“Good evening Rev Proctor, hope this text finds you and Sis Pat doing well. Need additional instruction on Rev 3:3. The commentary indicates this is a reference to His (Christ) unexpected coming to the unrepentant unredeemed dead church to inflict harm and destruction. The harm and destruction are where I need clarification…I found a short excerpt about the decline of the church at Ephesus but it isn’t very detailed.”
Bruce: The commentary is John MacArthur’s. The following is my response:
“Good morning…I read over Rev. 3:1-6 and couldn’t see the idea of Christ’s ‘unexpected coming to an unrepentant and unredeemed church to inflict harm and destruction.’ First, it was a local church which, like most churches today, have saved and unsaved members. Second, they were to “Wake up” from their spiritual slumber, recover from their spiritual weakness, and get back to completing the Lord’s work (vs. 2). Also, they needed to recover from spiritual amnesia probably regarding Bible knowledge and repent for neglecting and thus disobeying it. Christ’s unexpected coming will be to receive His saints at the rapture (1 Thess. 4:13-18), not to inflict harm and destruction. Faithful saints will be rewarded at that time (Rev. 3:4-5), but unfaithful will “suffer loss” of rewards (1 Cor. 3:15). I also consulted a few commentaries and concluded with that understanding. I hope that helps. Blessings!” “Regarding Ephesus, I have found no connection between the letter to Sardis (the spiritually dead church) and the one to Ephesus (the callous loveless church) in chapter 2:1-7, except that both churches represent aspects of the universal church at all times in every location on earth. What makes MacArthur’s view puzzling is that he believes in eternal salvation for all true believers in Christ and in the pretribulation rapture, yet he seems to imply that all church members in Sardis were lost and, rather than being raptured, Christ will come to ‘inflict harm and destruction’ on them. No other commentary I read share that view. Nor do I. Thanks for challenging me to give my ‘two cents.’” Applications: Do you sense that your heart toward Christ has become loveless and that you are in spiritual slumber due to not spending adequate personal time in God’s word. Let’s wake up (get spiritually conscientious), repent (change and improve our thinking), and revive our love for Christ. Praise Him because He will never stop loving us (Romans 8:38-39).
Blessings!
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