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                The book of Amos has one of those gotcha beginnings that should cause all of us to sit back and think about how we think.  Throughout chapter 1 of this book, God pronounces judgments on the peoples who live around Israel, peoples who had been a thorn in Israel’s side for years.  As the mortar shells fall on those camps, one can almost hear the people of the northern kingdom cheering God on, “That’s right God, hit ‘em where it hurts; they deserve it!”

 

                However, much like one of those military moments where the shells come closer and closer to their target, God’s blasts of judgment seem to spiral in toward the folks of Israel and Judah.  In chapter 2, when God pronounces judgments on Judah, one might think that a person in the northern kingdom would have been holding his or her breath, hoping that final shot would not be fired.  Then, BOOM, the purpose of the book of Amos is revealed.  God has exposed his fury against the surrounding peoples and their sin to magnify how incredibly worthy of his wrath are the people of the northern kingdom.

 

                Now, sitting on my couch with my laptop on my lap, why should I care about this opening salvo of the book of Amos?  Here is why: It is very easy to like it when people we see as bad people get what is coming to them.  It is very easy to breathe a sigh of relief or to even smirk at the troubles that befall people who just plain deserve it.  But, have we forgotten, we too have sinned before a holy God?  We too have failed to live up to his perfect standard.  We too have done more than enough to earn an eternity in hell by infinitely offending an infinitely holy God.  We doo still have enough sin in our lives that, were it not for the covering and cleansing blood of Jesus, we would be cast into hell to stay forever.

 

                Christians, why we should care about the beginning of the book of Amos is simple.  We should care to remember to be careful not to cheer at the destruction or downfall of those we dislike.  We should be reminded of the old adage, “But by the grace of God go we.”  This is not to say that we stop praying that God do justice or bring his kingdom—by no means.  It is, rather, to say that, when the wicked get what God rightly gives them, we should praise God for his justice and then fall on our knees and acknowledge that we deserve the same thing were God to give us what we have merited.  Let the judgment of God, when it falls, remind you that he has treated you with grace.  Let that humble you and not puff you up.  Be careful what you cheer for.

 

                Lord, I thank you that you have shown me your mercy.  I certainly could have never done anything to deserve it.  I know that your justice, your judgment, will fall on those who oppose you.  I rejoice in how much that displays your glory.  However, I also must tremble, remembering that I am worthy of your wrath.  Were it not for your grace in Christ, I too would be under your curse.  Thank you for grace.  I pray too that you will sovereignly spread your grace and mercy to others, that they too will come to Jesus and escape the wrath that they, no more than I, deserve.

 

Revelation 3:10

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.

It is always an interesting thing to have my daily Bible reading take me through the book of Revelation. While I do not often make a big deal of eschatological views, views of how the end of the world will come, I could not help thinking about this verse in Revelation 3 as it does or does not relate to a popular system of beliefs. I will preface by reminding readers that, though Christians will disagree on these points, this is a topic for thoughtful and prayerful consideration, but certainly not for division. We are all still giving this our best biblical guess here.

Pretribulation proponents, those who believe that Jesus will secretly return to snatch his church out of the world before a period of intense suffering at the end of the age, often cite Revelation 3:10 as a verse which supports their point. They say that Philadelphia is a model of the faithful church which will be raptured out of the world, hence the promise from Jesus to keep them from the hour of testing that is to come upon the whole world. John MacArthur, in his Revelation commentary, writes, “Because the believers in Philadelphia had successfully passed so many tests, Jesus promised to spare them from the ultimate test. The sweeping nature of that promise extends far beyond the Philadelphia congregation to encompass all faithful churches throughout history. This verse promises that the church will be delivered from the Tribulation, thus supporting a pretribulation Rapture.”1

But MacArthur’s view is not the only one posited by respected commentaries. The highly technical New International Greek Testament Commentary, after examining the language of Revelation 3:10 in light of several other passages, declares, “Accordingly, the following interpretative rendering is best here: ‘I will keep you safe from the spiritual harm of the coming tribulation period.’” Further arguing from the seeming similarities in the letters to other churches in Revelation 2-3, , this commentary declares, “If our assessment is correct that the letters of Smyrna and Philadelphia possess literary and conceptual parallels, then 3:10 does not refer to physical but spiritual protection of believers from tribulation because those in Smyrna were promised spiritual protection even though some might die in the tribulation.”3

So, what do we do? Here we have two well-respected commentaries saying totally opposite things. In my own opinion, the letters written to the seven churches are clearly real letters intended by God to encourage, challenge, or speak to real churches of that time. Thus, readers cannot assume that the letter to Philadelphia is any less than an affirmation to that church that God would keep them safe during a time of future persecution when the whole world around them was going through trouble. Times like that would have occurred more than once in the life of that church during the time of the Roman Empire, and any of those times would have been sufficient for that church to know that Jesus had kept his promise.

But what about the view that this is a far-reaching promise to span the centuries and to be an encouragement to the church universal? This reading is less obvious given the present context. Since such a reading of symbolic meaning is less obvious, it is inherent on the interpreter to bear the burden of proof for his case. I see nothing in the arguments of Dr. MacArthur, or of any other commentators thus far, which convinces me that they have successfully born that burden. The context of these letters gives us no indication that they are intended by God to tell a church some two thousand years later that she will not have to go through the persecutions presented by antichrist. The text just does not stand up to that reading unless the interpreter brings a great deal more to the table than is initially there.

Let us ask this question of the letter to the church at Philadelphia: “Who is to benefit from this letter?” If all we have is the position that this is a symbolic promise that the church will be raptured before the tribulation, then the church at Philadelphia is not benefitted from that promise. However, if the letter is specifically for Philadelphia, are we benefitted? In my judgment, the most clear understanding of what God is doing here is encouraging the church at Philadelphia in her very real and very present persecutions. God will protect the Philadelphia church through a looming persecution. At the same time, we can be encouraged, knowing that the God who did protect the Philadelphia church, even when the world around her was going crazy, will keep us in his care regardless of what is happening around us.

Is it totally unheard of to have God allow his people to remain in a world and somehow protect his people from the kinds of supernatural judgments that he is pouring out on that world? Of course not. One need only read the book of Exodus to see that God has, in times past, allowed his people to suffer at the hands of evil men, poured out his judgments on those evil men, and somehow supernaturally protected his people from that judgment while not removing his people from the land where the judgments are taking place.

Similarly, the church at Philadelphia went through some hard times. They certainly would have been surrounded by great persecution and trouble. God’s keeping that church through that time did not include him taking them out of that world. For Christ to keep his promise to the church at Philadelphia would have involved his protection of them, but not his snatching them away from the world in which they lived.

Finally, is this an important issue? Yes, though probably not as important as some would make it. Eschatology is a tough topic, and there are far too many good arguments out there as to how we are to interpret these prophetic books. What is important is that we remember that God is faithful, that he always keeps his promises, and that he will do what is right. Is it possible that his church will go through great persecution either at the hands of antichrist or at the hands of other evil men? Of course that is possible; Jesus even promised it. God also wants us to learn that , no matter what happens around us, he is still our God and will still keep his people. He will not lose us, no matter how hard the world tries to destroy us. We can be encouraged that Jesus’ words are true when he promises to be with us “always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And we can have that encouragement without reading extra symbolism into Jesus’ promises to the church at Philadelphia.

See also “A Rare Post on Eschatology”

1John MacArthur, Revelation 1-11 (Chicago: Moody, 1999), 124.

2G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 292.

3Ibid.

John 15:15

 

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

 

            Jesus makes a distinction between a slave or servant and a friend.  A slave does not get a great deal of information from his or her master.  The master tells you what to do, and you do not ask, “Exactly how does this fit into your plan?  What are you up to?”  No, if you are only  a servant, you may only obey blindly with no real insight into the heart or the desires or the plans of the master.

 

            Jesus says to his disciples that he has not treated them as slaves, because he has let them into his plans.  He has told them what he is up to.  HE has revealed to them everything that the Father has intended for them to know.  He has given them insight into the deepest truths in the universe.  He has filled them in on what God is doing.  And this filling them in is what makes them more than slaves, it makes them friends.

 

            Now, which would you rather be, a slave or a friend?  I think that is obvious, we want to be Jesus’ friends.  But let me ask you, do you really treasure the concept of being called Jesus’ friend?  Do you want to take advantage of the true joy that is available to you in being the friend of God?  If so, then you will take advantage of what makes you more than a slave.  What is that?  It is the revelation of God:  the Bible.

 

            Jesus says that his disciples are his friends because they are privy to the will of the Father.  You and I have the very same revelation available to us.  God has recorded for us his will, his plan, his purposes in his living and active word.  God has made us his friends by giving us insight into who he is and what he is doing.  And all that insight is contained in the Bible.

 

            Are you a Bible reader?  Are you a student of the Scriptures?  Do you love your Bible?  Do you make looking into the Bible a priority on a regular, a daily basis?  If so, you are taking advantage of what it means to be God’s friend.  But if you are neglecting your Bible, if you are not reading it, studying it, and loving it, you are not taking advantage of the wonderful gift that God has given in order to make you his friend.  If you want to be God’s friend, love and obey his word.

 

John 15:12-13

 

12     “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13     Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

 

            Jesus’ command is radical, but it is not new.  In chapter 14, verses 34 and 35, Jesus already clearly commanded his disciples to love one another.  But here he repeats it for us.  That tells me that this command is very much important to what Jesus wants us to do as Christians.  And, since he told us that this is his command immediately after telling us to obey his commands to abide in his love, this command is even more clearly important.

 

            Do you want to grow as a Christian?  Do you want to be fruitful as a Christian?  Do you want to abide in Jesus’ love as a Christian?  If so, you must obey his commands.  Jesus says that his command is this:  love one another.

 

            The problem with most believers is not that we do not know that Jesus has called us to love one another.  I’d suppose that none of you are surprised that Jesus called us to love one another.  None of you fell out of your chairs and hit the floor out of shock at the prospect that Jesus might actually tell his followers to love one another.  This is old faithful doctrine here.  But the problem that many of us has is that we do not know how to show love to one another.

 

            So Jesus gives his disciples, and all of us, a perfect example to follow if you want to know what it looks like to truly love another person.  Jesus tells us to love others as he has loved us.  Then he makes it clear.  No one ever shows any greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends. 

 

 

            What is Jesus driving at?  How does he define love?  What is different in the way that Jesus tells us to love and the way that the world around us describes love?  Let’s take those questions in reverse order.  What’s the difference in Jesus’ kind of love and the world around us? 

 

            The world around us thinks of love as a strongly felt emotion.  When people in the world describe being in love, they most often describe how another person makes them feel good.  They say things like, “She just makes me so happy; I can’t live without her; I can’t imagine how empty life would be without him by my side; or she completes me.”  Such an emotionally and selfish form of love is easy to fall into and out of simply based on our circumstances or our body chemistry.  The difference between this and what Jesus said is clear. 

 

            Jesus describes love as totally self-sacrificial.  He points to love as the kind of commitment to another’s good in which you are willing to sacrifice anything and everything for that other’s well-being.  Jesus describes love as a willingness to lay down your life, not simply feeling good about another person.  HE describes love as dying for others, and then he demonstrates it by laying down his own life for the sake of sinners.  Love may contain emotion, in fact it generally should, but love is far deeper, far more concrete than simply feeling happy when you are near someone. 

 

            What then is Jesus driving at?  Jesus is driving at an understanding of and acting out of love that is based on a commitment to the good of another.  He wants his disciples to live out love for one another.  He is not saying that we must always feel giddy when around each other.  He is, however, saying that we need to value one another so much that we are willing to give up our own lives for the sake of the good of our fellow disciples.

 

            And thus we see what it is that Jesus is calling us to.  He wants us to love one another as true friends.  He then shows us that loving one another as friends requires that we willingly sacrifice our own wants, our own comforts, our own desires, perhaps even our own lives for the sake of the good of others.

 

            Now, let me try to illustrate so that there is no confusion.  A wife allowing her husband to abuse her is not showing him love.  Though she may be sacrificing her happiness and safety, she is not doing him good.  In fact, a wife who allows her husband to abuse her is harming him as she is allowing him to sin against God.  However, a wife who stays at her husband’s side for years as he battles cancer is showing love.  She may have desires and goals and ambitions that she puts on hold, but she lays them aside for his good, for his comfort, for his security. 

 

            Do you see the difference?  Love is self-sacrificial, but always for the good of another.  And we must think in long-term, spiritual good.  Loving parents discipline their children.  Loving friends sometimes say no to their friends.  But we never act selfishly toward someone we are loving.  We give our all for their good.

 

            So, do you want to live in fellowship with Jesus?  Do you want to abide in his love?  Learn how to show true love for other believers.  Learn to love sacrificially just like Jesus.

John 14:1a

 

“Let not your hearts be troubled.”

 

            Many of us go through days, weeks, or even months of heavy, burdened, grieving, troubled hearts.  Many of us look at our circumstances, and we find ourselves looking toward the hard, the negative, the impossible. 

 

            Here in John 14:1, Jesus’ followers are dealing with troubled hearts.  Jesus has just told them that he was going away, that he would be betrayed, and that they would be involved in that betrayal.  They are heartsick.  And even though Jesus is about to be betrayed, he shows his disciples a love that few of us have ever seen or ever matched.  Jesus shows them compassion, great compassion. 

 

            Remember Jesus’ circumstances, and perhaps you will see why it is that I say he was so kind, so loving, so wonderful, so compassionate.  Back in verse 31 of chapter 13, John tells us that Jesus was troubled in his spirit.  That word, troubled, is a word that indicates that he was deeply emotionally shaken.  Jesus trembled.  He groaned.  He was racked with grief, with sorrow, with anguish.  Jesus was emotionally broken in the deepest part of his heart.  Yet, within just a few minutes, Jesus is the one saying to his disciples, “Guys, don’t be troubled.”  At the moment when his disciples should have been comforting Jesus, he offers them the words of comfort that they need.

 

            Have you ever tried to tell someone about your troubles only to have them try to trump your bad day with their own?  You hate that don’t you?  Doesn’t that make you want to say to them, “Hey, I’m trying to tell you about my problems here.  Don’t make this about you; not now.  I need help.  I don’t need you to show me that you think you have it bad too.”

 

            Jesus was so loving.  He was the hurting one.  He was the one facing the betrayal of a close friend.  He was the one facing the scourge of the Roman whips.  He was the one facing the mockery of 6 false trials.  He was the one facing the cross.  He was the one facing the wrath of Almighty God for sins he never committed.  He was the one who faced death itself.  Yet Jesus also was the one who, when his disciples showed that they were troubled, reached out to comfort them.  What an amazing Savior is our Lord Jesus.

 

            Do you have troubles?  Do you have sorrows?  Do you have pain?  Remember the compassion of Jesus.  He is not aloof to you.  Jesus is not telling you just to suck it up and press on.  Jesus is not telling you, “Hey, you think you’ve got problems, let me tell you about mine.”  No, Jesus is not like that.  HE is gentle, loving, and compassionate.  He cares.  And he would look you right in the eye, and he would say to you, “Let not your heart be troubled.”  Friends, see the compassion and the love in your Lord Jesus, and let that compassion help to overcome your troubled heart.

 

Daniel 6:4-5

 

4     Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. 5     Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”

 

O that we would be people that the world would see in this way.  O that Christians would be people that the world would say, “We can’t find anything to accuse them of other than being faithful to their God.”  How must we change to make this reality?