Revelation - 2:12-29
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[00:00:00] But you ended it. Oops, sorry. Oops. So I will ask you though, do you know how many abortion clinics there are in the US?
Mm-hmm. Yeah, there were 700, I think-- The articles that I read, it was like 753 brick-and-mortar, um, specifically for abortion, and there was 1,063 or some odd number of facilities that do abortions, hospitals or offices or abortion clinics altogether in the United States.
Too much. Yeah. Too much.
All right, I don't know how I'm gonna follow that, but, uh-
Do you know how much money is involved in that, on the, like, like how big of an industry is it? Yeah.
I think-- It's a good question. I read so many articles. It was, um... One of them specifically, Planned Parenthood, I believe, was only a third of the money that was coming in for that.
Really? But it was-- I'm not sure what [00:01:00] the
specific number was. It's, it's a lot. Right. It's quite a bit. Yeah. But Planned Pa-Parenthood's only a third, huh? Mm-hmm. Wow. 'Cause you also have the chemical abortion pill, and you have- Which is before the Supreme Court, at least. Oh, yeah. Yeah. All right, we'll just start with some review. Uh, I think last week we made it through, uh- Last time
uh, chapter two, verse 15 maybe. Anyway, we, we've been looking at the churches, so we looked at Ephesus, we looked at Smyrna. Um, we s- One, one of the things with the church in Smyrna, we saw that, uh... And I don't think a lot of people put this together, but the early persecution of the church came from the Jewish people, okay?
It came from the Old Covenant, Old Covenant Israel, and we see that in the Book of, of, uh, Revelation. Uh, we talked about the first and second death. Uh, the first death being basically born depraved, born dead in sin. Uh, the second death being the eternal death or eternal separation from God. Then we looked at, uh, Pergamum, and we saw that [00:02:00] Pergamum was a, uh, very Roman city, and, uh, John refers to it as Satan's throne.
So it's interesting because, again, throughout the Book of Revelation, you'll see, uh, Israel and Rome kind of working together, Rome supporting Israel. Um, so that's, uh... You'll see that come up, uh, again. We talked about, um, the teaching of Bo- Bala- Ba- Balam and the Nicolaitans, and we, we talked about that for a couple of weeks.
Uh, we don't 100% know who the either group is, uh, but Do- John does say that, uh, basically what they taught, what they were practicing was, uh, things sacrificed to idols. And if you remember Paul's discussion in Corinthians, um, Christians could eat meat sacrificed to idols, okay? There were reasons maybe not to do it, but if you had a clear conscience, it was- it wasn't making your brother stumble, that wasn't a sin if you were buying it in the marketplace So I think in Revelation when they talk about things sacrificed to [00:03:00] idols, it, it probably goes much beyond that.
Um, so it was probably likely that the Christians were involved in the, in the ceremony or something, but, um-- And then immorality, and we spent some time talking about, uh, immorality, um, and the issue that it still is in the church. So that brings us-- Uh, we're almost done with, uh... What church was that?
Pergamum. So we'll wrap up Pergamum, and then we'll start with a new one. But if you open your Bibles and turn to chapter two. I should probably have somebody
read just to catch us back up. Sure. So Revelation chapter two, and does somebody want to read?
Uh,
so we'll just
read the, the letter to Pergamum again.
So Revelation chapter two, verses 12 to 17. Would somebody be willing to read that? "
And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: 'The words of him who has the [00:04:00] sharp two-edged sword. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is, yet you hold fast any-- 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.
But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to 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. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against, and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the [00:05:00] 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.'"
Okay, good. Uh, so we're actually at verse 16, um, which is, um, basically the exhortation to repent. Um, but every time we've looked at the different churches, I've tried to give you a little bit of background. So one of the background things with, uh, Pergamum is it was a, a Roman city. So it is interesting that John-- Actually, it's Jesus talking here.
John's just recording it, but Jesus uses something about the city every single time. So it's interesting here Jesus says, "If you don't repent, I'm gonna make war with you," and what's he gonna use?
The
word. The word, but how does he describe it? You're absolutely right. The sharp- The sharp two-edged sword.
Two-edged sword. I will make war with you with the sword coming out of my mouth. We will see that again [00:06:00] elsewhere, uh, in Revelation as well. And yes, it stands for, uh, for the Word of God, which is our weapons of warfare as well. But it is interesting, it's a Roman city, Romans used swords in war, and Jesus uses that picture here.
So you pick up on just these little subtle things, uh, as Jesus is, uh, describing what He's gonna do and stuff like that. Um, again, I'll just remind you in verse 17, uh, even though these are, I believe, historical churches, churches that existed in the late 60s AD, uh, real churches. He's writing to real churches.
The message is to specific churches, and yet He wants all the churches to read them. And, uh, I mean, we can pick up things that are true about modern churches, especially, uh, with some of the ones that are coming up. But, uh, and He says, "To him who conquers," and I like-- What translation do you use, Rhoda?
Um, the
New- NEB, New English Bible?[00:07:00]
Yeah. It's the, um, RC Scrolls.
ESV then probably if it's Scrolls. Yeah. Okay. Um, anyway, I like- ES- ESV. Yeah. Okay. I like it 'cause, uh, uh, on mine, which is a good translation, but the "him who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna." Um, but yours, you've translated conquer, and that's that word. The word is basically, and everyone's familiar with this word, it's nike.
Nike? So the tennis shoe Nike means to conquer.
Huh.
And so they borrowed the Greek word here, and that's what it means in the Greek. So those who overcome, those who conquer, "I will give some of the hidden manna." I think that's a reference to Jesus being the bread of life. Um, and remember, uh, I said this at the very beginning, I'm trying not to get too much into the details, so if you have questions, feel free to ask questions.
Uh, but I wanna give kind of an overview, yet enough that you understand where the book's going, uh, all that. So, um, and then [00:08:00] this other thing, He says, "I will give him a white stone, uh, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows but the one who receives it." Uh, it was interesting, but in, in the Roman Empire, when you went before a judge, um, if you were innocent, you were given a white stone, and if you were guilty, you were handed a black stone.
So it might be that Jesus is picking up on that, uh, uh, picture as well, because the people in the city would have understood it. So if you overcome and you're innocent, you're gonna get the white stone, but if you don't, uh, you'll be judged. Um, there's also the great white throne of judgment, uh, so there's probably some comparisons there.
Um, all right. I think we're gonna wrap up that one, and we'll start with Thy- Thyatira. Any questions on that one? I know I went a little bit fast, but we were almost done with it last time and, uh, I didn't wanna redo everything we'd already done. All right. So then the next one is in chapter two, verses [00:09:00] 18 to 29.
Can I get somebody to read that for me?
I'll read that.
Okay. "
And to the angel of the church of Thy- Thyatira write, uh, the words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service, patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.
But I have hi- 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. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great [00:10:00] tribulation, unless they repent of their work-- of her works.
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. But to the rest of you in Thy- 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.
Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron and with broken hearts and broken-- are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.
And I will give him the morning star. He who has an [00:11:00] ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Okay. So a little bit of background on Thyatira. It was pretty much-- It was the Bonners Ferry of the Roman Empire. It was a very unimportant... No offense, but it was just this small city, n-not really much weight, not really much importance, but it gets the longest letter.
Which is, which is interesting 'cause I think it's just a reflection of the grace of God and just the, the-- that Jesus cares, and Jesus doesn't look at the outside, but He looks at the inside. And for the most part, these guys are doing pretty good. Um, so a relatively unimportant city, uh, but it gets the longest letter.
It was a working town. There were a lot of guilds and, you know, uh, like construction. It was a construction town, basically. Um, if you remember way back at the beginning, I gave you the four different... Does anyone remember the four different views of this book? This would be a good review question. What are the four different ways that this book is typically interpreted?[00:12:00]
Historic. Okay, there's the historic view, and what the historic view says is it's giving the history of the world basically, uh, down to our present time. So each of the seven churches is viewed as a different time in history. That's the historicist view. And just so you know, uh, the church of Thyatira is seen as-- Basically, it's dated around the year six hundred to right before the Reformation, and it's understood to be papal triumph, basically.
Don't really know why, that's just how the historicists take it for the most part. I think there's something you were talking about. Yep, that's the same chart. Yeah. So they'll kind of list the dates and stuff like that. So historicist is one view. What's another view? Preterist. What's that? Preterist.
Preterist, yes. And the preterist view, do you remember what that means?
Uh, is it the one that you used to be?
No, it's the one I am. It's the one you are. Okay, then I'm getting them. It's the one I is. Okay. Yeah.
Okay. Um, then that's
[00:13:00] the one that
kind of falls along with, um, postmillennialism. Uh, most postmillennialists fall into that camp- Yeah
uh, I would say. But, uh- It's the one
that believes about the fall of Jerusalem and, uh, can't remember the, the date, but, like, that, that literally already happened. Yeah. Yeah. And- So- And it has a more positive view of end times. The future.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So preterism is just the Latin word for past.
Yeah.
All right?
And what I like to tell people, and I know I've said it here, is we're all preterists because we all believe some of the prophecy in scripture have already been fulfilled. So it was prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. We all believe he was born in Bethlehem. That makes you a preterist, okay?
Um, but some would interpret the Book of Revelation in a preteristic fashion as well. And there are basically two schools. I would be what's understood to be a partial preterist because I think, I think there are still some things future, okay? Others would be full [00:14:00] preterist, and they would hold the view that the resurrection has already taken place and things have already-- There's no second coming because he's already, um- The resurrection or the rapture?
No, the resurrection. No. Okay. Yeah. Um, so, uh, yeah. So basically my view of the book is it concerns the fall of Jerusalem in seventy AD. And until we get to the very end of the book, um, everything has taken place. So in-- When we get there, I'll kind of flush that out. There's a lot of now and not yet even at the end of the book because I think, uh, we hear about this new city coming down out of heaven, and yet we're described as being that city.
In fact, we'll see it in one of the, one of the letters here. Um, so there's some now and not yet, like I pointed out in the sermon, but that's the preterist view. Okay, so you got the historicist, the preterist. What's another one?
The futuristic one
Yep, that-- which is the most popular view today. Mm-hmm. And there's, there's a couple of schools of thought.
Uh, I would say the most popular view today would be the, uh, dispensational [00:15:00] futurist view. Um, and that's the view that basically most the-- most all of the Book of Revelation takes place in the future, all right? And it hasn't started yet, or, you know, we're in the birth pains, birth pangs, or however you say that.
Um, so, uh, now the futurist view most of the time, not always, but most of the time would see, uh, the future part starting in chapter three. So chapter one is taking place, and then the letters are real legitimate letters to legitimate churches that were around when John wrote, all right? But the futurist view would also say that the Book of Revelation was written around ninety-two AD, where the preterist view would say it was written around sixty-seven AD, prior to the fall of Jerusalem.
So a lot of people unfortunately determine when they think it was written, and then they take that and interpret scripture accordingly instead of, I would argue, go to scripture first and see what we can find [00:16:00] out, and then consider when it may have been written. But that's the futurist view, most popular one today.
Who remembers the last view?
It's, uh, it goes by a couple of different names. It can be referred to as the idealist view or the recapitulatory view. And the idealist view-- And just so you know, all of us share some of these traits. You know, even futurists see some things like the first two chapters as past, okay? Um, they would identify things with actual historical events and st- So we all borrow a little bit from all the different views, but it's a matter of emphasis.
But what the idealist view is, or the reca- recapitulatory view, is it would divide the Book of Revelation into seven parts, and it sees each of the seven parts as giving the entire history of the world, uh, from the first coming to the second coming of Christ. All right? So each-- It, it starts off shorter, and it gets more information, more [00:17:00] information, more information.
So it's told in different ways. And basically, the reason it's called an idealist view is the principles here on each of the seven parts are basically instructions on how we should live our life. Uh, we, we should, um, be overcomers. We should be conquerors. We should trust Jesus. We should recognize that in, you know, each of the seven repetitions, Jesus wins, and so it should give us encouragement and stuff like that.
So those are the four views. So I think that's probably a good review. Um, all right, verse eighteen then. Uh, "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, 'The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, his feet are like burnished bronze,' says this." So eyes like a flame of fire, feet like burnished bronze, what does that make you think of?
Like
The, uh, statue of,
uh- Interesting ...
yeah, in, uh, Daniel. Okay The, the vision.
Nebuchadnezzar. All right, good. Interesting. I, I don't know that I [00:18:00] see a connection there, but that's a-- that's a-- that makes sense that your mind would go there. Um, uh, although the feet weren't bronze on the statue. No, the feet weren't bronze.
But yeah, I, I get that.
The
legs were bronze,
right? What's that? Legs were bronze?
I think so. I think, yeah. It was-- it started off gold, then it went silver, and then I think it went bronze, and then it went to a mixture of clay and iron. So, um, but yeah, that's actually good. That's thinking biblical there. Uh, what else, though?
What else might you think of in terms of that kind of description? Flaming eyes, burnished bronze feet.
Isaiah 6. Hmm.
Maybe. Maybe. I, I would just say I'm, I'm keeping it simple. Judgment. Jesus is the one who judges you. And keep in mind, we think-- and there's gonna be some other things because Jesus in this letter says, "I will kill your children."[00:19:00]
And we have this thing in, in the church today where even Christians sometimes think of God the Father as the angry God, and Jesus as this loving, you know, Jesus is the surfer dude, you know, in most of the movies. And Jesus is Yahweh. And w- here we have a picture of Jesus, and, and we could go back to the Old Testament, and we could see Yahweh described like this in several places.
We could find angels described like this in several, several places. In fact, many of the angels in the Book of Daniel were described this way, and they were usually bringing message, messages of judgment. Um, but here we have it placed with Jesus, and it's just-- we, we need to understand that Jesus is loving, and Jesus, you know, did out of love go to the cross.
But Jesus is no more loving than the Father. The Father lovingly sent Jesus. The Father lovingly came up with this plan, I mean, when we put all of Scripture together. Um, the Father is judge, and so is Jesus. [00:20:00] And so we get a, a description and a picture of Jesus in this particular letter as judge. Jesus says, "I know your deeds."
He's omnipotent. This is verse 19. "I know your deeds, your love, your faith, and service." Just so you know, the, the Greek word translated service there is the same word that we get the word deacon from, all right? And what's the job of the deacon? He is to render service. All right. The deacon, uh, as I understand it in Scripture, and if you've been to a membership class, you've heard me say this, but, um, deacons, it's not really a position of authority, okay?
Um, it's, uh, delegated authority, but the authority comes from the elders. So the elders rule the church. The elders are the ones with the authority. But the deacon, he's the kinda guy that is willing to Help the elders with whatever they need. That's kind of the-- that's the job description, okay? It's a very highly valued position.
I mean, the way Paul describes it, the way [00:21:00] God describes it, I mean, it is a position of honor, but it's a servant position. It's a position of servanthood. And so the same word is used here. "I know your deeds, your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance, they're enduring, um, and that your deeds of late are greater than, than, uh, from the first."
So they're a growing church. And I can't remember 'cause I get things confused because I'm going in so many different directions. I can't remember if this is something I'm gonna say later with another, uh, church, or if it's something from my next sermon, and I think it's from my next sermon. But, um, it's interesting because this is a growing church, and in the Bible, either you're growing and maturing or you're going backwards.
There's no such thing as a stagnant Christian. All right? Um, yeah, you might be stagnant for a very short period of time, but basically a stagnant Christian is a regressing Christian. All right? A Christian is supposed to be growing. We grow our entire life. We never stand still. We should always be [00:22:00] growing.
We should always be being challenged. We should always be persevering, and this church is described as that kind of a church. So, uh, very kind words of Jesus until we get to verse 20. Uh, "But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads my bond servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols."
So who does that sound like? I'll get to the word or the name Jezebel in a minute, but acts of immorality, things sacrificed from idols. Where did, where did we hear that already? The
whore of Babylon is what
I think of. Okay. Yeah.
Wasn't that just mentioned in the last
clip? Okay. That's kind of what I was getting, but I don't deny at all what you just said, 'cause yes, I think it all- Oh, you
sure don't
accumulates. Same, same basket. Yeah. Um, but the Nicolaitans and the, the [00:23:00] teaching of Balaam. So a-again, we don't know 100% who these historical groups are. Nobody does. Nobody claims to know. I think that's something we agree on. Um, but they seem to be teaching the church to sin in the same ways. And, uh, we talked about immorality a little while ago.
And like I said, these things sacrificed to idols, I think it's just basically because we see the same thing today. It's trying to get Christians off of Christ, off of thinking about godly things, and onto anything else. Because anything else that we put above Christ is an idol. Mm-hmm. All right? So I, I think that's the, uh- Uh, mode of operations back then is if I can get your mind off of Christ and onto something else, whatever that idol may be, whatever time period we live in.
So like in America, there's not a whole lot of people actually worshiping demons or idols or things like that, but what do we worship in our country? [00:24:00]
Money. Power. Money,
power.
Our country.
Our country, yes. Welcome to Bonners Ferry. And I'm not trying to put Bonners down. But very politically minded here, um, and I know the sign says...
What does it say? God, Trump, and guns or- Trump,
country- God. God, family, and guns.
Okay. I'm not sure that's the order of them. Okay? Um, but, uh, uh, yeah. The other thing that we, uh, worship in, in our day and age, believe it or not, technology. Mm-hmm.
Oh. Yeah.
Which takes our mind off of scripture. We start, "No, there's no way God could create in seven days."
You know, all this-- It takes our mind off of the Bible. So it's the same-- Demons have the same game plan today that they were using back then, is what I'm trying to
communicate. Um- My thought reminds me of the video that Cora just showed, how much social media is impacting the thinking of [00:25:00] America. And like, when in time in history could you imagine some young person having 6 million people- Right
watch this stuff and be influenced and start-- She's planting the seed of this evil idea.
Yep.
And we've never been in a place in history where somebody could have-- who's a nobody- Yeah. ... have that much influence. It's really scary.
Which that's a really good example of another thing that's an idol to most Amer- influencers.
Yeah. An
in-
My daughter's an influencer, okay? But so-- But man, we, we, we tend to worship them it, it seems. Um, and we follow them, and we take our eyes off Jesus, so. Uh, Jezebel. Anybody remember the Old Testament background for Jezebel?
Yes. What- She was [00:26:00] bad.
She was bad. Who was she? The
wife of- Ahab's wife.
Okay.
Ahab's wife. Ahab's wife. Uh, Ahab was a good king, right? She was evil. No. No, Ahab was a wicked king. Um- And she- ... Jezebel was a wick-wicked woman. Uh- She
influenced him. She was an influencer. She was an influencer. She was. Uh,
killed some prophets. Yeah. Threatened others. Uh, uh, Elijah and, uh, Jezebel were not, you know, really on speaking terms and, you know, uh, Elijah definitely felt threatened.
And, uh, so, uh, I don't think anyone thinks that there was really a woman whose name was Jezebel in this church. I think that John is trying to describe whoever this woman was. And it is fascinating that the Bible, even though it mentions these groups, it's not even gonna give them credit to mention their real names.
Why preserve it for history? Mm. It's gonna use Old Testament background and to describe what type of person they are. So I, I think that's kinda interesting as well. [00:27:00] And then I don't know if you caught it, but, uh, Jesus says, "I have this against you, that you tolerate." Oh, yeah. And we saw in, uh, the Church of Ephesus in Revelation 2, and we hate this today, but the church is actually instructed to be intolerant.
And we see that as taboo today. Like, you know, we have to be loving, and somehow loving means we have to be tolerant or kind. And I'll be honest with you, even in my personal life, I will struggle with this because somebody will say something, and two things go through my mind. First is the fireman thought, and I wanna fire off a response.
And then second is, "But I'm a pastor and I'm supposed to be nice." And then the third thought that goes through is, "But maybe should I say something anyway to show that I'm not tolerant?" Uh, I mean, we don't even know how to be intolerant anymore is my point.
How about combining the two?
I probably should.
Speaking the truth in love.
Yeah. I... The problem is [00:28:00] the love part doesn't always come out. The truth comes out, but Stacy can tell you, a lot of times it's just the fireman that comes out. But, uh, um- Yeah ... but we're supposed to be intolerant, and that's a good thing. But, you know, how many Christians today see it as a bad thing?
I mean, even Christians will say we're not supposed to judge.
Yes, we are. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Nowhere, nowhere in scripture are we commanded not to judge. We're simply told that by whatever standard we judge, we'll be judged by. So if we judge by the Word of God, I'm okay being judged back by the Word of God, okay?
So but we're supposed to be intolerant, so we-- I think the modern church needs to learn how to be intolerant because I- The modern
church doesn't know the Word- Hmm ... so they don't know this.
I agree. I agree. And I also agree, uh, that with our intolerance, we should be loving. But [00:29:00] sometimes it's loving to point out sin.
It-- I, I don't wanna embarrass you, and I won't keep coming back to it, but the way you did your speech, Cora, you nailed it. It's murder. Let's not even play, play games here. We can call it pro-life, uh, or pro-choice. We can call it abortion. Let's just call it what it is. It's murder, and that's how we should speak as Christians.
Just speak the truth. Um- I have
a
question.
Yes, ma'am. Uh, how can you be intolerant and also avoid- Conflict. Is that even a possibility? No. No. So- Give it up ... that's where I have a problem because I'm a very much a anti-conflict type of person, so like, where my husband is more like you and is like- ... "I'm gonna say something," I'm like, "Please don't.
Please, please don't." So-
Well, as I've said, because we've gotten so far from it, I really do think that [00:30:00] we need to relearn it. I mean, we don't even have the examples anymore.
Yeah.
So I think, uh, we're in a day and age where the Church has strayed enough that we need to relearn certain things. And so we do need to learn how to be intolerant and yet loving.
But yeah, that comes with conflict, so there's, there's no getting away from that. But- ... again, I won't-- This is the last time I'll refer to you. But, uh, like Cora said, know the facts, and that doesn't mean that we know the facts on everything 'cause that's impossible. Nobody is gonna know the facts on everything.
But have a few key issues that are important to you, and take some time to learn about them. Take some time to learn some facts. Take some so- time-- 'Cause I've got some issues where the facts are in my phone, so I just keep them in my phone, so if I'm in a conversation- ... and a lot of it has to do with numbers and statistics that I like.
Like, "Well, let me give you the number," you know, and the statistic on it [00:31:00] or something 'cause I can only keep so much in the brain, so. Yeah. But, um, but anyway, we need to learn to be intolerant. Verse 21: "Uh, I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her immorality." Uh, so two things there. In verse 20, he speaks of immorality, and, uh, uh, most of us interpret it as sexual immorality.
Uh, and the word that he uses, and you'll all be familiar with this word, is porneia. W-what, what English word do you think we get from
porneia?
Pornography. Okay, pornography. However, in the Bible, and this is something we just need to remember, porneia does not always refer to sexual immorality. It refers to all kinds of immorality, okay?
She wasn't willing to repent from her immorality. So just the idol worship or the sacrificing food to idols and being involved, that alone could be called porneia in Scripture, [00:32:00] okay? Because it's every bit as immoral. So, um, who can remember or who knows, how would you explain the word repent? What does it mean to repent?
Turn away. Okay, turn away. What else? I agree. Anything else? Because we live in a day and age when you tell someone you need to repent of your sin, some people don't even know what that-- what does that even mean, repent? To
acknowledge what you did that was wrong Okay And
then turn away from it Okay, good.
Very good. All right. Uh, literally the word means you need to start thinking different, which would involve the turning away, which would involve acknowledging what you did so that you can think different about it. So when we confess our sins and we repent, uh, to confess is to say the same thing. That's what that word means.
So basically, it's to say the same thing about our sin that God would say. So if I lied, you know, I'm not going to... You know, I [00:33:00] was tired, and I just didn't really tell the truth. No, God, I confess I lied, and you hate lying. And I need to repent, which means I need to think different about that sin the next time I'm tempted, and the different thought is I need to be obedient and not lie.
So, um, but He gives her time to repent, and then-- and here we have a play on words. He says, "Behold, I will throw her into bed." And most of our Bibles, and I-- when you read it, I think yours said it, a bed of sickness, but the word of sickness is not in t-the text, and this is why it's a play on word. "I will throw her on bed and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation."
So the bed and the adultery go together, um, and that's why s- most translators would say a bed of sickness, um, because obviously you go to bed for a reason, and the description here is not about rest. So it makes sense that translators throw sickness into it, but don't miss the connection with adultery [00:34:00] because there's all kinds of those things in Scripture.
And God, God has a sense of humor,
and
sometimes we miss it. Um, although it's very serious here as well. "Behold, I will throw her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, uh, unless they repent of her deeds." Uh, and here's the verse: "And I will kill her children." You know, how many of us think of Jesus saying that?
And He says, "I will kill her children with pestilence. Um, and all the churches," plural, "will know that I am." Literally in the Greek, I am, which is, uh, what God would refer to Himself. A lot of us think that when we see that word I am, and it's, it's also John uses it in his gospel all the time. "Before Abraham was, I am.
I am the bread of life." All right? Um, and most of us think of Moses and the burning bush, [00:35:00] "I am who I am," but really, most likely that phrase I am goes back to Isaiah because we see that phrase in Isaiah all the time. I am. I am the only Savior. I am Savior. I am Yahweh. We see that multiple times, and it's Jesus's-- one of many ways that Jesus claims deity.
So, um, "And all the churches will know that I am." He who searches the minds and the hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your deeds. Verse 24: But I say to the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold to this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan as they call them, uh, I place no other burden upon you.
Um, nevertheless, what you have, hold fast until I come. Um, he who overcomes, there's that word for conquer again. Okay, nike. He who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds, uh, until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he [00:36:00] shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces.
Anyone know where that comes from?
I don't know exactly where, but isn't there one where they talk about, uh, God smashing the vessel to pieces and then putting it back together how he wants it to be? Or am I wrong about that?
Well, the smashing is definitely there. I don't know that I remember putting it back together.
Okay. Um, but it's possible that I'm just drawing a blank, but... Isn't the one about
hitting the little ones on the
rock? That's a Psalm, but in, in-- I think there's a similarity, I'll kill your children, and there's actually a Psalm that the Israelites sang while in Babylon, and God is love. But they sing about smashing the Babylonian childrens into the rocks because of God's vengeance.
So yeah, I think there is a connection here because I will kill your children. It comes [00:37:00] straight from Psalm 2, and it's a prophecy about Jesus. So Jesus is applying a prophecy about himself to his church. Why? Because we're the body of Christ, because we are the new temple, and we'll see that as we progress in the Book of Revelation.
We are the temple of God. We are the stones that are being built into this temple. So Jesus takes a prophecy that applies to him, he applies it to the church. And we also learn in Romans and in Ephesians that we've died with Christ, we've been buried with Christ, we've risen with Christ, and we've even ascended to the right hand of the Father with Christ.
So he's just applying this to our lives. And yet, and I've said this multiple times, most Christians today think we're supposed to lose. And yet, what does he keep telling the churches? Those of you who conquer, here's the reward. But we think we're supposed to lose. Just [00:38:00] an observation, but we'll keep seeing what this book says.
Um, let's see. And I will give him the morning star. Anybody know who the morning star is? Jesus. Jesus. Yeah. Revelation 22:16: I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and seed of David, and the bright morning star So again, everything that these rewards that we think of, it's a sharing in Christ.
There's no greater reward than fellowship with Christ, and that's what-- That's-- Every reward in one way or another that he talks about in this book comes back to basically fellowship with Christ. Uh, this, I, I wanted to point this out 'cause this will come out again in something in the sermon this Sunday.
But every letter ends this way, and I want you to think about it: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the [00:39:00] Spirit says to the churches." Can any of you think of any... And you don't have to-- You don't need to know the address. You don't need to know chapter and verse, but can you think of any, uh, Old Testament background to this idea of, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches"?
And it's okay if you can't. Um, one, uh, that, that I don't think necessarily applies to this particular verse, but there is a principle in it. Um, how long could a Hebrew man or a woman sell themselves into slavery? Anyone remember? Seven years. Seven years. Okay. So a Hebrew man or a woman could sell themself into slavery for seven years.
Um, I can't remember 'cause I don't think it was the jubilee year 'cause I think that was every 50-- Oh, sabbatical year. Uh, every seven years, a sabbatical year would come. And let's [00:40:00] say I sold myself into slavery. I could do it for seven years, but let's say the sabbatical year was only two years away. Well, I would-- I'm supposed to be set free on the sabbatical year, okay?
But let's say I like my master. I like serving him. I don't really wanna be responsible and go out and get my own job. Uh, I go to my master and I say, "I wanna serve you. I wanna be committed to you in this household." What was the master supposed to do? Anyone remember? Something with
the ear. Pierce the ear.
That's right. Yeah.
Yeah. Pierce the right ear. That's right. Okay? And which is one of the many reasons why I don't like earrings on guys, because biblically, it's a picture of slavery.
Pastor Mike, we're all slaves for Jesus.
There are those who would say
that.
And she did. And
there
we go with the conflict.
Lovingly, though. Lovingly. Um, but it, it pictured like, you know, a commitment or servitude, okay? I [00:41:00] don't think that's the picture here, but I do see the relationship, okay? What you, you-- what we see in the Old Testament and what we'll even see in the Book of Hebrews this coming Sunday is the ear was created to do what?
Well,
to hear.
Listen. Listen. Hear. Okay? And if we're going to be obedient to Christ, what must we do first?
Listen.
Listen.
Yeah.
So anytime you see this figure-- And I'll, I'll go ahead and I'll give you a sneak peek of the sermon. But anytime you see this figure, it has to do with obedience. So notice he doesn't say obedience.
He simply says, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." And what that means is, "If you're listening to me, obey." Okay? There's a prophecy, it comes from Psalm 40, and it talks about, uh, God boring out the ears of David, and it's a prophecy about Jesus that the writer of Hebrews is gonna pick up on.
Okay? I, I came on the [00:42:00] scroll of the book and, you know, you bore out my ears. Not a great paraphrase, but okay. But the writer of Hebrews tweaks it, and instead of you bore out my ears, the writer of Hebrews is gonna say, "You gave me a body." Okay? What did Jesus come to earth to do?
To die.
Okay. To die on a cross, which meant He needed what?
A body.
To obey. And that's the connection. In the Old Testament, it talks about giving me ears to hear and obey, but when applied to Jesus, it's not the ear, give me a body. Why? Because Jesus came and to obey the Father, He needed to be a man, He needed to be incarnate, He needed a body to be nailed to a cross.
So the writer of Hebrews is taking that principle, the same principle that we find at the end of every letter, and applying it and showing how Jesus was obedient.
Questions before we keep going.
So [00:43:00] you're saying, uh, this is my question, um, with that verse, uh, it's, it's a matter of, of, of obedience in order to be able to do his will.
Yes.
Like Jesus- Wait, are you talking about the
verse in Revelation or the verse in- Yeah, 29- Yep ... in Revelation. Yep.
And so that would be-- I'm trying to make the connection with Jesus' body and he who has an ear, let him hear, both have to do with obedience.
Yes. So in the Old Testament, the picture of boring out the ear was, "Make me listen to your word." And, and we'll see it when I read the whole thing in context in Psalm 40. David was like, you know, "Bore out my ear," and then the very next line is, "I love your, your, your law, and it's in my heart." So the boring of the ear created obedience in David.
So the writer of Hebrews takes that same verse, but he tweaks it, and he talks about the incarnation [00:44:00] of Christ, because the incarnation of Christ was an act of obedience to the Father, and He needed a body to go to the cross.
Is that word bore out my ear? Bore? Is that what that means interpreted- Interpreted as bore?
Is there another explanation for that word?
Uh, in the original Psalm, no, it would just-- it basically has the idea of clean out my ear.
Okay. Make it
useful. Okay. Make it so I can hear you.
I'm thinking- So that I can obey ... boring it different ways.
Yeah. No, so that I can hear and obey you. Okay. But the writer of Hebrews takes it, take-- basically applies the principle to Jesus, but the principle was the incarnation.
Think of the humiliation, and that, that's kind of the point. For Jesus to become incarnate, and then we're gonna wrap this up, but for Jesus to become incarnate, I mean, that's like us becoming a slug. I mean, really. You know, we think, we think we're at the top of the food chain here, but [00:45:00] compared to Jesus, we're like at the bottom of the food chain.
So for the eternal second person of the triune God to become a man, and that's, I've said this multiple times, that's why theologians refer to it as His humiliation. The entire incarnation is referred to as the humiliation of Christ, and it's not until He ascends back into heaven that He enters back into His glorification.
So, um, so that's the principle they're making. Um, all right. So, um- Do you- That brings us... And there was handouts, I forgot to say anything about the-
But the-- we haven't even touched on any of that.
Those are for chapter three. Right. Okay, so I'll save those. Um, so next time we'll, uh, we'll go to chapter three, and there's four more churches in chapter three.
But any last-minute questions on anything, uh, that maybe we've covered or that we covered tonight before I close us in prayer?[00:46:00]
All right, let's pray. Uh, Lord, thank you so much for today. Thank you for this book. Thank you that, uh, it is a challenge. Um, I just pray, Lord, that we, uh, are willing to face that challenge, that, uh, we will study this book. In most of our Bibles, God, we have all these cross-references and stuff. May we be people that check out the hyperlinks.
Um, help us understand this book. Um, help us understand that this is one of the most encouraging books in all of Scripture, um, because it teaches the Church wins, Jesus wins, and He does it in a big way. Um, so Father, we just pray that you would glorify yourself in our lives, that you would glorify yourself in this particular church, um, and that we would start believing that we're supposed to be conquerors, um, and that we would serve you accordingly.
For we ask all this in
Christ's name, amen. Amen. I've
heard you use that phrase, hyperlinks, a few times, [00:47:00] and are you saying you just go over to this column in your Bible instead of- Well, that's
one way to do it, yes. Okay. Because usually it gives you the thing. But the, the reason I-- you know what a hyperlink is, right?
Yeah, yeah. So you're reading a line or something online- Yeah Um, and typically it takes you to another article. Right. My point, or the reason I use that word is when a New Testament author cites a passage of scripture- Mm-hmm ... he's bringing the entire context, not just the passage. Right. So if we're gonna understand why he's citing that scripture, we need to go back and say he cites something from Psalm 2.
Mm-hmm. Probably need to read the entire Psalm and understand what Psalm 2 means so that we know, know what he's trying to communicate-
Right ...
by citing that text. So they're never just taking this one verse. That would be proof texting. Mm-hmm.
And
we like to do that. We like to take one verse to try to prove our point.
Guess who the only one in scripture who ever proof text?
Jesus.
Nope.
What? Oh, Satan.
Satan. He was the only [00:48:00] one that ever used proof texting, and Jesus shut him down every time 'cause Jesus went back to the context. And so all these guys are bringing a giant context into what they're saying. That's why I use that word.
