This is a MOST interesting thing the Lord had written to the Church in Sardis. Please read this VERY carefully, for I will lay out for you the implications in what is written to that Church:
Revelation 3:3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
This could easily have been spoken to all seven churches, but it was chosen to be spoken to Sardis because of their deadness, or their lack of watching, and whatever other maladies from which they may have been suffering.
NOT WATCHING = the Lord will "come on thee as a thief" and "thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
WATCHING = the Lord will NOT "come on thee as a thief" and they therefore WILL know "what hour I will come upon thee."
The Lord, being the Author of logic and true reason, has given to us an "if, then" in what is written here.
So, not knowing the hour is predicated upon the lack of repentance and the lack of watching.
Leaving aside all the other topic(s) to which this may be attached, and just focusing on the words and the meaning, along with observing the ramifications of what this is saying, we glean how vastly important repentance and watching are in the life of each and every believer. Because this was spoken to a representation of a dead faith. This is something each and every believer should consider for its sobering warning AND the promises given, although not all the implications were addressed specifically, the Lord left room for filling in the rest with what is expressly written.
Your thoughts?
MM
Revelation 3:3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
This could easily have been spoken to all seven churches, but it was chosen to be spoken to Sardis because of their deadness, or their lack of watching, and whatever other maladies from which they may have been suffering.
NOT WATCHING = the Lord will "come on thee as a thief" and "thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
WATCHING = the Lord will NOT "come on thee as a thief" and they therefore WILL know "what hour I will come upon thee."
The Lord, being the Author of logic and true reason, has given to us an "if, then" in what is written here.
So, not knowing the hour is predicated upon the lack of repentance and the lack of watching.
Leaving aside all the other topic(s) to which this may be attached, and just focusing on the words and the meaning, along with observing the ramifications of what this is saying, we glean how vastly important repentance and watching are in the life of each and every believer. Because this was spoken to a representation of a dead faith. This is something each and every believer should consider for its sobering warning AND the promises given, although not all the implications were addressed specifically, the Lord left room for filling in the rest with what is expressly written.
Your thoughts?
MM