Today Jesus gives a message to the remaining three churches. Then He gives John a peek into heaven.
5) Sardis – Jesus says there are a few in the church who are faithful, but overall their works are dead. He calls for them to wake up and repent. For “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”
6) Philadelphia – Jesus commends them for keeping His word and persevering. He tells them to “hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple 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 I will write on him My new name.”
7) Laodicea – Jesus rebukes them for being lukewarm – “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked… Therefore be zealous and repent… To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
Christians are defined as overcomers just as John said, “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5). Overcomers are ones who have faith in Jesus as their Savior and by the power of the Holy Spirit overcome sin, Satan’s tactics, the world, and the flesh. We are called to overcome this broken fallen world and endure until we are one day face to face with Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb.
Jesus gives John a glimpse into heaven where John sees God on a throne with a scroll in His right hand. John weeps because there is no one worthy to open the scroll. “But one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.’”
“And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”
The Lamb, Jesus, opens the first six scrolls sending judgment upon the world. “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”
Tomorrow the Lord reveals that the ones who will be able to stand are the ones who trust in Jesus. Keep reading.
(Revelation 3:1-6:17)
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Chronological Bible in Layman's Terms 