“Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” (Revelation 3:11)

A Healthy Church Has the Name and the Word

Yesterday we saw a little concerning the seven churches mentioned in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, which represent the situation of the church throughout the ages. After the saints in Ephesus, the church whose name means desirable, received help from the apostle John, they began to call on the name of the Lord and take His word with prayer. This practice was also maintained by the church in Smyrna, the church that suffered persecution from the Roman Empire. Then the church in Pergamos initiated the process of degradation, which deepened at the time of Thyatira.

The church in Sardis began the recovery but did not finish, which gave rise to many types of Christian groups: those who analyse the word in the mind, those who live in their emotions and excessively stress supernatural manifestations, and those who live in their stubborn will and pride, not receiving help from anyone, like those in Laodicea.

But praise the Lord for the church in Philadelphia! a church where there is brotherly love. They recovered the practice of calling on the name of the Lord and of praying and reading His word (Rev. 3:8). Nonetheless, they suffered opposition from others, and because of this the Lord declared to them, “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you” (v. 9). They were probably a minority, had a little strength and were thrown out of Sardis, but the Lord loved them because they were on the right way of practising the word and living in the spirit.

Because the saints in Philadelphia called on the name of the Lord and read the word with prayer, they were in the spirit receiving the Spirit and life. Because they were in life, they expressed love between brothers, brotherly love. Hence, God gave them a special commission: to hold fast the crown of life—the same crown the church in Smyrna received (v. 11; cf. 2:10). Furthermore, Philadelphia had the key of David, that is, the key to the kingdom (3:7). Although they suffered opposition, those in Philadelphia remained in the Spirit and in life.

Key Point:

Receiving life and keeping the crown.

Your Key Point:

Question:

Why it is important to call on the name of the Lord and pray-read the word to keep the church in a normal condition?

Print this Page        Mail to a Friend        Home        Week Contents        Tuesday        Thursday