Appendix C
– The Seven Churches
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
page 4
Freedom from
Judaism was a endless source of
conflict in Smyrna because Jewish
converts wanted to observe their
Jewish traditions and Gentile
converts refused to go along. (Of
course, Gentiles had religious
baggage, so they too, were not
without fault.) The conflict between
Jewish and Gentile believers became
so great during the first half of the
first century A.D. that the church
almost perished before it got
started. Thankfully, God chose a
young zealous Jew to deal with this
problem. After God showed the apostle
Paul the truth about Christianity and
the falsehoods of Judaism, He sent
Paul around the empire to tell
everyone. It has been said that one
man separated Christianity from
Judaism. Paul wrote fourteen of the
twenty-seven books of the New
Testament. However, it was Jesus who
delivered Christians from the Jews
through Paul. It was also Jesus who
delivered Israel from Egyptian
bondage through Moses.
- Jesus
identified Himself to the
church at Smyrna as “the
First and the Last [Almighty
God], who died and
came to life again [for
your sakes].” Jesus
described Himself with this
language so that His
followers might remember that
the servant is not greater
than the Master.[44] Jesus
knew there would be many
martyrs for His sake in the
church at Smyrna. In A.D. 95,
Christianity was an illegal
religion in some parts of the
Roman Empire. The evil
Emperor Domitian (A.D. 81-96)
put many Christians to death
before he was murdered. Then,
Nerva (A.D. 96-98) ascended
to Domitian’s throne.
However, Nerva became ill
shortly after he became
emperor and died within two
years. Then, Trajan (A.D.
98-117) came to power and
even though he did not
actively seek Christians to
kill them, he mandated that
if a Christian was found, he
was to be arrested and
executed unless he
immediately renounced his
faith. The ten days of
persecution mentioned by
Jesus evidently referred to a
purge that would take place
in Smyrna. Roman governors
frequently used loyalty tests
and purges to maintain
control over their subjects,
for no governor wanted to be
charged with treason against
Caesar and lose his head.
Jesus warned the Christians
in Smyrna of the coming purge
and He encouraged them to
remain faithful “even to
the point of death,”
because those who are put to
death for His sake would,
like Him, live again.
One more
point. You need to understand the
significance of loyalty tests used in
Roman times. A non-Roman citizen did
not have to do anything wrong to be
arrested. He could be arrested for no
other reason than to question his
loyalty to Caesar and his government.
Loyalty arrests and tests were used
in Asia Minor to keep sedition and
revolt to a minimum. Non-Roman
citizens would be brought before a
magistrate and questioned. If they
regarded Caesar as God, worthy of
loyalty, obedience and worship, there
was no problem. On the other hand,
anyone showing less than 100% loyalty
to Caesar as a God was punished with
sudden death. The Romans reasoned,
“Why should the security and
power of the empire be threatened by
people who do not love Caesar?”
The use of “loyalty tests”
makes Paul’s words to the Romans
perfectly clear, “That
if you confess with your mouth,
‘Jesus is Lord,’ and
believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will be
saved.”[45] You
can see that saying “Jesus is
Lord” before a Roman magistrate
in Smyrna would mean sudden death and
within this context, doing so at a
moment’s notice required a great
deal of faith in God each day.
- Jesus
also added, “He
who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the
churches. He who
overcomes will not be hurt at
all by the second death.”
There is a hidden message in
this phrase. Overcoming the
fear of torture and death is
not a normal human instinct.
We instinctively do
everything possible to
protect ourselves from
suffering and death. The
hidden message that comes
through the Spirit is this:
God will give a martyr’s
courage when a martyr’s
courage is required. In other
words, overcoming the fear of
death is possible through
God’s grace because
God’s grace is more
powerful than our fears! So,
Jesus’ words contain a
wonderful promise when He
said, “Be firm in your
stand for truth and remain
loyal to me, even to the
point of death, and you will
not be hurt at all by the
second death.” This is
good news because the second
death is a death for which no
grace will be given nor will
there be any recovery!
Pergamum
“To
the angel of the church in Pergamum
write: These are the words of him who
has the [deadly] sharp,
double-edged sword [that
comes from His mouth]. I know
where you live – where Satan has
his throne. Yet you remain true to my
name. You did not renounce your faith
in me, even in the days of Antipas,
my faithful witness, who was put to
death in your city – where Satan
lives. Nevertheless, I have a few
things against you: You have people
there who hold to the teaching [lies] of
Balaam, who taught Balak to entice
the Israelites to sin by eating food
sacrificed to idols and by committing
sexual immorality. Likewise you also
have those who hold to the
teaching [lies] of
the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore!
Otherwise, I will soon come to you
and will fight against them [the
advocates of Nicolaitan doctrine] with
the sword of my mouth. He who has an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit
says to the churches. To him who
overcomes, I will give some of the
hidden manna. I will also give him a
white stone with a new name written
on it, known only to him who receives
it.”[46]
When Jesus
spoke these words, Pergamum was the
cultural and religious center of
Asia. Pergamum was an old, highly
respected city. At one time, Pergamum
had been the Roman capital of Asia.
The practice of worshiping the Roman
emperors began at Pergamum. The city
had many pagan temples and Eastern
Mysticism was very popular. Pergamum
was a big city and it had a large
class of educated and wealthy people.
In His message to the church at
Pergamum, Jesus said twice that Satan
had his throne in Pergamum because as
a city, Pergamum was the undisputed
queen of false religion. Pergamum was
the ivory tower of false religion for
Asia and as a city, it hated
Christians. Jesus observed this
hatred when He mentioned the death of
faithful Antipas. The hatred
expressed toward Christians explains
in part, why some Christians in
Pergamum were willing to make so many
compromises with the devil.
Gentile
converts brought pagan baggage, such
as their practices of sexual
immorality and eating meat offered to
idols, into the Christian church at
Pergamum. Jesus referred to Balaam in
His message to Pergamum because
Balaam was an Old Testament prophet
who agreed to put a curse on Israel
for a sum of money. However, when
Balaam attempted to speak curses,
blessings came out of his mouth
instead. Finally, the distraught
prophet revealed to King Balak (the
enemy who hired Balaam to curse
Israel) that Israel could only be
defeated if Israel was enticed into
sexual immorality. After learning
this, King Balak conspired with a
number of Moabite women to become
sexually involved with the
Israelites. Soon, the Israelites were
lured into sexual immorality with
these women. Then, the women invited
the Israelites to participate in
sacrifices offered to their gods.
Food and wine was offered to Baal and
many Israelites joined with the
Moabites in worshiping Baal. As a
result, God became furious with His
people and He punished Israel with a
plague that killed 24,000 Israelites.[47]> The
parallel is that sexually immoral
people infiltrated the church at
Pergamum. Their sinful ways caused
the church to lose its connection
with Christ. The devil promoted this
behavior because he knows that when
our connection with Jesus is broken,
the power to overcome sin is gone.[48]
You may
recall that the apostles imposed four
specific rules upon Gentile converts
at the first general conference of
the Christian Church in A.D. 49. At
that meeting the apostle James
said, “It is my
judgment, therefore, that we should
not make it difficult for the
Gentiles who are turning to God.
Instead we should write to them,
telling them to
abstain (a) from
food polluted by idols, (b) from
sexual immorality, (c) from
the meat of strangled animals and (d) from [drinking] blood.”[49]
When Jesus
spoke to the church at Pergamum, He
affirmed the Spirit led decision of
the apostles by promising to destroy
the sexually immoral unless they
repented. Jesus’ words leave no
room for debate. He forbade sexual
immorality and eating food offered to
idols. Eating food polluted by idols
was a superstitious ritual which was
supposed to give the consumer the
powers of the god to whom the food
was first offered. The devil merged
this pagan practice with the words of
Jesus to create a distortion of His
words. When Jesus was on Earth He
said, “Whoever eats
my flesh and drinks my blood has
eternal life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. For my flesh is real
food and my blood is real drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my
blood remains in me, and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me and
I live because of the Father, so the
one who feeds on me will live because
of me. This is the bread that came
down from heaven. Your forefathers
ate manna and died, but he who feeds
on this bread will live
forever.”[50] Jesus
made these remarks within the context
of eating the Passover feast. His
words were a metaphor. The lamb (the
flesh) eaten at the feast represented Jesus,
the wine represented His
blood, and the bread represented His
broken body.[51] Some
members of the Pergamum church, who
had pagan backgrounds, ate food
offered to idols.
The devil used these people and their
pagan background to distort
Jesus’ words making it appear that
Jesus justified eating food offered
to idols. Very clever.
Jesus also
mentioned that some Christians in
Pergamum had accepted the teachings
of Nicholas. This should not come as
a surprise because Pergamum was a
center for Gnostic training. The
Gnostics treated Scripture as though
it were “spiritual” or
allegorical. In other words, the
Gnostics put a layer of
“philosophical fuzz”
between the Word of God and its
obvious meaning so that ordinary
people could not be confident about
the meaning of God’s Word (that
is, separating right from wrong).
This has been (and continues to be)
one of the devil’s best tools
for leading Christians astray. How
many times have you heard it said,
“The Bible does not mean what it
says?” Or even worse, how many
times have your heard a Bible passage
quoted out of context? The devil is a
master at putting the Bible in a
state of internal conflict. When lay
people begin to believe the lie that
“ordinary people cannot
understand God’s Word,” or
“we have to trust the opinions
of godly experts and the traditions
of the church,” the devil has
gained control of the church. There
is no substitute for “a plain
thus saith the Lord.” Jesus was
furious with those Christians who had
become advocates of Nicolaitan
doctrine. They were leading the
church astray. Jesus warned, “Repent
therefore! Otherwise, I will soon
come to you and will fight against
them with the sword of my
mouth.” (Incidentally,
this is the same sword that kills the
wicked at the Second Coming.[52])
In His
closing remarks, Jesus offered a
special reward to those who would
overcome the devil’s deceptions.
Jesus said, “To him
who overcomes, I will give some of
the hidden manna. I will also give
him a white stone with a new name
written on it, known only to him who
receives it.” The
hidden message for those who have
ears to hear is that overcomers may
spiritually partake of Heaven’s
manna right now! Currently, the
physical food of angels is not
available to us. Unlike ordinary food
offered to meaningless idols, the
Word of God is real food.[53] God’s
Word provides the energy and vitality
we need. Jesus is the source of life,
strength, joy, and peace.
The promised
white stone will be a precious stone
that bears the inscription of a
secret name. This secret name is an
affectionate name which the Father
will give to each saint. The white
stone will serve as a password
enabling the overcomer to enter into
God’s glorious throne room.
Think about it. Every overcomer will
be permitted to enter into God’s
presence to hear truthful
answers to any of his questions.
Contrast this privilege with the
Gnostic’s pursuit of
“higher knowledge” that
leads to darkness and separation from
God. Standing in the presence of the
brilliant light that engulfs the
Father, an overcomer will have the
opportunity to commune with the
Father.[54] I can
think of no higher privilege.
Thyatira
The church at
Thyatira had a serious problem.
Review the words of Jesus and
consider what He said: “To
the angel of the church in Thyatira
write: These are the words of the Son
of God, whose eyes are like blazing
fire and whose feet are like
burnished bronze. I know your deeds,
your love and faith, your service and
perseverance, and that you are now
doing more than you did at first.
Nevertheless, I have this against
you: You
tolerate that
woman Jezebel, who calls herself a
prophetess. By her teaching she
misleads my servants into sexual
immorality and the eating of food
sacrificed to idols. I have given her
time to repent of her immorality, but
she is unwilling. So I will cast her
on a bed of suffering, and I will
make those who commit adultery with
her suffer intensely, unless they
repent of her ways. I will strike her
children dead.
Then
all the [seven] churches
will know that I am he who searches
hearts and minds, and I will repay
each of you according to your deeds.
Now I say to the rest of you in
Thyatira, to you who do not hold to
her teaching and have not
learned [from
gnosticism] Satan’s
so-called deep secrets (I will not
impose any other burden on you): Only
hold on to what you have until I
come. To him who overcomes and does
my will to the end, I will give
authority over the nations –
‘He will rule them with an iron
scepter; he will dash them to pieces
like pottery’ – just as I
have received authority from my
Father. I will also give him the
morning star. He who has an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches.”[55]
Did
Jesus Really Say This?
Jesus spoke
to church members at Thyatira with
words of comfort and condemnation
– comfort for the believers who
were doing right and the promise of
death – that is right, death for
those who were doing wrong. The BIG
problem in Thyatira (as in Pergamum)
was sexually immoral leadership.
Jesus was angry with church leaders
at Thyatira because they tolerated a
woman named Jezebel in their church![56] The
devil is particularly gratified when
an immoral person holds a position of
religious authority because they can
do enormous damage. During the first
decade of the twenty-first century,
more than 5,000 Catholic priests have
been charged or found guilty of
sexually abusing children. These
revelations have cost the Catholic
church more than two billion dollars,
as well as a membership decline that
is measured by the thousands. In
Thyatira’s case, a prominent
woman named Jezebel* was openly
advocating sexual immorality and this
made Jesus very angry.
*Note: The
Jezebel in Thyatira should not be
confused with Jezebel, the wife of
King Ahab who lived about a thousand
years earlier.
Jezebel must
have been a very bright and capable
woman. She called herself a
prophetess, but she was not a
prophetess of God. She prostituted
Jesus’ teachings by leading
others to do the very things that
Jesus condemned! She justified sexual
immorality through Gnostic logic and
philosophy. Jezebel taught that sex
was not limited to the confines of
marriage and she freely engaged and
encouraged others to participate in
sexual immorality. She also endorsed
the popular belief that eating flesh
offered to idols insured the
blessings of all gods.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
page 4
