Title: Podium and Faith
Contents
“I urge you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich” (Revelation 3:18).
1. Text commentary
The book of Revelation is a record of John's revelation of what will happen in the last days from Jesus, and in chapters 2 to 3, it contains Jesus' praise and rebuke of the seven churches in Asia Minor. By pointing out the spiritual situation of the seven churches, Jesus wanted to make known God's heart about the situation that all the churches on this earth might be in and God's way of raising them up again. Laodicea was a region famous for plasters, especially eye drops, and the church was quite rich and generous based on its special products. But their spiritual condition was not so.
2. True Wealth
They thought they were wealthy because they had a lot of material possessions, but in Jesus' eyes, they were actually poor, naked, and blind. Here we see two views of wealth. The first is wealth from a secular point of view. People think of wealth as having a lot of resources in the world, such as world power, knowledge, health, and relationships. So, how much of the resources in this world to own and enjoy has become the main concern of people. However, the resources of this world are finite, and with those finite resources, humans cannot solve the problem of fundamental suffering. The second is wealth from a religious point of view. Religious wealth refers to the joy of eternal life in a relationship with God. The ultimate reason humans suffer in this world is that the spiritual riches that come from their relationship with God are gone. So, even if you don't own anything in the world, those who truly have a lot of religious wealth will enjoy blessings that the world doesn't know and live serving God.
3. Two Kinds of Faith
4. Refinement and Faith
Then, on the road to sanctification of the believer, how does God fill the faith in the believer so that he can enjoy spiritual wealth?
1) Purity through refinement: “Gold refined by fire”
Gold refers to the glory or faith of God in the Bible. Since gold is an immutable metal, it has been used as the best metaphor for faith. However, the text speaks of gold as “gold refined by fire.” This shows that our faith is purified through refinement. There is always a mixture of trust in God and trust in ourselves. However, God wants pure faith with pure love for God, not faith mixed with foreign substances. But this pure faith is acquired through fiery trials. The ancestors of the faith who lived by keeping their faith took it for granted that they suffered hardships to keep their faith, which is more precious than gold. Therefore, the people who received much love from God were those who went through intense trials that others did not know.
2) Needs to struggle: “library”
It takes struggle for this to work. Of course, faith does not come in exchange for our sacrifices. However, the people who lived with pure faith were those who enjoyed constantly coming before the word of God to keep that faith and struggled to kill the sins within them. The world was trivial to them, but faith was more precious than gold, so to lose faith was to lose everything.
3) God alone is the source of faith: “from me”
Jesus also tells us to buy “from me” the gold refined by the fire. Because God alone is the source of our faith, the secret of all faith is in Christ. So, knowing the faith is the same as knowing Christ. We should not commit the sin of relying on ourselves for even a moment, and we should become people who depend on God alone. Even today, God wants us to become people who have pure faith and enjoy the wealth of true faith through fiery trials. 2004-07-11