Revelation 2:25-29

Revelation 2:25-29

Imagine going paragliding, you and the instructor put on the vest, you grip the pole and you begin to run, the glider begins to lift from the ground, but there is a problem. You, are not latched on to the glider. As it continues to rise in the air, you are hold on for dear life. The instructor is holding your back, encouraging you to hold on. You are just barely holding on so you won’t wall fall to the earth. That would be a scary and trying time.

Well, this in a way describes what we find the Lord telling the church of Thyatira, here in this congregation are some who are holding on to the faith, but many are in jeopardy of falling back into the old way of life. Yet, the Lord gives them the encouragement and strength to press on.

After the corruption by this non-prophetess, here is a church that has faced the poison of false-doctrine. It has led many away from serving the true Christ, yet, there are still some, who remain faithful to the Word of God.

Verse 25

· Jesus tells those in the church, to hold fast. In essence, Jesus is saying keep a firm belief on what is true.

· Think here for a moment, that within your church, there are some that do not believe the same way you do. That they are trying to convince you how you are wrong in your belief and that you need to convert over to what they believe in. It would be appealing for many who lived in this community, but the Lord offers the encouragement of staying firm.

· So, the Lord tells them to hold fast. What the Lord is commending these people to do, is keep their testimony intact, and remain clear of the satanic doctrine and the cult.

· In these days, we’re going to have more philosophies, more ideas, come to us. And, there’s going to be a temptation to get away from this book; there’s going to be a temptation to get away from the blood atonement; there’s going to be a temptation to get away from salvation by grace through faith. And, the churches are going to be under attack, in these last days, with seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. And, here, in the message to Thyatira and in the message to our church, Jesus says, “You hold fast till I come.”[1]

· Now ask you ask yourself, are you holding fast your testimony for Christ? In the world we live in, we are surrounded by the ungodly. Those who may want us to give in to their wicked ways. It might be fudging the numbers, it could be giving in to an affair, it might be allowing ourselves to give in to filthy conversations.

· We are to hold on to Christ, to hold on to his Word, and never let go.

Verse 26

· In this verse the Lord begins to give attributes to the faithful, he calls them that “overcometh”. What is the Lord meaning by this? He is speaking of the person who has denied themselves and took up their cross and followed Jesus.

· The only way we overcome this flesh and this world, is through the blood of Christ. This means that those who overcometh, are the ones who have accepted Christ as their Savior.

· Listen, we are not to be conquered by this world, if Christ is living in us. Yet, many Christians live day to day, defeated and being conquered. If we would just stop and realize that victory has been won, and quit living on the side that the war is still raging, and start living in the victory, then we would be able to comprehend what the Lord means by saying overcometh.

· He also follows this up by saying, keeping my works unto the end. This is a race folks. Not a race against each other, but a race against Satan. He is trying to cheat, he is trying to trip you up, he is trying to make you quit, but the Lord is our protector, and He is telling us to press on.

· Now there is a prize to be gained, for the one who keeps the faith, who continues the work, when the Lord comes, he is going to be rewarded. That person is going to rule with Jesus. One of these days, Jesus is going to come and we are going to rule with the Lord.

· Now this isn’t a maybe, or a, “will see”, this is a promise to the one who remains faithful to the Lord.

· It might be hard to imagine, but you here today, who have placed your faith in Christ and are living according to His Word, we will not be playing harps, we will be part of the rule of this earth.

· God is going to take it back to like it was in the garden, and man will have part in ruling with Christ. Just like we saw the kings of old having provinces and they would have rulers under them carrying out the affairs, the Lord will establish his saints in like manner.

Verse 27

· Now the Lord as He rules will be the powerful rule, and those who serve with the Lord will be recognized as part of this rule.

· In this verse we begin to see the type of rule that Christ will exhibit on the Earth, first, he will rule them with a “rod of iron”, now we mustn’t misinterpret this phrase, or we will get the wrong idea of what is being said here.

· When the Lord refers to his rod of iron, this isn’t an expression that we here used with tyrannical regimes or dictators. This is actually referring to the nature of Christ as he is most often compared to a shepherd.

· Let’s read Psalm 23:1-4 “23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

· The rod was a shepherds tool, that was used to protect his flock, not to be confused with the staff, the rod was generally a short club-like device and used when something was trying to attack the sheep.

· When the Lord establishes his rule over the earth, the Lord tells this church that he will use this tool of the shepherd. The Lord loves his flock, and the rod is not meant to attack the sheep or maim them, the Lord will instead have a very protective nature over the flock and will not allow anything to harm them.

· So, instead of seeing an tyrannical dictator, we see the Lord use the rod of iron as a protective, caring illustration of his people.

· Now, the Lord refers to the vessels of potter. Pottery is made of clay, and often is used to as a reference to humanity. We are the clay and the Lord is the potter. But not all pottery serves its purpose.

· You see, a pottery vessel is meant to store and hold whatever substance is put into it. But not all pottery vessels work as intended. During biblical times, when a vessel was made, if it would not hold the liquid put into it, it was worthless. And the only thing that at that point to do, was to break it.

· In a like manner, during the reign of Christ on the earth, in what we learn latter to be called the millennial kingdom, not all nations will immediately just give up their power and control to the King of Kings. Some will oppose the rule of Christ. These governments like vessels are not holding the spirit of God, and must be dealt with.

· So, what we see is that the Lord will break apart these governments and regimes that have gripped many groups and nations, and remove their control.

· Notice, he is not utterly destroying these nations, but he is breaking them apart. They will no longer rely on their strength, but will be at the mercy of Christ.

· Now the scripture referenced that the believer would be a part of this process as well, as representatives of Christ, we will be dealing with these nations and people that have been uncooperative.

· So, as a believer, you will be part of the diplomacy that is established throughout the world.

· The verse concludes with the statement “even as I received of my Father.”

· The statement that Jesus makes here can be understood like a chain of command. What gave Jesus the right to make such bold statements? Well, it is because he received this authority from the Father.

· God the Father, who gave all the earth to God the Son, will in likewise give us authority to operate in this kingdom, because it is his. If the chain of command were to be broken, Jesus would not have had the right to make such a statement.

· Here the Lord, recognizes where he has received the kingdom, it was not from Satan. Satan had tempted Christ with the kingdoms of the world in the wilderness temptations, yet, Jesus refused. That is because they were never Satan’s to give away in the first place.

· God is still the owner of this world, even though Satan may be doing what he wants, it doesn’t really make it Satan’s. Let me illustrate it with children. John owns a ball, he takes that ball outside and plays with it. But the ball gets caught up in a breeze and blows over to Sam. Sam begins to play with that ball, he colors on it and keeps it over to himself. Its in Sam’s arms, but does that make it Sam’s? No, the ball still belongs to John, but Sam just has control over it right now. Now at some point, John is going to go over to Sam and take the ball back , because it didn’t belong to Sam in the first place.

· Well, just like that illustration, there is going to come a point where God the Father is going to take this world out of the hands of Satan. And God the Father is going to give this world to his Son, Jesus Christ.

Verse 28

· In this phrase we find that the Lord speaks to the individual who is his follower, the believer and what is it that the Lord gives? The scripture says, the morning star. This is actually a reference to Jesus Christ himself.

· Now we learn that this is Jesus by reading ahead, in Revelation 22:16, Jesus is speaking – “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”

· So, to have this position, to have this promise, is to have the possession of Jesus Christ in your life. None of what was said earlier is applicable to the non-believer. This is for those who will accept Jesus into their life, and then will they have all that comes with Jesus.

· We are reminded of the Roman patrician whose wealthy father had died, leaving all he possessed to Marcellus, a slave. In his will, he stipulated that his noble son could choose one thing and one thing only from his estate. “I’ll take Marcellus,” said the sharp-witted son.[2]

· I like what Adrian Rogers once said on this verse “It’s getting very dark. Praise God—it’s getting gloriously dark! And, before long, that morning star is going to appear. Jesus is the morning star. Don’t let go; don’t let down; don’t back up; don’t shut up, until you’re taken up, because the Lord Jesus Christ is coming. And, He’s saying, “Just hold fast. Stand in there; stick in there, because, one of these days, you will be the possessor of that morning star that’s going to come.” And, if you have Jesus, you have everything.[3]”

· What a wonderful promise our Lord has given to us, that we will have a new dawn in our life, we Jesus Christ rising in this world.

Verse 29

· Now some amazing wonderful and tragic things have been said, but that shouldn’t overshadow what is said in the last verse. It matters, what does it say? “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

· Listen the things that were said in these verses gave the churches the chance to repent, but that could only be if they listened to what Jesus was saying.

· Not everyone is listening, not everyone is heeding the words of the Lord, not everyone in this church may be heeding to what the Lord is saying, but listen, its not so much your business that they are hearing, as much as you are hearing.

· The words told to these churches were meant for them of that day, and today as well. We need to make sure we are listening to what Jesus is saying and understand that this is for today! This isn’t history, this is today!

[1] Rogers, A. (2017). Is It Nice to Be Narrow? In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Re 2:18–29). Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.

[2] Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring Revelation: An Expository Commentary (Re 2:26–29). Kregel; WORDsearch Corp.

[3] Rogers, A. (2017). Is It Nice to Be Narrow? In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Re 2:18–29). Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.