|
|
 |  | |
| | |
| | |
|
|
| |
| Next | |  |
|
|
| |
 | | |
|
|
|
|
Thou shalt have tribulation ten days. Here is a prophecy. And with it is a means of determining the life span of the Smyrnaean Age.
Be thou faithful unto death.
He does not say be faithful until death, but unto death.
You may have to seal your testimony with your blood. Thousands, yea millions, have died during all the ages. They died in the faith. Like Antipas, the faithful martyr, they held not their lives dear unto death. Often we think that it would be almost impossible to be a martyr. But dare to recall that the faith we daily use to triumph in Christ Jesus is the same faith that upholds the Polycarps and all martyrs. The supreme faith will give supreme grace for the supreme hour. Blessed be God forever!
Diocletian, the cruelest of all emperors, launched a terror campaign against the saints of God, that except for the mercy of God would have wiped out all believers. It was the bloodiest in history and lasted ten years (the ten days of Revelation 2:10b) from 302 to 312. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
And I will give thee a crown of life.
Since not even a cup of cold water given in the Name of the Lord fails to receive a reward, how great shall be the reward to him who gives his life as a martyr for the Name of the Lord Jesus. Perhaps we can get a small idea if we compare this crown with the crown won in a race. In
I Corinthians 9:24, Paul says,
24 ¶Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
A crown given to the winner of the Olympic race was a garland of olive branches. But the crown spoken of here in the Revelation, given to a martyr, is the crown of royalty. Jesus calls it the crown of life.
(1)
All too little time is spent on laboring for the eternal rewards of God. The recompence of God is too lightly esteemed. If we believe in the reality of the resurrection of the body, and an eternal kingdom of substance, then we ought to lay up in heaven those good treasures that are available to the faithful saints.
The one crown is for those who have striven; (2) the other is for those who have given. Both crowns are incorruptible. They will not perish. The winners of the worldly race of life will soon lose the joy of the plaudits of the world. Their glory will fail. But those who give their lives for God, either by daily striving or shedding their blood as the crowning sacrifice of their lives will be given the crown of life. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
TEN REWARD FOR OVERCOMING
Now, once again the Spirit is talking to all the ages.
We all know that the second death is the lake of fire. Revelation 20:14, And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Of course that means all those who were therein, were cast into the lake of fire.
But that word means "from the ages to the ages"
3:13-14,
This message is to comfort us today even as it has comforted our brethren of all the other ages. And He says to us that the second death will not hurt us.Now then, I want to bring out something here for you. It no doubt will cause people to comment on my strange doctrine. But I stand here on the authority of the Word of God and deny that the unbeliever goes to an eternal hell and burns there eternally. In the first place, hell, or the lake of fire, or whatever you want to call it is not eternal. How can it be if it had a beginning? In Matthew 25:41, it says that everlasting fire was prepared for the devil and his angels.. Now if it was prepared, then it wasn't without a beginning. If it had a beginning then it can't be eternal. Of course you might stumble over the idea of the word 'everlasting.'and has different meanings attached to it. In I SamuelGod told Samuel that He was going to judge the house of Eli forever, and that they would offer no more sacrifices "forever" as His priests. And in II Kings 2:27, Solomon thrust out the last descendants of Eli from the priesthood. That was four generations or so later. Now you can see that "everlasting" does not compare with what is "eternal", or that which had no beginning or end. Here in this case the word everlasting means "to the vanishing point." That is what happened. They vanished.
Revelation 2:11,
11 He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Look at the word, "destruction" over in II Thessalonians 1:9,.Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction..In the Greek, "destruction" positively means annihilation. And the word, "destruction", does NOT mean destroying. Now "destroying" means something going on and on in decay. So what can everlasting annihilation mean? It doesn't mean to keep on annihilating, or that would make the word "destroying", instead of "destruction". It means to destroy to the ending point. End it.
You might wonder now, when you can use that word,
"eternal", and not use it the way we have been taught. That is easy. When it applies to God it means to be without beginning or end, and ever enduring and never ceasing. And when you talk of eternal life you have that in mind which is the life of God. This is the record, that God has given us eternal life, and that life is in the Son. He that hath the Son hath life. Now then, only sons of God have life eternal, the kind that never had a beginning, but always was. That is right. You have something in you right now that is eternal--without beginning or end. It is the Spirit of God. It is a part of God Himself. It is the life of God.
Now if a sinner is going to go to hell and then suffer the same as you are going to heaven and enjoy heaven, then he has the same kind of life you have already.
Well, then there might be those who say eternal life signifies the welfare of the children of God. It is their welfare and enjoyment that is at stake. On the other hand the sinner goes to his punishment, so that we can reduce the second death to a matter of punishment and place. Eternal life means heaven, and eternal punishment means hell. You would be surprised at the men who have been exalted as theologians that believed that.
But do you know what that does? It makes eternal life a matter of geography instead of a Person. Eternal life is God,--the Lord Jesus Christ. How anyone could believe such a thing, that eternal life is a matter of place, is more than I know. It makes me stagger to think of it. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
No sir. There is only one kind of eternal life. God has it. If we have God, we have eternal life in and through Him.
So you see, that word eternal, or everlasting, can be applied in various ways, but when it applies to God, He being what He is, it has one meaning. It is the duration of God. You can't apply it like that to any other thing. God alone is eternal, and because He lives, we live with Him.
Now don't let anyone say that I don't believe in a lake of fire and in punishment. I do.
So the wicked shall be cast into hell (Hades or the grave) and hell into the lake of fire. Separated from God. What a terrible thing that will be. But with the righteous it shall not be so. They don't have to fear. They have been redeemed by God. They are in His bosom. They are the overcomers.
Why will this overcomer, this believer escape, and go into realms of eternal life and bliss?
Because Jesus paid a price to ransom us from sin. He filled the gap of separation, and we who were afar off are now made nigh by the blood.
And they will never come into condemnation. They will never be in that lake of fire. They can never be lost for He will lose none of them. Not one of the redeemed will be anywhere except where Jesus is.
Do you know why that is?
I don't know how long it will last, but it will eventually be removed. In Revelation 21:8, it says that those sinners mentioned will have their part in the lake of fire. But the true interpretation of the word is not `part' but it is 'time.' See, there you have it. And who is he that overcometh? He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ.I will illustrate it for you. I have a little boy, Joseph. He is a part of me, no matter what happens. If I were a rich man, the worst I could do would be to disinherit him, but there is nothing that I can ever do to deny him. I can't because he is a part of me. Here, let's take a blood test. Let's match his blood with mine. It'll prove that Joseph is my son. He is mine. |
|
|
|
| |
| | |
| | |
| | |
|
|
|