Sardis 17
Have you ever considered, really considered, how great and passionate the love of God for you really is? How great is the mission assigned to the angel over the church of Thyatira! He is the minister of God’s love to the church.
Jesus begins His discourse with Thyatira by revealing Himself as the One who has fire in His eyes and feet that glow like bronze in the fire. He uses these metaphors to describe His intense love and passion for His church – for you!
I used to think that this was a revelation of His fierce judgment, especially when considered in the light of the general opinion that the Book of Revelation is about His fierce anger towards the ungodly. Please note, the WHOLE book of Revelation is written to the CHURCH, His beloved saints, not the world. Also, Jesus came to save the world not to condemn it. He is coming back to bring salvation not destruction.
The apostle John, in his other letters, reveals God is love. Jesus, when He walked the earth demonstrated the LOVE of the Father towards humanity by healing, saving, delivering, raising the dead and ultimately offering Himself up for the sins of the world. His death and resurrection are the fulness of the Father’s love demonstrated through the forgiveness of our sins through blood of Jesus. He revealed the love and gentleness of the Father towards anyone that was willing to receive His love. Even in His fiery discourses with the religious leaders His intent was to get them to see the error of their thinking about God and humanity.
The fire in His eyes is His intense passion for you. He is jealous over you with a holy jealousy. You are His prized possession and the one for whom He has reserved unimaginable glory and honour. The angel over the church of Thyatira’s assignment is to minister the absolute, unwavering, eternal love of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the entire hosts of heaven toward you. This is a love that is beyond comprehension and the present understanding of the human mind.
But without the knowledge of His fiery, passionate love for you, expressed towards you through the complete and eternal forgiveness of your sin, you will continue to be tripped up by the enemy of your soul whom Jesus calls the “accuser of the brethren.” Satan, meaning accuser, needs to keep you convinced that you are in some way displeasing to God because of something you have or have not done. While you may have done something wrong this is not God’s focus, and neither is it something the angels that minister to you are concerned with. The power to overcome the accuser is not through thinking about what you have done wrong but on that which is eternally true concerning you – YOU ARE FORGIVEN!
Shifting your thoughts into the love that God has for you – not the love you have for Him – causes you to come into righteousness and holiness. Once you know His love for you, you will find your love for Him grow and increase. As this mutual love grows between you and the Lord, the accuser loses his grip on you and sin will begin to fade away and not be a temptation to you anymore. This is the victory that causes you to overcome, because true faith is rooted in and activated through the knowledge and experience of God’s love for you.
It is the same with the Lord’s feet. His feet represent His walk with you, wherever you may go. His fiery and passionate love for you will be with you always. Through His passionate love for you He will lead you and guide you into all the fulness and glory of the way of righteousness and cause you to walk in the paths of justice. This is the wisdom of God – His great and passionate love for you.
It is important to remember this because there will be things that confront you in your life that will require you to be rooted steadfastly in His love in order for you (and the church as a whole) to overcome the works of the devil. These satanic works Jesus reveals later in His beautiful Book that reveals His majesty. 😊
You are passionately loved! 💝
Yvonne
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