Zech. 13-14
“On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness” (Zech. 123:1). A fountain. I like that. It makes me think of an abundant, never-ending supply straight from the source. And that is, in fact, exactly what Jesus is for us. The forgiveness and cleansing of our sins provided by Him is more than enough, never ends, and comes to us directly from God Himself. Jesus is our cleansing fountain.
Rev. 3-4
To each of these three churches Jesus starts His message, after identifying Himself, with the words, “I know your works”. But what does He mean? I don’t see any evidence that He is weighing the church’s actions to see if they add up to enough. Indeed, we know from the message of the Bible that works are meaningless by themselves. What we do is merely a reflection of what is in our hearts. Equally important, though, is how and why we do what we do.
That point seems to be a little closer to what Jesus is getting at here. “The Message” translation gives some indication of that, as it translates each of the three “I know your works” statements a little differently. Jesus essentially describes the church of Sardis as ‘all effort, no heart’. “The Message” says, “I see right through your work” (Rev 1:1b). Jesus commends the church in Philadelphia for their obedience and patient endurance. It seems they held fast in the face of all the pressure from the false teachers. “The Message” says, “I see what you’ve done” (Rev 1:8a). And the church in Laodicea was complacent. They were self-satisfied and comfortable, with a little God on the side, so to speak. “The Message” translates Jesus’ words to them as, “I know you inside and out” (Rev 1:15a).
So when Jesus says, “I know your works”, maybe He is really saying, “I know why you do what you do”. Some work hard, either to look good to others or to try to save themselves. Jesus says they are dead inside. Some go about their life in a half-hearted, lackadaisical way, at least in regard to their relationship with God. They think they have it made, but they are not relying on God. Interesting how the ones who it seems face the most persecution are the ones who get it right. They know they need God and they love Him whole-heartedly because of it.