Revelation 3

Intro: Appearances

All that glisters is not gold;

Sardis: A Name Without Life

Commend: You have a reputation… (it is ironic—mockery)

Critique: You are dead

Command:

Wake Up—Sardis had twice fallen to enemies because they hadn’t watched the wall

Remember and Repent—Go Back

Christ:

He has the 7 Spirits and Stars: He knows His church.

The full Spirit of God.

He holds the angels assigned to each in His hand.

If not, Jesus will come as a thief

Challenge:

White Garment Revelation 7:14

Never Blot Out Name

Philadelphia: Strength without Power

Commend: Little Power, Kept Word, Not Denied, Patient Endurance

Christ:

Jesus is the Holy and True One

He has the Key of David

What He Opens/No One Shuts. What He Shuts/No One Opens

Isaiah 22:15–25 ESV

Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master’s house. I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”

Command: Hold Fast

Challenge:

Make Pillar in Temple—Permanence, Assurance, Prioximity

New Name—Philadelphia had changed its name twice

Laodicea: Riches Without Wealth

Critique: Lukewarm

This text has been misinterpreted more often than not. Many believe what Jesus means is, “I would rather you be cold and in opposition to Me or hot and on fire for Me.” However, it is hardly conceivable that Jesus would say to His church, “Be cold and oppose Me.” It is better to interpret the statement against the historical and geographical background of Laodicea. Hot, medicinal waters bubbled up at nearby Hierapolis, while cold, pure waters flowed from Colossae. Our Lord’s point to them is something like this: “You are providing neither healing for the spiritually sick nor refreshment for the spiritually thirsty. You are spiritually lukewarm, and I will not tolerate you. If you do not repent (v. 19), I will spew you out, vomit you out of My mouth. You are sickly and insipid. I will not tolerate your condition any longer. You are flat and unsavory. You badly misrepresent the life-changing power of the gospel and the refreshment and healing it brings.”

Akin, Daniel L. 2016. Exalting Jesus in Revelation. Edited by Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida. Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary. Nashville, TN: Holman Reference.

Christ: Amen, True, Faithful

Command:

Buy Gold

Buy White Garments

Buy Salve

Be Zealous

Repent

STAND AT DOOR

Challenge: Sit on a Throne

Thyatira: Growth without Backbone

Commend: Like Ephesus but having Love and Growth

Critique:

Thyatira was a blue collar city. It was full of worker guilds (like unions) that each had a Roman patron or guardian god.

The guilds would hosts these festivals for their guardian god.

Your very presence at the festival would be perceived as worshipping the guardian god.

Then when the festival ended, the grossly immoral after-party would continue on. And to leave would imply that you disapprove of the revelry.

It would mean not just ridicule but you would have to quit the union, lose your position and standing in society. You lose your livelihood. Your family would become destitute. You would be persecuted.

But Jesus does not focuses his critique on the church for caving to the guilds’ idolatry and immorality. Rather Jesus’ main complaint is that there is a woman named Jezebel.

Jezebel is almost surely not her real name. Rather He is drawing on the Old Testament story of Queen Jezebel.

1 Kings 16:31 ESV

And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.

2 Kings 9:22 ESV

And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?”

We don’t know everything about Jezebel.

But we know that this woman calls herself a prophetess.

We know that she has seduced many in the church to Nicolaitans teachings.

We know that she taught something about the deep things of Satan.

Jezebel must have been teaching or even claiming to prophesy that the wise and deep could partake in these guild celebrations with all of their idolatry and immorality and that to defeat Satan you had to know all about his ways.

What she was doing is giving those who wanted to sin an excuse in the name of wisdom to commit the sins they wanted to commit.

And Jesus is upset the church at Thyatira tolerated her.

WHAT ALL IT MEANS TO TOLERATE HER

Christ:

But Jesus is the one who sees through us with eyes like a flame of fire.

He is strong

He is the Son of God

Command:

So the church should Repent.

WHAT ALL IT MEANS TO REPENT OF TOLERATING HER

>Loving each other to tell them the hard truths

Challenge:

Give authority Revelation 20:4

Morning Star Revelation 22:16