Required Changes
REVELATION Number 54
Required Changes
It seems to me that there is a triad of directives given by the Lord with regard to the changes churches must make.
REPENT
We find the call to repentance in:
Revelation 2:5 (NASB 2020)
“remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the deeds you did at first.”
Revelation 3:3 (NASB 2020)
“So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent.”
Revelation 2:16 (NASB 2020)
“Therefore repent.”
Revelation 2:21 (NASB 2020)
“I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality.”
In each case, the word repent comes from the Greek word μετανοέω (metanoio) meaning to change one’s mind.
As the saints of God, we can find ourselves becoming ineffective, lethargic, or distracted. We are called to change our minds and turn our focus to the Lord. We are called to cease viewing ourselves, others, and even our circumstances from a fleshly perspective and change our minds to view these things from a heavenly spiritual perspective.
Those whose faith is not in Christ Jesus are called to change their minds about the object of their faith. Turing their attention to the Lord Jesus. Looking to Him in faith that He is their hope of righteousness and acceptance by God.
HOLD ON
Revelation 2:10 (NASB 2020)
“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Be faithful until death.”
Revelation 2:25 (NASB 2020)
“what you have, hold firmly until I come.”
Revelation 3:11 (NASB 2020)
“hold firmly to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
None of us want to face death for our faith, but the fact is that it could come to that. For many in the world it already has. For more on that I would again refer you to “The Voice of the Martyrs.”
Holding firmly does not always involve being steadfast in the face of death. Our enemy roams around seeking to devour. He lies and deceives and comes looking like an angel of light. We are called to guard ourselves from false teaching that can lead us astray into the frustration and confusion of errant beliefs about our heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, or even ourselves and those around us. That’s why the Lord reminds us in these letters to hold on to what we have until He comes.
I want to pause here to think about the statement in Revelation 3:11 about someone taking your crown. Since Dr. Paul Ellis has done such a wonderful job with this, I’ll take the liberty of quoting him.
In his book entitled, “Letters from Jesus: Finding Good News in Christ’s Letters to the Churches” * he writes as follows.
“Some worry that if we don’t endure and hold fast we will lose our salvation, but that can’t happen. Just as we don’t merit salvation through our good deeds, we don’t lose it by our bad. But there is another kind of crown that can be lost and that crown is people. Paul said to the Thessalonians, “What is the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?” (1 Th. 2:19). The Thessalonians were Paul’s crown and glory, and it’s this sort of crown that Jesus is describing here.”
He continues, “If the church was bullied into silence, people wouldn’t hear the good news of Jesus, and the opportunity to win souls would slip through their fingers. Hence the Lord’s encouragement: “Hold fast to what you have (keep trusting in Jesus), so that no one will take your crown (those people who are your inheritance).”
Finally, the triad of required changes ends with this.
COME TO ME
Revelation 3:18–20 (NASB 2020)
“I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to apply to your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”
The Lord Jesus loves everyone in the world (see John 3:16) and having been lifted up, He draws all people to Himself (see John 12:32).
In Isaiah 55:1–3a the Prophet Isaiah said, “You there! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live.” (NASB 2020)
Revelation 21:6 shows us the end of this great prophecy, saying, “Then He said to me, ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give water to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life, without cost.’” (NASB 2020)
All who are connected with the fellowship of believers are called to come to the Lord Jesus in faith. As the Apostle John says in 1 John 1:3 “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (NASB 2020)
Come one, come all!
This leads us into our next segment—The Reward.
*Ellis, Paul. Letters from Jesus: Finding Good News in Christ’s Letters to the Churches (p. 160-161). KingsPress. Kindle Edition.
