Revelation Study part 6
Notes
Transcript
text of ch. 2
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.
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)
7 Churches:
Ephesus
Smyrna
Pergamum
Thyatira
Sardis
Philadelphia
Laodicea
7 Elements of Letters:
The recipients
The Speaker's Identity
Jesus's knowledge of them
His rebuke
His commendation
His call to listen
His promise for overcomers
Reminder about the letters to the churches
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
Review of Ephesus
Review of 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.
This time we will look at Pergamum, the third church 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.
“The strengths and weaknesses of Pergamum and Thyatira were the opposite of the situation in Ephesus—they were strong in love and weak in faithfulness to God’s word and truths.” (Grant Osborne in Revelation: Verse by Verse)
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Pergamum (2:12-17)
Pergamum (2:12-17)
The recipients (2:12)
The recipients (2:12)
Revelation 2:12 (BSB)
12 To the angel of the church in Pergamum write…
The city of Pergamum
Of the 7 cities that received the message of Revelation, Pergamum was the farthest north. Pergamum was not as large as the city of Ephesus, but it was more important politically to the Roman Empire because it was the capital of the province of Asia.
Pergamum was also an important city in the religious life of the province of Asia. In Pergamum there were “temples and shrines dedicated to Zeus, Athena, Dionysus (the patron god of the city), and Asclepius (the god of healing).” It was also an important city for emperor worship, being the first city to build a temple for a Roman emperor.
The church of Pergamum
Revelation 1-2 is the only place where this city is mentioned, and we don’t know the origins of the church of Pergamum.
In a city dedicated to worship of Greek and Roman gods and emperor worship, Christians would have stuck out like a sore thumb. For this reason, the persecution they endured was especially intense.
The Speaker's Identity (2:12)
The Speaker's Identity (2:12)
Revelation 2:12 (BSB)
12 … These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword.
The One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword
The letter to Pergamum contains the shortest of Jesus’s self-identifications in all of his letters. It is short and to the point. (Pun intended)
Jesus is reminding the church of Pergamum that He (not the Roman government) is the true and just Judge. Caesar is not lord - Jesus is Lord; and the church needs to be reminded who is really in control. And the kind of righteousness and peace that we long for can only come through Him.
It is a reference back to Revelation 1:16
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.
Other verses to consider: Rev. 19:15, 21. Is 11:4. Heb 4:12.
And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
And the rest were killed with the sword that proceeded from the mouth of the One seated on the horse. And all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Jesus's knowledge of them (2:13)
Jesus's knowledge of them (2:13)
Revelation 2:13 (BSB)
13 I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits…
I know where you live
Jesus knows how hard these Christians have it because of the culture they live in and the opposition they face (and He knows what we’re going through also!)
where the throne of Satan sits
Probably refers to the practice of emperor worship - worshiping human rulers instead of God. This was a major reason that the Christians there suffered, because they could not partake in this central aspect of their city’s culture.
His commendation (2:13)
His commendation (2:13)
Revelation 2:13 (BSB)
13 … 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 and have not denied your faith in Me -
Despite the opposition and social pressure they faced to deny Christ, they have remained true to Him and “held fast to” His name. They did not renounce their faith or deny Christ. There was a form of syncretism (mixing of religions) trying to creep into the church saying that you can worship both Christ and Caesar, but the majority of the church in Pergamum was remaining faithful to Jesus Christ despite this.
Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.
And you will be hated by everyone because of My name.
Even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells
We don’t know much about Antipas except that he was killed because of his faithful witness for Christ. In fact the Greek word for witness (μάρτυς) is here associated with being killed, and this word later came to mean someone who is killed for faithful witness to Christ (martyr).
Satan himself is behind this persecution of believers in Christ, and as Grant Osborne’s commentary puts it, “Pergamum is Satan’s hometown.”
His rebuke (2:14-16)
His rebuke (2:14-16)
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. In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam…
Thankfully this was not true of the whole church, but a group within the church. They were falling prey to the same false teaching that Balaam introduced the Israelites to about 1500 years earlier. You can worship Christ and participate in the sinful lifestyle and culture of pagans.
Balaam had counseled the Israelites to have sex with pagan women, which led to not only their sexual sin, but also participation with these Moabite women in their worship of their god Chemosh. As a result, God’s angry judgment came against those who participated in this sin and He struck them with a plague, and 24,000 people died.
This is what Moses records for us:
16 “Look, these women caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to turn unfaithfully against the LORD at Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of the LORD.
The scene is recorded for us a few chapters earlier, though at this point Balaam’s involvement is unknown. Only later did Moses tell us of the connection. Balaam had led the people astray.
While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab, who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods. So Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD burned against them.
And Peter tells us that Balaam did all this for money. He did this for financial gain, because of his love of money.
15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
And now the same sort of thing seems to be happening at Pergamum. Some within the church are being lured away toward sexual sin and participation in the worship of other gods.
“By allowing false teachers to flourish, the Pergamum church was endangering every member.” (Osborne)
Some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans
It’s not completely clear, but it appears that these Nicolaitans (whoever they were) were the ones leading people astray in the first century, as Balaam had done so long ago.
There are those within our own day who want to mix Christianity with our culture’s religion of self whose sacraments are abortion and sexual freedom. But if you embrace this idolatry of self and its accompanying godlessness, you have abandoned true Christianity. You cannot have both.
Some within the church are being led astray, and so they receive this strict warning:
Repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
Jesus reminds them that He is the Judge who will justly deal with the sin of those who are going astray.
When he says that he will come shortly, this probably refers to an imminent act of judgment rather than the final judgment yet to come. Of course, both of those are judgments that you want to be on the right side of.
But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”
But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
His call to listen (2:17)
His call to listen (2:17)
Revelation 2:17 (BSB)
17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches…
He who has an ear, let him hear
We are urged to listen and take heed for our own lives and for our church. We must consider whether we are indeed being faithful or if we’re being led astray in some way as well.
What the Spirit says to the churches (copied from Ephesus)
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 Pergamum
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 (2:17)
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,
The one who is faithful, who remains committed to Jesus Christ, the truth of the Word of God, love for other believers, and the holy life God has called us to. To these people Jesus promises 2 things:
I will give the hidden manna.
If this is to be taken literally, it may refer to the manna that was hidden away in the ark of the covenant along with the two tablets of the 10 commandments and Aaron’s staff that budded.
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.
Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Keep an omer of manna for the generations to come, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ” So Moses told Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with an omer of manna. Then place it before the LORD to be preserved for the generations to come.” And Aaron placed it in front of the Testimony, to be preserved just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
It may also have a more symbolic meaning, considering that Jesus Himself said in John 6 that He is the true bread from heaven (the true manna), who comes down and gives life to the world as people feast on Him.
So they asked Him, “What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You? What will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us this bread at all times.” Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst.
I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die.
If this is what Jesus is referring to, what He promises to give us is Himself - eternal communion with the all-satisfying Bread of Life. If we remain faithful to Him, Jesus will give us Himself - fully and forever.
I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name…
There have been many suggestions regarding the meaning of this white stone.
Here are some of the suggestions according to Osborne’s commentary:
“It may symbolize or be:
1. the jewels in the breastplate of the high priest;
2. the white and black stones placed in an urn during a trial to vote for guilt/acquittal;
3. the white stones with names on them as a kind of ticket given to guild members or victors at the games for admission to feasts;
4. secret amulets with the names of gods on them; or
5. a token signifying a gladiator was freed from the arena.”
Osborne argues for the third option, and this seems to fit well with the context of Revelation. This means that these white stones are used as “tickets” for admission to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
a new name, known only to the one who receives it.
We don’t know for sure what this new name is. It “could be the name of God/Christ inscribed on the believer.”
Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war. He has eyes like blazing fire, and many royal crowns on His head. He has a name written on Him that only He Himself knows. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is The Word of God.
Whatever this new name is, it will only be known to the one who receives it on this white stone - that is to each individual believer. Just as Christ overcame and received a new name, so the believer who overcomes will receive a new name. In fact, in the age to come, there is some sense in which everything will be new.
And the One seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.”
So we will have new names then, just as we will also have a new place of residence, new bodies, etc.
Summary of the letter to the church in Pergamum
Summary of the letter to the church in Pergamum
The church in Pergamum faced great pressure to give in to false teaching and worldly living because of the culture that they lived in.
Jesus knows their situation, and yet he rebukes them for this compromise and calls them back to holy living.
Those who refuse to pursue holiness are inviting the judgment of Jesus, but those who persevere in holy living will enjoy His eternal blessing.
Application:
Application:
Are you tolerating false teaching? Perhaps not here at church, but on television, on the radio, or in other ways. Are you being influenced to think, speak, or act in ways that contradict God’s Word?
How serious are you about getting to know God’s truth in His Word? What priority does His Word have in your life? We must be very serious in our pursuit of God’s truth in His Word, reading, studying, meditating on it, and applying it to our lives.
We must be faithful, and remain committed to Jesus Christ, the truth of the Word of God, love for other believers, and the holy life God has called us to.
Thyatira - next time
Thyatira - next time