted.” It seems that Jesus played into the city’s notorious history with His warnings to the Christians living in the midst of this center for material luxury and fleshly pleasure. Sardis was perfectly positioned as an “impenetrable” military stronghold being strategically built upon a 1500 foot tall precipice that was inaccessible on three sides. Homer Hailey wrote: “Cyrus, king of the Persians, took the city…in 549 B.C. Tradition says that a soldier found a crevice in the rock hill up which he led a band of soldiers to the summit, taking the city by surprise. About 330 years later (218 B.C.), Antiochus the Great took the city in the same way; thus the city had twice been surprised and taken as ‘a thief in the night.’”

The church in Sardis had “a name” that they were alive, and yet they were “dead” (verse 1). Evidently the brethren there had grown overconfident, complacent and unwatchful, much like the ancient city had become before its overthrow, because of the “peace” that they “enjoyed”. There is no indication from the Lord’s warnings that they were suffering trials or persecutions, therefore they were not pressured into idolatry or doctrinal error. They had just grown mentally lethargic and gone to sleep spiritually. They maintained a good reputation with the outside world because, from all appearances, they looked successful and vibrant. But on the inside, which is hidden from the sight of men, but completely visible and open to the eyes of the Lord, they had deceased. They were “somewhat like a well organized, peaceful cemetery where only death reigns.” (Harkrider)

There are numerous churches that have a “name” that they are exploding with life, but are actually “dead” spiritually because they are not recognized or fellowshipped by God. Hundreds of congregations engage in rousing “worship” services where exciting bands pump out stimulating melodies and stirring lyrics, but they only please and entertain themselves and not the Lord. Myriad churches employ dynamic speakers that preach with impressive words and extraordinary illustrations, but only to tickle the ears of their listeners, and not convict them of sin and lead them to repentance. There are hundreds of impressive buildings and elaborate campuses meant to amaze the masses and fill the pews and collection plates, but are devoid of love for God and enthusiasm for His truth. The things that astonish and electrify human beings do not impress the Creator of the entire Universe the slightest bit. His desire for us is to love Him with all our heart, mind and strength, and to dedicate our lives to doing His will.

The remedy that the Lord prescribed for spiritual lethargy and apathy was five-fold in nature. He ordered them to “wake up” (verse 2) to the eternal dangers of spiritual sleepwalking. “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The Lord also told them to “strengthen the things that remain.” They needed to build upon the few aspects of faith and truth that had survived their long-lived slumber. Jesus urged them to “remember what you have received and heard” (verse 3). When the prodigal son remembered how good his father had been to him and all his family and servants, “he came to his senses” and returned home (Luke 15:17-21). Finally Jesus admonished them to “keep” the good things that the Lord had given and taught them, and to “repent” of their wicked ways.

The reward for spiritual vigilance, strength and gratitude, and clinging to the Lord while turning from sin is to walk with Him while “clothed in white garments” (verses 4-5). “Only the living walk; the dead are inert. Walking with the Lord indicates fellowship, oneness, mutual agreement; for, ‘shall two walk together, except they have agreed?’ (Amos 3:3). These walk with him in a victory procession as Paul points out, ‘But thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ’ (II Cor. 3:14)… To walk with him in white is to walk with Him in purity and holiness (which are put on in baptism), which make for a joyous heavenly relationship.” (Hailey) We will also avoid the horrid predicament of having our name erased from the Lamb’s “book of life”. This obviously implies that it is possible to be alive in Christ Jesus, and then to die spiritually, loose our salvation, and have our name expunged from God’s eternal register. So, in the immortal words of Christ our Savior, let us all “WAKE UP!”

Please read Revelation 3:7-13 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you. Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

---End of Scripture verses---

Less is known about the city of Thyatira than any of the other seven churches of Asia, but even so, Jesus had more to say to and about the brethren there than He did any of the other six churches He wrote to. The most famous resident of that city to Bible students is the first recorded convert in Europe. “A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.’” (Acts 16:14-15).

The Lord heaped some of the most highly favorable praises upon the Thyatiran Christians that anyone could ever hope to receive. They excelled at “deeds” of “love,” they were faithful in their “service” to God and brother, and they had the “perseverance” to withstand trials and turmoil with their faith in tact (verse 19). And, much more than merely holding their own, they seemed to be growing spiritually by leaps and bounds! Jesus said to them, “your deeds of late are greater than at first”! Surely there was no way for the Lord to be critical of such outstanding brethren as these, right? Well, He did have one thing “against” them, and it was a pretty huge issue.

They tolerated “the woman Jezebel” (verse 20). Just as king Ahab’s evil wife stirred his heart up to do evil (1 Kings 21:25), a “sister” in the church at Thyatira influenced the brethren there to engage in the prevailing customs of the wicked culture. And, instead of correcting her, the members and leaders of the church “tolerated” her. They compromised their faithfulness and their spiritual standing with God by allowing this woman to persuade some of the brethren to “commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” “Refusal to join in these feasts often meant a man would lose his job, his trade, and become an outcast.” (Harkrider) She taught the brethren to go along in order to get along with the wicked world, and the brethren went along with her teaching in order to not cause a ruckus.

A faithful church of Jesus Christ must enforce God’s disciplinary measures against unruly brethren and openly sinful apostates in order to fulfill its purpose, maintain its purity and recover the straying. The Apostle Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, instructed God’s people how to deal with brethren who engage in blatant immorality in the Lord’s church. “In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus… I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one… Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” (1 Corinthians 5:1-13) Consider also what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:6. We simply cannot socialize with erring brothers or sisters in Christ, or turn a blind eye to their transgressions, and then hope and pray that a broken and contrite heart will lead them to the repentance and transformation that pleases God (Psalm 51:17).

God calls us to repentance, and He gives us “time to repent” (verse 21). But he does not give us unlimited time, and eventually we will reap the consequences of the “wild oats” that we sow (Galatians 6:7-8). Sooner or later the pursuit of pleasure will become “the bed of sickness” and the pain of “great tribulation” (verse 22). “The Lord searches the minds and the hearts” (verse 23), and nothing we do can be hidden from His sight, and He will give to each one of us according to our deeds.

As to the situation in Thyatira: “The Lord recognized their teaching for what it is—of Satan. He had called certain jews a ‘synagogue of Satan’ (2:9), emperor worship the throne of Satan (2:13), and now He charges the teachings of Jezebel and her followers as being ‘the deep things of Satan.’” (Hailey) Instead of pursuing pleasures of the world by plunging headlong into the depths of Satan, we should focus our hearts on delving into “the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10), as revealed by His Holy Spirit through His perfect word. If we keep the Lord’s deeds to the end (verse 26), He will give us “the Morning Star” (verse 28). “As the morning star signals the beginning of light as a new day dawns, so faithful saints are promised the morning of victory through Christ when the dark night of persecution and temptation is over (22:16).” (Harkrider)

Please read Revelation 3:1-6 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this: ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

Pergamum was the official capital of Asia Minor, and it held that honor for more than two centuries. It was also the capital city of atrocious emperor worship and rank idolatry, and it came to be known as “the city of temples”. One shrine that was most distasteful to God’s people was the temple of Asclepius, who was depicted in the form of a snake, and believed to be the god of medicine and healing. To the Christian mind it was more emblematic of the serpent of the Garden of Eden, and therefore Satan himself. It is no wonder that Jesus said Pergamum was the place where “Satan dwells” and the seat of “Satan’s throne” (verse 13).

Under intense pressure from the state to pledge their allegiance to Caesar, and severe persecution from the citizens to partake in their degenerate paganism, most of our brethren in Pergamum commendably held fast the name of Christ, and did not deny His faith. They appealed to the highest authority (name), and knew that obedience to the King of kings and Lord of lords was infinitely more important than obeying a human king and his mortal subjects (Acts 4:19). Jesus praised one faithful brother named Antipas as being a martyr (“witness”) for his unwavering faith in the Lord, but documentation shows that he was just one of the many Christian to be “killed among” the Christians in Pergamum. Legend has it that Antipas was roasted to death in a hollowed out brass bull. Regardless of the details of his martyrdom, brother Antipas possessed and displayed the courageous heart of Daniel’s three young friends who served in Nebuchadnezzar’s court (Daniel 3:16-18).

Sadly and even understandably, there were some who caved in to this extreme pressure and persecution, and compromised their faith rather than risk paying the ultimate price. “Some” held “the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality” (verse 14; Numbers 22-25). “Christians were encouraged by these false teachers to attend the feasts held in celebration of an idol and to embrace the temple prostitutes in order to gain approval of their pagan neighbors.” (Harkrider) “Some” also held “the teaching of the Nicolaitans” (verse 15). Scholars have suggested this was an early form of Gnosticism, though no one knows for certain the particulars of this doctrine. All we need to know is that it was a teaching that the Lord Jesus detested (verse 6), as He does all doctrines that add to or take away from the perfect and complete doctrine of Christ (2 John 1:9; Revelation 22:18-19).

The Lord called upon the faltering and failing Christians to “repent” or He would “make war against them with the sword of” His “mouth” (verse 16). The word of God is a “double edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). On the one side it is the power of God to heal and covert and saved, but on the other side it is God’s weapon of judgment and condemnation against the ungodly and disobedient. But praise be to Him, the Lord always gives us the option to choose between life and destruction. If we choose loyal obedience in the face of tribulation, He will give us “some of the hidden manna” (verse 17). Jesus, who is the true Bread of Life, will provide for our spiritual sustenance as we sanctify the Lord in our hearts (1 Peter 3:15), and feed on the nourishment of the word that is hidden from the worldly-minded (Luke 19:42).

The Lord will also give us a “new name” written on a “white stone”. White is the symbol of purity and the new name represents the new, permanent (etched in stone) relationship that obedient believers have with God in Christ Jesus. Harkrider says that the white stone “probably refers to a custom used in some ancient courts at the time where judges gave either a black stone for a guilty verdict or a white stone for acquittal.” Jesus purifies us, declares our innocence and secures our eternity when we serve Him until death, forsaking all others.

Please read Revelation 2:18-29 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

“‘And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.”’”

---End of Scripture verses---

The Lord had no negative complaint to make against the church in the city of Smyrna. Even though they were situated in a worldly prosperous and highly idolatrous environment, they remained faithful and true to the one and only, true God of all heaven and earth. Smyrna, like its neighbor Ephesus, was an important center of trade and commerce, ideally situated on a resplendent harbor on the Aegean Sea. In 26 A.D. a temple in honor of Tiberius Caesar was erected there, and the city quickly became a major center for emperor worship. “Later, when emperor worship became compulsory during the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81-96), each citizen was required to burn a pinch of incense on the altar of the shrine to the godhead of Caesar. Having done so, he was given a certificate to guarantee he had satisfied this duty.” (Harkrider) This was more a matter of political loyalty than religious fidelity.

The God who sees all and knows all was perfectly aware of their “tribulation” and their “poverty” (verse 9). The brethren in the city of Smyrna obviously endured a great deal of affliction at the hands of the heathen populace, and also from the Jewish enclave. But, through it all they stood firm in their convictions, and would not buckle to the pressure of worshiping Caesar or crumble under the treachery of those “who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” “Barclay wrote that Jews in Smyrna compromised their faith by their willingness to burn incense to Caesar…Tradition says that in Smyrna the Jews eagerly informed the Romans where they might find Christians in order to persecute them. It was in Smyrna that Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John, was put to death.” (Harkrider)

Living in the midst of a world of wealth, the Christians in Smyrna suffered material “poverty,” but they were “rich” spiritually. They followed in the footstep of their Master before them and believed in His promises: “that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). The true, enduring riches are those that can be found in faithful obedience to Christ alone. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21). “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

Jesus informed His faithful disciples that they were “about to suffer” affliction, and Satan would cast some of them into prison (verse 10). The Lord has never promised to remove all of the obstacles from our way or the troubles from our lives, but He does promise to never leave us nor forsake us as we travel down earth’s troublesome paths (Hebrews 13:5). Although God will not insulate us from all sorrow and pain, He assures us that we need “not fear what” we “are about to suffer.” If we have a healthy, reverential fear for the Lord who has the power to both give and destroy life eternally, we have no reason to be afraid of what man can do to us (Matthew 10:28-31). Our “tribulation,” like that of our brethren in Smyrna, will only last for “ten days”. The number 10 is the symbol for fullness or completion. We will suffer for a “full” period of time, but not for eternity. Our suffering, like theirs, will one day come to a glorious end.

Christians who are “faithful until death” will receive “the crown of life.” The Lord has promised “an unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4) to “all those who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8). Even though we be forced to suffer the pain of death for our loyalty to Jesus, we will not be “hurt by the second death” (verse 11). The first death is when our spirits separate from our bodies (James 2:26). The second death is when our spirits are eternally separated from our heavenly Father. But Jesus promises us the comfort and assurance that: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” (John 11:25-26).

Please read Revelation 2:12-17 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“‘To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

Since the Greek word for “angel” is often translated “messenger,” Jesus may have been relating His messages to prominent members such as the preachers or elders of each of the seven churches in Asia. The first letter that the Lord instructed John to write was to “the church in Ephesus” (verse 1). Ephesus was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire, and it was Asia Minor’s most prominent seaport. It was built upon a natural harbor, was strategically located at the convergence of three busy trade routes and boasted a population of over 250,000 people. Some four decades earlier the Apostle Paul had made Ephesus his home base of operation, preaching in the city and the surrounding areas for a period of three years (Acts 20:31).

Jesus said to the angel of the church in Ephesus, “I know your deeds” (verse 2). Since He is the one who “walks among the seven golden lampstands,” He is intimately aware of everything that goes on in every one of His local congregations, and in the heart of each and every member of His body (Revelation 1:20). The Lord knew and was pleased that the brethren in the Ephesian church worked hard at serving Him and spreading His Good News. They had “perseverance,” and could not “tolerate evil men” (verse 2). They tested “those who called themselves apostles,” but were not and “found them to be false.” This means that they took a very strong stand to uphold the truth and refute all false doctrine. They had “endured” grief and hardship for the sake of the Lord in a large, bustling city rife with idolatry and immorality, and had “not grown weary” in doing what was right (verse 3). 

At this point you might think that nothing critical could possibly be said about such a rock-solid group of Christians as these! When you read Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, you are also left with sense that all was well with this excellent group of brethren. The Apostle Paul, like the Lord, had nothing but praise and commendation for them. Except, Jesus did have this one thing “against” them. And it was a pretty huge deal. He told them, “you have left your first love” (verse 4). When Paul wrote to the Ephesian brethren several years earlier, he commended them for “the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints” (Ephesians 1:15). But, over the course of time, they had lost their love for one another, and their love for the Lord. They still served God, worked hard for Him, worshipped Him truthfully and taught His word accurately. But they were no longer motivated by love. 

Remember Paul’s enduring words of 1 Corinthians 13:1-3: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” Doctrinal purity and a strong worth ethic are virtues that will get us absolutely nowhere with the Lord if they are not tempered by a robust love and passion for Him, His word and His people. Remember what Jesus said the two greatest commandments of all are: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40). 

“Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first” (verse 5). “The lever of repentance is memory (Ps. 137:5-6; Luke 15:17-21)” (Harkrider). Do you remember your love for your Lord and your zeal for His word you had when you first became a Christian? I do. I know it is very difficult to maintain that fresh, vibrant, ardent love across the span of the years and decades of life. But we must try. We must endeavor to tap into the thoughts and feelings of the memory of that innocent time of our new birth. If the Lord owns our heart, He will grant us “to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God” (verse 7). If not, He will pluck our “lampstand out of its place” (verse 6). Lamps are designed to shine forth their light. If we, as individuals or congregations, are not shining the light of truth and love, we have become useless. “Thus with three admonitions: ‘remember, repent, and return,’ they were exhorted to change their lives.” (Harkrider) And so are we...

Please read Revelation 2:8-11 for tomorrow.

Have a lovely day!

-Louie Taylor

“When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. As for the mystery of the seven stars which 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.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

When Jesus revealed Himself to John in a vision of His awesome glory, he “fell at His feet like a dead man” (verse 17), overcome by reverence and awe, fear and trembling. Like the prophet Isaiah before him, the Apostle was drained of all his physical strength at the sight of such divine splendor and majestic grandeur (Isaiah 6:5). But our loving Savior not only spoke soothing words to him, Jesus “placed His right hand” on Him and tenderly allayed his fears. Over and again in Holy Scripture our Lord encourages us, “Do not be afraid” (Matthew 6:34; 28:10; 14:27; John 6:20, 31; 14:27, etc.). Friend, if you belong to Christ you have no reason to fear what may befall you upon this earth, and you can stand before God with complete comfort and confidence on the Day of Judgment.

Jesus is “the first and the last.” “He is first because before Him there is no God; last, because after Him there shall be no other. First, because He is the cause of origin; last, because is the judge and the end.” (Harkrider) Jesus is “the living One” who once “was dead” but is “alive forevermore” (verse 18). Christ defeated death for us by His own atoning, sacrificial death and powerful resurrection. He holds “the keys of death and of Hades.” “Death claims the body and Hades clams the soul, but Jesus, when He shall speak, both the grave and the unseen state shall give up their prisoners.” (Harkrider) Our Lord’s absolute authority over life and death is assurance that we shall live forevermore with Him if we are faithful until death (Revelation 2:10). 

Jesus told John to write down in a book the visions he saw, things which were presently taking place and events which were going to happen in the future (verse 19). Even though the majority of the prophecies recorded in Revelation have long since been fulfilled, the book still has utmost relevance to mankind today, and supplies hope and comfort to God’s faithful in all generations of human existence. It is not always easy to live your life as an obedient child of God, but it is most certainly always more than worth the effort. Our brethren in Christ who lived in the Roman Empire in the first few centuries A.D. faced possible abandonment from family, banishment from society, great financial loss and the potential loss of their very lives. But “contrary to hanging one’s head in despair and hopelessness when persecuted, Revelation says, ‘look up and see the victory in Jesus Christ.’” (Harkrider)

Please read Revelation 2:1-7 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.”

---End of Scripture verses---

This is a very awesome and powerful illustration of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is first characterized as appearing in the form of “a son of man.” (verse 13). This emphasizes Christ’s humanity, as one who was “made like His brethren in all things” (Hebrews 2:17), and “able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” since “He Himself was tempted in that which He suffered” (Hebrews 2:18). But the term “Son of Man” is also a prophetic designation of the Eternal King who “came up to the Ancient of Days,” and “was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14). Jesus became the “Son of Man” in route to His coronation as “King of kings”. First the cross and crown of thorns, then the throne and royal diadem.

The Lord was “clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.” He wore a long, flowing priestly robe (Exodus 28:4), and a regal band of gold girded about His royal waist. His head and hair “were radiant, gleaming as the snow glistens in sunlight. This suggests his divine purity and perhaps also his wisdom and dignity (1 Pet. 1:21-22).” (Harkrider) “His eyes were like a flame of fire” (verse 14). They were brilliant, clear and penetrating, able to see right into the heart and soul of humanity all of which are laid open and bare before His sight (1 Samuel 16:7).

“His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace” (verse 15). “This figure is a symbol of strength. The main theme of Revelation is that Christ is able to tread down all opposition and turn to ashes his enemies (19:15).” (Harkrider) “His voice was like the sound of many waters.” When He spoke He commanded great power and authority, His voice roaring like the sound of the ocean surf crashing into the rocks at hightide. “Out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword” (verse 16). “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Jesus utters the words of salvation, but also speaks with the authority of the Almighty Judge.

“His face was like the sun shining in its strength.” “John sums his total appearance to be as dazzling as the unclouded sun in its full strength. To look directly upon his whole countenance was overpowering like looking directly toward the sun at noon. Christ is unveiled in heavenly splendor and majesty (Heb. 1:3). Such a Lord who is so glorious in might should challenge man’s disobedience and shame every inclination to follow his own wisdom.” (Harkrider)

Jesus walked among “the seven golden lampstands” (verses 12-13) which are “the seven churches” (verses 20), and held “the seven stars” (verse 16) which are the “angels” or “messengers” of the churches in “His righ.t hand” It is both frightening and comforting to know that Jesus is so intimately present in the gathering together of His chosen people. If we are shining forth the light Truth and the warmth of love as we ought, we have no reason to be afraid (verse 17). But if we are lifeless (3:1), loveless (2:4) or lukewarm (3:16) the Lord will remove our lampstand out of its place (3:5). We often sing the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” And indeed we do. But please take John’s depiction of Jesus to heart. This Friend is not one to be trifled with!

Please read Revelation 1:17-20 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

-Louie Taylor

“I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, “Write in a book what you see, 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.”

---End of Scripture verses---

John was “a fellow partaker in the tribulation” (verse 9). “He did not write from ivory palaces as one who was exempt from tribulation. This aged apostle was also suffering, therefore he could empathize with fellow Christians currently being persecuted. Rather complaining of his afflictions, he encouraged patient endurance.” (Harkrider, Truth commentary on Revelation, Gospel of Truth Foundation).

John was also a “fellow partaker in the…kingdom.” The Lord’s handpicked ambassador was one of the chosen, privileged few who spent time with Jesus for 40 days after His resurrection as He was “speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). John and the rest of the Apostles obviously still had some misunderstandings about the spiritual nature of the kingdom before the Lord ascended back into heaven (Acts 1:6), but after he was empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8), and was guided into “all the truth” (John 16:13), he understood fully that the kingdom of God had fully come, and he and his fellow brethren in Christ were bona fide members of it.

John had been exiled to the prison “island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” “Patmos was a barren, rocky island about eight miles long and five miles wide lying about sixty-five miles southwest of Ephesus. The Roman government used Patmos as a place of banishment for political prisoners. Eusebius wrote that tradition says that the apostle John was condemned to dwell on the island of Patmos in A.D. 95 by the Emperor Domitian (Ecclesiastical History 111.18.1).” (Harkrider)

John, like the Apostle Paul before him, and numerous other Christians both obscure and of renown, was arrested and incarcerated because of his unwavering faith in Jesus Christ. When John conveyed the words of Jesus to the brethren in the church in Smyrna, he knew the harshness of imprisonment and the “perseverance which” is “in Jesus” from personal experience. “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

John “was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” when this unveiling of truth in a series of visions was revealed to him. This is the only place that the term “the Lord’s day” appears in inspired Scripture, but there can be little doubt that He was talking about “the first day of the week”. This was the day the Lord arose from the grave (Luke 24:1-6), the day He twice met with a gathering of His disciples (John 20:19, 26), the day the Lord’s church was established (Acts 2:1-4), and the regular day of gathering and worship of the first century church when the came together to partake “the Lord’s Supper” (Acts 20:7), and give of their means (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).

That he was “in the Spirit” indicates that the Holy Spirit had induced a state of reverie in which He revealed the visions, images and prophecies to John. This is much like the case was with Peter, as we read in Acts 10:10-11: “But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground.” Both apostles were under the control of the Holy Spirit as He showed them truths that did not and could not possibly originate from the mind of mortal man.

In this state of “rapture,” John heard the voice of Jesus behind Him. The Lord spoke with power and authority “like the sound of a trumpet” (verse 11). Jesus told the apostle to, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches.” This is God’s chosen method of communication with mankind in the dispensation of Christ’s church as “He speaks to us in His Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2). God could have chosen to convey His will to us in any number of ways, but He has chosen the vehicle of inspired Scripture (1 Corinthians 2:11-13; 4:6; Ephesians 3:3-5; 1 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:23-25). “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it” (verse 3), and in all the pages of the Bible.

Please read Revelation 1:12-16 for tomorrow.

Blessings!

-Louie Taylor

“John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

The Apostle John wrote this letter to seven churches in “Asia” which constitutes the western part of modern day Turkey (verse 4). While he wrote to literal congregations experiencing very real problems and challenges, the number seven is a carefully selected, symbolically rich indicator of that which is “perfect” or “complete” or “whole”. There were at least three other churches of Christ in Asia Minor at the time of John’s Apocalypse which were located in the cities of Troas (Acts 20:5), Colossae (Colossians 1:2), and Hieropolis, but John chose “seven” particular congregations to represent the Lord’s church as whole.

John extended greetings of “grace” and “peace” to his audience from the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Grace is God’s undeserved spiritual blessings and favor bestowed upon His covenant people, and peace is the harmony with God and serenity of mind that ensues upon receiving God’s grace. God the Father is the great “I AM” (Exodus 3:14) “who is and who was and who is to come.” There is only one Holy Spirit, but the term “seven Spirits” indicates the perfection of His work in Creation (Genesis 1:1-2), Comfort (John 14:16) and disclosure of Truth (John 16:13). Jesus is “the Christ,” the “anointed” One who came to die for the sins of the world.

John calls Jesus “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (verse 5). Jesus is here depicted as Prophet (witness), Priest (firstborn from the dead after sacrificing Himself), and King (ruler of the kings of the earth). As the faithful “witness” (“martus” in the Greek) Jesus is also the original “martyr” of our faith, having lived perfectly and faithfully, and having been killed unjustly and brutally—the innocent for the blameworthy who deserved it. But, the grave had no power over Him who became “the firstborn of the dead.” The Lord himself had risen others from their deathbeds (Jairus’ daughter, the widow’s son and Lazarus), but Jesus is the first to arise from death to never die again. He arose victoriously over Satan’s domain of death as the supreme “ruler of the kings of the earth.”

Jesus lived for us, died for us and arose for us for the simple reason that He “loves us”. “The depth of the love can be measured by the greatness of the gift (John 13:34)” (Harkrider). The only way we could be “released” from “our sins” that kept us enslaved by Satan, spiritually dead and separated from our Creator, was for Jesus to redeem us “by His blood”. Having been loosed from the bondage of sin through Christ’s sacrificial blood and our obedience, Jesus, in turn, brought us into His “kingdom” to reign with Him and made us “priests” to serve and sacrifice with Him (verse 6). John and all his brethren in Christ were already in the kingdom of God (verses 6 and 9) which Christ established on the first Pentecost following His resurrection, and were serving God as priests having no need of the intercessory work of a separate, human priesthood (Romans 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:5, 9).

Quoting Homer Hailey from his Nevada Publications commentary on “The Book of Revelation” about verse 7: “‘He cometh with the clouds’ points to His coming to judge and execute. Although this passage includes His second coming (cf. Acts 1:10-11) and the great judgment of that hour, it also includes the idea of His coming on clouds in all judgments before that great event. The idea of coming on clouds or a cloud was also used to describe Jehovah’s coming against Egypt (Isa. 19:1; Ezek. 30:3; 23:7) and the judgment against His own people (Ezek. 34:12). Jesus promised that He would come ‘on the clouds of heaven’ in judgment against Jerusalem (Matt. 24:24-30; Mark 13:24-30). So now He would come against the Romans, and ultimately He will come to judge all. He said repeatedly, ‘I come quickly’ (2:16; 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20), indicating that at a time ripe for judgment He will come to judge the forces of evil and to defend His own people (14:14-20). The expression ‘He cometh with the clouds’ points to the final coming and judgment but also includes all His comings against His enemies before that time, for all judgment has been given unto the Son (John 5:22).”

When Jesus returns, “every eye will see Him.” He did not and will not return to this earth invisibly and secretly as some religious groups claim that He has or will. He will also not mysteriously and invisibly whisk His faithful followers away to heaven for seven years while the people on earth experience an ordeal of “Great Tribulation”. Jesus will return in “a cloud” in the same manner in which the Apostles saw Him ascend from the earth (Acts 1:9-11). “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) “The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

When Jesus returns for Final Judgment, every eye will see Him, every ear will hear Him, every righteous, obedient soul will be taken home to glory, and every ignorant, disobedient rebel will be condemned for eternity. The only matter of eternal consequence is whether we choose to faithfully serve “the Alpha and the Omega,” the One “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (verse 8). Notice please that the Lord Jesus possesses the same perfect, powerful, eternal attributes as the Almighty Father (verse 17). Equal and all praise, glory and honor be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Please read Revelation 1:9-11 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

---End of Scripture verses---

This letter about “Jesus Christ” was given by God the Father to “His angel” who “communicated it” to the Apostle John (verse 1). God entrusted His message to His “bond-servant” in order to “reveal” something that had been previously hidden from the mind of mankind. The Greek word translated “Revelation” (“apokalupsis”) literally means “an uncovering”. While much of the truth of this message was written so as to be hidden from the enemies of its original recipients, God’s main purpose was to encourage His faithful children to stay the course and remain strong in the faith in the face of strong opposition and persecution.

John was inspired to write about “things which must soon take place.” The very first verse of the letter poses a major problem for people today who look to the ultimate fulfillment of its promises taking place in their own, current lifetimes. When the Apostle wrote, “the time is near” for the “words of the prophecy” to be fulfilled (verse 3), it seems absurd to conclude that he was referring to the 21st century as the target date. It is equally as irrational to think that the original recipients would have taken any solace in the idea that Christ would deliver on His word nearly 2000 years removed from the original delivery date of the letter. The visions of the “The Apocalypse” were not fulfilled immediately but they began to unfold “soon” after the decrees made by the Lord.

“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear…and heed the things which are written” (verse 3). This is the first of seven “Beatitudes” pronounced in the book of Revelation (Revelation 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7; 22:14). To be “blessed” is to find the Lord’s joy and fulfillment that ensues upon learning, believing and obeying His perfect will. As we will see in the course of this study, numbers have great symbolic significance in the book of Revelation, and “seven,” the number of “perfection” is used the most often. The “he who reads” was probably the person selected from each congregation to publicly read the letter to “those” assembled to “hear the words” and “heed the things” written therein. God promises us His richest spiritual blessings when we “read” His word, and “hear” His will, and “heed” His blessed commandments. This is true of the last book of the Bible, and the first book of the Bible, and all of His inspired revelation that lies in between. We must read God’s will, but we must be doers of His word and not hearers only if we desire to be blessed by Him (James 1:22-25).

Please read Revelation 1:4-8 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

The book of Revelation has to be the most misunderstood and maltreated book of the entire Bible. Because of its highly figurative and fascinating nature the tendency has been for most people to take a very unbalanced approach to “The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1). Since it is so cryptic and difficult to understand, the one extreme is to avoid the book as much as humanly possible. On the opposite end of the spectrum, droves of people tend to base the entirety of their religious belief system on Revelation because it is so easy to manipulate the signs and symbols to suit their own views and desires.

In his “Truth Commentaries” publication on “Revelation” by the Guardian of Truth Foundation, Robert Harkrider quoted Homer Hailey as writing the following: “To the literalistic mind, lacking the power of imagination, Revelation will forever be a sealed book; to the speculative and visionary mind the book will provide fuel to inflame far-fetched assumptions and conjectures which totally miss the truth. But to the mind prepared by the rest of the Bible for reality in picture and action, impressions of truth will be made that give strength for victory in every conflict of life.” (“Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary” by Homer Hailey)

The book of Revelation is required reading for every serious Bible student (as is every other book of the Bible), even though some things are very difficult if not impossible to accurately interpret with absolute certainty. At the very least, concerning those very controversial verses and visions, we can correctly conclude what they DO NOT mean in order to rightly refute false doctrines and farfetched perspectives. When reading and interpreting Revelation it is important to give great consideration to the objective of the writer and the particular experience of the original recipients of the letter. The author wrote to encourage suffering Christians to faithfully endure the persecution of heathens and non-believers, not to send some encrypted messages 2,000 years into the future about the geo-political condition of the 21st century world, or even when the world would come to an end.

It is also of utmost importance when interpreting this book to consider the specific genre of literature in which it is included. Revelation is communicated in the “apocalyptic” style of writing. When the author wrote in the very first verse that Jesus “signified it by His angel to His servant John,” he indicated from the start that this letter was written in the figurative language of signs and symbols typical of “apocalyptic” literature. God employed this style of writing during times of intense persecution of His people, and it was designed to conceal its truths from the oppressors while revealing (the Greek word “apokalupsis” means “an unveiling”) its message of encouragement, strength and promise to those suffering for the sake of righteousness. The “apocalyptic style can also be found in other parts of the Bible including the books of Ezekiel (chapter 37), Daniel (chapters 7-12), Zechariah (chapter 14), and even in the Gospel accounts (Matthew 24).

Here is what Harkrider wrote about “How To Study Apocalyptic Literature” on pages lvii and lix of his introduction to Revelation:

“Revelation is sometimes described as God’s picture book because it is written in a specialized style of sings and symbols. One should read Revelation by first visualizing in his mind the scenes depicted, and thereby try to feel the emotions portrayed in the book. After this, determine the lessons that perceivably match the context. Many scenes in Revelation are portrayed in an exaggerated form, on a grand scale, in order to illustrate the cosmic war between God and Satan. But the point is clear that God is always finally victorious over all the forces Satan can muster.”

“Three Rules for Studying Apocalyptic Literature (1) Picture: Read the context; close your eyes and visualize the scenery described. If you do not see the picture, you will never understand the point. (2) Principle: After feeling the emotions depicted by the symbolic language, then analyze what point is intended. (3) Practice: Upon determining the principle lesson intended, then make the application first of all to those who originally received it and then determine its abiding lesson throughout the ages.”

The greatest preponderance of internal and external evidence suggests that the Apostle John wrote this letter around 95-96 A.D. during the Reign of Emperor Domitian, while banished to the prison Island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea (Revelation 1:9). This book is very prophetic in nature, but evidence also strongly indicates that the vast majority of the prophecies already found their fulfillment many centuries ago with the destruction of the Roman Empire because of its hostilities toward faithful disciples of Christ. Without question the prophecies of chapters 21-22 look forward to the consummation of the ages, and the eternal reward in heaven that awaits faithful children of God. But, all the seals and trumpets and bowls of wrath appear to represent God’s judgement being poured out upon the tormentor of His people: the Roman Empire.

God was letting His distressed, first-century saints know, as He also does all Christians of all ages, that the battles being fought on earth between the forces of righteousness and evil are actually being waged in heaven between God and Satan. The devil was attempting to destroy the church by using the Roman Empire to do his dirty-work. But, no matter how bleak things looked or what hardships His children may have been going through, if they remained faithful to the Lord to the very end they would receive the eternal crown of life (Revelation 2:10). We can rest assured that the same promise is made to us as well. No matter how bleak things may look on earth, “the King of kings and Lord of lords” will ultimately reign victorious (Revelation 17:14)!

One more critical point about proper interpretation of the book of Revelation, and also with all other highly figurative and symbolic sections of Holy Scripture: Always, but ALWAYS interpret the meaning of any vision or dream or word picture in light of what is clearly written in the rest of the Bible. Never, ever allow your interpretation of this or any other book to contradict the bedrock truths, commands and principles that constitute the “sound doctrine” of God’s word (1 Timothy 6:3-5)! Happy reading!!!

Please read Revelation 1:1-3 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

--- End of Scripture verses---

Even though Jude is one of the shortest letters in all Bible, it has one of the most beautiful doxologies you will ever read. The root word of “doxology” is the Greek word that means “glory,” and a “doxology” is “a hymn or form of words containing an ascription of praise to God” (dictionary.com). A few other examples of the many doxologies that can be found in Bible are Romans 11:33-36; 16:26-27; 1 Timothy 6:16-17; Hebrews 13:20-21.

While it is true that we must be busy about building ourselves up on the most holy faith (verse 20), and keeping ourselves in the love of God (verse 21), make no mistake about it: it is the Lord “who is able to keep” us “from stumbling” (verse 24). The Apostle Paul similarly stated that we must “work out” our “own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), but he stressed in the very next verse that “it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Our little strength is required for our own faithfulness but is inadequate to make us “stand in the presence of His glory blameless.” We need His almighty power to accomplish that monumental feat for us.

It is clear from Jude’s doxology that he ascribed equal praise and glory to both God the Father and God the Son. Both our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ are described as “our Savior” (verse 25). “I, even I, am the Lord, and there is no savior besides Me,” exclaimed Yahweh! “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, and there was no strange god among you; so you are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “And I am God.” (Isaiah 43:11-12) Both the Father and the Son are worthy of all “glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Matthew 28:18; 1 Timothy 6:15; Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 17:14; 19:16)

The best we can do with our lives is to live them in ways that bring praise, glory and honor to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit! I can’t wait to delve into one of the most glorious books of the whole Bible next: The Apostle John’s Holy Spirit-inspired masterpiece, the Book of Revelation! Lord willing we will have an introduction to that amazing piece of God-breathed literature for tomorrow!

Have a glorious day!

-Louie Taylor

“But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”

--- End of Scripture verses---

We see here in today’s verses, as Jude brings his letter to a close, that we have a big part to play in our own salvation and in the salvation of other people. It is our personal responsibility to be continually “building” ourselves “up in” the “most holy faith” (verse 20). The means by which we build ourselves up spiritually is by reading, studying and meditating upon “the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” by the Apostles and other inspired writers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Another critical aspect of personal edification is “praying in the Holy Spirit”. It is the Holy Spirit who revealed His will through the men who wrote the letters that make up the New Testament, Who also dwells in us through that perfect revelation, and Who intercedes for us when we pray (Romans 8:26-27).

We are also to keep ourselves “in God’s love” as we eagerly wait for Christ’s return (verse 21). Of course, God loves everyone unconditionally, so keeping ourselves in His love means to live our lives in such a way that shows the greatest appreciation for it. This would include being holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16), worshiping Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24), and serving Him to the best of our ability in ways that please Him (2 Corinthians 5:9). Until the Lord returns we must live this way and “wait” in patient anticipation for the day when “death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54), and He transforms “our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body’ (Philippians 3:22), and we dwell with Him eternally in heaven.

We also have the responsibility of being our brother’s keeper while we are waiting for the Lord to appear. We must “be merciful to those who doubt” (verse 22). We should not abandon our brothers and sisters in Christ when they experience crises in their faith. Those of us who are strong should help to bear the burdens of those who are weak in the faith, and do so in the spirit of meekness understanding that one day in the future the roles may be reversed (Romans 15:1; Galatians 6:1-2). “Fear” should move us to try to “snatch” brethren who have abandoned the faith or fallen into religious error out of the fire of eternal damnation. “We should “hate even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh” (verse 23). Some people reject that “loving the sinner and hating the sin” is a biblical concept, but the Lord’s brother shows us that it most certainly is. Sin ignored will result in eternal “fire”!!! If you love your brother don’t be silent about it!!!

Please read Jude 1:24-25 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

“But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, ‘In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.’ These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.”

--- End of Scripture verses---

The fact that there were ungodly men disrupting the Lord’s church and corrupting the Lord’s doctrine for their own personal gain should have come to no surprise to the brethren that Jude wrote to. The Apostles of Christ had previously taught by spoken and written word that “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts” (verse 18). Consider the Apostle Paul’s warnings in 1 Timothy 4:1-3 and 2 Timothy 2:1-5 as prime examples of this truth. Paul had also warned the elders in the church at Ephesus that, “savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30). We surpass naivety and embrace foolishness when we ignore the Lord’s warnings to “be on the alert” (Acts 20:31) for that dangers that ever threaten the peace and sanctity of the body of Christ.

Jude echoed the Apostle Peter’s words when he wrote of “mockers” who would disparage the Lord’s promises and humiliate the Lord’s people in order to satisfy “their own ungodly lusts” (2 Peter 3:3). Self-willed pretenders cannot prevail upon the minds of godly people with logic and reason, so they naturally resort to mockery and contempt to accomplish their ends. The truth has nothing to fear and no reason to berate others with belligerence. If someone comes across as hypercritical or hostile when trying to make you see things their way, chances are their motives are impure and their doctrine in untrue. “But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.” (Titus 3:9-11).

Please notice that it is not the faithful brethren striving to stick to “the ancient paths” (Jeremiah 6:16) that cause factions and “divisions” (verse 19), but the ones who endeavor to introduce innovative doctrines and practices foreign to the “truth once for all handed down to the saints” (verse 3). It is the Apostles of Jesus Christ that bear the standard of authority in the Lord’s church and their “sound doctrine” is found only in the clearly written passages of the New Testament. “Some things” are “hard to understand, which” the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). Any strange teaching that appears to be too complex and convoluted to be true probably is. “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).

Please read Jude 1:20-23 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

-Louie Taylor

“It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’ These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.”

--- End of Scripture verses---

Jude quotes the inter-testimental portion of the non-inspired apocryphal book known as “1 Enoch” in today’s verses. The Lord’s brother was not claiming this complicated piece of literature was “God-breathed,” but wrote to people who were very familiar with it, and simply wanted to make a point by citing a well-known, secular “prophet” as other inspired authors had done (Titus 1:12). All that we know about the Old Testament figure Enoch is contained in Genesis 5:21-24 and Hebrews 11:5. He most certainly did live “in the seventh generation from Adam” as the Bible and 1 Enoch 60:8 indicates, but anything else accredited to Enoch is speculative at best. He could possibly have made the prophecy quoted in verses 15-16, but even if he did not, it has no bearing on the point Jude was making about false teachers.

Jude is making a very simple claim in his quotation about Enoch, and it is a truthful one that is found elsewhere in the Bible: Jesus will appear with His mighty angels to administer eternal judgement upon the disobedient and ungodly sinners of the world (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). When Jude wrote that Enoch “prophesied” about “these men,” he was not indicating that “the prophet” had these “particular” men exclusively in mind, but that they were included in “all the ungodly” people who would be condemned at the coming of the Lord.

The word “ungodly” really leaps off the page when you read verse 15 as the author repeats if four times in one, short sentence. Ungodly people are those who lack proper reverence for the Almighty Creator who gave them life and affords them all the providential blessings that they possess. The ungodly express the fact that they “do not know God” by their lack of love and reverence for Him, and their absence of the humility required to “obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:8). “These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

Jude lists some other attributes of ungodly people (not just false teachers) in verse 16 that we must take careful note of. They are often “grumblers” who find ample reason to complain about the things they perceive are not fair or favorable to personal cause. They are “fault-finders” who tend to criticize others for their opinions and short-comings instead of lifting people up and being a part of the solutions to the problems they perceive to exist. Ungodly people are driven by “their own lusts” instead of God’s will for them, which often places them in harms way and difficult situations. They “speak arrogantly” because of their overrated view of themselves, and yet will not hesitate to speak “flattering” words to people if it means “gaining” a personal “advantage” from them or over them.

While we may not be the instinctive, “unreasoning animals” who “defile the flesh and reject authority” (verses 8-10) that Jude says these false teachers were, we can very easily fall into the category of “grumblers” and “fault-finders” if we are not very careful. The Lord’s church needs more virtuous, kind-hearted, respectful, compassion-driven people who are willing to happily serve; and much, much less of the idle, cynical, judgmental people who sit back and point the finger at everything they perceive the actual servants and “doers of the work” are doing wrong.

Please read Jude 1:17-19 for tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day!

-Louie Taylor

“Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”

--- End of Scripture verses---

Jude had given three examples of sinful and rebellious GROUPS in verses 5-7, and in today’s reading he singles out three INDIVIDUALS who garnered God’s wrath and righteous judgment because of their wicked hearts and deeds. Like Cain, the false teachers had no interest in God’s concern and desires for them. The Lord compassionately appealed to Adam’s head-strong firstborn when his anger began to consume him: “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it” (Genesis 4:7). As Cain brushed aside God’s affectionate plea and went straightway and murdered his brother, so the false teachers ignored the words and warnings from the divine instruments of revelation, and worked with the selfish intent to spiritually kill their brothers in Christ with deceptive persuasion and damnable doctrines.

Like Balaam, the false teachers were motivated by greed. Balak, the king of Moab, offered to pay the prophet Balaam handsomely if he would pronounce a curse against the children of Israel whom he presumed to be a threat to his kingdom (Numbers 22-24). Even though Balaam refused to curse the Israelites at the behest of the king, he still looked for an angle by which he could bypass God’s will for him and sell God’s people out for filthy lucre. The greedy prophet found a way to lure God’s people into sinfulness by which they condemned themselves. It was “through the counsel of Balaam” (Numbers 31:16) that the Moabite woman seduced many of the men of Israel to commit sexual immorality and idolatry, and 24,000 people were subsequently killed (Numbers 25:1-9; 31:16; Revelation 2:14).

Like Korah, the false teachers desired to usurp authority that was not given to them by God. Korah was a Levite who rebelled against Moses and Aaron, and ultimately God, because he desired a greater place of prominence among God’s people than he was given (Numbers 16:1-11). Cain, Balaam and Korah were all driven by their own selfishness and arrogance to abandon the way of righteousness and rebel against the Lord, and they left much human wreckage in their wakes. All three of these self-willed individuals suffered God’s condemnation and the troublers of Jude’s brethren would ultimately suffer the same fate.

Jude used two more sets of threes to describe the horrid nature of the corrupters of God’s word and defilers of His people. They were like “hidden reefs” that rip the hulls out of the sailing vessels of unsuspecting seafarers. They were like “clouds without water,” promising relief and precious refreshment, but delivering none and only intensifying thirst. They were like “autumn trees without fruit,” promising fruit but offering no sustenance. They were “doubly dead” and destined to be “uprooted”. They were like “wild waves,” “wandering stars,” destined for “black darkness”. Friend, can you see from these vivid illustrations just how sacred and vital and inviolable that the word of God truly is? We dare not alter it in any way or try to bypass any of God’s perfect precepts and commandments in order to satisfy our own desires or inflate our own egos. If we do, we will suffer the same penalty of “eternal fire” (verse) and “black darkness…forever (verse 13) as these men will.

Please read Jude 1:14-16 for tomorrow.

Blessings!

-Louie Taylor

“Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.”

--- End of Scripture verses---

Jude begins his scathing rebuke of the false teachers in verse 8. He was appalled and alarmed by the perversion of these men and the havoc that they were wreaking upon the Lord’s people. He was more concerned about addressing their character and their recklessness than the particular form of the perverted doctrine they were teaching. They were arrogant and ignorant and had zero respect for God-given authority, and they behaved more like dumb animals driven by base instincts than reasoning, sensible human beings. The Truth means little or nothing to egomaniacs who only live to satisfy self, so they will pervert the Gospel in any way that best serves their own purposes.

It is difficult to determine just how “dreaming” factored into the distortions of the false teachers. It could have been that these “inventors of evil” (Romans 1:29) were so absorbed in their wickedness that they dreamt about ways to pursue evil even in their sleep. The prophet Micah wrote about “those who scheme iniquity, who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it” (Micah 2:1). Another possibility is that they insisted God had revealed His will to them through dreams and visions, and cited these as authority for the lies that they advanced. Either way you look at it, they were caught up in a dream world that meant a nightmare for anyone who crossed their paths.

There is no biblical or preserved extra-biblical account of the archangel Michael disputing with the devil over the body of Moses (verse 9). There is some question as to whether Jude was referring to a real-life event or appealing to a piece of popularly accepted Jewish lore. Either way you look at it, the point that Jude wanted to make is not affected and easily understood. If the much more powerful archangel Michael refused to “pronounce a railing judgment” against Satan, then the false teachers should refrain from “reviling” against God’s apostolic authority and about the things that they “do not understand” (verse 10). If an archangel was willing to give place to the wrath of God and leave judgment to the Lord, mere mortal men should refrain from unleashing their verbal fury against the things and people they don’t agree with.

I love what Duane Warden wrote on page 490 of his Truth for Today Commentary on “1 & 2 Peter And Jude” about these teachers being creatures of instinct so I will just quote it:

“Their own survival and their own aggrandizement were the driving forces behind what they did. Not only that, but the false teachers ‘[did] not understand’ the matters they proclaimed. Jude hinted that when Christ is the subject, there is a level of understanding that is born of embracing the gospel. Christians live in Christ as a fish lives in water. By contrast, the false teachers lived in the sphere of the flesh. They were as likely to understand what it meant to be in Christ as a hamster would be to understand what it means to live in water. Just as one would have to live in water to understand what that kind of life is, one must be in Christ to understand the peace He offers and the way of life He has for His people. Regardless of what ‘these men’ claimed, they were not following Christ. For that reason they were without understanding.

“Like Jude, Paul asserted that Christians understand spiritual matters on a level that the non-believing soul cannot know. The matter comes up in 1 Corinthians: ‘But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised’ (1 Cor. 2:14). Jude reasoned similarly. These men, he maintained, did not know Christ. They relied on ‘instinct’ and lived on a purely functional level. They were ‘like unreasoning animals’. The very things they claimed to be for the good of Christians led to separation from God. Jude had no doubt where the path of the false teachers was leading. He wanted his readers to know that ‘by these things they [would be] destroyed’. Jude was concerned that his brothers and sisters would follow them to the same destruction, which is why he wrote as he did (vv. 3,4).”

Please read Jude 1:11-13 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”

--- End of Scripture verses---

Like Peter did in his letter (2 Peter 1:13; 3:1), the Lord’s brother desired to stir up the memories of the people that he wrote to (verse 5). Jude reminded his brethren that there are ample inspired, historical accounts of God punishing people for the sins of rebellion and “gross immorality” (verse 7). The selected examples of sinfulness and God’s subsequent punishment served two important purposes. They demonstrated that the “ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness” (verse 4) would not get away with their wickedness, and also that Jude’s audience would not escape God’s judgement should they go after the appalling example of the false teachers.

As the Apostle Paul had done in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Jude cited the example of Israel’s dissatisfaction, dissension and disbelief after God liberated them from Egyptian slavery, and then “subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.” Verse 5 seems to imply that the false teachers had truly become obedient, converted disciples of Christ at some point in time, but had fallen away from the faith having become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and a heart of disbelief. If God “laid” His disobedient children “low in the wilderness” (1 Corinthians 10:5) after having saved them from captivity, His consistency dictates that He will punish all His rebellious people who live in any era of time.

God even judged His “angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode” (verse 6). As Peter did 2 Peter 2:4, Jude treated the “eternal” punishment of God’s rebellious angels as common knowledge among his readers, even though there is no specific example of this incident in the biblical cannon. What is important to note is that even beings as near unto God as His “ministering spirits” (Hebrews 1:14) suffered eternal condemnation for rebelling against His holy sovereignty. And “if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness,” how much more will he “keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority” (2 Peter 2:4, 9-10).

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is set in the Bible as the primary example of God’s fiery judgment against the wickedness of man (Genesis 19:1-29). That they “indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh” (verse 7) is a transparent condemnation of the sin of homosexuality. The men of Sodom wanted to “have relations” with the angels that they perceived to be other “men” (Genesis 19:5), even if they had to do so forcibly with violence. God condemns the sin of homosexuality repeatedly in both the Old and New Testaments (Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9), as he does all other forms of a sexual sin. All who engage in such immoral acts without remorse or repentance will be met with “the punishment of eternal fire” of Hell come Judgment Day.

It is critical to note that in these three examples of God’s judgment against rebellion and sinfulness that the first was against God’s covenant people, Israel, the second against His non-human, angelic spiritual beings, and the last was against basely wicked people who gave no consideration to God at all. The Lord will condemn every and all living beings that refuse to humble themselves before Him, and comply with His perfect will and sovereignty regardless of their status before Him.

Please read Jude 1:8-10 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

--- End of Scripture verses---

Like his sibling James (James 1:1), Jude could have introduced himself as the brother of the Lord, but was completely satisfied with being identified as “a bond-servant of Jesus Christ” (verse 1). Jesus is our brother in a sense as well, and is not ashamed to call us brethren (Hebrews 2:11) as long as we understand that He is ultimately “our only Master and Lord” (verse 4). We have been “called” by God through the Gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14) to be His “beloved” children, and when we respond positively and obediently to our Master’s call we are “kept” safely through His loving guardianship.

We could all use a lot more “mercy and peace and love” in our lives couldn’t we (verse 2)? We are required by our heavenly Father to extend mercy to others in order to receive it from Him (James 2:13), and peaceful relations with God and man can only be acquired by loving the Lord with all our hearts, minds and souls, and loving our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). But obviously, as verse 4 explicitly commands, we must not allow our love for people to tempt us to compromise the truth in any way. And it is precisely during the times when it is necessary to fight for the truth and against religious falsehood that we are most likely to feel distressed and be unloving. Jude proceeded to level some very harsh accusations against the false teachers, but before he did, he took the time to pray that mercy, peace and love would be “multiplied” to his troubled brethren.

Jude greatly desired to write to his brethren about the “common salvation” they shared in (verse 3), but unfortunately for them, they were in grave danger of losing theirs! He really wanted to build them up in the most holy faith but they first needed to be firmly established in “the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” This is obviously a reference to the totality of inspired teaching as revealed through God’s prophets and Apostles, and not to their personal trust and faith in the Lord. The Apostle Paul used the same terminology in 1 Timothy 4:1 when he wrote that “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” The brethren that Jude wrote to were in extreme danger of falling away from “the faith” that has been “once for all” given to God’s people through Christ Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-2), and that will never, ever change.

Friends, we can only know how God wants us to serve and worship Him by what He has (once for all) revealed to us through inspiration. We can only talk with God in prayer after we have first listened to and obeyed His will for us. There were some evil workers teaching a different gospel, which was in no way the legitimate “good news” (Galatians 1:8-9), and Jude was eager to inform his brethren that they dare not be persuaded by the cheap imitation. In fact, they must “earnestly contend” for the genuine article when confronted with an accursed counterfeit. And so must we. The term “earnestly contend” was a common term used in reference to athletic competitions. Religious error always stands in direct opposition to God’s absolute, objective truth, and we must always be ready to take a stand against falsehood and make a defense for “the faith”.

But please notice Jude’s balanced approach to teaching what is good and holy and true. His first impulse and inclination was to edify his brethren by strengthening them in their “common salvation” (verse 3). But when it came to a confrontation against damnable heresies, the Lord’s brother was not afraid to put up a strong fight for the way of righteousness and truth and to encourage others to do so as well. Living in and for “the faith” must not always be a heated competition, but neither should it continually be stroll in the park. A life of faithfulness to God requires a good balance of “mercy and peace and love,” and strong striving against error and deception and sin. When someone perceives and portrays “the grace of our God” as a license to sin, they have effectively denied “our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (verse 4), and they must be taught better. For their own soul’s sake and for the benefit of the brotherhood at large. If you desire Jesus to be your Savior and friend, you must first accept His supreme sovereignty as “Master and Lord” over the entirety of your life.

Please read Jude 1:5-7 for tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day!

-Louie Taylor

While it cannot be verified with absolute certainty, the author of this letter was most likely the biological half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Mark 6:3 that Mary and Joseph had four other sons besides Jesus named “James and Joses and Judas and Simon,” and “Jude” is a shortened form of the name “Judas”. The Apostle Paul tells us that “James, the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19) was a prominent leader of the church in Jerusalem (Galatians 2:9), and Jude introduced himself as “a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James (Jude 1:1). Some or all of the Lord’s brothers had become His followers shortly after His resurrection and ascension (Acts 1:14), and it is logical to conclude that Jude associated himself with his better-known brother to lend credibility and authority to his critical, urgent, inspired epistle.

The message of Jude’s greatly neglected letter bears a striking resemblance to that of the Peter’s second epistle. Peter wrote to confront the corrupting influence of “false teachers” (2 Peter 2:1), and Jude warned his audience about the same type of “ungodly persons” who had “crept in unnoticed” (Jude 1:4). These workers and teachers of evil “despised” and “rejected authority” (2 Peter 2:10; Jude 1:8), and turned the “grace of our God into licentiousness,” engaging in all types of despicable acts of greed and carnality (2 Peter 2:13-14; Jude 1:4). The Lord’s brother had initially planned to write a much more pleasant message to his fellow Christians concerning their “common salvation” they shared, but the urgency of the current predicament compelled him instead to encourage them to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 1:3). The truth is worth fighting for, and its defense and preservation take precedence over all other issues. If we learn this monumental truth alone from this astounding little letter, we have acquired that which delivers the greatest impact upon the souls of all humankind.

Duane Warden, PH. D. wrote in his Truth for Today Commentary on “1 & 2 Peter And Jude” the following concerning the relationship of Jude to 2 Peter: “When Jude and 2 Peter are compared, it is apparent that there is some literary relationship between the two works—that is, one of the authors knew and used the letter written by the other…the description each author gives of the teachers they denounce is too similar to be accidental. Of Jude’s twenty-five verses, fifteen of them have significant parallels in 2 Peter. In addition, the two authors used the same illustrations and ideas in their denunciation of the teachers. They even placed them in approximately the same order. They saw the threat to the churches they addressed similarly. Both reasoned that God would judge the false teachers as He had judged the disobedient in the past. Both used God’s judgment of angels and of Sodom and Gomorrah to bolster their messages. The points of comparison go on from there. That there is a literary dependence between 2 Peter and Jude is hardly questioned by scholars.”

Both inspired authors express that God’s condemning judgment upon the false teachers has been determined from long ago (2 Peter 2:3; Jude 1:4). Both assert that rebellious angels are being kept in bonds until the Day of Judgment (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6). Both refer to the false teachers as creatures of instinct and unreasoning animals (2 Peter 2:12; Jude 1:10), and say that they follow the error of Balaam (2 Peter 2:15; Jude 1:11). This is just a small sampling of the similarities and exact quotations that abound between these two letters. While it cannot be determined precisely when or to whom these authors wrote their words of warning, or why they mirror each other so greatly, the uncertainty does not affect the authenticity of either epistle or the significance of their communication. It does appear that both were written to primarily Jewish audiences as Peter used an abundance of Old Testament references and Jewish thought trends, and Jude did so as well along with references to extra-biblical, Jewish apocryphal literature. It also appears that Peter wrote his letter first and Jude borrowed from it since Jude appealed to the authority of the Apostles as support for his message (Jude 1:17).

Please read Jude 1:1-4 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself; and we add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true. I had many things to write to you, but I am not willing to write them to you with pen and ink; but I hope to see you shortly, and we will speak face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.”

For the last time, John addresses Gaius as “beloved.” His commendation of Gaius’ hospitality and love in the truth comprised verses 1-8. His resounding denunciation of Diotrephes’ practical hatred for the truth through his disobedience in falsehood made up verses 9-10. Now, he turns once more to Gaius and will introduce a third party named Demetrius.

John makes a terse, sweeping statement to Gaius after condemning Diotrephes’ actions. He tells Gaius, “do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.” The concept of imitation is key to the Christian’s walk. Christians are commanded to imitate Christ and to imitate those who walk worthy of the calling of Christ (e.g. 1 Corinthians 11:1; 2 Thessalonians 3:7, 9; Hebrews 13:7; 1 John 2:6; 4:17). We are to walk in every way as He walked. Furthermore, we are to shun and abhor evil, a concept intimated throughout Scripture (e.g. Amos 5:15; Romans 12:9). Perhaps John has in mind the words of the psalmist as he connects his condemnation of Diotrephes to an exhortation for Gaius: “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate.” (Proverbs 8:13) But what is good? Well, as we have already established throughout 1 and 2 John, doing good is obedience to God’s commands. No, not simply observance of the Ten Commandments given to Israel (one of those no longer applies anyways...); observance of all that God has stated in the new covenant for Christians is mandated. If we walk in truth, we hate evil and do good.

His brief exhortation is rounded out by the brilliant, luminescent example of Demetrius. Most view Demetrius as the letter-bearer. In this brief word, we have built within a letter of commendation for this worker for the Lord. Three witnesses unequivocally reinforce Demetrius’ character. The first is so general as to include “everyone.” This of course could simply mean everyone where John currently is, but the plain sense suggests more. The commendation is reminiscent of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 8:18 – “We have sent along with him the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches”. Could this be the same brother? Perhaps, perhaps not. Demetrius, like Gaius, was a very common name in the Roman Empire. Several are mentioned biblically (e.g. Acts 19:23ff; cf. Demas in Colossians 4:14; Philemon 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:10) and extra-biblically without any definitive connection to the one here mentioned. In conjunction to this witness we have the witness of the truth itself. This could be a reference to the truth in general or it could be a personal reference to Christ Himself, both are possible grammatically. Either way, what a powerful witness to one’s character! And on top of this, the testimony of the Apostle and those with him as well. This last witness is why many prefer the testimony of the first witness to be general in a broader sense than those John is currently with. On this last witness, John tacks on the further statement: “And you know that our testimony is true.” Recall that Diotrephes had slandered them with baseless words! John is reaffirming the trusting and loving relationship he shared with Gaius and with those in Asia Minor.

The last few verses of the epistle end in much the same vein as Second John. He desires to see Gaius and the brethren there face to face. He will need to rebuke Diotrephes and encourage and strengthen the brethren. Much damage was being done and John would be there soon to heal the wounds Diotrephes had inflicted. He ends with the expected expression of peace (How fitting with Diotrephes there!) and salutations. Uniquely though, he does not mention the brethren he is with by name or the brethren affiliated with Gaius by name. He simply refers to them as friends. And how fitting for the apostle of love to use the very terminology that Jesus used. It’s a last reminder that whoever does what Jesus commands is truly a friend (cf. John 15:13-14). May we prove ourselves friends of God by doing as He commands. One last point, and that is although there is anonymity in the letter’s salutations, there is a command and expectation to greet the brethren by name. John Stott on the very last page of his commentary on the Epistles of John comments: “Christians should not lose their individual identity and importance in the group. God surely means each local fellowship to be sufficiently small and closely knit for the minister and members to know each other by personally and be able to greet each other by name. The Good Shepherd calls His own sheep by name (Jn. X. 3); undershepherds and sheep should know each other by name also.”

Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

-Eric Parker

11-11-2017 – 3 John 1:9-10

“I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.”

After a sterling commendation for Gaius’s service as a disciple of Jesus Christ, John now directs his attention to a man whose name is not easily forgotten – Diotrephes. Paul says that he had written something that Diotrephes had dealt with treacherously. It is very likely, given the heavy emphasis on practicing hospitality toward traveling evangelists, that Paul’s letter was in fact a letter of commendation (cf. 2 Corinthians 3). Such a practice in the early church was common and practical because much like in our world today, there were very real and present dangers abroad and at home. Letters of commendation would make “loving strangers” much easier and set a man and his household more at ease.

One thing that doesn’t come across is that the very name Diotrephes attested to the depravity of the man. The name was exceedingly unique and was primarily found in noble and ancient Greco-Roman families. It means “Zeus-nursed”. It is likely that his background inflamed his predisposition to pride and caused this disciple of Jesus to return to a fleshly attitude – he “loves to be first among them.” He had exalted himself over the church and preferred his headship at the local group to Jesus’. He favored personal aggrandizement to glorifying God. He failed to heed the warning of Jesus against ambition and the desire to rule over others (Mark 10:42-45; 1 Peter 5:3). A factor that may have further played in to this is the early heresy involving local church leadership. Ignatius of Antioch, in 115 AD, attests to the exaltation of one elder over another in this development of “monarchial episcopasy” very early in the church. The situation here in 3^rd John may be an even earlier and inspired accounting of this early heresy and provide an antidote to such exaltation of men in the local assemblies of Christ.

Not only did Diotrephes reject the letter of the inspired Apostle, but he went several steps further in his rebellion. And rebellion is an exact description of the type of attitudes and actions in which Diotrephes was engaged. Paul planned an open condemnation of such behavior (compare his open rebuke of Peter in Galatians 2). He unjustly accused the Apostles and those affiliated with them with wicked words. The King James Version reads: “prating against us with malicious words”. Or as one writer put it, he spoke nonsense against John and his fellow workers. While it may have been fluent, it was nonetheless completely devoid of any substance. All of this because Diotrephes loved the preeminence, something belonging exclusively to Christ! (Colossians 1:18) Compounding all of this, Diotrephes had closed the door on those engaged in the labor of the Lord. What Gaius was doing, Diotrephes was actively refusing; what Gaius is commended and encouraged regarding, Diotrephes was scoffing. This sinner was puffed up and John was riding hard to deflate him. How would he have had such authority? It may have been as an elder in the church or perhaps simply that the church met in his home. And think of the impact of Diotrephes’ actions! If this letter is indeed written at the end of the first century, persecution was rampant and only growing worse at the turn of the century. Diotrephes’ rejection might result in the torture or even death of these traveling workers for the Lord! This man needed the son of thunder to make an appearance and John was coming in righteous indignation against this enemy of the truth.

As if personal rebellion were not enough, Diotrephes as the local self-appointed demagogue excommunicated brethren who desired to serve God in providing hospitality to God’s people. One wonders what impact this had on Gaius and what impact it may have played in Demetrius’ life once he got there with the letter. The impact of a Diotrephes is cataclysmic in proportion. John R.W. Stott in the Tyndale New Testament commentary on these letters writes: “Diotrephes slandered John, cold-shouldered the missionaries and excommunicated the loyal believers because he loved himself and wanted to have the pre-eminence. Personal vanity still lies at the root of most dissensions in every local church today.” No doubt you have seen such devastation by one not walking in the truth and in love. It impacts and negatively affects all whom it touches. Such a scourge on the early church and today can only be engulfed by the examples of zealous devotion that God’s soldiers demonstrate as they serve the living God, boldly exposing the deeds of darkness of wicked men. F.F. Bruce writes in his commentary: “Twenty centuries of church history have witnessed many of [Diotrephes’] successors: the lust for power, from whatever form of inner insecurity it may spring, is always a curse, and pre-eminently so in the realm of religion.” Daniel King in the Truth Commentary series concurs and writes: “There is an important lesson for us in this. If it was possible for men to oppose the apostles of the Lord when they still lived and walked among the sons of men, it out not to shock us today when some of those who claim to be the disciples of Jesus seem to care so little for the writings of the apostles and prophets. Like Diotrephes of old, they will have their own way despite the Spirit’s admonitions on the pages of the Sacred Scriptures....How does a man like Diotrephes rise to preeminence? How does he maintain his ascendency over others? Why is he not removed from power by the force of the majority? The answers to these questions are not easily determined. But some factors are undoubtedly present. On the one hand there is the fact that he is usually a person who is aggressive and abrasive in dealing with others. The result is that some people genuinely fear him. Because of his caustic manner, he is able to bully people who do not have the courage to stand up to him. In the second place, he is brought to power and kept there by his enablers. These are folks who genuinely respect him because they count him as a fearless soldier of the cross. he is their hero. They consider his harsh methods as necessary under the 'mitigating' circumstances of the present. They make excuses for him and justify his actions. For them he can do no wrong. Finally, there are the weak and spineless who allow him to work his evil because they are not going to cause any waves no matter what happens. They will never stand up against any evil at any time. They are the ultimate enablers. They are the spiritual cowards in the war between evil and good. They view themselves as followers and not as leaders. And followers they are. They will follow the Devil himself into hell. This represents the largest number of those who fall in line to follow someone like Diotrephes. They know that what he does and says is wrong, but they will never have the intestinal fortitude necessary to say so, or if they do say it they will do so in whispered tones, and deny it if you repeat what they say. Again, they are the ultimate enablers, and there are far more of them than any of us would ever like to admit." (Daniel H. King, Sr. "The Three Epistles Of John" in Truth Commentaries. Bowling Green, KY: Guardian of Truth Foundation, 2004. pages 234-235.)”

We turn to the positive example of Demetrius and wrap up this brief fifteen-verse letter in our next reading. Please read 3 John 1:11-15 for tomorrow!

Be blessed!

“Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers; and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.”

---End of Scripture verses---

This is now the third of four times that the elder refers to Gaius as “beloved.” It should be obvious at this point that John’s indignation in his earlier life has been tempered by divine love. Gaius was subject of that spiritual fellowship and camaraderie that John so pleasantly enjoins upon his children in the faith.

Just as we need regular encouragement because of the incessant fiery darts of the evil one, so John exhorts Gaius. The influence of Diotrephes has been cancerous to the local group/area and Gaius was no doubt discouraged. Have you ever been in a group of the Lord’s people with a Diotrephes? All possible prospects, all privileges of fellowship, all work is constantly snuffed out by this individual. Any time you get traction, he pulls you and the group back into the rut. It’s frustrating isn’t it? Gaius was frustrated and John knew it. He needed a reminder that he was doing the Lord’s work and it was not in vain. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Gaius was a faithful servant and was proving himself pleasing unto the Lord. The witness of those who had seen and experienced the love of Gaius first hand attested all of this to the Apostle. There is little doubt that the ones testifying had been subjects of the hospitality of Gaius and witness to the destructive wake Diotrephes was leaving. Did you know that the work “hospitality” in the New Testament is translated by the Greek word “philoxenia” and means the “love of strangers” (philo means love; xenia means strangers)? So not only was Gaius showing love for “brethren” but also for those whom he had no previous connection too! The New Testament is rife with instructions to be hospitable! (Romans 12:13; 1 Timothy 3:2; 5:10; Titus 1:8; Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9; etc.) Gaius was receiving a prophet in the name of a prophet and would receive a prophet’s reward (cf. Matthew 10:40-41). He was welcoming those who should be welcomed (contrast 2 John 1:9-11).

Although opening his home was certainly commendable, John exhorts Gaius further to “send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.” The context and plain sense indicates that this was a financial responsibility. We’ve already established that Gaius was Roman by birth given his name. As a Roman citizen, he had experienced some level of prestige that had placed him ultimately in the position to be hospitable. John is asking Gaius not only to continue doing good, but to excel still more! (compare 1 Thessalonians 4:1, 10). It is right, proper, and worthwhile to support those who have committed their lives to the work of the Lord. As much is defined unequivocally in 1 Corinthians 9, especially verse 14 – “So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.” Inasmuch as we commit ourselves to those who commit their lives to the work, it is through support that we can participate, at least in one way, in those labors. No, this does not end our responsibility nor was it meant to complete the responsibility of Gaius here, but it is one more thing we can do. Not all can or even should commit themselves in the same sense here described, but we can all be wholly devoted disciples in whatever capacities we find ourselves. Let us all be so committed to that “Name”, i.e. that authority, whence all salvation comes! (Acts 4:12) And, interestingly enough, 3^rd John is the only book in the New Testament that does not mention “Christ” but this should obviously be viewed as a reference to Him. Gaius, and we, should receive those committed to the work in Christ’s name (compare Mark 9:37).

One last theme to explore, and that has to do with the “restricted support” here stated: “For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.” This begs the question, for what reason would they not accept funds and support from the Gentiles? Well, there are a couple of considerations. First, is the term “Gentile” possibly here being used of those unconverted pagans who these brethren may have had interaction with in their travels. We cannot of course exempt ourselves from interaction among such people, although we can and should limit it. Perhaps the injunctions the Lord had given in the limited commissions of the 12 and 70 are alluded to in principle? Understanding the statement this way is preferable for several reasons. Verbally, the term that is used here is elsewhere understood as impenitent pagans (e.g. Matthew 5:47; 6:7; 18:17). It is also preferable given that asking support of pagans would suggest an inadequacy of the church to care for itself. John R.W. Stott, in his commentary on John’s inspired letters in the Tyndale series, comments on why this would be significant and what it does and does not mean: “The phrase taking nothing need not be pressed into meaning that these Christian missionaries would refuse to accept gifts voluntarily offered to them by the unconverted. There is no prohibition here of taking money from non-Christians who may be well disposed to the Christian cause. Jesus Himself asked for and accepted a glass of water from a Samaritan woman. What is here said is that these itinerant evangelists would not (as a matter of policy) seek their support from the heathen and did not (as a matter of fact) receive their support from them. Christian missionaries were not like many wandering non-Christian teachers of those days (or the begging friars of the Middle Ages), who made a living out of their vagrancy.”

Our second possible consideration, are these converted pagans who are culturally and ethnically Gentiles? These of course would be Christians and certainly had a responsibility to the work of the Lord. Why then were they not an approved source of income? It is possible that circumstances required such. We have several New Testament examples where Christians forewent support, even though they had a right to it (e.g. Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 so as to avoid empty boasting, party alliances, and one-upmanship). All can and should be involved in the work of the Lord, but sometimes certain situations may dictate what level of interaction we may have with a particular work. We must always use discretion so as not to provide a basis for any accusation against the Lord’s work.

Please read 3 John 1:9-10 for tomorrow!

We pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers!

“The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”

---End of Scripture verses---

The elder John begins and ends in much the same way as in 2nd John. Yet, as we pointed out in our introduction, there are differences between the two letters. John addresses this third epistle to a brother in Christ named Gaius. Gaius was one of the most popular names in the Roman Empire so complete satisfaction in identifying this brother evades the reader (it was one of the 18 names from which Roman parents could choose a praenomen, a first name, for one of their sons). Even so, a brief listing is beneficial: Gaius of Corinth (1Cor. 1:4; Rom. 16:23); Gaius of Macedonia (Acts 19:29); and Gaius of Derbe (Acts 20:4). The general consensus seems to be that the Gaius mentioned here is Gaius of Derbe (based on the early extra-biblical document “Apostolical Constitutions” from the fourth century), but again, we cannot know this for certain. What we do know of the Gaius mentioned in 3rd John is simple, powerful statements of confidence are expressed by the beloved apostle of Jesus. John’s love for this Gaius is said to be “in truth.” Just as we noted in the second epistle, truth undergirds love and love is demonstrated by obedience to God. This brother was beloved (the same term used of God toward His people). We do well to note that “love” is at the root of three of the first eleven words in the Greek text of 3rd John.

After expressing sentiments of divine passion, John follows the typical trajectory of a short, personal letter and expresses concern for the prosperity and good health of Gaius. It was so common in fact that in Roman letters, it was abbreviated S V B E E V which stood for si uales, bene est; ego valeo (“if you are well, that is good; I am well”). He loves this brother and prays to God that Gaius is blessed in service. This style of beginning a letter is reflected in Greco-Roman letters as in Jewish letters, but the standard of the greeting is deeper. This is no mere trifling expression to meet common expectation; this is John pouring out his heart and soul for a brother who is in a difficult circumstance. Gaius needed an ally and John is there with him 100%. What a wind to be put into Gaius’s sails! Further, this expression is compounded in value by the addition of “just as your soul prospers.” John was not simply concerned for the temporal Gaius, but for the spiritual Gaius as well. They are brothers in arms in the greatest army of all, the army of the Lord! Gaius needed a reminder that his love, sincerity, devotion, and service to the cause of Christ were purposeful, effective, and appreciated, despite the difficulties he faced with Diotrephes, and possibly others.

John rejoiced at the good report he had received regarding Gaius. Gaius was withstanding the flames of Satan and was on fire for the Lord. This sentiment was reflected in 2nd John with “some” of the group and is not heartily lavished upon a single light – Gaius. And much like the second epistle, truth is mentioned several times in as many verses. Truth. Truth. Truth. That’s what it all comes back to brothers and sisters. When one possesses the truth, they can be confident that what they are committed to is pleasing to the Lord. Gaius was pleasing the one who had enlisted him (2 Timothy 2:4).

I have to confess that one of the greatest verses of this letter has to be verse 4: “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.” Is there really anything that could compare? To hear and be confident that your spiritual work in the kingdom on behalf of another soul has stayed true, held fast, and been proven? It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 3:10-15: “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” Compare also the sentiments expressed in 1 Thessalonians 3:1-10 between Paul and his spiritual children. John Stott, in his commentary in the Tyndale New Testament Commentary series, also expresses this about the verse: “He who ‘walks in the truth’ is an integrated Christian in whom is no dichotomy between profession and practice. On the contrary, there is in him an exact correspondence between his creed and his conduct” (219-220).

Please read 3 John 1:5-8 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

John’s third letter in the New Testament canon is one of the shortest books in the entire Bible, with a mere fifteen verses. The same Apostle who wrote four other inspired works of the New Testament composes it and just as he does in Second John, he refers to himself as “the elder”. A very early extra-biblical document records this terminology being used of the Apostles, most notably John. Eusebius quotes a man named Papias who lived at the same time as John as saying: ““If, then, any one came, who had been a follower of the elders, I questioned him in regard to the words of the elders, -- what Andrew or what Peter said, or what was said by Philip, or by Thomas, or by James, or by John, or by Matthew, or by any other of the disciples of the Lord, and what things Aristion and the presbyter John, the disciples of the Lord, say. For I did not think that what was to be gotten from the books would profit me as much as what came from the living and abiding voice.” (HE, 3.39).

While Second and Third John share several characteristics, there are also some differences. Second John was written to “the lady” (i.e. a local congregation in Asia Minor); Third John is addressed to a disciple named Gaius. In 2nd John, “many deceivers have gone out”, whereas in 3rd John, there was one troublemaker inside the church (Diotrephes). Second John warns against receiving some; 3rd John commends for receiving some. Further, Third John is a clear example of a letter between two individuals; 3rd John is written to a group of Christians (compare even Philemon).

Verses 5-6 of the letter have led many to wonder at the situation of the letter. It is possible this hints at persecution, especially if we take the view that these letters were written at the close of the first century AD. Trajan and Domitian were emperors during that time and they violently persecuted Christians. It is also possible though to understand the verses as simply referring to evangelistic activity without persecution being a present, widespread danger in the area.

Here is a brief outline of the short letter that will guide our daily readings:

Verses 1-4 – Prayer and rejoicing over good news
Verses 5-8 – Commendation of their generosity and hospitality
Verses 9-10 – Condemnation of Diotrephes
Verses 11-15 – Encouragement to continue in what is good and final salutations

Let’s plan on reading and discussing verses 1-4 for tomorrow!

May the Lord bless your day today!

“Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. The children of your chosen sister greet you.”

---End of Scripture verses---

And so concludes this very brief letter to what seems most likely to be a local congregation of Christians in Asia Minor. One manuscript from the eleventh century, codex 465, identifies the sister as the church at Ephesus, but this cannot be verified. The third letter will conclude in much the same way with much of the exact same verbiage.

So let’s review...

Verses 1-3 – The elder John writes a short, rushed letter to a local assembly of Christians in Asia Minor. He commends them to the truth in love and pronounces the typical blessing in New Testament letters of grace, mercy, and peace. We mentioned that the heavy saturation of truth and love together was to combat false teachings, namely Gnosticism, that falsely believed many of the deceptions believed today. Several examples would include: that our actions aren’t what really matters as long as we intellectually assent to the right things, that truth is only available to certain elect people, and that Jesus was never required to fully inhabit fleshly form in order to reveal truth and demonstrate love.

Verses 4-6 – The relationship between truth, love, and action is taken a step further in these verses. John commends some of the brethren at this group for clearly demonstrating their love by means of obedience to the truth. He, like Jesus, calls this type of love a “new” commandment. It was of course not new in the sense of novelty, but in the standard of love.

Verses 7-8 – These few verses defeated the faulty notion of Jesus never truly inhabiting flesh, a false doctrine clung to desperately by the Gnostic teachers. The denial of Jesus having come into the flesh is likened unto being an antichrist, someone utterly and totally opposed to Christ. The strong language of condemnation parallels the gravity of the influence of such a false perversion on God’s people. The brethren were warned to be vigilant over themselves that they not miss out on the reward awaiting the faithful.

Verses 9-11 – The brethren are specifically warned to watch out for traveling false preachers hocking their wares and secretly invading homes through the generous hospitality of God’s people. They are exhorted neither to open their homes to anyone teaching falsehood nor even to greet such a one.

Verses 12-13 – John desired to see these brethren and was full of hopes to. Thus, he concludes his letter with the confident expectation that more communication could be done in person, “face-to-face”, or more literally “mouth to mouth” (compare John 16:12). John may have wanted to ensure that anything else he would say would be more perfectly understood in person or perhaps there was fear of anything longer being intercepted or it may have simply been practicality in the sense that he only had one piece of papyrus to send. He ends verse 12 with the same phrasing that he recorded Jesus using on the night He was betrayed (John 15:11; compare 1 John 1:4). He concludes with verse 13, a statement of salutation from another assembly of Christians, no doubt the assembly John is with or was immediately with prior to writing the letter.

Tomorrow we will continue our daily Bible readings with an introduction to 3rd John.

-Eric Parker

“Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”

---End of Scripture verses---

This brief epistle is concluding quickly with what in many ways seems a synopsis of 1 John 2:23-24. There has been essentially one singular theme in each of our readings in 2 John – you are either in or out, for Christ or anti Christ. There have been a few tests illustrated so far, most notably the test of obedience to the truth in love and consent to the belief that Jesus came in the flesh.

At this point, John becomes immensely practical. He has one more test to share: respect for God’s Word. In other places, the same condemnation is found for disrespecting God’s Word – “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19) Paul wrote to the Corinthians that they needed to learn to “not exceed what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6). This was in no way a New Testament only command, for God had always commanded highest reverence for His Word (e.g. Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Proverbs 30:6). His words and commands are life; to disrespect His Word was to prove one’s self a hater of God.

The sad reality is that one who does not abide in Christ and in His Word does not have God. Any claims to the contrary would be in violation of the tests given in this brief letter. Obedience to God has always been the true test of faith, for faith must be perfected by works (James 2:14-26). And all of this forms a tragic irony: the Gnostic claims were that they, through special knowledge, had gone farther than anyone else in understanding. The reality was that they had gone far beyond God’s Word and thereby brought judgment upon themselves. This is in no ways a condemnation of progress for there certainly is room for growth insofar as it is development in God’s Word (1 Peter 1:5-10; 2 Peter 3:18).

Paul W. Hoon comments thus on this passage: “When is a progressive not a progressive? When he parades his progressivism for its own sake, and falsely supposes that the new is always the best or that mere movement is progress. In theology and in Christian ethics, as in the everyday world of politics, art, and social reform, the new must be tested by the old. Jesus significantly describes the man who qualifies for the kingdom for heaven as one who brings forth from his treasure both what is new and what is old (Matt. 13:52). The false progressive also fails to test whatever truth he believes in or whatever ideal he seeks by the doctrine of Christ, i.e., the mind of Christ revealed in apostolic Christianity.” (Interpreter’s Bible: XII:307)

Another connection to be made is with the parallel statement to 2 John 2:9-11 that is found in the early second century document known as the Didache: “Now, you should welcome anyone who comes your way and teaches you all we have been saying. But if the teacher proves himself a renegade and by teaching otherwise contradicts all this, pay no attention to him. Now about the apostles and prophets: Act in line with the Gospel precept. Welcome every apostle on arriving, as if he were the Lord. But he must not stay beyond one day. In case of necessity, however, the next day too. If he stays three days, he is a false prophet, and if he asks for money, he is a false prophet.” (11:1-6)

Having established this last test, John’s turns to action. So what should we do if someone comes to us espousing Christ but in violation of these scriptural tests? Should Christians be privately or collectively hospitable to such? John provides a consummate answer: “do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting.” This flies in the face of modern culture has done in warping the concept of Christianity. Relativism and ecumenicalism falsely teaches that all espousing Christ are brothers and sisters no matter how different their beliefs, even if contradictory and mutually exclusive. If only such would read this letter as it has been written! Does not this letter teach otherwise? Does not this letter teach that it does matter? That obedience to God’s Word is the test and those in violation are not abiding in Christ? There needs to be a recognizable rejection of those opposed to Christ through disobedience to His commands. All is not well and that needs to be conveyed in the spirit of Christ. Why? Because as John so tersely states: “...for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.” Acting as if all is well is not how Jesus would respond. In fact, acting as if all is well is the exact opposite of Jesus’ response and constitutes rebellion against God, an obviously condemnable choice. Jesus would establish and distinguish disobedience and obedience. He would be loving and compassionate, but also straightforward and honest. So must we be. So next time someone expresses spiritual kinship with you, don’t agree for the sake of comfort (see Romans 16:17). Stand on God’s Word and be convicted that Truth matters!

One last thought for today. How do we decipher whether or not espousing believers are worthy of private or collective hospitality? Obviously, Christians must ask questions. This is inescapable. This is not creedalism if done correctly and is actually scripturally attested by 1 John 4:1-3. Letters of commendation can also be helpful. We have to be watchful of who we affiliate with on an individual and congregational level. There needs to be a clear demarcation between the sheep and the goats.

Please read 2 John 1:12-13 for tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day!

-Eric Parker

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.”

---End of Scripture verses---

Deception is a key theme in John’s short epistles that sharply contrasts with love and obedience to the Lord’s commandments. Those walking in the light are illuminated by their observance of God’s commands and precepts; consequently, they reflect that light in the lives of all those to whom they come into contact. Conversely those who willfully reject God abide in darkness and exercise a gangrene-like impact upon all those to whom they hold influence. These latter individuals characterize the spirit of the rebellious (Titus 1:10). These are children of Satan, the original and most pervasive deceiver in any realm. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

Pay particular attention here to the phrasing in verse 7. These deceivers “have gone out.” Just as Christ had Apostles, the forces of the evil one launched a counterattack by deploying his own apostles. That these individuals had their own warped minds was not the end of the deception; their influence radiated and permeated the Roman Empire as fast as the gospel. There’s an old saying that goes “A lie can travel the span of the world before truth can get its boots on.” And the extent of Satan and his minion’s deception is incomprehensible. These enemies of all truth no doubt were of the same ilk as those who had permeated at Corinth and as such they were to be regarded with utmost rejection – “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15)

Louie Taylor has mentioned in earlier treatments the influence of early forms of Gnosticism and how understanding this backdrop establishes the proper context in which we are to read these inspired epistles of John. We won’t reestablish the same points but we will ask you to specially note the import of this background in understanding the second part of verse 7, especially as it relates to the “antichrist” theme picked up again from the first letter. The Gnostics rejected the concept that Jesus came into the flesh; the very concept of God incarnate was repugnant. Their concept was that their spiritual enlightenment could not allow such a defilement of theology.

Sadly, this deception is the exact opposite of the essential facts of Christianity – “By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” (1 Timothy 3:16) “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law” (Galatians 4:4). “He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:16-17)

To deny that Jesus came in the flesh is to stand for the EXACT opposite of what Jesus came to do, the exact opposite of who Jesus is, and the exact opposite of Jesus’ purpose. It is for this reason that such an individual is labeled an “antichrist.” And no, that moniker does not simply apply to a singular person in the near future as some harbinger of the end of days. The premillennial concept of “The Antichrist” is fraught with biblical misinterpretation and deception. Recall the straightforward description in 1 John 2:18-24, that in conjunction with this reference, makes clear who and what being antichrist is all about. Recall that in that passage many antichrists had already gone out, that more would come. That the antichrist(s) is any individual or group that denies that Jesus is Christ, including the fact that He inhabited the fullness of human form, without which He could offer no hope. Any who would deny Christ are exactly that – anti-Christ! John is saying exactly what Jesus said: “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30) The only difference between “against Me” and “antichrist” is the use of a synonymous Greek preposition (“kata” instead of “anti”) and the title as opposed to the pronoun (“Christ” instead of “Me”). Conceptually, these are exact parallels. And to make his point more strongly, John uses definite articles in 2 John 1:7-8 to describe the person characterized by this antagonistic disposition.

Verse 8 contains an admonition. Remember, John has expresses joyous confidence and faith in these brethren in verses 4-6. But the threat of deception was powerful and vigilance was to be maintained at all costs. Not only could they become sycophants of these false teachers, they could also join their ranks. Too many examples could be cited of those who at one time in their lives were pillars of spiritual excellence, only to squander their potential and influence by conforming to the will of Satan rather than Christ. This has contributed to such a pronounced loss to the kingdom, all because of a failure to keep watch. If we watch, we have no concern for losing our reward (compare Mark 9:40ff; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27). And notice the change to the plural pronoun. John’s emphasis is fellowship-oriented. As we wrap these two verses out, we leave you with the same exhortation and admonition: keep watch, keep your eye on the prize, and do not fall into the condemnation of the devil by becoming prey to his deceptions. May God grant you the power and the wherewithal to always be this circumspect. May you be found a Christian and not an antichrist.

Please read 2 John 1:9-11 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

-Eric Parker