The Revelation 3a:

Reading #429  The Reformation

This week we move on to the times of the Reformation and the rise of Protestantism (the two things are not the same).  I have dated this branch of the church from Martin Luther’s posting of his propositions on the church notice board right through to the disappointment of the Advent movement in the early 19^th century.  

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Revelation 3:

1 And to the angel of the church in SARDIS [1517 - 1844] write;

[The intro]

These things says He that has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars;

[The condemnation – there is no praise for this group]

I know your works, that you have a name [among men] that you live, and are dead [in My sight].  2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die [they had some truths but were giving them up]: for I have not found your works perfect before God.

[The warning]

3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.    

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Christ introduces Himself as the One who has overall surveillance of the church through His Spirit.  He has to regretfully announce that the works of the Protestants were not what He wanted!  Although men see them in history as making great strides in unmasking the Roman Catholic system and its clergy, they failed to separate fully from its ways.  See note 1.  Most easily seen is their retention of Sunday as a day of worship when there is not one single command in the Bible to do so.  In fact, Sunday is always called “the first [working] day of the week” and Christ chose it as His resurrection day for that reason – He was alive and working again.

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Matthew 28:

1 In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week [Sunday morning], came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake [as they approached it]: for the angel of the LORD descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it [while the Son of man came out].  3 His [the angel’s] countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 and for fear of him the keepers [the Roman guards] did shake, and became as dead men [they fainted].  

5 And the angel answered and said to the women, “Fear not you: for I know that you seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6 He is not here: for He is risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where the LORD lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead; and, behold, He goes before you into Galilee; there shall you see Him: lo, I have told you”. [About 500 turned up to see His ascension. 1 Corinthians 15:6.]

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We should note that Sunday was originally the day on which to worship Baal the god of force (aka Satan), who was represented by the sun.  Another reason why Christ chose that day for His resurrection was to show that Satan’s power over death was now broken.  “Forasmuch then as the children [of God] are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same [flesh and blood]; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil”. Hebrews 2:14.

The Protestants did bring to our notice the remembrance of the everlasting gospel, but then failed to progress in other revealed truths and actually regressed, even in the gospel!  Today’s Protestant gospel is basically, “Open your heart to Christ and let Him in to HELP you in overcoming”.  This ignores completely the EXCHANGE of lives, and the need to overcome in His power alone, for He says, “Without Me you can do NOTHING”.  John 15:5.  He is the Vine which has the root, Christians are simply the branches.

We must be prepared to accept God’s word that those Protestant churches which separated in the Reformation did not come clean out of Babylon, but have remained as her “daughters”, for she is “the mother of harlots”, which fact is always emphasised with capital letters in the king James version of the Bible.  Revelation 17:5.  Because of this, the Son of God calls on those Christians within their ranks to “repent”, and to “come out of her, My people”. Revelation 18:4.  Then He warned:

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Revelation 3:

3b If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief [unexpectedly], and you shall not know what hour I will come upon you.

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One of the reasons I have dated this branch of the church to 1844 is because that was the year that the Son of God was able to expand His ministry in the sanctuary in heaven as we read in Daniel chapter 8.  However, at the end of the great Advent movement (1833-1844) only a few of the multitudes that had followed the leading of the LORD survived to go on into the new truths of the Sabbath and the heavenly sanctuary.  He “came” to the Father and the majority rejected the understanding of that move and either formed new denominations or returned to their own original churches!  But He said:

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Revelation 3:

4 You have a few names [only a few] even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy.

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As mentioned before a few followed on into the increasing light, and walked with Him in their robes of righteousness.  The Ten Commandments became the focus of their attention and the Spirit of God was able to bring the seventh-day Sabbath back into the light from its long obscurity.  Just as there were only a “few” in Sardis who followed the LORD completely, so there have always been a “few” Christians in Europe and Asia Minor who have kept His commandments in every century since the cross.  For more on this see                http://4dw.net/nonconformer/Centuries/centuries.html#.

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Revelation 3:

[The promise]

5 He that overcomes [himself], the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.

6 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

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Their promise includes their situation in the judgment (the first judgment which began in 1844, when the “house of God” began to be investigated.)  Peter referred to it in his message of comfort for the church in his day.  “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”

1 Peter 4:17. We read about this in the book of Daniel.   I quote:

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Daniel 7:

9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down [placed in position, as cushions were for an eastern monarch], and the Ancient of days [God the Father] did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire [energy pulsed around Him]. 10 A fiery stream [the river of life] issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands [of angels] ministered to Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand [of sinless beings] stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened . . .    

13  I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man [Jesus Christ] came with the clouds of heaven [His angel attendants], and came to the Ancient of days, and they [the angels] brought Him near before Him. 14 And there was given Him [in that judgment] dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

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The fact that there is a Book of Life (and others of death) has been known since the earliest times.  Moses spoke of it when he approached the Son of God regarding his people.

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Exodus 32:

31 And Moses returned to the LORD, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin [after their worship of the “golden calf” of brute force], and have made them gods of gold [note the plural].

32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin – ; [Moses left unfinished his request]

and if not, blot me, I pray you, out of Your book which You have written”.

[He obviously thought that life without his church would be impossible!]

33 And the LORD said to Moses, “Whosoever has sinned against [rejected] Me, him will I blot out of My book [and no one else]. 34 Therefore now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you: behold, My angel shall go before you:

nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them [in the Day of Judgment].”

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We can thank God that He was able to lead some people out of that disappointing part of the church as their candle failed, into another, the branch of brotherly love.  So it was that for a while after the great disappointment, the little flock clung together in their understanding of the open and shut doors, but not for long.  

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Revelation 3:  

7 And to the angel of the church in PHILADELPHIA [1844 - 1852] write;

[The intro]

These things says He that is holy, He that is true, He that has the key of David, He that opens [one door], and no man shuts; and shuts [another], and no man opens; [the way into the second apartment of the temple and its ministry was now able to be opened.]

[The praise]

8 I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door [into the holy of holies], and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.

9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews [followers of God, i.e. professed Christians], and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come [one day] and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. [Consider Isaiah 45:23-25.]

10 Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. [We’ll look into this more fully later in the book.]  11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown.

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Christ introduces Himself to this branch as the One who has the keys of David, in fulfilment of an old acted-out prophecy.  Let’s read it:

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Isaiah 22:

15 Thus says the LORD GOD of hosts, Go, get you [Isaiah] to this treasurer, even to Shebna, which is over the house [of king David], and say, 16 “What have you here?  And whom have you here, that you have hewed you out a sepulchre here, as he that hews him out a sepulchre on high, and that engraves a habitation for himself in a rock? [Do you think that your position is “set in concrete” till you die of old age?]

17 “Behold, [because you have turned from Him and been a traitor, verses 8-14] the LORD will carry you away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover you [allow you to prosper there]. 18 He will surely violently turn and toss you like a ball into a large country [into Babylon]: there shall you die [and not here], and there the chariots of your glory shall be the shame of your lord's house.

19 “And I will drive you from your station, and from your state shall he [Satan?] pull you down.

20  “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call My servant Eliakim [he whom God establishes] the son of Hilkiah: 21 and I will clothe him with your robe [I’ll give him your job], and strengthen him with your girdle, and I will commit your government into his hand: and he shall be a father [an elder] to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.  22   And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place [something that holds together]; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's [king David’s] house.

24 “And they shall hang upon him [he’ll be the chief butler] all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons [the equipment of the house/tabernacle]. 

25  “In that day, says the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is [already] fastened in the sure place [Shebna] be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD has spoken it.”

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In this practical lesson we are shown the transfer from Sardis to Philadelphia.  Shebna had defected and the LORD was allowing him his own way.  In like manner the so-called Protestant churches have fallen back into the ways of Babylon and been left to their own devices. 

In the reality the majority in the branch of the church that had the keys in its hand had let the LORD down and now it was the turn of another.  We should be able to see that this new branch of the church is also the reflection of THE BRANCH (compare Jeremiah 23:5 and  Isaiah 80:21), which becomes a “nail in a sure place” as it clings to the Son of God. (It is His “wife”.)  It is the teaching about the work in the heavenly sanctuary which comes from this branch that will raise up the house of David. See note 2  1 Samuel 2:35.

That’s why there is no condemnation for this branch of the church.

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Revelation 3:  

[The promise]

12 Him that overcomes [himself] will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out [he won’t give up and will be resurrected at the second coming]: and I will write upon him the name [character] of My God, and the name [the purpose] of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name [explaining My new job]. 

13 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

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Do you remember the promise made to those who have died in the faith of the Sabbath rest since 1844, which is written in Revelation 14:13?  It is they who have become “pillars”, or strong ones, in the spiritual house of the LORD.  It is they who are able to tell others through their writings of the true character of God; who know the purpose of the city in the new world; who laid the foundation of the Son of God’s final work in the sanctuary in heaven.  All this they have passed on to us, their spiritual descendants. 

“He that has an ear . . .”  

Bye for now,

Ron

Some of the comments in these readings are adapted from books in my library.      No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly.     All the ideas expressed in these readings, right or wrong, are my own.

Some of these readings are available at http://www.oocities.org/weprotest.geo/BibleReadings/books_index.html

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Note 1:  There is a difference between clergy and laity!

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The Reformers and their Stepchildren, by Leonard Verduin, footnote, page 141.   Back

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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clergy

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 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from Greek κληρος (a lot, that which is assigned by lot (allotment) or metaphorically, heritage). [They are given the position.]

Depending on the religion, clergy usually take care of the ritual aspects of the religious life, teach or otherwise help in spreading the religion's doctrine and practices . . . There is a significant difference between clergy and theologians; clergy have the above-mentioned duties while theologians are scholars of religion and theology, and are not necessarily clergy. A lay-person can be a theologian. The two fields, of course, often overlap. In some denominations clergy status is reserved for males. In other denominations both men and women serve as clergy.

Clergy are protected by special laws in many countries. In some cases clergy are financed (or co-financed) by the state, but usually they are financially supported by the donations of individual members of their religion. In Christianity there is a wide range of formal and informal clergy positions, including deacons, priests, bishops, and ministers . . .

In general, Christian clergy are ordained; that is, they are set apart for specific ministry in religious rites. Others who have definite roles in worship but who are not ordained (e.g. laypeople acting as acolytes) are generally not considered clergy, even though they may require some sort of official approval to exercise these ministries . . .

Clergy in Protestantism fill a wide variety of roles and functions. In many denominations, such as Methodism, Presbyterianism, and Lutheranism, the roles of clergy are similar to Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, in that they hold an ordained pastoral or priestly office, administer the sacraments, proclaim the word, lead a local church or parish, and so forth. The Baptist tradition only recognizes only two ordained positions in the church as being the Elders (Pastors) and Deacons as outlined in the third chapter of I Timothy in the Bible . . .

All Protestant denominations reject the idea (following Luther) that the clergy are a separate category of people, but rather stress the priesthood of all believers. [My comment:  They do in words, but not in practice. The title separates even if unintentionally.] Based on this theological approach, Protestants do not have a sacrament of Ordination like the pre-Reformation Churches. Protestant ordination, therefore, can be viewed more as a public statement by the ordaining body that an individual possesses the theological knowledge, moral fitness, and practical skills required for service in that faith group's ministry.

Some Protestant denominations dislike the word clergy and do not use it of their own leaders. Often they refer to their leaders as pastors or ministers, titles that, if used, sometimes apply to the person only as long as he or she holds a particular office.

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Some Protestant churches proudly title their clergy with, “The Right Honourable Lord Archbishop”, “Most Reverend”, etc. while Catholics have “Monsignor (my lord/boss)”.  However, the ultimate RESULT of ANY title (even pastor) is to separate.  Back

Note 2:

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1 Samuel  2:35.

“And I will raise Me up a faithful Priest, that shall do according to that which is in My heart and in My mind: and I will build Him a sure house; and He shall walk before My anointed for ever”.  

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