07-16-26 Study of Revelation Chapter 2:21-29 Thyatira: The Church That Tolerates Sin Part 2

➡ This Bible study focuses on the Book of Revelation, specifically the letters to the seven churches, with a focus on the church of Thyatira. The study emphasizes that churches differ in many ways, but their primary role should be dealing with sin. Unfortunately, many churches tolerate sin, which goes against the teachings of the scripture. The church of Thyatira is used as an example of a church that tolerated sin, leading to its downfall, serving as a warning to other churches to uphold the purity and holiness that Christ desires for his church.
➡ The city of Thyatira, once a military outpost, became a commercial center with many guilds, or unions, that also functioned as religious organizations. The church in Thyatira, possibly started by emissaries from Ephesus or a woman named Lydia, was threatened by internal compromise rather than external persecution. This compromise was due to a woman, likened to Jezebel, who advocated for sinful behaviors within the church. This internal corruption threatened the church’s survival.
➡ The text discusses a church that, despite demonstrating love, faithfulness, service, and perseverance, is criticized for tolerating sinful behavior and straying from sound doctrine and holy living. The church is compared to the biblical figure Jezebel, who led people into sin and idol worship. The text warns that leading others into sin is a grave offense, and emphasizes the importance of purity, faithfulness, and adherence to Christian teachings.
➡ The text discusses the consequences of leading Christians into sin, using the biblical figure of Jezebel as an example. It warns that those who cause others to sin will face severe punishment, including the possibility of death and hell. The text also emphasizes the importance of repentance, stating that those who refuse to repent will face dire consequences. It concludes by stating that even Christians who have been led astray can face severe trials unless they repent.
➡ The text warns about the dangers of following false teachings and sin within the church. It emphasizes that God will punish those who lead others into sin and those who follow such teachings if they do not repent. The text also warns that God’s judgement is accurate and based on perfect understanding of every detail, and that no sin can be hidden from Him. It ends with a call for everyone to repent and turn away from sin, as God will reward or punish each person according to their deeds.
➡ The text emphasizes that people will be judged based on their actions, not just their words or beliefs. It warns that those who spread harmful messages or live unrighteously will face consequences, but reassures that those who live rightly and produce good deeds have nothing to fear. The text encourages self-assessment and living in a way that reflects one’s faith, highlighting that outward actions are a reflection of one’s inner spiritual condition.
➡ The text discusses the struggle of maintaining faith and principles in a sinful world, and the judgment that will come upon those who propagate sinful behavior. It also talks about a group who believe they can engage in sinful acts without harming their spirit or salvation, a belief the text criticizes. The text encourages believers to hold onto their faith despite the challenges, promising that those who overcome and remain faithful will be rewarded with authority in the afterlife.
➡ The text discusses the concept of ruling with vengeance in the millennial kingdom, a thousand-year reign on earth. It explains that those who have been wronged will have their chance to rule and protect the righteous. The text also promises Christians that they will share in the authority of judgement and will be given the morning star, a reference to Jesus Christ. The importance of self-assessment, sound doctrine, and living a life that reflects one’s beliefs is also emphasized.

Welcome. This is our Thursday night Bible study. We’re into the Book of Revelation and we’re studying right now the letters to the seven churches. We’re into the final part of the letter to. To the church of thy Tyra. And this is in chapter two, verses 18 to 29. Now, and that forms the letter to the church at Thara. And we’re going to dig in this, in, in with new information that we didn’t talk about last time, but we’re going to do a brief review of what we covered last time to put all this in perspective so you can wrap your arms around this total package when we get to the new things tonight.

So let me say, to begin with, that it is certain that not all the churches are alike. We’ve already, we’ve. You can go to any corporate church in the world, and they’re very, very different in all kinds of aspects. In fact, if you go from one church to a church, you go through very different kinds of doors into very different kinds of environments. And they will differ in worship style, they will differ in music, they will differ in liturgy, they will differ in theological emphasis, and they’ll differ in doctrinal considerations, convictions, and they will offer different programs.

So everything that you need to relate to, because you’re the church, right? So we’re, we’re discussing your life in these letters. Everything you relate to going to the church is to focus on your emotions in today’s environment. But the most significant, lit, significant, and probably the most sad thing is they all differ in how they deal with sin, which happens to be the basis of the church, of the Scripture, not the corporate stuff and not how they do the music or how, you know, do all of these ritual things and comfort you. And you know, all of this stuff.

It’s. The church is there to deal with sin. That’s it. And if the corporate church is not doing that in accordance to the scripture, you need to run, because that is your only responsibility and command of the Scripture, is how you deal with sin as being the church. And Christ has clearly called his church to be holy, called his church to be pure, intolerant of sin, to be a chasty virgin bride. And then having married, as it were, the groom, a pure, blameless, spotless wife without blemish, even though the Lord desires the holiness of his people and the purity of his church, even though the Lord says that if you know anyone in sin, go to your brother and tell him about his sin and ask him to repent.

Tell me what church does that take the biggest church. Take the most religious church that you think that go to John McCarthy’s church. They have a program to confront sin in the body of the church. That’s probably the most effective program that exists in the United States or world today, even though we are to be that direct in the church. Still, churches through history and even today have defied the will of the Lord of the church and tolerated sin in uncountable ways. You tolerate sin. Every time you walk through a door of the church that does not measure up to scripture, you tolerate it.

What’s that? That’s sin. You may argue with me and say, oh well, the preacher’s doing this or the preacher’s doing that, and that’s his bull. The focus of the church is to deal with sin. And it’s not the pastor that is re has that responsibility, it’s you. And you know what? The majority of the churches are tolerant of sin to one degree or another. Such a church was Thyatira. So this, the message of this church is very relevant message to any church that tolerates any kind of sin. Your life, your life. It’s made especially difficult to be in that church if you were devoted to holiness because it was the only church in town.

Think your life, think your network, think your community. What light are you showing to your community? And it was the case, this was the case most in all of the early churches, there was one church per city and you went there because that was the only church. It wasn’t like it is today, where there are a myriad of options for everyone to take, most of them tolerating sin to one degree or another. So you very rarely ever find one that confronts and deals with sin as and its intolerance. You don’t find it. But in that day, if you were a serious Christian and you were pursuing holiness and you believed the church should be pure, remember Ephesians 4 is the first thing is called purity.

You were sort of stuck if you lived in thy tire because that church was the only place to work fellowship. Now this is the common church today, by the way, because all the church is built on the doctrine of this common church called the Roman Catholic Church. If you match up this time of thy retirean history, you’re going to see the rise of the Roman Catholic Church being the church. And they’re. And, and they were tolerating sexual sin. Not only were they tolerating it in the church, but there were certain people in the church who were advocating wasn’t just a mild tolerance, it was an advocacy of it.

You’re going to be shocked when you see the disclosures that are going to be forthcoming on what’s going on in the churches today. And thus the church had been significantly corrupted. And as I told you last week, it wasn’t long until it went out of existence. You might say, why don’t the churches today go out of existence? Well, because the people are programmed to not only tolerate sin, but to advocate it and enjoy it. And when you go to enjoyment, like a movie theater or some sports thing that you like to go, you don’t want it to go away.

And you’re going to do everything in your power to ensure it doesn’t go away. Why? Because it builds you up emotional. So the church had been significantly corrupted. The seriousness of their involvement with sin can be seen in verse 24, where you see the phrase the deep things of Satan. They had managed to plunge themselves very deeply into the satanic things. The church with its problems. This letter to the church suits many churches throughout the history of the church and many of the churches today. It is a permanent word, as it were, to churches that compromise with sin.

You might think the church is doing all well, but you know what? It’s fixed to be judged. Even the right, even your righteous church, if they don’t intolerate sin according to scripture, they’re fixing to be judged. And I want to note for you, there can be much that is good as there was in this church, but the fatal tolerance will eventually destroy the church, your life. Now, let me. Let’s do a brief review of what we looked at last week. First of all, the introduction gives us a correspondent, right? Who wrote this? Or the one who writes to the angel or the messenger, the one who had been sent by th church to John the apostle to get the letter and take it back.

So to the messenger of the church in thyroid. And here comes the correspondent or the Arthur, the son of God who has eyes like flame of fire and feet like burnished bronze, says this. It comes from the Lord. He is depicted in the terms of his description in chapter one in the vision of Christ, particularly noting verses 14 and 15 of chapter one where he there is described with. With regard to the eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished bronze. So we note for you that this is a picture of judgment. He is seen in his judgment, character, okay? It’s one of God’s natures, his character, judgment, accountability.

You want to hold everybody else accountable. You want to see accountability, but you don’t want to be accountable to Your sin, you don’t want that to come to your door. Just wait. Just wait. His eyes, like a flame of fire, are like a supernatural, divine laser that penetrates to the depth of the church and sees the fatal flaws. You can’t get anything from him. You can’t keep anything from him, no matter how well you tend to hide it. Nothing is hidden to the lasers of his vision. And his feet, like varnished bronze, are the feet that trample out judgment.

Now, it should be interesting to note that here he is referred to as the Son of God, where in the vision in chapter one, he’s referred to as the Son of Man. Son of man is what? His humility. Son of God is his judgment. That’s a significant change. The Son of Man is a little that denotes his humility, as I just said, his sympathy, his tender heartiness, his love, his care for the church. And the term Son of God sees him rather in an unsympathetic way as the one who as God must judge sin, not the one who, as man, demonstrated compassion on the sinner.

So here he comes, riding to Thyatira in a rather terrifying and threatening imagery. He’s now your jewelry. Secondly, as we noted last time, was the city Thar was halfway between Pergamos and Sardis. It had been in Romans occupation since about 190 BC. And this, this time that this letter had been written, this had been about 300 years. And for many centuries it was the only unprotected military outpost that stopped the ongoing armies that were coming after Pergamos and fought them off for a little while so Pergamos folks could get ready for the fight. It was the guy up front.

And so it got destroyed a lot and it was rebuilt a lot. And eventually when the Romans took over and brought it to the Roman peace, it had a period of peace, of course, and under the period of peace became a commercial. It became a commercial center developing crafts. It was a trade center between the two routes from Pergamos to Sardis. It became the city with more guilds, right, that would be unions or craftsmen, than any other city in Asia Minor. It became a center for wool and a center for developing a beautiful purple dye. Came out of the madras root.

And I told you it came out from a little sea creature last week as well. And you’ll remember a lady by the name of Lydia that we studied in Acts, the first convert in Europe who was born from Thara and who was a seller of purple goods. So each of these gills self assessment. Each of these gills were not simply labor unions as such or amalgamations of people in a certain craft who were doing their trade. They had become religious organizations as well. Your society membership, country club, rotary, Whatever is a place of worship. You take an oath, you take an oath to be members of these things and you don’t even think second about it.

What does scripture says? Do not take oaths to anybody but God himself. That’s a sin. And so here was a city with no dominant deity, with rather many deities sort of fitting into all this very kinds of trades that were there different societal norms. It was a large city and even today only about, oh, about 25,000 inhabitants still live there today. Now as I talked about last time, it was the smallest of all of the seven cities that have the letters as far as size goes. The third thing we talked about is we took a look at the church.

It identifies with the church in verse 18. It doesn’t tell us anything about it really, but there are two pieces of text we could look to which is. Which goes to Acts 19. Okay. The church, the transition of the church. Right. Acts 19:10 says that because of the ministry of Paul and Ephesus, the word of the Lord sounded out through all of Asia Minor. So during the time that Paul had those three great years in Ephesus, it’s very possible that the power of the church in Ephesus spread everywhere else and hit this little town called Flower Tara.

We don’t know because scripture doesn’t tell us who started this church. You have to just go look at a little bit of history and sort of discern the possibility of how this church actually got started. And the church may have been born because some emissaries from Ephesus came to the town and planted that church. We still don’t know. But there is also that other possibility with regard to the. That lady named Lydia. Remember when Paul went in to Thyatira, there’s no synagogue. Why? Because there’s not 25 men. That was a requirement to start a synagogue. But she had all of these women at the, at the river that were praying.

So he, he got to the women and the households began to get saved. And as it grew, they finally got to 25 men and they could start a church. That might be another possibility. She was from Thyatara. She went to Philippi. And when she went to Philippi, According to Acts 16:15, she heard Paul and Paul gave her the gospel and she was saved. And it may have been converted by Paul along with her traveling companions, her whole household. And scripture tells Us and they went back to Thyatir and were in fact instrumental in starting the church.

We don’t know all of those are possibilities, but scripture is not clear on the point of how this church was started. But this church was threatened not from outside so much by persecution, but from inside by compromise. You, you’re not to compromise on anything related to Scripture. You can’t say if this then that scripture is logically clear if you study it correctly. The disaster in this church was not some onsl from false teachers on the outside, but an onslaught of false doctrine on the inside. Your belief system, your belief system is based upon the doctrine that you have accepted.

Now in your self assessment, I’m quite sure that doctrine is not on that list. But I’m trying to tell you that your belief system is solely based upon the doctrine which you believe in way of life, what’s true. It wasn’t evil men from the outside, it was evil people from the inside. This church was not suffering from being shot at. It was deteriorating on the inside. And as we talked about last time, that if you could understand the gold concept, you might get a little bit of a feeling of what was happening your social ladder today.

If you wanted your job, if you recall from last time, you stayed with the ghoul and they would have pretty strong hold over you and you would be forced to engage yourself in all of the functions of the ghoul, which meant the feast and the festivals and ceremonies, maybe even sexual sin inside those ghouls. I forgot who we were talking to. Oh, I know, I know, I know. In the introduction with Sherry B. Sherry B. And I got off on a little tangent, you know, a rabbit hole called the Illuminati. And, and in that process we both come across people that are part of it.

And, and some of those people want to talk. And some of those people give you explicit details, even with names. It’s going to fix and come out. By the way, this is going to get really interesting really, really quick. And we’re talking about Illuminati around the world. And the conversation went to the point that one particular individual who happened to be a Chinese descent was part of an Illuminati group because of her trade. Today. This was like six months ago, guys, today, same thing. And we got off on a question about is Illuminati present in all countries? And she said, no, it’s not in China.

I said, yes, it is. And she says, well, they don’t promote it to their citizens. I says, no, they don’t. Why? Because In China, it’s all about the elite, but the Illuminati is present and live and well in China. And then we got off on another part of this about what goes on inside a meeting. And it says, compare that to the I or the Shriners or anything else. Is there any difference? The facade that they put out in public for you to give them money to help children and what goes on behind the scenes, you don’t even understand, oh, what about the Red Cross, another current event.

Or we got off on Rothschild and talking about Red Shield in the Bible. And I said, you know, who has the shield that’s red today? That’s Salvation Army. Do you know what goes on at the Salvation Army? Do you pay attention to anything, you know, type thing? That was the type of conversation. I bring that up because we blind ourselves because it has become so natural to us. So if you didn’t do what these guilds wanted you to do, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that you might not only lose your job, but you’re going to lose today your status, your society.

And so there was some pressure put upon Christians in history in that regard, and that pressure exists today. Now, Satan, wanting to see to it that the compromise was made, had a woman in the church who is identified here as by the name of Jezebel. Jezebel is not with. That’s not the name of the woman. Jezebel is the character of the woman from the Old Testament. Okay? The woman found a platform in the church and taught everybody that to commit sexual sins and to get involved in idol worship was okay. And so the church actually had an internal spokesman advocating this, which took the monkey off of everybody’s back and let them be free, they thought to engage in the Goa’ Uld idolatry and immorality while at the same time calling themselves Christians and attending the church.

Where are you? That’s you. You owe nothing. You don’t want to own nothing. You just want to participate. See, you have no accountability. You bring society into the church. We’re supposed to be holy and pure your life. So this church was really struggling for survival because of the corruption on the inside. Now, fourthly from last week, we looked at the accommodation which was in chat in verse 19, and it’s quite remarkable. He says, I know your d deeds. That’s the note of omni omniscience. He knows everybody’s deeds. You can’t hide his eyes penetrate with a flammable fire.

He says, I know your deeds. The record is clear. I am omniscient Nothing escapes me. And I know in knowing your deeds, your love and your faith, or better yet, your fidelity, your faithfulness, your service and your perseverance. Fruits. Anybody can see the outward fruits, just like God can, and see your fidelity, your faithfulness, your service and your perseverance. He identifies those four things for us. I know your love, that you demonstrate sacrifice in one to another out of love. I know your fidelity, your faithfulness. And you have not abandoned Christ. I know your service. You’re involved in activity, you’re meeting with needs, you’re doing ministry.

You may even be operating in spiritual gifts. I know your perseverance or your endurance to the church. And you’ve hung in there. That’s what, that’s what Christ tells this church. You’ve hung to the Christians, you hung in there. You’ve been faithful. When there have been some hostility and some persecution, and that’s all very commendable. But then he ends in verse 19 with even more remarkable words. He says, and your deeds of late are greater than at first. That probably means greater in number and not so much greater in kind, but greater in number. There are more of them now than before.

They’re doing deeds that demonstrate love, faithfulness, service and perseverance. This church may have had the community of a very good reputation. In fact, it may have been a very popular church. Oh, that’s society for you, right? You want popularity, you want to be recognized, you want the, you know, the acclimates. That’s you. And after all, if it tolerated people attending the feast and orgies and festivals of the ghouls, it certainly wasn’t calling for any dichotomy between the church and the world. That’s your compromise. If they were busy meeting the needs and doing deeds of sacrificial love and enduring hostility, they must have had a reputation as somewhat a noble church.

Go read, Go read any church out there, go get their website, go read to their purpose. And you’re going to find all of these characteristics that they state, right? But they’re not intolerant to sin. How can you do that? And so he says, for those things, I commend you. What is noticeably absent in this accommodation is sound doctrine and holy living. Being pure, you see. And here were the two fatal flies on self assessment. There was a lot of love faithfulness to the Gospel and to Christ in a personal way. There was service and there was endurance and difficulty and trial.

But there is a very, very clearly diminishing interest, emphasis and conviction about sound doctrine and holy living. And that’s really the key to you. Ephesians 4 says, Be pure in all things that can be pure in all things if you tolerate a. A corporate church or your life that tolerates and compromises with sin. Now, that brings us to the fifth point as we sort of dissect our way through this letter. And that is the accommodation. This is really remarkable. The accommodation in verse 20. But I have this against you. This in itself is a frightening statement.

I have something against you. Would you like Christ to say that to you? Wow. I mean, if there’s any one thing that would be, to my mind, unimaginable, it would be to get a letter from the Lord Jesus Christ himself telling me he has something against to me. But that’s the case with his church. This was a church that named the name of Jesus Christ. This was a church that claimed to be identified with him. This was a church that claimed to be sharing his love and being faithful to his gospel. A church endeavoring to serve him and endure for his sake.

Oh, think of your life, all the outward things that you do. This was the church of Jesus Christ. And the letter comes and says, I have to tell you something. I have some things against you. And here’s one that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. You tolerate this world. And she teaches and leads by my bond, servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. This is why I’m against your church. You. You have this woman Jezebel, a spirit. Okay? Think of you. You have this woman Jezebel, a spirit that you identify with, and you tolerate her.

Now, as I noted for you last time, I don’t think her name was Jezebel. Nobody names her daughter Jezebel anyway, especially after the Old Testament. I mean, you want to name your. Your son Judas today? No. Somebody. Some, you know, and somebody’s just got to understand names mean something. They identify with something, and scripture says it identifies with your character. Okay? All throughout scripture, names corresponds to your character. So she said. This lady said Jezebel was. Was really not her name. Jezebel was a way to identify with her. So in one word, it tells us everything we need to know.

Jezebel was a woman in the Old Testament who led the people of Israel to commit sexual sin and worship idols. And this woman is identified as Jezebel because she does the same thing. That’s what this name is. It’s a character. The end of verse 20 says that she led the bond Service of Christ to commit acts of immorality and eat things, sacrificed idols. She was very effective. You’ll notice that phrase in verse 20 leads my bond servants astray. I just going to make a note to you. Bond servants are Christians. So she was leading the Christians astray.

That’s a designation of believers. My bond servants, those who are on my slaves belong to me. True Christians. By the way, you might say, oh, can true Christians commit acts of immorality? Of course you can. It’s done every day of the week. In fact, if you look at first Corinthians, chapter 6, the apostle Paul says to the Christians, do you not know in verse 15 that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be? Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? We talked about that on on Tuesday night in a brief conversation about Test 2 babies.

For he says, the two shall become one flesh. But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. You marry Christ, you do not marry a spouse. You marry Christ and God gives you a spouse. See, You’re to flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body. But the immoral man sins against his own body. Probably a primary reference to venereal disease. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you’re not your own, for you’ve been bought with a price.

Therefore glorify God in your body. He’s telling Christians, don’t commit fornications. And there’s a whole laundry list of definitions of what fornication means. The assumption is it’s very possible. Can Christians also wind up eating meat offered to idols? Can they go to an idol feast and eat that which is offered to a false deity? And thereby the implication here is is engaged himself in some kind of celebration of that deity. Of course, Paul says to the Christians, how is it you think you can come to the table of the Lord after you’ve been to the table of the demons? Can’t serve two masters.

It doesn’t work. And you can’t go back and forth. 1 Corinthians, chapter 10. They were doing it. They would go worship the idol and then come worship the Lord. They would go to the feast of the idol and then come to the table of Jesus Christ. That’s what your life is. This woman had succeeded in leading true Christians to engage themselves in idol feast and sexual sin. Probably connected to the orgies going on in those idle feasts. Guys, this is very serious business. We talked on Tuesday night. At the heart of every sin is sexuality. This woman had committed a very serious sin.

To show you how. Seriously, you got to go back to Matthew 18 just to remind you of the Sarahness of leading Christians to commit sin. In Matthew 18, verse 6, our Lord is referring here to Christians, not to little babies, but little ones. Here refer to his children, so identified in verse four. In verse six, whoever causes one of these little ones, that is Christians, one of these little ones who believes in me, not babies, babies can’t believe in him. But whoever causes one of these Christians who believes in me to stumble, to fall into sin.

If you lead a believer into sin, it is better for him to have a heavy milestone, be hung around his neck and be thrown into the lake, into the depths of the sea and drown. You’re better off dead. You’re better off to die a painful, horrible death than to cause another Christian to sin. Verse 7. Whoa. Of curse, damnation, judgment. That’s what the the word means to the world because of its stumbling blocks. Listen, guys, whenever the world does something to make a Christian sin, woe to that person who does that. That’s serious. The world around us pumps out filth.

In music, in media, in books, television, films, whatever it is. The world tolerates all sand and the filth and it pumps it all out. And when it causes the Christian to stumble, God remembers who caused it, And he says to them, woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come. But woe to the man who that through whom the stumbling block comes. If you are doing anything to make a Christian sin, woe to you is what Christ is telling you. And then in verse 8, 9, he says, before you even do that, you better cut off your hand or your foot or take out your eye, because if those are the things affecting your sin, you’d better be off, better off without them.

Then in verse 10, he adds, don’t look down on the dispute. Despise one of the little ones. See what God is, what is Christ is saying here Is there is a matter of grave sereneness to him when anybody causes a Christian to sin. Now go back to Revelation, chapter two. Now we understand why he said, I have this against you. I am against you because you are tolerating a woman. It’s always how Lucifer works, is always through the woman tolerating a woman who is putting stumbling blocks in front of my little ones and my own bond servants.

That phrase is there for a reason. He wants no doubt in anybody’s mind that she is causing Christians to be led astray. He says, you tolerate the woman Jezebel, you tolerate this character of sin. You don’t deal with it. Oh, you don’t even deal with it. By with you, I mean you, you can’t deal with it outwardly until you deal with it inwardly. You can’t change anything until you first change. This is not a pagan deity. This woman is one of their own people. Now let’s take a look at a little depth of this woman called Jezebel.

She is named because like the original Jezebel, she was a seducer, Estar, and that she seduced God’s people. That’s what Estar’s purpose was. She was Satan’s agent to corrupt God’s people. The woman entire tire was named for the notorious daughter of a man named Ethel, named after Bell, he was the king of Zidonians. And she came into Israel, you remember, and she married Ahab, the king of Israel. And she brought in Baal worship. And you could get all of that in First Kings, chapter 16, verse 30. I’m not going to read it for part of time, but you need to go back and study it.

So this woman in the church called Jezebel is not getting a compliment. She had successfully seduced the members of the church, some of them into idolatry and immoral sex activity. And so she symbolically is called Jezebel. Now remember what I said last time, the way she probably did this was to say, look, the pressure is on you because of the gills, your social rise. They want you to be engaged in all the activities, including the ceremonies, the feasts, the festivals and orgies. And you need to do it if you want to keep your job. She has a platform and she was teaching and leading people astray.

Now there was obviously a preliminary thing that the church never should have allowed in the first place, and that is they, they never should have allowed a woman to have that kind of a place to begin with. The order of the church was already pre established in First Timothy and it already been set in order by Paul. Even if she was telling them these things that were right because very clearly in the scripture it says that God does not allow a woman to teach in the church or to take authority over the man. In principle, the structure was wrong.

Look at your life. But you’re homeless. Now if you really want to know what God thinks about these kinds of ladies? Let’s go back one more time to second Kings, chapter nine, whether it’s the Jezebel of the Old Testament, the Jezebel of Thar. Listen to the record of what happened to Jezebel. He said in verse 33, second kings 9, verse 33, throw her down. What does that mean? Well, they threw her off the wall. Actually they threw down some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses as he trampled her underfoot. See, when he came in, he ate and drank and said, see now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.

And they went to bury her, but they found no more of her and than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. Therefore they returned to Elijah and said, this is the word of the Lord which he spoke by servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, in the property of Jezebel the dog shall eat the flesh of Jezebel and the corpse of Jezebel shall be dung on the face of the field in the property of Jezreel. So that they cannot say this is Jezebel. They threw her off the wall, they crushed her and the dogs ate her.

And they made her remains manure. That’s what they did. So it’s worthy to note again, this Jezebel being so identified is going to get the wrath of the Lord. Your life, guys. And to make matters even worse, it says she calls herself a prophetess. She claimed her message was from God. Take a little digression and look at all of the cults that have been started by women who said they were propheticists who had a message from God. There’s a myriad of them today. It’s not from God, it was from. It’s from Satan, guys. It’s the doctrine of demons.

And she was a hypocritical liar who was under the control of seducing spirits. It’s amazing to me that she was effective in this church. She was teaching and leading the very bond servants of Jesus Christ astray. And they were engaging in moral activity and they were going to the idol feast. And in verse 21, this is grace upon grace. I gave her time to repent. She didn’t do it. The Lord says, I gave her time to repent and she doesn’t want to repent in her immorality. See, when you’re in sin and darkness, you love it. John3 says, Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are Evil, you’re born, what with the Dawnic spirit, controlled by the prince of power, loose for himself.

With your whole character of chaos. You love it. See, Wickedness is your own prison. He says, I gave her time to repent and she doesn’t want to. And from Christ, this is a blunt final statement, enough’s enough. When he says, enough’s enough, you’re done. So in verse 22, it says, behold, I’ll cast her upon a bed. And you see the italics of sickness. That’s just a guess in my part, as if it’s. The Lord says, she wants to go to bed. I’ll put her in her bed. I don’t think it’s a bed of sickness he’s talking about, by the way.

The luxurious bed where she committed and advocated her perverted vice. The reclining couch at the idol feast where she ate things offered to false gods. She wants a bed. So he says, I’ll give her a bed. What does Romans, chapter one says, I’m going to turn you over to your reprobate mind. If that’s what you want, you’re going to get it. And the name of the bed is not sickness. The name of the bed is hell. It’s better. Death. It’s a bed of sickness. It’s a bed of sickness unto death. Remember how the sickness linear function works.

Okay? If you don’t want to repent, you’re going to go to inequity. And inequity produces death. This is a finality at the end of verse 21. She doesn’t want to repent. There’s also an indication I gave her time to repent, that the past tense form or the verb says the time is what? It’s over. In Christ’s mind. Now, this is a settled thing. She wants a bed. I’m going to give her a bit. A bed called hell. She can lie down there forever and those who commit adultery with her into the great tribulation unless they repent of their deeds, their life.

He can’t say, I’m going to send all the people who commit adultery with her to hell, because some of them are what, Christians? I’ll give her a bet. All right. He leaves it unnamed. Shall get a bed. The implications? A bed of death. A briar, which is another word for casket, and the ultimate bed of hell. And for those who have committed adultery with her, I’m going to throw them into severe trouble. This is God chastening. Some of them may even die in that, unless they repent of her Deeds. They weren’t doing even their own deeds, much less they were just joining and doing hers.

Self assessment, guys, you following the crowd? Trouble for all those who followed her because they didn’t repent. See, some people, I think, want to take that concept of great tribulation and may make it into an eschatological tribulation described in chapters four to 19, but I don’t think that’s really what Christ is saying here. This is not the great tribulation. This is not the time for that. This is describing the age of the church, the history period from the start of the church to the last days in the church of Laodicea. And because every church runs into the next church, you’re living in dire tire today, However, it’s great trouble, severe trouble, and can best be defined in Hebrews chapter 12 as the chastening that God brings on his own who engage themselves in sin.

If they don’t repent, which means to stop, turn around 180 degrees, go the opposite way, they’re going to have a lot of trouble with me. This is Christ saying this. And God scourges every son that he loves. When that son fell, falls into sin. And so the promise here of severe judgment on the woman and great chastity on those who followed her. But there’s another group that you find in verse 23, a completely different group. I will kill her children with pestilence. See, that leads me to conclude back in verse 22, when he says, I’ll give her a bit, he means a bit of death, a casket, a grave, hell.

Because here he says, I’m going to kill her children. The deeds you sow have generational curses. What does he mean here? I don’t think he means his bond service who are following her. He means the second generation of her falsehood. It. It tells me this, that this thing had been around for long enough in this church. Remember, we’re talking about 96 AD and this church has been around for 40 years. This thing had been around long enough that there is a second generation of people propagating the same stuff. That’s her children. She has begotten a generation who are advocating the same thing offspring of her debauchery.

And the Lord says, I’m going to kill them with pestilence. A plague literally that came upon the church. I’m going to kill them with death. Very severe judgment. He tells us in Ephesians. I want my church pure. Your church isn’t pure. You have a woman there named Jezebel. She’s leading my bond servants into sin. I’m going to give her a bed, a bed of death and a bed of hell. And I’m going to take all of my bond servants who are following her into that sin. And if they don’t repent immediately, I’m going to chasten them severely.

And it may even cost some of them their lives, like Ananias and Sapphira and the people of Corinth who died for corrupting the Lord’s table, and the people that John writes about in 1st John 5:16, who had sinned a sin unto death for which you couldn’t pay, pray and accept, expect them to be delivered from the consequences. So I’m going to take her life. It’ll be great trouble as I chasten them. And then I’m going to take her children, the second generation of false prophets and pros and prophetesses who are propagating the same stuff. And I’m going to kill them with death.

This is very serious business because what he’s describing is your life. I hope you get the picture that Christ wants his church pure. And if he has to, he’ll kill false Christians and he’ll kill a false prophet to remove them. So, guys, this message is very, very powerful. If you call yourself a prophet, you better be speaking the truth. Well, if you call yourself a teacher or a learner of God, you better speak the truth. You better not be leading people into any error of any sin or any form of idolatry or any form of immorality, or you are bringing upon yourself death and hell.

If you are a Christian and you’re following some false prophet or false doctrine beliefs and you’re engaging in some kind of sin, you better repent or you’re going to find yourself in great trouble. That’s what this message tells you. Me. And if you’re the second generation and you have set at the feet of some false prophet and you’re spouting off that same old stuff, you’re going to get the same sentence. And the Lord can most likely kill you with death as well. God gives us time. Jezebel had a time to repent and didn’t do it. Her time ran out.

He cries out to those who had followed her to repent while they had time. And that’s the message that he wants this church to hear. If you’re involved in sin, you have to repent. If not, you’re in danger of death, you’re in danger of chastening. And then in verse 23, he says, and when it happens, when she dies and all her children are killed and the believers who followed her in sin and indeed trouble, all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and arts. He doesn’t allow anything to be hidden. Everybody’s going to know when I do it.

Everybody is going to know. That is exactly what’s going to happen in this world today. God’s going to reveal himself and everybody’s going to know who’s going to be in charge. Now the Bible doesn’t tell us when this actually happened. We don’t have any record of when God kid killed Jezebel. We don’t have any record of when God killed her. Second generation propagators. We don’t really have any record of the great tribulation. But what we do know, that it wasn’t very long until this church went out of existence. So sometime between this letter and the non existence of the church, these events took place.

The Lord wanted everybody to know it and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. What does that mean? All the churches are going to know that if there’s any sin anywhere, I will what I’m going to find it. They’re all going to know because I assume this is what the churches know about this church was probably in verse 19. See, they probably had a reputation as a loving, faithful, serving, preserving church. Yeah, the outward appearance. The outward appearance of you let me have been in the word. Oh, I’m sure something about this Jezebel may have trickled out.

But he says when I move in, everybody is going to know that I can find the fatal flaw. They’re going to know it. You’re not going to get a buy with anything. It’s going to be made public is what I’m trying to say. Everybody is going to be warned about tolerating sin. So that statement, they’ll all know that I am he that searches the minds and the hearts is really an Old Testament designation for God. That I am God, that I am God who is omniscient. I am God who knows everything. I am a God whom nothing is hidden.

Jeremiah 17:10 says, I the Lord, search the heart, test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways. And that seems to be where this particular part of the verse was drawn from. You find the same thing in Psalm 7, verse 9, Proverbs 24:12 twice in Jeremiah chapter 11, 20 and 20 and chapter 20, verse 12. God is the one who searches the heart, searches the mind, he knows the deep reality and he will find it. He has intimate knowledge of you. He has perfect knowledge to the very depths. And no evil can be hidden from him.

And his judgment is accurate. It’s not off target. And he’s not throwing a hand grenade just to get close. His judgment is based on perfect understanding of every single detail. Your church may have a great reputation. The Lord is saying, I know the truth, and when I move against you and the people start dying and people start having tremendous trouble and this church eventually passes out of existence, everybody’s going to know that I know the truth about sin in the church. And then he war, he broadens the warning. At the end of verse 23, he says, and I shall give to each one of you according to your deeds.

Pay attention. And now he’s talking to everybody in the church and everybody outside of the church, but primarily everybody in the church. I’m going to give to each one of you according to your deeds. Why does he say that? Well, if you look, if you’re the church and imagine the condition of the church when this letter was read to them, I believe panic set in. Full scale panic. What’s happening in this world today? Because you’re sitting in church while this guy reads this letter and you’re feeling good about all the love and faithfulness and service and perseverance and everything is fine.

And then all of a sudden he reads Jezebel. And everybody’s ears perk up. Because she knows who she is and everybody else knows who she is. And then we hear about the second generation of her children propagating the same stuff and they know who they are. So everybody’s been put on notice. And then we hear about the people who are following after her in the same sin and they know who they are. And he says, I just want you to know people. I’m gonna kill her. Oh, and I’m going to kill all the people who propagate the same message in the next generation down.

He’s not pulling any punches. He’s outright telling the people of this church what he’s fixing to do. Oh, and I’m going to bring big trouble to those of you who are following it. So there are some dear folks sitting there, I think, in complete fear. They think they’re going to get gobbled up in this tremendous judgment. And so he gives a little qualifying to this judgment qualification I’ll give to each one of you according to your deeds. There’s some people that are not caught up in the mess, but they fear for their Life too. And so in this little qualifying statement in verse 23, basically he says, you know what? Don’t panic if your life is right.

See, that’s always the basis for future judgment. You say, now wait a minute. Are we going to be judged on works? Absolutely you are. We will be judged on our works. That’s not new in the New Testament. You can go back to Romans, where you’ve got great teaching of salvation. Romans, chapter 2, verse 6. Who will render to every man according to his own deeds? God will render to every man according to his deeds. We will be judged on the basis of our individual works. 2nd Timothy 4:14. Remember that comment about Alexander the coppersmith who did he much harm? The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.

That which you sow, you reap. That’s the reason why if you want something in your life manifested of blessings, you better give it, because that’s the teaching here. Whatever you give, you’re going to receive. See, in Matthew 7:7, it says, you’ll know them by what? Their fruits. It’s the same thing. Their deeds, the fruits. The deeds are the issue. Matthew 16, verse 27. For the son of man is going to come in the glory of his Father and his angels. Listen to this. And will then recompense every man according to his deeds. We’re going to be judged by our deeds, by what we have done in Revelation 18:6.

Pay her back even as she has been paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds. Revelations 22:12, the same thing. Behold, I am coming quickly. My reward is with me to render every man according to what he has done. Now you say, wait a minute. Is that salvation by works? No, no, no, no, no. Say the principle, the doctrine. Your belief ought to understand that your outward deeds demonstrates your spiritual condition. God can look at your life and see your deeds and know whether you’re his. See? And that’s what James was talking about in James chapter two.

In what is a clear passage, not an unclear passage by any way. You have faith and I have works. Verse 18. Show me your faith without the works, and I’ll show you my faith by my works. See, that’s the only way you can show your faith is by works. He goes on to say, without works is what it’s dead. How can you say you have faith if you don’t produce anything? Saving faith makes you what? A new creation. And in that new creation manifests itself in some kind of works and deeds. So Christ is sitting here and he says, hey, guys, I’m Just looking at your life, you don’t have anything to be afraid of if your deeds are right.

You don’t have anything to be afraid of if your life is right. If there are deeds of genuine conversion, all outward acts reflect inward life. You say, guys, come on, you got to get this. You can’t say you’re a Christian and live like hell. You can’t say you’re a Christian and live in this world. And if I have the life of God in my soul, it’s going to manifest itself outside. A dog will act like a dog and a cat will act like a cat and a Christian will act like a Christian because that’s their nature.

See, He says, on one hand, judgment must begin at the house of God, as 1st Peter 4:17 says, but it is discriminating judgment. He says, I’m going to come. Some people are going to die, some people are going to be chastened, and some people nothing’s going to happen to. I’m going to provide to you the basis of your deeds. In fact, you’re going to be blessed because your life is right. But I’m looking at your deeds and by your deeds I can tell you your spiritual condition, self assessment. See, God can look at any life and say, that’s not a Christian.

God can look at your life and say, that’s not. That’s a disobedient Christian. Because there’s some righteous indignations and then there are sins. Lack of obedience, guys. And so he knows there’s a believer in sin. He can look at some lives and say, there’s a believer living in a holy way and he just looks at the works and he can see what produces them. And so you have this in one sense broad, sweeping warning. I’m going to give you exactly what your deeds earn. Your currency. You are the currency. You remember that. It’s your works, it’s your deeds, it’s your fruit that produces increase in your bank account.

On the other hand, it’s a comforting thing for those people who may be in a state of panic, saying, my life is right as far as I know. Lord, are you going to come in here and blow me away with everybody else? Well, he answers that in verse 24. Here’s the command. But I say to you, the rest of you who are in thy tire, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known this deep things of Satan as they call them, I place no other burden on you. He says, I’m not talking to you.

In essence. Hey, you folks who don’t hold this teaching you folks who haven’t gone out there and engaged yourself in what they call the depth, the deepest things of Satan. I’m not putting a burden on you at all. I’m not even talking to you. When he says, I place no other burden on you. This is a very important statement. These are words or comfort. They’re very reminiscent to me of some words in Malachi. And I can’t resists reminding you of this. Malachi, the prophet, the last prophets prophecy of the Old Testament. Malachi is really laying it on them about judgment.

And there’s some good people and they’re just beginning to feel like they’re going to get caught up in this judgment and they’re going to get devastated along with everybody else. So in Malachi 3 16, it’s a wonderful text. It says, then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. Do you know what he said? That’s what they’re saying. They’re talking to one another. In actuality, they said, do you know what he’s saying? I hope we don’t get caught up in all of this mess. What’s going to happen to us? And you can tell by scripture that there was just a conversation going back and forth between one another.

And the Lord was eavesdropping. And he gave attention and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem his name. He says, look guys, I’m not gonna get you. You’re fine. Malachi, verse 17, 3:17. On the day that I prepare my own possession, I’ll spare them as a man spares his own Son who serves him. So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who doesn’t serve him. See, God knows the difference. He knows you.

And when he sweeps down and looks at his people, his church in judgment, he’s not going to judge everybody. He’s going to give everybody according to what their deeds. He knows the righteous from those who are who are sinful and they’ll be mine. King James says, on the day that I make my jewels and I’ll spare them. Do you have nothing to be afraid of? Even though the day of the Lord is coming? In Revelation, as we’ve been study in chapter four through 19, burning like a furnace in chapter four, verse one. And arrogance, evil dues are going to be like chaff and they’re going to be set on fire.

It’s going to be a horrible thing. But don’t fear if you know me, if you love me, if you’re obedient to me, if you keep my commandments, you’re going to be all right. Because I know who you are and I know how to divide between the righteous and the wicked. So he says in verse 24, I say to you, the rest of you who are entirety, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the depth deep things of Satan, as they call them, I place no other burden on you, no other burden than just the burden of having to be in a church like this, having to be around the people like this.

That’s a big enough pain. I’m not going to give you any more burden to deal with. You got enough to deal with just keeping in line with my principles in this sinful world. Nor the burden having to live with this group and resist this group and their insistent solicitation and ridicule and pressure because you’re being holy and you’re being faithful. So he says, I’m going to come down in judgment on Jezebel and those who propagate her stuff in the second generation. I’m going to destroy them and I’m going to chastise my children who follow after. But the rest of you have nothing to bear.

There’s no burden for you other than the burden of just having to endure all this junk. He says, you don’t hold this teaching, the erroneous, debauching doctrine of this woman. You’ve not known the deep things of Satan as they called them. Now, at first, when I looked at this, at that, and the. And. And begin to study it, and when I read the words, you haven’t known the debt, the deep things of Satan, you and I assume, well, that’s a term the Lord gave to that. The Lord called their engagement in the feast and festivals and sexual stuff deep things of Satan.

But it says it isn’t the Lord’s title. They’re the deep things of Satan, as they call them. And in other words, they were saying, yes, we’re engaging in the deep things of Satan. This is a perverseness of things, of this kind of doctrine. What he’s actually saying is we’re claiming to be involved in the deep things of Satan. We’re involved in Satan’s domain. We’re out here in those feasts and festivals and fornication, and we’re right there firsthand seeing Satan at his depth. But it doesn’t matter because we’re spirit and the spirit of God and that’s only flesh.

And that’s only body. What’s the difference? And it’s the new age concept. No matter what we do with our body, it can’t touch the spirit and it can’t touch our eternal salvation. And Satan cannot overpower us and we cannot lose our salvation. Well, I’m going to tell you something. This is an unbelievable liberalism license and that found its way into some complex kind of system of theology that they had developed. And some even announced that they were into the depth deep things of Satan and they were triumphant because their spirit was still redeemed and they could still come and worship of God.

See, some of you think you can engage in the cultic forms of religion think guys boast that were unharmed by being involved in the deep things of Satan. They’re free, they thought to engage and explore the sphere of Satan. They were proud that they were doing it because it was only their flesh and their flesh is nothing anyway. Yeah, it’s bad, you can’t change it. But their spirit they thought was immune was unharmed because it belonged to God, so forth and so on. They, they were living a life of dual. And so he tries to clear that up by saying, you dear folks who don’t hold this teaching and you haven’t known the deep things of Satan as they call them, I’m not going to do anything to you.

I’m not even going to add any burden to you. You got enough to deal with. Nevertheless, in verse 25 it says what you have hold fast until I come. Why does he say that? See, Paul made a very important observation in First Corinthians 10. It’s this. Let him who thinks he stands what take heed lest he fall. You don’t want to get too sure that you’re invincible. What he’s saying is you need to have spiritual integrity. Hold on, hold fast, strong, mighty grass. We learned that in Ephesians. It’s not going to be easy. You’re going to have to hold on for dear life like a guy hanging on a rope over a precipice full of fire.

Hold on. The blast of hell is coming through this woman and her second generation children is hard to fight off. And it keeps coming and it keeps coming and the church tolerates it. Hold on until I come. Might ask, is he referring to his second coming? Well, I don’t think so. I think it’s referring, based upon other portions of revelation that he’s referring to his arrival there to wipe those sinners out. But certainly in a generic sense the Lord is saying to all of his church there’s always going to be a sin around. Hold on. And the faithful until I arrive in his second come final point here is the council.

He. He now turns to the good folks. Now, in looking at this and studying history, I kind of feel they must have been in a very minority position or if they weren’t, they would have overruled the rest. Okay, so I think there are more minority in the church. Well, I threw this in here. Certainly if it was a Baptist church, they were in the minority. See in verse 26, he who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds until the end. To him I’ll give authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a ruler, rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces.

As I also have received authority from my Father, I will give him the morning star. Oh, my gosh. We gotta unpack that. As in other letters, all the other letters and the three letters left to go. John closes with a word to the true Christians. It’s a word of promise. And the promise says in he who overcomes. It doesn’t say that he who has needs to overcome the condemnation of church. He that overcomes life of a sinful nature, whether he was at a good life at the time of the church or repenting from the sin. He that overcomes.

So he’s making a statement to all believers. I’m not going to interpret this every time we get to this. Just make a mental note that he means a Christian, okay? Because in every one of these letters, he that overcomes is a little different. It’s positioned different, has a little bit different meaning in the positioning. But we understand in First John 5, 5, he who overcomes is a Christian. So let’s just put that in your mental, mental capacity there. That, that to the true Christian who overcomes evil, who overcomes Satan, enduring to the end. John says, our faith is that which overcomes.

The one who believes is the overcomer. And he who keeps my deeds, that means who obeys. Now, there’s two evidences here of saving faith. Saving faith triumphs. It never abandons. You never lose it. You never give it up. You always overcome. No matter what comes against you, you never lose your faith. You continue to believe. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And you overcome by believing constant faith. See, your salvation is your ticket. If it’s true salvation, you have your ticket.

And through salvation you gain faith. So the true Christian has an unending faith and has a pattern of obedience. His faith is made manifest in what his outwardly works. So to the true believer he says, I want to give you two things. First, to him I will give authority over the nations. Remit. If you endure in constant faith and a pattern of obedience to the end, whatever the end of your life or the time when Jesus comes to the end, I’ll give you authority over the nations. What does that mean? Well, I think it can only be understood one way.

You’re going to reign with Christ in an earthly millennial kingdom if you don’t have a millennium. This promise makes no sense. If you don’t believe in a thousand year millennium kingdom, what in the world is he talking about here? Because this is taken right out of Psalms 2. Matter of fact, it’s Psalms 2, verse 7. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. He said to me, thou art my son, today I’ve begotten thee, ask of me. And I’ll surely give the nations as thine inheritance and the very ends of the earth as thy possession.

Well, you might say that’s in heaven. That will happen when we all get to heaven. Well, no it isn’t. See, you got to go to the next verse. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron that a rod of iron is not in heaven. Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware potter’s clay. That doesn’t happen in heaven. And there isn’t going to be any nation full of people getting bashed around with a rotter on or broken like a pot in heaven. So it’s got to be on earth. It has to be a millennial kingdom. And there’s not any other way to explain it.

And the first thing he says to them is this. You’ve had a lot of problem here and you’ve been beaten up. And when you get to the kingdom, you’re going to get to do some of the be. Oh, you’re going to rule with me. And part of my rule is vengeance. What he’s saying is you have been hammered. So get ready for your time to take your own hammer and sit on a throne and rule with me. Somebody say, who gets hit with this rod of iron during the millennial kingdom? Well, the nations that come against God, the nations that fight against Christ, the rebellious, the wicked nations, the ones that would attack the sheep when Christ comes.

There’s still sin in this world, guys. That millennial kingdom is a thousand year reign on this earth. Earth does not change. You say you even have Here, that word rule. It’s a. It’s. It’s a word which is a shepherd means a shepherd. And what he’s saying is, I will shepherd them with a rod of iron. A shepherd has a rod, but he always has a wooden rod. But Jesus says, when I get to my kingdom, my rod is going to be what, made of iron? And what did the shepherd use the rod for? Well, many times the sheep would be attacked by wolves or whatever, wild animals, and he would use the rod to smash that animal and fight that animal off who came to attack his sheep.

And so he says, there’s coming a time in the kingdom when the nations of the world are going to move against me and my people. And I’m going to wield a rod of iron, and I’m going to use that rod and I’m going to smash them like clay pots. And you’re going to be there with me. You’re going to be ruling with me, protecting my people in the kingdom, protecting holiness and righteousness. That’s the first promise in millennial participation. You’re going to be in my kingdom. You’re going to share that great time when the nations of the world are forced to bow the knee to Jesus Christ and he rules as king of kings and lord of lords.

When the whole curse is reversed, when the rod of. When the lion lays down with the lamb and the children can play with poisonous snakes because they’re no longer poisonous. When the desert blossoms like a rose in that great time when peace fills the earth and wisdom and knowledge of Jesus Christ and whatever rebels, raises its ugly head, the rod of iron comes out. And you’re going to be there shepherding with me and using with me that authority. That’s a promise to the Christians, the faithful, the obedient ones. Now, I don’t know what all that means.

I can just interpret scripture from words. I don’t know how true Christians are going to do that. But it says, we’re there as co shepherds, co disciplinarians with our Lord. He took it right out of Psalms 2. I’ll give authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as vessels of the potter are broken to pieces. As I also have received authority from my Father. Jesus says, you remember John 5. The Father has committed all judgment unto me. And he’s now saying to us, I’m give going to share that judgment with you as.

As with you, as together we rule the nations of this world. There is no other explanation for that other than the millennial Kingdom, we’re going to be there. And then he gives another promise in verse 28, I’m going to give him the morning star. Some people think that the morning star could just be a reference to Daniel 12. 3. They that lead many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever, or even as Matthew, chapter 13. And I think, oh my gosh, I should have wrote this down. I think it’s verse 43. Then the righteous will shine forth as a sign in the kingdom of their Father.

And when he. When he says, I’ll give you the morning star, maybe he’s just saying, you’re going to glow with glory or you’re going to shine with Shanika. I’m sorry, Shekinah, but I think there’s a better explanation to this. If you go into chapter 22 of Revelations and look at verse 16, Jesus has sent my angel to testify to you. These things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright white morning star. Now when you go back to Revelations, chapter two, he says, I’ll give him the morning star. Who do you think he’s talking about, Foreign? I’ll give you Jesus.

That’s what he says. I’ll give you Jesus Christ. Peter said in 2nd Peter 1, 2nd Peter 2. 2nd Peter 1:19. If we’re Christians, the morning star has already dawn in our hearts. And someday in the future we’ll have him in our fullness. You’ll get to see him face to face. So for the true Christian, even in the church, to tolerate sin, the promise of reigning with Christ in the millennium, the promise of the great reality that Jesus Christ becomes his own. And then the final words are in verse 29, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

All revelation, even when authorized, authored by Christ, is inspired by the Holy Spirit. And that verse just means listen and pay attention. Now, I want to keep my word. And we’re going to close on this. Several things stand out in this letter, and I’m just going to mention to them. One, the seriousness of sin in the church and how God reacts to it. Did you. You should have got that. Messages. Verse 20 to 23. The seriousness of sin in the church and how God reacts to it. The second thing that stands out in this passage, the evidence of a true Christian, of.

Of true Christianity. Verses 24 to 26. I know who the rest of you are who don’t hold this false doctrine. You’re not involved in these kinds of sins. You’re holding fast. Your faith is Consistent and overcoming. And your life has a pattern of obedience that shows up in the way you live your. Your outward deeds. That’s the evidence of true Christianity. And the third thing I see here is, is wonderful and gracious promise of God to his own. He gives us the kingdom and then he gives them Christ. What a powerful instruction. That church must have been shaken to its foundation.

Well, I hope you’re shaken to your core and looking at your own life. The tragedy is we don’t have any reason to believe that it changed. See, churches today who read and hear this same passage message make the right choices that they may know the blessings of God and not his judgment. See, you need to look at this as your life. You need to self assess your choices. You need to self assess your choices from the deeds that you do. You need to evaluate your beliefs based upon your deeds. And your beliefs need to be met with sound doctrine from scripture.

That’s how it flows. Questions? Comments? Anything? I. I’ll mention something Jim, that, that came to mind that, that’s interesting and you touched on this a little bit. The, the contrast of the two women that are associated with the church at Thara. And you mentioned the. As Lydia is possibly instrumental in starting the church there because she was from there and then the other woman figure, Jezebel, who came in to seduce people away from the teachings of God. But anyway, that, that just, you know, kind of popped into my mind just a. Another thought. Are the two women associated with the church there? Right.

And two, two systems to, you know. Yes. Good pick, good pickup. Yeah. Ken. Yeah, I was thinking of something a little more personal. When you were talking earlier in the beginning of it about the basically about retribution, it sounded like a little bit how God will after people a certain way and says in second Thessalonians chapter one that you know, basically God is just, is he not just for afflicting those who afflict you. So it’s more personal basically than where Everybody knows Galatians 6, 7, where you reap what you sow. You know, just remind. Anything else guys? All right, let’s pray.

Father, thank you for a great evening in your word again, thank you for giving us the ability to understand the church of Saratar and how it applies to our lives. May you use this as a vehicle to have us examine our own self assessment how we live our life, what our doctrine base is, what our outward deeds show from our inward relationship with you. Work with each one of us to ensure that we maximize our efforts towards your glory. Father, thank you for all that you have done, all that you will be doing and all of the impact that you have on each one of us.

We give you all the glory, and we just want to let you know that we love you. We love either son. We love the spirit, and we love what you create inside of us. Thank you. Ask all these things in your son’s name.
[tr:tra].