Revelation 2:18-19

Exposition of the Book of Revelation   •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Revelation 2:18-19 – Introduction to the Church of Thyatira.
“And unto the angel of the church of Thyatira write:”
· We now come to the fourth church in our journey. This church that we will learn about tonight is called Thyatira.
· It is the first church that we come to as we descend south down the eastern side of the Asian province.
· This city was well-known for its wool and dye industry.
· We are first made aware of this city in the book of Acts 16:14-15, when a woman named Lydia, who was a seller of purple, who hailed from this city, came to know the Lord through Paul’s ministry.
· It was quite possible that when Lydia returned to her home city, that this church we read about in Thyatira was founded.
· Remember, churches were not quite like they are today. Many of these churches met in the homes of people, and did not have a building they met in like we have.
“These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;”
· By now we are seeing the trend in these letters, when the Lord is speaking to them. That He identifies himself.
· Jesus will not leave us clueless to who He is, He will make Himself known, so there will be no doubt of His identity.
· First, He identifies himself as the Son of God. Now this isn’t John’s letter to the churches, this is the Lord’s letter, and the Lord identifies himself by stating one of His defining names. He is the Son of God.
· Now do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Many people struggle with believing that. They may want to say that he was just a man, with an unusual message for the day. Well, he was a man, but he was also the Son of God.
· If a person doesn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God, they can’t be saved. You can’t have partial faith in His nature, who have to have trust in knowing that Jesus is the Son of God.
· Jesus begins to describe himself, and one of the features that we learn about our Lord is his eyes are like unto a flame of fire. Now we have talked about this feature before in Revelation 1:14.
· But what does fire do? It penetrates. It sees past the barriers of the heart, and it sees the real you. We, cannot seal our true nature away from Christ, and with these eyes he will be able to rightfully judge us and our character.
· The second part of his description refers to the feet of Jesus. Describing them as like fine brass. Brass has been a symbol of judgment in the Word.
· Our culture has become shoe fanatics, we have a pair of shoes for every occasion. We have our relaxing shoes and our running shoes, and some of us wear working shoes. Well the feet of Jesus are the feet of Judgment. They are not covered and nothing in the world will hurt them.
· It will be those feet that will split the Mount of Olives one day, and bring judgment onto the world.
“I know thy…”
· Jesus begins to list out everything about this church. He begins with:
o Works;
§ Now churches ought to be working churches. But there is a certain order that churches also ought to remember. That worship should come before works.
§ The Lord says “come” before He says “go”.
§ The Lord wants to see us work, and we need to be focused on reaching out and working for Christ.
§ So, we can understand that this was a “going” church.
o Charity;
§ Because of their charity, it made them a “growing” church. And every church should be seeking to grow. I once knew of a church that wasn’t interested in growing. They were in love with themselves, rather than in love with God.
§ Love for the Lord, means showing love to others. If we can’t love others, how then can we say we love God.
· 1 John 4:20 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
o Service;
§ Now the Lord is not referring to the Sunday Morning Service, he was referring to their dedication and their willingness to follow the Lord.
§ It’s not always easy to stay faithful to the service of the Lord. When we meet challenges, the pressures of life that build up, here was a church that stay committed to the cause.
o Faith;
§ The Lord recognizes their faith. We will learn that this church had problems, but it didn’t mean that everyone there was faithless, they believed in Jesus, and the Lord knew that.
§ Coming to church is a way we demonstrate that faith, by assembling with others and honoring Jesus with our hearts.
o Patience;
§ Living in these times, there was a lot of persecution placed on the people. Where many would have given up because of the world, here was a group of people that still remained strong through these perilous early days.
§ Perhaps this is one of the main things we struggle with a great deal. Patience, but not everything is accomplished overnight, somethings do take time.
o Works; and the last to be more than the first.
§ Jesus repeats again the works, this church must have been very active in its efforts to reach the community, and Jesus saw this.
§ Listen, the things we do as an individual and as a church will be seen by the eyes of Christ.
§ We should be making the effort to grow in our work for the Lord. That when we have done something in the name of Christ, that we are coming back afterwards and are saying to ourselves, how can we reach more next time?
§ The next task needs to be greater than the previous.
Now brethren, here was a church that was a going, growing and glowing church. And we need to have that same attitude here.
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