Journey through Revelation, Part 8: The Dead Church

In this article, we’ll be looking at the fifth church, the church at Sardis – “The Dead Church.”

 

Introduction

The fifth message of Christ was addressed to the church in Sardis, a small town located about 20 miles southeast of Thyatira.

 

The city of Sardis was very wealthy, and actually existed at two locations. The first city was built on a mountain. When its population outgrew that spot, a newer section had been built in the valley below. 

 

The newer section of the city hosted a theater, a stadium, and a huge temple to the goddess Artemis that had been started, but never finished.

 

The older city, on the mountain, had an acropolis and had become an emergency refuge for the city's inhabitants when they were under attack.

 

Sardis was also known for its impressive cemetery with hundreds of burial mounds.

 

It had been one of the most powerful cities in the ancient world due to heavy trade among the Aegean islands. 

 

Gold and silver coins were first minted at Sardis. Sardis also claimed to have discovered the art of dyeing wool. 

 

In A.D.17, a devastating earthquake destroyed the city. 

 

The original city had been virtually unconquerable because of the natural rock walls that were nearly vertical on three sides. 

 

Sardis had only been conquered twice in its history, although it had been attacked several times because of its strategic location.

 

The city was first defeated by the Persian general Cyrus in the sixth century B.C. History tells us that one of the Persian soldiers had observed a soldier from Sardis making his way up the cliffs. The people of Sardis thought they were safe in the upper city on the mountain, but Cyrus's soldiers climbed the cliffs and found their way into the city. 

 

After Cyrus's victory, Sardis became the capital of Persia (modern day Iran). 

 

Later, in the third century B.C., the city was conquered again in the same way by Antiochus the Great. A few of the soldiers climbed the mountain, entered the city, and opened the gates to the invading army.

 

Sardis had declined in its power and stature by the time of the Roman Empire. They had requested the honor of building a temple to Caesar, but they were refused, and the honor went to Smyrna instead.

 

The wealth of the city eventually led to moral decay. The city had become lazy; its past splendor was only a fading memory.

Christ had no words of commendation for this church. 

 

It doesn’t appear to have been troubled by heresy from within or persecution from without. Yet, this church had compromised with its pagan surroundings. 

 

Christ's words to the church paralleled the city's history -- "you have a reputation for being alive -- but you are dead."

 

With that brief introduction, let’s begin our look at Revelation 3: 1-6

 

 

v.1, “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:  He who has the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars, says this:  ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead”:

• “He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars." 

o   We saw this back in chapter 1:16

o   The "sevenfold Spirit of God" is another name for the Holy Spirit.

o   The “seven stars” are the seven messengers of the churches.

 

• Jesus says, "I know your deeds."

o   As in the case of the other churches, the actions and testimony of the church in Sardis is an open book to the Lord; nothing is hidden from Him.

 

• That which is invisible to man is perfectly seen by Christ, and He tells what He sees in the closing part of v.1 in a word of sharp condemnation.

o   Knowing the church's deeds, Jesus had nothing good to say to them.

o   The members may have thought they were a living and active, but according to Christ, they were spiritually dead.

 

• From the Divine standpoint, it is considered as a church that had only a name of being alive and was dead as far as spiritual life and power were concerned:

o   This description of the church at Sardis is one to be considered by the modern church.

o   Many are full of activities and programs, but there is little that speaks of Christ or spiritual life and power.

 

• Just like the city, the church in Sardis was trying to live in its past glory:

o   Do churches ever do that, live on past glory?

o   You know what I mean: 

Ø  “Remember when we were the biggest church in the area?  Those were the days!”

Ø  “We’ve always done it that way!  Why should we change?”

Ø  “We had so many people coming to receive Jesus.  We were great back them.”

Ø  Sound familiar to anyone?

 

o   The church at Sardis had compromised with the surrounding society to the point that they had become lazy.

o   They were as good as asleep, so Jesus told them to “wake up” and “repent,” which means that they needed to change your minds about living in the past, stop reminiscing and turn back to Him.

 

v.2, “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God”:

• The words "wake up" literally mean, be watchful; pay close attention.

 

• Remember, the city had been conquered twice because the watchman on the walls had not seen the enemy climbing the cliffs:

o   Thinking that they were unconquerable on the mountaintop led to a deadly complacency and a deadly spiritual sleepiness.

o   What happened in the city was happening to the church, and the church needed to wake up.

o   Are there times in our lives when God needs to wake us up?

o   Can we get too comfortable? Too sure of ourselves? Too impressed with ourselves? Too sure that we’re the best? There’s some food for thought.

 

• The situation was not completely hopeless, however, if they caught themselves in time, they could strengthen what remained even though it “was about to die.”

 

• Christ knew all their deeds and condemned them as "not . . . . complete in the sight of my God":

o   The church may have looked impressive from the outside, but the church's deeds were incomplete.

o   There was no spiritual motivation or power behind them.

o   In the letters to the other churches, Christ commended deeds of love, faithfulness, obedience, and perseverance.

o   Sardis, however, had none of these qualities.

o   Think about that for a minute:  Jesus could find nothing to commend these people for. How tragic.

 

• When Christ gave the message to the believers in Sardis, He rebuked them because they were not living up to their reputation:

o   Their reputation had been established years earlier.

o   But a church can’t live in the past. It must keep actively doing the things that the Lord calls them to do.

o   Some people live off of the glory of the past, always reminiscing, always looking back, never living for the here and now.

o   If you’re living in the past, then you’re dying in the present.

 

 v.3, “Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.”

• There are several steps mentioned here in order to bring about restoration:

o   Not only are they exhorted to be watchful and strengthen the things which remain in v.2, here, they are warned, first of all, to remember the truth that they had received and heard, and to hold fast to it.

o   The word "remember" doesn’t mean to recall something from the past:

Ø  It’s a command to keep in the forefront of their attention their rich spiritual heritage of the past as a motivating force in their restoration.

 

o   Secondly, they need to “keep” what they had heard and received:

Ø  The idea here is to “keep on keeping.” This is a call to devote serious attention to rebuilding what was left over from their earlier days of fruitfulness.

 

o   They needed to keep on giving earnest attention to their need to strengthen what remained in their spiritual lives.

o   The third step on the road to spiritual recovery for this church is to "repent." This step calls for a quick and decisive change of thought and behavior:

Ø  That’s what repentance is:  first, there is a change of the mind. That change of mind then leads to a change of behavior.

 

o   To summarize, then, the Sardians needed to:

Ø  #1- Remember how they had received and heard the gospel.

Ø  #2 - Keep giving careful attention to their need to strengthen what remained of their spiritual lives.

Ø  #3 - To repent, immediately, confess and turn away from their spiritual laziness.

 

• If they refused to heed the warning, Christ promises that He will come upon them “as a thief,” meaning:

o   That He will come upon them unexpectedly, with devastating suddenness and bring judgment.

o   The same symbolism is used at the second coming of the Lord, but that’s not what this is referring to.

o   The judgment upon the church in Sardis is going to be just as unexpected, sudden, and permanent as that which is related to the second coming of Christ.

 

 v.4, “But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.”

• “but” is the Greek word, alla. This is a strong note of contrast, an emphatic “BUT.”

 

• Not every believer in Sardis was being condemned for spiritual laziness and compromise with the world.

 

• Christ pointed out that some had not “soiled their garments.”

o   These believers had not soiled the purity of the Christian life by falling into sinful practices.

o   These believers were being faithful to the Lord and His Word. 

o   It must have been encouraging to those few who had been attempting to live for Christ in this dead church, that Christ was commending them as worthy of His name.

o   Here’s a tough question:  Are we living a life that is worthy of His name?

 

• Jesus says, "they will walk with me in white":

o   Because of their refusal to defile themselves while under great cultural pressure, Christ will replace their humanly preserved, clean garments with those that are white by Divine standards.

o   Because of the earlier contrast between soiled garments of sinful church members and unsoiled garments a faithful Christians, it’s pretty clear that the whiteness of these new garments stands for holiness and purity.

o   Such garments are reserved for Christ, unfallen angels, the two men at Christ's ascension, and the glorified Church.

o   White symbolizes purity.

 

• Anticipation of wearing such garments and enjoying the personal companionship of Christ provides great incentive for continued faithfulness for the few in Sardis that were standing against the tide of apathy that had gripped the majority in this church.

 

 v.5, “He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before His angels.”

• "he who overcomes" – these are the ones who have not soiled their garments with cultural compromising and self-righteousness.

 

• To those individuals, in the Sardis church who overcome, the promise is given that they “shall be clothed in white garments.”

 

• White apparel in the Scriptures often denotes: celebration, victory, purity or the heavenly state.

 

• The thought seems to be that the righteousness of the saints, bestowed in the form of a garment, is a symbol of their acceptability to God and the Divine recognition of their office and ministry as priests of God.

 

• They have not defiled their garments as others have done in Sardis, and now they are promised, that in the future, they will have the heavenly white garment and will walk with Christ, because they are judged as "worthy" to do so.

 

• Jesus goes on to say, "I will not erase their names from the book of life."

 

• This verse has troubled Bible scholars in view of other promises of Scripture, which seem to indicate that a person who has once received Jesus Christ as Savior is forever secure and his salvation.

 

• Some believe that this verse opens the door for a true believer to be able to lose his salvation:

o   But to make the continuance of our salvation depend upon works is a huge failure to understand that salvation is by God's grace alone, through our faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

o   If salvation depended upon the believer's perseverance or works, then no name would've been written in there in the first place.

 

• Perhaps the best explanation of this is to consider the Book of Life not as the role of those who are saved, but rather a list of those for whom Christ died, that is, all humanity, who have possessed physical life:

o   As they come to maturity and are faced with the responsibility of accepting or rejecting Christ, their names are blotted out if they failed to believe and receive Jesus Christ as Savior:

Ø  Whereas, those who do accept Christ as Savior, are confirmed in their position in the Book of Life, and their names are confessed before the Father and the heavenly angels.

 

o   Without getting too bogged down in the details and the debates, we can say that the implication of the passage is that those who put their trust in Christ and thus overcome by faith, have the privilege of being recognized as saints of God throughout eternity, even though they come from such a church in Sardis, where the spiritual testimony was at a very low point and much was offensive to the Lord.

o   Its best to view these words of Jesus not as a threat, as some do. This is a promise to those ever remain true to Him, regardless of what’s happening all around the in society.

o   So, Christ promises a threefold reward for the faithful: 

Ø  He affirms that they will “be clothed in white.”

Ø  He affirms that He "will never erase their names from the Book Life."

Ø  He affirms that He "will announce before my Father and His angels that they’re mine.”

 

v.6, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

• Again, for those who are hearing Jesus’ words, pay attention!

 

• Listen and heed what the Spirit is saying to the church.

 

• Don’t compromise with the world’s values or systems. Stay true to Christ and His Word.

 

• We’re called to be different, unique, set apart for Jesus and His Father, our Father.

 

• Don’t live in the past, as some churches and individuals do:

o   Keep striving to live for Christ.

o   Stay faithful to the Lord even if many around you are joining hands with the world’s system or false teaching/teachers.

 

• Lastly, there will be a reward for the faithful:

o   We will be clothed in white.

o   We are secure in Christ.

o   Jesus will openly announce us before His Father and the angels of heaven.

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, stay faithful to Him and His Word!

 

By His Grace,

Gary T. Dromi, Ph.D., D. Min.

 

Journey through Revelation, Part 7: The Compromising Church

In this article, we’ll be looking at the fourth church, the church at Thyatira: The Compromising Church.

 

Introduction

The fourth message of Christ was addressed to the church in Thyatira, a small town located about 40 miles southeast of Pergamum.

 

At this time in history, Thyatira was a working person's town, a center for manufacturing. The city was filled with many trade guilds for commerce, such as cloth making and dying (coloring), leatherworking, bronze working, and pottery making. 

 

It was famous for the manufacture of purple dye, and numerous references are found in secular literature regarding that fact.

 

We hear of Thyatira Acts 16:14-15 where the conversion of Lydia is recorded:  "And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”

 

There is no record in Scripture of any evangelical effort in the city of Thyatira. The gospel may have been first brought to the city through Lydia. 

 

It’s quite remarkable that Jesus singled out a very small church in a relatively obscure city for such an important letter.

 

Unlike the previous cities we studied, Thyatira was not important as the center for any temples to particular gods, although Apollo was worshiped as the guardian of the city:

• Emperor worship was also required.

 

• Besides Apollo and the emperor, each trade guild had its own patron god, or idol, with its own festivals.

 

With that brief introduction open your bibles to Revelation 2:18-29.

 

v.18, “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:  The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this”:

• The word “angel” (in the Greek text, angelos), “To the angel,” in this case, is referring to a human messenger.

 

• Christ’s describes Himself here, as the "Son of God":

o   “Son of God” emphasizes His deity, stressing the truth that He is of one essence with the Father:

§  He and the Father are One, therefore, Jesus is God.

§  This is a significant change in identification.

 

o   Remember in chapter 1, Christ was described as the “Son of Man” in verse 13:

§  That title emphasizes His humanity and His ability to sympathize with believers and to act as their merciful high priest.

 

• In this passage, Jesus is identified as the “Son of God”:

o   The emphasis is not on His humanity/humility, but on His Deity. That’s because His approach to the church at Thyatira is not as a sympathetic high priest, but as Divine judge, as we’ll see later.

o   The title "Son of God" also sets Him against Apollo, the emperor, and the rest of the craftsmen’s idols.

o   The title, "Son of God" is used nowhere else in Revelation.

 

• The “Son of God” has eyes of blazing fire”:

o   As the Divine Son of God, Jesus has piercing, laser-like vision and He sees all. Nothing can be disguised, covered, or hidden from Him.

o   A church may feel satisfied with itself; it may have a good reputation in the community, or even with other churches. But we need to remember that eyes of the Lord see it as it really is.

 

• The description of His feet as being "like burnished bronze" is symbolizing His purity and holiness, as He tramples out iniquity. The feet also indicate strength for executing judgment.

 

• The blazing eyes indicate the penetrating power of His sight, in that, He sees all things.

 

 

v.19, “I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first”:

• As Jesus had done with the previous churches, He praises the church of Thyatira before letting them know His concerns about them.

 

• Here, the believers are commended for their:

o   “love,” their love for God and for one another. The word translated as “love” is the Greek word, agape, which is that sacrificial love for others.

o   “faith,” here, means their faithfulness, dependability, reliability and consistency.

o   “service,” in the expressing of love and faithfulness through meeting the needs of others.

o   “perseverance,” refers to their continuing to bear up in difficult times.

 

• And they were doing more as time went on (in contrast to the Ephesus church, which did less).

 

• Christ was pleased to see their deeds were “greater than at first”:

o   “greater,” here, refers to greater in quantity, not quality.

o   They were doing more faithful, consistent, loving deeds now, than when they had first begun. They were growing in their walk with the Lord.

o   That’s a question that each of us should ask ourselves: “As I’ve grown in my Christian walk, am I more loving, more faithful, more dependable, more reliable than when I first became a Christian?”

o   “Do I express love for my brothers and sisters in the Lord through faithful service, trying to meet the needs of others?

o   “Have I become a more persevering person? Do I continue through the difficult times in my life, or do I give up?”

• Despite these evidences of Christian life and testimony, the church at Thyatira had some very serious problems.

 

v.20, ‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.”

• Thyatira had the opposite problem of Ephesus. Whereas the Ephesian church had been good at dealing with false teachers, but lacked love, the church in Thyatira had lots of love, but had become tolerant of a false teacher, whom Jesus referred to as “Jezebel.”

 

• What was happening at Pergamum was also happening in Thyatira, in that they were tolerating false teaching that was attempting to compromise with the pagan society.

 

• In this case, the problem was Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess, a woman from among the believers, who claimed to have the gift of prophecy.

 

• She may indeed have had an unusual gift, but she was using her influence to teach things that were contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ, thereby misleading the believers.

 

• Like Balaam, she was leading the people into sexual immorality and idolatry, probably by teaching that immorality was not a serious matter for believers.

 

• Her real name may have been Jezebel, or John may have used the name Jezebel to symbolize the kind of evil she was promoting.

 

• Jezebel, a pagan Philistine queen of Israel, was considered the most evil woman who ever lived. She had led Israel's king, Ahab, to Baal worship, and eventually had spread that idolatry throughout all of Israel. You can read about that in 1 Kings chapters 16,19, 21, and 2 Kings 9:1-37.

 

• This Jezebel was being tolerated in the Thyatiran church – either no one had the courage to stand up to this woman or no one realized the severe danger her teaching was causing for the entire church.

 

• Her teaching was misleading with regard to sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.

 

• It appears that she had been able to convince the church to compromise with the morals of society. A very dangerous thing to do!!

 

• These two sin issues were probably tied in with the guilds of Thyatira:

o   Most of the people in this city were tradesmen, so they belonged to various guilds or trade unions. 

o   These guilds each had an area in the city and a meeting hall, which functioned as a center for the union’s religious and civic activities.

 

• Each guild would hold a banquet once a week, and these banquets would often be centered on the worship of idols, that is, eating meat sacrificed to their idols and some form of sexual activity as part of their meeting.

 

• Jezebel was probably encouraging the believers to continue to take part in their guilds’ activities, essentially condoning this sin and encouraging their participation.

 

• A refusal to join the guilds and take part in their activities would have meant economic hardship if not financial disaster.

 

• Jezebel’s ways were to compromise with the world system. 

 

• Christ was not pleased with this woman's teaching or with the fact that the church had tolerated her.

 

 

v.21, ‘and I gave her time to repent; and she does not want to repent of her immorality.”

• Here's a very interesting comment.

 

• The Lord, in His mercy, had given Jezebel “time to repent” of her wicked ways, but she would not turn away from her immorality:

o   Not only did she not turn, but also she did not even want to turn away from her immorality.

o   This is one example of the truth that people love darkness rather than light

 

• As a consequence, God is going to punish her with sickness and suffering.

 

 

v.22, ‘Behold, I will cast her upon a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her [their] deeds.”

• The word "Behold" means to pay attention to what’s about to be said next. Look at what’s about to happen to her:

o   The word is also in the imperative tense, meaning that it’s a command, “Behold! Look at this!”

 

• Because Jezebel refused to repent, Jesus declares, "I will cast her upon a bed”:

o   The word bed is sometimes used symbolically of plagues, death, and even eternal death.

 

• "Bed" or "couch" can mean a bed used for resting, for banqueting, or for sickness:

o   Some commentators suggest that this is a bed of sickness or suffering, seen as an act of God's judgment.

o   On a bed she sinned, on a bed she will suffer; and those who committed adultery with her will also suffer – intensely.

 

• The words “and those who commit adultery with her" refers to those who were involved in sexual immorality and in idolatry because of her teaching. So those involved would also be punished, unless they turned away from their evil deeds.

 

• Sexual immorality is always serious, because sex outside of marriage always hurts someone:

o   It hurts God because it shows that we prefer to satisfy our desires our own way instead of according to His Word.

o   It hurts others because it violates the commitment so necessary to a relationship.

o   It hurts us because it often brings disease to our bodies and adversely affects our personalities.

o   Sexual morality can destroy an individual, families, churches, and communities because it destroys the integrity upon which these relationships are built.

o   God wants to protect us from hurting others, and ourselves, therefore, we are to have no part in sexual immorality, even if our culture accepts and encourages it.

 

 

v.23, ‘And I will kill her children with pestilence; and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

• "I will kill her children with pestilence" literally means “I will kill them with death.” This is very serious!

 

• The phrase "her children" most likely refers to Jezebel's followers, that is, her spiritual “children.”

 

• Jesus wants the church to deal with Jezebel. This judgment would be an example so that all the churches would know that God sees (with his "blazing eyes"), the thoughts and deeds of every person.

 

• No one can hide from Christ. He knows what is in every person's heart and mind:

o   He plumbs the depths of person’s being, and on the basis of what He finds He will judge.

o   No one can hide evil from Him. 

o   Our outward acts reflect our inner motives and are inseparable from them.

 

• Notice the end of v.23, “and I will give to each one of you according to his deeds.”

o   He’s addressing the followers of Jezebel.

o   Those who were working against Christ will be found out and will receive whatever they deserve.

 

• These words are applicable today to anyone who dares to corrupt the purity of the truth of God and spoil the worship of the Lord with idolatrous and sinful practices.

 

• Christ’s dealings with the children of Jezebel will become a matter of public knowledge, “all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts”:

o   Here’s a warning for everyone else: sin in Christ’s church cannot be hidden from Him.

 

Jesus continues His appraisal of the state of this church. He now turns His attention to a brighter side of the church's membership

 

 

v.24, ‘But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you.”

• Having warned the practitioners of Jezebel’s false teaching to repent, Christ gives words of comfort to "the rest who are in Thyatira,” those who did not hold to Jezebel's false teaching.

 

• This godly remnant is described as not holding the teaching of Jezebel, and not knowing "the depths" or the deep things of Satan:

o   Satan is a liar, a schemer. He is at the heart of every false teaching, every false religion, and every cult.

 

• Here, the reference is made to the satanic system that is seen in great detail in the cults which compete with the true Christian faith:

o   Just as there are the deep things of God, which are taught by the Spirit of God, so there are the deep things of Satan, which result from his lies and deceptions.

 

• To this godly remnant, Christ gives limited responsibility:

o   The true Christians are urged to hold fast to what they already ready have and to wait the coming of the Lord. 

 

 

v.25, ‘Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.”

• Here, for the first time in Jesus’ messages to the seven churches, there is reference to His coming for His church:

o   This would give hope to those who are in a church that was infected with the sins of sexual immorality and idolatry.

 

 

v.26, ‘And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations”:

• As in the letters to the other churches, Christ closes His message to the church in Thyatira with a challenge to those who “overcome”:

o   He promises that those who keep His word to the end, will be given responsible positions of judgment over the nations.

o   The overcoming Christians are promised a place of authority. They will share in the rule of Christ over the nations of the world.

 

 

v.27, “And He shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father”:

• For the person that overcomes, “He shall rule them [the nations] with a rod of iron.”

o   These will rule with Christ’s justice.

 

• The word for "rule" means, literally, to shepherd:

o   Their rule will not be simply that of executing judgment, but also that of administering mercy and direction to those who make it through the tribulation and go into the Millennial Kingdom.

 

• The power to judge was given to Christ by His heavenly Father in John 5:22, “for not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.”

 

v.28, “And I will give him the morning star.”

• The overcomers in Thyatira are promised "the morning star."

 

• Some link this expression to Christ Himself, as in Revelation 22:16, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star”:

o   Believers would receive Christ as the light of their lives.

o   Or it may refer to the resurrection, in the sense that the morning star rises and sheds it light over the darkness of this world's persecution and offers victory over it.

o   The promise of Christ's return is like the "morning star,” the sun rising because when the sun rises, all darkness is eliminated.

o   When Christ returns to shine His light of truth, the darkness of sin will be eliminated.

 

• There are also some who believe this refers to Christ Himself as the returning One who will rapture the Church before the dark hours of the Great Tribulation preceding the dawn of Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom.

 

v.29, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

• Once again we see the words that are meant to spur the hearers of the message to heed with the Lord has to say.

 

Three important truths stand out from Jesus’ address to the church at Thyatira:

• First, this letter reveals the seriousness of practicing and tolerating blatant sin within any local church, and that God will judge continued, unrepentant sin in a church.

 

• Second, it is a pattern of consistent obedience that marks true Christians.

 

• Third, God's gracious promise to true believers is that, in spite of struggles with sin and errors within the Church, they will experience all the fullness of Christ as they reign with Him in His Kingdom.

 

• Those churches, like Thyatira, who fail to heed the message, will receive Divine judgment. Those who do heed its message will receive Divine blessing.

 

 

May the Lord bless you as you continue to learn more about our Lord and Savior.

 

By His Grace,

Gary T. Dromi Ph.D., D.Min.