Revelation 2

Above chart from http://chrisedmondson.blogspot.com/2011/05/revelation-endings.html

Above map showing the Roman roads of the day from http://media.salemwebnetwork.com/biblestudytools/reference/commentaries/revelation/seven_churches_nasa.jpg

J. Vernon McGee: "After chapter 3 in the Book of Revelation, the church is conspicuous by its absence. Up to chapter 4, the church is mentioned nineteen times. From chapter 4 through chapter 20 (the Great White Throne Judgment), the church is not mentioned one time. The normal reaction is to inquire as to the destination and location of the church during this period. It certainly is not in the world. It has been removed from the earth."

The three churches mentioned in chapter 2 are very different from those associated with Paul’s ministry since the language surrounding them is vastly different from Paul’s letters. We find nothing of Paul’s language of grace, peace, the cross, resurrection, the body of Christ, etc. Rather, the messages are of judgment, works, repentance, overcoming, etc. Especially, note the difference between Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians and John's letter to the Ephesian church in Revelation 2:1-7!

Keyword: Overcome (victorious) (νικάω - nikaō):

• Ephesus:
• To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God (Revelation 2:7).
• Smyrna:
• He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death (Revelation 2:11).
• Pergamum:
• To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it (Revelation 2:17).
• Thyatira:
• And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations-- 'He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels'-- as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. (Revelation 2:26-28).
• Sardis:
• He who overcomes will 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 (Revelation 3:5).
• Philadelphia:
• He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name (Revelation 3:12).
• Laodicea:
• He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne (Revelation 3:21).

The “seven churches of Asia” of Revelation 2 and 3 are all located in the general area of Paul’s work during his stay in Ephesus, which very well may have been the beginning of many of these congregations:

1. Ephesus Loyal Church in a Pagan Center Revelation 2:1-7
2. Smyrna The Church Spiritually Rich Revelation 2:8-11
3. Pergamum A Steadfast Church Revelation 2:12- 17
4. Thyatira The Serving Church Revelation 2:18-29
5. Sardis The Dying Church Revelation 3:1-6
6. Philadelphia A Faithful Church Revelation 3:7-13
7. Laodicea The Lukewarm Church Revelation 3:14-22

Some scholars will attribute the letters to these churches as prophetic of the entire church history. When in the order they appear, and only in this order, they can map out a generalized history of the church:

• Ephesus represents the Apostolic Church, a time when the church was being formed, and therefore it was highly important that the doctrine of Christianity be established correctly.
• Smyrna represents the Persecuted Church, or the time of Roman persecution of Christians until Constantine. There were ten major emperors that persecuted Christians (which could represent the "ten days" in verse 10) before Constantine.
• Pergamum represents the Married Church, after which Constantine had tolerated Christianity and Theodosius I had proclaimed it the state religion. Because of Theodosius's proclamation, paganism mixed with Christianity.
• Thyatira represents the Medieval Church, mostly indicative of the Papal institutions. The Inquisition is similar to an action made by Jezebel with Naboth's vineyard in 1 Kings 21.

EPHESUS the LOST LOVE CHURCH

Archeology of Ephesus:

• Ephesus contains the largest collection of Roman ruins in the eastern Mediterranean. The amphitheater dominates the view down Harbor Street, which leads to the silted-up harbor.
  
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  Above image of the ruins of the library of ancient Ephesus is from
  www.patheos.com/community/markdroberts/
  
  
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  Above image of the main Ephesus street by the theater is from
  www.neverthirsty.org/pp/bible-studies/revelation/study02/rev01-warnings-to-the-church-in-ephesus.html
  
  
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  Above image of the amphitheater that could seat 24,000 people in Ephesus where Paul and his friends were confronted by a hostile mob in Acts 19 is from
  www.gci.org/bible/rev/ephesus
  
  
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  The above model of the Temple of Artemis is of the probable appearance of the first temple.
  Above image is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis.
  Antipater of Sidon, who compiled the list of the Seven Wonders, described the finished temple: "I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labor of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, 'Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand'".
  
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  Part of a pillar from the temple of Artemis, found today in the British Museum, London. The marble drum, which measures approximately six feet by six feet, depicts a draped woman tentatively identified as Alcestis (wife of Admetus, who chose to die in his stead) or Eurydice (wife of Orpheus, who led her back from Hades) and Hermes Psychopompus, holding a caduceus, who guided the shades of the dead to the underworld. A winged Thanatos (Death) is depicted on the left and on the right, Persephone and Plouton, rulers of the underworld.
  Image is from www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/ancient-ephesus-and-the-new-testament/
  
  
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  Marble statue of the Ephesian Artemis, 125-175 A.D. at the Selcuk Museum, Selcuk, Turkey).
  Image is from www.ancient.eu.com/image/2418/
  
  
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  This close-up gives you a sense of the elaborate and beautiful frescoes that once covered the walls of some of the Ephesian houses. Using terra-cotta pipes, the houses had indoor running hot and cold water, as well as heat.
  Image is from www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/ancient-ephesus-and-the-new-testament/
• On the steps leading up to the entrance of the Library of Celsus, there is a carving of a menorah - the only existing archaeological evidence for the existence of a Jewish community in Ephesus.

Roman Status of Ephesus:

• Because of past service to the Empire of Rome, Ephesus was granted the right to be a “free city”. This means that they practiced self-government and that they could make whatever decisions they wanted to make. It also means that Roman troops were not garrisoned there.
• When Augustus became emperor in 27 B.C., he made Ephesus the capital of proconsular Asia (which covered western Asia Minor) instead of Pergamum. Ephesus then entered an era of prosperity, becoming both the seat of the governor and a major center of commerce. According to Strabo, it was second in importance and size only to Rome.

Geography of Ephesus:

• Ephesus lay at the intersection of two ancient major overland routes: the coastal road that ran north through Smyrna and Pergamum to Troas (near ancient Troy); and the western route to Colossae, Hierapolis, Laodicea and beyond.
• In ancient times, Ephesus had a busy harbor with the city right up to the water. But, sediment from the Cayster River eventually filled in the harbor.
• During the early Christian period. the population of Ephesus probably exceeded a quarter million.

Idolatry in Ephesus:

• Artemis (Diana):
• Ernle Bradford author of Paul The Traveler: "The goddess who had largely given Ephesus its wealth and importance -- so that it was a kind of Lourdes of the ancient world -- was at the core of so much human thinking. She derived from those early manifestations of pagan belief, the mother-goddess figures to be found from Asia Minor to Sicily. The embodiment of the female principle, she represented not only fertility but resurrection in the shape of new birth, the eternal return of life to the earth and, as found in a number of early carvings, the 'Tree of Life'. As Isis, she bore the divine son, Horus; and as Artemis she was the Mother of Wild Things, the goddess of all animals."
  The connection to the "queen of heaven" in the Roman catholic church and the "queen of heaven" (Ashtoreth) in the Old Testament in Jeremiah 7:16 and Jeremiah 44:17-25 should be obvious to anyone!
• Around the temple of Diana were performed the grossest forms of immorality. She was worshiped by probably more people than any other idol. The worshipers indulged in the basest religious rites of sensuality and the wildest drunken sexual orgies.
• It is easy to see that the city of Ephesus was a wicked, degenerate, vile place to live. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “No one could live in Ephesus without weeping over the immorality which he must see on every side.”
• Temple of Artemis (Diana):
• The Temple of Artemis took 100 years to build and was completed around 550 B.C., one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was the first to be entirely of marble and one of the largest Greek temples ever built, measuring some 377 feet in length and 180 feet wide (larger by twenty feet on a side than a football field). The sanctuary of Artemis (Diana) was 70 feet wide. The temple’s doors were made of cypress and the covered section was roofed with cedar.
• Antipater of Sidon, an ancient Greek poet in the second half of the 2nd century B.C., wrote: "I have seen the Walls of the Hanging gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus of Olympia, the Colossus of Rhodes, the lofty Pyramids, the Pharos of Alexandria and the ancient tomb of Mausolus. But when I beheld the Temple at Ephesus towering in the clouds, all these other marvels were eclipsed.”
• Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, pp. 345-346: "The Temple of Artemis (or Diana, according to her Roman name) at Ephesus ranked as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. As the twin sister of Apollo and the daughter of Zeus, Artemis was known variously as the moon goddess, the goddess of hunting, and the patroness of young girls. The temple at Ephesus housed the multi-breasted image of Artemis which was reputed to have come directly from Zeus (Acts 19:35). The temple of Artemis in Paul's day was supported by 127 columns, each of them 60 meters (197 feet) high."
• Longenecker's Commentary on Acts: "The Temple of Artemis was also a major treasury and bank of the ancient world, where merchants, kings, and even cities made deposits, and where their money could be kept safe under the protection of deity."
• The temple featured male and female prostitutes.
• The temple, along with the city, was destroyed and burned by the Goths in 263 A.D. Today, the temple is in ruins with only a single column remaining.
• Sorcery:
• Acts 19:19 records the value of books burned by those who practiced sorcery as “fifty thousand pieces of silver” - over 6 million dollars today.
• Gaebelein in his commentary on Acts: "Ephesus was a stronghold of Satan. Here many evil things both superstitious and satanic were practiced. Books containing formulae for sorcery and other ungodly and forbidden arts were plentiful in that city."
• Ephesus also participated in the imperial cult where temples were built to Claudius, Hadrian and Severus.

Christian History of Ephesus:

• F. F. Bruce, “Paul the Apostle”: "Leaving Corinth in the spring of 52 A.D., Paul paid a brief visit to Palestine and then traveled overland to Ephesus, chief city of the province of Asia, which he made his base for the next phase of his activity, lasting nearly three years (Acts 20:31)."
• The church in Ephesus was founded by the apostle Paul, the believers were discipled by Aquila and Priscilla, taught by Apollos, pastored by Timothy (1 Timothy 1:3) and instructed by the apostle Paul. Other famous New Testament characters were involved in the church too: Onesiphorus and Tychicus - and of course John the apostle.
• Paul preached in the synagogue and the lecture hall of Tyrannus and after 2 years everybody in the province had heard the word of the Lord. God accomplished miracles at the hands of Paul and when pieces of cloth that touched Paul's skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and they were healed (Acts 19:8-12). Through Paul's preaching, people stopped buying miniature silver shrines of Artemis. Demetrius the silversmith started a riot amongst the idol-making craftsman and they seized two of Paul's companions, Gauis and Aristarclus. After the disturbance was over, Paul left Ephesus and continued on his missionary journey.
• Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians during his first imprisonment in Rome.
• Dating of Revelation as related to Paul: If John wrote Revelation in 64-67 A.D. as some believe, then the letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2 overlaps with Paul’s two letters to Timothy, who was the pastor of the church when Paul wrote to him. Yet, Paul makes no mention of the loss of first love or the presence of the Nicolaitans at Ephesus in his correspondence with Timothy. Neither does he mention these problems in his Ephesian epistle, which was probably written in 62 A.D. Those who place Revelation in the reign of Nero in this time period allow too little time for such a major change. Place the writing of Revelation under the emperor Domitian and thirty years will have elapsed since Paul wrote his Epistle to Ephesus. Also significant is the lack of mention of Paul within the book of Revelation. Paul had a profound and lengthy ministry at Ephesus. If Paul ministered in Ephesus for almost 3 years beginning in 52 A.D. and John wrote within just 12-16 years of Paul’s ministry (as held by early date advocates), it seems very unusual that there was not the slightest mention of Paul in any of the letters to the Asian churches. But, if John wrote much later, near the end of the 90's, then more than 40 years would have passed and the generation which saw Paul’s ministry would no longer be living. It is still shocking that the church to which the crown jewel of the New Testament (Paul's letter to the Ephesians) had so quickly deteriorated.

Scripture verses related to Ephesus:

• Acts 18:19-20,24-28: When they arrived at the port of Ephesus, Paul left the others behind. But while he was there, he went to the synagogue to debate with the Jews. They asked him to stay longer, but he declined. ... Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had just arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord and talked to others with great enthusiasm and accuracy about Jesus. However, he knew only about John's baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately. Apollos had been thinking about going to Achaia, and the brothers and sisters in Ephesus encouraged him in this. They wrote to the believers in Achaia, asking them to welcome him. When he arrived there, he proved to be of great benefit to those who, by God's grace, had believed. He refuted all the Jews with powerful arguments in public debate. Using the Scriptures, he explained to them, "The Messiah you are looking for is Jesus."
• Acts 19: While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior provinces. Finally, he came to Ephesus, where he found several believers. "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" he asked them."No," they replied, "we don't know what you mean. We haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." "Then what baptism did you experience?" he asked. And they replied, "The baptism of John." Paul said, "John's baptism was to demonstrate a desire to turn from sin and turn to God. John himself told the people to believe in Jesus, the one John said would come later." As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all. Then Paul went to the synagogue and preached boldly for the next three months, arguing persuasively about the Kingdom of God. But some rejected his message and publicly spoke against the Way, so Paul left the synagogue and took the believers with him. Then he began preaching daily at the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for the next two years, so that people throughout the province of Asia -- both Jews and Greeks -- heard the Lord's message. God gave Paul the power to do unusual miracles, so that even when handkerchiefs or cloths that had touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and any evil spirits within them came out. A team of Jews who were traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus. The incantation they used was this: "I command you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!" Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. But when they tried it on a man possessed by an evil spirit, the spirit replied, "I know Jesus, and I know Paul. But who are you?" And he leaped on them and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and badly injured. The story of what happened spread quickly all through Ephesus, to Jews and Greeks alike. A solemn fear descended on the city, and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored. Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. A number of them who had been practicing magic brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars. So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect. Afterward Paul felt impelled by the Holy Spirit to go over to Macedonia and Achaia before returning to Jerusalem. "And after that," he said, "I must go on to Rome!" He sent his two assistants, Timothy and Erastus, on ahead to Macedonia while he stayed awhile longer in the province of Asia. But about that time, serious trouble developed in Ephesus concerning the Way. It began with Demetrius, a silversmith who had a large business manufacturing silver shrines of the Greek goddess Artemis. He kept many craftsmen busy. He called the craftsmen together, along with others employed in related trades, and addressed them as follows:"Gentlemen, you know that our wealth comes from this business. As you have seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods aren't gods at all. And this is happening not only here in Ephesus but throughout the entire province! Of course, I'm not just talking about the loss of public respect for our business. I'm also concerned that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will lose its influence and that Artemis -- this magnificent goddess worshiped throughout the province of Asia and all around the world -- will be robbed of her prestige!" At this their anger boiled, and they began shouting, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" A crowd began to gather, and soon the city was filled with confusion. Everyone rushed to the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, who were Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia. Paul wanted to go in, but the believers wouldn't let him. Some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, also sent a message to him, begging him not to risk his life by entering the amphitheater. Inside, the people were all shouting, some one thing and some another. Everything was in confusion. In fact, most of them didn't even know why they were there. Alexander was thrust forward by some of the Jews, who encouraged him to explain the situation. He motioned for silence and tried to speak in defense. But when the crowd realized he was a Jew, they started shouting again and kept it up for two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" At last the mayor was able to quiet them down enough to speak. "Citizens of Ephesus," he said. "Everyone knows that Ephesus is the official guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, whose image fell down to us from heaven. Since this is an indisputable fact, you shouldn't be disturbed, no matter what is said. Don't do anything rash. You have brought these men here, but they have stolen nothing from the temple and have not spoken against our goddess. If Demetrius and the craftsmen have a case against them, the courts are in session and the judges can take the case at once. Let them go through legal channels. And if there are complaints about other matters, they can be settled in a legal assembly. I am afraid we are in danger of being charged with rioting by the Roman government, since there is no cause for all this commotion. And if Rome demands an explanation, we won't know what to say." Then he dismissed them, and they dispersed.
• Acts 20:17,25-38: But when we landed at Miletus, he sent a message to the elders of the church at Ephesus, asking them to come down to meet him. ... "And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the Kingdom will ever see me again. Let me say plainly that I have been faithful. No one's damnation can be blamed on me, for I didn't shrink from declaring all that God wants for you. "And now beware! Be sure that you feed and shepherd God's flock -- his church, purchased with his blood -- over whom the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders. I know full well that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. Even some of you will distort the truth in order to draw a following. Watch out! Remember the three years I was with you -- my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you. "And now I entrust you to God and the word of his grace -- his message that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself. "I have never coveted anyone's money or fine clothing. You know that these hands of mine have worked to pay my own way, and I have even supplied the needs of those who were with me. And I have been a constant example of how you can help the poor by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" When he had finished speaking, he knelt and prayed with them. They wept aloud as they embraced him in farewell, sad most of all because he had said that they would never see him again. Then they accompanied him down to the ship.
• 1 Corinthians 15:32: And what value was there in fighting wild beasts -- those men of Ephesus -- if there will be no resurrection from the dead? If there is no resurrection, "Let's feast and get drunk, for tomorrow we die!"
• 1 Corinthians 16:8-9: In the meantime, I will be staying here at Ephesus until the Festival of Pentecost, for there is a wide-open door for a great work here, and many people are responding. But there are many who oppose me.
• Ephesians 1:1;2:1;3:1;6:10-21: This letter is from Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. It is written to God's holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. ... I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus because of my preaching to you Gentiles. ... Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. ... A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared. In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words as I boldly explain God's secret plan that the Good News is for the Gentiles, too. I am in chains now for preaching this message as God's ambassador. But pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should. Tychicus, a much loved brother and faithful helper in the Lord's work, will tell you all about how I am getting along.
• 1 Timothy 1:3-6: When I left for Macedonia, I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those who are teaching wrong doctrine. Don't let people waste time in endless speculation over myths and spiritual pedigrees. For these things only cause arguments; they don't help people live a life of faith in God. The purpose of my instruction is that all the Christians there would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and sincere faith. But some teachers have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time arguing and talking foolishness.

(1) "Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands:

• Angel: Not an angelic being, but the elder or pastor of the Ephesian church.
• Church: The Greek word ecclesia means a called-out company.

(2) "I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don't tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars.

• I know: In each letter He says, "I know." God knows everything!
• Hard work: The Ephesian church had taken their eyes off of Jesus and were now focusing on their good works done for His name.
• Apostles (false apostles):
• Matthew 24:11,24: And many false prophets will appear and will lead many people astray.  ... For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great miraculous signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones.
• Acts 20:29-30: I know full well that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. Even some of you will distort the truth in order to draw a following.
• Paul forewarned the church in Ephesus of this problem.
• 2 Corinthians 11:13: These people are false apostles. They have fooled you by disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
• 1 Timothy 1:3-6: When I left for Macedonia, I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those who are teaching wrong doctrine. Don't let people waste time in endless speculation over myths and spiritual pedigrees. For these things only cause arguments; they don't help people live a life of faith in God. The purpose of my instruction is that all the Christians there would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and sincere faith. But some teachers have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time arguing and talking foolishness.
• 2 Peter 2:1-3: But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach their destructive heresies about God and even turn against their Master who bought them. Theirs will be a swift and terrible end. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of them, Christ and his true way will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction is on the way.
• 1 John 4:1: Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.
• During the early years of the Church, many false teachers appeared, claiming the authority of Apostleship and we have some of their writings such of the so-called Gospel of Barnabas. They attempted to teach doctrines contrary to the the doctrine of salvation of grace, the divinity of Jesus and his resurrection - as they do today too. Some claiming to be Apostles tried to reestablish Old Testament laws in the church - the Judaizers. Paul addresses this group in Galatians. Today, many cults and the Roman church claim Apostolic authority, teaching error and misleading people. The Ephesian church stood its ground against these false teachers. Apostolic succession as practiced by the Roman church is not a biblical doctrine.
• Some people saw the power of the apostle so these fakers such as those Jews in Acts 19 tried to pass themselves off as apostles. Jesus commends the Ephesian church for their ability to identify these phony apostles. They unmasked them as liars. This was a church free from doctrinal corruption.

(3) You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.

(4) BUT I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first!

• BUT: Despite their good works, avoidance of false teach and their patience, there is something lacking in the Ephesian church.
  
• Love:
• First love: The two words here are Protos and Agape. Protos means first in time or place. An example of this love is the love between a husband and wife when the courtship first begins and they are inseparable. Wanting to be with each other all the time, learning and growing in the relationship, but as the relationship becomes ritualized and they become busy with the daily routines and problems, the “Protos” love begins to disappear. Jesus is warning Ephesus against the ritual relationship. Jesus does not want a ritualized relationship with us. Outward rituals no matter how pure or right at the start are meaningless. The world sees right through outward ritual. The light of the Gospel will not glow from dead rituals, so Christ wants Ephesus to go back to the beginning. Just look today at certain "Christian" denominations and all you see is ritual with every Sunday the same boring routine - especially in the orthodox and Roman churches where nobody even understands what all the strange incantations, waving of a smoking pot, fancy costumes and turned-about collars and gibberish is all about. Luther himself failed to rid his church of all of that "stuff", resulting in a dead denomination today. If you examine around the world what denominations and groups are growing, especially in Latin America, you find they are evangelical and charismatic movements - going back to their first love!
• The Greek word here for love is agape, which is used specifically for the New Testament descriptions of God’s love. If brotherly love had been the main intention of Jesus’ words here, philia (brotherly love) would have been used.
• Matthew 24:12: Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.
• The Ephesian church had become like Israel before them:
• Jeremiah 2:1-9: The LORD gave me another message. He said, "Go and shout in Jerusalem's streets: 'This is what the LORD says: I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness. In those days Israel was holy to the LORD, the first of my children. All who harmed my people were considered guilty, and disaster fell upon them. I, the LORD, have spoken!'" Listen to the word of the LORD, people of Jacob -- all you families of Israel! This is what the LORD says: "What sin did your ancestors find in me that led them to stray so far? They worshiped foolish idols, only to become foolish themselves. They did not ask, 'Where is the LORD who brought us safely out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness -- a land of deserts and pits, of drought and death, where no one lives or even travels?' "And when I brought you into a fruitful land to enjoy its bounty and goodness, you defiled my land and corrupted the inheritance I had promised you. The priests did not ask, 'Where is the LORD?' The judges ignored me, the rulers turned against me, and the prophets spoke in the name of Baal, wasting their time on nonsense. Therefore, I will bring my case against you and will keep on accusing you, even against your children's children in the years to come. I, the LORD, have spoken!
• Solomon too lost his first love as he grew old:
• 1 Kings 11:4: “In Solomon's old age, they turned his heart to worship their gods instead of trusting only in the LORD his God, as his father, David, had done.”
• Be a Mary, not a Martha:
• Luke 10:39-42: Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he taught.  But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me." But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it -- and I won't take it away from her."
• 1 Corinthians 13:1-3: If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn't love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn't love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would be of no value whatsoever.
• Spurgeon: "A church has no reason for being a church when she has no love within her heart, or when that love grows cold. Lose love, lose all."
• If our love for Christ is cold, it doesn’t matter how faithfully we serve Him; or how rightly we believe; or how strongly we stand. Service and correct doctrine are important, but Jesus wants our love too. As with Martha, the greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for him.
• Story of the Taj Mahal:
• "The Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful and costly tombs ever built, but there is something fascinating about its beginnings. In 1629, when the favorite wife of Indian ruler Shah Jahan died, he ordered that a magnificent tomb be built as a memorial for her. The shah placed his wife’s casket in the middle of a parcel of land, and construction of the temple literally began around it. But several years into the venture, the Shah’s grief gave way to a passion for the project. One day while he was surveying the sight, he reportedly stumbled over a wooden box, and he had some workers throw it out. It was months before he realized that his wife’s casket had been destroyed. The original purpose for the memorial became lost in the details of construction. - Dr. James Dobson, Coming Home, Timeless Wisdom for Families, (Tynadale House Pub., Wheaton; 1998), 122.
• Walvoord, gives a good sense of what this might mean: “…first a cooling of spiritual love, then the love of God replaced by a love for the things of the world, with resulting compromise and spiritual corruption.”
• Apparently, at least in the short term, the Ephesians heeded this warning. In the early second century (not too long after John wrote), Ignatius praised the love and the doctrinal purity of the Ephesians:
• "You, who are of the most holy Church of the Ephesians, which is so famous and celebrated throughout the world … you, being full of the Holy Spirit, do nothing according to the flesh, but all things according to the Spirit. You are complete in Christ Jesus." (Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Chapter 8. From the Ante Nicean Fathers Volume 1, page 52)
• Here are seven warning signs that signal that a church or individual has left their first love:
• Christ is no longer the central focus in your life.
• You neglect your relationship with the Lord and spend less time in prayer, worship and the Word.
• You allow family, friends, job and your own desires to come between you and your relationship with God.
• There is a loss of intimacy in your relationship with God.
• You are caught in a cycle of dead works.
• You are more tolerant of sin.
• You will no longer have a burning passion for the lost.
• The Ephesian church was a working church. Sometimes a focus on working for Jesus will eclipse a love relationship with Him. We can put what we DO for Jesus before who we ARE in Him.

(5) Look how far you have fallen from your first love! Turn back to me again and work as you did at first. If you don't, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.

• Fallen:
• Hebrews 10:32: Don't ever forget those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.
• Love:
• The condition of the Ephesian church at the time of John appears considerably different to that when Paul wrote his epistle. This epistle was written under Domitian, when thirty or more years had elapsed since Paul had written his Epistle to them.”: Ephesians 1:15-16: Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for Christians everywhere, I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly,
• Paul had commended the church at Ephesus for its love for God and others, but many of the church founders had died and many of the second-generation believers had lost their zeal for God. Just look at the beginnings of such denominations as the Methodist and the Presbyterian denominations and look at them today! Look at our universities - Harvard, Yale, etc. which were originally founded to teach the Word of God and send out Godly pastors, but now, no one could honestly consider them "Christian".
• Work as you did at first: What are the first works?
• Remember how you used to spend time in His Word?
• Remember how you used to pray and praise Him?
• Remember the joy in getting together with other Christians?
• Remember how excited you were about telling others about Jesus?
• Remove your lampstand:
• This eventually happened to the church in Ephesus when Islam invaded Turkey and wiped out Christianity in Ephesus. There is no church at Ephesus today, nor much of one in the modern city of Kushadesi, nearby and probably not a single Christian. The country of Turkey, where all seven of these churches were located, is more than 98% Muslim today.
• The removal of the lampstand as a light bearer has nothing to do with the salvation of the individual. It has to do with the Church as a whole. All evidence of Paul's work there has vanished.

(6) BUT there is this about you that is good: You hate the deeds of the immoral Nicolaitans, just as I do.

• Nicolaitans:
• The name Nicolaitans is held by some to be roughly the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word for "Balaamites."
• Per Revelation 2:15, Nicolaitans were also in Pergamum: In the same way, you have some Nicolaitans among you -- people who follow the same teaching and commit the same sins.
• Irenaeus, who lived in the latter part of the second century, wrote that Nicolaitans were without restraint in their indulgence of the flesh and practiced fornication and the eating of foods sacrificed to idols.
• The word “Nicolaitans” is a transliteration of two Greek words that mean, “to conquer” and “people”. For that reason Nicolaitanism may describe any system that seeks to dominate rather than serve people. When we come to the study involving especially the churches of Pergamum and Thyatira, we will discover that this system is in full bloom with bishops, archbishops and other religious dominating taking place. This kind of religious system does not properly recognize the priesthood of the believer. It causes men to believe that they cannot personally come to the Lord ,which continues in this day in the Roman Catholic church and others.
• Some, like Diotrephes, loved to lord it over the "laity" - 3 John 9: I sent a brief letter to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, does not acknowledge our authority.
• Barclay: "The Nicolaitans, like all deceivers which come from the body of Christ, claimed “not that they were destroying Christianity, but that they were presenting an improved and modernized version of it.”"
• The Nicolaitans were a sect (sometimes associated with Nicolaus, one of the seven original deacons in the church in Jerusalem according to Acts 6:5) that apparently taught that Christians could engage in immoral behavior with impunity.
• There are a couple of different views as to what the deeds of the Nicolaitans were. The fact that Jesus hates them says the deeds were satanically inspired. Most say the deeds were the practices of a Gnostic sect that started with Nicolas of Antioch. The Gnostics claimed superior knowledge and claimed knowledge was man's highest good. They taught that material things were evil and the spiritual or the mind was good. Nicolaitans were a sect of the Gnostics that taught that since Christians were spirit beings they could not sin. The Nicolaitans claimed that in order to master sensuality, one must know the whole range of it by experience. They said Christians should therefore abandon themselves without reserve to the lusts of the body since they concerned only the body and did not touch the spirit. This doctrine led to participation in all types of sinful practices. John addresses this false doctrine in his epistles.
• These practices have their root in Babylonian paganism. It was necessary to set up a pagan style priesthood that claims special enlightenment from God for these heresies to be taught and believed by the lay people. Scripture does not support a special priesthood. Scripture teaches that all Christians are a nation of priests.

(7) "Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Everyone who is victorious will eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God.

• Tree of Life:
• Genesis 2:9;3:22: And the LORD God planted all sorts of trees in the garden -- beautiful trees that produced delicious fruit. At the center of the garden he placed the tree of life and the and the LORD God planted all sorts of trees in the garden -- beautiful trees that produced delicious fruit. At the center of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ... Then the LORD God said, "The people have become as we are, knowing everything, both good and evil. What if they eat the fruit of the tree of life? Then they will live forever!"
• Proverbs 3:18: Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; happy are those who hold her tightly.
• Revelation 22:1-2,14-15,18-19: And the angel showed me a pure river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, coursing down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. ... Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. Outside the city are the dogs -- the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie. ... And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. And if anyone removes any of the words of this prophetic book, God will remove that person's share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.
• The Jews referred to the Word of God as the “tree of life”. Torah scrolls are written on parchment, sewn together, rolled onto wooden rollers called eytz chayeem (tree of life), and read regularly in the synagogue.
• Paradise:
• Genesis 2:8: Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had created.
• Luke 23:42-43: Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom." And Jesus replied, "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise."
• 2 Corinthians 12:2-4: I was caught up into the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether my body was there or just my spirit, I don't know; only God knows. But I do know that I was caught up into paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be told.
• So, Paradise and the third heaven are the same - at least after Jesus' resurrection. Notice that Jesus did not say the thief would be in "Abraham's bosom" nor did he mention the kingdom which would refer to His second coming to set up the kingdom with Him sitting on the throne of David! Why do you suppose that He answered this way?
• Originally, the word Paradise meant “a garden of delight.” Eventually, it came to mean “the place where God lives.” Where God is, that is Paradise!
• Paradise “Παράδεισος [Paradeisos] was originally a Persian word, denoting an enclosed garden, especially a royal park. Among the Persians a grand enclosure or preserve, hunting ground, park, shady and well watered, in which wild animals, were kept for the hunt; it was enclosed by walls and furnished with towers for the hunters.

SMYRNA the PERSECUTED CHURCH

Secular History of Smyrna:

• Smyrna was founded by the Hittites dating back to 2000 B.C. The Greek “sea peoples” conquered the land about 1100 B.C. The city was part of the Ionian league of Greek city states. It was completely destroyed in 600 B.C. by the Lydian King Alyattes II. The city was rebuilt by Alexander and his general Lysimachus about 300 B.C. The city was conquered by the Romans in 193 B.C. and a temple was erected to the deity of Rome.
• Smyrna claims to have been the birthplace of the Greek poet Homer and was noted as a center of learning, especially in science and medicine.

Archeology of Smyrna:

• Today there is nothing left of the ancient coliseum to which its citizens went for entertainment where the gladiators fought for honor and prizes. There is no memory of their victories today - they have been forgotten.
• Smyrna also had a theater and an odeum (a music center).
• Except for the agora (market place), theater and sections of the Roman aqueduct, little remains of the ancient city.
• Statues of the gods Hermes, Dionysos, Eros and Heracles have been found, as well as many statues, heads, embossments, figurines and monuments of people and animals. Inscriptions found here list the people who provided aid to Smyrna after the earthquake of 178 AD.
  
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  Above image of the amphitheater with a capacity of somewhere around 24,000 at Smyrna from http://fervr.net/bible/lessons-from-the-seven-churches-of-revelation/
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  Above is the Jupiter de Smyrne, discovered in Smyrna in 1680 - from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus

Roman Status of Smyrna:

• The Roman empire required the worship of Caesar and Smyrna was the first city to build a temple to Tiberius Caesar who ruled 14 A.D. to 37 A.D. Every citizen had to burn an incense offering to Caesar and state publicly that he was a god and the supreme Lord, which a Christian could not do (Jews were exempt). After doing this, the citizen would receive an official certification that verified their pledge of loyalty and worship.
• It was known as the “faithful city” because of its loyalty to Rome.
• In 133 B.C., when the last Attalid king of Pergamum died without an heir, his will conferred his entire kingdom, including Smyrna, to Rome. They organized it into the Roman province of Asia, making Pergamum the capital. Smyrna, however, as a major seaport, became a leading city in the newly constituted province.
• A major earthquake occurred in the region in 177 or 178 A.D. Marcus Aurelius granted Smyrna a ten years’ remission of taxes and funds for rebuilding.

Geography of Smyrna:

• Smyrna was about 35 miles north of Ephesus with a port on the Aegean Sea.  Scholars believe the city grew to about 100,000 by the time of the apostles Paul and John.
• It had a harbor that actually reached in about 35 miles, one of the finest in the world. Aristides said of the city, "The winds blow through every part of the city and make it as fresh as a grove of trees."

Idolatry of Smyrna:

• The city's temples included one to Tiberius, a temple of Zeus, a temple of Cybele (Diana), a temple of Aphrodite, a temple of Apollo and a temple of Aesculapius (the god of medicine and healing).

Christian History of Smyrna:

• Smyrna means ‘bitter,’ certainly an appropriate description for the lot of Christians who lived there because myrrh must be crushed to release its fragrance. Myrrh was the chief export of the city in ancient times.
• Polycarp, a disciple of John, pastored the church there until he was martyred at the age of 86 - burned alive at Smyrna. We have an ancient account of his martyrdom which states that the Jews were particularly active in his martyrdom and even brought the wood by which he was consumed. It is said by the Jewish historian Josephus that when Polycarp was brought before the judge, and commanded to adjure and blaspheme Christ, he firmly answered, “Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never did me wrong, how then can I blaspheme my King who hath saved me?” He was then set ablaze and suffered cheerfully for Christ his Lord and Master.
• Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Smyrnaeans recognized the ongoing zeal of the church at Smyrna: “I observed that you are established in an unshakable faith, having been nailed, as it were, to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ in both body and spirit and firmly established in love by the blood of Christ.”
• In the late 2nd century, Irenaeus also noted:
• "Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna…always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do also those men who have succeeded Polycarp."
• It still exists. And today the population of Smyrna is about 300,000 people...only today it is known as Ismir, Turkey. Ephesus is gone, its harbor silted up, but Smyrna lives.

(8) "Write this letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. This is the message from the one who is the First and the Last, who died and is alive:

• This letter to Smyrna contains no criticism or rebuke.
• The First and the Last:
• In the Hebrew alphabet, the first and last letters are the Ahlef and the Tahv. Genesis 1:1 KJV says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But, as written in Hebrew, there are two untranslated letters between "God" and "created" - an ahlef and a tahv. So the Hebrew actually says, "In the beginning God, the ahlef and the tahv, created the heavens and the earth." This happens again in Zechariah 12:10 KJV which says, "...They will look on Me (the ahlef and the tahv) whom they have pierced..." Jesus Christ has always been the beginning and the end!:
• Isaiah 41:4, 44:6, 48:12: Who has done such mighty deeds, directing the affairs of the human race as each new generation marches by? It is I, the LORD, the First and the Last. I alone am he." ... "This is what the LORD, Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty, says: I am the First and the Last; there is no other God. ... "Listen to me, O family of Jacob, Israel my chosen one! I alone am God, the First and the Last.
• Revelation 1:17-18: When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, "Don't be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one who died. Look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.
•  Revelation 22:13:  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End."
• Who died and is alive:
• How could the eternally living One die? He could only die as a man. He never could die as the eternal God in whom is unending life. But He died as man for sin and now lives by resurrection as the glorified God/Man. But He Himself, according to Hebrews 7:16, had the power of an endless life.
• Hebrews 7:16:  He became a priest, not by meeting the old requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.

(9) "I know about your suffering and your poverty -- but you are rich! I know the slander of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they really aren't because theirs is a synagogue of Satan.

• I know:
• The Lord Jesus, our Savior, knows every heartache. He knows every pain, every tear, every burden. WE FLOURISH BEST AND ARE THE RICHEST WHEN WE SUFFER.
• Jacob was a better man after wrestling all night with the angel (Genesis 32:24-32).
• Paul was given a thorn in the flesh. He prayed for God to remove the thorn, but God did not remove it. God promised and gave grace sufficient to bear it - and Paul was the richer for it (II Corinthians 12:7).
• Suffering:
• The fierce and bloody persecution which raged in Asia Minor had its center in the city of Smyrna. The terrible persecution lasted about two hundred and fifty years. It was extremely fierce at times. During this time of imperial and pagan persecution, the Church went through a terrible blood bath; but not without the knowledge of Him who stands in the midst of the golden candlesticks.
• Barclay: “Emperor worship had begin as spontaneous demonstration of gratitude to Rome; but toward the end of the first century, in the days of Domitian, the final step was taken and Caesar worship became compulsory. Once a year the Roman citizen must burn a pinch of incense on the altar to the godhead of Caesar; and having done so, he was given a certificate to guarantee that he had performed his religious duty. All that the Christians had to do was to burn that pinch of incense, say, ‘Caesar is Lord,’ receive their certificate, and go away and worship as they pleased. But that is precisely what the Christians would not do. They would give no man the name of Lord; that name they would keep for Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. They would not even formally conform.”
• Some historians tell us in Smyrna in particular there were mass executions of Christians who refused to bow their knee to Caesar. Caesar was proclaimed as a god and he was to be worshiped as deity. And so it was very dangerous being a Christian in this town which had an unusual affinity for Rome and Caesar.
• Hebrews 10:32: Don't ever forget those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.
• Poverty:
• Greek has two words for poor: penia means having nothing superfluous, ptocheia means abject poverty, destitution. This verse uses the latter. This will be true of all believing Christians that are saved during the tribulation!
• Proverbs 13:7: Some who are poor pretend to be rich; others who are rich pretend to be poor.
• Physically poor, they were spiritually rich; whereas, the Laodiceans thought themselves rich but in Jesus' eyes were bankrupt (Revelation 3:17).
• James 2:5: Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn't God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren't they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him?
• Now some of today’s television preachers would have us believe that these Christians were out of God’s will. They were living beneath their privileges. All they had to do was “name it and claim it.” Or as some have said, “God wants Christians wealthy but many lack the faith to believe God for it.” This is a terribly heretical doctrine. Many Christians fall for such grossly selfish teaching. The church in Smyrna was suffering because they were in the will of God. Financial prosperity is not God’s will for everyone. Sometimes it costs to be a Christian. It may even cost you financially.
• The Christians of Smyrna knew poverty because they were robbed and fired from jobs in persecution for the gospel. Early Christians joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven (Hebrews 10:34). This kind of economic persecution was one important reason why Christians were poor in Smyrna. Even today, this is a common form of persecution against Christians.
• In the glory days of the Renaissance Papacy, a man walked with the Pope and marveled at the splendors and riches of the Vatican. The Pope told him, “We no longer have to say what Peter told the lame man: ‘Silver and gold have I none.’“ His companion replied, “But neither can you say, ‘rise up and walk.’“
• The city was controlled by guilds, those refusing to join or denied membership would be unable to enter in commerce. The church of Smyrna was marked by tribulation. The guilds controlled the marketplace and unless you were willing to participate in the worship of the gods, you could be excluded. The Christians refused and suffered tribulation for their faith.
• Jews:
• John 8:37-44: Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because my message does not find a place in your hearts. I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father." "Our father is Abraham," they declared. "No," Jesus replied, "for if you were children of Abraham, you would follow his good example. I told you the truth I heard from God, but you are trying to kill me. Abraham wouldn't do a thing like that. No, you are obeying your real father when you act that way." They replied, "We were not born out of wedlock! Our true Father is God himself." Jesus told them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. Why can't you understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to do so! For you are the children of your father the Devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
• Acts 13:44-50: The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. But when the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, "It was necessary that this Good News from God be given first to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life -- well, we will offer it to Gentiles. For this is as the Lord commanded us when he said, 'I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.' " When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were appointed to eternal life became believers. So the Lord's message spread throughout that region. Then the Jewish leaders stirred up both the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town.
• Acts 14:1-6,19: In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went together to the synagogue and preached with such power that a great number of both Jews and Gentiles believed. But the Jews who spurned God's message stirred up distrust among the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas, saying all sorts of evil things about them. The apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. The Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders. But the people of the city were divided in their opinion about them. Some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles. A mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them. When the apostles learned of it, they fled for their lives. They went to the region of Lycaonia, to the cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area, ... Now some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and turned the crowds into a murderous mob. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, apparently dead.
• Acts 18:12-15: But when Gallio became governor of Achaia, some Jews rose in concerted action against Paul and brought him before the governor for judgment. They accused Paul of "persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law." But just as Paul started to make his defense, Gallio turned to Paul's accusers and said, "Listen, you Jews, if this were a case involving some wrongdoing or a serious crime, I would be obliged to listen to you. But since it is merely a question of words and names and your Jewish laws, you take care of it. I refuse to judge such matters."
• Acts 28:17-28 KJV:  And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me. But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of. For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judaea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee. But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against. And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.
• Romans 2:28-29: For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not a cutting of the body but a change of heart produced by God's Spirit. Whoever has that kind of change seeks praise from God, not from people.
• Romans 9:6-8: Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to the Jews? No, for not everyone born into a Jewish family is truly a Jew! Just the fact that they are descendants of Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children. For the Scriptures say, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted," though Abraham had other children, too. This means that Abraham's physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. It is the children of the promise who are considered to be Abraham's children.
• Galatians 5:11-13: Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised -- as some say I do -- why would the Jews persecute me? The fact that I am still being persecuted proves that I am still preaching salvation through the cross of Christ alone. I only wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves. For you have been called to live in freedom -- not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love.
• Philippians 3:2-3: Watch out for those dogs, those wicked men and their evil deeds, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.
• Revelation 3:9: Look! I will force those who belong to Satan -- those liars who say they are Jews but are not -- to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.
• Synagogue of Satan:
• The Synagogue of Smyrna was in league with Greek gods of Smyrna in opposition to the Christians.
• Some believe this was a group who tried to pervert the gospel of free grace through faith alone by requiring the adoption of Jewish law for salvation. Others suggest this group fostered the idea of apostolic succession and the building of a hierarchy of leaders, similar to the Nicolaitans.
• Satan's headquarters were first located in Babylon. In the days of John, he had transferred his base of operations to Pergamum. During the Middle Ages, his seat was in Rome. Where is his headquarters located today?
• On one famous street in Smyrna, called the "Golden Street," stood magnificent temples to Cybele, Apollo, Asklepios, Aphrodite, and a great temple to Zeus. But the worship of those pagan gods was dying out. The real focus was on the worship of the Roman Emperor.
• Barclay: "Emperor worship had begun as spontaneous demonstration of gratitude to Rome; but toward the end of the first century, in the days of Domitian, the final step was taken and Caesar worship became compulsory. Once a year the Roman citizen must burn a pinch of incense on the altar to the godhead of Caesar; and having done so, he was given a certificate to guarantee that he had performed his religious duty. All that the Christians had to do was to burn that pinch of incense, say, 'Caesar is Lord,' receive their certificate, and go away and worship as they pleased. But that is precisely what the Christians would not do. They would give no man the name of Lord; that name they would keep for Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. They would not even formally conform."
• The Roman empire mandated the worship of Caesar. The city of Smyrna was knee-deep into it - they were the first city to build a temple to Tiberius Caesar.
• The gathering of Christians at Smyrna is “church” ἐκκλησίαις [ekklēsiais] , whereas the gathering of these blasphemers is “synagogue” συναγωγὴ [synagōgē] . The difference in words is significant making it unlikely that Jesus is describing some other group of Christians who hold faulty doctrine concerning their Jewishness.  Jesus tells the Philadelphian church that members of the synagogue of Satan “say they are Jews and are not” (Rev. 3:9+). They undoubtedly were Jews in the national sense—physical offspring of Abraham—but lacked faith in Messiah Jesus.
• The unbelieving Jews were the major threat to the early church (Acts 13:50; 14:2, 5, 19; 17:5). This threat was compounded because Christians initially enjoyed protection from Rome by being considered a sect within Judaism. Since Judaism enjoyed protection as a recognized religion by Rome, so long as Christianity was seen as a sect within Judaism, persecution was minimal. But the fundamental rift between Judaism and Christianity eventually brought persecution, not only by the Jews, but also from Rome.
• The Lord solemnly calls them "the synagogue of Satan," for it is satanic opposition to Christ that energizes them.
• The First and the Last are titles that belong only to the LORD, Yahweh, according to Isaiah 41:4, 44:6 and 48:12.

(10) Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The Devil will throw some of you into prison and put you to the test. You will be persecuted for 'ten days.' Remain faithful even when facing death, and I will give you the crown of life.

• The devil:
• Notice that while it was men were throwing these Christians into prison, it was Satan behind the men directing the persecution, just as Satan was behind Hitler, Stalin and Mao Zedong; the popes who went after Bible-believing Christians torturing them and having them burned at the stake and as now Satan is behind North Korea and the Islamists, such as Pakistan, who execute Christians. Satan never quits.
• The devil is called διάβολος [diabolos] , a compound of δια [dia] (“against”) and βαλλω [ballō] (“to throw”). He is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10+) who “throws against” them his accusations.
• Ten days:
• Daniel 1:11-13: Daniel talked it over with the attendant who had been appointed by the chief official to look after Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.  "Test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water," Daniel said. "At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king's rich food. Then you can decide whether or not to let us continue eating our diet."
• In the two centuries of Roman persecution, which began with Nero and which terminated 312 A. D., there were ten distinct edicts demanding that governors seek out Christians everywhere and put them to death. The last was under Diocletian. He was the tenth persecutor. The early Christians believed he would be the last, and he was. The last of them had the most believers slaughtered.
• After these ten evil Caesars, it seems that Satan concluded that killing the Christians could not defeat Christianity. He then changed his approach and infiltrated the leadership of the churches by mixing the Church with state political appointees. Under Constantine in 312 AD, Christianity was adopted by Rome. At that time, Satan began the process of corrupting the church from within by joining the church with the pagan world political system.
• Death: Even today, Christians are sentenced to death for their faith in Muslim countries. In death, the Christian martyr demonstrates to the world the victory we have in Christ. We do not have to fear death, because in less than one second after death we are in the Lord’s presence for eternity. For this reason, Paul could boldly say in Philippians 1:21-24: For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better. Yet if I live, that means fruitful service for Christ. I really don't know which is better. I'm torn between two desires: Sometimes I want to live, and sometimes I long to go and be with Christ. That would be far better for me, but it is better for you that I live.
• Remain faithful: The letter to the church in Smyrna can pretty much be summarized in one word: Persevere.
• Crown of Life:
• James 1:12: God blesses the people who patiently endure testing. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
• The crown is a special reward for endurance under persecution. Jesus is speaking of reward, not salvation! The person who endures trials will receive the crown of life after Jesus Christ has approved him or her.
• The church at Smyrna would receive the “crown of life”. The crown here is stephanos in Greek, not the diadema, or royal crown. The stephanos was the victory wreath or trophy awarded to the winner of the games. A Roman magistrate who performed well also received a stephanos at the end of his term of office.

(11) "Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever is victorious will not be hurt by the second death.

• Notice the sequence: (1) willing to hear, (2) listen to the Spirit, (3) understand, (4)Whoever is victorious
• Second death:
• Revelation 20:6: Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years.
• Revelation 20:14: And death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death -- the lake of fire.
• Revelation 21:8: But cowards who turn away from me, and unbelievers, and the corrupt, and murderers, and the immoral, and those who practice witchcraft, and idol worshipers, and all liars -- their doom is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death."
• Barclay: “The second death was a Jewish rabbinic expression for the total extinction of the utterly wicked.”
• Christians will not (a double negative in Greek: "not in any way") be hurt by the "second death."
• The Christian was judged with Christ on the cross. We do not have to fear death.
• John MacArthur writes: "Spiritual death results in eternal death. The overcomer will not be harmed by the second death. Everyone will die physically, for verse 10 says, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life,” but the believer will never die spiritually. That’s exciting! The man who is not an overcomer dies only to die again. The overcomer dies to live forever. What a promise!"

PERGAMUM the COMPROMISING WORLDLY CHURCH

Secular History of Pergamum:

• The city dates from the time of nearby Troy 1200 B.C. Alexander the Great’s general Antigonus seized Pergamum for Alexander’s Kingdom. The city passed to Lysimachus, another general of Alexander’s who succeeded him after his death. Pergamum became a city-state under the control of the Seleucids in 263 B.C. The city later changed alliances to Rome, and still later under Attalus II (159-138 B.C.) the city was willed to Rome.
• Pergamum was the capital of the Roman province of Asia Minor for over 25 years.
• Pliny referred to Pergamum as “by far the most illustrious city of Asia.”
• Pergamum had little or no commerce, but was remarkable for its institutions of learning. It was a city of refinement, science - especially medicine. The library at Pergamum consisted of 200,000 books! This library was later presented by Mark Antony to Cleopatra as a wedding gift in 41 B.C. and was removed to Alexandria. It was in Pergamum that the art of curing skins for writing was perfected and is where we get our word "parchment".
• Was the home of Herodotus,” the father of history.”
• During the second century A.D., Pergamum’s fame as a center of healing and medical science eclipsed its reputation for anything else. Its most celebrated citizen during this period was the physician Galen, whose work and research was largely responsible for providing the foundation from which modern western medicine was to spring. The asclepion at Pergamum was one of the most famous in the ancient world, and this ancient version of a medical spa attracted pilgrims from all over the Mediterranean region who came seeking the restorative powers of its thermal waters and medical treatments for various ailments and injuries.

Archeology of Pergamum:

• In the Acropolis of Pergamum were the palaces of four major Roman deities. These included Dionysus (also called Bacchus); Athena (Wisdom); Zeus (Jupiter); Trajan (Roman Emperor from 138 A.D.) on top of the mountain. Surrounding the mountain were other minor deities.
• There was a massive altar to Zeus on the hill that overlooked Pergamum. It was a huge chair or throne - over 50 feet high x 120 feet x ll2 feet. It was composed of four parts and on the base was depicted the war between the giants and the gods. It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. In the 1880's, an archaeologist discovered and removed the throne of Zeus from Pergamum, and today it is in a museum in Berlin. That giant throne could also be what Jesus is mentioning as the throne of Satan in verse 2.
• The Theater of Pergamum, one of the steepest theaters in the world, has a capacity of 10,000 people and was constructed in the 3rd century B.C.
  
• 
  Above is an artist's reconstruction of Pergamum in the first century from www.pergamon.secondpage.de/index_en.html
  
  
• 
  The Pergamum Altar, dedicated to the greek god Zeus, is a massive structure originally built in the 2nd century B.C. in Pergamum. The Pergamum Altar was shipped out of the Ottoman Empire from the original excavation site and reconstructed in the Pergamum Museum in Berlin in the 19th century, where it can be seen alongside other monumental structures such as the Ishtar Gate from Babylon.
  Above is a picture of the reconstruction of the Pergamum altar at the Pergamum Museum in Berlin.
  From www.hiepler-brunier.de/overview/1513/?filter=pergamon%20museum
  
• 
  Above are the remains of the great temple of the Egyptian gods Isis and/or Serapis, known today as the "Red Basilica", about one mile south of the Acropolis. It consists of a main building and two round towers.
  From https://bible.org/seriespage/message-pergamum-rev-212-17

Roman Status of Pergamum:

• The first temple dedicated to the Imperial cult which became the capital of the cult of Caesar worship (the worship of a living Emperor) in Asia was built here in 29 B.C., Augustus granting that a temple be erected to ‘the divine Augustus and the goddess Roma [that is, Rome]’ and it would have necessitated the burning of incense at the foot of Caesar’s statue and a confession of Caesar as lord and divine god.
• “Pergamum had a unique status that was different than any other city because it was the political center, says Rick Renner, the author of A Light in the Darkness, a study of the seven churches of Asia Minor. “It was from there that all the rulings were made that affected the whole of Asia Minor.”

Geography of Pergamum:

• Pergamum is located on a hill with its four temples to the gods at the top of the hill.
• Pergamum was one of the most prominent cities of Asia, located in the western part of Asia-Minor, about 45 miles north of Smyrna and about 20 miles from the Aegean Sea. The modern village of Bergama, Turkey, now covers part of the ancient site.

Morality in Pergamum:.

• Sexual immorality and other kinds of debauchery (our English word “debauchery” comes from the name of the god Bacchus also known as Dionysus).
• Next to every temple to Dionysus is an amphitheater.  Here they performed dramatic plays, tragedies and comedies and included performances which strived to bring out erotic sexual behavior.  

Idolatry in Pergamum:

• Of Pergamum, an ancient writer said it was “given to idolatry more than all Asia.” The people of Pergamum were known as the "Temple-keepers of Asia." The city had three temples dedicated to the worship of the Roman emperor, another for the goddess Athena, and the Great Altar of Zeus, the king of the Greek gods. Many scholars believe this altar is the “Throne of Satan” mentioned in the book of Revelation.
• Emperor worship:
• Pergamum became the center of the official religion of emperor worship. A temple for this was erected at Pergamum in 27 BC, when Cyrus conquered Babylon and founded a new center at Pergamum and the king of Pergamum became Pontifex Maximus (high priest), of that pagan system (Pember). Both Hislop and Pember trace the subsequent transfer of the cult from Pergamum to Rome, with the appointment of successive Caesars as high priest and ultimately, to that office in 378 AD of Damasus, the Bishop of Rome, with the complete and permanent absorption of "Babylonianism" into the Roman Church.
• Because it was a center of emperor worship it was the city in which the Church was most likely to clash with the Roman imperial cult.
• Zeus:
• Pergamum had the largest altar in the world - to Zeus.
• Zeus was supposedly the king of the gods - god of sky, lightning, thunder, law, order, justice who, according to the myths overthrew the Cronos (the creator god and father of Zeus) and the Titans (including Atlas) who were thrown into Tartarus.
• If Zeus overthrew the creator god, this myth of Satan would be his story of overthrowing the true Creator God - YHWH! In other words, Zeus is Satan!
• Asciepius:
• Pergamum's chief god was Asciepius, to whom the title soter (savior) was given and whose symbol was a serpent and who was considered the serpent-god of healing.
• We get our word "scalpel" from Asciepius.
• Pausanias of Lydia, the Greek traveler who wrote many descriptions of ancient cities, spoke of Asclepios as “sitting on a throne with...his...hand upon the head of a serpent”.
• “If you were a terminal patient, you were not allowed to go into the Asklepion,” says Renner. “These Asklepion priests didn’t want anyone hearing that someone had died in the Asklepion.  There was a huge sign just above the official entrance to the Asklepion that said, ‘Death is not permitted here.’ So the only way you were going to get in to begin with is if they knew you were going to live.”
• Dionysus:
• Dionysus was a god of harvest, fertility wine and happiness.
• Dionysus was a god who was worshiped with all kinds of sexual immorality.
• Ancient pictures and inscriptions reveal that women worshippers of Dionysus would remove their clothes and participate in sexual activities at her temple.
• Athena:
• Temple of Athena was constructed at the end of the fourth century or beginning of the third century B.C. and dedicated to the city’s patron goddess.
• Mother-child cult:
• According to Hyslop who wrote The Two Babylons, Pergamum also became the new home of the mother-child cult of Babylon which was moved from Babylon after the death of Belshazzar.
• In 312 A.D., Constantine claimed a vision from God and declared his conversion to Christianity. He assumed headship of the Church and advanced Christians to high office in the state. It was only a small step to convert the worship of the queen of heaven (Semiramis and her son) to the worship of Mary and an infant Jesus.
• Babylonianism:
• Hislop: The pagan practices that took place there can be traced back to the time of Nimrod who founded the Babylonian religion. This ancient religion included the worship of his widow Semiramis and her son, also known as Ashtoreth and Tammuz of Phoenicia, Isis and Horus of Egypt, Aphrodite and Eros of Greece and Venus and Cupid of Rome.
• There is strong archaeological evidence that the Babylonian priests lived long after the fall of the Babylonian Empire.  They eventually migrated and made Pergamum their headquarters.  Many, if not most, of the false gods of the Greek and Roman system have their roots in the Babylonian gods, albeit with different names. Later, these pagan priests moved their headquarters to Rome (the Vatican).

Christian History of Pergamum:

• Antipas, a Christian bishop of Pergamum, was believed to have been martyred here at the end of the first century A.D. The people of Pergamum worshipped a myriad of Greek and Roman gods, but when Christianity arrived with the belief in just one god, the city's pagan priests went on the attack and their most famous victim was a man named Antipas.  He was the bishop of Pergamum, ordained by the Apostle John, and his faith got the attention of the priests of Asklepios. “He had cast out so many devils that the demons had been complaining to pagans, saying, ‘You’ve got to do something about this Antipas’,” says Renner.  The pagan priests went to the Roman governor and complained that the prayers of Antipas were driving their spirits out of the city and hindering the worship of their gods.  As punishment, the governor ordered Antipas to offer a sacrifice of wine and incense to a statue of the Roman emperor and declare that the emperor was "lord and god." Antipas refused. Antipas was sentenced to death on the Altar of Zeus. Most of that altar still survives today, and surrounding it are some of the world's most famous marble friezes. They depict the Gigantomachy, or the battle between the Greek gods and the giants. At the top of the altar was a hollow bronze bull, designed for human sacrifice. “They would take the victim, place him inside the bull, and they would tie him in such a way that his head would go into the head of the bull. Then they would light a huge fire under the bull, and as the fire heated the bronze, the person inside of the bull would slowly begin to roast to death. As the victim would begin to moan and to cry out in pain, his cries would echo through the pipes in the head of the bull so it seemed to make the bull come alive.” Even inthe midst of the flames, the elderly bishop Antipas died praying for his church. The year was AD 92.  A few years later, the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation, mentioning the death of Antipas in Pergamum. Today, all that's left there is the foundation; the Altar of Zeus is more than a thousand miles away in Berlin. The so-called "Throne of Satan" went on display in the city's Pergamon Museum in 1930, just in time to inspire one of the most brutal dictators the world has ever seen.

(12) "Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one who has a sharp two-edged sword:

• Pergamum:
• Pergamum means "Mixed marriage". The trouble in this church was that the church had married the world.
• The first syllable "perg" is the same root word that we get for "perjury". The idea is to be "mixed" or "thoroughly mixed". To commit perjury is to be lying on purpose.  It is a mixed message. The second syllable "amum" (NIV) or "amos" (KJV) is tied to the word marriage.  It is the same root wordy that we get bigamy, polygamy and monogamy. Again, the idea is that of marriage. Putting the two syllables together, we have "mixed marriage". The church at Pergamum (or Pergamum) is fine on the outside, but inside it is a mixed marriage as there is compromise involved. That is a key theme of this letter.
• Two-Edged Sword: See notes for chapter 1 verse 16.

(13) "I know that you live in the city where that great throne of Satan is located, and yet you have remained loyal to me. And you refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you by Satan's followers.

• Throne of Satan:
• The throne of Satan is probably that of Zeus which even looks like a throne. Also, the Roman governor resided at Pergamum and ruled the entire Asian province.
• “That word ‘throne’ was used in a personal private residence, and it was a chair for the lord of the house, the master of the house,” says Renner. “The very fact that Jesus would use this word means that Satan felt at home there. He sat on a throne there. It was his territory. He was the master of that house.”
• The "throne of Satan", the throne of Zeus from Pergamum, had been moved to Berlin in the 1930's and was literally in Berlin in both world wars! Satan ruled from Berlin!
• “That word ‘throne’ was used in a personal private residence, and i.was a chair for the lord of the house, the master of the house,” says Renner. “The very fact that Jesus would use this word means that Satan felt at home there. He sat on a throne there. It was his territory. He was the master of that house.”
• When the Babylonian cult of the Magians was driven out of Babylon, they found a haven in Pergamum. The title of the Magian high priest was “Chief Bridge Builder” meaning the one who spans the gap between mortals and Satan and his hosts. In Latin, this title was written “Pontifex Maximus,” the title now used by the Pope. This title goes all the way back to Babylon and the beginnings of the mother-child cult under Nimrod of Genesis 10 and his wife Sumerimus. Later, Julius Caesar was elected Pontifex Maximus and when he became Emperor, he became the supreme civil and religious ruler and head of Rome politically and religiously with all the power and functions of the Babylonian pontiff.
• When Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, he kept the pagan title Pontifex Maximus. In his efforts to unite his empire in the early 300s, Emperor Constantine blended the interests of pagans and Christians.
• If you visit the US Capitol in Washington, DC, you will be stuck by some odd things:
• The name of the center of the capitol, the rotunda, is referred to as the “Temple of Liberty”.  In that temple, it is full of Greek gods.
• George Washington is depicted as a deity in the center of the rotunda.  He is surrounded by depictions of numerous Greek gods and angles as he "ascends to heaven".
• Other immediate buildings include the Supreme Court, surrounded by libraries and museums which gather knowledge from every part of the world in the various Smithsonian buildings.
• The Presidential palace (White House) is nearby, along with the National Treasury (a very real god of America).
• In the immediate area are also some of the most incredible places for performing arts, such as the Kennedy Center.
• The Pentagon remains the largest building in the world by square footage.  This one building controls armies, nations and millions of soldiers across the entire world.  There are US military in hundreds of nations of the world.
• The resemblance to Pergamum is easy to view.
• In this place, we find power, wisdom, the arts, military, commerce, education and many more keys to controlling not only a nation, but global influence.  Billions of people’s lives are impacted by what happens in these places. Where does Satan live today?  Where is the throne of Satan? I know that one place you will not find Jesus is in Washington DC. They have systematically used the power of these “temples” to try to erase Jesus from the nation.
• Satan:
• Revelation 20:7-10: When the thousand years end, Satan will be let out of his prison. He will go out to deceive the nations from every corner of the earth, which are called Gog and Magog. He will gather them together for battle -- a mighty host, as numberless as sand along the shore. And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God's people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them. Then the Devil, who betrayed them, was thrown into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
• Antipas: We have no record as to who the Antipas was - his name means “against all.”

(14) AND YET I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you who are like Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to worship idols by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin.

• Balaam:
• Both Peter and Jude refer to the error of Balaam as prophetic of the end.
• Read Numbers chapters 22-24 for the story of King Balak and the prophet Balaam.
• Numbers 31:16: "These are the very ones who followed Balaam's advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the LORD at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the LORD's people.
• 2 Peter 2:15: They have wandered off the right road and followed the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong.
• Jude 1:11: How terrible it will be for them! For they follow the evil example of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they will do anything for money. And like Korah, they will perish because of their rebellion. Balak, the king of Moab, offered Balaam the prophet a large sum to curse Israel. Upon the first offer he refused, but then when the amount was increased he agreed to curse Israel; but God kept this from happening three times. Balaam could be bought for a price. Such was the case at Pergamum. Pergamum had some very gifted preachers and speakers, but they would compromise with the world. Balaam, when he found that he could not curse Israel, began to corrupt Israel by suggesting that the Israelites yoke up with the heathen tribes. This is what began to happen to the church at Pergamum as it yoked up with the world. The church became just like the world. This is where so many of our churches are today. You cannot tell them apart from the world. Just as Balaam could be bought for a price, there were those in the church at Pergamum who would rather have the applause of the world, and the praise of man, than the favor of the Lord.
• Balaam couldn't curse God's people if God wouldn't let him, but he could help king Balak bring God's curse upon them. He told Balak, "Look, if you have your prettiest women camp out by the Israelite camp, then they'll fall in love, intermarry, fall into idolatry, and then the Lord will curse them."
• Vance Havner said "There have never been more Balaamites in our churches than now. We call them ’worldly’ Christians." The Balaamites in our churches today see nothing wrong with the practice of pornography and fornication among Christians. They are those who accept young people living together without marriage. They happily watch movies which have sex and violence in them and take along others with them. They compromise the Christian stand to the detriment of those ensnared in the sin they accept.
• The problem was many of these conversions were more convenient then real. Pagan practices were just repackaged with Christian names, keeping many of the older rites. An example is Easter, the name is pagan in origin, but in order to help pagans feel more at home with the “Resurrection Sunday”, the name Easter remained. Other, practices such as bunny rabbits, and eggs also stayed and packaged for Christian consumption. While you're at it, check the origins of Christmas, Halloween, the May Pole, etc.

(15) In the same way, you have some Nicolaitans among you -- people who follow the same teaching and commit the same sins.

• Nicolaitans:
• Diocletian was the last of the persecuting emperors and his persecution had failed to destroy the Church. Now Constantine, the first Christian emperor, succeeded his bloody predecessor. When Constantine ascended to the throne, the edicts of his predecessor were repealed and liberty was granted the Christians to worship according to their conscience. This took place in A. D. 313. In A. D. 324 Constantine issued edicts against paganism and sought with all of his power to force Christianity on his empire as the one and only religion. He banished pagans from his court and from his government, and Christians were given posts of honor. Because the Emperor offered the gold and positions of honor, many of them eagerly swallowed the bait, sacrificed their convictions and allegiance to the Lord - and the church settled into the world. The alliance of church and state can be dated from that particular time. The effects of the unholy alliance that began with Constantine, remain to this present hour.
• Constantine’s patronage did what Diocletian’s persecution could not do. It corrupted the church.
• Nicolaitanism is really clerisy - the subjugation of those who were contemptuously styled” the laity” by a hierarchical order who lorded it over them as their own possessions, forgetting that it is written in Matthew 23:8, “Don't ever let anyone call you 'Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are on the same level as brothers and sisters."
• Irenaeus and other early church leaders claimed that the Nicolaitans practiced unrestrained indulgence (Against Heresies).
• The pagan’s world was allowed to be part of the Church. Doctrines contrary to scripture introduced into the Church, became a corruption of the truth. One of the doctrines introduced was the teaching the Church had become Israel, (Replacement theology). This position allowed took away the literal meaning of scripture and replaced it with allegory. Examples of the encroachment of paganism into the church:
• A.D. 300 Prayers for the dead
• A.D. 300 Making sign of the cross
• A.D. 375 Worship of saints and angels
• A.D. 394 Mass first instituted
• A.D. 431 Worship of Mary begun
• The earliest recorded prayer to Mary, the sub tuum praesidium, is dated in its earliest form to the middle of the 3rd century.
• A.D. 500 Priests began dressing differently than lay people
• A.D. 526 Extreme unction (last rites)
• A.D. 593 Doctrine of purgatory introduced
• A.D. 600 Worship services conducted in Latin
• A.D. 600 Prayers directed to Mary
• A.D. 607 Boniface III made first Pope
• A.D. 709 Kissing the Pope’s foot
• A.D. 786 Worshiping the images and relics
• A.D. 850 Use of “Holy water” begun
• A.D. 995 Canonization of dead saints
• A.D. 998 Fasting on Fridays and during Lent
• A.D. 1079 Celibacy of the priesthood
• A.D. 1090 Prayer beads
• A.D. 1184 The inquisition
• A.D. 1190 Sale of indulgences
• A.D. 1215 Transubstantiation
• A.D. 1220 Adoration of the wafer (Host)
• A.D. 1229 Bible forbidden to lay people
• A.D. 1439 Doctrine of purgatory decreed
• A.D. 1508 The Ave Maria approved
• A.D. 1534 Jesuit order founded
• A.D. 1545 Tradition granted equal authority with Bible
• A.D. 1546 Apocryphal books put into Bible
• A.D. 1854 Mary declared the queen of heaven Pope Pius IX:
• Read Jeremiah 7:18, 17-19 in the Old Testament: No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they give drink offerings to their other idol gods! ... We will do whatever we want. We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and sacrifice to her just as much as we like -- just as we and our ancestors did before us, and as our kings and princes have always done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For in those days we had plenty to eat, and we were well off and had no troubles! But ever since we quit burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and stopped worshiping her, we have been in great trouble and have suffered the effects of war and famine." "And," the women added, "do you suppose that we were worshiping the Queen of Heaven, pouring out drink offerings to her, and making cakes marked with her image, without our husbands knowing it and helping us? Of course not!"
• The Queen of Heaven, if you check in most any commentary, is none other than Ishtar, Ashtoreth or Astarte the very pagan goddess that Israel worshipped when they fell into apostasy and paganism.
• The goddess Isis of Egypt was usually viewed with the infant Horus - mother and child.
• A.D. 1870 Infallibility of the Pope declared
• A.D. 1930 Public schools condemned
• A.D. 1950 In the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary as a dogma.
• A.D. 1954 Pope Pius XII officially declared Mary the Queen of Heaven.
• A.D. 1965 Mary proclaimed mother of the church.

(16) Repent, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

• The Christians of Pergamum were like the Christians of Corinth as Paul wrote to them in 1 Corinthians 5:1-9 (a man in your church who is living in sin with his father's wife). They were too “tolerant” and “accepting” of false doctrines and immoral living, and Jesus had to rebuke them. Of course, we are branded "intolerant" today if we do not accept sexual sin, homosexual marriage and murder of babies in the womb.
• The Balaamites and Nicolaitians were to repent immediately of their deeds and the church was to repent of its failure to deal with the problem in the first place. God was calling them to no longer compromise on what was true, condone what was ungodly or crave anything that wasn’t pure.

(17) "Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Everyone who is victorious will eat of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.

• Manna:
• John 6:48-51: Yes, I am the bread of life! Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died.  However, the bread from heaven gives eternal life to everyone who eats it. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; this bread is my flesh, offered so the world may live."
• White stone - ψῆφος (psēphos):
• A white stone was known as a victory stone and was given to victors at games for entrance to banquets.
• A courageous gladiator would be given a white stone with the initials “S.P.” on it.  This stood for “spectatus” which meant that “his valor had been proven beyond all doubt.”  So, Jesus promises to honor those who take a stand for Him!
• Some scholars believe that the white ψῆφος indicates a vote of acquittal in court. Others have suggested that it may represent a ticket to the gladiatorial games, that is to say, to martyrdom. The context, however, suggests clearly that this is something to be prized and a type of reward for those who have ‘won the victory.'
• New name:
• One idea behind this new, secret name is that it shows what an intimate relationship we have with God. When a couple is close, they often have “pet names” for each other. This is the same idea. Another idea associated with the new name is simply the assurance it gives of our heavenly destination. Your name is there, waiting for you. It is as if your “reservation” in heaven is made.
• We see the custom in the Old Testament. Jacob becomes Israel (Genesis 32:28); Abram becomes Abraham (Genesis 17:5); Sarai becomes Sarah (Genesis 17:15). In the New Testament, Saul becomes Paul (Acts 13:9). The custom of giving a person a new name to go along with a new status was also found in the Roman world. Octavius became Augustus when he was crowned Roman emperor.

THYATIRA the COMPROMISING, TOLERANT, POLITICALLY CORRECT CHURCH

Secular History of Thyatira:

• Thyatira stood at the junction of three main roads leading to Pergamum (37 miles northwest), Sardis (37 miles southeast) and Smyrna (47 miles southeast). Originally, it was an insignificant town founded by Lydians from Sardis who called it Pelopia. At the beginning of the 3rd century B.C., it was re-founded as a military outpost to guard the vulnerable southeast approach to Pergamum.
• Thyatira developed into a thriving and prosperous manufacturing and marketing center. Inscriptions show it was home to numerous trade guilds including coppersmiths, tanners, dyers, leatherworkers, woolworkers and linenworkers. More guilds were found in Thyatira than any other contemporary city in the Roman province of Asia. Every guild owned property in its own name, made contracts and wielded wide influence in the city's political, economic, social and religious life. Guild membership was compulsory for anyone pursuing a trade. Each provided specific benefits and took actions to protect its interests.
• The madder root, which produced the purple dye for which Thyatira was noted, was found in abundance there. Dye made from the madder root was much less expensive and more plentiful than the more expensive shellfish. Lydia in Acts 16:14 was a Jewish “Purple” merchant who came from the Thyatira.

Archaeology of Thyatira:

• There are no significant remains of ancient Thyatira Little excavation has been done and the ancient site is now covered by the modern Turkish town of Ashisar (white castle) with over 80,000 inhabitants.
• Near the center of Akhisar, the archaeological remains of Thyatira are located in a fenced off rectangular city block.

Roman Status of Thyatira:

• Thyatira fell to the Romans in 190 B.C. and became first part of the Pergamean Kingdom and then part of the province of Asia.

Idolatry of Thyatira:

• Apollo:
• Apollo (worshiped as a sun god) was the principal deity of Thyatira.
• Artemis:
• Thyatira was also known for its worship of Artemis (the same as was worshipped in Ephesus). Hislop also connects this goddess with the Babylonian Semiramis, and through her, to a religion of Mother/Child worship that was almost universal throughout the ancient world. From this, we now have the present-day Roman Catholic worship of Mary (the so-called "queen of heaven" so often pictured as mother with child).
• Each guild had a patron deity (much as the Roman church does today with all its patron saints), and all proceedings and feasts commenced with paying homage to that god or goddess. The guilds held banquets, probably in temples, which included sexual orgies and wild feasts at which food offered to idols was served. This posed a dilemma for the shopkeepers and craftsmen among the city's Christian community who risked loss of income for refusing to join guilds or for not taking part in their rituals. Christian craftsmen whose commercial and financial security was determined by participation in the guilds may have found it difficult to live out their faith and practice their craft. Necessity for membership in a trade community must have strengthened temptation to compromise.

Christian History of Thyatira:

• Paul's first convert in Philippi was a merchant from Thyatira - Lydia, who was a merchant, dealing in purple and fine linen (Acts 16:14).
• By the beginning of the third century, almost all Thyatira was Christianized. A bishop of Thyatira attended the Council of Nicea in 325 and the Council of Ephesus in 431.

Scripture Verses Relating to Thyatira:

• Paul in Philippi: Acts 16:13-15: On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we supposed that some people met for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had come together. One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. She was baptized along with other members of her household, and she asked us to be her guests. "If you agree that I am faithful to the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my home." And she urged us until we did.

(18) "Write this letter to the angel of the church in Thyatira. This is the message from the Son of God, whose eyes are bright like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze:

• Son of God:
• This is the only place in Revelation that this title is given to Christ, though it is used often throughout the Gospels.
• Robert Mounce in his New International Commentary on the New Testament writes: "Son of God stands in strong contrast to the local cultic worship of Apollo Tyrimnos, which was merged with that of the emperor (identified as Apollo incarnate) so that both were acclaimed as sons of Zeus. Thus it is not the emperor or the guardian deity of Thyatira, but the resurrected Christ, who is the true Son of God". 'Zeus' was the chief god of the Greeks, the supreme god over all the others that existed. Zeus would therefore have taken the place of YHWH in the minds of the Greeks and eventually came to be considered to be the lord over all (we do not for a moment make the assertion that YHWH is Zeus, only that the latter came to be regarded as sovereign in much the same way as YHWH is).  'Apollo' was one of the sons of Zeus, the twin of the goddess Artemis (see Acts 19:23-41), by birth to Leto his mother. Being a 'son of Zeus', therefore, meant that he was a son of the supreme god, a 'son of god'. That the emperor also took upon himself this title is not surprising as they were regarded as being divine and were worshiped as such throughout the Empire. But the emperor had to be the 'son of god' made incarnate who dwelt among mankind. Thus the true 'Son of God', Jesus, would have been an affront to the state religion and, more specifically, the religion of Thyatira which worshiped Apollo, the son of god, and the emperor, the incarnate son of god.
• The title 'Son of God' appears 49 times in the New Testament (not counting the term 'Son' which stands alone and which by context means 'Son of God' at least 46 times).
• Eyes...fire: The eyes of Christ are piercing seeing every action His church was involved. The picture of fire demonstrate his anger at this church for what is being allowed to take place - fire usually symbolizes judgment.
• Polished bronze: The precise meaning of the term translated “polished bronze” (χαλκολιβάνῳ, calkolibanw), which appears nowhere else in Greek literature outside of the book of Revelation is uncertain. The meaning seems to be a precious alloy, pointing to brilliance of the metal illustrating Christ as holy judge.

(19) "I know all the things you do -- your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things.

• The Catholics have done much charity and service over the centuries, including many hospitals as an example. Today, her stand against the abomination of abortion.

(20) BUT I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman -- that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet -- to lead my servants astray. She is encouraging them to worship idols, eat food offered to idols, and commit sexual sin.

• Permitting: Tolerating.
• The Thyatirans knew that she was teaching heresy, idolatry and immorality, but didn't want to make waves or put themselves out on a limb. Today, evangelical Christians are termed "intolerant bigots" if we oppose abortion, gay marriage and the like.
• The sin of the church body as a whole was toleration. Even the ones who hadn't bought into the deception were being held accountable. In the political correctness of today's society, toleration is viewed as a good thing. But as far as the Lord is concerned, toleration is sin.
• 1 Corinthians 5:1,13: I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you,you are so proud of yourselves! Why aren't you mourning in sorrow and shame? And why haven't you removed this man from your fellowship? God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, "You must remove the evil person from among you." 
• Jezebel:
• 1 Kings 16:31: And as though it were not enough to live like Jeroboam, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and he began to worship Baal.
• 1 Kings 21:25: No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the LORD's sight as did Ahab, for his wife, Jezebel, influenced him.
• Jezebel was the name of King Ahab’s idolatrous and wicked queen in 1 Kings 16:31; 18:1-5; 19:1-3; 21:5-24. It is probable that the individual named here was analogous to her prototype in idolatry and immoral behavior, since those are the items singled out for mention.
• Today, the roman catholic church has convinced people to pray to Mary and so-called saints instead of to the one Mediator and Intercessor (1 Timothy 2:5, Romans 8:34). Paul clearly teaches that Jesus is the Mediator between God and men, and John plainly tells us that if we confess our sins (to Jesus), He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And yet millions confess their sins to men. On Judgment Day, Jesus will say to them:
• But I will reply, 'I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were unauthorized. ' - Matthew 7:23
• The Jezebel in Rome of the last thirteen hundred years is the Babylon of Revelation. Read carefully Revelation 17 and 18 and you will have a clear picture of the progress, growth, power - and finally the destruction - of the Jezebel who first raised her head in Thyatira, announcing herself a prophetess.
• To make Christianity appealing to the pagans, many of their customs were adopted into a new Christianity. The term Easter comes from the name of the goddess of fertility. The bunny and eggs represented fertility, too. The vernal equinox (time in spring when days and nights are equal) was important in sun worship and connected with the same goddess of fertility - thus, the rationale for facing the rising sun on Easter morning. The winter solstice (shortest day) was when the sun god started coming back. The nativity and the Christmas tree were made to substitute for that event. Holy water, seminal cakes, sprinkling, transubstantiation, and other ceremonies were adopted from the pagan religion of the people the church wanted to gain control of. Numerous signs and symbols were likewise adopted. Idol worship was transformed into adoration for "saints." Halloween (holy evening) was when the spirits of the dead were thought to return - the connection with All Saint's Day. These are by no means all the pagan ideas that have infected Christianity.
• Prophet ... worship idols::
• In Thyatira, a woman, suspected by some to be the wife of the pastor of the church, was a leader teaching and directing the servants of Christ to participate in the Greek pagan sex rites. She called herself a prophetess, representing another Christ to the Church.
• Eat food offered to idols: She tried to have the servants of Christ compromise their walk by knowingly eating the meat sacrificed in the Greek temples to the various gods and goddesses.

(21) I gave her time to repent, but she would not turn away from her immorality.

(22) Therefore, I will throw her upon a sickbed, and she will suffer greatly with all who commit adultery with her, unless they turn away from all their evil deeds.

• Ray Stedman: "The punishment that our Lord assesses against this teaching reflects the sickness that idolatry and immorality always bring. There are three parties involved: First, there is Jezebel herself. Jesus says: "I will cast her on a bed of suffering." There is a note of irony or sarcasm there. He is saying, in effect, "She likes beds, so I will give her one, but it will prove to be a bed of agonizing pain and hurt." It would constitute her only chance to realize what was happening to her, and lead her to change. Then there is another group: "I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely [literally, "I will give them great affliction"] unless they repent of her ways." Those who commit adultery with her are those who practice, as she did, immorality and the consequent idolatry. The suffering that he refers to, the intense suffering or affliction, is a reference very likely to sexual diseases. What invariably accompanies immorality? Some form of sexual disease. Gonorrhea and syphilis were well-known and widespread in the ancient world. There was still a third group. The Lord says, "I will strike her children with death." Children represent those who not only practice immorality but who teach it as well, as Jezebel was doing. The "death," I think, refers to spiritual death, i.e., what is called in the letter to the church at Pergamum "the second death," the terrible destruction of the lake of fire described in Chapters 20 and 21 of this book. It is a commitment to evil that makes repentance difficult."

(23) I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve.

• Search:
• Jeremiah 17:10: But I know! I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve."

(24) BUT I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching ('deeper truths,' as they call them -- depths of Satan, really). I will ask nothing more of you

• Deeper truths is possibly a reference to Gnostics.

(25) except that you hold tightly to what you have until I come.

• Hold tightly:
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 (NIV): Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22: but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Keep away from every kind of evil.
• Hebrews 3:14 (NIV): We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

(26) "To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, I will give authority over all the nations.

• Victorious - the key word - to overcome the temptation to compromise faith.
• The very end ... authority: This happens at Jesus' Second Coming.

(27) They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.

• Iron rod:
• Psalm 2:8-9: Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession. You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.'"
• 1 Corinthians 6:2a: Don't you know that someday we Christians are going to judge the world?

(28) They will have the same authority I received from my Father, and I will also give them the morning star!

• Morning star:
• Revelation 22:16: "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star."
• Jesus offers them a reward greater than the kingdom. He offers them the reward of Himself, because He is the Morning Star.
• The morning star (usually the planet Venus) appears in the night sky just before the dawning of a new day. From Babylonian to Roman times, the ancients regarded the morning star as a symbol of sovereignty and, in Roman times, victory.

(29) Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

PERSONAL APPLICATION:

• Do I still love Jesus as I did when I came to know him, or has my relationship with Him become cold and stale? Has my study of the Word become intellectual or has it brought me closer to Him?
• Have I compromised my faith to get along with others or with the world?
• Am I still running the race?

NOTES:

• Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois.
• Disclaimer: Source material for this study has been gleaned from many different sources. If you want further study, I have attempted to acknowledge these sources at http://revelationofjesustojohn.blogspot.com/2014/03/book-of-revelation-references.html
• Index to all our studies are at http://oakview-bible-fellowship.blogspot.com/