Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 144th episode. In this episode I want to continue our study of the book of Revelation. We are in chapter two. This chapter begins to diagnose the condition of the seven churches in Asia. Remember in chapter one when Christ instructed John to write down the things which he had seen as well as the things which are. This chapter details the things which are. That means it’s a discussion of the health of the seven churches at the time John was writing. John had stewardship over these churches – probably because of proximity – so he had particular concern for them. Each church was to receive a message from John and this chapter deals with four of the seven churches. The other three will be discussed in the next chapter. Each of these messages is inscribed to the angel of each church. This probably means the message is addressed to the minister or to the ministry of the church. Angels are messengers of God. These messages call the ministries angels symbolically, denoting the fact that the churches are messengers of God to humanity.
What you’ll notice as we work through these messages is that each church had some flaw or challenge which needed correcting. This is true of every church and also of every individual. When you become a Christian you notice two things rather rapidly. First is that you were sinning in all manner of ways which were easy for you to give up and to let go. Second is that once you are purified of these obvious sins, the Holy Ghost begins to point out areas of weakness you never realized you had. This process is called sanctification and it will take you at least the rest of your natural life. Sanctification is God purifying you and shaping you into the image of Jesus Christ. Sanctification can only take place if you are not living in unrepentant sin. Listen to me carefully here. This doesn’t mean living in sinless perfection. It means recognizing sin as being wrong and desiring for God to purify you of it. The moment you embrace sin, attempt to normalize it, or integrate it into your identity, sanctification stops and you begin to fall away from God. Christ’s messages to the seven churches were messages of sanctification and encouragement. All of us can stand to learn from them today. Let’s begin with verses 1-7:
Rev 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Rev 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
The church of Ephesus was planted by the apostle Paul. Afterwards John would be the one to look after their development. The first message given by Christ through John is directed at this Ephesian church. Some might say Timothy was the pastor of the church in Ephesus at the time of this letter, but I find that very unlikely considering how Scripture speaks of Timothy as being of an excellent spirit. I don’t think he would have went so far astray as to require divine rebuke. In addition to naming the target audience of this message, John also names the One from whom it comes: He that holds the seven stars in his right hand, and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. This was a description attributed to Christ in the previous chapter. Think of the hundreds of billions of stars in the universe. God holds these stars in His right hand and He has a name for each one of them. But this description also refers to the Lord Jesus holding the ministers of the gospel and directing their movements. It is by the power of Christ that every minister is filled with light and influence. Without Jesus all pastors would quickly fail in their efforts. The ministers of the gospel are merely instruments in the hand of God and whatever good they accomplish is entirely attributable to the power of Jesus Christ.
As a Christian you should love your church because Jesus loves your church. Every God-honoring church is in close relationship with Jesus Christ. He is present in their services and He observes their condition. Jesus takes pleasure in His churches the same way a man takes pleasure as he walks through his garden. Jesus is in heaven but He is also among us. He walks through His churches and He takes note of their issues as well as their desires. It comes as a great encouragement to us that Christ has made such a commitment to us as individuals as well as to us as a church. Faithful church leaders can have peace of mind knowing that Jesus will direct them on the proper path to establish their church in accordance with God’s will.
The church in Ephesus received both commendation and reprehension from Jesus Christ. He prefaced His message by reminding them He knows their works. Jesus observes your church and He observes you as an individual. Jesus is full of grace and truth. It’s critically important that you receive both gospel grace and gospel truth simultaneously. If your knowledge of God is limited to truth without grace then you will be crushed by your own iniquity and inability to achieve sinless perfection. A good example of someone whose knowledge of God is limited to truth without grace is the hyper-judgmental Christian who spends more time condemning others rather than loving others. If your knowledge of God is limited to grace without truth, then you will plunge headlong into moral relativism and you’ll become helplessly lost in terms of improving yourself and others. A good example of someone whose knowledge of God is limited to grace without truth is the person who has no conviction and is carried wherever the culture takes him.
The Ephesian church had done well in their diligent labors. Every church should accept the role of being a star in the hand of Christ with great honor. To occupy such a space means consistent effort in radiating light to all who are around them. When you do your work in the name of Jesus Christ He keeps an account of it. Even if you have a thankless job you can be certain that Christ is tracking every hour of it so long as you are doing it as unto the Lord. Jesus promised that if you work in this way then your labor will not be in vain. One of the keys to a meaningful career is not locating a career which is inherently meaningful to you. The truth is without God nothing is inherently meaningful. Instead of trying to find the perfect job, try altering your perspective about the job you have. Would you do your job differently if your manager was Jesus Christ? Would you do your job differently if you knew a good performance would change the course of someone’s life and fundamentally improve the world around you? Obviously some work environments are just toxic and you shouldn’t stay in them – but before making the career change you should always examine yourself first.
In addition to the diligence of the Ephesian church, they also showed great patience as they endured suffering. You are a soldier of God. You must endeavor to exercise the patience of getting through hard things in such a way as befits the title of soldier. If a minister is impatient he will not survive long in ministry. If a Christian is impatient he or she will reside in a vicious cycle of anxiety and disappointment. Patience is a requirement because you are a flawed person who is attempting to work with other flawed people. This means God is going to painfully rebuke you when you make mistakes and human beings are going to painfully betray you if you judge them by perfection. If you impatiently await perfect circumstances then you will be overcome by disappointment and negative emotion.
There’s also a tremendous amount of sacrifice and delayed gratification in the Christian life. Your efforts might plant seeds for the Kingdom of God which you never have the privilege of being rewarded for until you pass on into heaven. The Christian life is one of self-sacrifice as we follow in the footsteps of Him who sacrificed Himself on the cross. But never forget: heaven is waiting on the other side of this. A Christian must have patience as they walk toward their eternal reward. Those who invest their efforts purely in temporal satisfaction may get some of what they want now, but they will inevitably arrive at the day when those temporary things slip away from them and they are left with nothing to show for their work. A Christian who works for the Kingdom of God will never experience that final vanity. Their patience will be rewarded by the Creator Himself.
The church in Ephesus was commended for their diligence, their patience, and also for their hatred of evil. It’s been repeated to the point of platitude, but a proper Christian must hate sin while loving sinners. Being able to separate ideas from individuals is one area where modern people really struggle. This is in large part due to the propensity of groups who form their identity around their chosen idea or their chosen sin. As Christians we must remember that sin does not make up the fundamental identity of any person. At the deepest level of analysis each person is a unique individual who is made in the image of God. If you maintain divinity as a person’s fundamental identity then you are free to condemn their sin while loving them as a person.
Modern people mistakenly choose to integrate the person’s sin with their fundamental identity – which forces them into a choice whether to condemn the whole person or to suggest the sin isn’t really a sin. It’s really silly behavior when you think about it. You probably did some ridiculous things when you were a small child. For example: maybe you always wanted to eat candy for dinner. But you didn’t grow up integrating this behavior into your very identity. You don’t walk into a job interview and introduce yourself as so-and-so, the candy eater. You don’t form communities founded on the oppression of not being able to eat candy for dinner and march down the street claiming other people are bigots if they think eating candy for dinner is a stupid idea. Stop identifying with your sin and stop identifying other people with their sin. Until you master that it will be very difficult to stand up for what’s right and call out what’s wrong.
The Ephesian church had to deal with some ministers who rose up and falsely claimed to be apostles. Undoubtedly the church hated lying and these individuals were lying about being apostles. But instead of condemning them out-of-hand, the church examined their claims and proceeded with discretion. After proper investigation the church determined the men to be fraudulent. The Ephesian church was only willing to exercise due process because they believed each person deserves a fair hearing. Even in situations where the truth appears obvious to you, you owe it to each individual to perform a proper investigation of their claims. It’s also good for yourself because a dispassionate effort at finding the truth means you won’t be making decisions based on misapprehensions or falsehoods. If you make decisions on bad information your results are going to reflect that mistake. Instead of building your conclusions on the basis of emotion you should build your conclusions on the basis of truth.
So Jesus commended the church in Ephesus for their patience, their diligence, and their desire for truth. But after these praises He moved into discussing their shortcomings. A general rule for human beings is that even the best among us have some kind of flaw or something that is amiss inside of us. Jesus faithfully pays attention to both the good and the bad. He readily acknowledges and rewards the good, but He does not shy away from reproving the bad. In the case of the Ephesian church they had lost their first love of God. It’s not that they began loving an idol, but it’s that the degree of their love for God had become less across time. This cooling down is very common for new believers who start out on fire for Christ and then a year or so later are somewhat blase about their relationship with God. The best way to prevent this sort of decline is to be very intentional about your devotional exercises. Whether it’s reading a chapter per day out of the Bible, being intentional about your prayers, or listening to a podcast like this one – you need to take an active role is keeping yourself close to God.
Christ directed the Ephesian church to remember how they used to be and to compare that condition to themselves after their decline. It turns out there are many practical reasons why you should want to avoid drifting away in your relationship with God. When you were close to God your spirit enjoyed a sense of peace, strength, purity, and pleasure. You could fall asleep peacefully at night and wake up cheerful and energized in the morning. Suffering was still painful, but at least your life was imbued with the sense of meaning necessary to transcend the suffering. When God blessed you with His providence, you were able to enjoy these blessings in such a way that made you stronger, healthier, and better able to honor God. When you’re close to God the thought of death loses much of its sting because in your deepest being you desire to be in heaven. If you’ve fallen away from God the first step toward returning to Him is to acknowledge your sin and repent of it. If you humbly confess such a thing before God you can be certain He will readily forgive you for it. After your repentance, you need to retrace your spiritual footsteps until you pin down the point at which you took your first step off the path. Christ told the Ephesian church to return to their first works. This means reviving and recovering your zeal, seriousness, and authenticity which you had at the beginning of your spiritual journey. You should begin to pray earnestly once again. Most of all you must keep your eyes open and pay attention as you walk through life – seek God and you will find Him.
Christ reinforced His advice to the Ephesian church by warning them that if they neglected to follow His instruction then He would quickly remove their influence. People who reject the grace and Spirit of God can expect to face His displeasure instead. If a church strays from the path and refuses to repent then Jesus removes His gospel, His ministers, and His ordinances from them. All that’s left is a cult of falsehoods masquerading as a Christian church. To the Ephesians’ credit, they maintained an allergy to the false doctrine of the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitans were a loose collection of heretics who held hateful doctrines and were guilty of hateful deeds. They used Christianity to shelter their wicked acts. But Jesus knew about them and He despised their evil ways. Even though the Ephesian church had lost some of their spark for God, they did well to abhor the false teaching of the Nicolaitans. Jesus doesn’t want us to be merciful and tolerant toward false ideas. He wants us to be merciful and tolerant toward people who follow false ideas – but never toward the false ideas themselves.
John’s message to the church in Ephesus closes with an announcement for all churches to pay attention. We must pay attention to what Scripture teaches us because Scripture is spoken by the Spirit of God. This first section may have been specifically directed to the Ephesians, but it’s relevance applies to all churches everywhere. One of our greatest challenges as human beings is maintaining the ability to listen and to pay attention. The highest purpose of these faculties is for us to pay attention to the Word of God. If we fail to heed God’s word then no amount of listening to other sources will be of ultimate profit to us.
Jesus promises great mercy for those who overcome the trials of life. We are at war with sin, with spiritual enemies, and with the part of humanity that so desperately wants to be without God. As Christians it is our job to fight the good fight. It’s our job to strive for goodness and to keep marching uphill toward the city of God. Jesus specifically says that if we overcome then He will give us to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. If you keep the faith in this life, then when you pass on you will be glorified and your faith in Christ will have purified you into perfect holiness. Eating from the tree of life means confirmation into the happy and holy state of an eternity in heaven. Adam and Eve would have likely eaten from the tree of life in the Garden of Eden had they not chosen the knowledge of good and evil and ushered in the Fall. The faithful have Jesus as their tree of life, and those who persevere will receive from Christ perfection and confirmation in the Kingdom of Heaven. Let’s read verses 8-11:
Rev 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Rev 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
This message was given by Christ and directed to the church in Smyrna. Smyrna was a well known city that enjoyed prosperous trade and wealth. Christ was again addressed by the title of the first and the last, he that was dead and is alive. Christ calls Himself the first and the last because all things were made through Him and all things were made for Him. He was already present in the beginning before creation and He is the one who will judge all of creation. God is from everlasting to everlasting and Jesus is the eternal Mediator between humanity and the Father. Our earthly lives pass quickly and we experience many changes along the way. But Jesus was the same in the beginning, He is the same now, and He will forever be the same. Jesus died on the cross to atone for our sins and reconcile us to God. He was resurrected for our justification and He lives on at this moment and forever. The death of Jesus purchased our salvation, the resurrection of Jesus applied it. The only reason Christians have any faith at all is because Jesus is alive.
Christ is omniscient and He has perfect awareness of all the works of individuals as well as churches. His instruction to Smyrna was perfectly reliable and remains reliable for us today. The first thing Christ acknowledges is the fact that the church in Smyrna was spiritually rich despite being temporally poor. It’s not always the case, but often times people who are materially wealthy are spiritually impoverished. The material poverty of the church in Smyrna may have contributed to their richness in grace. It takes a lot of diligent devotion to become spiritually rich. People who have properly calibrated spirits are better able to deal with outward poverty. They’re also more likely to use material wealth wisely. If you sacrifice material wealth for the sake of Christ and a good conscience, Jesus will reward you with spiritual riches. It’s better to be poor with a thriving spirit than it is to be rich and spiritually dead. This isn’t to say that wealth is inherently wrong – just that wealth presents the great danger of serving money instead of serving God.
Jesus told the church in Smyrna that He knew their tribulations and their sufferings. Committing your life to Christ means you will face persecution and backlash from the godless world order. But Jesus said blessed are those who are persecuted for His name’s sake and that’s because in all your afflictions Jesus is afflicted alongside you. This means those who persecute you for following Jesus will have to answer to Jesus as if they persecuted Jesus Himself. If you’re suffering for your faith, you can have some peace of mind in knowing that Jesus is right there suffering with you. Christ is perfectly aware of the evil and deception which characterizes enemies of God. The religious elite rejected Jesus and subsequently were themselves rejected. But this rejection didn’t stop them from putting on their ceremonies and claiming to be God’s only covenant-people. They used their religion as an excuse to facilitate their own agenda and their own sin. That’s what it means to take the Lord’s name in vain. Christians will sometimes do this when they really want something or when they want to get away with something. They’ll say God told them to do it or they will justify the embracing of sin by saying it’s okay because they are saved. There’s only one principle you need to remember to ensure that you do not take Lord’s name in vain. God will never lead you to do or think something which conflicts with Scripture and God will never permit you to sin. He will forgive you of your sins if you repent, but He will never suggest that a sin is not a sin.
We live in the midst of a spiritual war. Jesus has His church in the world which is composed of all who know His voice and who trust in Him. But Satan and the powers which are adversarial to God have set up churches in the world as well. The synagogue of Satan is any church or organization whose existence is set up in opposition to the truths of Scripture. These are places which promote and propagate heresies meant to lead people further away from God. You know them as cults. I did an episode once about how to identify cults – it is MHB 74. Satan spiritually presides over these cults which are oriented in defiance of God. Their rituals and their ceremonies do not honor God, rather they exploit the fallen nature of humanity, advance the interests of evil, and perversely pay homage to Satan. Many of these places claim to be followers of Jesus and use the name of Jesus to aggrandize themselves. Needless to say God views this behavior as grievous blasphemy and He will have His revenge on those who persist in it.
Jesus knows your future and He knows the degree to which you will suffer for your faith. He warned the church in Smyrna that Satan would cast some of them into prison and that they would have tribulation. Life is full of suffering and being a Christian means voluntarily accepting that suffering and then transcending it. While we live in the fallen world it’s possible our trials will increase in severity across time. If you don’t believe me then take a walk through any nursing home and witness the trials seniors endure each day. The passing of time also means the death of your loved ones is inevitable. And those are elements of the suffering which is simply baked into reality as a consequence of the Fall – it doesn’t even approach the problem of evil yet. Members of the church in Smyrna had been impoverished by their persecutors, and in the future they would be imprisoned by them. A good definition for evil is that which creates suffering for suffering’s own sake. Bad actors who spawn unnecessary suffering in this world are evil. Evil people are ultimately operated by the influence of Satan. An evil person might think he is his own master and he might think he’s gratifying his own sinful desires – but ultimately he’s being used like a tool for diabolical malice.
Jesus knows about the suffering we must endure and He hasn’t left us to fend for ourselves against it. He’s given us exactly what we need to push through it into heaven on the other side. Jesus has given us His counsel and has commanded us not to fear the things of this world. The Holy Ghost edifies your own spirit and gives you the strength and courage necessary to face your suffering in a godly manner. Jesus said we would face many trials in this world but for us to take heart because He has overcome the world. God has also promised us that our suffering will not be universal and will not be limitless. Life is not purely suffering, life is full of blessedness and good things as well. The suffering we do experience will not continue into eternity if we have faith in Jesus. God will alleviate us and bring us comforters throughout our time on earth. Whether or not we notice these divine acts of grace depends on our own attention and attitude. God will not subject you to suffering in an effort to destroy your spirit. The suffering He allows you to experience is part and parcel of His divine plan to bring you to the highest possible good. A mother goes through tremendous suffering when giving birth – but I don’t know very many mothers who would say the suffering wasn’t worth it. If you’re experiencing suffering right now, pay attention for God’s little acts of grace in your life and look for the way He intends to redeem you from it and make you a better person for it.
Jesus told the church in Smyrna that if they remained faithful unto death then He would give them a crown of life. When Jesus tells you He will give you something – you can be certain you will get it. It’s not as if He said the angels or someone else would give the church in Smyrna a crown of life. He said He would do it Himself. When Jesus resolves to do something for you there are none in heaven or on earth who can stop Him. The symbol of a crown is meant to show the immeasurable value of the reward Christ has in store for those who suffer for their faith. There have been many Christians who were willing to let go of their own lives because of their fidelity to Jesus. As a Christian, the end of your days might see your life worn out and depleted by your efforts to advance the Kingdom of God. But if you step up and lay it all on the line each day for Christ, you can be certain He will reward you with a far better, everlasting life.
The message to the church in Smyrna is concluded with a universal call to attention. Every Christian and every church across the ages is called to heed the words of Christ to His assemblies. We should study His commendation of them. We should study the way He comforts them and how He rewards their fidelity. And we should study how He rebukes their shortcomings. It’s beneficial for us to observe how God interacts with His people throughout history. The reason is because God is still God and humanity is still humanity. God never changes and there are certain elements to human nature which haven’t changed. Therefore it’s profitable for wisdom and instruction to witness His interactions with the seven churches in Revelation. Jesus ends His message to Smyrna with a gracious promise that those who overcome shall not be hurt by the second death. The second death is a reference to being cast into the outer darkness and separated from God for eternity. The second death is a spiritual death and is far worse than the death we know in this life. It is like dying in perpetuity. All who are faithful to Jesus are saved from this second death by the power of His atonement on the cross and His resurrection thereafter. Let’s read verses 12-17:
Rev 2:12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
Rev 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
Rev 2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
Rev 2:15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Rev 2:16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
This message was directed to the angel of the church in Pergamos. It’s possible that Pergamos was a city which was built on the ruins of ancient Troy. Whether or not that’s the case, Pergamos was a city wherein Jesus assembled a gospel church by the grace of His Spirit making the preaching of the word effectual. In this message Christ described Himself as the one out of whose mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword. It could be the case that Christ chose to emphasize different points of His nature depending on which church He was addressing. The church in Ephesus, for example, needed to be revitalized from its drowsy and declining condition – so Christ addressed Himself as the one who held the stars in His hand and walked in the midst of the golden candlesticks. Pergamos was different from Ephesus because Pergamos was suffering from corrupt men who used their intellect to distort the faith and polity of the church. How do you cut down a web of lies? You do it with the sword of truth. Christ described Himself as the one who speaks truth and the truth comes from His mouth as a sharp two-edged sword.
Scripture is the sword of truth which can be used both offensively and defensively. God wields His word to cut through both sin and sinners. The sword of the word of God is so sharp that it can cut between persona and spirit. When I say persona I mean when a person embraces sin so readily that sin becomes a part of his or her personality. Only the word of God is sharp enough to find the division between this person’s fallen nature and the imago dei which is his or her spirit made in the image of God. The sword of Scripture is said to have two-edges because there is no getting around it. If you try to circumvent it to the left you will get cut. If you do so to the right you will get cut. Since there is no way around it, the word of God forces you to make a spiritual decision as to whether you are with God or against Him. Before Christ those who were against God were the transgressors of God’s law. After Christ those who are against God are those who reject His gospel grace.
Christ acknowledged the challenges which were facing the church in Pergamos. When God judges your work He doesn’t remove it from its context – He knows your circumstances and the difficulties that you struggle with. The church in Pergamos was said to be planted where the seat of Satan was, so the good works they were able to do were made better by the fact they had to overcome these circumstances. God is perfectly aware of how many good opportunities you have to accomplish great things for His kingdom. He’s also perfectly aware of the temptations and difficulties which are unique to yourself. He makes gracious allowances in consideration of these circumstances. This is one of the reasons why it’s a bad idea for humans to condemn other humans. Every person is dealing with unique struggles and since we aren’t omniscient we can’t fully understand what they’re going through – therefore we can’t appropriately judge their quality as a person. This non-judgmental attitude extends only to the other person as an individual, it does not extend to the person’s ideas or actions. It’s perfectly fine to condemn an action or call out an idea for being incorrect and it’s a moral imperative that we do so lest we risk falling into relativism. But we should never judge an individual as worthy or not worthy – only God can do that.
Satan makes his circuit throughout the entire world but some places which are infamous for wickedness, heresy, or cruelty are said to be the seat of Satan. It’s possible the Roman governor in Pergamos hated Christians which a particular fury and was very violent in his persecution of them. Any place where Christians face difficult persecution is a spiritual stronghold of Satan. Christ commended the church in Pergamos for their steadfast adherence to His name. To call yourself a Christian in Pergamos probably meant risking your life. It takes tremendous faith to stand firm in your convictions among a majority who are trying to condemn you. The Christians in Pergamos wore the name of Christ publicly in the same way a wife takes the name of her husband. One of the reasons the Christians in Pergamos were able to remain faithful in such a difficult territory was their adherence to proper doctrine. They didn’t deny the great doctrines of the gospel. They didn’t try to shape Scripture in such a way that would be appealing to their culture.
I’ve met many people who claim to reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior only to discover they’re rejecting a version of Christ which isn’t found in the Bible. These misunderstandings of the Christian worldview are dangerous because they weaken the faith of misled Christians and cause outsiders to stumble over needless obstacles. Many churches will avoid teaching their children the difficult or scary realities found in the Bible. But when these kids grow into adults they go out into the world only to discover it’s equally scary and difficult as the stories their church avoided teaching them. Many kids who grow up in the church and leave the faith as adults do so because they were taught a cartoon-version of Christianity which doesn’t line up with the real world. This gives them a sense of being lied to or betrayed. It also makes them feel as if the Christian worldview is far too shallow to encompass the scope of lived experience. These problems are completely avoidable if we will have the faith and courage necessary to teach the full counsel of God – even the parts that shatter our illusion of innocence.
Jesus praised the fidelity of the church in Pergamos because He took into consideration the difficulty of their location. Many of the Christians there remained faithful even after witnessing a disciple named Antipas be martyred for his faith. Whoever this person was, he sealed his loyalty to Christ with his own blood in a city where Satan dwelt. Do you think Christians in America would be able to remain steadfast in their faith if they knew doing so could get them killed? It’s hard to say – we’ve lived in such blessed prosperity for so long that I’m convinced many of us have never had our durability tested to this extent. I suspect some would fall away and some would discover the strength of Christ inside of them. The church in Pergamos was not discouraged by the killings and the martyrdom.
Despite the impressive faith of the church in Pergamos, they had some sinful failures so Jesus pointed these out and reproved them. There were some Christians among them who taught that it was okay to eat food which had been sacrificed to idols. The eating of the food wasn’t the point of contention for Jesus. The point of contention was the fact that impure worship often draws people into impure practices. Remember that God’s primary interest is always the condition of your spirit. It’s one thing for us to be fallen human beings who regularly struggle with sin. It’s quite different for us to get up every Sunday and teach that sins are not actually sinful. This has been the principle mistake in the western world. We’ve confused the necessary grace and forgiveness of human beings for the tolerance of bad ideas and sinful action. The Church is the primary sense-making apparatus by which we determine how we should live in this world. It’s no surprise that we experience a collective descent into chaotic confusion when church leaders abdicate this responsibility. You will never find a church that is not made up of sinners. But if you go to a church where sin is not sinful and corrupt principles are taught then you should leave that church immediately. If a teacher rises up in your church whose interest it is to teach heresy then that teacher should be removed from authority. These kinds of churches lead entire societies into guilt and confusion. They become partakers of sin rather than being the place where you are directed to the one who forgives your sin.
Considering the heretics who infected the ranks of the faithful church in Peragmos, Jesus called the church to repentance. If an entire church participates in sin together then the entire church should repent together. It’s interesting to note that Christ called the saints of Pergamos to repent as well as the heretics. None of us are good enough that we don’t need to repent of our sins. It’s even okay to repent for the sins of someone else if you believe you’ve been an accessory to them. It happened that the church in Pergamos was guilty of allowing the heretics to remain in their communion – so Christ held them responsible to some degree. We need to be very careful about allowing heresy or deception to build inside of a church. These issues present many entry points for becoming a cult. If it’s allowed to go on long enough you can be sure that the sword of Christ’s mouth will inflict a mortal wound on the organization. The truth enrages those who have constructed their identities on lies. The word of God presents terrifying confusion to the unrepentant sinner. Sooner or later the truth always reemerges from the rubble.
Like the other epistles in this chapter, Christ concludes His message to Pergamos with a call to universal attention. The lessons He taught to this church apply to all churches everywhere. Christ promises great blessing to those who hear Him and who overcome their trials. He says you shall eat of the hidden manna which is the influence and comfort of the Spirit of Christ in communion with you. This personal relationship feeds your soul like secret food which comes down into you from heaven. It is nourishment and a foretaste of the peace which characterizes the life of saints and of angels which are in heaven. This spiritual communion with God is called hidden manna because the godless world does not have access to it. It is the secret joy which you have laid up in Christ that provides you with the strength and comfort to carry on.
Christ also promises a white stone with a new name upon it for those who overcome. This is symbolic of absolution from the guilt of sin. There was an ancient custom by which a white stone was given to those acquitted on trial and a black stone given to those who were condemned. The white stone is symbolic of your justification by faith in Christ. The innocence of Christ is imputed onto you so that you can go to your eternal home and stand before God. The new name on the stone is symbolic of your adoption into the family of Jesus Christ. In this life, only yourself and God are able to see your adoption into His kingdom because you and God are the only ones who know the condition of your heart. Sometimes it can be difficult to see your new name engraved upon the white stone, but if you persevere and keep marching uphill toward the city of God then you will come to the peaceful resolution of your adoption and your future inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. Let’s read verses 18-29:
Rev 2:18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
Rev 2:19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
Rev 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Rev 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
Rev 2:22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
Rev 2:23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
Rev 2:24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
Rev 2:25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev 2:28 And I will give him the morning star.
Rev 2:29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
This message was given by Christ to the church in Thyatira. Thyatira was a city of the proconsular Asia. It was bordered by Mysia on the north and by Lydia on the south. Thyatira was a town of trade and was home to a particular merchant woman named Lydia. This is the same Lydia who was doing business at Philippi in Macedonia when she heard Paul preach the gospel there. God led her to respond to what she heard and she was baptized. Lydia spent some time with Paul and Silas so it’s possible she brought the gospel back to Thyatira but we just don’t know for sure. Whoever planted the seeds of the gospel in Thyatira, they were planted in good enough soil that a gospel church formed there.
In this message Jesus described Himself as the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like fine brass. Jesus is one with the Father, He is the only begotten Son, and so Christ is eternal and shares the same nature as the Father. Describing His eyes as a flame of fire is meant to signify His searching gaze and His perfect knowledge. Christ looks directly into your heart and knows your every thought and motivation. His eyes are piercing, penetrating, and they reveal His perfect insight into all persons and all things. Jesus was the only one qualified to judge these churches and prescribe how they should move forward. He is the only one qualified to judge individuals and determine their eternal fate. It’s pretty common for pastors and lay Christians to make declarations about the eternity of their neighbor but I tend to stay away from that topic. Suffice it to say those who are found in Christ will go on to eternity with God and those who reject His grace will not. But as to identifying the condition of each person’s heart as we walk through life – this is a task I’m not comfortable being the judge over. God is omniscient and we are not. God’s judgment is perfect and He makes no mistakes. Knowing about the perfect wisdom of Jesus is enough to bring me peace. This idea of Christ having feet that are as fine brass means the same thing. His judgment is perfect and so He acts with undisrupted strength and steadiness. If you trust in Jesus then you are safe with Jesus.
Jesus knew the inner workings of the church in Thyatira and He commended their honorable character. The Christians in Thyatira were praised for their charity and general good will to all people. They were specifically beneficent toward their church and their fellow believers. So they had the love part down and that’s crucially important because Christianity becomes vacuous if you fail to love. They did good work with their ministries which means they had good church leaders. Their faith was in good condition because their faith was what fueled their love and their ministry. Part of loving people and doing ministry means practicing a tremendous amount of patience. The Christians in Thyatira did well in exercising patience. Unlike the church in Ephesus who had fallen away from their first love, the church in Thyatira seemed to be improving with age. Their wisdom grew deeper and their ambition carried them into better and better ministry.
Of the three churches Christ addressed in this chapter, I would say the church in Thyatira was the healthiest. But even they were not free from challenges and trials. After acknowledging all the ways in which Thyatira was doing well, Christ took aim at the seducers who wreaked havoc among them. If you could blame Thyatira for anything in this scenario it’s simply that they allowed these seducers to continue among them. The seducers in Thyatira were compared to Jezebel and Christ called them by her name. Jezebel viciously persecuted the prophets of God and was known for her promotion of idolaters and false prophets. The seducers in Thyatira tried to lure Christians away from God and into fornication. This practice was motivated by idolatry and their ambition to make sacrifices to false gods. They referred to themselves as prophets in an effort to claim higher authority over the ministers in Thyatira. So that’s a blatant case of using the Lord’s name in vain which God counts as a grievous sin.
The seducers were unified enough in their efforts that Jesus called them by one name – Jezebel – in His address to Thyatira. They abused the name of God to further facilitate their wickedness among His people. Despite their exceedingly evil ways, Jesus was patient with them and gave them what they needed to repent and turn back to Him. But they chose to take advantage of His patience and further harden their hearts against Him. Repentance is the only way for a sinner to prevent his or her own self-destruction. Repentance is more than simply paying lip service to God in the form of an empty apology. It’s about recognizing sin as sin and genuinely desiring God to cleanse you of it. This is a difficult step for many people because it involves admitting that they have a problem. Without the grace and forgiveness of God I would argue repentance is impossible because of the crushing sense of guilt which would follow. God will give you what you need to repent, and He will be there waiting to embrace you when do you – but actually choosing to do it is a responsibility which falls squarely on your shoulders alone.
You might ask why Christ rebuked the church for the sins of the seducers. The answer is because the church failed to speak out against them. Obviously the church cant’ go jailing people who promote idolatry, but they can certainly demonstrate the fortitude to call out their incorrect ideas. The churches’ refusal to address the seducers caused the city to suffer. The church is many things, but chief among its roles is that of being a sense-making apparatus. The church should be telling us how to make sense of the world around us. If the church refuses to influence the culture then the church will lose the culture to sinners. If the church loses the culture to sinners then legislation and governance will change to reflect a sinful culture.
This is one of the major failures of the church in the western world today. They’ve tried to adapt to the culture rather than lead it. They’ve invested all of their hope in the power of their vote, not realizing documents such as the American Constitution, which give power to their vote, become meaningless if the culture is lost. Entire generations in the western world have been shaped and influenced by postmodern, neo-Marxist radicals while the church abandoned its duty to help these kids make sense of their lives. That failure of duty, that sin of omission, is precisely why we’re facing extreme confusion today. If you want to learn more about this failure and what we can do about it you should listen to MHB 84 and MHB 123.
Christ warned the seducers of incoming punishment if they refused to repent. He said they would be cast into a bed of pain instead of pleasure. They would be cast into a bed of flames to suffer alongside those who sinned with them. This was the fate which was waiting for them if they refused to correct their course. They and their children would perish in the second death – which is the fate of those who reject the grace of God. On its face it seems a little harsh for Christ to be warning their children in addition to the seducers themselves. But children tend to imitate their parents and these children would one day grow into depraved sinners themselves. That’s something to think about if you’re a parent. If your own eternal fate isn’t worth repentance to you, perhaps consider the fate of your children. Do you really want them following you on your own destructive path?
When the seducers fell into judgment the churches looked on and knew that Christ is Lord and He is the one who searches the heart of each individual. God’s judgment reveals His infallible knowledge of human principles, designs, infirmities, attitudes and inclinations toward idolatry. God gives just recompense to each person according to his or her own works. His justice is impartial and does not shy away from judging those who fancy themselves as Christians and who seek to conceal their sins within the walls of a church. This is the bad news of the Bible – that all of us get precisely what we deserve. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God and deserve judgment. But the everlasting good news of the gospel is that Christ took this penalty upon Himself so that He could save us from judgment.
The seducers of Thyatira called themselves prophets because they pretended to have deeper insights into doctrine than the ministers of the church. This was a feature of their tactics used to steer followers away from God. They shrouded their own sins in tales of mystery to amuse and entice the people. Mystery in itself is not a bad thing, but the mystery of godliness is that which we should entertain. Obfuscation in an effort to cause wickedness and evil is more like the diabolical mysteries of Satan. Jesus praised His faithful servants who resisted the seducers and told them He would not overburden them with new laws or issues. All He required was that they hold fast to what He already instructed them and stick with it until He returns. Jesus is coming back to put an end to evil once and for all. His only request is that you maintain a good conscience by holding close to your faith until either He gets here or you get there.
If you finish the race successfully then Christ will give you great honor in the hereafter. You will experience God in all His glory as you take in the sight of Christ on His throne. You will be gifted knowledge and wisdom as befits a child of God. To be with Christ is to be with the source of light, grace, and glory. The illumination of His Spirit will light up your soul with perfect, eternal satisfaction. Jesus ended His message to Thyatira with a call for all people to open their hearts and listen to His words. The promises and precepts Christ made for His churches in this chapter are made for us as well. Regardless of whether Jesus comes back first or you pass on to Him, the time is short until all difficulty and all danger will be over.
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