Revelation part 5-6
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1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
2 I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.
3 Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name.
4 But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love.
5 Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
6 But you have this to your credit: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.
8 To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the First and the Last, who died and returned to life.
9 I know your affliction and your poverty—though you are rich! And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan.
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death.
12 To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword.
13 I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held fast to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
14 But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
15 In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
16 Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.
18 To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze.
19 I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first.
20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
21 Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling.
22 Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds.
23 Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
24 But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned the so-called deep things of Satan: I will place no further burden upon you.
25 Nevertheless, hold fast to what you have until I come.
26 And to the one who overcomes and continues in My work until the end, I will give authority over the nations.
27 He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery —just as I have received authority from My Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of the One who holds the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation for being alive, yet you are dead.
2 Wake up and strengthen what remains, which was about to die; for I have found your deeds incomplete in the sight of My God.
3 Remember, then, what you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know the hour when I will come upon you.
4 But you do have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and because they are worthy, they will walk with Me in white.
5 Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels.
6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
7 To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.
8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door, which no one can shut. For you have only a little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.
9 Look at those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead. I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.
10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
11 I am coming soon. Hold fast to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
12 The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from My God), and My new name.
13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
14 To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation.
15 I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other!
16 So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth!
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
19 Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.
21 To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Overview of the Messages to the 7 Churches in the Province of Asia
Overview of the Messages to the 7 Churches in the Province of Asia
7 elements in each message (one element is missing in 3 of the messages)
Ephesus Smyrna Pergamum Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia Laodicea
The recipients
Rev. 2:1a Rev. 2:8a Rev. 2:12a Rev. 2:18a Rev. 3:1a Rev. 3:7a Rev. 3:14a
The Speaker's Identity
Rev. 2:1b Rev. 2:8b Rev. 2:12b Rev. 2:18b Rev. 3:1b Rev. 3:7b Rev. 3:14b
Jesus's knowledge of them
Rev. 2:2-3 Rev. 2:9 Rev. 2:13a Rev. 2:19a Rev. 3:1c Rev. 3:8a Rev. 3:15a
His rebuke
Rev. 2:4-5 - Rev. 2:14-16 Rev. 2:20-23 Rev. 3:2-3 - Rev. 3:15b-20
His commendation
Rev. 2:6 Rev. 2:10 Rev. 2:13b Rev. 2:19, 24-25 Rev. 3:4 -? Rev. 3:8-11 -
His call to listen
Rev. 2:7a Rev. 2:11a Rev. 2:17a Rev. 2:29 Rev. 3:6 Rev. 3:13 Rev. 3:22
His promise for overcomers
Rev. 2:7b Rev. 2:11b Rev. 2:17b Rev. 2:26-28 Rev. 3:5 Rev. 3:12 Rev. 3:21
The words in ch. 2-3 are dictated from Jesus to John (see end of ch. 1); these are messages from Jesus to these 7 churches.
These 7 churches are probably not meant to be symbolic of 7 church ages as some have suggested. There is nothing in the text that indicates that interpretation and these letters are clearly dealing with literal churches in the first century.
These letters are written to specific churches going through specific situations, and yet their message is also timeless - it applies to us today. This is why he says, “hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (not “to the church”). So although each message was for a specific church of the first century, it also had applications for other churches of that time and throughout church history.
As we read each of these letters, we ought to ask, “How does this apply to my church today?” and also, “How does this apply to my life individually?”
For study purposes, we will divide up these churches according to the general tone of Jesus’s message to them:
Churches with balanced strengths and weaknesses mentioned: Ephesus, Pergamum, & Thyatira
Churches with only strengths mentioned: Smyrna & Philadelphia
Churches with mostly / only weaknesses mentioned: Sardis & Laodicea
From Grant Osborne’s commentary: “This first section covers the three churches that have both strengths and weaknesses. When we look carefully at the problems in these churches, we discover they have to do with the two criteria that make up a truly biblical church: faithfulness to the Word of God and a community characterized by love. Ephesus was strong in the first and weak in the second, while Pergamum and Thyatira were weak in the first and strong in the second. The situations of these churches emphasize the need to be both a Bible-centered community characterized by strong teaching and a biblically caring fellowship characterized by strong relationships.” (Osborne, G. R. (2016). Revelation: Verse by Verse (pp. 45–46). Lexham Press.)
Ephesus
Ephesus
The recipients (2:1)
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
Ephesus:
4th largest city in the Roman world; population of about 250,000
Important city for trade & commerce; very prosperous
Contained one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world: the temple of the goddess Artemis, with an area about the size of 2 football fields, made completely of marble, with 127 sixty-foot pillars, and containing a black meteorite which was supposedly the image of the goddess Artemis (Acts 19).
23 About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.
24 It began with a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis, bringing much business to the craftsmen.
25 Demetrius assembled the craftsmen, along with the workmen in related trades. “Men,” he said, “you know that this business is our source of prosperity.
26 And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.
27 There is danger not only that our business will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and her majesty deposed—she who is worshiped by all the province of Asia and the whole world.”
28 When the men heard this, they were enraged and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
29 Soon the whole city was in disarray. They rushed together into the theatre, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.
30 Paul wanted to go before the assembly, but the disciples would not allow him.
31 Even some of Paul’s friends who were officials of the province of Asia sent word to him, begging him not to venture into the theatre.
32 Meanwhile the assembly was in turmoil. Some were shouting one thing and some another, and most of them did not even know why they were there.
33 The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward to explain himself, and he motioned for silence so he could make his defense to the people.
34 But when they realized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35 Finally the city clerk quieted the crowd and declared, “Men of Ephesus, doesn’t everyone know that the city of Ephesus is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?
36 Since these things are undeniable, you ought to be calm and not do anything rash.
37 For you have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed our temple nor blasphemed our goddess.
38 So if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open and proconsuls are available. Let them bring charges against one another there.
39 But if you are seeking anything beyond this, it must be settled in a legal assembly.
40 For we are in jeopardy of being charged with rioting for today’s events, and we have no justification to account for this commotion.”
41 After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.
Emperor worship was also common there, with 3 temples dedicated to different emperors, including Domitian
The church in Ephesus
May have been founded by Aquila and Priscilla or Apollos
Became a hub for preaching and evangelism all over the province (see Acts 19:10)
9 But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
10 This continued for two years, so that everyone who lived in the province of Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.
Recipient of one of Paul’s letters (perhaps 3 if 1-2 Tim. are included) & the city where both Timothy and John likely ministered
The Speaker's Identity (2:1)
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand (see 1:16, 20)
emphasizes Jesus’s sovereignty and authority over the churches
16 He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.
20 This is the mystery of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
The One who walks among the seven golden lampstands (see 1:13, 20)
Jesus is present with His church (“where two or three are gathered...”)
13 and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe, with a golden sash around His chest.
20 This is the mystery of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Jesus's knowledge of them (2:2)
2 I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.
I know your deeds
Jesus makes this statement or a similar one to all of the churches. It can be either a comforting and encouraging thing to know that Jesus knows all about us and what we do, or it can be a terrifying thing, depending on what we are doing.
Nothing is hidden from Him. He sees all and knows all (Psalm 139)
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD.
5 You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
His rebuke and call to repent (2:4-5)
4 But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love.
5 Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love
“first” may refer to their “primary love” or “the love they had at first”; based on v. 5, the second option fits better
they started out well in love for God and one another (1 John 4:20-21; Mark 12:29-31)
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
21 And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.
29 Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
perhaps differences between Jews & Gentiles were a source of conflict and of abandoning love
Keep in mind how far you have fallen
Failing to live in love is a very serious thing, because of the essential nature of love in the Christian life (John 13:34-35). A failure to live in love may demonstrate a lack of true spiritual life.
34 A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.
35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
He urges them to think about, consider, keep in mind where they’re at and where they’ve been, so they can make the necessary changes.
Repent and perform the deeds you did at first
Even as Christians, we often fail to live in a loving way toward God and others. Jesus calls them to turn around, to return to the life of love that they demonstrated at first, and so to prove that they are genuine disciples of Jesus Christ.
To repent is to have a change of mind that leads to changed behavior
If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand
Jesus is the Judge, and He says that if they refuse to return to love, judgment is coming against them. They will be treated as apostates (false believers) rather than a genuine church.
Thankfully, from history we learn that the church of Ephesus did heed this warning and became a thriving church, as reported by the church Father Ignatius in the early 2nd century.
His commendation (2:2-3, 6)
2 I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.
3 Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name.
6 But you have this to your credit: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Your labor and your perseverance
They are hard workers and they are staying the course as far as biblical teaching goes
You cannot tolerate those who are evil; You have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles
they did not tolerate false teachers and their false teaching; they tested it according to God’s Word and exposed it as falsehood
we must also be like the Bereans, comparing the teaching we hear with the Word of God, not simply accepting whatever someone teaches in God’s name
Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name.
They have not grown weary or gotten tired of standing up for the truth in the face of opposition
In our own day, we need strength and perseverance to stand against the lies being pushed on all sides in our culture. Like these believers, we must not grow weary in standing up for what is true and right.
But you have this to your credit: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Nicolaitans are only mentioned in Revelation ch. 2, and we don’t know much about them. Many scholars think this is related to Gnosticism, which taught a secret special knowledge necessary for salvation; they apparently also tried to mix Christianity with pagan traditions such as emperor worship and stressed freedom to live however you want. The main thing we learn about them is in relation to the church at Pergamum, that they were involved in or promoting idolatry and sexual immorality.
The Ephesians were doing well to reject this false teaching and ungodly lifestyle that was being promoted, because it’s something God hates.
His call to listen (2:7)
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.
He who has an ear, let him hear
The proper kind of hearing leads to obedience, which leads to God’s blessing (1:3)
A proper hearer will also be a doer (James 1:22)
22 Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
A common saying of Jesus (Matthew 13:9; Mark 4:23, etc.)
9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
By listening and obeying the voice of Jesus, you prove that you belong to Him (John 10:27)
27 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.
What the Spirit says to the churches
Though Jesus is the One speaking, giving this message, He says that the Spirit is saying these things to the churches
This is a message for the churches (plural), not only for Ephesus
The present tense indicates that it is a timeless message (not only for the first century but for us today also); even now the Spirit is saying these things to the churches
His promise for overcomers (2:7)
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.
To the one who overcomes
From Osborne commentary: “The powers of evil have a transitory, temporary victory, but ultimate victory belongs to God and his people. Still, the believers are responsible to “overcome” or “be victorious” over temptation, the pressures of the world, and the cosmic powers. The final victory was won on the cross, and our victory comes when we participate in Christ’s victory and find strength from him.” (Osborne, G. R. (2016). Revelation: Verse by Verse (p. 52). Lexham Press.)
I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God
They will enjoy fruit from the tree that Adam and Eve missed out on because of their sin
Trees of life:
In the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9)
9 Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Cross of Christ (1 Peter 2:24)
24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
In the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 22:2 & prophesied in Ezekiel 47:12)
2 down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
12 Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for healing.”
Summary of the Church at Ephesus:
Summary of the Church at Ephesus:
They are doing well at standing up for truth and rejecting false teaching; they are persevering in their commitment to the teachings of Scripture.
They have gotten cold in their love for God and for one another. In their zeal for truth they have abandoned love. Their minds are in the right place, but their heart is not.
Jesus encourages them to keep up the good work in the fight for truth, but he also warns them of the deadly consequences of leaving love behind.
Thankfully this church responded positively to this message and became a thriving church once again.
Application:
Application:
Like this church, we must persevere in our stand for the truth. We must actively grow in our knowledge of God and His Word so that we can recognize and reject false teaching and wrong ideas.
Depending on God’s grace, we must also kindle genuine love for God and for each other. Where this is lacking, we must ask God to put this love in our hearts for Him and others, and we must put forth the effort to demonstrate His love in our actions of obedience to Him and of kindness toward others.
The promise for the conqueror is ours as well — if by God’s grace we are faithful in these things, we will inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:11-12) and enjoy His eternal blessing.
11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.
12 Then you will not be sluggish, but will imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
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Lord willing, next time we will look at Pergamum and Thyatira, the last 2 churches mentioned in this chapter. Like Ephesus, they were doing some things well and other things not so well. We’ll skip over Smyrna and come back to it afterwards.
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Pergamum
Pergamum
The recipients (2:12)
12 To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword.
The church in Pergamum
The Speaker's Identity (2:12)
12 To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword.
The One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword
Jesus's knowledge of them (2:13)
13 I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held fast to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
I know where you live
where the throne of Satan sits
His rebuke (2:14-16)
14 But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
15 In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
16 Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
Some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam…
Some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans
Repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth
His commendation (2:13)
13 I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held fast to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
Yet you have held fast to my name
You have not denied your faith in Me
Even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells
His call to listen (2:17)
17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches
His promise for overcomers (2:17)
17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.
To the one who overcomes,
I will give the hidden manna.
I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name,
known only to the one who receives it.
Thyatira
Thyatira
The recipients (2:18)
18 To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze.
the church in Thyatira
The Speaker's Identity (2:18)
18 To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze.
the Son of God,
whose eyes are like a blazing fire
and whose feet are like polished bronze
Jesus's knowledge of them (2:19)
19 I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first.
I know your deeds
His rebuke (2:20-23)
20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
21 Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling.
22 Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds.
23 Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
But I have this against you:
You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess.
By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling.
Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness,
and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds.
Then I will strike her children dead,
and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts,
and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
His commendation (2:19, 24-25)
19 I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first.
24 But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned the so-called deep things of Satan: I will place no further burden upon you.
25 Nevertheless, hold fast to what you have until I come.
your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—
and your latter deeds are greater than your first.
But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira,
who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned the so-called deep things of Satan:
I will place no further burden upon you.
Nevertheless, hold fast to what you have until I come.
His call to listen (2:29)
29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
His promise for overcomers (2:26-28)
26 And to the one who overcomes and continues in My work until the end, I will give authority over the nations.
27 He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery —just as I have received authority from My Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
to the one who overcomes and continues in My work until the end,
I will give authority over the nations.
He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery —
just as I have received authority from My Father.
And I will give him the morning star.