Blessed- we are
blessed if we read, hear, and keep. So
by the Grace and Mercy of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior- please
read, hear, and keep.
God knows. He
knows. We are known whether we want to
be known by God or not, we are known by Him. You may choose to not know God,
not believe He even exists, that is your right given to you by God Himself.
Nonetheless, God knows you, He's known you from the womb. And before you jump in (if you haven't
already) thinking if He knows then why does He allow you to have so much pain
in your life (mentally, physically, emotionally- very few people exist without
one or more of these pains), before you start down that road know that God
granted us free will as a human race and our first parents took that free will
and chose a path God was not upon which in turn led us all down that path.
However, God immediately offered another path that would lead back to Him and
that path is one we are all free to choose or not choose. The choice is available to all and one day
all who will choose that path will have chosen and then EVERYTHING
changes. There will once more be life as
God initially intended for His creations, and those choosing that life will
have had the experience of a life without God and wholeheartedly make the
choice to forever choose life with God.
God knows us. God has given us prophecies to teach us. We must read, hear, and keep. We must study
His word and by the Holy Spirit -who is one in agreement with God, and with the
Savior Jesus Christ, we will gain comprehension- all the comprehension we need
to live according to His will and not our own, by HIS GRACE and MERCY through
HIS LOVE.
-
Rev 2:12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos
write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
Rev 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest,
even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied
my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was
slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
Rev 2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because
thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast
a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto
idols, and to commit fornication.
Rev 2:15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Rev 2:16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee
quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of
the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it
******* Continuing our prophecy study-- Please
GO back and READ the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of
where we are if you haven't been following this study daily. Thank you
:) We are on lesson number 67. God bless you! ******
I know thy works...
Rev 2:12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos
write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
*******
Who
has a sharp sword with two edges?
What
is the two edged sword all about?
Psa 149:1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new
song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
Psa 149:2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let
the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
Psa 149:3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let
them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
Psa 149:4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people:
he will beautify the meek with salvation.
Psa 149:5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them
sing aloud upon their beds.
Psa 149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their
mouth, and a twoedged
sword in their hand;
Psa 149:7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the
people;
Psa 149:8 To bind their kings with chains, and their
nobles with fetters of iron;
Psa 149:9 To execute upon them the judgment written:
this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
Hebrews
{4:12}
For the word of God
[is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to
the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is]
a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart
Revelation
{1:13}
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks [one] like unto the Son of man,
clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden
girdle.
{1:14}
His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes
[were] as a flame of fire;
{1:15}
And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his
voice as the sound of many waters.
{1:16}
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword:
and his countenance [was] as the sun shineth in his strength.
He who
has the two-edged sword is
Jesus.
And
from just noting a bit more about the two-edged sword it's easy to see that
it's symbolic of God's quick and decisive manner. There is no deception, no
guile, no toying when it comes to God, and all He does is precise. His word is
more powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. And the power and sharpness
of such a sword is tremendous. Jesus speaks with such exacting vengeance in
such a way that there leaves no doubt to the truth of his actions- none.
Jesus speaks to us holding nothing back.
Rev 2:12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos
write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
Rev 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest,
even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied
my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was
slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
He
knows our works! He knew them back in the days of John, He knew them in the
early years of God's people- His church historically, and He knows us even now.
It's safe to say Jesus has known us through all time and there was never a time
He didn't know His people. Even when His people have caused Him grief He has
known and has tried to guide them down the right path of His righteousness.
He
knows thy works, where thou dwellest- where we live. He knows. And He has known where Satan's seat is and make no
mistake about it- Satan has his foothold in this world he was cast out upon at the birth of salvation realized in Jesus'
entrance into our world as He took on the flesh of humanity. Satan cast to this
earth was never more to call heaven (God's seat) his home. Yes, Satan has his
powers and his influence and he's used them to form his own plans that include
a place where he would dwell and rule from. Satan's seat. Living among the very
place where the evil one, the one who opposes, the deceiver was in power and
holding fast to the true faith of Christ- what wonder! Holding fast to Christ!
Not denying Christ's faith!
People
say that there are no more martyrs, I say they're wrong. There are many, many
martyrs today. In fact just writing what I'm writing would be cause for my
death in some countries. We don't want to believe it, but it's true.
Wherever
we are living, in whatever situation we find ourselves even if it's the worst
place imaginable- if we hold fast to Christ and remain faithful then we will
have His blessing. I'm not just talking a life or death situation with a true
sword ready to slice our head from our shoulders. I'm talking living in the
world that Satan claims as His and holding fast. It's all too easy for us to
give in and go along with the crowd. To laugh and smile, and seemingly agree
with the goings on even when they bold-facedly ridicule all that is Godly.
Inwardly we might condemn the actions going on about us and we cling to that
inward man, but outwardly we seem to agree with the ungodliness and what does
that mean? We're ashamed of our beliefs.
If we
won't hold fast to Christ and our faith in Him now in the little things, how
will we do so later on when our very lives may depend on seemingly agreeing
with the ungodly? Will we align ourselves with the ungodly so that we can live?
Or be martyrs to hold fast to Christ?
The
historical message, the message for all time, we need to learn, to listen, to
take to heart what is being said.
Rev
2:14 But I have a few things against
thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught
Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things
sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
Rev
2:15 So hast thou also them that hold
the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Hold
the doctrine of Balaam... idol worship in all its ugly forms. The Nicolaitans are mentioned once more and
we know these are all that about things, people and their actions, that Jesus
hates.
Again,
just because you don't live in a town where they have festivals to worship the
sun god Baal, does not mean there is no idol worship today. Among God's people
there are those who hold fast to the belief that worshipping the world rather
than God means the most. We can't worship any other than God! Search our hearts
and our lives and examine what lies within- is it worship to anything other
than God? Is there a self-worship? The worship of any thing that would take us
from God?
Rev
2:16 Repent; or else I will come unto
thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Rev
2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to
eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a
new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
Repent.
We
need to repent and not face the righteous wrath of Christ.
Listen!
We are told to LISTEN!
If we
overcome through Christ we will be given hidden manna- heavenly food so
precious. We will be given a white stone- a stone of purity and innocence in
Christ. In that stone we'll receive our new name, a new name only we know. God
made a point to give Abram and Sari new names and He also gave Jacob a new
name. We who overcome as they overcame by faith in God and His righteousness we
too will receive a new name.
By His
mercy, by His grace, by His love and by His righteousness alone may we cling to
Him and be found in Him to be overcomers through Him and Him alone. Forgive us
oh Lord, forgive us our many, many trespasses, our many failings and set us on
Your path to Your righteousness- now and forever!
Amen
Note- here is an
excerpt from a prophecy booklet called- 'These Times - The amazing prophecies
of Daniel and Revelation. A Special
Issue.' pg. 24-25
'Verses 12-17. The
city of Pergamos (or Pergamum) was the capital of the Roman province of Asia. A
rich, important city, it served as a center of emperor worship and various
pagan religions. Jesus perceptively described Pergamum as a city in bondage to
the dictatorship of Satan, the leader of all evil forces (see Revelation
12:9;13:1,2). The great failure of the church at Pergamum was that it allowed
pagan, unchristian influences into its midst, accepting the teaching of
"Balaam" -- a reference to a man who influenced the Israelites
shortly after they left Egypt to unite with pagans and become involved in
idolatry and immorality (Numbers 22-25; 31:13-16).
The experience of
the whole church following AD 313, when Emperor Constantine legalized
Christianity, resembled that of Pergamum. Following this time the church
increasingly accepted pagan ideas and practices into its midst and advanced
steadily down the path of apostasy foretold by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. The
church's only hope lay in its willingness to let the sharp "two-edged
sword" of truth wielded by Jesus cut away their selfishness and pride (cf
Hebrews 4:12). '
*******
The reason I wanted
to insert this note is because we need to touch on the specific historically
applied aspect to the prophecy as well as the time of John the prophet, and we
most certainly can tell already how it's applied to us now and to all of God's
people through history in a broad meaningful way.
The
historical time period this covers- Constantine, or perhaps, rather, from his
professed conversion to Christianity in A.D. 313 to the establishment of the
papacy in A.D. 538.
In 313, Constantine
proclaimed the Edict of Milan which legalized Christian worship. Go to Wikipedia, look up Constantine and this
is in there. We've already gone over
these dates when we studied the prophecy of Daniel. Daniel and Revelation both
deal with prophecy in a huge way and go hand in hand in so much. This all fits together and the placing of the
puzzle pieces will mean we need to go back and forth between these two books
and truly throughout the entire Bible.
By God's grace,
through His will, now and forever!
Amen.
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