Bible Study No 5 of Revelation

Welcome, everyone, to our fifth Bible study on the book of Revelation.

As a point of review, we are now in chapters two and three, in fact, now on chapter two. But as a review to what we have covered before about the messages to God's Church, which symbolize seven eras and attitudes, we have seen that each one, and we will be seeing, that each of the seven geographical churches in Asia had its own unique characteristics, and Christ's use of these characteristics to give promises and warnings to God's Church through the centuries. These promises and warnings are also applicable to us, as we read in Revelation 2 verse 7, and at the end of each one of those church eras, you as in here let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

So we see that, as we covered last week, that the overcome of the Ephesus era was promised to be fed from the Tree of Life. We read that in verse 7.

It says, to him who overcomes, I'll give to it from the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

And this is because he was faithful. They are faithful. Those in that church era are faithful to the true doctrine. And we read that in verse 2 of chapter 2, which says, I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot hear those who are evil.

And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars. So they have been faithful to the doctrine that was taught. They've also rejected Gnostic sects. We'll talk a little bit more about that. One of them was specifically the Nicolaitans, and it talks in verse 6. But this you have, that you ate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. And we also read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 6 verse 20.

1 Thessalonians chapter 6 verse 20.

Let's say the automathy guard what was committed to your trust. That obviously is the truth.

Avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. In other words, Gnosticism, knowledge, falsely called knowledge.

Continuing with the revision, they were warned because they had lost in first love. We talked a little bit about that last week, basically showing the struggle against doctrinal corruption alone does not define us as disciples of Christ, or as we call them, Christians. Christians is just a label in a sense, but disciples being through disciples, that's what we need to be. And just doctrine alone does not define us through Christians, through disciples. In John 13 verse 34 and 35, Christ said, A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, and that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. So true, outgoing, godly love for one another is what defines us as disciples of Jesus Christ, but that obviously is not neglecting doctrine, the truth. Then also in 1 John chapter 3, 1 John chapter 3, verse 22 and 23, 1 John chapter 3 verse 22 and 23, whatever we ask, we receive from Him. You know, it was whatever we pray and ask God to receive from Him, because we keep His commandments.

That is important for us to remember, because we obey Him, and brethren, it's not only the Ten Commandments, it's His commandments. And also those things which are pleasing in His sight. And this is the commandment that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as He gave us commandment. And then look at 1 John chapter 5 verse 3, says, this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. So they were warned that they were losing that first love, that outgoing concern for one another, that was starting to falter.

And so the outcome was losing that initial enthusiasm, that intense and eager enjoyment derived from God's presence in us for the truth by the end of that era, which was about the beginning of the years 300 of the current era, or AD, Anu Domini. So, and they were falling from doing the first works, as we read in Revelation 2 verse 5. He says, remember, therefore, where you've fallen and repent and do the first works.

So the love of the truth over time, even though they did not weaken from the truth, but their love for the truth became superficial. There was a greater enthusiasm initially in the early years, but with time it became routine, like boring. How well is just the same thing again? And there it is, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 10.

It says, and all in righteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth. So the love of the truth, it has to be strong enough. So it's a combination of the love for the truth, because what the people were kind of losing that enthusiasm for the truth. When they hear new things, they all excited, all I know this new thing, I want to tell everybody, and again you need a balance on that, but they were also losing that love, that first love, because loving the brethren.

So when you love the truth, you love the brethren. Why? Because the truth is love, and that is so important, and that is a warning for us. I've seen people coming to the church, and the first week, or the first two, sometimes even the first few years, it's all exciting, and it all fizzles away after a certain time period.

So Satan's influence of this world, Satan's attacks to the church, whichever way they are, affects church members and causes church members to kind of be attracted to things of the world and back to sin. That is a warning that was given here to the church in the Ephesus, and it applies to us. We've got to be careful. We've got to watch it. I didn't mention that I'll talk a little bit more about Gnosticism, because that was a thing that was coming into the church in that era. Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means knowledge. That's why we read that scripture, that was falsely so-called knowledge, because it is falsely so-called knowledge.

This is a very, very interesting book. I really strongly recommend you to get it and to read it. It's a really good book on Gnosticism and how the primitive church, it was the early church, went through its trials. First was internal. There was an internal weakness in the church. We know that Paul said, some from among yourselves will come you. So it was an internal attack. Then after that, there was an external attack, which we should see is the second year of the church that we will look at later today, which is basically the church in Smyrna.

There were like two phases of attacking the doctrine. First was internal with perception, from within the church. The second wave, a number of years later, was external from government putting pressure on people to do what government dictated, particularly related to God's laws and adhering to God's holy days.

So that book addresses that, explains that quite clearly. So Gnosticism is actually a collection of teachings merged with basic, failing, Hellenistic religion under the banner of Christianity. Now there are some people that say, well Gnosticism also affected the Jewish faith. That is correct, but that is not today listed by most people, technically speaking, as Gnosticism.

Gnosticism is, even though the principle or the concept is the same, because what Gnosticism is, infiltrating the church with paganism. So that happened to the Jewish faith as well, but when it happened to the Christian faith, that paganism, that Greek version of Babylon, because paganism basically originates from Babylon, and then the Greek philosophy painted it and modified it a bit, and that's why it's called pagan Hellenistic. And that then infiltrated the church. So if you look at Christianity today, it's got paganism in the bulk of Christianity today, which comes from Babylon, but it has kind of a metamorphosis a little bit with Greek ideologies, Greek ideas.

And so that's that combination of Babylon with Greek that changed Christianity and labeled Christianity in false ways. So that's basically this concept of Gnosticism that was, let's say, infiltrating into the early church, into the primitive church, into the apostolic church, as early as the first century.

Now at that time, it was not called Gnosticism. It's just like the epistles we read, which are just falsely so-called science, or a bigger part of falsely so-called knowledge. And I guess today we'd call science, you know, it's just science, but it's knowledge which is applied incorrectly. So in those days it was not called Gnosticism. Gnosticism is a label that came to that approach many years later. So today people say, oh, that's Gnosticism, but it's a name that is given to it many years later.

That early version of Gnosticism, that infiltration of pagan Hellenistic ideas into the apostolic church, is now termed by scholars proton Gnosticism. Right. Now towards the end of the first century, within the church, there was a substantial rejection of that infiltration of paganism into the into the church. And therefore, that's why we read here in the letter that it says that you hate. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and they're not. As we read in verse two of chapter two, and it says that you hate the deeds of Michelot, chapter two verse six.

So there was a substantial rejection of this infiltration. And in a sense, the church protected itself against it. And therefore, a number of these so-called Gnostic Christians, those people that came into the church with these ideas, ended up, let's call it, spawning different little independent groups with their own little divergent ideas. So that's how it kind of developed in the early protonosticism. All these little independent Gnostic Christians developed at that time.

Now, there is not a single body of Gnostic doctrine. You know, you get all these little independent groups of their own little divergent ideas of Gnostic ideas infiltrated into Christianity. And so there were dozens of individual sects or little groups, each one offering its own conflicting doctrines. Whether they were, for instance, about the fall of man, or what is spirituality, or which practices to follow to liberate the soul from the bad physical world, because to Gnosticism, whatever was physical was equated to being sinful and evil.

So, and I'll explain to you a little bit more in a moment how that concept that whatever was physical was equated to sinful and evil, how that came in. That is this idea of intellectual, more knowledge that one has. That's why Gnosticism is, I'm better than you because I have more knowledge. I know more than you. It's this pride of knowledge, which is like, say, intellectualism. And today we're going to be very careful with people with, that are very intelligent, very capable, very good speakers, but they ever so slightly deviating from the truth. We have to be careful with that. So let's look at some of the Gnostic ideas to kind of see how this is shaped. How it's shaped that this Gnostic concept says that anything that is physical is bad or evil. So let's look at that. So the basic Gnostic philosophy or concept, as I said, there are many different ideas, but the basic concept starts from the following. Spirit, the Spirit originates from Heavens. So yeah, the Spirit, the God, whatever Spirit is good, so Spirit is good, originates from Heavens. But because of sin, perfection of life in the Heavens was interrupted. And because it got spoiled by sin, the Spirit, therefore, drops through the various planets. They call it like planetary spheres. And this is where you get studies today of astrology and cosmology, which is basically another form of paganism. Watching the stars for that sort of concept is paganism. So these so-called Spirit entities that extend dropped down to the Earth, where they became imprisoned as individual souls in the physical human body. Therefore, physical is bad. Physical is sin. So man's destiny, this concept of Gnosticism, it basically says that the soul may return to a life of perfection in Heaven, like the soul going to Heaven, being freed from the body where it came from. So therefore, any human link with material life, physical life, must be broken because physically sin. That's the Gnostic concept. So with the Gnostic concept, to be a good person, it means that we must disconnect that connection with of what we do from the person, physical material person we are. So there must be that separation between physical and spiritual in us. So it's kind of the concept that they have.

So basically, that sort of concept of Gnosticism in the Christian Church, it's taken therefore things like the traditions, the Greek traditions, because the Greeks were thinkers, we're people that were philosophers and things like that. They were thinkers, they were people that believed a lot in using their brain. Human reasoning, they then reinterpreted the Babylonian religion with their own little thoughts and ideas, and that reinterpretation then got injected or infiltrated into Christianity. You will remember that original pyramid that I showed, where I showed the authority of Scripture, and I said the important is direct statements from the Bible, and then in that I showed that human reasoning, apart from God, is one of the big problems, because he can reason, apart from God, and you can have excellent, very intelligent, very bright, very apparently logical reasoning, but it's apart from God, and it's off the mark, and that's what you've got to be careful with. So Gnosticism, looking at it in another way, is a type of progressive reformation of the early church. It's the early church. Now, some people say that also happened with Judaism, but it really is specifically applied in the context of Gnosticism. The progressive changes because of we know better, we can think it in a better way, of the church founded by Christ. So Gnosticism, therefore, is strongly based on the concept or the theory of progressive revelation, and therefore that's where you get ideas like, well, Paul has some new ideas that kind of were better than Christ's stuff, and therefore those are called the Paulines, or whatever it is. So that is those Gnostic concepts, the theory of progressive revelation, insisting that their teaching was more advanced and more advanced revelation than actual Christianity. Look at 2 John 9-10. 2 John 9-10. It says, whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ. What do you mean transgress?

Well, usually we think, well, transgress means break a law, but yeah, transgress means if you go beyond, and in your margin it says go beyond, go beyond what it is, you take it further than what it is, this is the doctrine of Christ. If you go after it, you would beyond what Christ told us, you're transgressing the doctrine of Christ, right? And so whoever does that does not have God. You abide in the doctrine of Christ as both the Father and the Son. So there's no, so right here, the Apostle John, in the years around about 90 when he wrote this second epistle, he is battling this internal Gnosticism or protonosticism who was trying to infiltrate the church, and he's saying, hey, whoever transgresses or does not abide on the doctrine of Christ does not have God. And then he says in verse 10, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine of Christ, do not receive anything into your house, nor greet him. So this is talking about Christians, these Christians coming on trying to preach you this pro-Gnosticism, these ideas, these things, hey, I'm sorry, out. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. So that's what he's saying.

So looking at Gnosticism in a nutshell, in the form of maybe summarizing it, Gnostics believed that early Christians could be saved if they received extra knowledge. For instance, the knowledge of understanding the immortal soul in them. Because why? Because the immortal soul, then it would be freed from the body and go to heaven upon death, so it's freed. And obviously, they were not saying that you did not accept Christ's grace and intervention. So you see how subtle Satan is? Yeah, you've got to have Christ's grace and Christ's intervention, but they were diluting that and changing that with what? Because they were being liberated, that's what they were saying, from the deception of the Old Testament religion, which was based on a physical creation. So they were doing away with God's laws. You see, we can't do away with the Old Testament. And that basically was nothing else than licentiousness. It's you can do whatever you want, and you can sin. So Gnosticism was this, let's call it excuse, to say, well, you can sin and you'll be okay. Now, there are various sermons on the church's website about Gnosticism.

You need to go onto the Sermons tab, and you can enter Gnosticism, and you press Apply, and you get various sermons. If you want to see my sermons, I've got two sermons about Gnosticism. Then you need to enter my name in there, and then you will see my two sermons of Gnosticism. But there are other sermons of Gnosticism on the church's website as well.

Now, as I mentioned, there's not one version of Gnosticism. There are various versions of Gnosticism. One of them, for instance, is Docetism. So, what is Docetism? Because now we're starting to get a little bit technical. So, what is Docetism? Right, Docetism is a variety of Gnosticism, and actually was quite common. It's probably one of the most common Gnostic doctrines, Docetism. What is that? Understand, not all Gnostics were Docetists or believed in Docetism. So, I mentioned Gnosticism is this thing of various flavors of Gnosticism. But one of the flavors is Docetism. Docetism taught that Jesus and Christ were not the same person.

That is, you say what? When you first read that, what? Basically, Docetism believed that Christ was a spirit being that kind of landed on or entered into the human being called Jesus.

That departed from Jesus a little before he died. So, Christ actually didn't suffer.

The man Jesus suffered, but not Christ. Therefore, it was only the man Jesus that died on the cross. Look at 2 John 7. For many believers have gone into the world, I mean, have gone out into the world, who do not confess Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh.

This is a deceiver and an antichrist. In other words, they did not believe that Christ, the Word, that became flesh. No, they had this concept that was a different being. It just that possessed the man Jesus, but before he actually suffered, it actually left him. That is a bad... You think about it, you can see where certain ideas today are because of that. Certain ideas. Some people say, well, who was Christ was created, I mean, who was Jesus was the Son of the verse instead of being the Son of God. There are different ideas that, kind of because of that, developed into today's different ideas that people have. Now, based on that theory, they also denied or rejected a great portion of his earthly ministry. Why? Because alleging that his spiritual teaching of Christ, that spirit being that they called Christ being different than Jesus, which came from the spirit Christ, was contaminated by his physical side, the man Jesus. And therefore, they reject portions of Christ's teaching. Look at Jude chapter Jude 1. It's only one chapter of Jude 1 verse 4. It says, for certain men have crept unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turned the grace of our Lord, of our God, into lewdness and denied the only Lord, the only God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. They denied, they're rejecting, and that's what they were doing. That explains a little bit better Jude 1.4.

And the Christians of the Ephesus era hated and rejected those Gnostic ideas. As we read read in Revelation 2 verse 6, it says that you have, you hate the deeds of these people, these Gnostic ideas, like the ones of the Decolatans. So there were others, like the Simonians. Okay, what is that? The first Catholic writer stated that the founder of Gnosticism was Simon Magus. Now, when you read in Acts 8 verse 9 through 24, you read about Simon, the magician, and that he wanted to pay to receive God's only Spirit. And you know the story, I'm not going to go through it now, but you know the story. So, many, just like with many people that were searching for fame and more people to follow them, Simon Magus ended up going to Rome sometime during the reign of Claudius Caesar. Claudius reigned between 41 and 54 AD, or the current era, and Simon and his disciple Menander taught a form of Docetic root theology. So it was part of Docetism. From there came the teaching that Simon founded the Church in Rome.

And many attributed the foundation of the Church in Rome to Simon Peter, but in reality, it was Simon Magus that was the root of what became, or came to be, the Roman Catholic Church. So those are the ceremonies, a version of Docetism. And then there's the Nicolaitans. Now, there is a lot of story about who could be the Nicolaitans.

People are basically, we just really don't know a lot because very little is written about that. But it is believed that Nicolaitans were founded by Nicholas, one of the men that became the deacons in Acts 6 and is the last one mentioned. And they are writings about Nicolaitans by Uranius in Against Heresies, chapter 1, 26.3. There is in Apoletus, in his writings called The Refutation of All Heresies, in 7.24. And by Elizabeths in Ecclesiastical History, 3.29. Elizabeths is one of these writers that provides more information. And so, based on the Elizabeths, because it's the only one that provides a little bit of information about that, we can assume, take a basic possibility, which seems to be the predominant concept, that the basic and underlying teaching of Nicolaitans was that to reach internal spirituality, one needs to ignore the external spirituality. You know, it was the material. And remember what we went through? This is physical material, it's sin, and spirit is good. And so, we need to ignore that material things. So, what they were basically stating is that spirituality was not based on life's material experiences, or in any biblical law, or in any person that tried to legislate material or physical conduct, because through spirituality, in their eyes, was special knowledge. Was this Gnostic more? I'm better than you, because I have this special extra knowledge. And so, there was the separation between physical and spiritual. So, he says, so, if you do something evil, like that, it's physical, but it's not you, because it's the physical. You, it's the spiritual, so, it's okay, you can do things bad. And therefore, any legislation against physical conduct, it's bad, because it's all physical. And that's how they would break down the biblical law and God's law. So, so there it is, Nicolaitans ended up accepting indifference to material life.

In other words, which was nothing else than a license to compromise with their personal desires or promiscuity. That's what it was, Nicolaitans. So, therefore, Gnosticism became an excuse to say, you can sit, you can sit, because that's physical and that's going to die, but your spirit is good, your soul is good. And look at 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 2. 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 2.

How this idea was infiltrating there, and it says, and many will follow their destructive ways. Because of whom the way of truth will be blessed. Yeah, destructive ways, because they say, well, you can go and sit. And, and other people that were not involved, but they were simply in the wall, they were looking at this, and they said, this is Christianity, I don't want to have anything to do with it. You see, so it was giving a bad name to true Christianity. Look at Jude 1.4. Jude verse 4. It says, for certain men have crept unaware as long ago and marked after this combination. And godly men who turned the grace of our God into luminous and deny the Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So again, as I read this before, they were turning God's mercy, God's grace, into an excuse of blueness, of being able to to go out and sin. So that's what they were creating that excuse. So Gnosticism was basically that. So that was rejected by the Ephesus era. But this teaching, they spawned, as I explained, into different independent sects, and this thing grew over time. It was not accepted by Ephesus, but it did grow. Then we now get to the church in Smyrna, which is the next one that is mentioned from verse 8 through verse 11. It's not much is said about Smyrna. It's only four verses in the Bible, 8 through 11. But looking at the physical area was a great rival of Ephesus as a city. It was also known as the prettiest city in Asia Minor.

And it was called Asia's ornament, the crown of Asia, and also Asia's flowers.

There was some sort of outside beauty, like people pushing this false Christianity, or an outside beauty to it, and some apparent attraction to the wall. Smyrna was well situated. As you see, it was an area near the sea, right? It was at the end of a road that came from the inner provinces of Asia Minor. It controlled the business along this, there was a river yard, the Adamus River, and there was a valley in this area. So it was a lush area, and it controlled all that business that went in that area. And it was at the end of a long bay, so it was like a bay-yard, an interior long bay, with direct access to the sea. And therefore, it was well it was well protected from bad weather and things like that as a harbor, and also well protected militarily because it provided this protection, I mean, if the invaders wanted to come in, it was well protected. But this city was known for its evils. It was a city with a lot of sin, a city with a lot of sin, and a lot of opposition to the first century Christian gospel. So in that time, in that early time, it was an area which already had these predispositions. So using those points, we now learn some lessons that Christ writes to us and to the church era that this describes. So it reads out, to the angel of the church in Smyrna.

Right? The person says, these things, says the first and the last who was dead and came to life.

So YHSA is writing to the messenger of this church. As I mentioned in a previous study, we believe it would be the leadership of this church era, of this period of time that it's spent, because it's spent a number of years. It will be different leaders as they went from over the period of time that it's spent. Now Smyrna itself means mer, which is a sweet perfume used by the groom. If you look at Song of Solomon, you look at, you know, the groom used this perfume. Psalms also refers to it, but it was also used to embalm. It had some sort of a protecting characteristic to delay the development of bacteria, and it was also given to Christ by the wise men. You know, the wise men came to Christ and gave him three gifts, and that was one of them, mer, probably representing how he would die and suffer for mankind. But it was very valuable, and it was an expensive commodity, let's call it that. When it says about the first, Christ is the first. He is the eternal being that created all as per the Father's will. So let's briefly look at those few points. First one is in John chapter 1, verse 1 through 3, John chapter 1, verse 1 through 3, and it says, in the beginning—let me just get to it—in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So the Word was God. So in the beginning, which means He's eternal, He's the being that was with God, with God the Father, right? And the Word was also God. So He's of the God Kingdom, of the God Family, of that group of beings, which at that time they were two.

One was the God, and the other one was, let's refer to that as the Word. Then we continue reading in verse 2, He was in the beginning with the God the Father, and all things were made through Christ, through Him, through the Word. Without Him nothing was made that was made. So He's the Creator. So He was in the beginning, so He's the first, and He was the one involved in the creation under the instructions of the Father. If we go and read a little bit more in Philippians chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2 verse 6, and when it talks about that we need to have the same mentality as Christ in verse 5, or the same mind, in verse 6 says that Christ, who being in the form of God, He was in the form of God. As we read in John 1.1, He was God. He was in the form of God. He was of the kind of being that was God, like you and I are in the form of man, the kind of being of mankind. So He was in the form of God. And then He says, do not consider robbery to be equal with God. Do not consider it, let's call it, identity theft, to be equal with God. He was in the form of God. The two were God beings. The two were eternal. The two were in the beginning. And look at also in Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1, starting in verse 1.

Hebrews 1 verse 1. It says God, that's the Father, who works various times and various ways, spoken in time past to the fathers by the prophets, as in last day spoken to us by His Son. So God the Father, as spoken to us in Old Testament through the Word and through prophets and through other means through that we have received God's Word that came from the Father through Christ, through through messengers, through angels or through prophets, etc. In these last days, as spoken to us, God spoke to us directly by the Word that became man and is that talked to us by His Son, who has appointed here of all things, through whom also He made the walls. God the Father made everything through Christ, as we read in John 1 verse 3. And in Hebrews 1 verse 2 says the same thing. And look at it in verse 3. Who being the brightness of His of His glory and express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the magisti on earth. So Christ is the brightness of the glory of the Father, is the express image of the Father, and upholds all things by the water of His power. In other words, Christ keeps the walls running, the walls and the stars and all that, His power. He's got His fingers on the controls, making sure that everything stays in balance. So He's got that. And look at it then in verse 8 and 9, because it's talking about what God the Father says. He says, to the Son, He God the Father says, You're throne, O God! So God the Father is saying to Christ, and He's calling Christ, and He's saying, O God, the Father is calling Christ, O God! So the Father is saying, You're throne, O God, remember Jesus Christ, is forever and ever. A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness, and you hated Lordless. Therefore God, that's Jesus Christ, your God, that's God the Father, has anointed you with the oil of Latinus more than your companions. God the Father is saying to Christ, God, your God. And this is directly quoted from the Old Testament. So Christ is the first. He is the eternal being that comes He is the eternal being that created all as per Father's will and instruction. He's the first. He's also the last, the one that will complete it and hand it over to the Father. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 Look at verse 23 and 24. It says, but each one in his own order. Christ the first fruits afterward does that. Christ is his coming. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father. So he is at the end, he will hand it over to the Father. So basically, the two, God the Father and Christ, planned to have to bring many sons to glory. As we read in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10, they planned to bring many sons to glory. They worked out this plan and then the Father said to Christ, delegated to Christ, you go ahead and execute this plan. So Christ created everything. Christ worked with mankind from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Christ will come and rule in the millennium. Christ will then be the judge. He will sit on the great white throne and he will do all the judging. And yes, you'll get assistance from others like us, who was erected at that time. It says that as well. But anyway, then ultimately, when the kingdom is complete, the family is complete, he will hand it all to the Father and says, Dad, Heavenly Father, mission accomplished.

And so he will be the last one standing at the end when he is victorious, even against the death. He is the one being victorious because it says in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 25 and 26 says, he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. He will be the last standing. All the enemies will be put down. All enemies will be put down. And the last enemy that will destroy is death because after that, there's no more death. There's no more death. So he's the first and the last. He did really die. He did die. We see a direct attack to Gnosticism. Because remember, the Gnosticism is a scene that the separation of the body from the spirit and all that stuff and the soul and all that confusion. He says, No, no, Christ came in the flesh and he died. He was dead. And that is important for us to understand. We see, therefore, a direct attack to Gnosticism. And he, Christ, is the one that was resurrected. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 14. It says, and if Christ is not risen, then you are preaching empty and your faith is absent. Christ is resurrected. So, Yahweh have, right at the beginning, introducing this message to the church in Smyrna, saying that the church can anticipate a full victory against its enemies. Christ will win, and therefore this is great encouragement for the church, which is suffering great persecution. This is great encouragement for the church.

So, those are just some of the points so far about Smyrna. So, let's move a little bit for words.

I'm going to read now Revelation chapter 2 verse 9. I know your works, tribulation, and poverty, but you are rich, and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

So, we see, Yah, a compliment of saying that they are faithful under persecution. Because I know your works, tribulation, and poverty. You are struggling in many ways, but you are faithful. And look at some specifics of what developed, and it led to that.

Polycope, at that time, at the time of Smyrna, so we're talking about Smyrna, and at those early years of that geography, Polycope was a minister from Smyrna who personally knew the Apostle John.

And Polycope urged Christians to continue to keep the Passover on the 14th of the first month, as a memorial Christ's death. But at that time, they were already debased by any setters, Bishop of Rome, and he said to the Bishop of Rome, between 155 and 166, who proposed that the celebration of Christ's resurrection should be held on Easter Sunday. And so Polycope rejected as is known. You can see this Gnosticism was growing in the early years, therefore the example of that geography of Smyrna. And there was Polycope in that time fighting it, already fighting it. And that gives the analogy that Smyrna was a church that was fighting it. Now Polycope ended up being burned at the stake and pierced with a spear for refusing to burn incense in St. Louis to worship the Roman emperor. So we can see that that was run about in the year 166 to 167. So we can see how this was happening in that early time, how this is symbolic of what happened to the church. So that is the first part of verse 9. The second part of verse 9, he says, I know the blasphemy of those that say are Jews but are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan.

So now we have people that say they were true Christians but they're not.

So he says they were with great physical poverty but spiritually rich and they were blasphemous from different groups and they could even be, for example, Jews. Yes, they could be Jewish people but it's not necessarily because it could be people that claim they were spiritual Jews because you know that the true Jew is the one that's spiritual. So people that say that, oh, we are Jews spiritually speaking but they were not true spiritually speaking Jews. So, and this is what we read for instance, a number of warnings. For instance, in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 7. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 7.

Let's get there. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 7.

He says, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he's taken out of the way. This mystery of lawlessness was already at work.

And yes, there will be a time when God will say, allow it to go full steam and then maybe you'll allow an angel that is preventing this to come full steam at the stage will allow it. And then these demonic powers will be released at the time of the end. So, but there it is. This mystery of lawlessness is already at work. What is this? Gnosticism. And then it says, and the biblical definition of those who are the children of evil. He says that there were warnings against those. Look at 1 John chapter 3 verse 8. 1 John chapter 3 verse 8. 1 John chapter 3 verse 8.

It says, He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God has manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. And look at verse 10. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. So I've showed you earlier how the synostics concepts was bringing concepts that encouraged or allowed or permitted a breaking God's law. And so he says, this is saying, these are Jews, but they are not, but they are the synagogue of Satan. In other words, they are of Satan, of a religion which is satanic, of a concept which is satanic. And therefore they followed doctrines which were against God's law, which were creeping up or building up or arising from Gnostic Christianity. So then let's read verse 10 in Revelation chapter 2 verse 10.

It says, do not fear any of those things which are about to suffer.

Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you in prison, that you may be tested, and you will have for Revelation 10 days. Now, there is considerably discussion from amongst different scholars about what it means 10 days.

Now, one thought, which by the way I don't agree with, and I'll show you I don't agree with it in a moment, but one thought is that the church in Smyrna is representing a persecuted church in the second and first century, because they found some 10 specific periods of persecution by the Romanding emperors, 10 specific periods. But that's not the second year. That is still in the first year of the church. So the other thought or concept which I believe is what is true is that the church in Smyrna represents the prophetic second year of the church, which is run about from the year 300 to the year 650 of the current year, or it was AD, and 10 days is 10 years. And where do we get 10 days is 10 years. Do we get that from a prophecy of a day for a year? And you get that from Numbers 1434 is equal to 4 verse 5 to 7, and you can go back and look at that. There is a prophecy that, you know, the prophet was to lie on one side for so many days, and that represented so many years, and lie on the other side for so many days represents so many years. And also when the spies went to look at the promised land, and they went to look at 40 days, and they came back with a bad report, and then they were punished for 40 years, a day for a year. So we got these examples of a day for a year that a prophetic day is fulfilled over a period of a year. So now we have tribulation for 10 days, prophetic days, in the world of the church. And we have prophetic days, in the world for 10 years. Did this happen in the church of Smyrna in the second era of the church? Yes, it did. You see, there was a thing called the patron deciment of the 14th controversy. And in fact, you saw that it was already happening in the days of Polychon. Basically, according to the insidious, he writes, another most violent disorder had existed and long afflicted the church. And I mean the difference respecting the solitary feast of Passover. Today we call it... well, we'll go to that in a moment. For a while, one party asserted that the Jewish custom should be adhered to, in other words, Passover on the first month, on the 14th of the month. The other party affirmed that the exact recurrence of the period should be observed without following the authority of those who were in error and strangers to the Gospel of Truth. In other words, yeah, you need that on a regular time, but we don't need to follow the Jewish concept of the 14th of Nis And so there was this conflict, and you can see already that already had happened at the time of Polychon, as I mentioned to you. The controversy continued equally balanced between both parties, like 1550.

And Constantine appeared to be the only one on earth capable of being his minister, implying God's minister. Of course he wasn't, but anyway, that's what they meant.

For this good end. In other words, Constantine, Emperor Constantine, was the one that said, well, he is going to act as God's minister, as a minister, for this good end. What could end? To heal this division.

And what did Constantine do? He convened a general council. And what was that? The council of Nisayat in AD 325. In other words, the year 325 of the current era. That's what the quattro-deciman controversy was. Quattro-deciman means four, deciman means ten, which means fourteenth. So it was this controversy over fourteenth.

Now, Eusebius continues. He says the puzzle was discussed.

And then in that discussion, he said, let us have nothing in common with the Jews.

You know, not Judaizing, because Nisam the fourteenth is Jewish. So it was determined by the common judgment of all that the feast of the Passover should be kept on one and always on the same day.

You see, because the fourteenth sometimes could be on a Wednesday, could be, for instance, on a different day of the week, etc. Could move from one day of the week to another. He says, no, no, let's have the Passover always on one and always on the same day of the week.

So the castle Nisayet decided under its own authority, under the leadership of Constantine, that Passover should be celebrated on Sunday, which today in the English language you call it Ista. But in other languages, it's not called Ista, it's called Passover. I mean, I know in Portuguese, they call Ista, they call Passover. So they say, well, Passover must be on Sunday, and that Passover of the fourteenth should be prohibited. So the castle of Nisayet did two things. Number one, prohibited keeping Passover on the fourteenth, and number two, prohibited Sabbath-Sabbath observance. They would have to keep Sunday.

Now, let's look at Daniel chapter 7 verse 25. Daniel chapter 7 verse 25. It's interesting to note that this section of Daniel was written in Aramaic. So Daniel chapter 7 verse 25. Now, Daniel from round about, if I remember correctly, Daniel chapter 2 verse 24 through till the end of chapter 7 was written in Aramaic. Afterwards, it was written in Hebrew. So in this section, he had written in Aramaic, in Daniel 7 verse 25, he's talking about, he shall speak pompous words, talking about this little horn that will come up, you know, this. And he says, pompous words against the Messiah shall persecute the saints of the Messiah, shall intend to change times and law, and the saints shall be giving into his hand for the time, times, and half the time. So what have we got here? In first place, we have here, is in Daniel 25, that he was to change times and law. Now, in Aramaic, if this was written in Hebrew, it would have been appointed times, momentum. In other words, change times, change the appointed times, change the purpose of observing God's holiday is basically what it is.

And they also changed the fourth commandment, the law. How? The fourth commandment says, keep the Sabbath. What they do? Keep Sunday. And you also know the Catholic Church, the Church changed the fourth commandment into the third, and then made the tenth commandment into two, and all the other things. So anyway, there it is a prophetic fulfillment of Daniel 7.25. That established, for the first time, the Catholic Church as the authority. Now, many did not accept it, and so Constantine prohibited even services, even worship at private venues, like at home. He went to that point prohibiting them, and a lot of people died because of that. There was an intense persecution on the Church. All right, and if you read there, it says, be faithful until the end, and I'll give you the crown of life. Be faithful until death, and I'll give you the crown. Son had to die. And so the persecution was very intense for 10 years until Constantine died.

And there it is, that section of 10 days in Revelation, 2 verse 10. It also begins the Church's era. The Church's era starts this time that the Church had to flee into the wilderness for 1260 years, which fulfills again Daniel 7.25, which is for a time, times and after time, which is three and a half years, and that transposes for a number of days, and you work it out at a day for a year, it ends up 1260 years.

And in Revelation 12 verse 6, in Revelation 12 verse 6, Revelation 12 verse 6 talks about this, let's call it, first persecution of the Church. I use the word first because there'll be a second, but this first persecution of the Church is in Revelation 12 verse 6, and it says, then the woman fled, a paper on the woman fled, which is the Church, into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1260 days, 1260 years. So this area starts this 1260 years of flight of the Church, but there was an initial, very intense period of 10 years while Constantine was alive that the Church in Smyrna had a very intense persecution. So the Church then fled to valleys and mountains in Europe, around areas in Europe and Asia Minor. Now continue reading in Revelation chapter 2, and now going to verse 11, being the last verse of the Church to Smyrna, and it says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, he who overcomes shall not be heard by the second death. So yeah, we have the last scripture of this persecuted Church, and it says, he who has an ear, what do we mean by he who has an ear? You and I know that we have ears, but can we understand God's truth? We can't understand God's truth unless God calls us. Matthew 6, 44, says, no one can come to me unless the Father draws him. So how does the Father draw us? By putting God's Spirit around us, because you're reading John 14 verse 17, that the Spirit can be dwelling among you and can be also in you after baptism. So when God is calling us, God opens our mind and our ears to hear, and therefore he who has a ear then means who is called and can grasp it through the power of God's Spirit, because God is enabling to hear spiritual things, letting hear. And he goes up to a parable, for instance, Matthew 13 verse 13 through 15. Let's just look at that parable very quickly. Matthew 13 verse 13 through 15.

It says, therefore I speak to them in parables because they do not see, and hearing, they do not hear it. They do not hear. So what do you mean they don't hear? Because they have ears, but they don't get it. They don't understand. And nor do they understand. And in the end, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled. Hearing, you will hear and will not understand. And seeing, you will see and will not perceive for the hearts of those people that are on dial. Their ears are hard of hearing, their eyes, they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and they would then understand with their hearts. In turn, it was repent, so that they should heal them. You see, so he's saying, he that has ears, it was that has been called, can understand this, and we are enabled by God's Spirit to understand that we better make a positive effort to hear it.

So when we have ears to hear spiritual things because we are called, we need to pay attention to hear so that we can repent and take action. So this instruction is for everybody.

So that's why I say, he has a ear to hear, letting hear what the Spirit says to the churches, so it applies to everybody. And he who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. So regardless of the fiery trial that affects us, we must be faithful to the end, even if it means physical death. And then you have churches like Matthew 10, 28, it says, and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. The Greek word for soul is suke, which is basically the breath of life.

But Rod of Fereem was able to destroy both suke, in the words, the breath of life, or what is in the breath of life, the spirit of man in man, right? So he's able both to destroy spirit, the spirit of man in man, and the physical body in hell. What is that? Hell is the second death. It is gihana, in gihana, in gihana. That's what it is. So we have, yeah, an exhortation and a promise. There will be persecution to the church in Smyrna. The church in Smyrna, that year, is the beginning of that period of 1260 years, which there will be other eras that will cover in future studies weeks ahead. But what we have here is a promise that if we overcome, we will not suffer the second death. We will have, for that person who becomes, will have eternal life.