Bible Study no 8 of Revelation

Good evening, brethren! Here we are this evening studying our eighth Bible study on the Book of Revelation. And as a starter, I want to review a few of the points we have covered before.

We addressed how Gnosticism began within the Church during the time of the Apostles, that is, during the very first century. We also understand this is how Satan deceives the world, because he has a little truth mixed with a lie. And through Gnosticism, this desire of having knowledge, he deceives mankind. Let's look at Revelation 12, verse 9, which reads Revelation 12, verse 9, which reads, So the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

Now, brethren, Satan has many tactics, many tricks to deceive the whole world. And in fact, to be seen in the Church, he infiltrates certain little ideas, certain distortions of the truth, but still keeping certain parts or great parts of the truth with it. And therefore, there is this deviation and deception. And that's what Satan does, and Gnosticism is one such technique. So we have here one such example. For instance, you remember, at the time of Adam and Eve, there were two trees, and the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And Satan deceived Eve by saying, well, this tree is good for you to make you one wise, appears to make one wise.

So therefore, we have this desire, desire of mankind to know more, to receive new truth. And as we read in 2 John verse 9, a desire to transgress and not abide in the doctrine of Christ. In other words, to add to it or modify it or go beyond what it really says. And that is very dangerous, because they transgressing, they're not staying in the doctrine of Christ. So we also went through four of the seven letters to the church. And the first one who went through is Fire Tyre, who's an era that was promised that those in that era, that they wouldn't eat of the tree of life.

We see that in Revelation 2. And in verse 7, it says, to remove accounts, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. So we have these people we see in this first era of the church, from years about 31, when the church was first founded by Christ. Until about the year 300, these people remained faithful to the doctrine, they rejected Gnosticism, but some of them lost the first love. But those that would be faithful and remain faithful, would not lose the first love. They were promised to eat from the tree of life.

The second letter was to Smyrna, and the era was promised that in the cedar in verse 11, Revelation 2 verse 11, it says, he who overcomes shall not be heard by the second death. So we have that they were persecuted by the religion that was developing in the world at that time, and history proves that was the beginnings of the Catholic Church, which tried to introduce them to false doctrine. And we can see here in Revelation chapter 2 verse 8 through 11, shows how they were persecuted initially for a period of 10 years, but then it went on through a larger period.

So we see here that era, from for about 350 years from year 300 to year 650, they were persecuted by the Church. Then we see the following era, which is Pergamos, which we see that they started, some of them started compromising. But he says, well, whoever does not compromise to us, not allowing himself to yield to these pagan ideas, was promised a permanent name. So we have here in Pergamos an area where there was this drive to hold on to different doctrines, like the doctrine of Bala and the doctrine of the Deco-latents, which I went through that in previous studies.

But it says those who do not compromise, they would have a name written which would be permanent on a white stone. Now, you can see this trend. First, they were faithful to the doctrine.

Then the Church started, the Satan, through his instruments, started persecuting God's Church. Then over time, they started to compromise. And then we see, we get to the fourth era, fire-tirette. Then there was more of a compromise. And God says, yeah, I know your works. And it shows that they are starting to compromise. This woman, Jezebel, this false religion coming along and deceiving them and causing them to commit adultery, spiritual adultery.

And so we can see this act of under pressure starting to tolerate, starting to allow apostasy to filter into the Church. But then he says that it will overcome us. He says, yeah, in verse 26, chapter 2, and he will overcome and he will work till the end to him of power over the nations.

They will give authority over the nations. They will rule the nations with a rod of iron. And I went through that in previous lessons. And that is the time period of approximately between the year 1000 and the year 1500 before the Protestant Reformation, when the pressure from the Middle Ages, the pressure on Christianity was extremely heavy. Now we're going to move today to the following letter, which is the fifth letter, which is Toussourdes.

Again, we showed this map showing that this was a male root, starting from Ephesus, and then moving up to Sperner, Bergaman, Thyatara, and then Toussourdes. So this is now the era that we're going to cover today. Now, as a point of review again, is we have seen that these letters cover three basic points, or a combination of them, but cover three basic points.

First is the actual congregations that existed when the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation, approximately in the year 95. Then those congregations, so that was the first point. The second point is that those congregations symbolize a general history of God's Church from the early Church to the return of Jesus Christ.

So this is a point where these seven congregations point or symbolize the history of the Church through these various eras. And thirdly, these different seven congregations symbolize general attitudes that can be present in individual Church members.

That's why it says, whoever has a year, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. So take attention to this, take attention to this, because it applies to all of us. So any one of us can be in one particularly attitude or condition, spiritual condition, symbolized by the first era, losing the first love, or could be, for instance, in a condition symbolized by the fourth era where you started to compromise.

So we've got to be very careful, because this applies to us. Therefore, we need to pay attention to all these seven churches as we may fall under any of these general attitudes during our Christian journey. We could be in one attitude, and then later on in our Christian life, it could be in another attitude or frame of mind, and then we could go back and forwards, and we're going to be always watching ourselves.

Now today we're going to talk about Sardis, and Sardis is also a very important message for any congregation. So we're going to look at how it applies to us. We're going to look at a few points there how it applies to us. So the congregation in that time, in that era, was in a city which was very old. It was like 750 years old. It existed, already existed, during the time of Cyrus, the king of Persia.

Now imagine a city today that you may know where you live that is 750 years old.

In the States or places in countries like Australia or South Africa, I would doubt if you find a city which is that old. Well, you'll find, for instance, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe ruins, but in Europe you'll find cities that are that old, but not in some of these more modern nations. You'll find. So such a very old city by the end of the first century, 750 years later, it clearly was not what it was in its first years. Centuries of decline at past, things have become dilapidated, and the spiritual symbolism is that the church in Sardis was reflecting what was happening in the city, because the city was undergoing physically trying, dilapidation. Its infrastructure was not what we would call welfare for. The church by this age of Sardis was already in that status.

It wasn't like the city. It wasn't the economic powerhouse it used to be, but it was a famous city. The church, after the 1500s, was not revitalized. It had to kind of get itself going again. A big part. Visitors to a city, like an old city of 750 years old, like British culture Europe, look some of those really old cities. Yeah, it would be a famous city, but some of the infrastructures etc. One would be disappointed, because things could be run down, unless it becomes like a tourist area where people are going there and spending a lot of money, but otherwise it'll be an old, unkempt city. So it wasn't just what it used to be. It just wasn't.

So, yeah, is how we can take the physical lesson of that city in that congregation and transpose it to a era of the church with a spiritual analogy there. So let's read in verse one of Revelation 3. It says, "...and to the angel of the church, in sardar's right." This thing says, "...he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know your works, that you have a name, that you're alive, but you are dead." So in first place, we know that this is a message from Jesus Christ, the one who leads the church, and he is giving this message. And it says, "...he who has the seven spirits of God," as we addressed this before, but as a matter of a matter of a matter of a matter of a� posit narrowing. I put all the message in to you. And what the bishop said with this soundpin it was... In this moment unwinding, who would it be? What would be his second truth, and he, who was s scripture being used by theitan and�, the one who is, doing this of the speaking, from the Adam. And that can do with Alternatingae and We are the leaders, the physical leaders of the church. So Christ, which is the head of the church, the one that leads the church, he is the head of the church. We read in Ephesians 5 verse 23. Ephesians 5 verse 23.

It says, for the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. So Christ is the head of the church, he is the leader, and he, you know, has his eyes. He has his information. He's got his seven spirits giving him the information. And he holds in his hand the leadership of the church. He decides who's the leader, who's not, and this is a message to those that are leaders in the church. It could well be even pastors or ministers. So it's a message to us. We've got a US in here. Listen, that's what it says. And it says, I know your works. I see the actions and works of the church. That's what it says.

So, and that is it. And you have a name that you're alive, but you are dead. You have a reputation that you are alive, dynamic, as you think you are, but you are dead. It was God's only spirit. He's not really working in the church. There is a staleness in there.

You are not really following and worshiping God. So that's what we read here in this first verse. Then let's move on to the second verse of Revelation 3.

It says, Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are dead, that are ready to die. For I have not found your works perfect before God. So where the church, which appears to be alive but isn't, it is ready to die spiritually. And then he's saying, strengthen the things that remain, the things that you haven't lost yet, the rest, what it remains. For certain things, certain truths have already been lost. So he says, strengthen those things. And watch. So look at yourselves, analyze yourselves, and consolidate and strengthen.

Now, we understand that the way it says, there must be therefore some in the church who are still spiritually alive. But they need to be watching, to be vigilant. Otherwise, they lose what little they have. And so Jesus Christ is basically saying that the works of this church era, the faith of this church, are not perfect before God. So whatever works they do, whatever faith they have, they're not perfect. Now again, this is applicable to Christians, to us, or these Christians that are in this, let's call it, spiritual attitude, that kind of ready to die. We have to watch and strengthen what remains. We've got to get closer to God. We've got to be studying our Bible. We've got to really be faithful to God and strengthen what remains. Let's go on to verse 3. Remember, therefore, You have received and heard, hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. Oh, there's so much in this verse. It's very interesting. So let's now think about that city again, the city of Sardis. The city was well situated to be the vendor. It was at a high point in the Hermos Valley, and it was surrounded by deep cliffs, which were almost impossible to climb. However, this gave them a sense of false security, gave the people in that city. And therefore, because of that, it ended up being conquered twice, notwithstanding being difficult to be conquered because of its situation. But it was conquered twice. It was the Cyrus of Persia in 549 BC, and later, some 300 odd years later, in 214 BC by Antiochus the Great. Now, in both cases, it was taken or conquered under the cover of darkness, in a words, at night. Now, why? Why? Because they did not watch the city. They were not vigilant. That's why, in Revelation 3, which we read a while ago, a moment ago, it says watch! Because this city was in a condition that people were not necessarily vigilant. In Luke 21 verse 36, it addresses this point for us, spiritually speaking, it says watch therefore and pray always that you may be account worthy to escape. All these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. So it's not just to escape the Great Tribulation of the Spirit, but it's to be able to be resurrected as a spirit being in the first resurrection in order to stand before the Son of Man, and He's coming.

So therefore, we need to be vigilant. So this principle is applicable to the Church today. In Galatians 6 verse 9, in Galatians 6 verse 9 brings another important point here, which is applicable to us as well. And let's just put it to work. In Galatians 6 verse 9, it reads, and let us not grow weary while doing good. Brethren, as people are in the Church longer and longer, it is easy to get tired of overcoming, of being attacked, of being hurt, of being persecuted.

It's easy to wear thin and to just say, oh well, I just gotta let go. In other words, I stop watching myself. I stop being vigilant. We gotta be careful. And therefore, it says, remember what you've heard, hold fast, and repent. So we've got to remember and hold on tightly.

Don't give up any part of the truth. The rest that remains. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2, 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 9-11. This is the coming of the Lord as one, according to the work of Satan, all power, signs, and mind, wonder. That false prophet will do amazing miracles under the influence of Satan. And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth. They do not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them through delusion that they should believe the lie.

You see, we've got to hold on to the truth, brethren. We can't give up to any part of the truth. And so this symbolism is applicable now to the time of the end. Now, turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 1-4. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 1-4. Now, it says, concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.

You see, they were overtaken at night, and Yai's cross says, I'll come upon you as a thief. And you don't know what time I'm coming. No man knows that day or the hour of his coming. We know that out of structure. So we can see here in this example some similarities to the time of the end. Really, there's a symbolism here really tied to the time of the end. Christ will come as a thief. And therefore, it says in verse 6, Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober.

So you can see the knowledge of this city, a well-protected city, and it was easy for people to say, well, I'm okay, I'm safe. That's why it says, watch and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape. We really gotta watch and pray. Right, so now let's look and read verse 4. It says, You have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled the gods, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

Oh, remember in Luke 21, we read, watch and pray that you may be counted worthy? But it says, yeah, you have some, for they are worthy. So how can we be worthy? So, yeah, we have many lessons of dualism. There are some in this church era, okay? Like there are members today in the church that are not watchful, not rolling fast to the truth. There are some in the Sierra that are not falling away. There are some people in the church today that might not be falling away. The question is, how can we be counted worthy?

Well, the answer is, for instance, in Isaiah 64 verse 6. For one answer, there are other scriptures, of course, that address this. But Isaiah 64 verse 6. Isaiah 64 verse 6. But we're all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like four feet. We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. How can we be counted worthy by God?

How can we be white? By making sure that we're not defining our garments. Making sure that our righteousness is according to God's righteousness. That's what it is. We need to be close to God. Now, let's look at Revelation 3 verse 5.

Revelation 6 is the opposite of filthy rags, dirty clothing, right? So, white garments. And if we look at Revelation 19, particularly in verse 8, let's look at Revelation 19 and verse 8. And to where it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. So really, what do we need to be doing? We need to make sure is that we are righteous. And none of us is righteous. None of us is righteous. The righteousness comes from God.

And then he says, I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life, which means our name in the Book of Life can be erased. It can be erased. Look at Philippians chapter 4 verse 3.

Philippians chapter 4 verse 3.

And I urge you also, true companion, help those women who labored with me in the Gospel with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the Book of Life.

So yeah, whose names are in the Book of Life. So yeah, some people that are working with him whose names were in the Book of Life. So they did not yet have eternal life, but their names were in the Book of Life.

But he says it could be erased. Paul himself said, I try and strive and overcome that I may not lose it, not lose the reward. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 27.

He says, and I discipline my body and bring it to subjection list. When I preach to others, I myself should become disqualified, which means then the name will be removed from the Book of Life.

But if you and I are faithful, and we are faithful to God, that's what he says. Then I'll confess his name before my father and before his angels.

If we don't deny Christ, he won't deny us.

So what are we going to now do? We're going to switch a little bit by giving a little bit of history of this church era. This is interesting because it ties in to today's age, because you can see there that it is a year now that runs into the very time of Christ's coming, because he says, I'll come as a thief in the night. So it applies to people right up to the end time. So we believe that sardines began during somewhere in the 16th century, and that is at the time of the Protestant Reformation. And from the beginning of that till about 1900, so for about 400 years, only a small number of church members were actually submissive to God and clung to the faith that was once delivered to them. So there was a very, very small group of people. And also at the beginning of after the Protestant Reformation, there was also additional persecution. And from the very people, there were the Protestant Reformers.

This we read in Cox's Sabbath literature, Volume 1, page 162. So that, therefore, caused the people who remained to be very few, who kept the faith and observed the Sabbath and kept God's only days, were very few.

And it was only so after that initial persecution, because so we're talking about the spirit of 400 years, so it was after some 150 years into those 400 years that there were some little groups of faithful brethren, which then started establishing congregations.

And initially, they were called the Church of God, but the world would call them as Sabbatereans or Sabbaterean Baptists. And then, as we look through this history, we find that in the year 1664, a man named Stephen Mumford, he established what we believe to be the first true seeds of the Church of God in Newport, Rhode Island. And then, in parallel, in England, for the next 150 years, people arising from them, from these few groups that started growing, took the truth for granted, and some of them did not submit to God. And so, you know, again, they're not holding on to the truth. And so they turned away, and therefore they ended up becoming what became known as the Seventh-Day Adventists. I'm being part of the Seventh-Day Baptists. I'm being a part of it. I apologize. So we became what was called the Seventh-Day Baptists.

In parallel, in the United States, the Church grew, but it was dead. Later, some joined together, forming what was called the General Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventists, and shortly thereafter accepted the pagan teaching of Trinity.

So, you know, also, a little later, there was a Sunday-keeping Church, Sunday-keeping Church, which believed that Christ was going to come in 1844.

That was started by William Miller, and then there was this greatest appointment, because Christ did not come in 1844.

And therefore, some of them came to the point that they had to keep. They came to realize that they needed to keep the Sabbath.

And so they rejoined, or tried to get together with God's Church, those that had not affiliated with Seventh-Day Baptists, so those that were remaining. So that's where it appears that Seventh-Day Adventists kind of got into the Church. But we see that it didn't quite develop that way.

This is something very interesting of the Church, that a lot of things moved, and there were movements, and there were things, and we just... the history sometimes is not sharp and clear.

God knows. But anyway, some... amongst those, they began to publish what was called the Advent Review and Sabbath Review.

But then, L.N.G. White came along to try and explain away what the 1844 Disappointment was.

And those people in God's Church, they did not agree with it. And so when the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was formed a few years later, those members of the Church immediately dissociated with those people that were pushing those ideas.

So you can see again how heresies and apostasy tries to get into the Church like stealth and like from the back door and suddenly and try and take people away.

So again, there is. So in 1961, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was formed, and then immediately after that, as I mentioned, members of the Church of God, were initiated themselves from that uniform organization.

We also read then that Alexander F. Dagen, Sr., then became part of the full-time ministerial body of the Church of God. A very interesting name because then his son as well became quite famous. And as we see from there, there was the general conference of the Church of God. It was established in the year 1900 in Missouri.

And then they developed or started producing a church newspaper known as the Bible Advocate. And a few years later, four years later, G.G. Rupert became part of the Church of God.

He had been a minister of the Seventh-Day Adventist, so now he left, and he was the one that understood the importance of the annual Holy Days, in addition to the weekly Sabbath.

So then, Andrew Dagen, which is the son of Alexander Dagen, which I've shown to you earlier, Sr., began his ministry in the Church of God.

And you can read more about this in the history of the Church by Andrew Dagen and Clarence A.O.Dott.

My understanding is this is also available on PDF in the website, in fact. I just, yeah, I pulled it out. So you can extract this for free.

In 1913, G.G. Rupert established a series of articles in the Bible Advocate advocating mandatory observance of the Holy Days as per the History 23.

And so there was already this understanding that we have to keep the Holy Days and people talking about it.

In 1914, Andrew Dagen became the president of the conference and editor of the same newspaper, the Bible Advocate.

And there was quite a bit of growth at that time.

But, you know, organization and governance became a controversy, and some of the disagreements were points that were cropping up. And one of them was about times going into a central organization so we could do a work.

So there were, at that time, there was only a small portion of proceeds, less than $1,000, going to headquarters.

And then Andrew Dagen did a Mr. Decision that the times to be sent to headquarters, the income grew, and then a bigger work started being done.

When Mr. Luper died in 1922, and then a little later, four years later, Mr. Armstrong was called, and he was baptized in 1927.

After studying where the Church of God was located, he began to congregate with the Brethren of the Church of God of Wollonette Valley, Oregon, as he believed that every time all traces of the truth and any other group.

And then a year later, he began writing articles for the Bible Advocate, and since there was no mercy on Oregon, the earlier genes Brethren often asked him to preach in the congregation.

In the late 20s and early 30s, 1930s, the Church of God then reached a point where there was no real growth because of eternal disputes of doctrine and politics.

And so, towards the end of the 4th of 29, there was this conference with a lot of confusion, and some of the disputed themes was the meaning of born-again, meaning to adhere to eat only clean meats, the use of tobacco, and which date the possible should be kept, and also Pentecostalism. So, all these things were starting to affect the Church.

So, the number of new believers kind of decreased, and the work of the Church was almost at a standstill.

In 1931, then Mr. Armstrong was ordained a minister. So, in 2007, he was called. In 1931, he was ordained a minister by the Oregon Conference of the Church of God.

Mr. Daga, then at the conference day in 1933, formed groups of twelve, seventy hours, and seven responsible for finances.

And Mr. Armstrong was amongst one of those seventy in the organization, of course, in Salaam.

Or rather, the organization, of course, was in Salaam.

Mr. Armstrong never received a salary from Salaam, but he did accept the credentials and submitted these reports to them.

In 1934, Mr. Armstrong started the Radio Church of God, producing a radio program, and also one month later in February, he started the Plain Truth, and thereby starting a new era of the Church of God.

And more details about Mr. Armstrong you will find in the autobiography.

So, brethren, I just wanted to change a little bit there, add a little bit of history there about the Salaam's era, those few years there, just to give a very synoptic summary.

But for more details, you're welcome to read Mr. Armstrong's autobiography. It's available on the Internet.

And I understand it's available on eBuy. Okay, for a small charge. Some people are trying to make money out of it.

Armstrong routed, the church produced it was free, but you can attend it, and it is available.

So, to conclude, then, in Revelation 3 verse 6, let's read that. And it says, Who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So, seeing these things are applicable to all of us. We have to be careful. Cross instructions are for us. We have to be watchful. We have to strengthen what remains, which remember what we heard and received.

We got to hold and be firm to the truth, and we're going to be dependent. Now, I've cited a number of scriptures as examples for you to read and study in your time. But the meaning of Sardis is very significant to us because it says that basically what it means is that a true Christian can die spiritually, if he allows himself to fall away. So, listen to what the church, what the Spirit says to us. Don't quit. Don't ever quit because God will never leave or forsake us. We could leave or forsake God, but God will never leave or forsake us.