Golden Lampstands with flames from flickering faith
Darkness dominates a cold place behind the veil of the Holy of Holies – an unseen flickering faith of worshipers of the LORD.
The Temple had been Jerusalem’s replica of a former glory now departed – a white-washed façade of cleansing since the broken covenant of its faithless shepherds.
Then like a Light in the darkness their Messiah unexpectedly appears among God’s chosen. And His Sacrifice substitutes as the Passover lamb — the Lamb of forgiveness which takes away the sins of the world.
A flickering flame of hope is now the shining star of David as Scripture had proclaimed. And Jesus returns once more in Body and Spirit — in victory over death!
The Light of Life stands within the Tabernacle of this world and offers Himself as its Sacrifice.
The Son now rules from above in the Temple of Glory!
The Prophets told of His coming.
Jesus’ Disciples preached His Gospel of Light.
And now His Church must shine as a brief candle lifted into the throne room of Christ’s glory.
Revelation to Churches with Flickering Faith
Even prior to the end of the first century A.D. faith in the Church flickered in the winds of the world. And the love of the saints sometimes extinguished in false gospels of darkness.
As it was before the incarnation of Christ Jesus, so it was after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension.
Yet a risen Christ Jesus lifts the dead from their graves.
And discouraged disciples of these last days stand as brief candles in the darkness looking upon the eternal Light of glory.
a Vision from the Lord
While the world stumbles in the darkness of sin, a Personal love of God Almighty shines into the darkness (as the Prophet Isaiah had said).
And the people will be oppressed, Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; The youth will assault the elder, And the contemptible person will assault the one honored.
Isaiah 3:5
“Make the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes blind, So that they will not see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”
Isaiah 6:10
Exhortation from Peter
After the Lord’s resurrection and ascension the Apostles all proclaim His death, resurrection and returning again. He is the Light of the world, they preach in their letters to a growing Church as every Apostle exhorts the faithful.
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
Sound familiar?
James and Jude, brothers of Jesus also write similar loving greetings to the church in their letters.
Before we continue in Christ’s revelation to John, hear just a bit more of what the Apostle Simon, ‘the rock’ on which Jesus promised to build His Church had to say in his second letter:.
.. For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty..
And like Isaiah and the Prophets Peter assures the church:
And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.
Message to the Seven Churches
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And after turning I saw seven golden lampstands..
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.
“I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne,
and you hold firmly to My name,
But I have a few things against you,
Remember:
each ‘Church’ is plural,
while every single ‘saint’ is accountable to Christ
you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam,
Doctrine is more than your ‘church vision’ taught, but not applied
Teaching among claimants of Christ may mislead others.
who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel..
In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching.
(Nicolaitans, that is “destruction of people” in your gathering, are those who listen to your teaching (preaching or doctrine) yet are easily tempted to follow false teachings they prefer.)
(Note: the root name, nikolaos, may refer to a proselyte of Antioch and one of the seven deacons of the church at Jerusalem. His name Νικόλαος means “victor of the people.”)
Christ Jesus is our ONLY teaching, for He alone is victorious over death. And from the Throne of glory Jesus warns the church:
Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly,
and I will wage war against them with the sword of My mouth..
“‘I know your works. You have[a name] the reputation of being alive,
{go ahead, substitute Your Church Name, here & see how you receive Christ’s admonition.}
but you are dead.
Wake up,
strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die;
{Some works yet to do in your church?}
for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.
{My fellow saint, our Lord Jesus says we have incomplete deeds yet to do.}
Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly.
Repent and turn to me again.
If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly..
The general exhortation is for all, yet some not in need of repentance Christ encourages specifically.
You have a few names even in Sardis .. [who] shall walk with Me in white [unsoiled garments], for they are worthy.
The one who overcomes will be clothed the same way, 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.
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
Revelation 3:7a – note the definition of angel of the church could include any of its ‘messengers,’ as its ‘saints‘ – a most holy thing – could include any of its faithful.
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:
The Revelation [3:7b NASB] of Jesus Christ to John – to the messenger of the church in Philadelphia
“I know your works.
See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it;
for you have a little strength,
have kept My word,
and have not denied My name.
Behold, I will make those.. who say that they are [ __ ]
Jesus calls them worshipers of Satan as the Lord refers to some Jews, BUT
could HE fill in the [ __ ] with ‘christians’ who gather in the church of the world?
and are not, but lie—
I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.
The Lord Jesus assures His friends and brothers in Philadelphia.
Because you have kept My command to persevere,
I also will keep you from the hour of trial
(Christ’s covenant with the faithful!)
which shall come upon the whole world,
to test those who dwell on the earth.
Behold, I am coming quickly!
Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
Flickering faith transformed into Pillars of Worship
The one who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore..
Revelation 3:12 NASB
.. 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.
The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Flickering Faith in the winds of the world
Suppose the letter to you arrives by messenger from Patmos.
Jesus’ Apostle John still resides there and occasionally Rome allows a letter from him to depart for your Roman-ruled city in a distant province of Asia.
Your own church community suffers in its own isolation, because most of your neighbors, merchants, fellow workers, Roman government officials and even some fellow worshipers seem caught up in the life of other things in your city.
NOW, as you gather for worship, a leader of your church reads a letter. (Messengers have previously brought guarded precious Good News from Mark, Luke, Matthew and even John.) You puff up a bit as your pastor begins:
This is the only time Christ uses it in Scripture, as the last warning to the last of seven churches — (to become warm, liquefy, melt)..
The Gospel which heated your faith, the cold water of your baptism which refreshed you — these no longer satisfy and Jesus is a Name seldom seen in the places where you dwell.
Lukewarm – metaphorically, of the condition of a soul wretchedly fluctuating between a torpor —
If Jesus is your Lord, if you have ears to hear and eyes to see His love — then receive Christ’s correction and discipline while your candle yet flickers with so little faith.
“Look! I stand at the door and knock.
If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne,
just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.
The Revelation of Jesus 3:20-21 NLT
AND for the 21st c. church..
“Anyone with ears to hear ..
must listen to the Spirit and
understand what he is saying to the churches.”
Revelation 3:22 NLT
ANYONE, my fellow saint of this 21st c. A.D., anyone with ears to hear Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
NOT only seven churches — not some other church — not even a flickering excuse of a saint in your own church. YOU, dear Christian — you with ears to hear what JESUS is saying to you and to His Church.
Looking only at Jesus, the Leader and perfecter of the faith..
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews encourages the saints of the church to look to Jesus Christ, the originator of all things and only Shepherd perfecting the faith of sons chosen by the Lord God.
FAITH: Swear it upon your biggest BIBLE, mention GOD four times only and Christ Jesus not at all — faith in US?
Does this ‘ONE NATION UNDER GOD’ claim faith without fear of the LORD?
(But I digress..) Returning to the Bible:
Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord
Nor faint when you are punished by Him – Hebrews 12:5b
Speaking of those who would follow Jesus Christ as Lord:
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
IN GOD WE Trusted
In the days of Moses, David and some some other leaders, a chosen and blessed Hebrew nation had trusted God. Yet at times they became divided to trust each in his own ways.
Some like Zerubbabel responded to the voice of God through Prophets like Haggai and repented (as we pointed out previously). Faithful saints suffered once more in a fading Empire of Rome, which persecuted both Jews and Christians.
The writer to first century Hebrews asks the church to remain faithful to God in Christ Jesus.
Is the U.S. ‘one nation under God?’
Or are claims of both divisions of this troubled PEOPLE no different from failing faith of a divided Israel and Judah?
Hear more from the letter to the Hebrews.
Warnings against Rejecting God’s Grace
12 Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, and make straight paths for your feet…
14 Strive for peace with all… that no “root of bitterness” spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled; 16 that no one be immoral or irreligious like Esau…
How are WE doing with this: our leadership United ‘underGOD?’
Contrast of Sinai and Zion
18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest..
For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking.
Hebrews 12:19 NLT
21 (.. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)
The Unshaken Nation
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks.
For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth;
but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”
.. the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—
Is your soul shaken by this?
Do you hear the Voice of the LORD?
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:28b-29 KJV
Pray that this ‘one nation’ under God may repent and unite with He Who Was and Is and Will be forever unshaken.