To the Overcomer in Philadelphia
A Deeper Dive Into the Book of Revelation - Part 78
Guard Yourself
Here in His letter to the sixth church, with only one more letter to go, Jesus begins to speak of His soon coming. After the Philadelphia Church Age, there will be only one more age before Christ returns. The next church age of Laodicea will be the age of the end-time harvest. In this letter to the Philadelphia Church Age, Jesus is already beginning to prepare His Church for His return.
“I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one may rob you and deprive you of your crown.”—Revelation 3:11 (AMPC)
Jesus cautioned His people to guard themselves, knowing that “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).
Here Jesus alerts us to realize that it is possible for us to be tempted into sin that would rob us of eternal rewards.
It’s not how you start, but how you finish that counts.
It would be a great tragedy to follow the Lord faithfully for all of our lives and then become careless in our final years and allow temptation to rob us of our positions in the Kingdom of God and the priceless eternal rewards that God has prepared for us.
Sadly, this has happened to many of God’s children—even to some of the great leaders among God’s people.
Moses struck the rock in anger and lost his opportunity to enter the Promised Land.
Samson gave in to temptation and lost everything! He lost his sight. He lost his freedom, and he lost his life, dying too young after his moral failure.
Balaam, a true prophet of God, gave in to the temptation of greed and lost his position among God’s people. In the end, Balaam died a violent death at the hands of his own people (Numbers 31:8).
“Woe to them! For they have gone the [defiant] way of Cain, and for profit they have run headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of [mutinous] Korah.”—Jude 11 (AMP)
This caution is so important that Jesus reminds us of it more than once.
“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who stays awake and who keeps his clothes [that is, stays spiritually ready for the Lord’s return], so that he will not be naked—spiritually unprepared—and men will not see his shame.”—Revelation 16:15 (AMP)
“Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”—Revelation 22:7 (NKJV)
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.”—Revelation 22:12 (NIV)
“The one who is testifying to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon!’ Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”—Revelation 22:20 (ISV)
To the Overcomer in Philadelphia
“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.”—Revelation 3:12 (NKJV)
Jesus promises to make each overcomer a pillar in the temple of God. This does not mean that each overcomer will be turned into a stone pillar to support a physical building. The temple Jesus speaks of is not a physical building. He is looking forward to the age to come when He will rule and reign from the New Jerusalem on the New Earth. John tells us in Revelation 21 that there will be no physical temple in the New Jerusalem.
“I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all] and the Lamb are its temple.”—Revelation 21:22 (AMP)
In previous ages, God chose to “dwell between the cherubims” above the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies of the Jewish temple. But, since the time when the Jews of Jerusalem rejected Jesus, God abandoned their physical temple, and He has never lived in physical buildings since then.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who murders the prophets and stones [to death] those [messengers] who are sent to her [by God]! How often I wanted to gather your children together [around Me], as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Listen carefully: your house is being left to you desolate [completely abandoned by God and destitute of His protection]!”—Matthew 23:37-38 (AMP)
“The God who created the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands”—Acts 17:24 (AMP)
Now, in the Church Age, the Body of Christ is the temple in which God dwells. He lives in us!
“Do you not know and understand that you [the church] are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells [permanently] in you [collectively and individually]?”—1 Corinthians 3:16 (AMP)
“For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: ‘I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’”—2 Corinthians 6:16 (ISV)
So, rather than a stone pillar in a physical building, Jesus’ promise to make each overcomer a pillar in the temple of God is a promise of a high position of spiritual authority and responsibility in the heavenly priesthood.
These who qualify to become pillars in the temple of God are God’s answer to those counterfeit priests who serve in the “synagogue of Satan” mentioned earlier in this message to Philadelphia.
We see some of the Overcomers begin to enter into this priceless reward in Revelation chapter 7:
“These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”—Revelation 7:14-17 (NKJV)
Jesus reminds us again at the end of this message to Philadelphia that not everyone will hear or understand the Spirit’s message, but He calls out to those who can hear.
“The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”—Revelation 3:13 (NASB)
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