Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
Arizona Conference 2005. The Church at Thyatira, Part 5.
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Robert R. McLaughlin
Bible Ministries
Arizona Conference
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Even though these believers were growing spiritually and have made positive decisions consistently, TLJC still gives them a warning concerning falling away from God through idol worship or through an inordinate attachment or extreme devotion to something.
God will take stern measures to alert His children to their critical situation and to encourage them to rebound and reenter the PPOG.
Believers were advancing to spiritual maturity in spite of the distraction of the Phallic Cult.
God provides the means of dealing with any problem or difficulty that you could ever face in this life.
The promise is that “no temptation has overtaken you beyond what you are able” to bear,
1CO 10:13a.
Testing is designed to exercise and strengthen the believer’s spiritual muscles and for the believer to advance to spiritual maturity in any situation.
These believers in Thyatira were fulfilling the plan of God in spite of every possible distraction.
“Hold fast” – aor-act-imp – kratesate – krathvsate = to hold fast or to hang on.
Those believers who receive the order of the morning star are unknown in history in the Church-age but will be well-known and famous people of the Millennium.
The invisible heroes of the Church-age will become the visible heroes in the Millennial reign of Christ.
The rewards actually come at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
He had to enter a registered state gymnasium, analogous to living in the PPOG.
Every athlete went through identical training no matter what his event.
Only the disciplined believer living in the PPOG is qualified to compete in the angelic conflict.
Each winner in the national games received a crown of ivy leaves, which represented the rewards he would receive when he returned home (analogous to us receiving our escrow blessings when we go home to heaven).
He also had a special entrance cut into the wall of the city through which he passed when he returned.
A plaque was put up after the wall was sealed up again.
REV 3:12 The winner, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God. Furthermore, he will never again vanish [go outside] from history.
Also I will emblazon on him the title of My God, and the name of the city of My God [his pass to enter the eternal city, the New Jerusalem, a satellite city suspended above the earth in the atmosphere or in space], the new Jerusalem,
which shall descend from heaven from My God; also My new title [King of kings, Lord of lords, bright morning star].
1. The crown of righteousness.
2. The crown of life.
3. The incorruptible crown.
4. The crown of rejoicing.
5. The crown of glory.
Some will have the crown of righteousness for loving His appearing or being totally occupied with TLJC and producing divine good,
2TI 4:8.
Some will have the crown of life for enduring trials, heartaches, disasters and coming out glorifying the Lord,JAM 1:12,
REV 2:10.
JAM 1:12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
REV 2:10 “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
Some will have the incorruptible crown for mastering their OSN, 1CO 9:23-27.
Some will have the crown of rejoicing for being soul winners, 1TH 2:19.
1TH 2:19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?
PRO 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise wins souls.
DAN 12:3 “And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
Some will have the crown of glory for being willing to feed the flock of God, 1PE 5:4.
REV 3:11 “hang on to what you have, so that no one takes away your crown.”
2JO 1:8 Watch yourselves, that you might not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.
Those believers who receive the order of the morning star will also be involved in operation footstool, and our Lord’s triumphal procession.
Our Lord’s triumphal procession relates to His victory over two categories of His enemies, angelic and human.
In the Roman triumphal procession, the prisoners and the booty always came first. The spiritual analogy – the prisoners in our Lord’s triumphal procession include Satan and all the fallen angels.
Next in the procession comes the triumphant General, a council, a tribune, later on a ruler, a Caesar, our Lord Jesus Christ comes in the triumphal process.
Then follows the army, the Royal Family of God, Church-age believers in resurrection bodies, losers are just there, winners wear the order of the morning star on the uniform of glory.
In the triumphal procession of the Second Advent, all the demons who serve under Satan are disarmed for public exhibition, COL 2:15.
COL 2:15 And having disarmed demon archons, that is demon generals, and demon commissioned officers, He, Christ at the Second Advent, made a public display of them, having celebrated a triumphal procession over them, by means of it.
At the end of the triumphal procession, it always ended up in Rome, by the Mamertime Dungeon, and at the end the prisoners were put in the dungeons; sometimes they were executed.
Christ the first fruits, alpha company, after that, those who are Christ’s at His coming, bravo company, the Royal Family, the Rapture.
Christ takes the rulership of the world from Satan, gives it to God the Father, who in turn gives it back to Him, through a coronation.
This is the removal of all demons from planet earth, ZEC 13:2, COL 2:15.
The winners will be there in the triumphal procession wearing their decorations, the uniform of glory, the new knighthood, the crown of life, the order of the morning star.
The winner is also at the coronation of Christ, and the wedding supper,
REV 19:6-8.
These are the friends of the groom, JOH 3:29.
They will form a nucleus for the population explosion of the Millennium, they are the friends of the bride,
MAT 25:1-13.
For morning star winners the uniform of honor in time is exchanged at the Judgment Seat of Christ for the uniform of glory.
The fine linen is the ultimate righteousness, the resurrection body minus the old sin nature, of the saints, the Royal Family of God.
1. The bride, Church-age believers, winners and losers, but emphasis on the prominence belonging to the mature believer who holds the order of the morning star, and wears the uniform of glory at the wedding feast.
2. The friends of the groom, the Old Testament saints, with special emphasis on Moses and Elijah, who were martyrs in the Tribulation.
3. The friends of the bride, the Tribulational believers who are alive at the Second Advent.
The ultimate decoration is the order of the morning star,
REV 2:26-28.