What the Bible says about Loyalty
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Exodus 20:16

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" has very far-reaching spiritual applications. Bear means "to spread, carry, render, or give." At first glance, the commandment appears to involve only lying in a court of law, and this might be true if the words in the commandment were to be taken only at face value. Jesus clearly shows that there is a "spirit," an intent, to God's laws in addition to the letter that carries their application far beyond mere face-value judgments.

Many scriptures show that the commandment covers lying under any circumstance, including hypocrisy and self-deception. That is, it covers any wrongful word or example that would tend to injure. The ninth commandment is in a similar position in man's relationship to other men as the third commandment is in man's relationship to God. This commandment directly involves faithfulness and loyalty in our speech and in our witness for God before men.

Proverbs 22:1 says, "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold." The Soncino Commentary remarks that a person's good reputation, his name, is his most valuable asset. Indeed, the Bible shows that God guards and protects His name very jealously. This is because His name represents what He is.

So it is with us. But why do so many lie, sowing the seeds for the destruction of their reputation? It is the desire for the approval of others that leads them to twist a story or to deliberately exaggerate or diminish their parts in it in the retelling.

When we hear a name, images of that person and what he or she is immediately spring to mind. What we are and how others perceive us has everything to do with what we believe and practice. So, is what we believe and practice true? If we want to have a good name (reputation) in the eyes of both God and man, we, too, have to recognize truth—wherever and whenever it arises in daily life—understand it, and submit to it. This process produces faithfulness.

This is where truth in a person's witness begins. If truth does not form the foundation of a person's life, he is already behind the eight-ball to some extent. The urge to lie must be met and overcome. At the base of this problem is a deceitful heart (Jeremiah 17:9) that continually lays traps to make lying an appealing course to follow. Besides lying before men, some of us keep lying to ourselves, and thus our name before God is not good. Faithlessness is the result. In order to have a good name, we, as God's children, must face up to our vanities and quit deceiving ourselves that God will just have to take us as we are.

We need to stop blaming our failures, problems, and shortcomings on others, which tendency provides us with justifications for what we are and what we do. Within the family, Mom and Dad are frequent targets of this. They are usually guilty to some extent, but God puts the pressure on us to change. Change will not occur in this way of life until we face up to the truth that we are responsible for what we are. We also bear much of the responsibility of becoming what we hope to be. Nobody can do this for us.

This is the day-to-day "stuff" on which trustworthiness and righteous reputations are formed. They are built on the witness of what we do before others. God wants our reputation before men to be built, first, on His truth and then on truth in general. Are we honestly doing this as well as we could be?

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Ninth Commandment

Deuteronomy 8:2-3

God deliberately made difficulties for the Israelites to face. This is why a test never comes at a convenient time. The more difficult choices seem to come in times of hardship, when our loyalty is really in question and when it is much easier to serve ourselves. However, God wants us to sacrifice ourselves instead.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Where Is the Beast? (Part Seven)

Deuteronomy 23:9

Do we have any idea how dirty warfare is? Yet, even then, God required cleanliness among His people. Though we do not know the reason why God gave every regulation, we do understand the overall principle involved here. There is no doubt that religion draws those devoted to it together, but inevitably, a line of separation will be drawn between the faithful and the unfaithful. Under the Old Covenant, these lines were shown in physical terms.

To many, this might smack of a narrow exclusiveness, but there is a fundamental truth contained within these regulations. Religion does make a difference! God demands—for our good and for the outworking of His purpose—that there be absolute loyalty in the people whom He has cleansed through the blood of Jesus Christ. The loyalty is not merely seen in how one feels inwardly about certain things, but also is manifested outwardly in one's behavior—in how we relate to one another. A Christian must never step out of character, and he must not step aside from what he agreed to in making the covenant with God.

Every time we baptize a person, we make sure that we go through Luke 14 (beginning in verse 25)—where Christ essentially says, "Do I have your loyalty? Am I going to come before your father, mother, sister, brother, wife or husband? Are you willing to forsake all that you have for Me?" And we could add, "Are you willing to keep yourself uncontaminated and undefiled from contact with this world?"

This book of Deuteronomy shows that God's purpose can be worked out only if we are separated from the world around us to a fair degree. It is this separation that greatly aids in keeping us clean and unspotted. Know this, there are not "many ways to God." The people of the earth are not worshipping the same God in different guises and different names. The universalism of Catholicism has no part in God's plan. There is only one way. If there were many ways, each way would produce something different. God's way—His one way—reproduces Himself. Anybody who worshipsa false god will not reproduce in himself the image of the God of Creation.

John W. Ritenbaugh
New Covenant Priesthood (Part Two)

2 Chronicles 15:1-2

When Asa, one of the better kings of Judah, needed some advice during a crisis, God sent a prophet to teach him this important truth. Other verses in the Bible expand on the principle that underlies what Azariah says here. Jesus uses the same principle when He says that God judges us as we judge others (Matthew 7:1-5), so we need to be careful about the kind of judgment we use in evaluating others whose hearts we cannot read. Jesus also teaches in the Lord's Prayer that God will forgive us as we forgive (Matthew 6:12).

The underlying principle speaks to reciprocity in spiritual matters. In this case, God tells Asa that faithfulness or loyalty to God is a two-way street. Our actions, good or bad, will receive a corresponding reaction from God. If we are faithful, He will be with us, but we can expect His wrath if we rebel. We cannot count on past good behavior to excuse us in the present.

Notice what Paul tells Christians in the church at Colossae:

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled [He has granted repentance], in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel [salvation], which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Colossians 1:21-23)

God works the same way today under the New Covenant as He did during the reigns of Joash, Amaziah, and Uzziah. They all began well, doing “good in the sight of the LORD . . ..” But when their godly, human anchors died, or their pride swelled, they began to turn aside. God soon found fault with them and sent them a prophet to turn them to repentance, but they hardened their hearts and rejected God's offer of mercy. They did not continue in the faith.

Continuing steadily on God's path tests the reality of our faith. Will we remain loyal to God despite setbacks and trials or even through persecution? We must. As Jesus says in Matthew 24:13, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

John W. Ritenbaugh
Three Missing Kings (Part Two)

Proverbs 16:6

We overcome lying because God mercifully but forcefully brings it to our attention by revealing His truth. When we submit to His truth rather than our self-deceptions, we are beginning to overcome.

Commentators suggest an alternative translation of this verse: "By loyalty and faithfulness one escapes evil." The sense is that loyalty and faithfulness to God's truth are essential elements to escaping the second death. Obeying truth does not forgive sin, but it plays a part in cleaning our minds of the garbage of bad habits lodged in our character so that we are less likely to involve ourselves in sin. God's truth says we must not bear false witness, and that must be obeyed!

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Ninth Commandment (1997)

Proverbs 16:6

If a person is ever going to change, he must confront his fault, since there is no magic bullet! The proverb's advice can be understood this way: By God's mercy and truth and by our recognition and use of truth, iniquity will be purged because we fear God and submit to Him. One commentator renders the last line of the proverb as, "By loyalty and faithfulness one escapes evil." Another translates it as, "By one's loyalty and faithfulness to God's truth one will escape evil." "Evil" implies the second death. Living the truth does not forgive sin, but it does help to purge the mind of its habitual focus on sin.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Ninth Commandment

Proverbs 18:24

Proverbs 18:24 is a mild caution against having too many friends, of spreading oneself too thin. It is better to have truly good friends who will stick with us through thick and thin. Understood within the context of these four verses is a warning that, if one has too many interests as a result of having too many friends, the one true friendship we can develop with Christ—who really will stick with us through thick and thin—will probably be the one pushed aside. It is better to be loyal to one true friend who is faithful at all times than numerous unreliable ones.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Elements of Motivation (Part Four): Obligation

Proverbs 27:10

Proverbs 27:10 directly confronts the subject of obligation and loyalty in human experience. The first clause is simply a Hebraic way of saying, "Don't desert tried and true friends." An available friend is better than an unavailable relative. The second and third clauses reinforce the first. Be loyal to and rely upon help that is near, tried, and true.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Elements of Motivation (Part Four): Obligation

Matthew 17:19-21

A lack of faith is a sign of a weak prayer life. Jesus Christ advises us how to address unbelief—prayer and fasting.

On a human level, how do we build trust, faith, and loyalty? Will we have faith in someone we do not know? Can we be loyal to a stranger? We build confidence in others through repeated contact with them over time—close and frequent communication. As we get to know them, to see them in action, to see their characters, we eventually reach a point where we can have trust and faith in them and in their behavior. Is it any different with God?

Prayer provides the repeated and continual contact with God that we need to get to know Him. This sets in motion the process that will lead to faith, to God being willing to give us the gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8). The prayerful person becomes the faithful person, not the other way around. Hebrews 11:6 illustrates this point: "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Notice the condition in this verse: God is not the rewarder of everyone, but "of those who diligently seek Him." The gift of living faith comes from diligently, actively seeking Him, consistently and with zeal. Prayer is a major tool in seeking God, along with study, fasting, and using the knowledge gained to conform to His will—practical Christian living and overcoming. Those who prove their diligence by doing these things are the ones rewarded with the faith to overcome (I John 5:4).

The Sabbath is an external sign that identifies God's people (Exodus 31:13, 17). Yet a person may be a nominal Sabbath-keeper without having a true relationship with God. Is there another sign—a less visible one—that perhaps only God sees? Yes, and Zechariah 13:9 shows it is prayer: "They will pray in my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'You are my people,' and they will reply, 'You, LORD, are our God!'" (Contemporary English Version).

Those with a weak prayer life have weak faith (Matthew 17:19-21). Those with weak faith are sinful (Romans 14:23) and are promised death (Ezekiel 18:20; Romans 6:23). That is just how important earnest prayer is as part of a solid foundation, especially during the end time. As I Peter 4:7 instructs, "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers."

Pat Higgins
Praying Always (Part Two)

Matthew 23:23

"Judgment, mercy, and faith" can be paraphrased to make them easier to understand. Judgment means "being fair and even-handed in judgment." Mercy means "being compassionate and kind in action," and faith means "being loyal to God in keeping His law." Justice is a more accurate, modern translation of "judgment," and "faith" might be better rendered faithfulness or trust. Thus, Jesus is speaking about justice, compassion, and faithfulness (or loyalty).

Jesus applied these concepts in confronting the Pharisees because they had reached a tragically wrong conclusion regarding the intent of God's laws.

Weightier means "more important," "central," or "more decisive" as compared to what is peripheral or secondary. Thus, the intent of God's law is to produce justice, compassion and kindness, and loyalty to God. Of course, the major thing that will be produced is a right relationship with God and men, and character will be built.

The Pharisees were guilty of a massive distortion of God's will, or what could even be called God's pleasure, and in their zeal to be absolutely correct, they corrupted those they were leading. Their problem was their attitude toward law, one opposite from most people's. Most people tend to become looser and more liberal in their application of law, but for some strange reason, the Pharisees corrupted the law in the complete other direction. God felt it necessary to correct this corruption so that we would understand that it is equally perverse.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Sabbathkeeping (Part 4)

Luke 14:26

Undertaking discipleship involves the entirety of a person's life - all the time, everywhere. It is the issue in the Bible: whether we will show by our lives that we are loyal to the Kingdom of God.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Revelation 2-3 and Works

John 15:11

If we are working on the relationship with God, giving it our time and attention, then God's love for us (since He is its source) will be reciprocated back to Him in the form of obedience. We could also call our response love, keeping the commandments, or conforming to His will. Whatever we call it, our lives will then be enriched by joy. Is that not a good deal? Psalm 16:11 says that there is joy evermore in His presence. Jesus is confirming this here. If we will abide in God, in His love, then it will produce joy in our lives.

This kind of love is not the hormone-driven, passionate, and emotional roller coaster that we call "falling in love," but a deep, stable sense of well-being. A word of caution: This is not something that happens in a flash, just because two people know one another. It develops because the two experience a wide variety of events together. In order for two individuals contemplating marriage to determine if their lifestyles are compatible, they should use the courtship phase of their relationship to share a great many experiences together.

What is it that is produced by experiencing a great number of circumstances together? Trust in each other is produced. Within the relationship with God, He begins to trust us, and we begin to trust Him. We could call this trust "loyalty" or "faithfulness." That is the fruit of proper fellowship. Is that not what happens humanly? The same principle is at work in our relationship with God.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Love's Emotional Dimension

Acts 5:29

We generally think of this verse only in terms of a state of persecution, but its principle applies all the time. Life is a series of compulsions which lead us to choices. These compulsions come in two varieties: 1) forced, as by a gun to our temple which says, "Do this or else," and 2) unforced, just as each dawn comes regardless, gently persuading us to rise and meet our duties. Each pushes us to choose, and the only real difference in them is their strength.

We are surrounded by various elements that, forced or unforced, exert pressure to compel us to submit to them out of loyalty. Both good and evil are compulsions pressuring us to follow them. Our culture urges us to "go along." Family ties influence us to blend in. Our peers, friends in business, school, or neighborhood buddies, entice us to conform. These compulsions sweep us along, and all too frequently we go right into idolatry to satisfy our desires to be accepted and feel secure. But Peter and the other apostles said, "We ought to obey God rather than men."

John W. Ritenbaugh
The First Commandment (1997)

1 Corinthians 10:1-5

Verse 5 is downright alarming. How many people of the 2 to 2½ million people who came out of Egypt under Moses made it into the Promised Land? Of those aged 20 and older, only two, Joshua and Caleb, along with their families, made it.

Paul uses vivid terminology. He literally says that their bodies were scattered all across the desert. They fell aside as they went along the way and did not make it. They were buried where they fell. The Israelites left a trail of graves all the way from Egypt, through the Sinai, and up into the borders of Israel, the Promised Land.

Such a thing will not physically occur to us. God is working out something different with us than He was with them. With them, He was establishing a type and setting examples for us. We can look at what they did and learn from what occurred to them. We have the Holy Spirit, and they did not. That should make a huge difference!

Paul says that they all went under the cloud and were baptized into Moses. They were not literally baptized in the way we were, but they did pass between the waters. When they went through the Red Sea, they walked on dry land, but the water rose up like walls on either side of them. The apostle Paul uses this as a type of the baptism we go through. They were buried into Moses, as it were, becoming partners in the Old Covenant. Moses, the mediator of that covenant, was a type of Jesus Christ.

Yet, these people died in the wilderness. Here is decisive proof (most of it contained in the record of their wandering in Exodus and Numbers) that though a person physically goes through all the ordinances, it does not mean a thing spiritually.

Verses 1-4 show the Israelites were in the presence of Jesus Christ. He was in the cloud and in the pillar of fire. He was there as the Angel, the Messenger of God, who was leading them through their pilgrimage on to the Promised Land. That is why Paul's illustration is so alarming: One can lose his salvation (not make it to the Promised Land, the Kingdom of God) if he is living a life of divided loyalties (Matthew 6:24).

John W. Ritenbaugh
Passover and I Corinthians 10

Galatians 5:22

Faithfulness hinges upon what we value as important combined with commitment. Humans have a powerful tendency to be faithful to what they think is truly important, be it a family name, spouse, friendship, employer, school, athletic team, or even certain things like a make of automobile.

This tendency was an issue when the disciples decided to follow Peter's lead and return to their fishing trade after Jesus' death and resurrection. In John 21:15-17, Jesus pointedly asks Peter three times whether he loved Him. The first time He asks whether he loved Him "more than these," referring either to his fellow apostles or the tools of his fishing trade. The implication is inescapable: Jesus wanted Peter to hold Him of greater importance than anything on earth. Considering Peter's weighty responsibility, he could not be faithful to Jesus without the staunchest commitment to Him as most important of all in his life.

The meaning to us is clear. We must love Christ supremely, or we do not love Him much if at all. If we are not willing to give up all earthly possessions, forsake all earthly friends, and obey Him above all others—including our own carnal desires—to be faithful to Him, our attachment to Him is tenuous at best. Is such a proposition too much? Does not marriage require a similar faithfulness from each spouse? Without it, it is no wonder there is so much adultery and divorce.

Holding true to the course God has laid before us is difficult amid this world's many alluring distractions clamoring for our time and attention. This world is attractive to human nature and bids us to expend our energies in self-satisfaction. Jesus warns all who take up their cross that the way is difficult and narrow, requiring a great deal of vision and discipline to be faithful to His cause. Some have completed the course. Those who held God and His way in the highest esteem in their lives are awaiting those of us traveling the path now. Will we be faithful as they were?

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness

2 Timothy 3:1

Notice how many of these characteristics are traits of the mercenary. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition defines mercenary as "serving merely for pay or sordid advantage: venal; also: greedy." Synonyms for the noun form of the word include "hireling," "hired hand," and "hired gun." Adjectival synonyms are "bribable," "corruptible," "purchasable," "venal," "greedy," "avaricious," "voracious," "rapacious," "grasping," "covetous," and "money-hungry."

One of these traits of people in the last days, "unforgiving," is particularly appropriate. The margin of the New King James Version reads "irreconcilable," but the Greek word, aspondoi, literally means "without a treaty or covenant." It means they function as though they have no contract! They have no loyalty to a team, a political ideal, a company, or anything! If they have no loyalties, how can they be reconciled to anyone?

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
America's Mercenary Culture

2 Timothy 4:3

"Heap up to themselves teachers" is another interesting illustration. We might phrase it as, "They've got a whole smorgasbord of preachers to choose from." We would not say that they heap them up - that brings to mind a picture of bodies piled up, one upon another. We would probably picture what was happening as more like a cafeteria, where a person could pick this preacher's understanding of marriage, then a little further on, select another preacher's understanding of faith, and a bit later, for dessert, choose this minister's wonderful sense of humor.

Is that what we do? Do we dabble a little here, a little there? We fool ourselves sometimes by saying, "I'm just getting a well-rounded approach to the subject because this guy is really strong in this area. I need what he can give me." Are we heaping up for ourselves teachers, so that we can pull one from the bottom of the pile when we need it?

Do we flit from place to place as the mood suits us? Maybe this week we are in the mood for something really sober, so we go to a particular serious-minded group. The next week, perhaps, we want to fellowship, and the people at the sober place are not really entertaining socially - but the people at another place nearby really have a rip-roaring time after service every week! Then the week after that, we hear that "Minister X" is in town, so we go there. Is that the way we are? Yet, that is very much like "they heap up to themselves teachers."

James 1:8 reads, "He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." How true that is! One cannot trust a double-minded person because he is unstable; he flits from here to there. One never knows what corner he will be in that week. James' brother, Jesus, says in Matthew 6:24:

No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Consider the principle here. God is interested in loyalty. He wants us to be loyal to Him, as well as to those through whom He is speaking. Therefore, it is best, for our own growth, to find one such minister and stick to him. Then we will not be guilty of heaping up to ourselves teachers, for the basic motivation of doing so is self-satisfaction. And how often does that get us into trouble?

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Itching Ears

Hebrews 10:23

Holding fast is the first indication of faithfulness, but our understanding increases when we know the word translated "faithful" is the same word translated "faithfulness" in Galatians 5:22. It is understood as "reliable" or "trustworthy" rather than "fidelity" because it is being fully convicted of the truth of God that engenders loyalty and dependability. Faith in God corresponds to God's faithfulness. As with two tuning forks of the same pitch, when one is struck, the other responds by vibrating also. God's faithfulness should awaken faith in us, so we can respond in submissive obedience. If He is worth trusting, we should trust Him.

Since God is faithful, it has become our responsibility to imitate Him in being faithful by committing our lives to well doing.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the confidence we have in possessing the things we hope for because of the promises of God. Faithfulness is adhering unswervingly to God and His covenant. To be faithful we need to be loyal (steadfastly affectionate and allegiant to God), conscientious (scrupulous in doing God's will), dedicated (zealously devoted to God), and truthful (true to God's Word and standard of righteousness).

Martin G. Collins
Faithfulness

Hebrews 11:7

In the Western world, we have unique and sometimes bizarre ways of measuring things. Because capitalism is such a dominant feature of our culture, from birth we are barraged by the belief that "bigger" and "more" are always better. Thus, the American healthcare industry is measured in billions of dollars rather than the number of people helped, let alone the number of people made well. The money involved and the size of any given industry or endeavor is what captures our attention. The West's measure of success is in numeric growth and profitability—and the impressive numbers to back it up—rather than in quality and a job well done.

The story of Noah, however, illustrates that God's servants are not always successful by human standards, even when they are highly praised by God. In II Peter 2:5, Noah is called a "preacher of righteousness." He preached righteousness—God's standard of conduct (Psalm 119:172)—but Hebrews 11:7 tells us that the results of his preaching were humanly negligible in that only his family was saved.

God's measure of success for Noah was not how many people he turned around or how many sinners he saved from the Flood. If that were the measure of success, by all accounting Noah would be an absolute failure. Yet, he is counted among the faithful in Hebrews 11 because of his faithfulness, not because of the numeric results of his efforts.

After all of his toil and preaching, only seven others lived through God's judgment. In fact, it would appear that from the very outset God knew that not a single other person would pay Noah any heed! Considering the instructions given for the Ark in Genesis 6, God was intent on saving only Noah and his family, along with the animals. God did not instruct Noah to build an ocean liner to carry hundreds or thousands of people who might repent as a result of his preaching. Noah built an ark for the saving of his household, and by preparing only for the salvation of his household, he in fact condemned the rest of the world. We must remember that God Himself gave Noah the specifications, thus it was God who excluded the rest of the world, for the time being, from the salvation represented by the Ark.

Noah is identified as a preacher, even though in human eyes his preaching was a flop. He was a preacher in the sense of a herald or someone who makes a proclamation. He proclaimed that God's judgment was imminent, as well as the righteousness of God, which requires the death penalty for the universal unrighteousness of the world. Despite Noah's preaching having no apparent effect whatsoever on the choices of those around him, he is commended for his faith and obedience—his faithfulness—rather than the number of people who flocked to his side.

God could have chosen to soften the hearts of those to whom Noah preached. He could have poured out His Spirit upon them, as He will in the second resurrection. He could have ordained that Noah's preaching be tremendously successful, pricking the consciences of sinners everywhere. Therein resides another principle: No matter what the circumstances, it is God who determines the results.

This is why His measure of success for His servants is their faithfulness in their witness of Him, not what results are produced. God can bring about any result He desires. What He wants to see is what His servants will do with what He has given them. He is looking for faithfulness that demonstrates His servants truly believe what He says, regardless of whether the world sees dramatic results.

What does it mean to be faithful? The Greek word translated "faithfulness," "fidelity," or "good faith" has the basic meaning of trustworthiness—the characteristic of someone who is reliable. Part of our calling, then, is to be trustworthy—literally, worthy of God's trust. That implies having a track record of faithful service so that God knows He can depend on us to faithfully discharge the responsibilities He gives us.

However, faithfulness also includes the senses of loyalty and constancy. We cannot merely be faithful within ourselves; we must be faithful to something or someone. The relevant question, then, is to whom or what are we faithful? Who or what receives our fidelity, our allegiance, our loyalty, and our constancy? While many objects of faithfulness are possible, it should be a certainty that our faithfulness is to God—not to a human leader, past or present, and not to an idea. God leads and the church follows—not the other way around.

As the records of Abel, Enoch, and Noah show, trying to witness to the world without the proper preparation will not bear the fruit God desires. Trying to represent God before fully grasping our standing before Him and before greatly resembling Him may even make a witness against God. The lessons of these three men are sequential and compounding. If we get them out of order, or skip the spiritual preparation to get to the more earth-shaking matters, we risk being unusable by God and unfit for His Kingdom.

David C. Grabbe
First Things First (Part Four): Faithfully Witnessing

Revelation 2:7

We can see what most concerns Christ—what is most important to Him—at the end, when the pressures will be more intense than they have ever been in the history of man, when Satan is lining up all of his forces, all of his armies, all of his weaponry. The Devil will mount a persecution against God's people to such an extent that the whole earth will be thrown into convulsions, the likes of which this world has never seen!

Christ, like any good leader who sees what is coming, will take steps to prepare His people. He will focus their attention on what is most important to survive and grow during that period. This is why He talks about what He does to the churches in the messages in Revelation 2 and 3.

The word translated as "overcomes" can just as easily and correctly be—and is perhaps better—translated "conquers." We are involved in a war against Satan and his demons, against a world he designed and built through men, and against ourselves, who carry with us the self-centered nature, habits, and attitudes of Satan and his system. Thus, Christ's concern for us as we approach the end is whether we are carrying through in the warfare, continuing in well doing, and enduring to the end, because Satan is bringing about every pressure to make us surrender.

Loyalty is not a quality that we Americans and Canadians are endowed with to any great degree. Our cultures tend to stress individuality—doing our own thing. This lack of loyalty in America and Canada perhaps shows more clearly in divorce and infidelity than anywhere else. Loyalty's synonym is "faithful." It means "faithful in allegiance to one's lawful sovereign; to be faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due; or faithful to a cause." It means to be steadfast in affection, to adhere to the performance of duty, to be conscientious, to give firm resistance to any temptation to desert or betray. Can we see what the works are Christ is so concerned about?

This is why every message says, "I know your works!" (Revelation 2:2, 9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8, 15). He does not say, "I know your profession" or "I know your desires." Neither does He say, "I know your sincerity" or "I know your wishes." He says, "I know your works"! Why? Because works prove what a person is doing with his knowledge, time, and energies.

Titus 1:16 says, "They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified." Notice that they "profess" to know God. Christ says, "I see what you are doing. I know your works." Why are works so important? They prove where our heart is! They prove our loyalty! They prove whether we are conscientious and faithful. They prove whether there is fidelity to Jesus Christ—whether we are steadfast in our affection for the One we are going to marry.

Many believe that we do not have to qualify for the Kingdom of God. It is true that works cannot justify us; they cannot wipe out our sins. However, it does not follow that, because they cannot save us, they are of no importance. Recall that James uses Abraham, the father of the faithful—the father of the loyal, the conscientious—as the illustration that faith without works is dead! Living faith works! Jesus says, "I know your works"!

Revelation 2 and 3 are an examination of our works because Christ wants to see whether we believe Him! Living faith exhibits itself in works! It is a test of our faith. If we are faithful, we will be working: overcoming Satan, the world, and our self-centeredness. That is what works accomplish.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Revelation 2-3 and Works

Revelation 2:10

Even though He has nothing negative to say, He still exhorts them to be faithful, as in a relationship. When one is faithful, one is remaining loyal to something he had previously been given. This is a common thread among all the letters. Be it a contract or a standard, it was something that they had been given before and had agreed to, and they were remaining loyal to it. There is nothing negative thing said, but He does say, "Hang on to what you have been given before. Be loyal."

John W. Ritenbaugh
What Is the Work of God Now? (Part Four)

Revelation 20:12-13

Works are very important to the book of Revelation—seven times in chapters 2 and 3, and four or five other times in the rest of the book. Christ's concern is that His people are working.

The main purpose of the book of Revelation is not merely to give us insight into what is coming. It is also to convince the Christian that his loyalty, his devotion, his steadfastness, his suffering, and perhaps even martyrdom, is not in vain—that he is assured of a wonderful future. The reason for the stress on works is that character is not formed merely by knowing something but by knowledge combined with putting it to work until it becomes a habit. Over time, habit becomes character, and character follows the person right through the grave!

If we are not working, emphasizing loyalty to the Person of God and to His way, making every effort to overcome Satan, the world, and the self-centeredness within us, resisting with all of our being the temptations to do what is natural, carnal—if we are not expending our energy, and spending our time working out our own salvation with fear and trembling—it is very likely, then, that we are not going to have the character necessary to go through the grave. The wrong works will follow us, and we will not be prepared for the Kingdom of God.

Thus, what a person has done, that is, what he has worked on in this lifetime, follows him through the grave—either into the Lake of Fire or the Kingdom of God.

The book is designed to focus attention on what is of greatest concern to Christ for His people. He wants to ensure that they do not give up or become weary due to the great pressure of the times, and that they instead endure, persevere, and be loyal and steadfast to the very end.

His concern at this time is not preaching the gospel as a witness, but the salvation and continued growth of those He already has. The quality of the witness is directly tied to the quality of those making the witness. What good is it to have this wonderful, awesome message—the gospel of the Kingdom of God—carried by those who are poor examples of what it says? Christ's first priority is to ensure the spiritual quality of those who make the witness, and then the quality of the witness is ensured. We cannot let the cart get ahead of the horse. The one naturally follows the other. First things first.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Revelation 2-3 and Works


Find more Bible verses about Loyalty:
Loyalty {Nave's}
 

©Copyright 1992-2024 Church of the Great God.   Contact C.G.G. if you have questions or comments.