Salvation Summaries

I am going through each book in the New Testament (again) and writing bullet point comments about how a person becomes a Christian and how a Christian should live.  The following notes are from Revelation.

Summary

A person becomes a Christian when they fear God, repent, and “come to Jesus” to invite Him into their life. Jesus’ letter to the Laodicean church in Revelation 3:14-22 is a good illustration of  Jesus’ desire and patience for people to become saved, and what a person must do in order to become a believer and have fellowship with Him.

Revelation contains very little information on how a Christian should live.

How a person is saved (and other verses relating to salvation)

• Fear God (those who fear God’s name are saved, Rev 11:18)
• Repent (Rev 15:9)
• “Come to Jesus” and invite Him in to your life
  • Revelation 3:14-22 is a good illustration (though Calvinists may disagree) of Jesus’ desire that the people within the Laodicean church – and by extension anyone and everyone – come to Him to be saved. In it He stands at the door of the church and knocks, He calls out to the people in the church, and patiently waits for someone to repent of their sins, come to Him and invite Him into their life (by opening the door and inviting Him in).  When that happens, Jesus dines with that person, or has fellowship with him/her. The illustration does not mention the words salvation, believe or faith, but these are implied in the person’s decision to invite Jesus in. For more details on this salvation allegory, please see the end of this post.
• In the end times, an angel will preach the eternal gospel to those who are on earth. Part of the gospel he preaches includes a command and a warning:
  • Command: “Fear God and give Him glory; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.” (Rev 13:7)
  • Warning: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God…and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone. The smoke of their torment goes up forever; they have no rest day and night.” (Rev 14:9-11)

Characteristics of a non-Christian

• Name is not written in the Lamb’s book of life (Rev 17:8)
• Has not repented
• In the end times, it appears that non-Christians will be regularly committing acts of immorality and sensuality (Rev 18:3)
• Unbelievers, those who commit abominable acts, the immoral, murderers, sorcerers, idolaters and liars will experience the second death (Rev 21:8)

Characteristics of a Christian

• Name is written in the Lamb’s book of life (Rev 13:8)
• Fears God (Rev 11:8)
• Has repented, which gives God glory (Rev 15:9)
• Will not be hurt by, or does not need to be afraid of, the second death (Rev 2:11)
• Perseveres; will keep the faith and God’s commandments (Rev 14:12)

Who God is and what He is like

• Who is, who was, and who is to come (Rev 1:4)
• Alpha and Omega (Rev 1:8)
• the Almighty (Rev 1:8, 4:8)
• Holy (Rev 4:8)
• Lord (Rev 4:11)
• Worthy (Rev 4:11)
• Created all things (Rev 4:11)
• Salvation belongs to God the Father and Jesus (Rev 7:10)
• Worshiped in heaven by the 24 elders (Rev 11:16)
• Judges the dead (Rev 11:18); rewards His bond-servants (prophets and saints and those who fear His name) (Rev 11:18)
• Great and marvelous are His works, righteous and true are His ways, He alone is holy (Rev 15:3-4)
• Lives forever and ever (Rev 15:7)
• Executes His wrath on the earth in the end times (Rev 15 – 16)
• Sovereign (Rev 17:17)
• Salvation, glory and power belong to Him (Rev 19:1)
• Will dwell with His people after He creates a new heaven and new earth, where there will be no more mourning, crying or pain (Rev 21:1-4)

Who Jesus is and what He is like

• The faithful witness (Rev 1:5)
• Firstborn from the dead (Rev 1:5)
• Rule of the kings of the earth (Rev 1:5)
• Loves us (Christians?) (Rev 1:5)
• Freed us/Christians from sin by His blood (Rev 1:5)
• Will return in plain eyesight (Rev 1:7)
• The First and the Last; the Living One (Rev 1:17, 18; 2:8)
• Holds the keys of death and Hades (Rev 1:18)
• Gives others (believers) the right to eat from the tree of life (Rev 2:7), the crown of life (Rev 2:10), hidden manna (Rev 2:17)
• Died and came to life again (Rev 2:8)
• Eyes are like blazing fire; feet are like burnished bronze (Rev 2:18)
• Searches hearts and minds (Rev 2:23)
• Received authority from the Father (Rev 2:27)
• The Amen (Rev 3:14)
  • Commentator Warren Wiersbe says Amen is an OT title for God (Isaiah 65:16)
• The faithful and true witness (Rev 3:14)
• The ruler of God’s creation (Rev 3:14)
• Lion (Rev 5:5)
• Root of David (Rev 5:5)
• Lamb (Rev 5:6) who was slain (Rev 5:12)
• Worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing (Rev 5:12)
• Salvation belongs to God the Father and Jesus (Rev 7:10)
• The Alpha and Omega (Rev 22:12)
• The bright morning star (Rev 22:16)

Satan

• Exists; is real
• Called the dragon and serpent of old (Rev 12:9)
• In John’s day he was allowed to influence others to put some Christians in prison to test their faith (Rev 2:10)
• Has a throne (Rev 2:13)
• He and his angels (demons) were thrown out of heaven to earth (Rev 12:9)
• Deceives the whole world (Rev 12:9)
• Is at war with those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus; thus, the saved (Rev 12:17)
• In the end times, many people will worship Satan and the beast (anti-christ) who blasphemes God and those who dwell in heaven with Him (Rev 13:1-6).
  • all who are not believers will worship him (Rev 13)
• Will be bound for 1,000 years (Rev 20:2), and then tormented day and night forever (Rev 20:10)

Laodicean Church

• The Laodicean church is representative of many of our churches, and the people in them, today. We would do well to heed what Jesus says to this church.

Revelation 3:14-22 14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm– neither hot nor cold– I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

• Let me preface my comments about the Laodicean church with a gentle critique of Calvinism, a view I previously held.
  • In my line of work, models (formulas) are used to describe how the stock market works, or how the market prices stocks. The models work well overall, but are not perfect. Many investors “hold” to these models as “gospel,” and invest according to them. When the market behaves differently from these models, they downplay that instance or seek to find a way to explain away why the model is not working. Other investors disagree with these models to various degrees – as they view them as having flaws – and thus invest according to their own model. There are periods when their own models do not work, and it is then their turn to try to find an excuse as to why.
  • The same thing takes place by certain Christians in their interpretation of Bible verses that relate to salvation. Calvinists have a model (TULIP), Arminians do too (FACTS), and Catholics have their own method of interpretation (rely upon church fathers, popes and church teachings). When certain verses seem to go against each one’s model (or method), what do they do? They are forced to interpret those verses in a way that “fits” with their model, even when a plain reading of the text – along with a reference to other relevant texts – may yield a different conclusion. The danger of this is that it sets the model (and thus the founder of the model) above scripture. I see this more often with Calvinists than Arminians, and in the case of Revelation 3:20-22, it applies to Calvinists.

Summary

• Revelation 3:20-22 is an important letter all Christians should know, for it is an allegory that illustrates
  • 1) the problem found in most American churches today, and
  • 2) Jesus’ desire and patience for His people to become saved and enjoy fellowship with Him.
• This allegory goes against the “I” or irresistible grace element of the Calvinist model, for the unbelievers in the Laodicean church must do something in order to be saved. Their salvation is conditioned upon “coming to Jesus;”  those that do not do will remain unsaved.

Details

• The Laodiceans were a lot like the people in our churches today.
  • They were wealthy (which is a relative term, and relative to many people in third world countries, we all are wealthy),
  • They had achieved a certain amount of prosperity (based upon our standard of living relative to that of others in third world countries, we are prosperous too)
  • They felt they didn’t really need Jesus (if all of your needs appear to be met, then why do you need Him?).
• The Laodiceans were not saved.
  • Jesus describes them as wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. These terms are not typically used in the Bible to describe Christians.
    • Some may believe that the phrase “those whom I love I rebuke and discipline” refers to Jesus’ relationship with believers, and thus the people within the church must be saved.  However, God loves all of His creation (John 3:16), not just believers. Also, this phrase has to be weighed against the very clear phrase about how Jesus describes the people in the church and against the comments below.  Collectively, these show that the people were not saved.
  • They are not “clothed” (Christians are clothed per Galatians 3:27).
  • Jesus is outside of the church and all of those who are in it.
• The door that Jesus knocked on can be viewed as the door of the Laodicean church, but it is also a metaphor for the door of a person’s heart.
• Jesus’ knocking on the door, and His calling too, are metaphors for the means by which Jesus gets the attention of unbelievers (in that church and by extension to everyone today). Today, we would equate these actions with the Bible (reading or hearing it), church sermons (in church and on the radio), witnessing done by Evangelical Christians, etc…
• That Jesus continued to knock, and likely continued to call, shows His perseverance and patience with non-believers in turning to and coming to Him for salvation.
•  Only after a person opens the door and invites Jesus in can he/she have fellowship (dine with) Him.
• “To him who overcomes” refers to a person who has become saved. The call to salvation is thus open to anyone.