Revelation 2:1-11
“The Unveiling of Jesus”
Vs. 1-7 Desiring the desired One
Vs. 8-11 Bitter blessings
Introduction
As we have already noted these words of Jesus not only fit the time frame in which they were written but also different church ages, as well as different aspects of every individual believer’s life. I mention this as we might be tempted to quickly pass over this section of scripture thinking that these words have no significance towards us personally, nothing could be further from the truth.
Jesus follows a specific format as John wrote these words to the seven churches. Not every church listed contains every ingredient but there are many similarities.
I’ve come up with ten ingredients in Jesus words to the seven churches:
- Author
- Approval
- Accusation
- Admonition
- Atonement
- Announcement
- Appraisal
- Appeal
- Accreditation (only Philadelphia)
- Accommodation (only Philadelphia)
In five of the seven churches Jesus approves of something about them. In five of them He has an accusation, although these vary from church to church. In five of them He has a word of admonition and to five of them He has an announcement or promise. To three of them He makes an appeal and only once does He offer an atonement (Ephesus), appraisal, (Laodicea) accreditation or accommodation (Philadelphia). If you were paying attention, you would have noticed that I have yet to mention one of those ten ingredients and what interests me as well as encourages me is that in each of those seven churches it appears. Every word from approval to appraisal starts off with the Author identifying Himself. No matter what the condition of His Church they never cease being His Church although they are warned if they continue in their course they will be removed or spewed out of His mouth they at the time of His words were still His. Truly Jesus is the “the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2 )
Vs. 1-7 Desiring the desired One
Vs. 1 In Chapter 1:1 John told us that the unveiling of Jesus came from the Father to the Son to an angel. Here we notice that Jesus tells John to write to the angel of the Churches. Several things cause me to believe that John was writing to pastors and not angels:
Are we to believe that John was receiving a message from the Father to the son to an angel only to write it down for another angel? This seems to me to be a bit cumbersome. I mean why not just tell the angel Himself?
Why tell an angel at all, I mean the words here are clearly meant for the Church and not for angels.
It is for this reason I believe the most probable interpretation of the word “angels or messengers” is pastors. The problem with this interpretation is the fact that John sees that Jesus has the stars in His right hand. Referring to pastors as stars in light of our contemporary definition of that word bothers us. The word literally means that which is strewn over the sky and as such depicts the visibility and light in which the pastor ought to be in the world that abounds in darkness. That being true I can’t help but think of the contemporary definition as well as I see how often the Church has become more identified with the “star” rather than the One who holds the star. We must guard our hearts from “star gazing”, and instead opt for “Son worshipping”!
Vs. 1b Author: Next notice that John sees Jesus not only in the Church’s midst but walking about. In other words Jesus is active amongst the Church seeking to minister to it because He is preoccupied with it. The name Ephesus literally means the “desired one” and I rather think that it is important that we see ourselves as desired by Him, His desire is towards us we are His desired ones.
Vs.2-3, 6 Approval: “I know your works”, appears in each of the messages to the seven Churches and reminds us that Jesus is aware of everything about us from our service to our motives for our service.
In dealing with this Church Jesus commends them for four specific things:
Vs. 2a “Your labor, your patience”: The word for “labor” is intense labor or toil to the point of exhaustion. It is often used in the New Testament to depict enduring under extreme trials. What we see here in Jesus’ words is an approval because this Church was self-sacrificing as well as steadfast. This was no quitter Church. Clearly this church had not “grown weary while doing good” (Gal. 6:9, 2 Thess. 3:13).
Vs. 2b “And that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars”: Jesus describes them as being “uncompromisingly pure.” In Acts 20: 27-31 Paul warned the Elder of this Church that false teachers would attempt to come in and it appears that they had heeded that warning from Paul as 30 years later Jesus commended them for guarding against this infiltration. They had so examined the teachings of those that would seek to instruct them in the Word and those that did not line up with the teaching of the word of God were exposed as false teachers and liars!
Vs. 3 “And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary”: This is the second time in two verses that Jesus describes this Church as having “patience”, they weren’t a bunch of complainers nor were they prone to discouragement during their service. Jesus tells us what the key to their success in this area was, “they labored for His name’s sake” and not their own! We will all grow weary in our service if it is based upon seeing results fashioned around our name and reputation, but it we serve the Lord for His name’s sake, His reputation, we will have unswerving patience as we will know that it is the Lord that “adds to the church daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47).
Vs. 6 “But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” The word “Nicolaitan” comes from two words “nico” meaning “priest” and “laitans” meaning “laity”. It describes a practice of lording over the people by setting over the people a man between God and the people. The reason for Jesus’ hatred of this practice is to be found in Paul’s words to Timothy in 1 Tim. 2:5 where he says, “there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus”. It is unfortunate that the Church had so soon adopted the practice of manipulation of the people by putting a priest in between God and believers. The Church of Ephesus refused to ever be seen as a go between for man. They may have left their first love but their failure lies not in the attempt to become more important than the Lord.
Vs. 4 Accusation: “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” I cannot help but wonder in light of Jesus’ approval how responsive I would be to these words? In spite of all the positive attributes they had as a church they were not growing more in love with Jesus. They had become so busy maintaining their separation that they had neglected their adoration. The truth is we are all too prone to this and it can be seen when we substitute labor for love and purity for passion, we must maintain both if we are going to continue to grow more in love with Him. It has well been said that it is only when, “We love Him fervently that we can serve Him faithfully!”
Notice that it is not that they lost their first love they simply left Him. When you lose something, it implies that you don’t know where you left it but when you leave something you know where it is. The word for left is literally “forsook” or to lay something aside. And what is it that they laid aside? Well Jesus tells them “that which was most important”.
Their service was mechanical, motion without emotion! In Jer. 2:2 the Lord through the prophet describes Israel’s “first love” towards Him by saying, “I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown.” The devotion we all first experienced with the Lord, fervent, personal, exciting, uninhibited. Yes, our love will deepen but it ought not lose the wide eye excitement and wonder of our honeymoon with the Lord. All too often we have treaded our honeymoon with the Lord to only a honey-do! How can we determine if this has happened to us? Well ask yourself, “Have I ever been more in love with Jesus then I am right now?” If the answer is yes then we have fallen back and are not growing in our love.
Vs. 5 Admonition and atonement: Jesus does not just make an accusation without offering a solution.
“And here we see the “Three R’s of how to rekindle your love for Him”:
“Remember”: “Therefore from where you have fallen”. The word here is literally “keep on remembering”, in other words we need to cultivate a desire to commune with Him. How do you do that? Well, spend time doing the things you first did when you initially became a follower of Jesus. You went to every Bible study you could, prayed at every opportunity, there were always praise songs going on in your head.
“Repent”: The word here means more than just being sorry, it means to change what we think, what we feel as well as what we do. In other words, we need to turn from anything or anyone that would hinder our devotion to Him.
“Repeat”: “And do the first works”. Again, the idea here is going back and doing those activities that caused you to grow to begin with.
Notice though that Jesus warns there are consequences for the lack of taking action, “or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place; unless you repent.” The truth here is that the person or Church that leaves its first love will lose its light! If we do not seek to rekindle our love for Him, then we will cease experiencing His presence in our lives. He will no longer be moving about us, and His testimony will not be present amongst us. Jesus never stays long in a Church no matter how busy they might be for Him if they are no longer in love with Him!
Vs. 7 Announcement: The promise is conditional based upon those that “overcome”. In 1 John 5:4-5 John told us just who the overcomers were, “whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” The tree is the cross, which must always be placed in the center of the believers life. Adam was banned from this tree so as not to remain in a permanent state of death but those whose trust in Jesus has secured their victory over the world are given to eat of the tree of life in paradise.
Vs. 8-11 Bitter blessings
Vs. 8 Smyrna was located 35 miles North of Ephesus right on the coast of what is now called Izmir in Turkey. Founded by Alexander the Great it was best known as the direct trade route between Rome, Persia, and India, as such was a wealthy community. Based upon verse 9 we know that it had a large Jewish community as well. The name Smyrna comes from the root word myrrh, which is a bitter herb, used for embalming, perfumes and was an ingredient in the holy anointing oil for temple priests. The name fits the time frame of the second century Church that lasted 200 years and was a time of the greatest suffering the Church ever experienced as over 6 million believers were put to death for their faith. This Church, we are told in Church History, had a very famous pastor that was a disciple of John’s that has become widely known by a book that was translated into English based upon his death called “The martyrdom of Polycarp”.
It tells the story of this pastor who was burnt alive in 155 A.D. for refusing to renounce Jesus as Lord and King. His words still hold great truth as he spoke saying, “For 86 years I have served my King who saved me, and He has never done me wrong. How can I now blaspheme Him?” When told that he was to be fed to the Lions he responded by saying, “Bring them on! We are not accustomed to repenting of goodness in order to do something evil.” Smyrna, like their pastor Polycarp demonstrates the availability of grace while under persecution. As such it is one of only two churches that Jesus has no words of accusation to say to it, the other is Philadelphia.
Vs. 8b Author: Jesus is speaking to the suffering Church and in so doing identifies with their suffering by telling them that He is “the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life”. The reference is that of His death and resurrection as the only One who, being eternal became incarnate and died. He was willing to die on their behalf while they were yet sinners. Could they do anything less than suffer that they might inherit eternal life?
The Bible tells us there are four reasons why believers suffer:
- Disciplinary: 1 Cor. 11:30-32, Heb 12:3-13
- Preventive: 2 Cor. 12:7 (Paul kept from self exaltation)
- Educational: Rom. 5:3-5, James 1:2-4
- Purification: 2Cor. 4:11-12 (causes us to be a better witness)
- Vs. 9 Approval: “I know your works,” Jesus knows just what we are going through, we don’t have to sell Him on our needs, He knows our struggles and Heb. 2: 9 tells us he was tempted in every way as we are yet without sin.
They are approved on two things:
“Tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich)”: Literally this phrase means, “crushed by constant trouble being destitute like a beggar”. It is the same Jesus who while upon this earth said in Matt. 8:20 “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Because this Church refused to participate in the sins of the world they were stripped of their jobs and wealth. To the world they were poor but to Jesus they were the ones that were rich. There were not many Christians who would practice compromise because by just being a believer meant that you lost everything. Jim Eliot once wrote, “He is no fool who gives up what he can not keep to gain what he can never lose!”
“And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
This reference is to the Judaizers who were trying to get the believers to practice traditions above their relationship thus they used persecution to accomplish this task. Yet it didn’t work as they practiced what Paul taught in 1 Cor. 3:11 “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Vs. 10 Admonition: Jesus gives this church two exhortations:
“Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days.” Literally “stop being afraid” why? Because nothing they were going to suffer could rob them of the blessings that were already theirs in Christ. In fact their suffering was only going to accomplish their glorification. The testing would produce a far greater weight of glory: it was only a short time (10 days) while compared to eternity.
The number tells us several things:
Their suffering was for a specific period of time and as such had a marked boundary. Ten is the number of human failures and as such could speak to them that this suffering had nothing to do with the Lord only with those in the world. “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Apparently as yet none of them had died yet so the Lord wants them to understand that death has no permanent hold upon them instead death was the greatest opportunity they would ever know. Victory is certain, and it is important for us to see that a crown always follows the cross!
Vs. 11 Announcement: Again the message is for whoever reads it and has a heart to apply the truth. The second death is defined for us in Rev. 20:14 and 21: 8 as “Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” The lake of fire was never intended for man but rather for the devil and his demons only those who refuse to love the truth to death will go there and it is they themselves that are punching their own ticket.
Revelation 2:12-17
“The Unveiling of Jesus”
“Compromised and corrupted churches”
Vs. 12-17 A mixed marriage
Vs. 18-29 A corrupted sacrifice
Introduction
Pergamos was located 20 miles from the Mediterranean Sea and called the greatest city in Asia Minor. Its importance was not commercial, rather it was religious, as it was the first city to have a temple dedicated to Caesar. The name “Pergamos” in Greek is a compound word that means “mixed marriage”, and it fits it well as this church represents the time frame in church history from 300 A.D. to 600 A.D. After the death of Diocletian two men contended for emperor of Rome, Maxentius from the west and Constantine from the East. In a daring military move Constantine crossed the Alps hoping to dislodge the militarily superior Maxentius from Italy. It was a daring gamble; they placed him just outside of Rome where he would have to face a vastly larger army at the Milvian Bridge. He turned for help to the God of the Christians and in a dream that night saw a cross with the word conquer. His victory convinced him of the power of the Christian God and as such he became Christian.
The facts of his conversion are that he still conspired to murder all those that opposed him and he was only baptized the day before he died. His brand of Christianity called a halt to all state run persecutions, made Sunday a legal holiday and by 312 A.D. made Christianity the state religion which made everyone in the empire a Christian as well as all religious practices were now called Christian practices.
The effect of this was that Christianity was now mixed with the religions of the world including all the ancient Babylonian cults such as the worship of the dead, priests wearing different clothing and the worship of the “mother of God”. Yet still there were those who refused to compromise with the world. In Smyrna Satan was outside the Church in Pergamos he has decided to join it. The power the Church had was superficial as it came from man through compromise with the world and as such the world embraced the church.
Vs. 12-17 A mixed marriage
Vs. 12 Author: To the Church that had mixed itself with the world, Jesus reveals Himself as the One who has a sharp two-edge sword. The sword was a sign of Roman authority and power but here it is used to describe His character. You will recall in Heb. 4:12 that the word of God is described as a “two-edge sword”, it is the weapon that Jesus used to defeat the devil at His temptation but it cuts both ways! Nothing but truth can defeat error and no peace can ever last through compromise!
Vs. 13 Approval: They are approved on three things:
Fruitfulness in spite of circumstances: “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is.” Jesus knew the conditions this church served in. They were living in the center of Satanic influence and power in the world yet there were those there who had still not compromised. The Church that seeks to be “popular with the world will not be popular with Christ!”
Fidelity in spite of opposition: “And you hold fast to My name”. Though they dwelt in the center of false worship there were those that remained faithful to His name. In the Bible a person’s name represented their character and this remnant refused to compromise with Christ’s character though if they had they would have been spared persecution. A healthy Church is not to be judged based upon the numbers that gather but rather upon their conviction in whose name they have gathered! Jesus told us as much in Matt 18:20 where He said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Faithfulness in spite of persecution: “Did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” The remnant did not compromise in the area of doctrinal teaching even when it cost them their lives. Words and their meanings in the area of our trust in Christ are a matter of life and death. Their trust of Jesus’ words went far beyond mere intellectual assent to total surrender to the point of death. We know nothing of Antipas other than what his name means, “against all” and that he was such to the point of death.
Vs. 14-15 Accusation: There are two accusations but they both stem from a greater issue found in the words “you have those” and “you also have those”. They were not all guilty of these two problems, but they were guilty of tolerating the two problems. There were those who had compromised the truth, but the rest had compromised by allowing them to remain in their midst.
Jesus mentions two false teachings that some held on to:
Vs. 14 “the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.”
Balaam’s failure is mentioned three different ways in scripture:
2 Peter 2:15 “The way of Balaam”: Which is the selling of God’s gift for money. He was a prophet spelled “profit”, as he had the word of God in his mouth but not in his heart, seen in the fact that he was willing to compromise for a price.
Jude 11 “Error of Balaam”: This was his assumption that God would curse His own Children, the nation of Israel.
Rev. 2:14 “The doctrine of Balaam”: Jesus gives us the definition of what the doctrine of Balaam was as it is the teaching of God’s children to worship other gods and to commit sexual immorality. Simply put it is the seducing of the people of God to practice a false way of worship thus causing them to commit spiritual adultery. How were they able to accomplish this? Well those that held this teaching were placed in such high regard that they were above the word of God, they lorded over the people.
Vs. 15 “the doctrine of the Nicolaitans”: As we saw with the church at Ephesus the Nicolaitans were a group that stressed the separation between God and the common believer by placing the priest as the go between. The outcome was the blurring of moral and theological truths that made Jesus a created being. In 325 A.D. The heads of different churches met at Nicea to establish what is now called the Nicene Creed which established the trinity of the Godhead.
Vs. 16-17 Admonition: All are to repent or else Jesus will come and fight against those who continue to compromise. They ought to be more concerned with the sword of the spirit than the sword of Rome! There is no other option given this church to either repent or be judged. He will gather the wheat and burn the tares! Those who have an ear to hear, “the overcomers,” are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
Interesting that Jesus promises to give them hidden manna, which was the food, used to sustain Israel in the wilderness. Jesus in John 6:30-35 spoke of Himself being that “hidden manna” from heaven that gives life to the world. In other words the promise is that of more of Himself to those who turn only to Him! The white stone was used by the judge to acquit the accused of a crime ,and here we see that if they repent they will be not only acquitted but rather transformed!
Vs. 18-29 A corrupted sacrifice
The fourth letter is the longest of all but to the smallest of cities. Thyatira was 30 miles south of Pergamos and 30 miles north west of Sardis. It was a Roman military town full of trade guilds and its pride was the temple to Zeus the Greek sun god. In Acts 16:14 Paul says it was the town where Lydia, who was a seller of purple dye, was originally from. The name Thyatira literally means “continual sacrifice,” and the name fits well with the historical time frame of the church of this era which is from 606 to 1500 A.D. also known as the dark ages.
This was the time of the crusades, inquisitions, the selling of indulgences, and the embracing of pagan rituals above the teachings of Christ. For example in 1229 the reading of the Bible outside of the priesthood was outlawed, in 1545 tradition was made equal in authority to the Bible and by 1870 the pope was declared infallible. Among the many false teachings started during this time was the practice of the continual sacrifice of Jesus for our sins, (called the mass), instead of the once for all sacrifice for our sins, (Rom. 6:10, Heb 7:27, 10:10). They all started the false teaching that at communion Jesus literally becomes the bread or host and it is only in our partaking of this continual sacrifice of Him that we appropriate His grace for the remission of our sins. Thus according to this teaching, we are saved by works and not grace which contradicts the clear teaching of Eph. 2:8-9, Heb. 9:24-28. It was all of these aberrant teachings that lead a German monk who had regularly starved himself to satisfy the teaching of penance and contrition to read the book of Romans and to his amazement discover Paul’s clear teaching that we are justified by faith (Rom. 1:17). Martin Luther then wrote his letter outlining 95 false teachings of the Roman Catholic church. It is to this church that Jesus writes His letter of judgement and we too ought to hear what the Spirit has to say towards any area where we may have taken up a false system of worship.
Vs. 18 Author: This is the only time in revelation where Jesus emphasizes His deity and it is no wonder as it was this time frame in Church history where they made the worship of His mother of greater importance than the worship of Him. To this church He says His eyes are like a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass as He is the only One that sees all things and he has the final say on all matters not His mother.
Vs. 19 Approval: In this, the longest of all the letters, this one verse stands as Jesus’ only approval of the church. Unlike the Church at Ephesus where purity remained while love dwindled, this church kept on serving, loving and trusting patiently. The problem was not their devotion but rather what their devotion was towards! They were more faithful, loving and serving a system of devotion then the person of Christ! We need to be careful as we too can be more faithful to a system of works to be righteous instead of a savior who loves us!
Vs. 20-23 Accusation: Again their problem was not that they taught but rather that they “allowed” false teaching and then followed it above the word of God. Throughout Church history most of the Church’s problems can be traced to the fact that we have been prone to follow a leader instead of our savior and we end up obeying their system instead of His word. The mention of Jezebel is obviously figurative as she lived from 900 B.C. to 850 B.C. . Apparently this woman’s seduction of God’s people mirrored that of Jezebel who was the wife of Ahab. Through her leadership she did away with the true priests of God and established the worship of Baal and Asherah the fertility god. She was nearly successful in totally eliminating the true worship of God as she killed all the priests and even tried to kill Elijah. The seduction of the servants of God was nearly complete so thought Elijah until God opened his eyes to the fact that there were still 7000 that had not yet bowed their knees to Baal.
Vs. 21-23 These stark words of our Lord are separated from what He calls in verse 24 “the rest in Thyatira”. Here He says, “I gave you time to repent,” then in verse 22 he allowed her immorality to have its natural consequences which caused her to become ill, then finally to save the future churches Jesus says that He will wipe out her spiritual offspring! It is He who searches the minds and the hearts and if they want to be rewarded by their works He will grant them their wish! Their destruction would become an example for those that would follow not to take the same course of spiritual harlotry, says the Lord!
Vs. 24-29 Admonition: There were not many who had not followed this false system of worship where tradition is above God’s word, but there was a group who did not have this doctrine and to them He says, “I will put on you no other burden”. Only that they were to “hold fast what you have till I come”, just keep on keeping on making Jesus the main thing.
Finally, they are given a twofold promise:
Vs. 26 “Power over the nations”: Which then is described for us as ruling with the Son and the Father. In other words, if they stay to the end they will find out that they were on the winning side all along even though it didn’t seem like it at times.
Vs. 28 “The mourning star”: In the 22nd chapter of this book Jesus is called the bright morning star, so He promises to give these faithful believers more of Himself.