Revelation Chapter 2 –  Lesson 8: The Good, The Bad and The Very Ugly

Revelation Chapter 2: 18-29

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: ‘I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.

“Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

“Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’

We explored the church at Smyrna last week. She was good church, one who had endured hardships, persecution, and even the death of a dear saint for the name and cause of Jesus. Jesus had nothing bad to say about this church. There are churches just like this today, and they are serving the Lord in the midst of some great trouble. They remain faithful to His name and His work. Oh, that we were all like the church at Smyrna.

Today we will venture to Thyatira. Thyatira was the smallest and most insignificant of the cities addressed by the Lord Jesus. What made them noticeable was that they were a center for the trades and as such had guilds for just about every trade known to man. It does not appear that the church here suffered any significant bouts with persecution and martyrdom.

As mentioned, this was a center for the trades; these each often came accompanied by their own gods. One of the things we will see all the way through history is that man needs something to worship. God built us that way. Most men and women need something or someone to worship and ‘look up’ to. If not the true God, then His creation, or maybe a self-made god like a statue or carving. Today we find the worship of self to be the thing that drives most people. But make no mistake; for the most part, most people will worship someone or something; we are simply built that way.

As we examine the church at Thyatira, Jesus will give an honest assessment of the good, the bad and the very ugly. But they were, at the time of this writing, still a church with all of the power due them as agents of the Highest King.

Eyes Like a Flame of Fire, Revelation Chapter 2:18

Jesus sees the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Sadly, many of us ‘can’t handle the truth.’ Jesus goes on in the next few verses to lay out the things that are going on in the church at Thyatira. Some things are good and He points these out, others not so good and He does not shy away from them. All too often we live in a world that does not want to point out the faults of others. This is not about speculation, but if you see a brother or sister in a fault, it is our duty to speak to them in love and in humility. They should feel the same duty towards us if we were in the wrong.

In addition to the eyes of fire, the Lord has feet like “fine brass.” Brass was a highly refined metal, and it was the purest and strongest of metals in the ancient world. Jesus here was showing His purity and steadfastness before the church here. His judgments are accurate and His word is sure and secure. It is unwavering and cannot be challenged. None of these churches here were going to mount a counter argument against Jesus’ observations. What He said was the absolute truth, and that truth simply had to be acted upon.

These two attributes lend credence to His claim that he is the Son of God in verse 18. The Jews believed that to be the ‘son’ of something meant that you had the nature of that thing. So, those who go about claiming that Jesus never said He was God simply do not read the Bible nor do they understand the Jewish culture of the time. In John 5:17-18, we find this account:

“But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”

The Jews clearly understood that Jesus was claiming to be God when He called God his Father. We should not let other religions get away with their lies. Read the Bible and know how to deal with these heretics. Jesus is God.

The Good, Revelation Chapter 2:19

Jesus gets to it; He begins with the good. He does so with each church. He is aware of our lives and our behaviors both publicly and in private. He knows the deepest things of our minds and hearts; see verse 23, “He who searches the minds and hearts.” You and I will not hide anything from Jesus. This, as I have mentioned before, is a sobering reality. I cannot fool Jesus. You cannot fool Jesus. He will reveal all that is both good and bad in us from our very thoughts to our actions.

This church at Thyatira was a church that had good works; they loved Jesus, they were faithful, they were patient and they were servants; and, as Jesus points out, their works were growing. They were growing in these attributes, “the last are more than the first.” Some good things were happening here: a church that loves, one that has learned to wait on the Lord; they had learned to be servants, and they were faithful. Even though no persecution is recorded as happening to the church, it would appear that they had been through some hardships that had molded them and honed these attributes into their church life and actions.

These were seasoned servants of the Lord, and this is what makes the rest of the letter a harrowing read. There was danger in this church, the kind of danger that can cost a church its power and authority—proof that you cannot simply turn a blind eye to sin and error just by relying on the good or even great things that you are doing. Eventually, no matter how good you are, the bad will overtake it and choke it out.

The Bad, Revelation Chapter 2:20-21

There was a lady in this church, someone with great influence who was leading the church in the wrong direction. One of the commentaries that I researched made the observation that it could have been the wife of the pastor or an elder of the church here in Thyatira, but we have no concrete proof of this. This woman is called Jezebel by the Lord, surely not her name but a description of her actions in causing division and leading the people of the Lord to worship idols.

The Jezebel of the Old Testament was married to Ahab, a ruthless king. We find her story in 1 Kings 16–21, a gripping tale of evil and deliberate actions that defy understanding sometimes. Jezebel was ruthless, she was conniving, and she hated righteousness. She killed without feeling guilty and she fed about 900 prophets of Baal at her table.

This was the kind of woman that had gotten some degree of control in the church here in Thyatira. She was helping to bring in or condone idolatry, and she was leading them into sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is any sexual actions that are not in the context of marriage. Hebrews tells us that “the marriage bed is undefiled,” thus every other sexual bed is defiled. When we say marriage, we are using Jesus’ standard of marriage—one man and one woman—there are no other kinds of marriage.

As we mentioned before, this city had a lot of guilds for their various industries; and each one had a ‘god’ attached to it. The people of this church were eating meats offered to idols, meats that were defiled by the intent of their use. The sheer optics of this should have made this prohibitive, also the fact that some of these sacrifices may not have drained all the blood from the animals, as was the Jewish way of sacrifice.

The Jews were not allowed to consume blood at all. Blood was the source of life, and as such, God did not allow His people to eat blood. I honestly don’t know how to come to the conclusion here in our time. I know people who love their steaks rare, bleeding and barely warm, furthermore cooked. But these cows are not sacrificed to idols; they are just butchered for the meat.

Sexual immorality has caused a lot of division and difficulties in the Lord’s churches over the centuries. Many ‘religious’ organizations are really just excuses for men to abuse women and children sexually. We continue to hear the stories of what goes on in many jurisdictions in the RC church all over the world.

But we can see that the Lord’s churches can have some dirt in them as well. The most famous of these being Corinth, where one of the men was bedding his father’s wife. Wow, this is just bad. We need to be careful to fight for the purity of the Lord’s churches, and this may mean confronting some of the leading people at times.

The Ugly, Revelation Chapter 2:22-24

Jesus had been patiently trying to get this dear lady and those that followed her to repent. In verse 21 Jesus states, “I gave her time to repent…but she did not.” God is gracious and kind, slow to anger and full of mercy. Once again Jesus reminds them that He knows their “hearts and minds.” I learned that this was literally the ‘hearts and kidneys.’ One’s heart was the place of intellect and the kidneys the place of emotions.

Jesus knows them; He knew even their very thoughts. So, He knows if we really repent or not. He knows when we are faking it for the crowd to see. This woman and her adherents had thumbed their noses at God’ grace, His mercy and His kindness, and now the ‘ugly’ was about to happen.

Sin eventually brings death. Sometimes death can be swift and instant, but sometimes it comes slowly and painfully over long periods of time. We recall that the church at Corinth had some who were ‘sick’ and some had ‘fallen asleep (died)’ because they had perverted the Lord’s Supper. Well, Jesus was about to put people on a sick bed because of sin.

There is never an escape; be sure your sins will find you out. Jesus will graciously wait for you and me to repent, to turn and do what is right. But there will come a time when the judgment of God will fall on us sinners, and we must then deal with the consequences of sin.

In verse 23 Jesus promises death will also come on this church and her people. It would have been better for someone to stand up to this Jezebel and her cohorts before it got to this point.

The Discernment of Jesus, Revelation Chapter 2:24-28

Jesus knows how to judge and who to judge. Even in this little church in an insignificant town the character of Jesus is clearly displayed. He does not judge the righteous with the guilty. With the same breath that He warns evildoers, He comforts the ones who are obedient.

“Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.”

From the very days of Abraham in Genesis 19, it is clear that God does not judge the righteous with those that are not righteous. He knows how to target His wrath; this should comfort those of us that are awaiting His return. There are many who think that the Lord’s churches will go into the Tribulation, but it is clear that God does not judge His people that way.

He knows who belong to Him, and He protects them from His judgment. We need to hold fast, to stand our ground until Jesus comes to get us. Stand on the truth, stand for the truth, stand in the truth; and one day Jesus will return to reward us. May He find us faithful.

missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

Sean Gooding Pastor Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

 

Revelation Lesson 7
Revelation Chapter 2: 12-17

“And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: ‘I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.

“Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”’

Last time, we looked at the church at Smyrna. This was a persecuted church, one of the only two churches about whom Jesus had nothing negative to say. It would seem that great persecution often leads to doctrinal and operational purity. This is hard to see and to hear; it makes us wonder what will happen to the modern New Testament churches to help us become purer and clearer Light sources?

Well, the answer is persecution. This is the way that people are forced to make very deliberate decisions. Am I for God or against Him? Is God and His cause worthy of my life and maybe even my death? Is the cause worth my children being killed or tortured? Suffering will either drive you to Jesus or drive you from Jesus, but it eliminates fence sitters.

Today we will look at the church at Pergamos. This church was a light source struggling in a sea of darkness; and even their light had been a bit shaded by false doctrine and false persons who had crept in to hurt them from the inside. We will look at this church that was situated in a powerful pagan and political city, a place where “Satan’s Throne” was. Maybe we can think of some similar places like that in our world today – places where evil abounds; but there in the midst of the evil is a little source of Light. It may be struggling, but it is doing its job.

Revelation Lesson 7 – I know Your Works – Revelation Chapter 2 Verse 13

The one theme that runs through these letters to each church was the absolute and complete knowledge of the Lord Jesus. He is not fooled and cannot be hoodwinked. No one can ‘pull one over’ on Jesus. You can and often will fool man, but God cannot be fooled. Jesus knows His people and He also knows the ones who are faking it. There will be no stowaways in Heaven; ALL will come through the front door or they will not get in at all.

Jesus describes himself as the one who has the “two-edged sword.” This is a sign of power; and it was important for them to know that Jesus was the absolute power, since the city of Pergamos was overrun by evil, pagan temples and a place called the “seat of Satan.”

In Hebrews 4:12-13, we see this: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

The word of God is living and sharper than any two-edged sword, and it is able to discern the “thoughts and intents” of the heart. This cuts me, and it should cut you. All too often we play church; we play at being righteous, but under the actions is the way that we think.

The whole point of Christianity is that we are to be ever growing into the mind of Christ. Jesus did not begrudgingly wash the disciple’s feet. He did it out of the genuine heart of a servant. He set an example that says no one is ever beneath us. Jesus washed the feet of the man who would betray him, and he washed the feet of the man who would shortly deny even knowing Him.

I have to be honest; my heart is often not a heart after God’s own heart. I can be selfish, and I can do my duty as Christian. My actions are right but my motives are not. This is where the judgment of Jesus begins, with the actions of the mind. Jesus will address who we really are, not who we pretend to be.

Revelation Lesson 7 – The Seat of Satan – Revelation Chapter 2 Verse 13

The city of Pergamos was the capital city of Asia Minor. It had been the capital for the better part of 300 years. It housed one of the largest libraries in the world, and it was a city noted for both culture and education, according the commentary by David Guzik. Pergamos was also an extremely religious city with temples to Dionysius, Athena, Zeus and Demeter. It also had temples dedicated to the worship of the current Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus.

Above these, it was especially known for the worship of the god Asclepios, represented by a serpent. His temple in Pergamos housed a medical school; and sick persons were placed in the dark temple where tame serpents lived. The sick would be brushed by the serpent (representing being touched by the god) and supposedly healed.

In addition, Pergamos had a large throne-like altar dedicated to Zeus. As one can see, this city was wrought with paganism, idol worship and evil. This truly would have appeared to be the throne of Satan. We can think of many modern cities that are the same today. There is such idolatry everywhere and a deliberate and tangible hatred for God.

We meet Antipas; he was a martyr. He is called faithful by Jesus, and the church had suffered through great persecution that ended maybe with the death of Antipas. While I was looking up and reading about this text, I learned something that I did not know. The word that we derive the English word martyr from is the word in Greek, martus. In classical Greek, the word simply meant a witness. Antipas was Jesus’ faithful witness. He was one who stood for the truth in the midst of the lies of Satan. He was an unwavering source of light to the Gospel.

It was only later that the word martyr came to mean one who gave his life for a cause. What a lesson we can learn from Antipas! There is simply no excuse for those of us who know the truth to be silent. May the Lord find us faithful, even to death if necessary. If we remain silent, we are complicit in the lies around us. Antipas was one who pointed to the truth, spoke the truth, and would rather die than give up the truth for one second.

Satan will always endeavour to silence and then if necessary kill off the truth. Truth is the vaccine for Satan’s lies. Truth is the vaccine for death and lies; that is why Satan works so hard to water down the truth. He works to infiltrate and dilute the absolutes of God. Be wary; work to have Biblical discernment and stand for the truth.

Revelation Lesson 7 – Creeping Darkness – Revelation Chapter 2 Verses 14-16

Jesus begins to deal with the poison that has crept into the local church there in Pergamos. He has a ‘few things’ to chat with them about; there are some who hold to the doctrine of Balaam, and then there are the issues with the Nicolaitans.

In Numbers 22-24 and 31, we find the account where Balaam would not curse the children of Israel directly, but he coached Balak to use idolatry and sexual sins to put a ‘stumbling block’ before the people of Israel.

Now we have just spent the last little bit talking about the idolatry in the city of Pergamos; and often with the Roman and Greek idols came sexual acts as part of the worship. It would seem that these practices had crept into the church at Pergamos. They would eat food offered to the idols and engage in sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is any sexual act outside of marriage.

One Roman statesman named Cicero once stated this: “If there is anyone who thinks that young men should not be allowed the love of many women, he is extremely severe. I am not able to deny the principle he stands on. But he contradicts, not only with the freedom our age allows, but also with the customs and allowances of our ancestors. When indeed was this not done? When did anyone find fault with it? When was such permission denied? When was it that what is now allowed was not allowed?”

It took a deliberate and uncommon stand to swim against the tide of rampant sexual immorality that ran in the Roman Empire. We are no different today. It was said by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “And there is nothing new under the sun.”  

We/I often get the idea in our heads that the culture we face today is more corrupt than ever before, and I think we are simply making excuses for sin. I have seen many documentaries on the rampant sexual immorality that existed in the Roman Empire. Prostitutes, homosexuality, bestiality, multiple wives, rape, sex club and the like have been around forever. Jesus addresses these issues in the church; we are to purge out idolatry and stop sexual sins.

Lastly, the Lord again addresses the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

As I study the doctrine – and there is a lot to learn – one sees the idea of ‘proud authority’ and the idea of conquering. So, one of the doctrines that was creeping into the church already was that of a hierarchy – that there was an elite class in the church. This was not to be so. Jesus, we are told in Philippian 2:5-7, ‘took on the mind of a servant.’ He came to serve the persons that He called, and he set the example of being a Shepherd for the sheep. Thus, his under-shepherds, his pastors and elders were to be shepherd-servants, not lords over the flock.

I grew up in a place where many of the church leaders had very long titles: the Right Honourable Bishop of the on and on. The Pharisees liked these titles and liked the recognition that came with it. One other aspect of the hierarchy was that of separation – the big me and the little you. This is not allowed in the Lord’s churches. We are all saved by the same grace, redeemed by the same blood, and kept by the same Holy Spirit.

We are not to allow these doctrines to come into the Lord’s churches. We are not to allow sexual immorality and idolatry into the Lord’s churches. And if we do so and say nothing, we are just as guilty as the one who brings it in. Silence is akin to agreement.

Revelation Lesson 7 – Repent – Revelation Chapter 2 Verses 16-17

Turn around and stop doing and/or allowing these things to be. Stop eating things offered to idols and stop sexual immorality; get married to a person of the opposite sex. Stop allowing some to lord it over others in the Lord’s churches. These things kill a church, they wreck the testimony, and they will cause judgment. When we do it right, we are blessed and we are given “hidden manna.” Jesus is the hidden manna, the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:41).

The white stones in the time that this was written were often a symbol of assurances and blessings. According to David Guzik, “the most remarkable of these instruments were the Tesserae hospitales, which were given as badges of friendship and alliance; and on which some device was engraved, as a testimony that a contract of friendship had been made between the parties.”

Our obedience to the Lord Jesus is rewarded with a friendship that is eternal and assurances of eternal blessing. Finally, we are told that the white stone will have a “new name” which only the recipient will know. The idea is that we have such an intimate relationship that Jesus will give us a new name. This was very common in the Bible: Jacob became Israel, Abram became Abraham, Peter was called Cephas, and on and on we can go. The idea is that, as we grow into the image of Jesus by obedience, the Lord will give us a new name as a sign of the new intimacy that we have with Him. Oh, wow and wow!

Each of the Lord’s churches should be diligent to root out false and damaging doctrines and practices. There should be a purity that is a sweet-smelling savor to the Lord, one that draws His favor and allows us to have a very intimate relationship with Him.

John 14:21 “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca