Peace and grace in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 3:16-17
3:16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
3:17 Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked--
The church of the Laodiceans portrays the church of the end of time. The church is lukewarm, which means that the people are rich and need nothing physically, but wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked spiritually. It happens because they are not willing to do services to God, or they come to the church but do not want to be filled with the true Word. They are like chaff which is about to be burnt and like vomit which is useless, disgusting, unclean and separated from God forever.
Revelation 3:18-19
3:18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
This is why God rebuked and counseled the church of the Laodiceans to get the heavenly treasures, as follows.
ad. 2. White garments so that the shame of nakedness may not be revealed.
Romans 3:23-25
3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
3:24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
3:25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
At the beginning, God created human as glorious as Him to be placed in the paradise. However, Adam and Eve committed sins and were naked, so that they were sent away from the paradise and lived in curse and big burden. Every one who commits sin, is naked, and will die forever and ever.
Everything from the world (intelligence, wealth, positions) cannot help sinful human. However, any one from the world (including priests, disciples, prophets, and teachers) cannot help sinful man.
The solution is Jesus had to leave the heaven and came to the world as the one and only Savior as the sinless man. Jesus died on the cross as the atonement offering to save us by His blood and to cover our nakedness. The result is we can live in righteousness and in peace (in Sabbath).
Isaiah 32:17
32:17 The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.
2 Corinthians 5:18
5:18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
If we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus and we can live in righteousness and peace, God will entrust us with the cloth of ministry (the white garment) and we become priests and kings.
In the Old Testament, everyone had to work for 6 days, and the Sabbath was on the seventh day.
In the New Testament, we have to have the Sabbath before we can minister God.
There are 3 kinds of Sabbath, as follows.
God blesses us.
Revelation 3:16-17
3:16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
3:17 Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked--
The church of the Laodiceans portrays the church of the end of time. The church is lukewarm, which means that the people are rich and need nothing physically, but wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked spiritually. It happens because they are not willing to do services to God, or they come to the church but do not want to be filled with the true Word. They are like chaff which is about to be burnt and like vomit which is useless, disgusting, unclean and separated from God forever.
Revelation 3:18-19
3:18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
This is why God rebuked and counseled the church of the Laodiceans to get the heavenly treasures, as follows.
- Gold refined in the fire.
- White garments so that the shame of nakedness may not be revealed.
- Eye salve to anoint the eyes.
ad. 2. White garments so that the shame of nakedness may not be revealed.
Romans 3:23-25
3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
3:24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
3:25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
At the beginning, God created human as glorious as Him to be placed in the paradise. However, Adam and Eve committed sins and were naked, so that they were sent away from the paradise and lived in curse and big burden. Every one who commits sin, is naked, and will die forever and ever.
Everything from the world (intelligence, wealth, positions) cannot help sinful human. However, any one from the world (including priests, disciples, prophets, and teachers) cannot help sinful man.
The solution is Jesus had to leave the heaven and came to the world as the one and only Savior as the sinless man. Jesus died on the cross as the atonement offering to save us by His blood and to cover our nakedness. The result is we can live in righteousness and in peace (in Sabbath).
Isaiah 32:17
32:17 The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.
2 Corinthians 5:18
5:18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
If we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus and we can live in righteousness and peace, God will entrust us with the cloth of ministry (the white garment) and we become priests and kings.
In the Old Testament, everyone had to work for 6 days, and the Sabbath was on the seventh day.
In the New Testament, we have to have the Sabbath before we can minister God.
There are 3 kinds of Sabbath, as follows.
- Small Sabbath: being fulfilled with the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 11:28-30
11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
11:30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
God invited the heavy burdened to get the small Sabbath, serenity, and peacefulness in the anointment of the Holy Spirit.
Why can we be heavy burdened? Because we commit sins until the peak of sins, which are the sins concerning eating-drinking (smoking, being drunk, being engaged in drugs) and the sins of marrying and giving in marriage.
If we are hard-hearted and keep sins although God has rebuked us through the Word, and we enjoy living in sins until our conscience is dead and we cannot be helped, we are cursed and dead forever.
To be set free from labor and heavy burden, we have to learn from Jesus on the cross. He is humble and gentle.
Jesus is humble; He confessed and took the burden of our sins although He did not do any sin. For us, humility is the ability to confess our sins to God (vertically) and to others (horizontally). If we are forgiven, we should not commit sin anymore. Jesus is gentle; He forgave our sins and forgot them. For us, gentleness is the ability to forgive and forget the sins of other people.
If we are humble and gentle, Jesus' blood will wash us from the sins and we will be set free, be peaceful in the anointment of the Holy Spirit. Everything will be easy and light in our marriage, ministry, and our life. If we are in peace, God can use us in the ministry, in the building of the body of Christ, until one day Israelites and Gentiles will be united as the perfect body of Christ.
If we minister without peace, we will only destroy the body of Christ. The example is Peter, when he ministered with anger and he cut Malchus' ear. It means that we will only scatter the body of Christ. Give thanks to God, after the Pentecost, Peter had peace from the anointment of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 3:6-7
3:6 Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."
3:7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Peter stretched his hands to help the lame man so that he was healed by the name of Jesus.
Be careful, Peter was a senior and great servant of God, but he served with anger. We also need to make sure that our heart is always in peace and do not keep sins until the peak of sins. - The big Sabbath, which is the Kingdom of a Thousand Years of Peace, the future paradise.
Revelation 20:6
20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
The inhabitants of the Kingdom of a Thousand Years of Peace are priests and kings.
A priest is a holy man, someone who ministers to God.
Aaron was a high priest and his sons were priests. Now, Jesus is our High Priest and we are priests.
Jesus' character as the High Priest is humility, as He sacrificed Himself and died on the cross.
Philippians 2:8
2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
The character of priests is humility until the flesh does not speak anymore, obedience, and faithfulness.
Matthew 7:21-23
7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
7:22 Manywill say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
7:23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
Obedience determines our success on earth, physically and spiritually, until we enter the everlasting kingdom of Heaven.
On the contrary, if we are not obedient, although men would consider us as a great man, God will not accept us and He will let us go.
John 21:3, 7
21:3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing."They said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.
21:7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea.
Peter was wonderful, but he was not obedient, and not faithful. He lost the white garment and he was in a total failure and nakedness.
However, Jesus gave Peter another chance to go back to the obedience and faithfulness which comes from the preaching of the Word, which is sharper than the two-edged sword.
John 21:5-6
21:5 Then Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any food?" They answered Him, "No."
21:6 And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.
When the Word shows our failure ("Children, have you any food?"), It is purifying our feeling so that we can repent and confess everything to God. When the Word is out of our logic ("Cast the net on the right side of the boat, ..."), It is purifying our logic so that we can have Jesus' thought and feeling.
The result is we can get 153 fishes.
The number 153 consists of 100, 50, and 3. The number 100 refers to the length of Tabernacle, the number 50 refers to the breadth of the Tabernacle, while the number 3 refers to the number of rooms in the Tabernacle.
It means that the obedient and faithful men will be used in the ministry to build the spiritual Tabernacle, which is the spiritual perfect body of Christ. God will nurture us in the middle of impossibilities in the world.
The ministry of the building of the perfect body of Christ is started from the marriage. A husband should be obedient and faithful to God, in the ministry, and to his wife as to himself. If a husband is not obedient and faithful, he does not love his wife, and he will fail. Wife should be obedient and faithful to God, in the ministry, and should obey her husband in everything. If a wife does not obey, she will fail. Children should be obedient and faithful to their parents. If husband, wife, and children are obedient and faithful, God's hand will help us. - The everlasting Sabbath, which is the New Jerusalem.
The requirement is that we have to be renewed from the carnal human to a spiritual one like Jesus.
Revelation 21:1
21:1Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
James 1:6-8
1:6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
1:7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
1:8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
There was no more sea means that there is no more doubtful heart. Do not be doubtful to Jesus or the righteous Word. We should stand firm on the true Word. Do not doubt God's power when we are facing the waves.
The consequence of being doubtful is not having the Sabbaths, we do not live in peace, but failure until we are drowned in the sins of Babylon.
Revelation 17:1, 15
17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,
17:15 Then he said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.
Matthew 14:29-32
14:29 So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
14:30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"
14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
14:32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
Peter is an example: He was the senior, he had done many wonderful things, but he was doubtful and was about to drown. When Peter was drowning, he stretched his hands to God and shouted His name. God stretched His hands to bring Peter up from drowning, and everything turned to peace. Peter had the Sabbath. God's hands solved everything and made everything beautiful.
Psalms 107:28-30
107:28 Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses.
107:29 He calms the storm, So that its waves are still.
107:30 Then they are glad because they are quiet; So He guides them to their desired haven.
John 21:18-19
21:18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish."
21:19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me."
The second time Peter stretched his hands and gave all of his life to God and shouted Jesus' name, not because he was about to drown, but because he loved God. God used Peter until the finish line.
God blesses us.