Welcome to another week of the Weekend Sermon. I hope that everyone enjoyed the re-post of the sermon about the Sign of Jonah last week. The last two weeks have been very hard. Praise the Lord. He has seen and is seeing me through. The Lord is always faithful. Sometimes, when difficulties arise, I get my eyes off of Jesus, and that leads to anxiety. I need to keep recognizing the fact that Jesus is always with me in all things. He said that He will never leave us, and He will never forsake us.
When we were last studying in the book of Revelation, we looked at the words of Jesus to the church at Pergamos. At this church, there was great persecution, but the believers there were standing firm in the faith and serving the Lord in power.
The Lord did bring some powerful words against this church. There was a great deal of doctrinal error and false teaching in this church, and many were engaged in immoral and idolatrous behavior. Such is true with many churches today.
Jesus instructed this church to repent of its error and immorality, or He would fight against them. Those who overcome will feast with Jesus at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Today, we turn our attention to Revelation 2:18-29 and Jesus' words to the church at Thyatira. Thyatira was a Roman military city about 30 miles from Pergamos. It was a well-known center of the cloth trade in the Roman Empire.
In verse 18, Jesus is described as having eyes like flame and feet like brass. This is the description of the man that Daniel saw in Daniel 10. Jesus is the God-Man. He existed for all of eternity. Because He is divine, He has the authority to bring judgment upon both people and nations. He knows all, and He knows those who are His faithful followers and those who are not.
Jesus said that He knew this church's works of love, service, faith and patience. Many in this church were faithfully following Jesus. They were growing in their walk with the Lord. They were working and producing more spiritual fruit now than when they first believed in Jesus as Savior.
However, all was not well in the church at Thyatira. Just as in Pergamos, error and false teaching had a strong presence in the church. Jesus brings very strong words against many in Thyatira.
First of all, Jesus was not pleased that the church allowed a woman named Jezebel who said that she was a prophetess to teach false doctrines such as that it was fine to eat meat that was sacrificed to idols. She also taught that sexual immorality was acceptable.
I don't know if this woman's name was actually Jezebel or if Jesus was using this name to identify the extreme wickedness of the woman who was teaching in the church. I think that Jesus used the name because she is considered to be the most wicked woman in the Bible. She was as far from God as a person can be. She opposed and killed the prophets of God and led the people of Israel into immorality and idolatry.
As I've said before, this sounds just like the church of today. At least in my country. There are a lot of churches, but there aren't many where the truth of the gospel is proclaimed. In so many ways, the church resembles the world and its values. Churches don't stand against divorce, cohabitation, greed, dishonest profits, abortion and many other sins that are so prevalent among many who claim Jesus as Lord. Christians need to stop following the way of the world and follow the path of Jesus. We must follow sound doctrine and not every wind of doctrine that claims that a life of sin is acceptable to the Lord.
According to what Jesus says in verse 24, many in this church were also engaged in occult practices. Its disturbing to me how many churches actually celebrate Halloween.
Jesus said that He would bring judgment on this woman and her followers if they did not repent. The judgment may have been actual sickness and death. I believe that Jesus is referring to spiritual death for all of eternity.
Jesus says in verse 23 that He would give to every person according to their works. We as Jesus' followers will be rewarded in the world to come according to how faithfully we have followed the teachings and the commandments of Jesus.
Jesus goes on to say that those who are faithful will be given power over the nations. Jesus said that those who are His followers will rule and reign with Him on earth when He comes again to establish His Kingdom that will have no end.
Jesus said that He would give the one who overcomes the morning star. This means that we will have more of the experience of the presence of the Lord for all eternity. What a blessing.
Before I close, I want to deal with Jesus words in verse 26 where He says, "He who overcomes." Jesus has talked about overcoming in His messages to several churches. This is what it really means to be a Christian. It means accepting Jesus as Lord. But we must keep on with Jesus until the end. So much teaching says that we come to the Lord, say a prayer and then we are saved. Yet, this teaching does not speak about following the Lord day by day and demonstrating our allegiance to Christ the King through obedience and faithfulness. Being a Christian doesn't mean saying a Sinner's Prayer and then I'm saved. Being a Christian means committing one's life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ every day until we see Jesus in all of His glory. I invite you to come to Jesus and follow Him today.
Next week, will will study what Jesus said to the church at Sardis. On Wednesday, I will post two book reviews to make up for the one I had to miss this week. May God bless you all. Amen.
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