3:11
“I am coming soon”. Now this was two thousand years ago, so the return of Christ may not be what is envisaged here. It might mean that Christ will intervene soon. Both the Second Coming return, and Christ’s intervention are relevant. We should live our lives knowing that Christ will return, and return as Lord of All. Everything else, including whatever trials we may be going through, are temporal. We should also know that God does intervene in circumstances, and no earthly power lasts forever. The Lord is not a distant God! This is why we are commanded to endure patiently. “So that no one will take your crown”. There is a great reward for those who endure patiently, and we need to have a clear view of that reward.
3:12,13
“The one who is victorious”. Note that this is speaking about us! We rightly think a lot of Christ as the victor, and, of course, He is. But we too can be victorious. We will be made pillars in God’s temple. This is clearly metaphorical language. The Jews sought to claim that the Gentiles had no part in God’s kingdom. The truth is that they were essential elements in it! “Never again will they leave it.” The Gentiles had been excluded (Eph 2:12), but this would never happen again. If man had never sinned, they would never have been excluded. But through sin they were excluded. The nation of Israel was created out of the grace of God, and we are brought in by the grace of God.
“I will write on them ...” This is stressing further that they are indelibly part of God’s people. We belong to God, we belong to Christ, we are part of the New Jerusalem. As always, we are urged to pay close attention to this.
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