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160 Sev.
In the veil I'll just prevail, Keep soul the worship of the Fish 167.
Revelation chapter 3 in the address to Philadelphia, and I don't think we got very far. Maybe if we started at.
I think we pretty well covered verse eight. Could we start at verse nine? Would that be OK and read to the end of the address to Philadelphia? If anyone wants to refer back to a verse or two, that would be alright too.
3D and Revelation chapter 3, starting at verse nine and reading on to the end of verse 13.
00:05:08
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not but to lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee, because thou has kept the word of my patience. I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Behold, I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown, Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out. And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name.
He that hath appeared, let him hear what the Spirit said under the Church.
We might just make one comment on verse 8.
In Kasich wasn't covered adequately, but.
It mentions there a little strength.
Some have perhaps misunderstood that it doesn't mean that there is only a little strength in those who keep the Lord's word and do not deny His name, and that there is a lot of strength perhaps in other places where there may be more activity and greater numbers than all the rest of it. True strength comes from walking.
With the Lord and working, if I might use the term synchronized with Him, and that can only be by walking in what Ephesians 4 calls the unity of the Spirit. I remember well a brother remarking to be a brother who had been gathered but who had left what we feel is the Lord's table. And he said, well, Bill, but we're all one body.
We are all one body, aren't we?
And of course I said yes. And that is blessedly true. Nothing that man does can ever change the precious truth that there is one body. But if there's one body, there's also one spirit. And there is a unity of the spirit which we are exhorted to keep in the uniting bond of peace. And so in simple terms, if we are one body, we are.
Being.
Ignored it to act as one body, and that can only be done by walking in the unity of the Spirit. And so we can't really confess the truth of the one body properly in division. And so I just suggest that the little strength here is a reference to the fact that, as we said this morning, we can't pretend to have the power of Pentecost and for example, some of the biggest gifts that God has given.
May not be available to us because they are not walking according to what we have here keeping his word and not denying his name and God doesn't take away a gift simply because it is unused properly. And so we don't have everything that they had in the early church. We do have a little strength. I say we meaning those who are characterized by Philadelphia and.
The what characterizes those who have that strength is that there is a seeking to keep His word and a not denying of His name.
The door is open for, uh, enjoyment of the truth.
Uh, even as much as it can be early apostles and only any of us would say that we have reached through that, uh, height of enjoying the group that has been managed.
Give them to us. The potential is there because that we, uh, we don't want to come to truth or we don't, we're not diligent in, uh, learning the truth, umm, that we don't, uh, enjoy it. Uh, go back to the, uh, picture in, uh, Joshua.
00:10:19
Wednesday after July injury is a little bit better.
There were various, uh.
Inaugurated there, there was.
Circumcision. I was meeting the Lord as the captain, uh, there was Gilgal, uh, these variants, uh.
Uh, various, Uh.
Activities.
Went into the lab to possess what was there by right entitlements, but.
There were certain conditions there. They had to be circumcised as guilty. Here's a picture of us.
Clean the blades of deflection and the place of death, of keeping it there.
And, uh, walking in.
The power of the Holy Spirit.
Judgment of the flesh that we all have. There was a conflict in the last.
Was a game in the noise, therefore sections have replaced that the sole of their foot would tread upon would be theirs, but they have to umm and they.
Conflict with the enemies of the Lord and they have to walk in self judgment so those conditions.
Were necessary for the enjoyment of the of their heavenly blessings which are prefigured in Canaan Canaan is a picture of what we have in the crisis our our heavenly warship and how much do you enjoy it So with the Philadelphians here a little strange, but they had been faithful and maintaining the word and.
Gathering to the name of Christ outside.
The orders, the, uh, systems of men, they were not gathered to any other name. They acknowledged the supremacy of the name of Christ. They were gathered as we.
Often to say, and sometimes you don't have the courage to confess it. What, uh, church do you belong to? We, we, we hear 10 times a day something if we go out with the gospel and then what do we say? Are we this group for are we a group of people called brethren and, or do we really say we are simply gathered to the name of our workings of Christ?
I didn't give you a black book, but is a reproach connected with it.
You say it'll belong to the denomination. It's different. But if you say we just gathered members of the body of Christ with his name, it takes courage and there is reproach. The Philadelphians here, they had this.
Value of the Word of God.
Every part of it, no compromise. And they had not denied his name.
Darby translation, that is even with the word power, uh, strength and uh.
There's another difference but when we speak in power, but.
Let me think of the power that we each have.
Actually, not our own power, but that which we have by being as well by the Spirit of God that we would have.
We have the power of that new life of what in a way that's moving through short and uh, so with that, if you agree that that power is really the power of the spirit alone.
Yes, it's spiritual power, isn't it?
Get that in Timothy, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sown mind. And uh, I believe all of that is is by the spiritual power, isn't that?
00:15:13
We really have no power of our own and.
And even as even as a group of believers.
We don't really have how any power or majority. I saw it of the.
Our customer spirit gathering up and the power of the of the authority of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God.
AP As it mentioned there in chapter 6, to uh, uh, be strong in the Lord, in the power of his might son, verse 10.
As you before mentioned the armor, but uh, it's in the power of his light, isn't it? That we go on.
What's going on to verse nine? We have some very strong language there and some which perhaps at least we would be hesitant to use. But the Spirit of God talks here about them who are of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and they're not, but do lie.
I believe that.
Could have a two fold meaning in our day.
On the one hand.
Sad to say.
Much of what characterized Judy Judaism has been imported into Christianity in many circles, hasn't it? It has a natural appeal to.
A man as a natural creature, beautiful buildings, pretty music, incense, ritualism, to name a few things, all of which were part of Judaism.
All of which God did away with in the cross. But man has brought back much of that into Christianity, and as a result, it has.
Brought that back, which on the one hand appealed to nature, and which on the other hand.
Put men between.
US and the Lord, if we're not careful, so-called paid ministers and.
Priests and so on, who supposedly would take the responsibility of one's spiritual welfare. All of that has been imported into Christianity, and it happened very, very quickly after the apostles were called home to be with the Lord.
But there's another thing that is going on, and perhaps it's even more prevalent today, and that is those who are.
Acting like Jews.
In the Old Testament, by laying claim to this world and saying that it's our mandate to get out there and straighten out the world in order to make it ready for God's Kingdom, so-called reconstructionism or covenant theology, whatever label you want to put on it, That is really acting like Jews, isn't it? The Jews in the Old Testament were quite right to take up the sword and to go out and conquer enemies of the Lord. They were quite right to go out.
As it were, they claim to the earth.
Uh, but you and I are called to be separate from this world, to have a heavenly calling, and that is not very popular. It's far more popular to preach Reconstructionism. A natural man likes that too, and that is also pretending to be Jews when we're not.
And the Lord has some pretty strong language here for it. He calls it a synagogue of Satan. Why? So why is it a synagogue of Satan?
Uh, it's of Satan, because ultimately the devil knows that if the Church loses the sense of its heavenly calling, humanly speaking, it loses everything.
And as an old brother used to say, referring to the truth of gathering to the Lord's name and the truth that Paul preached, someone said to him, what if everyone doesn't want to hear that truth? And he made an interesting remark. He said, they will probably listen to you until you want to take them to heaven. And he didn't mean heaven. At the end of the pathway, he met the heavenly calling.
00:20:32
And that, I think many here have experienced, is sadly true.
Uh, the natural man, even in a believer, does not want a heavenly calling. If I can be part of the system of things in this world, if I can be used to make this world better, if I can work with various organizations to do things fine, that the world can handle that other believers can handle. But a heavenly calling that says I'm in the world but not of it, that is not popular.
And so.
John calls it by the Spirit of God, a synagogue of Satan, not because he's trying to label others with that kind of a label, but rather to point out the seriousness of it and where it leads, because it leads to the believer literally losing everything. From a human point of view, our testimony is not valid in this world if we've lost the sense of our heavenly calling.
The sense of our heavenly calling, and I believe related to that, is also.
What is often being preached today that if we are faithful as believers, we will be blessed with more of this world's goodness. And that is another curricular statement, I believe.
That again is, is Old Testament to it. That was what God promised to those who would be faithful in in the Old Testament that, uh, they.
Would be left here in this world.
We have been blessed, Ephesians tells us, with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. So that's not more money in my bank account that still was talking about to the children. It's not a bigger house and a better car and and, and.
Our investments, uh, growing quickly and all of that stuff that this world looks for, We're blessed with heavenly blessings. And if we read through Ephesians one, we'll see what those are. If they're not those things which the word may allow us to have while we're here in this world, but we're not to be seeking those things here in this world. We have to be enjoying our almost heavenly blessings.
That we never paid 1 cent for. George pays the price and.
Eternity and we should be of going throughout.
So to for believers to be and it's related to what I'd rather do is saying that I'm trying to improve the world.
That's an impossible task. It would never you can have, you can have Christian Prime Minister or Christian president and they're not going to be able to change.
The West the way both of these countries in North America are going.
Uh, the world will not be. We know that it's.
Uh, and so related to that is that we cannot, we should not be.
Uh, seeking.
Greater asset spending personally. Blessings in this world.
By trying to deliver the police reward, they should be enjoying what He has given in the heavens Blessings.
OK, very good.
Who's referenced Chuck?
Several times they're not in the revelation to those that dwell upon your birth. And these are ones apparently, that make the earth their focus. And they're so taken up with the things of birth that they have no use for heaven. It's already been brought out. They have no taste for heavenly things.
00:25:25
And I recall a book, I believe it was written by David Hunt.
And then it was entitled. Whatever happened to heaven?
And it turns out how that.
Even in Christendom we find occupation that the things of time and sense, things that are material.
And emphasis is on the health and wealth.
That's the Pentecostal it's a prosperity gospel, and it has nothing to do with our heavenly calling.
Calling or heavenly blessings?
Which is really what God has for us to enjoy as you are bringing out, uh.
And I was told, you know, if you read on Revelation.
You find out that it speaks about those that dwell upon the earth. They shall worship Him. Who's Him?
It's a beast.
Is a man the head of a powerful confederacy? 10 nations who should be Rise yourself out of the sea. Read about them Revelation 13.
And he said, dwell on the earth, worshipping a man.
Instead of crisis. And these could be those that were exposed to the truth of the gospel, the truth of Christianity, but they rejected it.
Paul speaks about it. I believe in writing to the Thessalonians.
He said because.
They did not have the love of the truth. God sends him strong delusion.
That they should believe a lie.
It's quite sobering to think that in apostate crystalline there are those that are rejected the truth and they're going to be worshipping a man instead of Christ.
It's interesting, uh, brother Wally, that that expression they that dwell on the earth as mentioned at least six times in the Book of Revelation and I believe their character is brought before us in the third chapter of Philippians. I just mentioned in the passing it says there in the 18th verse many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping.
That they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, whose mind earthly things. I think that's a good definition of the people that you're mentioning. And it's very easy to fall into that mentality and forget that we are heavenly citizens.
MMM, I guess we have to hear the more things. Uh, that's very true about it. Umm, whether somebody enthusiastically standpoint, umm.
Christianity is not clear, and improvement on Judaism regarding Twitter is something entirely different.
And what, uh, is happening now in, uh, this is the generally speaking.
They have the August, the uh.
Ceremonies enrich the law of Judaism and death.
So for the forms and so on.
Into Christianity and made it, uh, a pattern for their, uh, their order of service and so on.
It is really.
Uh, contrary to the mind of thought, uh.
We meet as UH believers gather to the world's name. But.
We don't follow the warranty ceremonies of Judaism. They were tights and shadows that had their place and they, they can, uh, speak to us in, in their, uh, in their typical meaning, but to bring in that character of things into the Church of God as a pattern for our workers now or, or gathering together.
00:30:20
Is contrary to the dispensation of grace in the.
The Spirit of God gathering to the Lord's name people outside of that whole system of Judaism, which was really a worldly system and, uh, giving us something, uh, infinitely better. What a contrast to that whole system. And that's why the apostle Paul wrote the book of Hebrews, the marvelous treason type. Been going over it lately and some, uh, some of our brother Ansky's writings and.
A whole book of Hebrews is a baby.
The contrast to uh, what was in Judaism, the superiority of what we have in Christianity and those who have followed so-called covenant geology, whatever you want to call it, is still said that one, umm.
Was the teaching of the reformers.
Is contrary to the mind of God now, uh.
To bring the blessings of Israel into the church period and his confusion. I think this is perhaps what the Spirit of God is bringing before us here. That said, we are separate from that whole order of beauty issues. Not that it was wrong. God doesn't say it was wrong. It was originally of him and it will be brought in during the Millennium again, but it's not the character of the spirit Christianity Today.
This is not our pattern for meeting together as believers outside the capital.
In the last part of the verse sometimes is misunderstood too.
It is not a repeat. It is not trying to say that some who have gone on in that way will worship those who have been characterized by Philadelphian ways. No.
It says worship before thy feet.
I believe that shows us that in a coming day, as we were saying, uh, a little bit in the address, there will be a recognition before the Lord of what was pleasing to him during the time of his absence. And so they will worship the Lord. We all will. There will be no thought, no such thing as if I could use the term 1 believer worshipping another, but rather the thought that God will vindicate what was pleasing to Him.
And there will be.
A recognition of what the Lord loved in the sense of a testimony in this world, uh, during the time of his rejection. And so there's an encouragement to the Philadelphian here that in the coming day, as we were saying again in the address, it would be worthwhile. It will be worthwhile, well worthwhile, because the Lord will make it clear and make it evident.
What had his approval?
And so that's, I believe the sense of what we get in the end of the verse. Uh, it's not that the Lord doesn't love every true believer and all of those who are part of his church. Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Absolutely. That's not what this is referring to, but rather that the Lord has, shall we say, a special approval for that, which as we've talked about earlier.
Keeps His word and does not deny His name. And that can sometimes be a very difficult thing in the time of His rejection. It can bring a lot of reproach. It can be a very narrow path at times. The Lord says in the coming day all will be compelled to own what I approved of.
00:35:24
Sorry, I'm I'm having a hard time hearing you here, Alex.
This is new player executor that we ain't confusion. We do not have any breath anywhere alive, but no one is part of the body of Christ, which is part of the trade. Oh, you're saying, is that right?
Can you hear me? Yes, I did.
Well, I still am not clear. I heard what you said. I'm not clear what you're getting at. You say there are no Christians that are part of the synagogue of Satan.
Yeah, I know that would be, that would be how I, it seems like you can see it on your face because it would be the, the congregation that's taking those that follows things. And so, umm.
Those that when you say they come into the office recent characters and that leads to come into the elderly, but it doesn't mean it says here I will make them a great job of safety. We would say they are used in our time so that there is no one that you know as a Christian who may be able to coach reality who is part of the reality they.
Advisors sends it correctly about how you're looking for aggressive advisors. No, I I don't think that's a thought The thought is them of the synagogue of Satan. I will make to come and worship before thy feet. That's the sense of it I believe and that's the way I said it's strong language but.
Man didn't write it, God did, and so I believe that the Spirit of God here does use that strong language.
Not that we should go around or anyone else labeling people as the synagogue of Satan, but the Lord wants us to see what is the origin and who is behind all of that. Even though it masquerades under the umbrella of Christianity, and even though there may be believers there, I believe the synagogue of Satan is that which brings Judaism.
Back in the Christianity and brings Christianity down to a level of a worldly religion and so is Brother Robert was bringing out. It includes those who preach and practice the prosperity gospel. It includes those who believe in reconstructionism and covenant theology. It includes those who have brought back into their worship incentives things that characterize Judaism.
Such as we were mentioning and, uh, that God has superseded with Christianity and uh, all of that.
I believe the Spirit of God calls the synagogue of Satan, but it's not individuals that are in view, it's systems. And that, I believe, is what the, uh, word represents. It's not so much individuals.
In the system, but it says them of the synagogue of Satan. And so it's the systems themselves that have done all those things that are so obnoxious to God and God says I want you to know where that starts and who's behind it. It's Satan. And I say again, the the real reason for it is that.
Satan knows that if he can take away the heavenly calling of the church, he nullifies their influence and testimony. And it happened in the early church shortly after the apostles left the scene. They lost the sense of their heavenly calling and.
Degenerated into ritualism and systems. Christianity under Constantine became the religion of the Empire.
And where did it end? It end up, to put it bluntly, it ended up in Roman Catholicism in the Dark Ages, where essentially the whole truth of Paul's gospel and what Paul taught was lost, and even the gospel of the grace of God itself, because it became a total system of man. And so if we could say it bluntly, God knows where that system or that kind of thing originates and where it leads to. And that's why he calls it a synagogue of Satan.
00:40:12
So you're right, Alex, we don't label individuals as being a synagogue of Satan, but systems are. And, uh, they're characterized by, uh, uh, what we've been describing. Does that make sense?
Actually, Satan is the God, the Prince of the world politically, and he is the God of the world immediately. So he's really a religious character.
And, uh, it doesn't matter to him whether he, uh, uh.
Leads people into, uh, worldly entertainment or uh, immorality is behind all of that, but also in the religious aspect.
He, uh, comes in and he leads the believer as he can away from the person of Christ and the enjoyment of the heavenly things. And the brother Bill has been expatiating the bond and so he's behind this. He can get the believer mixed up with the world's.
The world's religious system is accomplished in its purpose. Is that right? Yes, exactly.
It's not so much better.
The question of the believers.
Going so far as to where to say but as the influence that safely can have through the.
Wrong ideas that puts in men's minds, even in Christian's mind, uh, the influence that that can have on many religions, yes.
Could we say then, that there are?
We're doing the Satan's work, yes.
And, uh, I noticed that we have this, uh, expression synagogue of Satan than say the archives back in chapter 2, verse nine. And there again it says, I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which I shall suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, while we might say.
The devil doesn't cause Christians in prison, it's people. And it may be, and we know from the Inquisition that it was those who certainly took the name of Christ and we might say give the word of Satanic.
Not to spend time on it, but I would suggest that the persecution detailed in that verse under the address to Smyrna was in fact God's, if we could say it reverently, God's effort to recover the church from the direction in which they were going because they were already sliding into it. And God allowed these periods of persecution in the 2nd and 3rd century AD.
You might say as an effort to recall the church to himself.
It didn't happen, although there were many who were extremely faithful to the Lord during those times and as it says 10 days here, there were 10 distinct periods of persecution during those two centuries. But then the result of it was that Constantine brought in Christianity as the religion of the empire, made it popular, put Christians in positions of authority and power in the empire, and essentially that was the end of their.
Heavenly calling. And so now, toward the end of the dispensation, we're warned against that same thing going on, namely the introduction of Judaizing principles and practices under the umbrella of Christianity.
Think of a drastical impact that we're getting, losing sight of the heavenly calling. We might say those that are caught in this system have been prosperity, umm, gospel and so on. Yeah, we might say that they will be in for a wonderful surprise someday when they discover that there are deep lined up for a heavenly blessing. But I think there's two ramifications of that thought. I think it's been said, but.
00:45:10
I trained up myself.
Firstly, if we lose sight of our heavens calling and we look at the systems of men, our focus is on our efforts on this earth. It's living in Christianity for the hope of a blessing. And if you believe that in your efforts as a Christian, the world is going to get better, you live in a a constant state of discouragement. As you see things go in the opposite way you expect. So your life is focused on earthly things, on the failings of the church, the most important thing.
If we forget our heavenly calling and our eyes are on this earth.
And our actions, don't we miss glorifying God and seeing God the Lord, the synagogue of Satan just takes our eyes away from the one we should be talking about and looking at and looking at earth. That's something that we should be perfecting through our own actions as Christians to at stake is the glory of God. I believe on this. There's not only are we missing you believe in those teachings. Not only are you missing a life on this earth that's looking forward to heavenly blessing, but we're also taking the glory of God in the equation and focusing on man rather than what we should do.
Yes.
I can't be enjoying heavenly blessings at the same time that I'm trying to straighten out the world, can I?
The answer to, uh, what we've been talking about was alluded to earlier in Acts 20. Let's just look at that. It's important, I think.
Mm-hmm. Let me also, Paul, with addressing the elders of their emphasis and things that were you warned them that would come after his departure.
Verse 32 He says, Now brethren, I commend you to God, to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
A unique thing about Christianity.
Is is that we walk by faith and not by sight?
Speaking of, uh, Judaism, which was an outward visual religion.
Uh and uh.
Man today that is not a Christian, he is faith, but he doesn't have spiritual faith. He has faith in what he can see and uh, what he can prove by science or whatever, his faith in that. But when it comes to spiritual things, he does not have faith.
But the Christian has faith in that which we we don't see. That is by faith one can look up and see the Lord Jesus that the Father's right hand.
We haven't seen the Lord physically yet, but we see him by faith. And so we have many things that attract us to, uh, to the Lord through our faith, with Walkley faith and so on.
And so without her faith, if that faith flavors, then we can easily get distracted into all the visual things that attract the flesh. And that's what we see in Judaism when it comes to religion and in the world. It's all the worldly things around us. We have a nature that can easily be distracted away from the Lord into those things. But what will steady us and give us?
Strength.
Spiritual things and our faith, that which we get from the Word of God, and we can only get them by digging into the Word.
Searching them out, getting them for ourselves. Uh, faith cometh the hearing and hearing by the word of God. We're not going to increase our faith if we don't open our Bibles, if we, if we skip the reading meetings every week, we don't bother coming out.
We're not going to get that spiritual food, perhaps, that we need to grow. And if we're not growing, then the enemy will seize the opportunity to commend and occupy us with things that we can see, whether they be worldly things or spiritual things. And so it's occupation with the Lord and what He has for us that will increase our faith and will keep us on the pathway.
Hmm.
In that, uh path that you referred to in a 920.
00:50:03
It's striking that.
And when? When Paul actually.
Prayed with them, with them all over 36.
Growth, 37 says they all left the store and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him. Sorrowing most of all were the words which he faked that they should see his face no more.
It seems like they were more sad that they wouldn't see false space anymore. It was a nice thing that they loved him that much, but they really should have been more worried, I believe, about what Paul had learned about a few versions of the chapter that that they might, uh.
That they might, uh, manage.
Uh.
30 of your own cells will matter to rise, speaking to perverse things to draw away the psychological.
They it seems like they had already got their eyes off the ward and history and on to fall. Our fall certainly had told them the truth, but they but our eyes need to be on the Lord, not on the messenger that I deal with the truth.
And we see the Lord in this book. What is it, Children's son, who cling to the Bible?
My boy, my girl, because.
Through this book, the Lord Jesus is made near to us, and we enjoy him and we learn him. And I think about telescopes and how scientists are building these telescopes.
And make it bigger and bigger.
And what are they seeing? More stars?
And more scars and more scars, but there's no telescope been built yet.
To see the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's in the third habit, and there will never be a telescope built that powerful.
Because I believe today the Lord Jesus is to be enjoyed by faith.
So instead of looking through a telescope.
We need to look down into this book. The Word is God, the faith telescope. And how do we set our affections on things apart? That's what Paul exhorted. The flashes. That's where Christ is sitting. Well, it's by reading our Bibles, and I enjoy it. You know what to bring out there. We need to open up this book in order to see Jesus. Hmm.
And where is he? He's seated on the Father's throne. And that's where our life is because we're in Christ. And that's why we're not to get all taken up with the world, because the Lord Jesus Christ is not here on earth. He's up there.
And we need to.
I'm speaking for myself spend more time in the word to enjoy just what our.
Blessings are they're all attached to Christ.
It's heavenly.
That's wonderful.
Oh, thank God for his word.
Well, the next verse is connected and it would be nice to consider it too.
Verse 10 because those who are.
Connected with systems or systems that are detailed here as the synagogue of Satan.
Generally Speaking of an earthly viewpoint.
And where does that take us?
It brings men down to the level of this world and they expect to go through the tribulation. And how often is that taught today too, that the Church will go through the tribulation? And those who are making all kinds of efforts to straighten out this world are quite often the same ones that are trying to squirrel away freeze dried food and all the rest of it in order to survive the tribulation.
Well, uh, here we have the reassurance that because those kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation. Will it come upon all the world? Yes it will, and we noticed the change in wording there. It'll come upon all the world.
00:55:20
To try them and there's the expression that our attention we was being called to.
To them that dwell upon the earth.
It's possible for a believer to have an earthly outlook, isn't it? Now, thank God, every true believer will be caught up when the Lord comes. There will be no such thing for the believer as a partial rapture.
It won't be merely those that have a Philadelphian character that are caught up when the Lord comes. But I believe what this is implying to us is that those who live and walk with that Philadelphian character, who keep His word and do not deny His name, they will have the sense of it and the enjoyment of it in their souls. And what a blessed thing that is to know that.
You and I will be snatched away before that time comes, we'll be taken away. And there are other scriptures that make this clear. 2nd Thessalonians 2 and others make it clear that the church will not go through the tribulation. It's the time of Jacob's trouble, as it's called in the Old Testament. It's primarily to.
Bring Israel back to a repentance before the Lord. Of course the whole world will feel it.
But it's to try them that dwell upon the earth, you and I.
It positionally are not earth dwellers. We have a heavenly calling and so the enjoyment of our heavenly calling means that we have the sense in our souls that we will not have to go through the tribulation. Yes, as we mentioned earlier, the Lord could say in the world ye shall have tribulation.
In the sense that it will not be an easy path, but what Scripture calls the Tribulation or the great Tribulation, No, that is not for you and for me is it? And those who walk in the light of what God has given will have that sense of it in their souls and the enjoyment of it.
It's important however, to install on that you can.
That those that dwell upon the earth, I would take it to the uh, uh, christened on uh, in large measure because.
One wants the the right, the Rapture. All those who, uh, truly belong to Christ will be removed instantaneously from this earth. But what will be left behind?
It's a nice, of course, that's been done, which will go on, believe it or not.
For half of the week, uh, Daniel, uh, ninth week there, uh, Christendom will rise to, uh, remarkable heights and the woman which is the rejuvenation of Catholicism.
You're going to ride the Beast for the 1St 3 1/2 years. That's where the persecution will come from. The woman riding the Beast in the first half of the week was that Miss Christendom? And so it shows, really.
There's really too apostasy in the Book of Revelation. There's the apostasy of Christendom, which is.
Referred to in this verse. There is also the apostasy of umm of Israel, a large part of the Israel, the Israelite Israelites will follow the beast and they'll apostatize. But here is Christendom going on into this awful period of judgment glory in its uh.
Ceremonies and in its profession.
And not to not terminating until the middle of the week when, uh, the 10 nations rise and they hate the ***** and and the.
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You Sir, and burn your flesh with fire and so on. That's the end of Christendom. So that's just a little prophetic, uh, overview. Is that right here? Very definitely. You said Daniel's 9th week. You meant the 70th week I think. Yeah. Oh, very definitely. There will be a false church for the first half of the so-called tribulation period and, uh, they will.
Function in that way and control the.
Political arm of the revived Roman Empire until they're destroyed in the middle of the week. So that, uh, yeah, very definitely, uh, they will go through the tribulation, The whole world will, but not the church. Not the church. Perhaps, uh, John, you were thinking about the chapter that we read about the 7th week. It's the 9th chapter of Daniel. That's good. Thank you.
That's the last week of his policy that has not been fulfilled 69 weeks have been fulfilled and that section of Daniel is extremely important for the young people to what a real clear understanding of the prophetic picture studying Daniel study it in conjunction with Revelation because they they are associated. But the the prophecy of Daniel in the 9th chapter extremely important to understand the whole prophetic victory.
Wonderful assurances that, you know, that we're not going to go through the tribulation period and think of poor souls that.
That, uh, perhaps fearful about, uh, what's going on in the world. Uh, we're not ignorant of what's going on in the world as believers, but we know that, uh, what is going on around us, The Lord is in full control. And we know that before, uh, uh, the tribulation period sets in, that the rapture is gonna take place and the Lord Jesus is gonna call all his redeem once home. So it's a wonderful insurance to know that in our souls that we're not going to go through that terrible time of tribulation that we read about a little later on here in Revelation.
Lord is going to deliver us from that.
But, uh, you can't help but think of those that are that are caught up in that kind of thinking where they think you may have to go through that terrible time.
And the Lord doesn't want us to be fearful about those things. He wants us to have assurance.
Why would the Lord?
Want to punish?
It's white, which is really what the church is. It's the pride of Christ. We look forward to the marriage and we're going to be united with him marriage.
So out, of course, so unseemly, he suggested.
Church has gone through the tribulation.
Stop.
Fun. I know our time is pretty well gone, but it it uh, that's why it says in the next verse and I just call our attention to the fact that in better translation, the word behold shouldn't be there. It should simply read I come quickly. Behold in Scripture is.
Uh, a, uh, shall we say a word that's as we would say in modern language? Listen up, Pay attention.
It's to call our attention to what's going to be said. But if we're keeping the Lord's word and denying his name that the Philadelphian is doing that he doesn't need that pay attention type of thing. It's simply I come quickly, that is.
You will be kept out of the hour of temptation. In what way? Because the Lord is coming quickly. I come quickly, but then of course, as we had already.
So there's the exhortation to hold fast.
What thou hast, that no man take thy crown. But the reason why we will not go through the tribulation is because of the Lord's coming. Only the believer can have that hope.
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#250 #250.
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