FEATURED POST

Jesus’ blood has redeemed—has purchased—all people who will have faith in Him. He has redeemed us from bondage to sin so that we can be God’s people. And this redemption that He has accomplished on the Cross is open to all people.

This is what is being unveiled to us in this part of John’s vision: there is only One who is worthy to open the scroll, and He is the Lamb of God.

What is waiting for those who overcome and keep their faith in Jesus? John is about to reveal more about it.

Our faith in Jesus should affect every single area of our lives. We cannot compartmentalize our faith into a little box labeled “Christian things” that we only access occasionally and think that will please the Lord. If we try to do that, we will be spiritually poor, covered in sin, and spiritually blind to the things of God.

How do we hold fast to what we have so we can overcome and wear a victor’s crown? How do we overcome so that we too can be pillars in the new temple of God’s people? We must do what this group of Christians in Philadelphia were doing: we must keep God’s Word and never deny the name of Jesus.

The message to them is the same now as it was then: Wake up! If you don’t, there will be consequences.

The church in Thyatira was doing some things really well. They were showing that they were full of love, faith, service, and perseverance, yet some of them, and most likely the church itself, were tolerating Jezebel. They were tolerating sin. It seems like they had misunderstood what true love requires. In their effort to be loving, which the Lord commends them for, they were tolerating wickedness.