Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So how do we understand all of this, how do
we apply all of this? In order to do that,
I'd like for us to sort of move backwards a
little bit, and instead of going in the order that
we find here in the letter, we're going to start
with the culture, then analyze the church, and then look
(00:23):
at Christ as he is presented here. I think by
doing this we'll get a better grasp on why He's
presented the way that he is in this letter. First,
a portrait of the culture of Thiatyra. We read about
this place elsewhere in scripture. You remember Lydia, the seller
of purple acts, Chapter sixteen, verse fourteen. One who heard
(00:46):
us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thiatyra,
a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God.
The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what
was said by Paul. It is understood by many that
Lydia was a convert who went back to Thya Tyra,
and that that's one of the ways that the church
(01:07):
was established there in this Macedonian colony. What about the geography, Well,
we know that we've gone to the north. We started
in Ephesus and then we went up north to Smyrna,
even further north up to Pergamam. Now we're beginning to
make the circuit. We're on a postal route, and so
the postal route goes from Ephesus up through Smyrna up
(01:32):
to Pergamam. Then it turns around and begins to go
down to the southeast.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And the first stop when you get down to the
southeast is Thaia Tyra.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
It's a fortified city located forty five miles southeast to
Pergham in a broad valley that leads to the Hermas River.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
In one ninety b c.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And this is important, the Romans entered the valley and
conquered the city, which, because of its location down in
a valley, had little protection against superior For it was
a fortified city, but it could not protect itself against
superior forces from the outside because of its location in
a valley. Hold on to that. It will be important.
(02:12):
Thia Tyra was situated along the trade route from Pergrimam
to Sardis, which we'll read about next week. From Smyrna,
which we talked about last week. A leading artery led
through the valley to this city. So it's kind of centralized.
So we had this postal route that goes up from
Ephesus Smyrna and to Pergamam and then comes down to Thiatyra.
(02:37):
But you could cut across from Smyrna over to Sarties
going through Thia Tyra. Well, you know whenever a city
sits at a crossroads that one of the things that's
going to be known for is trade. So what about
the economy? Local artistans produced a variety of merchandise there.
(02:59):
They were baked, painters, tanners, tailors, potters, workers in wool, linen,
and metal, chiefly copper and bronze, which will be significant
when we get back to Christ who identifies himself in
this letter as the one whose feet are as burnished bronze.
(03:22):
There was also a significant slave trade that came through
Thia Tyra. What about the spirituality there in Thia Tyra?
This is crucial to understanding what's going on. Thire Tyre
hosted a major cult of Apollo, son of Zeus, and
the deity associated with Prophecy and the son the Emperor
(03:43):
was linked to Apollo and may have been worshiped in
Thia Tyra as his earthly manifestation. Although bronze working wasn't
unique to Thiatyr. Some scholars have also pointed out that
Bronze Workers Guild was significant in the city. Four things
you got understand that the Atari to understand this letter
Number one, the guilds. They were like our modern day
(04:05):
trade unions. If you wanted to work in the trades,
you had to belong to the guilds. If you wanted
to work in the trades, you had to belong to
the guilds. There are also idols, Apollo and Artemis, very
prominent here in the city. There were feasts to these
(04:25):
idols that were often put on by the guilds. So
if you belonged to the guild, you had to participate
in the feasts to Apollo an Artemis, which involved the
eating of meats that were sacrificed to idols. And in addition,
there were orgies that involved cultic prostitution, which were also
(04:48):
part of these feasts put on by the guilds that
you had to belong to if you wanted to be
an artisan. That helps us in our portrait of the church.
(05:08):
So here's the.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Church in Thiatira.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
The church in Thia Tyra is not experiencing direct persecution.
In other words, Rome has not come to Thiatyra and
begun to run out the Christians. They are not being
fed to the lions. They are not being slaughtered in
the streets. On the contrary, the only thing that they're
dealing with, for the most part, are the guilds. What
(05:30):
do we learn about this church? First the good I
know your works. We find in verse nineteen your love
and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your
latter works exceed the first several things are said.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
This is all.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
This is very short as it relates to what's good
about this church. We see that phrase again, I know
your works doesn't appear in every letter, but it's significant here.
Christ says, I know your works. I am aware of
your works, and there are good works, your love and
your faith and your service, their love and faith in service.
Put these things together, and ultimately what's being spoken of
(06:06):
here is that this is a church, that is a
faithful church, that is a loving church, and that there
are works of service being done in this church. The
kinds of works of service basically on the words that
are used here, that you would find when people needed
help because they couldn't be employed by the guilds. This
(06:29):
is a church where many people couldn't find work, and
they couldn't find work because they would not join the guilds,
they would not engage in temple prostitution, they would not
engage in idolatrous feasts, eating meats, sacrifice to idols, and
they did whatever they could to survive. But there were
(06:52):
many who probably had to rely on the love.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
And faith and service of the church.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Then there's the bad. Oh, by the way, before we
get to the band, look at the next thing. Your
latter works exceed the first. This is a direct reference
to the Church at Ephesus. And if you remember what
we talked about the Church at Ephesus and that first
love again, the primary love, that love of first importance
(07:30):
is the Gospel proclamation. Why would a church lose its
lamp stand? Why would a church cease to be the church?
Because the church cease to preach the Gospel. So if
you don't get back to your first love, that first
work of the proclamation of the Gospel, I will remove
your lamp stand.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
You will cease to be a church.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
By the way, this is what has happened, in my opinion,
to the Episcopal Church in America. Their lamp stand is gone.
They're not a church anymore church anymore because the Gospel
is gone. But he says, of fiatyra, your latter works
(08:09):
are more significant than your former works. In other words,
this is a church that is filled with faith and
love toward one another on the inside and on the outside,
consistently and constantly proclaims the whole Gospel to the whole
culture without compromise. And in fact, they are increasing in
(08:31):
their faithfulness in proclaiming the gospel.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Sounds like a good church. Amen, They've just.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Got one small problem Verse twenty, again utterly disturbing. But
I have this against you that you tolerate that woman Jezebel. Now,
it's not likely that the woman's name was actually Jezebel.
(09:08):
There's a number of reasons that this is not likely.
Number one, that name is pretty infamous. Amen, That name
is pretty infamous. God of like naming some again, name
is pretty infamous. Okay. There's a second reason that there's
(09:30):
imagery throughout the letter to Thia Tira that points back
to the Old Testament story of Jezebel an AaB So
either providentially there's a woman who's doing this whose name
actually is Jezebel, so that she could be tied to
the Jezebel of the Old Testament, or more likely, Christ
(09:53):
is referring to this woman as Jezebel because of the similarity.
Who calls herself a prophetess. He doesn't say she's a prophetess.
Notice that he does not say that this woman is
a prophetess. He says, this woman calls herself a prophetess
(10:14):
and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual
immorality and to eat food sacrifice to idols. Now, if
you read that out of its context and you don't
know about the city, it makes no sense whatsoever. Why
does someone just walk into the church and say, hey,
I think it would be a good deal, a good
idea to talk about sexual immorality and eating meets sacrifice
(10:36):
to idols.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Where does that come from? It makes no sense.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
What's and what's worse, Why would anybody listen to someone
who walked into the church and said, Hey, I think
idolatry and sexual immorality are really great expressions of Christianity.
It only makes sense when you understand where they are,
and you understand the guilds, and you understand that there
(11:02):
are people in this church who sometimes miss meals because
they won't sign.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
On with the guilds.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
It brings to your mind the picture that we'll read
about later on. This idea of the mark of the beast,
or you're not allowed to trade if you do not
receive is marked most assuredly refers to this kind of activity. No,
John is not talking about barcodes or RFID chips. Despite
(11:38):
all that you hear nowadays. This woman Jezebel, the name
says a lot. One Kings, Chapter sixteen, verses thirty one
to thirty three, we read about Jezebel, and then twenty
one to twenty five makes it a little clearer. We
(12:01):
read in One King sixteen thirty one and thirty three,
and as if it had been a like thing for
him to walk in the sins of Jereboam, the son
of Nebag, He took for his wife Jezebel, the daughter
of f Bail, king of the Sidonians, and went and
served Bail and worshiped him. He erected an altar for
(12:23):
Bail in the house of Bail, which is built in Samaria,
and Ahab made an asherah. Now Bail is a fertility
god an asher a pole is a poll to the
female version. So there's a male fertility god and a
female fertility goddess. He marries Jezebel, and Jezebel has him
(12:46):
committing idolatry by erecting these statues to fertility gods, which
also refers to sexual immorality. Hence, when you get to
the New Testament and Tira there's a woman who's promoting
idology and idolatry and sexual limorlity. What do you do?
You refer to her as Jezebel. Ahab did more to
(13:10):
provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than
all the kings of Israel who were before him.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
That's a statement.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Twenty one twenty five we read there was none who
sold himself to do what was evil in the sight
of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
His wife enticed. This name is significant.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
This name takes you back to one of the worst
kings in the history of Israel, who was what he
was in large part because of the influence of his wife, Jezebel.
Now we come to Thia Tirah, and there is a
woman who calls herself a prophetess and she is in
curaging the members of the church in Thyatira to go ahead,
(14:03):
join the guilds, be a part of the guilds, engage
in those practices.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
You don't really mean it. After all, God looks at
your heart.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
What's a little idolatry and sexual immorality when you're trying
to feed your family? He knows your intentions, all right.
Her teaching, she calls herself a prophetesst And what is
he doing seducing people to practice sexual immorality and eating
(14:36):
food sacrifices to idols?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
What about the influence? Looking verses twenty two.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
And twenty three, Behold, I will throw her onto a
sick bed, and those who commit adultery with her I
will throw into great tribulation. So there's her, and then
there are those who commit adultery with her. That's a
direct contact with Jezebel. Now this could be a reference
to individuals who are engaged beaging in this practice with
(15:01):
Jezebel herself, or it could be a reference to the
fact that Jezebel is part of a guild, and these
people belong to the guild to which Jezebel belongs, so
they go with her to her particular guild and to
those particular meetings. Either way, the outcome is the same.
You have her and you have the individuals who are
(15:23):
directly engaging in this practice. But then there's a third level,
and I will strike her children dead. I will strike
her children dead. Now, this I do not believe is
a reference to her literal children, but to those who
(15:46):
are following in her footsteps and in her teaching. If
you follow the flow of this, Jezebel is engaging in
this practice. There are those who have been influenced directly
by her who are engaging in this practice as well.
There are others who are indirectly influenced by her who
were also engaging in this practice as it grows in
(16:08):
the church. So you refer to Jezebel, to those who
commit adultery with her, and to her children more her
children in the faith, if you will. This brings us
to the portrait of Christ. The way Jesus is presented
here in this text is significant. We know that in
(16:31):
every one of these letters that two things are happening.
When Jesus is presented one that he's pointing back to
his description in Revelation chapter one. Secondly, that he is
pulling aspects of that description in Revelation chapter one into
the particular letter that relate to the way that he
(16:52):
will judge. For example, in the letter to the Church
at Ephesus, he introduced himself as the words of Him
who holds the seven stars in his right hand, and
who walks among the seven golden lamp stands. Why is
that important because he's threatening to remove lamp stands.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Smyrna.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
He writes the word of the First and the Last
who died and came to life, talking about their tribulation
and their poverty. His resurrection is significant to the Angel
of Church of Pergamam right, the one who has the
words of Him who has the sharp two edged sword.
Why is that important? Because he's going to judge them
(17:37):
with the sword from his mouth. Now he introduces himself
as the Son of God, the one whose eyes are
flame of fire and whose feet are of burnished bronze.
Why is this significant? Well, first, the reference to son
of God. Now this reference is not taken directly from
chapter one, it's significant here, one commentator writes, the speaker
(18:03):
identifies himself as the son of God. The expression son
of God appears only here in the book. It is
a designation for the Messiah, and it's almost equivalent to
the more frequently used title son of Man, and probably
anticipates the quotation from the Messianic From the Messianic Psalm
in verse twenty seven, there's a reference to Psalm too,
(18:25):
which implies the term. The name might also have captured
the attention of those who were enticed by the Emperor
cult into calling Caesar son of God. That was Caesar's title.
(18:45):
Jesus says, it's not Caesar's title, it's my title. By
the way, the site of Thiatyra exists under Roman rule
because the Romans obliterated it almost in one ninety. The
Romans came in and established their authority in their rule.
(19:07):
In this fortified city that could not identify it could
not defend itself against the quote unquote son of God, Caesar,
Jesus identifies himself as the son of God. Caesar's title
is one that is stolen. Jesus' title is one that
(19:28):
is quite accurate. He is the son of God. He
is the second person of the Trinity. Secondly, he has
eyes like flames of fire. This, of course is a
reference from back in chapter one and verse fourteen. The
eyes of flames of fire is a reference to the
ancient of days and to the piercing eyes of judgment.
(19:50):
Nothing can escape his eyes. I know your works. Why
can he say this? Because he sees everything. He is omniscient.
There is nothing that hides from him. Not only is
there nothing that hides from him on the surface, but
the idea of his eyes a fire means that he
penetrates through the actual event itself to the intention in
(20:14):
your very soul. He knows what you do, and he
knows why you do it. There is no escaping. And
in case you're wondering if this is supposed to be
an intimidating title, look with me in chapter nineteen, if
(20:34):
you will, beginning in verse eleven, I told you this
is my favorite description of Jesus, so I'll be surprised
that I came back to it again. Chapter nineteen, Verses
eleven to sixteen. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold
(20:59):
a white horse. The one sitting on it is called
faithful and true, and is righteous. He judges in righteousness,
He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a
flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems.
And he has a name written that no one knows
but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood.
(21:21):
And the name by which he is called is the
Word of God. And the armies of Heaven are rayed
in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on
white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with
which to strike down the nations, and he will rule
them with a rod of iron. We're going to read
that later in this very text. He will tread the
(21:42):
wine praise press of the fury, of the wrath of
God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh
he has a name written King of kings and Lord
of lords. That's what is evoked by the eye idea
of Jesus having eyes like flames of fire. His feet
(22:06):
are like burnished bronze. This is reminiscent of both Ezekiel
and Daniel. It refers both to the brilliance of God
and also to the judgment of God. Not only do
we see the importance of Christ in his description, but
(22:27):
also in his warning. Notice what we see in his
warning verses twenty to twenty four. Behold, I will number
one throw her onto a sick bed. I will throw
(22:49):
her onto a sick bed. Here's the first thing he
gave Jessebel time to repent, and she did not mercifully
So how do we understand all of this, how do
we apply all of this? In order to do that,
I'd like for us to sort of move backwards a
little bit, and instead of going in the order that
we find here in the letter, we're going to start
with the culture, then analyze the church, and then look
(00:23):
at Christ as he is presented here. I think by
doing this we'll get a better grasp on why He's
presented the way that he is in this letter. First,
a portrait of the culture of Thiatyra. We read about
this place elsewhere in scripture. You remember Lydia, the seller
of purple acts, Chapter sixteen, verse fourteen. One who heard
(00:46):
us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thiatyra,
a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God.
The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what
was said by Paul. It is understood by many that
Lydia was a convert who went back to Thya Tyra,
and that that's one of the ways that the church
(01:07):
was established there in this Macedonian colony. What about the geography, Well,
we know that we've gone to the north. We started
in Ephesus and then we went up north to Smyrna,
even further north up to Pergamam. Now we're beginning to
make the circuit. We're on a postal route, and so
the postal route goes from Ephesus up through Smyrna up
(01:32):
to Pergamam. Then it turns around and begins to go
down to the southeast.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And the first stop when you get down to the
southeast is Thaia Tyra.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
It's a fortified city located forty five miles southeast to
Pergham in a broad valley that leads to the Hermas River.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
In one ninety b c.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And this is important, the Romans entered the valley and
conquered the city, which, because of its location down in
a valley, had little protection against superior For it was
a fortified city, but it could not protect itself against
superior forces from the outside because of its location in
a valley. Hold on to that. It will be important.
(02:12):
Thia Tyra was situated along the trade route from Pergrimam
to Sardis, which we'll read about next week. From Smyrna,
which we talked about last week. A leading artery led
through the valley to this city. So it's kind of centralized.
So we had this postal route that goes up from
Ephesus Smyrna and to Pergamam and then comes down to Thiatyra.
(02:37):
But you could cut across from Smyrna over to Sarties
going through Thia Tyra. Well, you know whenever a city
sits at a crossroads that one of the things that's
going to be known for is trade. So what about
the economy? Local artistans produced a variety of merchandise there.
(02:59):
They were baked, painters, tanners, tailors, potters, workers in wool, linen,
and metal, chiefly copper and bronze, which will be significant
when we get back to Christ who identifies himself in
this letter as the one whose feet are as burnished bronze.
(03:22):
There was also a significant slave trade that came through
Thia Tyra. What about the spirituality there in Thia Tyra?
This is crucial to understanding what's going on. Thire Tyre
hosted a major cult of Apollo, son of Zeus, and
the deity associated with Prophecy and the son the Emperor
(03:43):
was linked to Apollo and may have been worshiped in
Thia Tyra as his earthly manifestation. Although bronze working wasn't
unique to Thiatyr. Some scholars have also pointed out that
Bronze Workers Guild was significant in the city. Four things
you got understand that the Atari to understand this letter
Number one, the guilds. They were like our modern day
(04:05):
trade unions. If you wanted to work in the trades,
you had to belong to the guilds. If you wanted
to work in the trades, you had to belong to
the guilds. There are also idols, Apollo and Artemis, very
prominent here in the city. There were feasts to these
(04:25):
idols that were often put on by the guilds. So
if you belonged to the guild, you had to participate
in the feasts to Apollo an Artemis, which involved the
eating of meats that were sacrificed to idols. And in addition,
there were orgies that involved cultic prostitution, which were also
(04:48):
part of these feasts put on by the guilds that
you had to belong to if you wanted to be
an artisan. That helps us in our portrait of the church.
(05:08):
So here's the.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Church in Thiatira.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
The church in Thia Tyra is not experiencing direct persecution.
In other words, Rome has not come to Thiatyra and
begun to run out the Christians. They are not being
fed to the lions. They are not being slaughtered in
the streets. On the contrary, the only thing that they're
dealing with, for the most part, are the guilds. What
(05:30):
do we learn about this church? First the good I
know your works. We find in verse nineteen your love
and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your
latter works exceed the first several things are said.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
This is all.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
This is very short as it relates to what's good
about this church. We see that phrase again, I know
your works doesn't appear in every letter, but it's significant here.
Christ says, I know your works. I am aware of
your works, and there are good works, your love and
your faith and your service, their love and faith in service.
Put these things together, and ultimately what's being spoken of
(06:06):
here is that this is a church, that is a
faithful church, that is a loving church, and that there
are works of service being done in this church. The
kinds of works of service basically on the words that
are used here, that you would find when people needed
help because they couldn't be employed by the guilds. This
(06:29):
is a church where many people couldn't find work, and
they couldn't find work because they would not join the guilds,
they would not engage in temple prostitution, they would not
engage in idolatrous feasts, eating meats, sacrifice to idols, and
they did whatever they could to survive. But there were
(06:52):
many who probably had to rely on the love.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
And faith and service of the church.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Then there's the bad. Oh, by the way, before we
get to the band, look at the next thing. Your
latter works exceed the first. This is a direct reference
to the Church at Ephesus. And if you remember what
we talked about the Church at Ephesus and that first
love again, the primary love, that love of first importance
(07:30):
is the Gospel proclamation. Why would a church lose its
lamp stand? Why would a church cease to be the church?
Because the church cease to preach the Gospel. So if
you don't get back to your first love, that first
work of the proclamation of the Gospel, I will remove
your lamp stand.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
You will cease to be a church.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
By the way, this is what has happened, in my opinion,
to the Episcopal Church in America. Their lamp stand is gone.
They're not a church anymore church anymore because the Gospel
is gone. But he says, of fiatyra, your latter works
(08:09):
are more significant than your former works. In other words,
this is a church that is filled with faith and
love toward one another on the inside and on the outside,
consistently and constantly proclaims the whole Gospel to the whole
culture without compromise. And in fact, they are increasing in
(08:31):
their faithfulness in proclaiming the gospel.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Sounds like a good church. Amen, They've just.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Got one small problem Verse twenty, again utterly disturbing. But
I have this against you that you tolerate that woman Jezebel. Now,
it's not likely that the woman's name was actually Jezebel.
(09:08):
There's a number of reasons that this is not likely.
Number one, that name is pretty infamous. Amen, That name
is pretty infamous. God of like naming some again, name
is pretty infamous. Okay. There's a second reason that there's
(09:30):
imagery throughout the letter to Thia Tira that points back
to the Old Testament story of Jezebel an AaB So
either providentially there's a woman who's doing this whose name
actually is Jezebel, so that she could be tied to
the Jezebel of the Old Testament, or more likely, Christ
(09:53):
is referring to this woman as Jezebel because of the similarity.
Who calls herself a prophetess. He doesn't say she's a prophetess.
Notice that he does not say that this woman is
a prophetess. He says, this woman calls herself a prophetess
(10:14):
and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual
immorality and to eat food sacrifice to idols. Now, if
you read that out of its context and you don't
know about the city, it makes no sense whatsoever. Why
does someone just walk into the church and say, hey,
I think it would be a good deal, a good
idea to talk about sexual immorality and eating meets sacrifice
(10:36):
to idols.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Where does that come from? It makes no sense.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
What's and what's worse, Why would anybody listen to someone
who walked into the church and said, Hey, I think
idolatry and sexual immorality are really great expressions of Christianity.
It only makes sense when you understand where they are,
and you understand the guilds, and you understand that there
(11:02):
are people in this church who sometimes miss meals because
they won't sign.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
On with the guilds.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
It brings to your mind the picture that we'll read
about later on. This idea of the mark of the beast,
or you're not allowed to trade if you do not
receive is marked most assuredly refers to this kind of activity. No,
John is not talking about barcodes or RFID chips. Despite
(11:38):
all that you hear nowadays. This woman Jezebel, the name
says a lot. One Kings, Chapter sixteen, verses thirty one
to thirty three, we read about Jezebel, and then twenty
one to twenty five makes it a little clearer. We
(12:01):
read in One King sixteen thirty one and thirty three,
and as if it had been a like thing for
him to walk in the sins of Jereboam, the son
of Nebag, He took for his wife Jezebel, the daughter
of f Bail, king of the Sidonians, and went and
served Bail and worshiped him. He erected an altar for
(12:23):
Bail in the house of Bail, which is built in Samaria,
and Ahab made an asherah. Now Bail is a fertility
god an asher a pole is a poll to the
female version. So there's a male fertility god and a
female fertility goddess. He marries Jezebel, and Jezebel has him
(12:46):
committing idolatry by erecting these statues to fertility gods, which
also refers to sexual immorality. Hence, when you get to
the New Testament and Tira there's a woman who's promoting
idology and idolatry and sexual limorlity. What do you do?
You refer to her as Jezebel. Ahab did more to
(13:10):
provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than
all the kings of Israel who were before him.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
That's a statement.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Twenty one twenty five we read there was none who
sold himself to do what was evil in the sight
of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
His wife enticed. This name is significant.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
This name takes you back to one of the worst
kings in the history of Israel, who was what he
was in large part because of the influence of his wife, Jezebel.
Now we come to Thia Tirah, and there is a
woman who calls herself a prophetess and she is in
curaging the members of the church in Thyatira to go ahead,
(14:03):
join the guilds, be a part of the guilds, engage
in those practices.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
You don't really mean it. After all, God looks at
your heart.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
What's a little idolatry and sexual immorality when you're trying
to feed your family? He knows your intentions, all right.
Her teaching, she calls herself a prophetesst And what is
he doing seducing people to practice sexual immorality and eating
(14:36):
food sacrifices to idols?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
What about the influence? Looking verses twenty two.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
And twenty three, Behold, I will throw her onto a
sick bed, and those who commit adultery with her I
will throw into great tribulation. So there's her, and then
there are those who commit adultery with her. That's a
direct contact with Jezebel. Now this could be a reference
to individuals who are engaged beaging in this practice with
(15:01):
Jezebel herself, or it could be a reference to the
fact that Jezebel is part of a guild, and these
people belong to the guild to which Jezebel belongs, so
they go with her to her particular guild and to
those particular meetings. Either way, the outcome is the same.
You have her and you have the individuals who are
(15:23):
directly engaging in this practice. But then there's a third level,
and I will strike her children dead. I will strike
her children dead. Now, this I do not believe is
a reference to her literal children, but to those who
(15:46):
are following in her footsteps and in her teaching. If
you follow the flow of this, Jezebel is engaging in
this practice. There are those who have been influenced directly
by her who are engaging in this practice as well.
There are others who are indirectly influenced by her who
were also engaging in this practice as it grows in
(16:08):
the church. So you refer to Jezebel, to those who
commit adultery with her, and to her children more her
children in the faith, if you will. This brings us
to the portrait of Christ. The way Jesus is presented
here in this text is significant. We know that in
(16:31):
every one of these letters that two things are happening.
When Jesus is presented one that he's pointing back to
his description in Revelation chapter one. Secondly, that he is
pulling aspects of that description in Revelation chapter one into
the particular letter that relate to the way that he
(16:52):
will judge. For example, in the letter to the Church
at Ephesus, he introduced himself as the words of Him
who holds the seven stars in his right hand, and
who walks among the seven golden lamp stands. Why is
that important because he's threatening to remove lamp stands.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Smyrna.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
He writes the word of the First and the Last
who died and came to life, talking about their tribulation
and their poverty. His resurrection is significant to the Angel
of Church of Pergamam right, the one who has the
words of Him who has the sharp two edged sword.
Why is that important? Because he's going to judge them
(17:37):
with the sword from his mouth. Now he introduces himself
as the Son of God, the one whose eyes are
flame of fire and whose feet are of burnished bronze.
Why is this significant? Well, first, the reference to son
of God. Now this reference is not taken directly from
chapter one, it's significant here, one commentator writes, the speaker
(18:03):
identifies himself as the son of God. The expression son
of God appears only here in the book. It is
a designation for the Messiah, and it's almost equivalent to
the more frequently used title son of Man, and probably
anticipates the quotation from the Messianic From the Messianic Psalm
in verse twenty seven, there's a reference to Psalm too,
(18:25):
which implies the term. The name might also have captured
the attention of those who were enticed by the Emperor
cult into calling Caesar son of God. That was Caesar's title.
(18:45):
Jesus says, it's not Caesar's title, it's my title. By
the way, the site of Thiatyra exists under Roman rule
because the Romans obliterated it almost in one ninety. The
Romans came in and established their authority in their rule.
(19:07):
In this fortified city that could not identify it could
not defend itself against the quote unquote son of God, Caesar,
Jesus identifies himself as the son of God. Caesar's title
is one that is stolen. Jesus' title is one that
(19:28):
is quite accurate. He is the son of God. He
is the second person of the Trinity. Secondly, he has
eyes like flames of fire. This, of course is a
reference from back in chapter one and verse fourteen. The
eyes of flames of fire is a reference to the
ancient of days and to the piercing eyes of judgment.
(19:50):
Nothing can escape his eyes. I know your works. Why
can he say this? Because he sees everything. He is omniscient.
There is nothing that hides from him. Not only is
there nothing that hides from him on the surface, but
the idea of his eyes a fire means that he
penetrates through the actual event itself to the intention in
(20:14):
your very soul. He knows what you do, and he
knows why you do it. There is no escaping. And
in case you're wondering if this is supposed to be
an intimidating title, look with me in chapter nineteen, if
(20:34):
you will, beginning in verse eleven, I told you this
is my favorite description of Jesus, so I'll be surprised
that I came back to it again. Chapter nineteen, Verses
eleven to sixteen. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold
(20:59):
a white horse. The one sitting on it is called
faithful and true, and is righteous. He judges in righteousness,
He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a
flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems.
And he has a name written that no one knows
but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood.
(21:21):
And the name by which he is called is the
Word of God. And the armies of Heaven are rayed
in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on
white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with
which to strike down the nations, and he will rule
them with a rod of iron. We're going to read
that later in this very text. He will tread the
(21:42):
wine praise press of the fury, of the wrath of
God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh
he has a name written King of kings and Lord
of lords. That's what is evoked by the eye idea
of Jesus having eyes like flames of fire. His feet
(22:06):
are like burnished bronze. This is reminiscent of both Ezekiel
and Daniel. It refers both to the brilliance of God
and also to the judgment of God. Not only do
we see the importance of Christ in his description, but
(22:27):
also in his warning. Notice what we see in his
warning verses twenty to twenty four. Behold, I will number
one throw her onto a sick bed. I will throw
(22:49):
her onto a sick bed. Here's the first thing he
gave Jessebel time to repent, and she did not mercifully
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