Rev 2:18-29
Notes
Transcript
Letter to the Church at Thyatira
Letter to the Church at Thyatira
Good morning dear friends!
i hope you are well today, it is always a joy to see you all. I really appreciate you coming to worship today.
What a joy it is to gather with brothers and sisters.
I am thankful for you!
Today my friends I want to encourage you to love on your Father’s today. What a joy to celebrate Father’s who are present and love their families.
Well today, we come back to the book of Revelation, and we are looking at the message from the Savior to the church at Thyatira.
Now you might wonder why these letters are so important. I would tell you this..
Well I think a couple of thought could be examined here to answer this question.
1.) First, the message to those churches is still relevant to the church today. I know this because it is the Word of God. The word is meant to teach, to correct, to encourage us to live rightly in front of God the Father…
2.) Secondly, if we are not careful, the Christians in churches today could be guilty of the same sins. So we see what Jesus says to them, and it compels us to live differently. To examine our lives daily in order to overcome those sins and be the best disciple of the Lord Jesus that we can be.
So this morning , let me share 3 thoughts with you from this text that I think you can apply to your life.
1. Jesus Observes their Faith.
I believe we can all say without a doubt that Jesus knows His people, and thus the church universal and local as well.
There is no doubt in that, He is omniscient, all knowing. That is consistent with all we know about Jesus.
Lets look at verses 18-19 Rev 2:18-19
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.
Now it is interesting, how Jesus approaches His message to the believers there at Thyatira.
The ancient city of Thyatira had a large military arsenal. It lay to the east of Pergamum. And the city had a great deal of metal works, especially bronze work and made a lot of fine linens, often working with purple fabrics which were highly sought after and expensive.
The city is also know for its great development of trade guides who we think Lydia was a part of who is mentioned in Acts 16:14
14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
Now the city also had a temple to the Greek god Apollo, who is the son of Zeus. Apollo was often referred to in the Greek culture as the so called “son of Zeus or son of god.”
And so as Jesus addresses them there, look at what He tells them… “The Words of the Son of God...” You worship what you think you know here, but He is telling them, I am THE one and only Son of the Living God.
Now that is important, for there was a pantheon of gods in the Greek and Roman worlds, but they were all dead, false gods, they have no worth or value.... But Jesus is reminding the church and all who encounter these words, I am the true Son, the Son of God.
And look, he is speaking to them, you know why? The True Son of God has something to say to them in light of what is happening around them at this time.
Listen, friends Jesus is alive and well, and He is speaking to each person and to every church, He is speaking and He wants them to listen carefully what He is about to tell them.
And Jesus continues by saying “....who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.” verse 18.
These false gods had no idea what was happening in the cities, let alone in the lives of those people… Jesus says I have eyes like a flame of fire.. They are eyes not only that burn away everything that is worthless, His eyes are all consuming… there is nothing left that He does not see and know...
Then Jesus identified with the city in one further way. He tells them his feet are like burnished bronze. That is really important...
The city knew something about working with bronze, they were the first to distill bronze a copper zinc mixture, they were known for it.
Here Jesus says I have feet of burnished bronze, a phrase that is one found here and them back in chapter 1 verse 15.
Jesus is revealing that he is great strength, his feet are strong and steady, able to stand with strength.
It is interesting that in Daniel chapter 10, verse 6 Daniel says the Ancient of Days had arms and legs gleam like burnished bronze.
The church at Thyatira would have recognized this expression of strength and ability that the Savior has to deal with every situation.
And Jesus says to them, I know your works, look at at verse 19… Rev 2:19
19 “ ‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.
Man, that is important… I know your works Jesus says....They were a church of good works, They had love and faith and they were a church of service, they served each other and those around them well. And finally they were a church that endured, in the midst of what they faced, what they dealt with during those days.. they were faithful.
The Lord says, I know your works..
And those works my friends, they grew… Jesus points out that the works they did...they were greater now than when the church first began.. so there is some Christian maturity in and about the church.
Jesus knew their works and my friends understand he knows you and your works today.
Now we know that salvation is by grace through faith He saves us, none of our works, efforts are involved.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
God worked on our behalf my friends, He saved us. And being his child we know that He made us, saved us to do good works, that is the process that happens after our Salvation.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The church at Thyatira were doing better works, faithfulness had grown in them. So it should be in us as well.
My friends I would remind you that the Lord knows our works. What is He saying to you, is your works today, your service today better than when you first gave your heart to Christ.
Now secondly today understand the Lord does point out their failures, their sin....
2. Jesus Denounces their Sin.
I think it is safe to say my friends that the Lord is aware of the sins present in believers lives. And here is the truth, He is not ok with it.
He denounces it because He wants us to get rid of it, to put it out of our lives and live more for Him.
Here is what we have to do my friends, He have to stop giving our approval to sin, we have to stop justifying sin.
Listen to what the Lord says here… verses 20-23
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.
Wow.. Do you see what their greatest sin is at Thyatira? Jesus says you tolerate that woman, Jezebel.
It is the sin of tolerance. While they did good works, they tolerated sin and didn’t declare is was wrong.
The Lord says I have this against you. 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. Verse 20
Now Jezebel was a evil woman in the Old Testament, she was the wife of one the most perverse and evil kings of Israel, Ahab during the days of the divided monarchy.
She worshipped the false god baal and controlled the prophets of baal. She even tried to kill the prophet Elijah.
She was such an evil woman that no one names their beautiful daughters Jezebel, …have you noticed that… it is like no one names their sons Judas.. It’s not a good title to place on any one.
But Jezebel was really the power behind the throne of Ahab. She led people into pagan worship and to be sexually immoral with the temple prostitutes (both male and female). And of course she taught people to eat tainted food, food offered to idols.
So in reality she and the prophets of Baal were making their lives about sin, ingesting it, practicing it and helping lead others astray.
In the church at Thyatira something similar was taking place.
So there in the church was some lady, who called herself a prophetess. In claiming this, she is claiming she has literally heard from God and supposedly told her to teach unfaithful teaching.
How sad it is that we have people in pulpits across our nation is that leading people astray. Teaching them to tolerate, to embrace what Satan is pushing and programming people to think and act upon.
Can I just say this today… if the Bible calls anything sin, anything - please do not think just because time has passed, that God is ok with sin.
If the Bible says no, it is still no today and to continue in it can bring judgement upon ourselves and others.
In fact, look at verse 21 Rev 2:21-22
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,
God says I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and if she doesn’t repent I will throw her on her sick bed.
My friends, sin can and does disqualify you in life. And to continue in sin leads to your judgment, so much so that the Lord says what… unrepentant sin could lead to God moving you on and out of His way. We will pick this thought back up in a minute..
Now she is leading people to participate in sexual immortality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols.
Now I know Paul in I Cor 8 tells us that eating meat purchased at the temple is not inherently evil. But to participate in their practices is condemned, thus eating meat in their worship and practices.
So not we understand the distinction between the two…
But when God convicts of sin, we are to stop. She hasn’t, she has been deemed unwilling to repent. as a result, the Lord says that he will throw her on her sick bed.
Now back to the sick bed… Listen the Lord has the right to move you on rather than His church be harmed and lead astray. The Lord is the One who searches the hearts and minds and repays each according to their deeds.
We are called to live carefully in front of our God.
Sin in the OT is still sin today.
But in today would we have a people telling, convincing others that sin is not bad… oh that is ok…love is love, of they are going to get married eventually
The church today has become a tolerant church and it is a terrible thing my friends. We have to either stand with God or stand with the prince and ruler of this world who is satan.
Who are you standing with my friends..
Now lets consider this last thought today.
3. Jesus Calls for them to Stir up their Resolve.
The world resolve is a key word my friends… It means to decide firmly on a course of action. Jesus is calling for them to decide what they are going to do...
Lets look at the remainder of the text...
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. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
There is a blessing here my friends, there are faithful people in the church at Thyatira. This is truly a blessing here, faithfulness present and active.
So listen to what the Lord says… For those who had not fell prey to the deception of Jezebel, the Lord promises to lay no other burden upon them.
What are they to do then?
They are to hold fast to what they have until the Lord’s return...
Now think of this, back up for a second the Lord mentions there are those who have fallen prey to the deception of learning these so called deep secrets of Satan. Some were led astray, some have fell prey to a gnostic heresy, a claim that a secret knowledge had to be comprehend in order to know salvation… these are nothing more than the lies of Satan. And these may tie back to the doctrines of Jezebel and the teaching of Balaam.
The truth is these are not consistent with the teaching of Scripture and what the Lord taught during his time on earth.
But to those who overcome… there is a promise.
To the one who overcomes, they will have authority over the nations and part of this is that will help rule those nations.
So these humble servants who serve the church at Thyatira will one day be given great authority over all the nations just as the Lord has said...
This ties us back to what Jesus said about the faithful servant in Matthew 25:21
21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
When will this take place? Well it has to be after the Lord’s return, cause the church is called to hold fast until He returns....
We know when the Lord returns, the church is called home. The dead in Christ will rise and those who are alive will be caught up in the air to meet the Lord.
Then, after his event, we know the Lord will establish his His millennial kingdom. A 1000 year reign of HIs kingdom here on earth.
This reign, it is the saints ( US ) who will rule and reign with the Lord over that period of time.
How can Jesus guarantee this? Just as the the Father has given all authority to the Son, so the Son will give authority to those who are his sheep as well.
Then look at verse 28.... Rev 2:28
28 And I will give him the morning star.
The Lord is often referred to as the bright and morning star.. as in Rev 22:16....
But here the promise is that those faithful members, those who held fast to the Lord in difficult times, not just those at Thyatira, but all the Lord’s faithful will receive the “Morning Star.”
Paige Patterson, says ..... “....Those who receive the “Morning star” will possess an abiding, close, imminent and eternal fellowship with the Lord himself.”
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
My friends, above all else we are called to hold fast to the Lord and the Lord only… and our faithfulness will so be rewarded as we have the joy of standing in the presence of Jesus
My brothers and sisters, we have to stop giving our approval to sin.
We must stand with Christ for what is good and right no matter the cost
We must seek to bring others into fellowship with our Lord.
Today, will you change the way you look at life, at sin and so much that is familiar to us and take a step back and look at all through His eyes and thus live accordingly.
Pray