Revelation 2:12-29
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Ok the third church. Here we are. We are going to attempt to get through the next 2 churches this morning. So just stay with me. If I am going too fast let me know and I will slow down, I just want to get as far as we possibly can during this season of small groups.
The church of Pergamum or Pergamos. Both ways are correct. This church is about 100 miles north of Ephesus. Smyrna is about halfway between the two. This is an inland city from the Aegean sea. It is considered to be the greatest city. It was known by the Roman writer Pliny as by far the most distinguished city in all of Asia.
When John writes this books, Pergamum is the capital city of Asia. The city still stands today and is the Turkish city Bergama.
This was a place of intelligent people and they had a library that rivaled Alexandria. 200000 hand written volumes of works. The problem with the city is that they were a worldly city and worshipped 4 of the top god’s and goddess of the Grecco-Roman world. Athena, Aesculapius, Dionysus, and Zeus all have temples. Just for the your enjoyment anyone ever seen this symbol before?
Where have you seen it? Right it is on medical things like and ambulance, a hospital, etc. Well you know where it comes from? This city and their worship of Aesculapius who was considered the God of Healing. This is his symbol? Who do you think has control of the medicine in our country?
Ok moving on. They also worshipped the Romans meaning Ceasar is Lord. The believers were in trouble every single day. One day of the year, everyone was required to bring incense to the temple of Roman and say Caesar is Lord. the believers would not do it.
Ok so our three views of this letter. First view this is just a church and the letter is just to them. They are a faltering church. There is some good but there are some things they are not dealing with and Jesus doesn’t like that.
The second view yes it is a church but it could mean a church at any given time and this would be a class order church. It is the church that kind of develop the class system of importance. this is when we elevate certain people because of titles etc. Think catholic church.
the third view the prophetic view, this is the period of the patronized church. They are losing sound doctrine and are just patronizing God.
They are becoming a worldly church. Embracing things of the world inside the church. When I talk about some of these things, remember that majority of our problems within the church have to do with the western church. Other parts of the world can lose their lives if they are found out, therefore they are quite devoted to Jesus. In general the western church is about seeking people to attend so we don’t preach the hard things so they wont get offended and leave. Can I just say we do people no good to teaching them they are ok in the eyes of God. They must know that he is a righteous God who does not like sin.
We are called to make disciples not consumers.
We are not marketing a brand called Jesus and we do not ever apologize for what Jesus says. He does not need our PR help. We must transform our minds.
12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Here we go
12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
The word of God is not dull. The word of God does not falter. And this image of Him having the two edge sword was given here for a reason. Some cutting away needs to happen. It should intimidate or cause some introspection. Notice this isn’t baby Jesus. This is not suffering servant washing feet Jesus. You ever wonder why that is the Jesus always depicted in Jesus’s on pictures and sculptures and such. You never see warrior Jesus. Sword wielding Jesus. But He said
34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’;
36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’
He is going to be dividing things because there is not halfway. So he is telling this church you better be ready and I hope you are on the right side.
Let me tell you what he is getting ready to divide. With Constantine the Roman emperor ending the persecution of the church which we look at and go wow that was great. Relief. Thank you God. When he made that edict of Milan in AD 313 that they would be free with no more persecution and becoming a christian became cool with the state and even preferred a marriage was made between the state and the church. And with that, persecution ended and becoming a christian was easy. It didn’t cost you anything. It became the favored religion of the empire. And the world began to come into the church. It left following jesus a personal matter, now it is a national identity. We are the bible belt. We are a christian nation. Sound familiar?
13 “ ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
Jesus is saying I know your church is where Satan throne is. there are a few things we could say about that. 1 satan is the prince of the air. Very generic. We could also say because of the city and it’s worship of these other God’s that every where they look they see greek gods and goddesses and the temple to the romans etc. So they have the very seat of idol worship. Or it could be for us as whole that Satan’s throne is here on earth. Now his authority has been cut short. He doesn’t get to do whatever he wants but…he is still here attempting to limit the impact of the church on earth. He can’t stop the church but if he can keep the church complacent about their individual work. The phrase, you’re fine.
Jesus commends those that will not bow that will not turn to the world. He says I am proud of you. Like Antipas. Anyone know who that is? Jesus calls him my faithful witness. Rev 1:5, 14:3 You better know who he is. You know who else is a faithful witness. Jesus calls himself a faithful witness. would Jesus say that about you? Not inconsistent. Not sometimers. He faithful.
So what happen to Antipas…it ain’t good. He is thrown into a blazing bull oven and burned alive at the temple of Diana. Since he wasn’t going to participate in bringing the yearly sacrifice, he would be the yearly sacrifice.
It is coming. The church is not the answer any more in this country, it is the problem.
Now he is not we do a bit of a misnomer here with calling him a faithful witness. The greek word there is martus which means martyr. Which means to me that if you are going to be a faithful witness, it will cost you your life. It was so normal that anyone who would stand firm for Jesus would become a martyr.
So now we have the but...
14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Anyone remember the story of Balaam and Balak in Numbers 25?
Balaam was supposedly a prophet of God but he was a prophet for hire. God told him not to go with Balak but he goes anyway. So every time he tries to go and curse them, God stops it and makes him speak something else. So Balaam says, let’s stop trying to curse them and send in the women. When the women seduce them, they will eat of the food to offers. They will not make it. It worked. God didn’t like it very much and 24,000 people die.
If you become a problem for God’s people, He will remove you.
He is talking to the church and is saying there are poeple in this chruch who are pretending to be one of us but are not and they are living lives contrary to what I am saying and they are acting like Balaam and i will not let that go. He say yall hold to the teachings of the Nicolaitans which comes from Nicholas. You know what he taught. God forgave everything so do anything. In particular with sexual immorality and idol worship. He would teach that it was ok. This was a heretical belief and teaching. Nicholas means conquer of people and Balaam means devourer of people. You see how the two go hand in hand.
Then look at this. Please catch this.
16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.
Who needs to repent? Its not the nicolaitans or the balaamites lol IT IS THE CHURCH!!! Jesus is more upset that his people are allowing these other people to come to church and pretend and they all know they are wrong but so they don’t offend anyone they don’s say anything. I am really starting to see why some pastors come off as tyrants. Can I just speak my heart for a moment. I am sick and tired of weak church and weak pastors myself included. If I see something going on, then I should confront it. If I don’t then I am no better than this church and the same for you.
Jesus says if you don’t deal with it, I will. But if I have to come you didn’t do your job. I am telling you to handle it and you better. Stop appeasing them and purify my church. Christ is upset that the church is not doing it. I am not saying it should be fun to have to do this but it has to be done.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Who is judgment coming for? Tolerance is celebrated by the world, purity is celebrated by our Lord.
17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
Hidden Manna: He is the Hidden manna. We get Him
The white stone with the new name. Listen to this as there is speculation so I will briefly give it to you
Priest wore white stones: Exodus 28:15-30 Lev 8:8 Numbers 27:21 Deut 33:8 but I will tell you the one I believe the strongest.
It was a roman custom that in battle or games or judgements, if you were condemned, they would give you a black stone. If you were victorious and you won the battle, you would get a white one. With your name engraved upon. And John is writing to a place in which they knew these Roman customs. They participated in them.
the new name…oh boy. Here is the deep water.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
We all mean think this to mean, don’t say GD or swear by using the name God. It is so much more than that. When my wife got married to me, what changed about her? Her last name. It went from what it was, to what it is now. When she took that last name, which is the question will take his name or not, things about her had to change. She had to change the way she thought aobut life and work and time…everything. What are we called? We are the bride of christ. Don’t you dare take that name and go out here worshipping other idols, living any ole way you want to.
There is more.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
When Sonya and I adopted taylor our oldest. What changed about him. He went from a tegge to a wiley. His name changed. But that also meant he had access to things he didn’t before. Don’t you dare take the name in vain. Don’t you dare not understand the meaning of that. You don’t ever have to ask to come into my home if you have my name. My home is your home. My food is your food.
So when it is all said and done if we are victorious, Christ says, I will give you a victory stone, with your new name on it!!!!! Oh I can’t wait.
Next Church
The Church in Thyatira
View 1 practical False Church
View 2 any church loss of doctrine Solid doctrine is being polluted. it is a mixing
View 3 prophetic Rise of the catholic church or papal church.
So the longest letter to any church right here…and they are the smallest city of the 7. Most northern city. Built on flat land. Thyatira was a military town and a commercial city. They were supposed to be a buffer before pergamum. And wherever army folks are hanging around there is going to be idolatry and immorality. Because there aren’t a lot of believers werent ready to join the army. You needed to be and still do be rough and tuff and ready to kill somone and let’s be honest not everyone is prepared for that. They were also worshippers of Apollo. They also had guilds or like unions. This is where the trouble comes from. Each guild was like the plumbers union, the electricians, auto workers, etc and each one had its own patron god. If you were apart of the guild you had to participate in the yearly festivals which had all kinds of sexual immorality and food to idols etc.
Lydia in Acts 16 comes from Thyatira. Some believe this church may have started in her home.
18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
19 “ ‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.
You notice that John is picking out certain attributes of Christ in each letter. You think there is a reason for that. In the last letter to smyrna it was the one who holds the sword. This on is the eyes of fire and feet like burnished bronze. So he is saying to them just like in the OT I see what you are doing. I see what is going on. He sees everything. My eyes when I look into your church, my eyes are burning.Because I am indignant to what I see. I am appalled. My wrath is coming. And what he is seeing is the beginning of events that will lead to the reformation. His bronze feet mean judgment.
So it sounds good. But let me go ahead and give you the throat punch. Smyrna has been tried by satan’s fire. Pergamum is the throne room of satan but this church right embraces satan’s deception.
He sees a lot of works, but he doesn’t see a lot of worship. He is looking for worship. If there is no love toward him in the work then it means nothing. It is clanging cymbals. It is a gong. It is dung on a hill. Tradition is not worship.
You know where judgment begins…in the house of God so here we go.
20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,
23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
Still thrilled with yourself. I mean again if I could have been in the room when these letters were read. I know your works and the latter works are better than the first. Yall are doing so much stuff. I mean you have the men’s prayer breakfast, the womens prayer partners, the showerup, the this and that. Everyone starts looking around, boy we heard those other letters, this isn’t sounding to bad. BUT I have this against you. You tolerate that woman Jezebel and if you don’t kick her out I will kill her and all of those with her.
The problem wasn’t outside it was inside. It was their hearts. We don’t have a whole lot of outside persecution, it is the inside persecution. It is the internal false doctrine that we won’t deal with. Jesus says I am about to clean house. You wonder how serious God takes sin.
Now let’s talk about this Jezebel. It is unlikely that her name was Jezebel. That names comes from the time of Elijah who was when he killed the 400 prophets of Baal she made a pledge to kill him. She is teaching false doctrine. Now let me be clear on this. She is not false because she is a woman. I do believe that God has an order of things. Men should be heads of households and heads of churches. It is an order thing. I do believe women can be senior pastors however, I don’t believe that is God’s perfect design. I think God uses whoever is willing and if it is a woman God will bless her and use her and if it is a man God will use him and bless him. But just like in the family the spiritual responsibility of the house is supposed to fall on the man not the woman. But she is a prophetess not even a pastor so that doesn’t even come into play. It does not say she is the leader of the church. And she calls herself a prophetess God does not. So there’s that.
She is preaching the same doctrine of Balaam. Sexual immorality. By the way, what Jesus is talking about when he says it is better to tie a millstone around your neck than to corrupt the children, He is talking about spiritual children not actual children and he is talking about the ones that are teaching these new believers false doctrine. You are manipulating them on purpose. The way Jezebel dies is very gruesome. God finally has enough of her and he ends it.
But look at what Jesus says in 21. I am giving her time to repent. She won’t do it. If she had just repented. Because she didn’t, I WILL TAKE HER OUT. You had better be careful. The darkest sin that used to be in the darkest alleyways, now parades down mainstreet. And when God is done with it, he will act. He says she will have a sickbed that will lead to her death but all of her followers, will have tribulation. This is not the tribulation but it is a series of problems they will have to deal with unless they repent but if they don’t they will die also.
The church at this time is about 40 years old. And she has had her time to repent. I am done with it. She is going to die and her children spiritual will also unless they repent. Anyone have any questions on how God deals with divisiveness and false teaching in the church. He does not take it likely. So we should not either but let me say this again…you have your own church to worry about. We have enough problems inside of bellshire and enough spirits to keep at bay at bellshire that I don’t have time to worry about another church.
There is enough “evolution” on marriage, gender, homosexuality being taught in the pulpits and we have to war against that me trying to talk with about personally another church takes too much effort. If I am worried about what they are doing over there, then I am not involved enough where I am. The church is now referring to certain scriptures as clobber verses because they are used to beat people over the head with and make people feel bad. How about it is just the truth of God and if it makes you feel bad it is probably because you need to repent. I am not talking about actually going out and screaming at people about their sins because again I have enough of my own to repent over but I am not going to back down from the scripture actually says. Romans 1 Leviticus 1 Cor 6.
And let me just say this..sometimes the only thing to get through a thick skull is a knock upside the head. If Tammy were here, she would amen. lol
Ok let’s keep going. And all the churches will know. You think a woman is struck dead for what she is teaching wont get around. He is going to use this church as an example. LEARN THE EXAMPLE
The church did not in church history. They have fallen and continue to fall into false doctrine. THere was a man that came around in church history by the name of Montanus. He claimed to have an ongoing revelation of Jesus Christ and so he was getting new things from God. Sound familiar? We have that going on right now. Listen there is always new revelation of scripture in that the Holy Spirit will show you things that you were at an early time not ready to handle. But now you are. But God does not change. He does not evolve. He does not bow to cultural pressures and anyone that teaches that should be exiled from the church until they repent. If the new things don’t like up with the old things the new things are wrong!!!!
Now he say i will give according to your works. If you are faithful, you will be gifted according to that. You will not be punished with the guilty. I can divide all of it. Let say this. if God comes into Bellshire and removes people, whoever he removes is correct and just. I pray all of us repent. But he is a the just judge.
24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.
25 Only hold fast what you have until I come.
26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,
27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
The only thing he says to those who are good, just stay doing what you are doing. Don’t do anything extra don’t have to work harder. Just stay true. Take on the burden of Christ. It is easy.
29 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’