{"id":5946,"date":"2014-10-23T10:50:05","date_gmt":"2014-10-23T17:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=5946"},"modified":"2014-10-22T10:54:57","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T17:54:57","slug":"encouragement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2014\/10\/23\/encouragement\/","title":{"rendered":"Encouragement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Write this to Philadelphia, to the Angel of the church. The Holy, the True\u2014David\u2019s key in his hand, opening doors no one can lock, locking doors no one can open\u2014speaks:<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI see what you\u2019ve done. Now see what I\u2019ve done. I\u2019ve opened a door before you that no one can slam shut. You don\u2019t have much strength, I know that; you used what you had to keep my Word. You didn\u2019t deny me when times were rough.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAnd watch as I take those who call themselves true believers but are nothing of the kind, pretenders whose true membership is in the club of Satan\u2014watch as I strip off their pretensions and they\u2019re forced to acknowledge it\u2019s you that I\u2019ve loved.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cBecause you kept my Word in passionate patience, I\u2019ll keep you safe in the time of testing that will be here soon, and all over the earth, every man, woman, and child put to the test.
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m on my way; I\u2019ll be there soon. Keep a tight grip on what you have so no one distracts you and steals your crown.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI\u2019ll make each conqueror a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, a permanent position of honor. Then I\u2019ll write names on you, the pillars: the Name of my God, the Name of God\u2019s City\u2014the new Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven\u2014and my new Name.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAre your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.\u201d (Revelation 3:7\u201313)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\tJesus\u2019 words to the church in Philadelphia were words of encouragement for the trouble they were facing. Jesus promised that he would keep them \u201csafe\u201d during the \u201ctime of testing.\u201d That is, they would remain with Jesus regardless of what happened; he would never leave them or forsake them, even in the darkest of times. The open door probably refers to the opportunity for evangelism that they had.<\/p>\n

\tThat God would \u201cwrite on them\u201d and that they would be \u201cpillars\u201d may be an allusion to the Maccabean Revolt. The great accomplishments of Simon Maccabeus during the revolt against the Greek ruler Antiochus Epiphanes were inscribed on tablets of brass that were attached to a conspicuous place in the Temple. For the people of Philadelphia their glory, their victory, was not in mighty deeds, but in bearing the name of God as citizens of the new Jerusalem, God\u2019s eternal kingdom.<\/p>\n

\tLife can be very difficult. But through everything, God never leaves us as grants us opportunities to share the Good News about the kingdom. And our names are forever written in his Book of Life.<\/p>\n

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Write this to Philadelphia, to the Angel of the church. The Holy, the True\u2014David\u2019s key in his hand, opening doors no one can lock, locking doors no one can open\u2014speaks: \u201cI see what you\u2019ve done. Now see what I\u2019ve done. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5946"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5948,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions\/5948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}