The questions are seasonal reruns played from broken promises of the past — whether from October A.D. 2020 or during the first century trial of Jesus Christ.
We learned that doctrine can be religious or political. Recently many ‘christians’ have confused these.
FALSE politics is treason, but FALSE religion is heresy.
What is true of false political promises is also true of false teaching about God and Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter and others sound the trumpet of warning against false teaching and heresy.
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.
None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.
John 21:12 CSB
3 Questions & more..
As you read previously in Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Simon Peter this third encounter of the Disciples with the risen Jesus includes John and five others fishing with Peter, but John draws our attention to Jesus’ questions to Simon Peter.
If you have not briefly examined the Lord’s exchange with Simon in Greek or love defined where they converse, you will find if helpful to click on the link above to the previous part of this post about Simon Peter.
Our focus is on just three verses.
John 21:
15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Tend My lambs.”
16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”
17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
John now adds his personal understanding of his fellow Disciple, Simon Peter:
Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.
Questions & Answers of Love
Last time we noted from the Greek a mismatch between Jesus’ questions and Simon Peter’s answers.
Furthermore, in the Lord’s first question to Simon He asks him about the others, who Peter ignores in his self-focused reply.
And I pointed out a possible motive for Jesus switching up His third question of love to Simon Peter.
3 Commands – Leading in Love
With all of this as background (to this 2-part post about Simon Peter), now we can view Jesus’ three commands to His Disciple He named, The Rock.
Let’s look at the Lord’s three commands to Simon Peter [SimōnPetros].
Tend My lambs.
Shepherd My sheep.
Tend My sheep.
All three commands of Jesus to Simon are similar. In Jesus’ first question the Lord’s reference to the others suggests to Peter a metaphor. His lambs (the others) require a comparative tenderness, even more so than simply watching vulnerable sheep. (Do not be the hired hand who flees the danger of the one that devours them.)
βόσκω– to feed, portraying the duty of a Christian teacher to promote in every way the spiritual welfare of the members of the church
ποιμαίνω – to feed, to tend a flock, keep sheep; but also to rule or govern
ποιμαίνω – again, the same verb for Shepherd, from the Noun ποιμήν for a herdsman, esp. a shepherd
And in Jesus’ parable, he to whose care and control others have committed themselves, and whose precepts they follow.
This applies metaphorically to any presiding officer, overseers (i.e. bishops, elders), kings and princes, and of course to Christ as head of the church.
“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
John 10:14-15 NASB – The Lord Jesus, Son of Man Sacrificed for our sins.
John’s understanding of Peter
Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”
John tells us that ‘Peter was grieved,’ but as I mentioned before John has a great understanding of Peter’s heart.
For when John writes his Gospel sometime after A.D. 85, Simon Peter has already ‘taken up his cross’ and literally followed their Lord, Shepherd and Master to be crucified on a cross.
John grieves for Peter. He misses his own dear friend as he does his own brother James who also had been martyred for their Master, Christ Jesus.
Matthew confirms their reaction
The Apostle Matthew had used the same description of what all the Disciples felt when Jesus revealed that one of them would betray Him. “Surely not I, Lord?”
John explains Peter’s own grief of rejection for his failures of the flesh, breaking through an apparent hardness of The Rock who cannot answer his Lord directly about his commitment to love.
You will weep & lament.. and you will grieve
“Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.
be sorrowful (6x), grieve (6x), make sorry (6x), be sorry (3x), sorrow (3x), cause grief (1x), be in heaviness (1x)
to affect with sadness, cause grief, to throw into sorrow
to grieve, offend
to make one uneasy, cause him a scruple
There’s a relationship between grief and love,
And there is no grief where a soul has not love.
Have YOU ever experienced grief in a loving relationship with another?
Simon Peter had.
John’s heart for their friend Peter (even after Peter’s death) desires to share the Disciple’s grief over his failings of their friend and Lord, Christ Jesus.
Jesus & Peter
NOTE: All these things had taken place in just three years, many events within the weeks just prior to Jesus’ Crucifixion, and now His Resurrection appearances to Peter, John and the Disciples.
Peter follows Jesus
All the Gospel writers except John testify how Simon Peter and others came to follow the Lord. (Many had previously been disciples of John the Baptist who baptized Jesus.)
MATTHEW 4 & MARK 1 also witness this important event
Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s.. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” .. they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break.. their partners in the other boat .. came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.
Does this sound at all familiar?
It was from when Jesus first called His Disciples, which must have been a most memorable moment to both Peter and John.
And listen to Simon Peter’s response to Jesus choosing him as His Disciple:
But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
Luke 5:8 NASB
For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.
And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.”
These three become Jesus’ inner circle and closest earthly friends.This is the Simon Peter for whom both Jesus and the Apostle John show compassion. “Tend my lambs…” and Simon’s surviving friend witnesses to the Church Peter’s heart for Christ Jesus.
When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
Peter’s Confession of Christ
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon [Son of Jonah] Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
And even though the Disciples had met the risen Lord Jesus in Jerusalem behind locked doors, here He fed them once more at dawn on a Galilee beach near Capernaum.
The Disciple Jesus loved testifies the Good News to the Church. It was here that Christ restored The Rock upon which their Living Stones have been built.
Simon, Son of Jonah, was also crucified when he took up our Shepherd’s Cross. The Disciples and Peter live in Christ Jesus!
In Him Christ has restored sinners like Simon — sinners like me, the one Jesus loved would say — and because like Peter you follow Him, sinners like you.
John does give us GOOD NEWS about death, yet most urgently the Gospel of Jesus Christ who died to give sinners like us eternal LIFE.
P.S. – John’s post script
The Apostle closes his Gospel with a brief explanation to Christians who know him and have heard ‘church rumors’ that are untrue. (Have you ever heard something untrue from a fellow saint of your church?)
We will hear John’s clarification of truth next time and briefly mention the importance of truth in our witness for the Lord Jesus.
To be continued..
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