The Book Is Now Open, Revelation 3:7-13

THE SPIRIT’S MESSAGE TO PHILADELPHIA
Revelation 3:7-13

Philadelphia, the name derived it meaning from the Greek words meaning brotherly love.  On several occasion, Paul wrote about brotherly love.  Romans 12:10, "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another;", 1^st Thessalonians 4:9, "But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye, yourselves are taught of God to love one another."  Hebrews 13:1, "Let brotherly love continue."  

Among the many attributes that make a church and people great and acceptable to Jesus Christ is its ability to show brotherly love.  The interpreted term "brotherly love" in today's modernist society does not necessarily equate to the teaching of Christ. 

Brotherly love was the theme of the Gospel and the New Testament message to the church. Because of the Devil's attempt to destroy the church brotherly love has become one of the most elusive and counterfeit expressions within the organized church. Love has been converted to a series of shallow expression that makes good fodder for a lively Sunday morning sermon by preachers that cannot get along with their brothers or members of the community they serve.  

The social media has become aflame with Christians projecting messages of hate in the name of "staying woke".  To facilitate their objective they have cast aside or reinterpreted the Word of God to allow for The Pacification of Christian Values.   There is nothing more heartbreaking than the testimony of a saint expressing their love for their sisters and brothers when their actions betray them.  Brotherly love requires more depth than expressions.  The defining and redefining of love has rendered it an irrelevant entity in modern society.

Counterfeit love the same as counterfeit Christianity is a destructive force within the home, church and the community. The academic scholars have dissected the attributes of pure love and reassembled them into five or more separate entities.  The basic reason is to justify our failure to achieve and live by the goals Jesus set.  It is all part of The Pacification of Christian Values.   Love, now in its polluted form has become a powerful force that overrides justice, judgment and common sense.  If God loves me so, he would not send me to a place like Hell is now a misconception of many.  2^nd Peter 2:4, "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;", this should be enough to set our thinking straight. 

The next verse in our verse-by-verse study of the Church of Brotherly Love begins with a promise made to the assembly by Jesus.  There again this promise was not made to make thing easier here on earth, it was a promise payable in the Kingdom.  One of the major differences between the church of Philadelphia and the church of the Laodiceans was the church of Philadelphia was looking towards their heavenly reward.  The Laodiceans boasted in their earthly good.  The Laodicean church is a representation of many churches today and it is the last church we will discuss before we follow John on his view of Jesus and his church in his Throne room in Heaven.  I can hardly wait to begin that lesson...

Verse 10: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”  Two things are pointed out here. First, “Because thou has kept the word of my patience . . .” By this, the Spirit means, “Because you have been true to the pure Word of God.” Until we reach that heavenly state, we will never know the full importance of God’s Holy Word. If the devil could discredit the Word of God through deliberate confusion, the foundation of Christianity would crumble and that would destroy the Church. However, that will never happen.  There is a certain clarification that we will make pertaining to this statement later on in this study.  The fact that it will never happen does not prevent the Devil from trying.  John 1:1, "In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.", If the devil could destroy the Word, the devil could destroy God, because God and His Word are synonymous. If the devil could discredit the Word of God, the devil would look God in the face and brand Him a liar.

I challenge you to open your mind and think about this.  Are we guilty of doing things that discredit the Word of God?  In our zeal to display our righteousness, are we putting our God to an open shame, "writing checks and making promises that God is not honoring", thereby rendering him irreverent to our younger generation?  Because of our lack of knowledge concerning the Word of God, do we present God as a God who does not keep his promises or as a God who takes forever to achieve his means?  On the sixth day, God created man but to some of us, years have passed and we are still a work in progress.  

Secondly - they had not only kept the Word, but they had also kept His name. They had not denied but had lifted up the name that is lifted up in the Word - the name at the sound of which every knee shall bow in Heaven, in the earth, and things under the earth (Philippians 2:10).  “I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation.” 

"Understanding the Word of God", teach us to let the Word of God speak without trying to shape it to fit our predefined idea.  Denominational guidelines often play an important but dangerous role in interpreting the Word of God.  There are many shaped truths, ideas, doctrines, and dogmas concerning The Church and the Great Tribulation period that shall come upon the earth during the reign of the Antichrist.  It is hard to come to a conscious when searching for an answer. Some teach that The Church will go through the first half of the Tribulation. Some teach that The Church will go through all of the Tribulation. There are those who teach that the rapture of the church will take place in mid-Tribulation. Then - there are those who preach the rapture of the church will take place before the appearing of The Antichrist, before the beginning of the Tribulation, “the hour of temptation that shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.”  

To inject a level of confusion that will become clear as this study proceeds, this statement has nothing to do with whether the church goes through the tribulation or not.  Regardless of your answer, the scripture teaches that souls will be saved during the tribulation.   Revelation 7:14  And I say unto him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they that come of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Yet the promise to the church in Philadelphia is, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will keep thee from the hour of temptation that will come upon all the earth.” 

The question of how do we reconcile the two different scriptures that seems to contradict each other?  There are questions that we must answer before we can understand these verses.   Was the church mention in the New Testament and Revelation the conduit to salvation or was it a called out body, selected to be the Bride of Christ?  What role will the bride of Christ play in the Kingdom of God?   After the church has been taken out of the earth to meet the Lord in the air, will salvation still be available?   My book, "The Five Judgments" explains the end time events in a non-denominational manner including the status of the church during the tribulation, the judgments and the establishment of the Heavenly Kingdom.

 
What we do know is the Bride of Christ will emerge as Holy Angels and return to judge the world.   We will engage your minds further in Revelation 4: as we search for the truth.   (My Mother taught me to always wash the pitcher before filling it with water, least what was there taint what is.) 

Verse 11: “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” This verse contains an announcement and good sound advice. “Behold, I come quickly.” When Jesus comes for the Church it will be quick all will be over in the twinkling of an eye. Believers are admonished to “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man takes thy crown.” This does not say, “Hold fast to your salvation, let no man steal your salvation.” Oh, no! It says “crown.” Crowns are rewards. I will name them for you in just a few moments.  

Verses 12 and 13: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of myGod, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of Heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Without a doubt, the Philadelphia church is The Church that will be raptured out of this earth at the same time the Laodiceans, the last and final church will be spewed out and left to go through the tribulation You do believe in God, don't you?

It is true that in John’s day, there was a city named Philadelphia, and there was a church there. But the message goes much further than the local assembly in Philadelphia. Each of the seven churches is identical to a period of church history behind us, up to the church at Philadelphia. We are now living in the time corresponding to the church of the Laodiceans. The church at Philadelphia is a picture of The True Church, just before the Rapture.

Every minute detail of prophecy having to do with the coming of the Lord has been fulfilled, or is being fulfilled today before our very eyes! So many things have happened in the past years, one almost becomes dizzy when comparing current events with prophecy.  

After we visit the Throne room of Jesus, we will take a look at the things that "are to be."  Things prophesied centuries ago have been fulfilled in our day. One of these glorious days, Christ will return to judge the world - and it will all be over “in the blink of an eye” (1^st Corinthians 15:51, 52).

There is a need for more preachers to give up their quest for financial gain or status in the Social Media and preach faithfulness to God's Word. If ever there was a day when God’s people need to be faithful and stand up to be counted for Jesus, it is today.  

There are many works that are done in Jesus name, but they will not stand when tried by the fire of God.   The offering, the programs, the entertainment aspect of worship, will it be able to stand?  The outstanding danger among believers today is unfaithfulness to the pure Gospel. Read slowly and carefully study the Second Epistle of John, and hear what the Spirit is saying to you in that passage.

No born again person should attend an assembly that is not true to the pure Gospel nor support a preacher who denies the faith. When I say “the faith,” I am speaking of the faith once delivered to the saints, as referred to in the first three verses of Jude. “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? so run, that ye may obtain” (1^st Corinthians 9:24). Personally, I want some trophies to lay at His feet when we crown Him Lord of all. I want some trophies to lay at His feet when we crown Him King of Kings. By God’s grace, I will be true and faithful to His Word. 

Overcomers (members of the assembly who endured) will become pillars in the temple of God.  There will be no liberal temples in the Pearly White City (Revelation 21:22). The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb shall be the temple in the Pearly White City.  Overcomers will be the pillars (the members) of that great temple of God. True believers are pushed around by the worldly element in the local assemblies. True believers and true Bible preachers are many times put out of the local church. However, thanks unto God, true believers and true preachers will not be put out of that Holy temple in the New Jerusalem. “He shall go no more out!”

Thousands of Christians today have been put out of churches they helped to build. Many believers sacrificed to build churches in the years gone by.  But when the old saint of God, the old minister of the Gospel, passed on to be with the Lord, a streamlined, seminary-manufactured denominational preacher took over and changed all the old ideas. He brought in “the new frontier” in religion. The mourner’s bench was junked, the prayer room was outlawed, and a social gospel of entitlements and entertainment was substituted for the pure Gospel of God’s marvelous grace.  Programs, handshaking and card signing took the place of the real, old-fashioned “experience by grace through faith in the shed blood.”  After two thousand years, we became educated and realized, "it doesn't take all of that." There is no danger of missing the identity of these true-blue, consecrated overcomers.  Jesus tells us that He will identify them by writing on them the name of the City of God, and “My new name.”

Again we hear the Spirit saying, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith.” In these “last days” we need as never before to hear the Spirit as He speaks to us. If we walk in the Spirit, fellowship with the Spirit and listen to the Spirit, we will not become discouraged in these trying hours. 

The Book Is Open, Revelation 3:1-6

The Spirit's Message to the Church in Sardis

We are speedily approaching the end of our discussion of the letters to the seven churches.  Once we finish this chapter the churches will not be spoken of again in the book of Revelation.  In chapter four John is called up to Heaven and the narrative continues with a view of heaven and a view of the earth from heaven.  The church is involved in everything that happens throughout the book of Revelation, but after the fourth chapter it has become a transformed body and merged into the heavenly host as the bride of Christ who emerge as the Holy Angels.  It should be clear now that the church (a called out body composed of Jews and Gentiles) is a special entity created for a special purpose in the kingdom, not some celestial bodies that float around on a cloud singing "Holy, Holy, Holy". Paul made his point clear in 1st Corinthians 6:2-3  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?  That should be food for thought for those who twist a scripture, truncate it and proclaim the Bible say, "thou shall not judge."

This modern-day idealistic form of religion that promotes a hate -fill rhetoric and the entertainment aspect of Christianity here and now can easily be seen as a perversion of the gospel when we realize that the church was created for a greater purpose.  That purpose is not to be manifested here on earth in earthly goods as some suppose but as Jesus implied, the blessing would be in the  Kingdom to come.   Understanding that concept we should be thankful and enjoy the blessing that God has already afforded us as stated in  Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 

The strangest thing about these letters to the churches is that Jesus Christ did not make any earthly promise to His church. His message was, "I see, I know, repent, and hear", then he made a promise payable in the kingdom.  His love so profoundly professed in his letters, but one can wonder, why didn't he tell the church, "don't worry I got your back?"  This is something that the church should think of when coming before the throne of God with a shopping list of so-called favors.  If there is a question about these so-called promises, maybe it has something to do with the way we read and interpret the scripture. As one preacher loudly proclaimed, If he did it for the Children of Isreal he will do it for us, which many doubt that it is a true assessment of God's power.

Revelation 3:1-6 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis, write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

In the message to the angel (messenger) of the church in Sardis, the general state or condition of the church after the Reformation is reflected as a church filled with hypocrisy.  In the message to Thyatira, we saw the condition of the church before the Reformation. These messages were supposedly directed to churches that existed in John’s day, but as I have stated already, the use of the number seven indicates a period that transcends time.  It is a period known as the church age.  It is not clear as if the church age ends with the rapture as we often teach, for there are some that believe that the rapture has already taken place, and we that are left must endure the tribulation that is upon us.

Jesus parable of the ten virgins was his first message as pertaining to the status of the church which is described as his bride.  We do well to remember that five was wise and five was foolish.   When the bride broom came for his bride those that were ready went in with, those that were not ready went about the towns and villages playing church. (paraphrasing)  In the book of Revelation Jesus is addressing the true church and he is also addressing those who have the name but are dead.  In my study of the Book of Revelation, there is a question I am forced to ask,  the answer hinges upon whether we believe the church will go through the tribulation.

Protestantism is in power, whereas in the Thyatira assembly the Papacy (Rome) controlled. They overlap each other; but although there is not an abrupt break between the two, they do signify certain periods of time. The Reformation was a definite turning point in the history of Western Christianity. God used spirit led ministers to open the eyes of the masses, and for the first time, the Word of God was put into language the common man could understand. Down through the ages, Rome has done her best to keep the Word of God from the ordinary people, but it is God’s will that every believer has access to His Word, and the Holy Spirit is our teacher (Ist John 2:27).  

The city of Sardis lay about thirty miles south of Thyatira. The city was very wealthy, filled with pride and its Christian churches boasted that they were alive. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Lydia. When Sardis was conquered by Cyrus the Lydian monarchy came to an end. The once proud city of Sardis decayed entirely. The life and light of its religious community faded from view and history tell us that in 1850, not one human being was found living in Sardis. 

Verse 1: “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” This verse identifies the speaker, it also identifies a church that professes to be alive and the speaker is having a problem with the acclimations made by this church. “He that hath the seven Spirits of God.” The seven Spirits of God is a confusing statement to many Bible readers. Paul often speaks of “One Spirit” in his Epistles, and the Holy Spirit is one Spirit. We are all baptized into one body by one Spirit, and have all been made to drink into one Spirit; but in Revelation, the phrase “seven Spirits” is used to assure us of the completeness, the fullness, and the diversified actions and ministries of The One Holy Spirit. Isaiah 11:2 enlightens us: “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”

The fullness of the Spirit is in Christ, and we can rest assured that whatever state the church may be in . . . it may have left its first love, it may be corrupt, it may be dead . . . but there is in Him who is in the midst of the golden candlesticks, the adequate spiritual power to meet every need, regardless of what that need may be. The speaker not only has the seven Spirits of God, but also the “seven stars.” The stars are the light-bearers of the local assemblies. Their responsibility is to shine for Christ, to reflect the light of Christ and of Heaven to the people in the assembly and the community who live in darkness.

The darkness of this world should not be confusing. Christ has both the “seven Spirits” and the “seven stars.” All light and all ministry proceed from Christ. Jesus gives to us the ministry we are capable of handling, and it will be a happy day in the lives of ministers and Christian workers when we are ready to recognize that God knows what He is doing when He places us in a particular ministry. If we will faithfully discharge our duties and faithfully minister in the capacity He gives us, we will have our time so filled that we will have no time left to covet nor to criticize another man’s ministry or to engage in hate-filled rhetoric. Whatever may be the ministry in the church, if it is successful and as it should be, it proceeds from the Lord Jesus Christ in whom all fulness dwells, “in whom ye are complete” (Colossians 2:8-10). 

Verse 1: Closes with the same announcement made by the Spirit to all the churches: “I know thy works.” But the statement here goes further. Members of the church at Sardis had the name that they were alive - but the Lord is omniscient, He knows all things - and though Sardis announced life, God knew, the church had evolved into a failed church, it was dead. A man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. Many times when we pass a magnificent structure we say, “My! That is a great church! What a beautiful building!” While a little storefront down the street, with the word Mission written across the door, maybe a much greater church in the eyes of the Lord than the great edifice on Main Street. Such was - and is - Protestantism in many places today. Many great Bible authorities regard the Reformation as the greatest blessing to Christianity and declare the greatest curse to be the beginning of Rome (the Papacy).

We must distinguish between the Reformation and Protestantism. The Reformation was the divine work of the Holy Spirit but Protestantism is a human system, and many times is just as dead as dead can be. The reformers succeeded in breaking the chains and shackles of Rome, and Christianity flourished for a season. Some may have wondered, “Will this zeal continue? Will victory succeed victory? Will one victory lead to another?” The devil has had a lot of experience. He is not asleep. He is on the job, walking about seeking whom he may devour. Thus, before long, the Reformation began to cool and lapse into formal, lifeless, cold Orthodoxy. The great reformers died - and those who replaced them led the church into “systems.” Instead of searching the Scriptures, they drew up dogmas and followed tradition. The church began to abandon the old ideas and concept that made the church strong, in the name of common sense.  Spiritual power was gone, and the zealous lost their zeal. Soon the church had a name that it was alive - but it was dead.   

New denominations and churches began to appear only to follow the same path.  Protestantism did not produce the gross corruption and the horrible spiritual fornication produced in the Middle Ages; Protestantism produced spiritual slumber. The church was dead-asleep. It was alive in name only.

Verse 2: “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God” We are to occupy until He comes. We are not to sleep as others do . . . we are to be alert. Watching and praying to go hand in hand as having to do with the Lord’s return (Mark 13:33).  Watching and praying are Siamese twins when it comes to winning in the Christian conflict, and being an overcomer (Ephesians 6:18). I wonder how many Christians we have today who are alert - watching and praying - really looking and longing for the return of the Lord?   There is an old adage that says, "everybody wants to go to Heaven but nobody wants to die,"  A preacher once acknowledged that there were some things he wanted to do before Jesus came back.  There is no New Testament truth that will so stir a church and keep it clean, as will the truth of the Lord’s return “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” They who believe in the imminent return of the Lord, live zealous, pure lives. “And every man that hath this hope, purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (I John 3:1-3). What little spirituality remained in Sardis was rapidly dying out, and that assembly was therefore admonished to “strengthen the things which remain.” The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23) still existed there, even though that fruit was undoubtedly very feeble; and it must be strengthened immediately, or else all true Christianity would vanish from Sardis.

Verse 3: “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” To Ephesus, the Spirit said, “Remember” (Revelation 2:5). Again in this present verse, the church is admonished to remember. Ephesus was admonished to remember their first love, (their virgin love) - the glorious experience they had had with Christ, the One who was standing in the midst of the golden candlesticks.

 In verse 3, Sardis is admonished to remember the golden age of the Reformation. (This church is after the Reformation - the time when spiritual power and exceeding joy flooded the hearts of the believers.) Therefore, the Spirit admonishes these people to remember that glorious era  In this verse there is also a threat from the One who stands in the midst of the golden candlesticks. The church is to remember - hold fast and repent . . . and watch; and if they do not remember, repent, and watch, Jesus will come as a thief and judge them. (Read I Thessalonians chapter 5.) Unless they repent, He will come to them as a judge - unknown, unlooked for and unexpected. I am afraid that Protestantism and the world have come to terms, and the great majority of church members today find more pleasure in the world than they do in the prayer meeting. They find more pleasure in the things of the world than in the things of the Spirit. The beat of worldly music has entered today's sanctuaries and the churches rocks.  Therefore, if the church and the world agree and walk together, they must suffer the same judgment, the same doom. The Lord Jesus will come to the Church as the Morning Star. To Israel, He is the Sun of Righteousness. To the world and to professing Christendom, He will come in sudden surprise as “a thief in the night.”

In my book, "The Evolution of The Failed Church", I reference the true church and the organized church.  The Papacy (Thyatira) and Protestantism (Sardis) are running on together, but in opposite lines; but great efforts are being made to heal the breach between Protestantism and Romanism. The differences between the two are becoming less and less, and the hour is fast approaching when all differences will be ended between them. The stage is being set for the great world church which will be headed by the devil himself in the person of the Antichrist. The end of that church will be a devastating judgment from Him who is the head of the True Church - the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Verse 4: “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.” As I have previously stated, there was a very small remnant in Sardis who bore the fruits of the Spirit . . . very weak, but they were there. God has always had His true remnant here on earth and always will have until the Rapture of the Church. As it was in the days of Noah, as it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the day when the Son of Man shall appear. In Noah’s day, eight people were saved. In Lot’s day, the number was cut from eight to three. As it was, so shall it be.  The Word of God asks, “When Jesus returns to this earth will He find faith?” More false prophets have risen in the last twenty years than in any given period of time prior to that. Magazines have donated multi-millions of dollars worth of advertising for ministers who deny the deity of Christ, His shed blood, and the cardinal truths of Christianity. In this day, men are trying to strip the Lord Jesus of His deity and demote Him to the level of all men. Award shows that utilize the Words of God to promote human values. Thank God that cannot, and it will not happen, but these things are a sign that Jesus is at the door. Surely, He will come quickly. Surely He cannot tarry much longer.  The remnant of true believers in Thyatira was referred to as “the rest in Thyatira.” How many “the rest” was, we do not know. But notice here in Sardis the Scripture says, “a few names.” There were a few - a very few - in Sardis, who were undefiled, who had not completely denied the Lord. They were truly born again and had not defiled their garments with the world, the flesh, and the devil.

 The majority in Sardis had a name that they were alive, but only a few were really alive.  The few who had not denied His name and who were genuinely born again had the promise, “They shall walk with me in white.” They had washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb, and would, therefore, walk with the glorified Saviour in white robes.  The signification and symbology of revelation are clear here.  To understand we must use our eyes to see the message so that we can hear it.  The statement “they are worthy” could be made only about persons washed in the Blood, saved by the grace of God. Even though these few might be as “a brand plucked from the fire,” they would walk in white because there is no degree of redemption. There are degrees of reward - but when people are saved their sins are washed away and they are as white as snow. Even though these few were cold and indifferent, seemingly almost dead spiritually, they would walk with the Redeemer, dressed in white robes, in that glorious resurrection morning.  Overcomers will wear white. Their names will not be blotted out of the Book of Life. True life in Christ Jesus is proven by victorious living by those who possess His life (Colossians 1:27). 

Jesus prayed to the Father, “ . . . Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12).  (The son of perdition here refers to Judas Iscariot, who still has a job to do here on this earth during the Tribulation period).  Judas hanged himself and “went to his own place.” He will return to this earth during the Tribulation period.  Judas Iscariot was the devil in the flesh. In John 6:70 Jesus said, “Have I not chosen twelve, and one of you is a devil?” It is true he was a member of the disciple band, but he fell from apostleship. Judas always referred to Jesus as “Master,” never as Lord, or Saviour. Jesus IS Master, even of the devil. Judas “had a name that thou livest,” but he was dead. His name was on the disciple register, but not in “THE LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE” (Revelation 21:27). 

Sardis “had a name that thou livest,” but in reality the assembly was dead. There were a few believers there, however, who had been truly born again. They were in the minority, they were not zealous and alert, but they were alive. Let me remind you that there is a difference between redemption and rewards. It is altogether possible for a true believer to lose his reward. Read II John. Study it carefully. The same John who wrote Revelation uses the entire second Epistle of John to warn Christians concerning the truth, “that we might receive a full reward.” It is possible for a real believer to be snatched as a brand from the burning . . . to be saved “so as by fire.” This passage in Revelation does not contradict what Jesus said in Matthew 10:32,33: “Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him, therefore,o deny before my Father which is in heaven.” 

In Revelation 3:5 we read, “But I will confess his name before my Father, and before His angels.” These few had not denied the name of Jesus. They had confessed Him and had sincerely put their trust in Him. They were genuinely saved - while the masses were professors, not possessors. The professors had joined the local assembly, but they were not born into the family of God. In Acts 2:47 we learn how we become a member of the New Testament Church. When we are saved, the Lord adds us to the Church. The moment we are saved we are added to the Church through the baptism of the Spirit (I Corinthians 12:12, 13).

Verse 6: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” The message to the angel of the church in Sardis closes with the admonition to “hear the message of the Spirit to the churches.” God help us to be again reminded that we are individually responsible to the Lord God Almighty. We are to hear what the Spirit says - not what man says or teaches.

Let me point out that in Sardis, the admonition to “hear” comes after the promise of reward to the individual overcomer. The entire assembly at Sardis was not an overcoming church. The overcomers there were only the few who had not bowed to the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The Book Is Open, Revelation 2:18-29

The message to the fourth church or assembly takes on a more serious note than the message to the other three.  Understanding these letters to the seven churches will aid us in understanding God's overall plan for humanity from the book of Geneses to Revelation.  The message Jesus sent to the seven symbolic churches should not be cast aside so lightly.   The church or assembly today is suffering from the same problems that John wrote about.  To fully understand the message we must prepare our eyes and ears to see and hear the message as it unfolds.  

Beginning with the fourth message, the churches began to take on names that are familiar to us, the same will hold true with the study of the beasts of Revelation, nations, landmarks, and states will be called out.  In the next four letters John write, no church or denomination escapes the one whose "eyes like unto a flame of fire."  The bible is a book that we must use our eyes and ears to understand it.  In Revelation we must see the message before we can hear it, it is a message filled with signs and symbols.  I encourage you to study the messages Jesus sent to the churches in detail on your own or with your pastor.  Now let’s dig deeper into the problems that this early Christian assembly was facing and see how Jesus addressed the problems.

Revelation 2:18-29 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burdens. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Each of the seven churches as representative churches represents a time span in the history of the church.  As Wednesday is the fourth day of seven days that makes a week, days and weeks repeat themselves.  The same holds true with the problems of the church that is addressed by the "Son of God". This is the first time in the letters to the churches Jesus identified Himself with this title, and the only time used in the book.  The message to the church at Thyatira is the longest message in the group of seven.  The seven messages are divided into two groups. The first three churches make up one group which we will discuss later and the last four messages describe the Church from the present age on until the Rapture takes place. The church at Thyatira represents the years between 500 and 1500 A.D.  Jesus message to the assembly at Thyatira speaks to the hopeless, helpless, corrupt condition of the local assembly,  a condition out of which the local church cannot and will not emerge, a condition that is absolutely incapable of being improved. 

The message here needs to be distinguished from the three previous messages in that here corrupt teachers are permitted to teach corruption, and children are born,“ her children”, the children of wicked, adulterous, murderous Jezebel. What a terrible commentary on the local assembly!  What a terrible commentary on the church today. This is the only church of the seven where a woman is mentioned, Jezebel, the wicked wife of the apostate King Ahab, who was nothing more than a tool in her hands.  The King was King in name only.  The ungodly idolatress and murderess ran the kingdom.  She was a very clever and determined woman.  A Jezebel type is the prominent person named in the address to Thyatira.  It, not just a coincidence that the Holy Spirit mentions a woman in connection with Thyatira. In Acts 16 we learn of Lydia as Paul’s first convert.  However, there is a striking contrast between Lydia and Paul, and the woman Jezebel and Elijah.  Read the account in Acts 16, and then read the comparison in 1st King, chapter 18 and 19. Of course, after Paul preached the Gospel to Lydia she was converted and invited Paul into her house and became a faithful friend and supporter of the Gospel.  On the contrary, Jezebel sought to destroy God’s prophet, Elijah. 

It is possible that due to Lida's conversion and her support for the church,  it was easy for a Jezebel (type) to take control of the leaders of the assembly.  A Jezebel (type), signifies that a person behind the scene is perverting the Gospel.  A natural and literal analogy is that of a leader of an assembly guilty of the sins of adultery began to teach that it is okay to sin, because God is a God of love and he will forgive us, he knows we are weak.  There is a serious spiritual implication at play here resulting from a polluted and shaped gospel. 

Historically, Thyatira covers the period known as the dark ages, and in the message to that church, we see in brief the picture of the Roman system of worship and religion, the worst system ever to disgrace the earth God created for His people. During the dark ages, Popery was in power. In Popery, every true thought of the New Testament Church is denied and lost. Certainly, Rome boasts loudly of “unity” - but it is her own kind of unity, enforced by the sword, fire, and the dungeon, so unlike the divine unity which is effected by the Holy Ghost (I Corinthians 12:13). In the New Testament Church of which Jesus is the head, there is unity.  Popery completely shuts Christ out as the head of the New Testament Church and in its place, it placed a woman. 

Since the church at Thyatira represents the age when Rome took over the reins of religion on earth, we have the statement, “These things saith the Son of God”  Not  Peter, not Mary, not some Bishop but the Son of God, the Foundation of the New Testament Church (Matthew 16:16-18). Can you think of a church that the foundation is built upon someone other than Jesus Christ?  In our present text the Spirit further identifies the Speaker by saying, “He that hath His eyes as a flame of fire, (this denote his anger) and His feet are like fine brass.” (Judgement built upon a solid foundation) This is part of the detailed description of the glorified Son of Man in chapter 1:14, 15. We should always bear in mind that He to whom all judgment is committed, He who will execute His own judgment, is not only man (John 5:22-27), but He is God as well. He who will judge the quick and the dead is divine as well as human. His eyes “as a flame of fire” symbolize His moral hatred and intolerance of evil. He will search out sin and discover all hidden iniquity.  

Who would even entertain the idea of escaping those eyes as a flame of fire?  What His eyes discover, “His feet as fine brass” shall tread upon in judgment. Brass symbolizes judgment.  Every system of evil that bears the Christian name (verse 22) must be utterly and totally destroyed. When the Lord Jesus comes in person to make good His sovereign right to rule the whole world, His feet are likened unto “pillars of fire” (Revelation 10:1,2). Fire is the symbol of judgment (Mark 9:43, Luke 16:24, II Thessalonians 1:8).

Verse 19: “I know thy works and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.” But the faithful is also commended for their love their service, their faith, and their patience. The word works occurs twice in this commendation to the church at Thyatira. The angel (minister) at Ephesus had decreased in love, whereas the angel (ministry) at Thyatira had increased in works. The darker the night, the more devoted and zealous were the church (assembly), their “last works more than the first” more numerous, and more pure. Love is mentioned first (Galatians 5:22) because love is the first and greatest of all Christian values (I Corinthians 13:13). 

Verse 20: “Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce (female traits) my servants to commit fornication(spiritual fornication), and to eat things sacrificed unto idols (love the collection of gold and silver).” The general state and picture of the church in the middle ages are represented by Thyatira and the condoning of the evil that was present in the very assembly itself.  Why do you suppose the Holy Spirit chose Jezebel to be used as an illustration concerning the doctrine that was being set up and taught in the church at Thyatira? The only way to know the right answer is to compare spiritual things with spiritual.

- Jezebel was a woman,

- Jezebel was a queen,

- Jezebel was an idolatress.  

From a natural vantage point, what do you see?  You see a woman who is subject to evil inclinations behind the scene manipulating the man of God.  Many will use this as an indictment against women preachers.  At this point in our discussion, I will neither stipulate nor infer that this is a formidable conclusion.  We must remember in Revelation the natural signifies, the message is spiritual.  Many will use this scripture to show Jesus disdain for women preachers, this is not true.  If we switch to a literal translation of the book then we will have a book that will not make sense.  If Jezebel who was dead at the time of this writing, then using the symbology of the bible Jezebel must be a (spiritual type without regard to gender) person that exhibits the traits of Jezebel.   It is clear, Jezebel was a manipulator and it was jezebel's desire to manipulate the man of God.  The Jezebel of Revelation was a manipulator of the word of God.

Now again let's ask the question who was Jezebel? She was a persecutor and she was the virtual ruler and director of the government of Israel. Her husband, King Ahab, was nothing more than a puppet in her hands. Read I Kings, chapters 18 through 21. All of this and much more is set forth in the Jezebel of Revelation. Here in Thyatira, her teaching, her doctrine, is certainly the beginning of the Papal system (read carefully Revelation 17 and 18). She (Jezebel) assumed the title “Prophetess.” She professed in the assembly at Thyatira to teach with authority. And as she taught, she seduced the minds of the people and trained them to follow her instead of following Him who stands in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. The Lord had a grave and serious indictment against the assembly at Thyatira. The church was permitting in its midst an evil more serious in character than any evil that had yet appeared in the local assemblies. The Papacy is certainly in the forefront of the message to the church at Thyatira. The supremacy of the Roman pope is simply the development in full of the dispute among the disciples as to “Who shall be the greatest” (Mark 9:33,34). Of course, popery had a beginning - and it certainly did not begin with Peter, because Peter was not a pope; he was just an ordinary human being like all the rest of the disciples. Today Rome cries out, “Hear the mother church!” Again, Rome proclaims, “The church cannot err in faith and in morals!” When Rome says “the church” she means the Papacy and the Roman system. This manipulation began with the Papacy and was reshaped by the Protestants as we shall see later. 

Fornication and Idolatry were the two great errors in the assembly at Pergamos. These two satanic deadly evils were taught, practiced and condoned in the assembly at Thyatira. Fornication, as used here, symbolizes the professing Christian lives in the world, condoning the world, fellowshipping with the world. This terrible sin began with the reign of Constantine and grew into the Papacy. Constantine was the first to bring church and state together. He bestowed expensive temples, crowns of gold and much wealth upon the professing church in his day, and the unholy union of church and state was perfected in the Papacy. The idolatry of the churches can be seen today, there is a general disagreement on how the Laws of Moses applies to the modern church, yet all agree on the rule of tithes. Such a union is spiritual fornication and certainly brings judgment. In the end, it will bring horrible and final judgment upon the systems of spiritual fornication. 

Verse 21: “And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not.” From its beginning, the Papacy reigned as queen for more than one thousand years. Rome never repented. The Reformation came along, and for three hundred years now in many countries, Rome has been in the minority with Protestantism in the majority. But the Papacy is unchanged. It is as it was in the beginning. The Lord “gave her space to repent.” There has been no repentance. In this message Jesus changed the focus of the message to the individual overcomer rather than the church, which we shall discuss later. 

Verses 22 and 23: “Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” In these two verses, three parties are named who will be judged. The first: Jezebel. The second: Those who commit fornication with her. Third: Her children . . . the offspring as a result of fornication. Jezebel will not repent, her judgment is certain, and those who ally with her will be judged unless they repent of their wickedness committed with Jezebel. Her children will be killed with death.  I believe that goes further than physical death. I believe it means that they will be tormented forever and ever in the lake of fire, and will die eternally.