Rick Joyner's Blog, page 14

The Nature of Authority—The Book of Revelation

         Last week we addressed the symbolism in the Lord’s throne, as spoken of in Revelation 4:1-3. This week we will cover verse 4:

         Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.

         This council of twenty-four elders has been the subject of much speculation by theologians and Bible teachers. Some consider them to be the elders of the two covenants, twelve from each. Perhaps, but we do know that they are authorities in heaven as they sit on thrones, and they have crowns on their heads.

         Possibly the most important reason these elders are part of “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” is that the subordinate leadership under a leader reflects the superior. Those who attain to this level of leadership, possibly the highest attained by men, would be one of the highest reflections of the Lord’s leadership. For this reason, we should glean all we can from what is told to us about them.

         That these twenty-four elders are clothed in white speaks of their purity. That they are “clothed” speaks of how this purity is imputed to them by the cross of Jesus. The same is available to all of us. We can be just as pure if the cross of Jesus is our righteousness. This does not mean that we do not seek to walk in purity and refrain from sin and the lusts of the flesh, but we do this because we love the Lord. We always want to do what is pleasing in His sight, not for our own righteousness. Even so, we are warned in Galatians 5:19-21:

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,

“idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,

“envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

         Most fall to one or more of these occasionally, and sometimes often. In the war against our old nature, we lose some battles. Yet it is those who “practice these things,” who have given themselves over to them, who will not inherit the kingdom of God. That is how serious we must take this war against the carnal nature, and we must resolve that we will win it. Even so, as James wrote, “We all stumble in many ways” (see James 3:2). So our righteousness is never measured by how well we do, but by our trust in the cross of Jesus.

         For this reason, any Christian who trusts in the cross of Jesus for their righteousness is clothed in white, just like these elders. We demonstrate this by following Paul’s teaching in Galatians 5:22-6:3:

            But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

    If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.         

    Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

    Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

       Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

         These elders have crowns of gold, which in Scripture usually speaks of the divine nature. So this denotes that their authority was godly, or Christ-like. We demonstrate this if we “live by the Spirit,” as noted above. This begins by “not being boastful,” or “challenging one another,” or “envying one another.” How much of our conversation is boasting—an attempt to make ourselves look bigger or better? Godly authority does not do that. Neither does it challenge others. If we have a different opinion we share it with grace, not by simply attacking the position of another. Neither do we do anything out of envy.

         If one is caught in any trespass, we seek to restore them in a spirit of gentleness—as we should when correcting anyone else’s children, but how much more those of the King? When Jesus saw our sin and corruption, He did not condemn us. Rather, He laid down His life to save us. Such is the nature of all godly authority.

         Then we fulfill the law of Christ by bearing each other’s burdens. As the Lord taught, the whole law is fulfilled by loving God and loving one another. Is our authority fueled by love?

         There is more that can be said about godly authority than we can cover here, but we do know it is not like “the authority of the Gentiles.” These use authority to dominate others, but godly authority is exercised in the nature of Christ, who did not come to be served but to serve. Godly authority is for the purpose of helping others, not using them. This help begins with redemption. Although there will never be another sacrifice for sin, as this was wholly accomplished by the cross of Jesus, we do “take up our crosses daily.” We lay down our own lives, or selfish interests, to serve others as the Lord did.

The One on the Throne—The Book of Revelation

           In Revelation 4:1-4, we come to one of the most wonderful and encouraging passages in this great Revelation:

         After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things."

         Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.

         And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.

         Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.

         This door standing open in, or to, heaven is still open. It is open to any who hear His voice and the invitation to “come up here.” This door to heaven is the door to the home of the new creation—those who are now citizens of heaven. Those who find this door and enter are the ones who become more at home in the heavenly places than on earth.

         Those who enter this door will see the same thing when they enter—the One who sits on the throne. We see throughout the Scriptures that when the heavens are opened, as they were for Stephen as he was martyred, we will behold the One on the throne. True faith is the result of seeing Him—who He is and where He sits above all rule and authority and dominion. Nothing happens without His permission and for His glorious purposes. When we see Him in His glory, all earthly and temporary purposes take their rightful place as dim and insignificant in comparison.

         The rainbow and precious stones said to be like His appearance are significant in their revelation of His authority, His throne. Jesus is here “like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance.” Many scholars believe the word translated “jasper” in this text is a mistake—it should have been translated “diamond.” What we call “jasper” stones today are not “like crystal” or “transparent” as this stone is described here, but diamonds are. Diamonds are also considered “most precious,” or most valuable.

         Diamonds are formed when black coal is subjected to extreme pressure and heat. This is what our Lord subjected Himself to when He “emptied Himself” of His divine nature and took on the form of man. Throughout His life, He was subjected to the pressure and heat of extreme trials. Even though He was the Son, “He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (see Hebrews 5:8). If the Son would learn obedience in this way, how much more should we embrace the trials that give us the opportunity to do the same? Jesus did it to make the way for mankind to be transformed from the dark and dirty to the “most precious.” All trials are intended to transform us.

         Diamonds also refract light, breaking it down into individual and brilliant colors that represent the great truths of God’s nature. Diamonds are the hardest of all stones and are used to cut and shape the others. Such is the nature of Christ, Who is unchangeable but will shape and change all others.

         The sardius stone mentioned here is bright red. This speaks of His blood shed for the salvation of the world, which will forever be part of His revealed glory.

         The emerald stone is green, which usually speaks of the life in prophetic revelation. He is “the Prince of life,” who leads us on “the path of life.” His life is an “indestructible life” from which we are made partakers of His eternal life. In prophetic symbolism, green also symbolizes teaching. He is The Teacher, and His teachings lead us to the path of life and keep us on it.

         The rainbow is the glorious beauty that reminds us of God’s covenant with man. God’s word is true. He will never, ever break His covenant with us. This too is His glory that we trust in.

         Jesus is The Door, and all who enter the heavenly realm will behold Him on His throne before anything else. As explained repeatedly in the New Testament, Jesus is the One through whom and for whom the creation was brought forth, and the One in whom all things hold together. Therefore, we can see Him in everything that was made. He is the One we should look for in all things. He is also the One the Father looks for in us.

The Nature of Authority—The Book of Revelation

         Last week we addressed the symbolism in the Lord’s throne, as spoken of in Revelation 4:1-3. This week we will cover verse 4:

         Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.

         This council of twenty-four elders has been the subject of much speculation by theologians and Bible teachers. Some consider them to be the elders of the two covenants, twelve from each. Perhaps, but we do know that they are authorities in heaven as they sit on thrones, and they have crowns on their heads.

         Possibly the most important reason these elders are part of “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” is that the subordinate leadership under a leader reflects the superior. Those who attain to this level of leadership, possibly the highest attained by men, would be one of the highest reflections of the Lord’s leadership. For this reason, we should glean all we can from what is told to us about them.

         That these twenty-four elders are clothed in white speaks of their purity. That they are “clothed” speaks of how this purity is imputed to them by the cross of Jesus. The same is available to all of us. We can be just as pure if the cross of Jesus is our righteousness. This does not mean that we do not seek to walk in purity and refrain from sin and the lusts of the flesh, but we do this because we love the Lord. We always want to do what is pleasing in His sight, not for our own righteousness. Even so, we are warned in Galatians 5:19-21:

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,

“idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,

“envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

         Most fall to one or more of these occasionally, and sometimes often. In the war against our old nature, we lose some battles. Yet it is those who “practice these things,” who have given themselves over to them, who will not inherit the kingdom of God. That is how serious we must take this war against the carnal nature, and we must resolve that we will win it. Even so, as James wrote, “We all stumble in many ways” (see James 3:2). So our righteousness is never measured by how well we do, but by our trust in the cross of Jesus.

         For this reason, any Christian who trusts in the cross of Jesus for their righteousness is clothed in white, just like these elders. We demonstrate this by following Paul’s teaching in Galatians 5:22-6:3:

            But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

    If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.         

    Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

    Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

       Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

         These elders have crowns of gold, which in Scripture usually speaks of the divine nature. So this denotes that their authority was godly, or Christ-like. We demonstrate this if we “live by the Spirit,” as noted above. This begins by “not being boastful,” or “challenging one another,” or “envying one another.” How much of our conversation is boasting—an attempt to make ourselves look bigger or better? Godly authority does not do that. Neither does it challenge others. If we have a different opinion we share it with grace, not by simply attacking the position of another. Neither do we do anything out of envy.

         If one is caught in any trespass, we seek to restore them in a spirit of gentleness—as we should when correcting anyone else’s children, but how much more those of the King? When Jesus saw our sin and corruption, He did not condemn us. Rather, He laid down His life to save us. Such is the nature of all godly authority.

         Then we fulfill the law of Christ by bearing each other’s burdens. As the Lord taught, the whole law is fulfilled by loving God and loving one another. Is our authority fueled by love?

         There is more that can be said about godly authority than we can cover here, but we do know it is not like “the authority of the Gentiles.” These use authority to dominate others, but godly authority is exercised in the nature of Christ, who did not come to be served but to serve. Godly authority is for the purpose of helping others, not using them. This help begins with redemption. Although there will never be another sacrifice for sin, as this was wholly accomplished by the cross of Jesus, we do “take up our crosses daily.” We lay down our own lives, or selfish interests, to serve others as the Lord did.

The One on the Throne—The Book of Revelation

           In Revelation 4:1-4, we come to one of the most wonderful and encouraging passages in this great Revelation:

         After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things."

         Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.

         And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.

         Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.

         This door standing open in, or to, heaven is still open. It is open to any who hear His voice and the invitation to “come up here.” This door to heaven is the door to the home of the new creation—those who are now citizens of heaven. Those who find this door and enter are the ones who become more at home in the heavenly places than on earth.

         Those who enter this door will see the same thing when they enter—the One who sits on the throne. We see throughout the Scriptures that when the heavens are opened, as they were for Stephen as he was martyred, we will behold the One on the throne. True faith is the result of seeing Him—who He is and where He sits above all rule and authority and dominion. Nothing happens without His permission and for His glorious purposes. When we see Him in His glory, all earthly and temporary purposes take their rightful place as dim and insignificant in comparison.

         The rainbow and precious stones said to be like His appearance are significant in their revelation of His authority, His throne. Jesus is here “like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance.” Many scholars believe the word translated “jasper” in this text is a mistake—it should have been translated “diamond.” What we call “jasper” stones today are not “like crystal” or “transparent” as this stone is described here, but diamonds are. Diamonds are also considered “most precious,” or most valuable.

         Diamonds are formed when black coal is subjected to extreme pressure and heat. This is what our Lord subjected Himself to when He “emptied Himself” of His divine nature and took on the form of man. Throughout His life, He was subjected to the pressure and heat of extreme trials. Even though He was the Son, “He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (see Hebrews 5:8). If the Son would learn obedience in this way, how much more should we embrace the trials that give us the opportunity to do the same? Jesus did it to make the way for mankind to be transformed from the dark and dirty to the “most precious.” All trials are intended to transform us.

         Diamonds also refract light, breaking it down into individual and brilliant colors that represent the great truths of God’s nature. Diamonds are the hardest of all stones and are used to cut and shape the others. Such is the nature of Christ, Who is unchangeable but will shape and change all others.

         The sardius stone mentioned here is bright red. This speaks of His blood shed for the salvation of the world, which will forever be part of His revealed glory.

         The emerald stone is green, which usually speaks of the life in prophetic revelation. He is “the Prince of life,” who leads us on “the path of life.” His life is an “indestructible life” from which we are made partakers of His eternal life. In prophetic symbolism, green also symbolizes teaching. He is The Teacher, and His teachings lead us to the path of life and keep us on it.

         The rainbow is the glorious beauty that reminds us of God’s covenant with man. God’s word is true. He will never, ever break His covenant with us. This too is His glory that we trust in.

         Jesus is The Door, and all who enter the heavenly realm will behold Him on His throne before anything else. As explained repeatedly in the New Testament, Jesus is the One through whom and for whom the creation was brought forth, and the One in whom all things hold together. Therefore, we can see Him in everything that was made. He is the One we should look for in all things. He is also the One the Father looks for in us.

Keep the Fire Burning—The Book of Revelation

The Church of Laodicea

(2006—the end of the age)

 

As we covered last week, Laodicea means, “judging by the people.” The implication is that this is an age in which men’s opinions are exalted above God’s. In our time, this is called “political correctness.” This results in a people lukewarm to God, and there is nothing more offensive in a relationship than indifference.

 

          We also covered the Lord’s warnings to keep us from falling into this terrible condition, and how He left this church age with a hope and a promise for those who overcome the spirit of this age. These promises are greater than the promises given to any other church. Before we get to these, we need to look at the other things causing most in this church to be lukewarm:

 

         “Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—

         “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Revelation 3:17-18 NKJV).

 

          We live in a time of unprecedented earthly wealth. Many considered poor in some countries are better off than kings were a couple of centuries ago because of modern technology and conveniences. We should be thankful for these things and not feel guilty as long as we understand the trap they can be in affecting our devotion to the Lord.

 

          An interesting study on happiness was done over a decade ago. The results were surprising and enlightening. Here are the study’s three main conclusions:

 

1)   Our possessions have zero to do with our happiness and can make us very unhappy.

 

2)   The happiest people on earth tend to be those who live the simplest lives, as long as they have food and shelter.

 

3)   True happiness is always connected to close relationships.

 

          When I read these conclusions, I first protested. I thought about how some of my things, like my motorcycle, make me happy. Yet in truth, I may enjoy it when I ride it, but it really is a means for me to enjoy creation and to fellowship with the Lord or my friends while I do it. So the real happiness I get from it is connected to relationships.

 

          Since we were created to have fellowship with God, there is no other relationship that is as important as that one. Without a growing relationship and love for God, we will have a large, empty hole in our life, regardless of how well our other relationships are doing. If we keep Him first in our life, we are far more likely to have good relationships with others and fulfill the purposes done with Him and for Him.

 

          We recently took into our Heritage facilities almost four hundred people from a retirement community on the coast who had to flee from Hurricane Matthew. These were from a wealthy community. When I asked them after the first day if there was anything we could do to make their stay better, most said that a television in their room would help. Two days later, the same people thanked me for not having television in their room. This had caused them to get out and meet their neighbors and participate in the events we hosted for them. Some said they had lived in the same community for years and yet did not know their neighbors. By the third day, it had turned into a party!

 

          When they left after about ten days, some said it was one of the best times they had ever had. It was also one of the best times we have had as a ministry. Some were Christians, and some met the Lord while staying with us. Some got healed of various things, but I think all ended up bonding with new and deeper friends. It was the beginning of koinonia, the essential element in true church life so rarely found in church today.

 

          So how do we get free and have our love and fire restored? It starts with acknowledging that we are the ones this is talking about, praying for help, and understanding that the rebuke of the Lord is for those He loves: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:19). As we are told repeatedly in Proverbs, the wise love reproof because it leads to a repentance that keeps us on the path of life. As we are told here, we repent by being “zealous.”

 

          In both the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon, the Lord sent fire from His presence to start the fire on the altar. But then He commanded the priests to keep it going. God starts the fire in our hearts, but He expects us to keep it going. What are we doing to intentionally keep the fire blazing in our hearts? The basics are prayer, reading and studying the Word of God, koinonia—requiring a real church life—and witnessing, or doing the work of the Lord.

 

         In Revelation 3:20, He tells us one major thing we must do: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” The Lord is constantly knocking on the door of our life, asking to come in. Do we hear Him? Interestingly, it is not hearing His knock but His voice so that we can open to Him. As He taught in John 10, His sheep hear His voice and they follow Him because they know His voice. This is why we teach knowing the voice of the Lord as one of the most critical requirements for following Him. It is then that we receive the incredible, unfathomable promise of Him giving us our spiritual food directly.

 

         As stated, the Lord gives the second of the greatest promises given to any of the church ages to the overcomers of the Laodicean church. This is likely because the lukewarm spirit of the age is one of the most difficult things to overcome. Now let’s consider this promise:

 

“To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:21-22).

 

          Those who overcome during this church age will not just be like the great company in Revelation 7 that stands “before the throne,” but they will sit with Him on His throne. There will be overcomers in this time that demonstrate what it really means to be seated with Him on His throne in the heavenly places—unprecedented spiritual authority. These are the ones who will do the works that He did, and even greater ones, because they abide in Him as He is now. This is still available to all who want it so much that they will run the race, laying aside every encumbrance to pursue our God.

The Church of Laodicea—The Book of Revelation

“To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things say the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would thou were cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:14-15).

         Laodicea means, “judged” or “judging by the people.” The implication is that in this church, men’s opinions are exalted above God’s, resulting in a people lukewarm to Him. There is nothing more offensive in any relationship than indifference. This church is so offensive to the Lord that they make Him sick, and He will vomit them out of His mouth. Yet the greatest promises given to any church age are given to the overcomers in this age.

         We have plenty in the biblical prophecies to warn us that this is no time to be lukewarm about God. If we are awake, the pursuit of God will be the daily drive of our life. When men’s opinions are exalted above the Lord’s, we take on an unsanctified sympathy for the ways of men and begin to fear their opinions more than God’s opinions. In our time, this is called “political correctness.” Such a mindset will lead to a terrible fall, as the Lord warned Peter in Matthew 16:23:

              “But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests but man’s.’”

         We will become a stumbling block to the purposes of God if we become too sympathetic with the interests of men. This is why Paul wrote in Galatians 1:10: "If I were still seeking to please men I would not be a bondservant of Christ." Nothing can cause us to compromise our service to the Lord as much as the fear of man, or the tendency to please men.   

         Jesus warned the Pharisees about this in Luke 16:15: “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” If we do what is pleasing to men, we will do what is detestable in God’s sight. The reverse is also true. If we do what is pleasing in God’s sight, we will often do what is detestable to men. We have a choice: either God or men will detest what we are doing. So who do we want it to be?

         Jesus again warned in Luke 6:26: “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets.” This is the category we will fall into if we are driven by the fear of men, seeking their approval over God’s and speaking what is contrary to the actual message of God, making us false prophets.

         The challenge is taken to a new level in James 4:4: “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself and enemy of God.” We are called to love the world, not be friends with it. Friends have common interests and pursuits. Our very lives are called to be a prophetic challenge to the world’s ways. If we take on the ways of the world, we become enemies of God.

         Jesus gave another important rebuke to those who would live in the fear of men: “How can you believe, when you seek glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only true God?” (John 5:44) The Greek word translated “glory” here could have been translated “recognition.” So, seeking glory, or recognition, from men will destroy our faith. This is likely the main reason why there is so little faith and power in the church today.

         This is the church age when most will fall to this deplorable condition. Yet there is a hope and a promise given to those who overcome the spirit of this age that is greater than the promises given to any other church. We will cover this next week.

Become a Lifelong Seeker—The Book of Revelation

         We have spent a year on this study and are barely through the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation—and we have covered these in a very cursory way. There is much more that we did not have time to delve into, but in the rest of Revelation, these periods are repeated with increasing insight into them. Having established principles and factors, we will be able to go back and fill in many of the details.

         Do we have time to approach it like this? Yes, we have plenty of time. With the foundational principles laid out in the first three chapters, we will be able to go faster now. We can also take time to link everything to the practical, seeing how they apply to the unfolding events of today and where they are leading us.

         When studying biblical prophecy, we become aware of how English translations of the Bible can be inaccurate. For example, words translated “world” may not mean the earth, but rather speak more of a time than a place, such as an age. Sometimes they are more accurately translated as “order” and speak of a specific order on the earth rather than the whole world, as the translation implies.

         But isn’t a basic Reformation doctrine that the Scriptures are perfect and infallible? Yes, but in the original languages. The Greek and Hebrew languages tend to be far more detailed and expressive than English. For example, there are five Greek words for “love,” and each expresses a different kind of love. Most of these mistranslations do not affect the practical doctrine for basic Christian living, but when you get into understanding biblical prophecy, they can be challenging and take a deeper study for the serious seeker.

         We have the great blessing of Bible computer programs that enable us to search out the meaning of the original Greek and Hebrew words in seconds. We also have many scholars and teachers who have spent years, and often decades, doing in-depth studies that they put into books that we can read in hours. Much of what I put into this study is the result of decades of study that I try to convey in a way that can be absorbed in a few minutes a week. This is part of saving the best wine for last.

         Even though knowledge is increasing very fast—and we seem to be in the times when the seals are being broken and understanding is being given to ancient prophecies—there will always be a place for in-depth pondering and reflection on the word and taking our insights to Him in prayer. No amount of technology or resources can ever be a substitute for the Holy Spirit.

         We must also keep in mind that as much knowledge as we gain, we only know in part. No one person has the entire picture. We must remain humble enough to learn from others. On my nearly half century journey in search of this to truth, I have learned that those who often have the next part that I need are those by whom I am repelled by at first. They may hold to some things that I disagree with, or even have methods of interpretation I’m not comfortable with. Yet when I have persevered in these relationships, I have inevitably found some real treasures.

         This does not mean that I may not still disagree with them on what bothered me at first, but I have learned to respect everyone that is a genuine seeker because God has promised that if we seek we will find. However, this does not mean that everyone who has found something is perfect in their understanding, including myself.

         In the next couple of weeks, we will wrap up our study of the Seven Churches and go on to the rest of Revelation—making where we are now, and where we going, more clear. Even though most of what was predicted in the Book of Revelation may have happened, the most important and most exciting of all events is yet to come. There is much work to do to get ready for them.

Recovering the Truth—The Book of Revelation

         The Church at Sardis (1400-1844) was proclaimed to be dead even though they had a name that they were alive, and so they were exhorted to wake up and strengthen what remained. This was a period of relative stagnation in the restoring to the church what had been lost through the Dark Ages. Yet the church responded to its wake-up call from the Lord. The next church period was one of the most remarkable, as addressed in Revelation 3:7-12:

    "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens": 

    "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.

    Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 

    Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial 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. 

       He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. 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 I will write on him My new name.

         The period from the 1844 Advent Movement to about the mid-1990s saw some of the greatest advances in the recovery of truth and life in church history. Great revivals came like waves that swept over much of the earth and touched virtually the entire body of Christ. Two of the most spectacular for worldwide impact were the Welsh Revival and the Azusa Street Revival, which morphed into the Pentecostal Revival. These two took place at the beginning of the 20th century and coincided with the birth of the Zionist Movement for the Jews to retake their Promised Land. 1948, the year Israel was declared a nation, also saw the Extraordinary Healing Revival, the Latter Rain Revival, and Evangelistic Revival, spearheaded by the emergence of Billy Graham. In 1967, The Charismatic Renewal began, during which baptism in the Holy Spirit was poured out on virtually every denomination. This also coincided with the Jewish retaking of Jerusalem in the Six Day War.

         The Charismatic Renewal gave birth to more churches, more high-impact ministries, and led to more salvations than any previous move of God in history. It was also the seedbed for unprecedented unity in the body of Christ. Much of this was facilitated by the emergence of television ministries spearheaded by Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, Paul and Jan Crouch, and others. These gave a platform to those from many denominations, enabling those from different denominations to hear what other movements were doing and saying. Thus began an unprecedented interchange throughout the body of Christ that has continued.

         Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were especially devoted to hosting any ministry from any denomination on their hugely popular daily PTL program. Heritage USA became the third biggest attraction in America—up to six million Christians visited a year from possibly every nation and denomination. At Heritage USA, Christians from different backgrounds met other Christians from different backgrounds and an appreciation and respect for the different parts of the body began. This truly was an age of “brotherly love,” the meaning of the name “Philadelphia.”

         This also sparked a worldwide revival and ingathering of new believers, and it was estimated that more people came to the Lord in a sixteen-year period (from 1988-2006) than had come to Him in the previous church age (from the Day of Pentecost until that time). Of course, this was somewhat due to there being as many people alive on the earth as had lived from the first century of the church until now. Nonetheless, it was the largest ingathering of new believers into the body of Christ by far in history.

         During the peak of this ingathering it was estimated that about 375,000 people were born again every day worldwide. Most of this took place in eastern Europe, Asia, South and Central America, and Africa, beginning what many considered “the harvest that is the end of the age.”

         In 1987, I received a panoramic vision over a two and a half day period in which I was shown the harvest that would make the end of this age (this vision is recorded in my book, The Harvest). In this vision, I was shown two waves of ingathering that would sweep over the earth. The first would be the biggest ingathering in history, so great that many would consider it to be the last harvest, but it was not. The first one was the gathering of the laborers for the next one that would be much bigger.

         In this vision, I was shown that there would be a time of relative quiet after the first wave that the church would need to get ready for the next wave. We have been in this period of relative quiet for almost twenty years, and we are seeing signs of the next wave beginning. When this vision ended, the harvest was still going on and growing, so I did not see the end of the age.

Strengthening What Remains: The Book of Revelation

     We will now study the Church at Sardis (1400–1844):

        

To the angel of the church in Sardis write; these things says He that has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but are dead.

Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found you works completed before God (Revelation 3:1-2 NKJV).

     Sardis means, “that which remains.” The periods of each church are general, and I have this church period spanning from the beginning of the Reformation until the 1844 Advent Movement—also the high water mark of the Second Great Awakening. Some of these church periods overlap one another, and perhaps all of them do, as is often the case with biblical prophecy. As one church period began to wane, another would emerge to eclipse it. 

     The period of the Church of Sardis saw dramatic changes in civilization, government, culture, and the church. Powerful Reformation preachers such as Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Zwingli sent spiritual and political earthquakes throughout Western civilization. However, as we have discussed, just as the political alliance with the Roman Empire released a terrible corruption into the church, many Reformation churches gave in to the same sources of corruption through similar political alliances. Soon they did virtually the same things that they had accused the Catholic Church of doing, just a little differently.

     Soon Reformation churches became as cruel to their detractors as the Roman church had been to them in the Inquisition and previous persecutions. The Reformation churches may have recovered more biblical truth, but by their actions they were dead, even though they claimed to be alive. Truth is important, and the truth that gives life will always align with the Scriptures. However, if we know the truth but do not live it, then it is a snare to us.

     Yet the church of this period did much to “strengthen what remains,” as the Lord exhorted it to do. The Reformation’s motto became “the Scriptures alone,” declaring that every doctrine of the church must be established by the Scriptures. The Word of God is the truth that sets men free. As study of the Scriptures became the most noble devotion of the times, freedom became a basic cry of the people. John Calvin is even regarded as the “father of modern democracy,” and his teachings brought profound change to governments by empowering the people.

     There is a dichotomy in this period that is prevalent today. The church’s political alliances brought corruption into the church, but it also released light into the governments. One of the crucial questions asked in our time is how can the church influence governments without bringing bad influences from the government into the church?

     America’s Founding Fathers wrestled with this question while writing the U.S. Constitution. Their conclusion was to build a firewall to keep the federal government out of the church by declaring that, “congress shall make no religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof.” At the same time, they declared that the government would not last without the influence of moral and religious people. It is obvious from their other writings that they wanted a one-way street for the church to influence the government, but also to keep the government’s influence out of the church. In recent times there has been a movement to reverse this so that the church would not have influence with the government, but yet the government would be able to dictate policy in the church. History screams that this is a dangerous turn.  

     Many still wrongly believe that there is a “separation of church and state” in the U.S. Constitution, but there is not. There is only the prohibition for the federal government to establish a religion, or prohibit the free exercise of religion. The Constitution also declares that any authority not specifically given to the federal government by the Constitution remains with the states and the people. Therefore, the states are free to establish a religion, and many did until the middle of the 19th century. For example, in some states you had to be a Protestant Christian to hold office. States like Pennsylvania had laws favoring Quakers, while some states had laws favoring Catholics. I am not saying this was right, and later most states dropped these provisions. As they almost all did this for a time without protest from the Founders or Constitutionalists, it at least proves that the states had the authority to establish a religion if they so chose.

     Now how does this apply today? How has the misunderstanding that the Constitution mandated a separation of church and state affect us? The federal government has, in violation of the Constitution, mandated to the states many things, such as the removal of prayer in schools. That authority rests only with the states and is an obvious violation of the federal government’s forbiddance by the Constitution to prohibit the free exercise of religion.

     The American Founding Fathers lived in a time that still witnessed the persecution of Christians in Europe, and the French Revolution was one of the historical events illuminating the tyranny of the mob and anarchists. They saw the potential for tyranny coming from either a too strong executive, or federal government, or from the unrestrained madness of the mob. To counter both of these, they designed a government with firewalls that protected from the excesses of either. This was based on the proven history of fallen human nature.

     The American Founding Fathers sought divine help and wisdom, and when you study their works it is obvious that they received it. The Constitution is not Scripture, but it remains the most brilliant governmental document ever written. One thing it has in common with the Bible is that many presume to know what is in it yet they have never read it. I have been told by those who studied Constitutional law that they never once read the Constitution, or any part of it, during their courses.

     We have office holders from Presidents on down who swear to uphold and defend the Constitution but have never read it. This is at the root of much of the conflict and chaos we’re now experiencing as a nation. The same thing has been happening in the church because many preachers hardly know, or really preach, from their Bibles.

The Promise of the Morning Star—The Book of Revelation

         As we have been covering, church history was predicted by the Lord’s messages to the Seven Churches. Church history is filled with crucial lessons to learn if we are to become the pure, chaste virgin the Lord so deserves as His bride. In that history we see the consequences of being joined to the powers of this age and allowing intolerance for those who may not conform to everything we believe, or just the way that we believe, to creep into the fabric of church life.

         Resisting intolerance does not mean that we do not stand for sound biblical truth without compromise. However, the church has been devastated throughout history by divisions over minor issues. Even when divided over major doctrines, the answer is not to go to war with each other. Rather, we are exhorted in Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.”

         Religious intolerance has proven to be the cruelest form of intolerance and a major reason why so many want nothing to do with God or religion. Even the Roman’s persecutions of the early Christians paled in comparison to what Christians did to other Christians during the Inquisition. According to Henry C. Sheldon, author of The History of the Christian Church, "A Roman magistrate (who was devoted to the destruction of Christianity) would have been ashamed to employ some of the methods freely used by the Inquisition."

         The tortures revealed in such works as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs make the Nazis seem benevolent in comparison, and that’s no exaggeration. We would like to forget this, but such things tend to surface and get used against us if they are not confronted, repented of, and the wounds from these sins healed by forgiveness.

         Also, if we cover them up we do not have the opportunity to learn the lessons from them and they keep getting repeated. Every bad thing that happened in church history was allowed to happen for a purpose. That purpose is that we learn these ultimate lessons. That is why this history was written in advance in Revelation.

       The rest of the message of the Lord to this church age is poignant and was fulfilled:

       “Behold, I will throw her (Jezebel) on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.

       “And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds” (Revelation 2:22-23).

         During this period, the “black death” swept over Europe and seemed to especially concentrate in the place where the harlot church was dominant. To the rest He gave encouragement:

         “But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you.

         “Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.       

         “He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; 

         “AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father;

         “and I will give him the morning star.

         “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:24-29).

         The morning star is the planet Venus that rises as the brightest star during the darkest part of the night as evidence that the day will soon dawn. William Tyndale is often referred to as “the morning star of the Reformation.” He was the first to translate the Scriptures into his native language so that the common people could understand them. This no doubt led to the Gutenberg Bible being the first book to come off the printing press after its invention. Without this, the flames of the Reformation revival would have likely died like the previous movements to reform the church. In this way, the darkest period of the church ended. It was not quite the day, but the morning star promised that it would be soon.