The Enduring Church (Philadelphia)
Notes
Transcript
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
B: Rev 3:7-13
N: Laser pointer
Welcome
Welcome
I know that Joe already did this at the beginning of the service, but again, welcome to this time of worship together. I’m Bill Connors, senior pastor of the family of God at Eastern Hills, and if today is your first time with this beautiful group of people, either here in person or online, thank you for spending time with us this morning.
We would really like to be able to thank you for being here in other ways as well, so if you would, please grab one of the communication cards that you’ll find in the back of the pew in front of you, and you can just fill that out during the service and drop it in the offering boxes by the doors as you leave. If you’d rather complete a digital card, you can text the word WELCOME to 505-339-2004, and you’ll get a text back with a link to our digital communication card. You can text that number whether you’re here in the room today or joining us online. If you are in the room this morning, I’d like to meet you briefly and give you a small thank you gift following the service, so please plan to come down and say hello later on.
Announcements
Announcements
Just a reminder that today is our Independence Day Church Picnic immediately following service! Plan to stay, enjoy some hot dogs, and build relationships old and new.
Women’s Ministry event coming up: Christmas in July on 7/22
World Hunger/Disaster Relief Special offering focus begins today, through July. Goal is $6,000
Opening
Opening
We are in week 6 of our series on the messages to the seven churches of Revelation 2-3, and this morning, we come to the church of Philadelphia. This was the youngest of the seven cities addressed in these messages, having been founded sometime in the middle of the second century BC by Attalus Philadelphus, the younger brother of Eumenes II, King of Pergamum. Attalus was given that designation because of the love that he had for his older brother, and the city he founded was named after him: The city of “brotherly love.”
Keeping track of the path that the messenger who carried the letter of the apocalypse would have taken, we see on our MAP that Philadelphia at about 30 or so miles east-southeast of Sardis, whose church we looked at last week as The Worldly Church. Philadelphia was known as “the gateway to the east,” and was a critical military and agricultural center, mostly known for its productive grape industry due to its volcanic soil. However, those volcanoes also made the area prone to earthquakes, and in 17 AD, both Sardis and Philadelphia were virtually destroyed by one. However, both were rebuilt through the assistance of the Roman government, and were bustling again at the time of John’s writing.
So let’s read the message to the church of Philadelphia, which I am referring to as The Enduring Church:
7 “Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one, the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens: 8 I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 Note this: I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth. 11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown. 12 “The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God—the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God—and my new name. 13 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
PRAYER (Iglesia Bautista Rosa de Saron, Santa Fe)
I’ve been working kind of hard this year at getting into better physical shape (maybe not as hard as I could, but way harder than I was). I go to the gym usually 3 times a week, where I run on the treadmill followed by lifting weights. I have to admit… lots of days I just don’t want to do it. I have to get up early. I have to take the time to go. I have to do two things that I don’t very much enjoy: run and lift weights. I mean, both of those things are hard.
My doctor told me that I needed to make some changes because of my weight, my cholesterol, and my blood pressure, so that’s why I started. And at first, it was rough. I didn’t really have a plan. I did the elliptical machine at first because my knees were kinda tender. Lifting made me miserable and sore. But I endured. I kept going, even when my workout buddies couldn’t make it. I found an app that helped me have a plan and keep track of my workouts. I decided that I was going to go if possible, even when I didn’t want to go (which is still sometimes often). Endurance has its rewards.
The truth is that I feel better when I’m working out, and not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. I’m in a better mood. I feel like I think more clearly, and my back, shoulders, and knees don’t hurt as much. And when I need to do something physical in life, the fact that I’ve been working out makes that a lot easier than it was a year ago. And my blood pressure is better, my heart rate is better, my cholesterol is better… I’m not bragging, please understand. I’m just saying that endurance in doing what’s right has its benefits.
Endurance is a simple concept. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines it as:
Endure: To last; to continue in the same state without perishing; to remain; to abide.
It means to just keep going, especially in the face of difficulty or opposition. But endurance is a choice that we make. We decide not to quit or give up. And there is no area of our lives where that is more important than in our walk with Christ.
The church of Philadelphia are held out as an example in this regard. They are commended for their endurance by the Lord, and there was good reason to commend them. This is why I am referring to them as The Enduring Church in this series.
Our outline will be basically the same as the outline for the church at Smyrna, with one major exception.
1: Christ (v 7)
1: Christ (v 7)
As we have seen with the rest of the messages to these churches, the formula for the opening address is that Jesus identifies whom he writing to, and then gives a self-identification that has some meaning for the church. This is the most obscure of the self-identifications that Jesus gives of himself out of the seven messages.
7 “Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one, the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens:
Remember that I addressed my take on the “angels of the churches” question in our first message in this series. Jesus gives Himself three titles in His self-designation: 1) the Holy One, 2) the true one, and 3) the one who has the key of David. Being “holy” and “true” is something that the Lord is referred to later on in Revelation, by the martyrs of the Christian faith, in chapter 6:
10 They cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”
For Jesus to be the Holy One is a clear reference to Him being God Almighty. God’s holiness is His complete moral perfection, His complete separation from sinful action or motive. In the Old Testament, God is referred to as the Holy One several times: in 2 Kings 19:22, Psalms 71:22, Proverbs 9:10; Habakkuk 3:3; and Isaiah 43:15:
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.
...Just to name a few of the 48 times He is given this designation in the Old Testament.
For Jesus to be the “true one” means that He is real and faithful: that He is both who He says that He is and that He will do what He says that He will do. We saw a great passage including this title in our recent study of 1 John:
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one. We are in the true one—that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Jesus also says that He is “the one who has the key of David.” This is a clear reference to a figure who was a preview or what is called in literature a “type” of Christ: Eliakim in the book of Isaiah. In chapter 22, we read of Eliakim:
22 I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.
The key of the house of David in this instance meant to be in charge of who had access to the king, as Eliakim was the steward for Hezekiah, and was manager of the nation of Israel for a time. The key of David in Revelation has the same idea: Christ is in charge of access to the Kingdom of God, and thus to God Himself, since no one comes to the Father but through Him according to John 14. Jesus’ authority in this regard is complete: If someone comes to God through faith in Christ, that door is permanently open, and cannot be shut. If someone refuses Jesus and instead trusts in some other means of salvation, then that door is shut, and no amount of force will open it.
In the context of the Philadelphian church, this likely rang an additional hopeful note for them as well. As we will see in a moment, Philadelphia must have had a sizeable and powerful Jewish community, and certainly by this point the Christian Jews of Philadelphia would have been excommunicated from the synagogue, declared to be outside of the people of God. But the authority in such matters is Christ’s, not the Jews’. Since they belong to Him, the judgment of the Jews is immaterial—the Holy and true One who holds the key of David provides access to God, not the synagogue and its leaders. What a message of hope for this small, persecuted church!
And it is a message of hope for us as well. It is through Jesus alone that we come to the Father, and as it says in Acts 4:
12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”
Jesus died to cover our sins so that we could have access to eternal life with God. He paid the price that we owed. And He defeated death by rising again, so that if we will but trust in His work for our forgiveness, we will receive eternal life with Him. He is the Holy One, the true one, and the one who holds the key of David.
2: Commendation (v 8-9)
2: Commendation (v 8-9)
The churches at Philadelphia and Smyrna are the only two of the seven who do not receive a condemnation. In the instance of the Philadelphians, the commendation includes a promise directly related to the self-identification of Jesus given in verse 7:
8 I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Again, Jesus says that He knows the works of the church. He knows who they really are and what they really do. He sees and understands their situation and their hearts.
Therefore, He has placed before them an “open door that no one can close” because of His authority as seen in verse 7. This imagery of an open door could be related to the Philadelphian problem with earthquakes. Writings from the time tell of the fact that the walls of buildings Philadelphia were constantly full of cracks, and that the shifting ground caused homes to be insecure. As a result, following a major tremors, Philadelphians would abandon their homes for a time and live in outside the city. So their access was removed (at least for a time), and they had no power, authority, or influence to change their situation.
The picture of the open door as access to the Kingdom of God appears immediately after the final letter of the seven, in Revelation 4:1:
1 After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
So this door for the Philadelphians could mean that since Jesus has given them permanent access to the Kingdom, it doesn’t matter how strong or influential they are: its their faithfulness that matters as evidence of their belonging in the Kingdom—the fact that they have kept His word and not denied His name (basically the same thing said twice, once positively and once negatively).
This is a contrast between the church in Philadelphia and the church at Sardis, which we looked at last week. The Philadelphians had remembered why they were there, had kept the word of the Lord and been faithful to His name. The Sardians, who didn’t seem to be facing any particularly harsh persecution, had strayed so far from what they were supposed to be that they were all but dead. Their cure had been:
3 Remember, then, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent. If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come upon you.
This shows us that it doesn’t matter how big a church is or how powerful and influential its people are. What matters is how big God is, and the faithfulness of the church to their testimony that determines whether the church will be a “successful” church in God’s economy. The church in Philadelphia obviously was such a church. And it should be our goal to be such a church: focused on being faithful to the calling and gifting that God has given us for His glory, actively sharing the hope of the Gospel as we have opportunity, and boldly proclaiming the name of Jesus where we find ourselves.
For the church at Philadelphia, they received an incredible promise regarding those in the synagogue who had given them such a hard time:
9 Note this: I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.
As I mentioned earlier, Philadelphia must have had a sizeable and powerful Hebrew community. But the people of the synagogue in Philadelphia, who claimed to be the people of God, were actually the agents of Satan, just as they were in the city of the other uncondemned church, Smyrna:
9 I know your affliction and poverty, but you are rich. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
These two Jewish communities were given nearly the exact same title and description. The only major difference is that in chapter 3, the Lord adds, “but are lying...” The Jews claimed to be the people of God, but they didn’t act the part. The fruit that their lives bore in the first century was rotten, especially in regards to Christianity. They claimed to know God, but they didn’t. 1 John 2:4 would condemn them:
4 The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
It turns out that this promise that the Lord makes to the church in Philadelphia about the Jews being made to come and bow at the feet of the church is a reversal of something promised to the Jews in the Old Testament. In the book of Isaiah, we find the promises made to the Jews that their enemies, particularly the Gentiles, would come and bow down before them.
14 The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you; all who reviled you will fall facedown at your feet. They will call you the City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
This promise was repeated in Isaiah 45 and 49. But now in Philadelphia, instead of those who were outside the Hebrew faith coming and bowing down to the Jews, the Philadelphian Jews would be made to come and bow in submission before this small, seemingly insignificant family of Christian believers. And when that happens, their enemies will know that the Lord loves His followers, just as He had said about the Jews in Isaiah 43:
3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior. I have given Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place. 4 Because you are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you, I will give people in exchange for you and nations instead of your life.
We live in a post-Christian day and age. Things that used to be taken for granted: the idea of a fixed standard of “moral” behavior, a kind of generalized societal agreement on that standard, and the expectation to at least act like you followed the standard have all faded. The general concept of the United States as a “Christian” nation has been eroded away, which has given way to the cultural idea that any suggestion of morality that doesn’t adhere to modern convention must be rejected as oppressive, bigoted, or worse.
But beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, we must take heart! There will come a day when all will be made right, and the truth will be made clear to the entire world, and the whole of humanity will realize the lordship, power, and authority of Jesus. It WILL happen someday:
9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
So how are we to live in the meantime? The fascinating thing is that we are simply called, whether we have much authority or little, to walk in holiness ourselves, living honorable, godly lives, so that those who do not believe would see the difference in our lives and ultimately acknowledge that it has been God who has led us.
11 Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. 12 Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.
We do not know how or if this promise to the church at Philadelphia occurred. Either it will occur at the end of time, or it already has and we have no surviving record of it. Either way, this is not the end of the promises made to this church.
3: Consolation (v 10-11)
3: Consolation (v 10-11)
This is an addition to the outline that we’ve been basically using throughout this series. This is because there are seven promises made to this church, so Philadelphia needed a special point to cover some of them, because they didn’t all fit with commendation or challenge. They, and so by extension, we are promised a consolation that we are still waiting to see fulfilled:
10 Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
Endurance was the defining characteristic of the church of Philadelphia. They had held on, and were going to keep holding on. They had lived out the type of endurance that Jesus referenced in the parable of the soils in Luke 8:
15 But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.
The Philadelphians had “kept” the command of Jesus to endure, and as a result, Jesus also promised to “keep” them from the hour of testing that was coming on the earth. This is the same term in the original language, meaning “protected, held onto,” and as such, it creates a kind of comparison between the action of the enduring church: that as they protected and held onto His command, so He would protect and hold onto them when the time came.
But what time was coming? For the church at Philadelphia, who always faced the threat of earthquakes, they knew what it was to have their entire world shaken. They understood the fear and intensity of a cataclysmic event. They had certainly not been immune to the tremors when they occurred, so this promise certainly spoke to them in that regard. However, this was not merely the suggestion that they would experience safety from another earthquake, because Jesus says that it is an “hour of testing” that was going to “come on the whole world” in order to “test those who live on the earth.” While they would have certainly had the picture of an earthquake, this was indeed something more. This is the end times tribulation.
The Scriptures tell us that there will come a time when God is going to bring the full force of His wrath upon the world because of sin, and that time will be incredibly difficult for all who are on the planet. Two passages that give evidence of this are Daniel 12:1-2 and Matthew 24:21-22:
1 At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time. But at that time all your people who are found written in the book will escape. 2 Many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to disgrace and eternal contempt.
21 For at that time there will be great distress, the kind that hasn’t taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again. 22 Unless those days were cut short, no one would be saved. But those days will be cut short because of the elect.
For more on the Tribulation, look at 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, as well as Revelation 5-7. Our purpose today isn’t to do a full explanation of the Tribulation, but to understand this particular promise to the church. What does Jesus promise the Philadelphians, and thus us, regarding the Tribulation in this passage? I know that this is a very intense subject for many, but this is not a first-order doctrine. Since we’re not mining the depths of this today, I’m going to give you my understanding from Scripture, and I’m totally fine if you differ from me, as long as you have a biblically-informed perspective.
There are two terms we need to consider: 1) What does Jesus mean that this is going to come on the “whole world?” and 2) What does Jesus mean that it will be “to test those who live on the earth?”
The first one is the easiest to deal with, in my opinion. The whole world is the whole world. Everyone who is on the planet will be impacted by the occurrences of the Tribulation when it begins (however, not in the same WAY). Both the Daniel and Matthew passages give the impression of what is known as the Rapture, or the deliverance of the people of God from the midst of the Tribulation.
However, neither passage demands that the Rapture take place before the Tribulation. In fact, I would suggest that both would imply that the believers are present when the Tribulation commences, and that they are later raptured out in the midst of the Tribulation. Thus, I hold to what is known as a mid-tribulation rapture perspective, that the Rapture occurs during the interlude between the sixth and seventh seals of the scroll of the Lamb (Rev 7). To those of you who are pre-trib folks, I honestly hope you’re right and I’m wrong. And I can’t get behind the concept of post-trib (that the Rapture occurs after the Tribulation is over) because especially the Daniel passage speaks of escape from the Tribulation, and the Matthew passage speaks of the days of Tribulation being “cut short” for the elect. Again, not a first-order doctrine, because what Jesus does at the end of time is what He will do, and our theorizing about it doesn’t save us. He does.
The second term to discuss is that the Tribulation will “test those who live on the earth.” This phrase is ONLY used for those who are lost, those who do not believe in Jesus, in the letter of Revelation. I’ll give an example:
14 It deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs that it is permitted to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
This is why I said that Christians would not experience the occurrences of the Tribulation in the same way, even if we are on the planet when it begins. Christians have already been tested, and do not need to be tested again by the Tribulation. This is because of the promise to the church at Philadelphia, which we can take great comfort in as well. As they have kept Jesus’ command to endure, which means that they have held onto it in the middle of difficulty, so Jesus will keep them—protect them, hold onto them—in the middle of difficulty.
And His next promise is even better:
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown.
“I am coming soon.” Jesus mentions coming to visit each of the churches that He writes to in these chapters except Smyrna. For Ephesus, Pergamum, and Sardis, His coming is a dire warning. For Thyatira, it’s a positive reference. For Laodicea, as we will see next week, it’s a mixed bag. For Philadelphia, He’s coming to keep them, not to punish them.
So He tells them to hold on to what they have. What do they have? They have the open door of access to the Kingdom. Even as He holds on to them, they are to cling in hope to what they have already been given.
So why does He add, “so that no one takes your crown?” The crown that Jesus is referring to is the stephanos crown, the crown of the victor. Paul spoke similarly about this kind of crown in 1 Corinthians 9:
24 Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. 25 Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. 26 So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. 27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
So this is not a question of losing their salvation, but of losing the victory that comes through faithful endurance, going the distance. Earlier in the letter to the church in Corinth, Paul had explained this concept of losing the fullness of our reward, even as we ourselves were saved:
10 According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. 14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.
We want to come into heaven at the end of time with our crowns intact, so we can lay them at the feet of Jesus in adoration, not coming through with our hair singed and smelling of smoke as one who escaped as through fire. We want to bring our very best to the Lord when we get to see Him face-to-face. This hope should lead us to endure.
For those who are lost, the fear of the Tribulation should lead you to consider your spiritual state today. If you died today, what would happen with you in eternity? Without Jesus, who is the only way, you would be consigned to hell forever according to Scripture, because you haven’t trusted in Jesus to save you. Repent and turn from your sins, surrender to Christ in faith, and be delivered from that future.
4: Challenge (v 12-13)
4: Challenge (v 12-13)
This brings us to the last section of this message: the challenge section. Jesus makes additional promises here, which we will again cover fairly quickly because of time.
12 “The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God—the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God—and my new name. 13 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
The one who conquers is the one who endures. In fact, they would be made “pillar[s]” in the temple of God. Often when earthquakes hit Roman cities in those early centuries of Roman style of architecture, only the pillars of buildings would be left standing. Certainly the Philadelphians did not miss this allusion to their context.
Not only that, but when Solomon built the original temple, he placed two giant pillars at the entrance. Those two pillars had names that might be part of this reference for the people of Philadelphia:
21 He set up the pillars at the portico of the sanctuary: he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin; then he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz.
Jachin means “He will establish.” Boaz means “In Him is Strength.” To be established, never having to fear again, and for a church with “little power” to have His strength would have been a great promise indeed.
Next, Jesus tells them that those who endure will “never go out again.” They would never have to leave their home as they had been forced to due to the earthquakes in the area. They would be established and stand firm in the Kingdom.
And finally, they will have new names written on them: the name of God, the name of the city of God (the new Jerusalem), and Christ’s new name. Each of these names signifies something different for the church of Philadelphia:
"The name of my God” signifies belonging. They will be marked for special relationship with God, belonging to Him because they bear His name:
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
“The name of the city of my God—the new Jerusalem” signifies citizenship.
One interesting thing about Philadelphia was that it changed its name a couple of times in order to try and garner favor from the emperor. In gratitude for the funds that were provided to rebuild following the 17 AD earthquake, Philadelphia took the name Neocaesarea. In order to impress the Flavian imperial dynasty in the 80’s AD, it became known as Flavia Philadelphia.
But here, God renames the church, not so they could gain favor, but because they were favored, and they would have the name of the new Jerusalem, which is both a city AND a people.
2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
And finally, the new name of Christ signifies identity. They would be identified with Jesus forever, bearing that new name that is above every name, that only Jesus knows.
12 His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head. He had a name written that no one knows except himself.
This entire challenge to endure and the promises that it includes is about establishing the church long term. This would have been a very comforting message to the church at Philadelphia, and it should be to us. The world can try to stop us, try to tell us that we don’t count, or try to ignore the truth, but in Christ, we can endure and ultimately, we will overcome in Him.
Closing
Closing
We’re called to endurance.
Repentance
Salvation
Church membership
Prayer
Offering
PRAYER
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Bible reading (Job 12)
No Pastor’s Study tonight
Prayer Meeting this week
Instructions for guests
Benediction
Benediction
1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.
See you at the picnic!