Lesson Seven • The Church at Philadelphia  Devotion 3: The Jersey

May 31, 2023 12:01 AM
 

John Rigg

 

“Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie - behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.” Revelation 3:9

 

When I was in High School, I loved participating in sports. Football was my favorite. For our home games, we always wore our dark jerseys and light jerseys for games away. Some years later as an adult, it came to my attention that the Dallas Cowboys chose to wear their away colors whenever possible because their win/loss record at home was poor. They apparently declared their darks unlucky. In fact, the Cowboys did not even wear their dark jerseys at all in 2010. I have never really been a Dallas Cowboy fan, so this just gives me a reason to continue that tradition.

 

Nevertheless, the point I would like to make in all this is that when playing sports, teams wear contrasting jersey colors so everyone can understand who is on whose team. 

 

I wish we could adopt this practice at church. 

 

As we approach the second coming of our Lord, it is getting harder and harder for believers and the world to tell who is a true follower of Christ and who is not. The different colored jersey method probably will never be adopted, but it would be nice if it were.

 

When reading the book of Revelation, we can surmise that the church at Philadelphia was having this same problem. For both the believer and non-believer, when the church gathered together, it was difficult to tell who were true followers of Jesus and who were not.

 

Revelation 3:9 says, “Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie - behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.” 

 

The Jews described in this verse were not God’s people inwardly, they were only Jews by birth. They had lied about being part of Christ’s church, only to be called out by Jesus as “synagogues of Satan.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary says this, “Assemblies that either worship false gods, or the true God in a false manner, are the synagogues of Satan.”

 

Unfortunately, because it was difficult to determine who is who, many were confused about what it meant to follow Jesus. This created great difficulty for the church and ultimately detoured many from coming to Him in faith and continues to be a problem in the church to this day.

 

This will not always be so. Jesus says, “…they will learn that I have loved you” (Revelation 3:9). 

 

Jesus encourages the church at Philadelphia (and you and me today) that there will be a day that those belonging to the “synagogue of Satan” will come to learn the reason why people come to Him. It is the same reason why every true believer comes to Christ. They come because of God’s great love for them (Romans 5:8).

 

One day, everyone will acknowledge that great love (Romans 14:11). It is the desire of our Lord that this becomes a reality for everyone on this side of Heaven (John 3:17-21).

 

Take a moment and honestly answer these questions:

 
  • Why do I gather at church?
  • Is it because of His great love for me, or for some other reason?
  • Am I a true follower of Christ, or does it just look like it?
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