Thank you very much, Caitlin. That was wonderful. Certainly adds a lot to our Sabbath.
Last week we began a review of the book of Revelation.
I want to make sure when we are done with this sermon series that you know what parts of the book are chronological, what parts are insets, and also what the purpose of the book is, and you will not be, let's just say, as likely to be deceived because we all are likely, if we're not keeping our neck and our nose in God's Word, about what the book is for.
We mentioned that chapter 1 and verse 19, John was to write the things which he saw, the things which are, and the things which shall hereafter take place.
Today I want to talk about the things that are. Chapter 1, he reviewed and wrote down the things which he saw. He will write other things that he sees, but this next two chapters, chapters 2 and 3, cover a time that things are. God sometimes speaks of things that are going to be as if they already are because they are going to happen. He says it so. Bible even says he speaks of things that will be as if they already are. In chapters 2 and 3 we have a message to the seven churches, and we have these seven churches on a mail route. You all understand that. I'm not going to cover these from an historical aspect like you've probably heard several times, but instead to talk about the cumulative effect of the messages of the churches. In order to fully discern the content of chapters 2 and 3, it is necessary to remember that the cities of the Roman provinces of Asia are connected to the church that are connected to the church were chosen because they were on an established Roman mail route going north of where Paul was on the Isle of Patmos.
The purpose was to provide channels of communication, and communication could flow from the first port to the second to the third, and the message is built because they would pick up mail from Ephesus and take it up to Smyrna, and from Smyrna and take even more messages up to Pergamos and so on. The use of the mail route indicates the messages were, first of all, chronological.
The mail delivered at Ephesus, later then to Smyrna and Pergamos, and much later finally at the end of the route in Laodicea. The chronological sequence reveals the message expands a complete history of the church, showing that the church history is divided into seven definite stages.
Secondly, the use of the mail route, as it is, establishes that the messages were accumulative, that you correctly pictures the mail being picked up arriving in the port of Ephesus, which was the first route, then mail from Ephesus added to that and taken to Smyrna, Ephesus, and other places along the route. So the messages were delivered, but the message to us is that the conditions of the Ephesus church would continue into the next era, and the conditions of the second era would continue into the third. But the conditions of the sixth era wouldn't be extant in the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth, which means that by the time we arrive at the seventh or Laodicean era, that there are conditions described in all earlier church eras that we still have to deal with. We still deal with the seat of Satan. We still deal with the doctrine of Balaam. We still deal with Jezebel, even though earlier eras did not have to, if they were before that. So we have this process. Laodicea therefore became the recipient of communication from every city which preceded it. In this regard, it's important to understand each message was delivered from its perspective historical stage, and the effectiveness of that message contents continued on through the following stages. So here we have this two, I guess two-pronged approach to these two chapters. It is historical. It is also cumulative.
These messages have some very strong similarities. They depict number one, Jesus Christ's authority over the church that spans all seven years, all seven church eras, and his interaction with that church as he deals with each one, and finally the reward for overcoming, which is to sit on his throne and, of course, have a number of other things that he mentions. Jesus eventually gives a full description of himself, but he only gives a limited description, pieces of that, to each stage of the church, just as he gave a full description of the reward that will be given to all the saints by describing one segment of the reward of each stage. Remember, it says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church as. It does not say, if you are part of Smyrna, don't listen to the messages to the other churches. It says these messages apply to each one of us. Before we begin, I think it's important that we review that these seven eras parallel the seven eras of the Old Testament church, what the Book of Acts calls the church in the wilderness. And there were seven distinct eras of the church that was begun by Moses, or the time of Moses when God called Moses out, and ended with the Laodicean, or the Pharisee-Sajasy era that was destroyed in 70 AD and dispersed throughout the world.
Just briefly so you can at least get these in mind, there's plenty of information, not only in previous church literature, but also, of course, the messages ministers have given. In the Ephesus church, the church that had a first love, parallels the church in the wilderness led by Moses, and then, by Joshua into the Promised Land. The Smyrna era, the second era, parallels the period of the judges, when finally each man did what was right in his own eyes, and of course idolatry engulfed much of ancient Israel. The third, or the Pergamos era, parallels the United monarchy, the kingships of Saul, of David, and of Solomon during those years of great prosperity in the land of Israel, when all 12 tribes were united under one king. The fourth, the retired, parallels the divided monarchy, the time after Jeroboam's sin and the destruction, or the ripping away of 10 of the tribes, leaving two as Judah and Benjamin, and then, of course, the other tribes taking off becoming Israel to the north and headquartered in Samaria. And the divided monarchy was a very long era in the period of Israel, just like the Thyatira era was many, many years, the longest of the eras of the Old Testament. Sardis parallels the church taken into captivity after 586 and the destruction of Jerusalem and their return. If you look at the books of Haggai and Zechariah and Ezra and Nehemiah that chronicled that time, you will find an asleep church. They were supposed to build the temple right away. They didn't. It took urging from Haggai and Zechariah for them to finally get and rebuild that temple like they should have. But even then, they left off, fell very quickly into idolatry, mixing with the peoples of the land around them. They were intermeering with the tribes around them to their own hurt and their own destruction. And so the Sardis era parallels this time of captivity and the return from the captivity that every turn we find people who are weak and becoming part of the world and not doing exactly as God told them to.
The Philadelphia era is paralleled by the time of the Maccabees, of great exploits of a small number of people changing the world, so to speak. If you read the accounts of the Maccabean revolt, First and Second Maccabees, and some of the other historical books, it's an incredible story of what the Hasmoneans did. Judas Maccabee, his father before him, Matthias, and of course he died and Judas took over. But at the time of the Maccabean revolt, when they rebuilt without the Greek oversight the Middle East and prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ as far as establishing the church goes. As you know, the Roman Empire took over under Pompey the Great, took over that part of the world, conquered it in 64 BC. But they allowed the Maccabean, the Hasmoneans, to stay in charge and even allowed Herod to be on the throne. And Herod claimed to be a Hasmonean or Jewish, through his mother's lineage. And we've had Bible studies on the family of Herod and how he claimed to be half Jewish. So the Maccabean time was a time of great exploits, a time of a small group of people doing incredible things, just like it was in the Philadelphia era of Revelation chapter 3. The final error of the Old Testament was the era of the Pharisees and Sadducees. That's the era into which Jesus Christ came. Those who were the ones who turned on him had him murdered by the Romans and, by and large, refused to accept him as their Lord and Savior. But it was a decayed church. And we'll talk more about that as we get to the Laodicean era, because they had rejected God's high priesthood. They had rotating high priests, where the family of Annas and Caiaphas would rotate a different man in every year.
Many of those who served as priests were not Levites. Many of those who served in the temple were from other tribes. So they put men who were not qualified to be in those positions. In those positions, men claimed to be great teachers. Men claimed to get followings after themselves. And there are many parallels to what has happened into our time with the Laodicean era. So here we have, I think, a very interesting parallel. But let's try to get through this survey of these churches and look at the accumulation of these messages as it comes to us. The concept of seven sequential stages or historical eras for spiritual Israel fits perfectly with the seven historical religious periods of ancient Israel. And, of course, we just read through some of that, and there's much more if you'd like to study into it further.
Each of the seven letters to the churches has a common outline. Each begins with a salutation, a greeting, from an excerpt from the description of the glorified Christ. If you go back to what we read last week in chapter 1, where there's a detailed description of what Jesus Christ looks like now, he takes a piece of that, like the one who stands among the seven stars and uses that as an introduction to each one of these church eras. And he follows that by praise for the virtues of and warnings for the weaknesses of or the failings of each of those church eras.
The first era, of course, was Ephesus. It's a primary seaport by the province, the first stop on the mail route for all of these messages. You represented the first stage of the New Testament church. You know, it is exciting to read the early chapters of the book of Acts. We have thousands being converted. We have very, very willing minds in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, three thousand men at least, and then just as the days go on, the first few months there, we have just, you know, thousands and thousands more. And then they are scattered. They go throughout the Roman Empire, back to their home areas, and they began to preach the gospel wherever they went. But in the time of the time of Ephesus, we have the beginning of false teachers. In fact, if you look at Revelation 2, beginning in verse 1, it says, These things says, He who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. So he takes a piece, a part, a phrase of the description of the living Jesus Christ and says, I'm the one who is now talking to you. The first thing it says they did, I know your works, your labors, your patience, that you cannot bear those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars.
Now, we have record of them doing it. We just want to hold your place there. We'll come back. But over in Acts chapter 8, the first record we have of the apostles dealing with a false teacher was a man that is very well written up in history. I have a book that lists all of the secular records and historical accounts of Simon Magus, and it is interesting how many ancient writers wrote about him. And, of course, all that he did very well written up in Rome. If you go to Rome, there is in the apartments for the popes, there is a very large mural, a very large wall, that has a picture of, supposedly, Simon Magus confronting Simon Peter, or the Apostle Peter, consenting Simon Magus on the banks of the Tiber River. It's probably pretty much fiction, but it does give us one more historical record that Simon Magus certainly did exist and was a religious leader. In Acts 8 and 9, there was a certain man called Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed from the least of the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. Now, today, that's called the Vicar of Christ. Today, that system of belief that was established at the time of Ephesus, the Ephesian church, has come down to us in a very strongly established church. And, of course, what did Peter say to him when he wanted to have the Holy Spirit given to him? Verse 20, Peter said to him, Your money perish with you because you thought the gift of God could be purchased with money. You have neither part nor portion in this matter. Your heart is not right in the sight of God. And so here we have the first evidence of that era doing exactly what Jesus Christ said here, that they had to test those who say they are apostles and are not. Another good example is over in 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11, and beginning in verse 3, the Corinthian church, one of the earlier churches that Paul established, also had to deal with those who were teaching a different gospel and a different spirit. The historical record shows that these false churches and different gospels have continued down through the subsequent church eras, all six of them, since that time. Here we have in 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 3, And I fear less somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, So your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit, which you have not received, or a different gospel, which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. I said you might listen to it, but essentially you shouldn't. He tells them not to. In verse 13, So we have the record in Acts and in Corinthians, and even later in 1 John 4. I'm not going to turn there, but it says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits and see which ones are of God. That was the first challenge faced by the church, the first challenge faced by those who had this wonderful first love, this fantastic first six months, perhaps first three or four years of existence. And they just thought that Christ was coming soon. They had all things in common, at least to begin with there in Jerusalem. And they were the people who were very receptive. Large, large numbers were converted and dedicated their lives to God.
But he also mentions that they would lose their first love and become weary. He says in verse 3, You have persevered and have patience, and have labored for my name's sake, and have not become weary. They continue to go all throughout the Roman Empire, even as far as Britain. Nevertheless, I have this against you that you have left your first love. This is a very serious infraction because he says, In abonition, remember therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place. If you don't repent of losing your first love. The love of that first era, as it began, was incredible. They were able to have courage, they went to prison, they were beaten. But eventually the church became a little bit complacent. Jesus Christ did not come in their time. The Roman Empire, through men like Nero and others, began to persecute them. Many of them suffered, many of them were driven from town to town. Emperor Claudius kicked all of the Christians out of Rome for a short time. Nero, after him, had a smaller but very intense persecution of them as he blamed them for the burning of the city of Rome. It wasn't until a little bit later that we had the domination, that we had some very, very serious persecution, but it did occur in that first era. Let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15. Paul's lament, and I think we can call it that, Paul's lament was that so many turned away from him. Paul lamented that here we have a church that had lost its zeal and had lost its first love. Oftentimes, men who have worked hard all their life and accomplished great things that people look at or think they look at, look back on their life when they're about to die and say it's all been kind of not worth it. It seems like nothing has really changed since I started. Paul didn't say that because he knew many had been converted and were heading towards the kingdom of God. But he was very concerned, I think probably personally disappointed, that so many had turned away. Verse 15 of 2 Timothy chapter 1, This you know that all those in Asia have turned away from me. Now Asia was a large area, large province, quite a number of churches we have record of in the New Testament in Asia. He said, all those in Asia have turned away from me. Among whom are Phylegus and Hermogenes. But he also mentioned some good ones, The Lord grant mercy to the household of Annessa for us, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. But he arrived in Rome and he sought me out very zealously and found me. But we have read this statement in verse 15 that I think gives us pause, it gives us a little bit of insight into what happened to the church in the Ephesian era.
The greater part of the church lost that zeal for the truth and for each other. It seems like many fell away. The general epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude indicate increasing levels of false teachers, of heretics, of Roman persecutions, and a general letdown throughout the latter part of the first century. And of course, after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, they had no central city to look forward to.
It was just the heavenly Jerusalem and their truth that they held on to. So their first works were very well, very well done, very good, but they fell off. Now, the warning is that we may not follow that. Verse 7, he who has an ear—let's go back to Revelation 2. I'm sorry. Go back to Revelation 2 and verse 7. We have a warning. First it says, you better repent of your false deeds.
Secondly, this you have that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. So after he says you've lost your first love, he says, but on a good side, you have a hatred of the Nicolaitans. Well, who were the Nicolaitans? The word Nicolaitans is composed primarily of two Greek words, Nikao, N-I-K-A-O, meaning conqueror or conquest, and Laos, A-L-A-O-S, which means people. So the compound word simply means conqueror of the people or consumer of the people. It describes the type of government utilized by the growing false church that was established in Rome, probably by Simon Magus, certainly the historical record indicates that.
It was a dictatorship where men were told that access to God could only be granted through other men. And for centuries, these people were told that. They financed huge buildings, cathedrals. They controlled Europe for well over a thousand years, in fact, probably closer to 1500. And they had a form of government like Nicolaitans, in other words, conquering or ruling over the people. The first era of Ephesus rejected that altogether.
And God says that was a very good thing. He says you still have that. You still have that rejection of that system of men controlling other men, saying they are the intermediaries between God and man. Verse 7, he who has an ear doesn't just say the Ephesus' ear, but every era, he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, to him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
He's hearkening back to Genesis 2 and 3 about the tree of life, the man being kicked out, and the man having access to that later. So as these rewards are given to each one of these church eras, or are these admonitions about the reward, it's again a piece of the pie, just like the introduction is a piece of the pie as to who Jesus Christ is and what he's doing. Each one of these rewards is cumulative. You add up all the descriptions of who is speaking to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, and you have a complete picture of Jesus Christ very close to what is given to us in chapter 1.
If you add up each one of these rewards given at the end of these letters to the churches, then you have a complete picture as to what the reward of all of us is going to be if we make it into God's kingdom. So just to say we're going to be in the midst of the paradise of God, have the tree of life, is true, and it's wonderful, but it's only a piece of the pie.
You have to add in each of the other reward promises in these seven chapters, or in these six additional church eras, to get a complete picture of what the message is for all of us. So these messages are cumulative even in that way. So we have this tree of life that is promised to all those who overcome. The tree of life signifying, of course, the connection to God and being supplied by His Spirit. Now, the second historical era of the church is called Smyrna, the second city on the male list.
The male bundle going there would have been larger than the male going to Ephesus to Smyrna, or from the Isle First of Patmos to Ephesus. The second sage began after all the apostles had died and all those who knew them had died, just like at the end of the book of Judges, or all those, end of the book of Joshua, were all those who had known Joshua were dead. This would have occurred at the margin of polycarp in the year AD 151-55. Very similar to the end of the first era in the Old Testament church, the beginning of the second era has the same sort of underlying cause, that all those who knew the apostles, the apostles died, and all those who knew the apostles who gave first-hand accounts also had died off.
So we are in the time of Smyrna at about the year 155. Now, we have a man here who became very well known. We don't have much about this era from secular history except what we have from Roman history of the time. But a man named Polycarp—let's read first, though, about what it says. It says, The first and the last who was dead and came to life. Again, we have a small slice, one phrase, out of the description of Jesus Christ in chapter 1, and he's now using that as the one who is introducing this letter to the people in Smyrna.
He is now the one who was dead and he came back to life. I know your work's tribulation and poverty, but you are rich. I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. So the two men who were, historically speaking, a part of that church that we have some record of, the first was a man named Polycarp. He was the disciple of John. It's virtually the only known record in existence of the church that survived through the second century.
He was the elder of the church in Smyrna at a time when the counterfeit church began to rise very prominently. And they claimed the definition of Christian on themselves. Polycarp remained faithful to the truth. By the middle of the second century, the false church had substituted Easter for Passover. Polycarp publicly refused to make the change. And, of course, at the age of 86, was martyred and his body was burned.
His successor was a man named Polycrates. The only other name that we connect from that time of the church history was also in the latter part of the second century. Polycrates was an elder in the city of Ephesus. He refused, and this is a pretty good Roman record, to acquiesce to Vicar, the bishop of Rome, who demanded that Polycarp quit keeping Passover and simply adopt Easter. So the chordodesimmon controversy, the controversy of the Abhisavi Passover or keeping Easter, was one that raged for quite a long time, finally settled by the Catholics, and I believe the Council of Nice, in about the 300s A.D.
So we have these two men, Polycarp and Polycrates, who would not stop keeping Passover, but publicly taught that Passover should be kept and not Easter.
Jesus clearly said in John 4, 22, You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. So since Jesus Christ said salvation came from the Jews, or out of the family of Judah, meaning Himself, and of course that the Jews were given the responsibility for keeping the words of God, Romans 2 and 3. He says in verse 9, I know your works tribulation and poverty, but you are rich. I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. During this era of the church, this Smyrna era, the church that came to dominate Europe and replaced the political power that collapsed in the Western Roman Empire after the Roman Empire split, and of course Constantine moved over to what is now Constantinople, or was then Constantinople, now it's Istanbul. But it left a huge power vacuum in the East, I'm sorry, in the Western Roman Empire, centered in Rome after the destruction by the Alaric and the Goths and the Visigoths. So we have this church that took over and became a political and a religious power. And it was on the rise during the time of this church.
So we have kind of an historical record that we can identify what these people in Smyrna went through. And of course, that has happened all down through history. We know that. This was not dealt with much by the Ephesianary because it wasn't the challenge of their time. Persecution also was on the rise during this time.
The Smyrna era was degraded by those of the false church, but did not face life-threatening persecution until later. The Roman Emperor Diocletian declared a general persecution on all who claimed to be Christians in February 303. It was stopped in the Western Empire in 306 but continued in the East until about 313. The greatest numbers of those who were associated with that or were subject to that persecution were actually people who had been followers of Simon Magus. Yet true Christians were also apprehended and sentenced to death during this terrible time of persecution.
So we were talking about the 300s AD. Now, how many have been to Rome and seen what's called the catacombs? There have been a few. Okay, that's good. Next time I go to Rome, which I hope is next year for the feast, I want to go see a few more of these. In the city of Rome, our many underground burial and meeting rooms became burial rooms called catacombs. The first large-scale catacombs, they believe, were excavated in the second century, but it was during this time of the 300s and after that the 400s when these catacombs were primarily dug out.
And they were used as secret meeting places. They were used also as burial grounds, especially later when the Romans forbade any burial places within the city limits. There are over 20 known locations of catacombs. Most of them are on the major roads of the Appian Way, the Via Maris, and others.
He mentions here, The pagan custom of the Romans was to incinerate corpses, but early Jews and Christians buried their dead. Since most were slaves, they usually lacked the resources to buy land. They said networks of tunnels were dug into the deep layers of tofu, or tufo, ground, which occurred naturally on the outskirts of Rome. First, these tunnels were used for simply burial, but as they were persecuted more and more, they excavated chambers, subterranean chambers, where they then were able to conduct Christian worship services. What they called excavators or phossores, no doubt slaves, built vast systems of galleries and passages on top of each other.
They lie 7 to 19 meters, up to 65 feet below the surface of an era. Most of them have narrow steps that descend down to them, which could be hidden by small openings. Sometimes the passages are about 2.5 by 1 meter, and, of course, the burial compartments themselves are carved into the walls. Some are even decorated with paintings and that sort of thing. But these began in the time of the persecutions of the Smyrna Church.
We don't know how many of them were dug by true Christians who really understood the Sabbath, kept God's holy days and the commandments, the things that we understand. But we know that these catacombs and being, say, underground, having to go underground to be able to worship God and not be persecuted happened during this time.
He says also that they must be faithful unto death. Verse 10 says, Don't fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. And indeed, this era suffered greatly from the Roman persecution. It says the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested, and you'll have tribulation ten days. That was the persecution between 303 and 313 A.D. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life. And so these people who went before us, following God, trod the Christian path of life, so to speak.
Many suffered martyrdom, many had to live underground, many had to flee to other areas just to be able to survive. But they had faith in words like 1 Corinthians 15 that says death is swallowed up in victory. And so this lesson for all of us, because this is a second lesson, the first is not to lose our first love. And the second, I guess, will be to hate the Nicolaitans and not to allow that system of man controlling men to have access to God, to be a part of our lives.
But finally, to be faithful unto death, because there is a persecution coming. There is a time, Jesus Christ prophesied as the worst time in the world, in the history of the world. When that comes, we should remember our brethren who went before us in the era of Smyrna and how old they had to endure. Enduring to the end, going through all that tribulation.
It says in verse 11, And of course, in verse 10, it's promised, The second, given here to Smyrna, was to have the crown of life, which Paul himself even talked about. So we have more pieces of the puzzle of this final reward that is given.
Now, the third era, in the stage of the New Testament Church, commenced about the time of the Council of Nicaea in about late AD 325 to 330. Jesus refers, in this possession, let's see here, the church in Pergamos write, These things says, Remember in chapter 1, Revelation, it mentions he has a sharp two-edged sword coming out of his mouth.
So in this case, in this third introduction, he says, I'm the one who has the sharp sword. So this piece of the entire description of Jesus Christ to this era focuses on that sharp sword coming out of his mouth. At the outset of the third era, that Emperor Constantine established Catholicism as the official recognized religion of the Roman Empire. And most of you are familiar with the Battle of the Malvin Bridge, or Malvian Bridge, very small bridge north of Rome, where Emperor Constantine was outnumbered, and he saw this vision, at least why it's the account is.
And so he had all those men paint. They were kind of a strange cross. It was a cross with a P, kind of a P on the top. I don't know why, what that was for. I guess I need to read some more about it. But he felt that if he had adopted Christianity, that all of these soldiers who were refusing to join his army, once they saw this cross on their shields and the word went out that Constantine was now a Christian and he was raising a Christian army, he would have all these reinforcements which would enable him to conquer those who were still up in Rome.
And I forget what the Roman general was. But he was able to win the battle because of the, quote, Christian reinforcements or those who had the name Christian who came to help him. And so he established in Christianity as the, I guess, the state religion of ancient Rome.
He also outlawed anyone keeping the Sabbath or Passover, anyone keeping Sunday instead of the Sabbath. And there was a decree in 325 that anyone found keeping the Sabbath and not working on that day was to be brought before the councils and many were persecuted, many were burnt to death or executed because of that or sent to slavery in one form or another. Interesting that it says here in verse 13, I know your works and where you dwell where Satan's throne is.
It's no question where Satan's throne is on this earth. It's no question about the system that was established that persecuted our forefathers, our those who went before us in following God from that city. You hold fast to my name, did not deny my faith, even in the days in which Antipas, my faithful martyr, who was killed among you where Satan dwells. Antipas probably refers to the leader that God raised up in this era. By the time of Constantine of Manali, in fact, this is a guy named Constantine of Manali. He's a fellow in history we know about. It may or may not have been the same person as Antipas.
It's not Emperor Constantine, but a man with the same name who lived in a town called Manali. He lived in the area of Cappadocia in Armenia. He served in the ministry of Christ for about 27 years, was stoned to death in the year AD 684.
This is a long era of the church, lasted for a long, long time. In fact, about 700 years total, longest of all of the old eras. During this time when the church was scattering and going throughout Europe, they were going up to the hills of Europe, they were trying to find a place where they could flee persecution.
He says in verse 14, I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, and to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. Now, the word Balaam means conqueror of the people.
Balaam conquered the people through seductive teaching. He brought in women of Moab and Edom to seduce the men of Israel at Mount Peor. He turned Israel into worshiping Baal because of these false women. In the time of the New Testament church, known as the Thyatira era, they were those who compromised, let's say. It indicates the difference of doctrines from the Nicolaitans and the doctrine of Balaam. So the Nicolaitans had a different doctrine than Balaam. The teaching of the Nicolaitans was control of people by men using religion. But the doctrine of Balaam was making friends with the religions of this world and idolatry in various forms.
The primary teaching of the false church that its leader was the vicar of Christ was rejected, thankfully, by most. But there were some who associated with God's people that believed that they could then allow practices in and join with those, worshiping on different days and doing other things that they simply got ensnared in. So we have this warning. In fact, let's hold our place there. We'll go over to Deuteronomy 12. God warned several times that the Israelites were not to compromise, not to somehow make deals with or to learn from pagan worshippers how they worship their gods.
Deuteronomy 12 in verse 30 says, It says, Jeremiah says, We cannot take pagan practices and put God's name on them and somehow think God accepts it. We can't do that for the kids. We can't say, well, it's for the children. They like getting presents. Or we can't say, well, we didn't want to make enemies. We didn't want to offend people. This would go ahead and go to church on the wrong day. It simply says, It simply says, And so these people in Thyatira began to compromise.
They began to draw close to or be friends with the world. It wasn't the Nicolaitans. It wasn't the forcing of a political power on them and persecution that caused their problems. It was instead their compromising with the religions of the world around them.
Thus you have also those who hold the doctor of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. So some even succumb to being a part of that church, or at least part of that system, perhaps because they didn't want to lose their lives physically.
He says, The reason why the sword is introduced in the greeting to Thyatira, and then mentioned here again, The reason is given to us in Hebrews. The word of God is a sharp sword that divides truth from falsehood, that cleaves under the very heart of the matter and the meaning. Sometimes it takes a sword to divide what is right from what is wrong, because these people had intermingled false religion with the true worship of God. They had gone participating in other religious rights and activities, pretending they could do it in God's name, and somehow it would be all right. That's why the sword is mentioned here twice, because the sword cleaves in two and divides right from wrong, and does not allow for one to mix with the other.
He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, in other words, overcomes the doctrine of Balaam, and overcomes dealing with the Nicolaitans and compromising their truth and their religion by having others, by associating with others in a religious way. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. Now, the hidden manna, of course, is the Greek word krypto, which means purposely kept secret. The word manna, which refers to Jesus Christ, being the bread from heaven, John 6, is the only manna that matters, because it's what gives eternal life. Verse 57-58 in John 6 tells us that. Jesus Christ is the true manna, and He is the one who reveals our purpose and reveals truth.
In this case, perhaps He's talking more about the hidden manna of the future. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9 and 10 says, It has not entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them, but God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. And so this message here to this church is one that we all have to listen to and think about very carefully. Could we be guilty of succumbing to Balaam and somehow becoming part of this world's religions, idolatry, immorality, or perhaps even the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, where men say, I am the gateway, you have to go through Me to get to God? We have to overcome that just like they were admonished to. It's not entered into our heart yet what everything all God will give to us. Now, notice what it says here about the reward. To Him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. So if you overcome, God will give you hidden knowledge. Knowledge has been kept from the vast majority of mankind. And I will give Him a white stone on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except Him who receives it. Now, very likely this word stone from the Greek sepos, P-S-E-P-H-O-S, refers to a polished stone that contains two things. In some cases, it contained forgiveness. It was an acquittal. You owed a man a hundred whatever to Nari. He gives you a stone saying the debt is removed. But also, a stone was used as an invitation for a dinner. And so this probably means in this case, if you overcome, I will give you an invitation to the wedding supper. Another part of that piece of that puzzle of what the reward is for those who are going to be in the Bride of Christ. Let's turn over here just to get a reference on that, Isaiah 65. Isaiah, of course, is the last part of it. Isaiah is a wonderful place to read in preparation for the Feast of Tabernacles every year. Isaiah 65. Let's begin in verse 13.
This is after Christ is returned, apparently, right before the new heavens and new earth are prophesied in verse 17. It says, Maybe it's a picture of the wedding supper. Maybe it's a picture of that celebration when Christ returns and most of the world is kept out. They see what's happening, but they're not a part of it.
So God will call His servants by another name, as He mentions here, when Jesus Christ returns. And at that time, we have all to go to the wedding supper. Isaiah 62 also mentions you'll be called by a new name. So this white stone that is given will have a new name which no one knows except Him who receives it. So who knows what name you might have? Maybe God likes your name that you have now. But I must have a confession. I think in every church area if you've ever been and accept this one, there's been a David Johnson. And I can't count the David Smiths and the Steve Smiths and the James Smiths I've known in the church over the years. So we've got a whole lot of people with the same names. So maybe God's going to give us all completely different names. Nobody will have the same two names. We'll just have to wait and see. But part of this reward, as this mosaic is woven by each one of these chapters, each one of these letters to these churches, part of the mosaic is a white stone with a new name written on it, and that stone will be an invitation to the wedding supper where Jesus Christ will then celebrate marrying His bride. God now addresses the fourth stage of the New Testament. Pergamos is over. I think I mixed—said Thyatira. Now Thyatira is starting. Pergamos was the era that we just finished, ex-somberning, than Pergamos here in verse 12. So now we're in Thyatira. Sorry if I made a mistake there on identification. Verse 18, To the angel of the church in Thyatira, these things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet like brass. Now here we have another small piece of that description in chapter 1. In this case, I'm the one who had eyes like a flame of fire and feet like brass. So there's something about this era that is necessary to describe in a flame of fire, eyes like a flame of fire and feet like brass. The eyes like a flame of fire probably refer to perception, seeing through what these people are doing, even though they say they're doing something different. The salutation, combined with the first three, and the subsequent give us a full description of the Messiah in chapter 1 in his glorified state. The feet like bronze, the inclusion of Jesus Christ's feet appearing like blondes, as though he was standing in fire, could represent that in this era of the church, in the Thyatira era, many Christians were condemned to death, and burning at the stake was the standard form of execution. It is interesting, this was during the era of the pagan teaching of Dante Algieri. His book, The Divine Comedy, which basically taught Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, were used as tools by the false church to keep people under subjection. They would say, you're a relative, your debt, Uncle Harry, is in purgatory, but for so many dollars or pieces of gold, we can pray him out of purgatory into Heaven, but if not, he's going to go from purgatory into the other place. And so the idea of the Divine Comedy, of these places of torment for the departed souls, was used as a form of mass control, a way of controlling the people, and of course, getting all their money out of them. He says, I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience. As for your works, the last are more than the first.
This era began about 1100 AD, when the beliefs and practices and teaching of a man in southern France by the name of Peter Dubry came to the attention of the Catholic Church. Almost all the history we have of the Thyatira Church comes from Catholic writers who were writing about these people up in southern France, in Switzerland, southern Germany, who were keeping the Sabbath and laws of God, and all the efforts to persecute them and wipe them out.
A leader named Peter Dubry came to their attention in about 1100. Also, a man named Henry of Luson and Arnold of Bresca, he was charged by the Church with keeping the law of God, including the Sabbath. Later, a Lutheran historian mentioned the scattered groups at that time that kept the laws of Moses and refused to keep Easter, but as said, kept Passover and opposed the Trinity doctrine. Henry, the last of these men, died in 1149, but it seemed they had an impact that was felt for several hundred years in Europe.
So I have a few things against you, God says. We'll continue on down. Because you allow that woman Jezebel to call herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants, to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things offered to idols, very similar to the doctrine of Balaam. This woman was immoral, taught them to be sacrificing to idols. And apparently, obviously she symbolizes the false church. Historically, Jezebel was the evil wife of King Ahab, the daughter of Ethbael, king of the Zidonians, and she brought a very devout form of Baal worship to Israel during the time of King Ahab recorded for us in verse 16 in subsequent chapters.
It's clear that she symbolizes the false church, a woman with whom the kings of the earth commit sexual immorality. Let's just turn over there to chapter 17, Revelation 17. So Jezebel obviously is not just a woman, but is instead a woman system. She symbolizes a system. Revelation 17, 1 and verse 2, One of the seven angels who had the seven bulls came and talked with me, saying, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
And she's described as a woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious jewels. And so she has a great deal of wealth. So Jezebel here is mentioned, not in the case of stay away from her, saying, Why are you allowing her to call herself a prophetess and to teach by servants and seduce people?
It's time to repent and put that away. Verse 21, he says, I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. So we have God saying, I allowed her to have time, but she did not repent. In 1217 A.D., God allowed the false church to continue its influence. There was a man named Peter Waldo that we had talked about. It came up on the scene after Henry. A major inquisition was released on the church in the year 1230. Verse 22 says, Indeed, I will cast her into a sick bed, and those who commit adultery with her into a great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.
Now, this verse is an interesting footnote in history. One way to understand it is the terrible plagues that came through Europe in the 1300s. The plagues that started down in Italy, and they've spread all the way through Europe, up into even as far as Scotland, by some accounts killed one-third of all people in Europe. Many, many had horrible disfigurements that they survived the disease. So was that what is being referred to here? That Catholic Europe was almost destroyed for about 10 years by these terrible events of the 1300s. In fact, the 1300s, the 14th century, is called by many historians perhaps the most suffering of humanity ever since the world began on an average per person basis.
If you've read Barbara Tuchman's book on that century, Disadmir, it is a riveting book about just the horrible, terrible things that came across Europe, just one like waves, one after another, all during those years. And, of course, the terrible wars that took place also. So we have here this woman, Jezebel, but she is also like the false church in the sense that she's seduced people into committing immorality, and she seduced people into idolatry.
And God says, I will cast her into sick bed with those who commit adultery and into great tribulation, unless they repent, I will kill her children with death. And thousands, perhaps even a million or more children died in the black plagues and that death that came through Europe. And that may or may not be what is referred to here, but does seem to fit. And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the minds and the hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your works.
So we have here other churches. This message goes to all these churches. It says, you better understand that I search the mind and the heart, and I will give to each one of you according to your works. And then he says in verse 24, Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira. So he's talking to the churches and to the rest in Thyatira, as many who don't have the doctrine of Jezebel, as many who have not known the depths of Satan.
It seems to indicate that God rejected many people in Thyatira and let them become part of the false church during that time. So they hadn't known the depths of Satan, those who rejected it, but apparently quite a few did. Quite a few were amalgamated into the movements that were about at that time and especially the false religion. It says, I will put on you no other burden. The responsibility God committed to the church in Thyatira was to keep their spiritual condition intact and not to be drawn away by false teachings.
I think that's something we can certainly identify with, to keep your spiritual condition intact and not to be drawn away by false teachings, because we are also in perhaps a similar time when so many, many people were seduced and went back to the doctrine of Balaam following Jezebel, following idolatry. But there have some in this group who have not adopted that doctrine, not known the depths of Satan, but instead God says, look, I'll put on you no further burden. Hold fast what you have till I come. Then the promise of reward to this era, He who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, I will give Him power over the nations.
He shall rule them with a rod of iron. They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessel. So now, in addition to the tree of life, to the crown of life, to the rewards that have been given to them, that stone, that white stone, which is an invitation to the wedding supper, we now have sharing in Jesus Christ's throne and having power over the nations. Let's go over to Psalm 2. I think we have time for that. Psalm 2. God mentions here a long, long time ago that Jesus Christ was going to have the nations for His inheritance.
And if we are to share in the throne of Jesus Christ, then we have the nations, five or ten cities, whatever Jesus Christ gives us, we are going to be sharing in His throne and sharing in His reward. Psalm 2. Let's begin in verse 6. I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. Jesus Christ is pictured as returning and ruling from Mount Zion.
I will declare the decree, The Lord has said to me, You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. That's what's quoted in chapter 2 in verse 27 of Revelation.
As part of another piece of that pie of the reward that will be given to those who overcome and who endure until the end, who don't turn loose of that truth they've been given and be seduced by any of these influences of these earlier church eras. It says in verse 27, back in Revelation 2, He shall rule them with a rod of iron, they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessel, as I have received from my Father. We just read that in Psalm 2. God the Father said, I have set the King, Jesus Christ, who would become King on my holy hill. He will ask of me, and I will give him the nations to rule. That's exactly what He's being referred to here. He says, I will also give him the morning star. So He would have the morning star. What else is given besides the nations? I will give him the morning star. And of course, that really is referring to Jesus Christ Himself. Let's go to Revelation 22, verse 16, where Jesus Christ simply says, I am the bride of the morning star. Some try to think that, well, Venus is the morning star. Well, Venus is about half the year. The other half of the year, it's the evening, the setting star. Revelation 22, verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. We just read some of that testimony to four of those church hearers. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. So God the Father will give to us Jesus Christ as our ruler forever and ever, and us with Him as a part of that kingdom, if we do make it there. Then it says in verse 29, He who has the near, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So all of these are cumulative. The church of Thyatira had to worry about their first love falling away. They had to worry about the Nicolaitans of the second era of the church coming along and the persecutions. They had to worry about or deal with the Pergamos era and those who had dealt with the doctrine of Balaam and Balak.
And finally, the Pergamos or Thyatira era had to deal with all of those who were dealing or were being seduced by Jezebel, by the false church, and by compromising and joining in worship with those who were worshiping a different God. And they were seduced to commit immorality and eight things sacrificed to idols. And so the warning for all of us is those things are all still there. All of those evils that Satan has used over the centuries to attack the church of God have not gone away. It's just simply that his arsenal has been increased and all of those influences we still have to deal with today. So the warning is there that all of us should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. Well, I'd hope to get through chapter 3, but we obviously don't have time, and not that we need to rush or hurry to get through the Word of God. So next time we'll begin in chapter 3, and then probably have time to get through that and perhaps begin into the next phase about the things that John saw and the things that are to come in the throne room of heaven in chapter 4.
