A Letter from Him who is to come
Whatever does that mean: a letter from Him who is to come?
We receive a letter (email or text, if you will) from a person about to visit us here in the certain place where we live. They are a friend or family member who will return here some time in the future.
Our first question may be when, but our reaction is likely, what must I do in preparation for their return to be with me in person?
What must you do?
It’s an ordinary communication delivered in the usual manner by a messenger (a mail delivery person in a vehicle or on a horse) or even by a direct ‘message’ as is now possible (without an angel of heaven).
How will you react? For this is sudden unexpected NEWS; perhaps Good News OR possibly the message contains some not so good news.
What must you do prior to this inevitable return visit?
Challenges to Scriptural Faith
Two thousand (2000) years ago we could have witnessed events in the life of the young Son of Man, Jesus. In a few years He would be introduced to the world in the opening lines of the Gospels.
Jesus, James, Jude and others in Nazareth must have seemed like any other Jewish young men who worshiped the LORD God and attended festivals in Jerusalem.
a little history of 1st c. letters
The Epistles or Letters address various churches and Christians with exhortations of scriptural constancy to comfort and encourage our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
A.D. 1st century history of the Gospels & letters (Epistles) to the Church + Note the timeline of communication below:
As I mentioned last time:
- James, brother of Jesus was called to become the pastor of the Jerusalem church and was martyred around A.D. 62.
- Jesus’ brother Jude also wrote to fellow Jewish believers in Jesus (Yeshua) sometime after A.D. 65.
- After Jerusalem’s destruction by Rome in A.D. 70 many false teachers leavened Christ’s Church.
Jude 1:3 NASB –
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints.
Christianity was under severe political attack from Rome and aggressive spiritual infiltration from gnostic-like apostates and libertines who sowed abundant seed for a gigantic harvest of doctrinal error. It could be that this was the forerunner to full blown Gnosticism which the Apostle John would confront..
John Macarthur from commentary on Jude
- By the AD 90’s John is the only remaining Apostle alive (exiled on Patmos). The others had been martyred for their faith in Christ.
Christians under construction – the saints of seven churches
Suppose that your church received a letter from one of the Lord’s brothers, James or Jude AND that Jesus also sent an appeal for the faith of scripture.
- How would you receive the Lord’s exhortation urging your church to contend for Him against false teaching?
- Would you even act on a letter sent by a messenger from heaven?
Jesus’ message sent by revelation to John is specific exhortation for the ‘saints’ of His ‘Church.’
Then and now the message is for:
- Followers of the Lord
- Souls called, beloved and kept to eternal life through Jesus
- Servants who will proclaim Christ
- Obedient ‘saints‘ [small ‘s’] who must respond to Him who is to come
Exhortation
παρακαλέω – parakaleō
- to call to one’s side, call for, summon
- to address, speak to, (call to, call upon), which may be done in the way of exhortation, entreaty, comfort, instruction, etc.
In His Book of Revelation, Jesus summons John UP to His side – a summons to the Throne!
Jesus’ general and sometimes specific exhortations challenge every saint of the church to contend for our original faith through scripture.
Revelation 1-3:
By the hand of John, only remaining Apostle of Jesus – a decade after Jude’s letter (A.D. 94–96)
This took place from Patmos some decades after the Lord’s ascension.
‘JOHN, WRITE to these churches and tell them.. this.’
That is, I have a few exhortations – instructions for you, beloved, who I have called and will keep in the Church for eternal life.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John is also exhortation for the saints of the church in every age.
Roger@talkofJesus.com
Our Lord called John UP to Him!
Jesus appeals to each church and every believer through a Revelation to the Apostle John.
EXHORTATION means to:
- admonish, exhort
- beg, entreat, beseech
- strive to appease by entreaty
- console,
- encourage and strengthen by consolation,
- comfort
- receive consolation, be comforted
- instruct, teach
The risen Christ consoles John and instructs this last Apostle to take His message to seven churches.
Dear (BELOVED),
We hear a similar loving greeting to the church as that of Jude (before).
John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come,
and from the seven spirits who are before His throne,
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 1:4
Exhortation from Him who is to come
For those ‘christians’ with rail in eye, Christ’s exhortation is NOT meant for any who refuse to bow down to the Lord God until the Day of their Judgment. Jesus writes to those with ears to hear.
Forget for a moment that these letters to certain saints of different churches are meant to refine their faith in a first century context.
Christ’s exhortations are for you, my fellow saint — the Church. (And Jesus sends these through John to me for my own refinement.)
Now, beloved brother or sister in Christ Jesus,
Perhaps an encouragement will pierce your own heart.
Which exhortation to one of the seven churches of Revelation does Jesus write to pierce your heart and purge your sin?
BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.
the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 1:7 NASB20
To be continued...
