We have a lot to cover today, so we’re going to jump right back into our sermon series where we’re again returning to the book of Revelation, this week picking it back up in chapter 2, starting in verse 12. And as we open up to Revelation 2:12, let’s remind ourselves where we are in the series so far.
In our first week we talked about both the two aspects of our relationship with God, the loving him and loving people aspects, and the holiness of God, which should motivate us to share the Gospel with others. We talked about how God has called us to an interconnected walk where our loving him is inseparable from loving people. If I don’t love God, I can’t love people properly, and if I don’t love people, I can’t love God property. Love for God is done through obedience to his will and word. As Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commands.”
Loving people is done through service and meeting needs. But the greatest form of love to people is sharing the Gospel with them. We cannot only meet a physical need, without also presenting the answer to the spiritual need. And so, we must love God with obedience and love people with proclamation and service.
And what motivates us to do just that is the holiness of God. When we understand the overpowering awesomeness of God, to which we cannot hope to stand in his presence, we understand the need of repentance and trust in Jesus as our Savior. And if we understand this as children of God, then we should understand the despair of those who are not found in Jesus but are separated from him right now, and possibly into eternity. This should then motivate us to get out there and be ready to be used by God for his Gospel work.
Then in the second week we had Pastor Doug Haskins from the Navajo nation speak to us. In the way only God could do it, Doug brought us a message that to really experience God’s grace, we must go through times that cause us to endure. Grace that doesn’t wash over adversity, is grace that knows no reason for being. The very definition of grace includes God’s work on humanities behalf to overcome the bondage of sin. God’s grace was shown through the adversity of Jesus on the cross. And when we ourselves go through adverse times, our association with the experience of Jesus becomes tactile and we see just how potent and real the grace of God is. This can be seen in Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:5, “For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”
Then last week we talked about the promise of tribulation. How, just being a follower of Jesus entitles us to trials. As we come closer to Jesus, we move further away from the world. In doing so, God sheds from us the world’s standards, placing on us his own, and this naturally causes rifts and disdain. But even greater trials await those that engage in Gospel work. There will always be push back of Jesus’ narrow way. The world wants the widest possible course of action, so that no one is wrong, and all may be saved. Yet Jesus’ unique only path to salvation means that anyone who proclaims it, will see the same sort of push back that Jesus faced, and could eventually find themselves as a martyr of the Church.
This is why Jesus gives us this information at the start, because it is a promise that as we follow God’s will, we will meet theses trials. Yet, when we keep eternity in view, the trials become joyful experiences, because they bring us closer to the God whom we obey, and our love grows deeper for the people who are lost. As Peter in his first letter writes, “But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed (v.13).”
With the last three weeks now in mind, we now return to Revelation 2, starting in verse 12, let’s read about three church together.
“12 To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 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, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.
14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans (Nick-o-lay-tens). 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
18 “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. 19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 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. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, 25 except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
26 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— 27 that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father. 28 I will also give that one the morning star. 29 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
“3:1To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. 6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Whereas the key word for the first two churches, that we talked about last week, was tribulation, for the next five, the key word is deeds. Ephesus and Smyrna was dealing with both past and future tribulation from outside sources. What we see in the three churches we read today, is the trial that comes from within. Let’s begin with Pergamum.
Pergamum was one of the three greatest Roman cities in Asia Minor. The reason for this is because Pergamum boasted some of the finest libraries, which housed many parchments. The city also had a grand theater, and many shrines to the many Roman deities.
Pergamum was also a city where the worship of the Emperor was emphatically executed. In fact, to not participate in the worship of the Emperor, meant that a person would be ostracized from society. This is why Jesus states that Pergamum is the throne of Satan.
It is here that those Nicolaitans (Nick-o-lay-tens) from Ephesus appear again. In this case, the expression of this particular heresy was in the form that paralleled the sin of Balak. A person who is said to have sent Moabite women into the Israelites’ camp to seduce them to sin (Numbers 22-24).
Jesus’ encouragement to the Church at Pergamum is that the church has been diligent in facing persecution from outside sources. Yet Jesus’ problem with the church is that they were not standing against heresy that had crept in. They stood against the imperial worship ceremonies, but they hadn’t stood against the enticement to sexual immorality.
Jesus calls the church to repent for letting heresy grow, and to return to him. Jesus then gives what will happen if the church doesn’t repent. He tells them, “Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” There’s two parts to this metaphor of “sword of my mouth.” First, because of the favored relationship with the Roman Emperor due to the imperial cult worship, Pergamum had “the right to the sword,” which meant they could execute criminals at their discretion. This is also seen in Jesus’ address to the church in verse 12. The sword represents judgment from a social point of view and so Jesus is saying that he is the One who truly can judge. In addition to this, there is the biblical motif of the sword being the word of God from places like Ephesians 6:17 where Paul makes a direct connection, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” But also later in Revelation chapter 19 verse 15 where John describes Jesus, by stating, "Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.” This has a parallel to Isaiah 11:4, “but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.”
So we see that Jesus revels his judgment, and his judgment is based on the Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures. It is also by this description that it is shown to us how we are to stand against heresy. In order to combat heresy, we must use the Word of God. Biblical understanding is how one stands against the heretical teachings that desire to infiltrate the Church.
Finally Jesus, like we saw last week, puts eternity into perceptive. This is done through an Old Testament parallel in the hidden manna, which was given to the Israelites by God to sustain them. And through a white stone with a new name. This carries a social connotation, because a white stone was given at the acquittal of an individual, i.e. salvation (Romans 3:24-26), and it was also used to gain access to special feast, i.e. the wedding banquet of Jesu and the Church (Matthew 1-14).
Now, let’s move onto Thyatira. The letter to this church invokes Old Testament holiness passages when describing Jesus himself, another connection to Jesus’ deity as the Ancient One and Holy One of Israel. Like our previous letter to Pergamum, we see a church that is commended by Jesus. This church seems to be doing “all the things right.” They have love and faith. They have service and perseverance. These both speak of a church who is building both aspects of their relationship with God, by loving him and loving people. And not only do they have both, but it’s increasing.
Yet, Jesus states that they are tolerating a false prophetess whom John connects with the Jezebel in the book of 2nd Kings in the Old Testament, and her teaching of “Satan’s so-called deep secrets.” The word tolerant is the Greek word apheis (af-ee’-is) and has at it’s root the word aphiémi (af-ee’-ay-mee) which carries with it the idea of not just tolerating, but of forgiveness. John uses two other variations of this word in John 20:23, when Jesus states, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” So the connotation here, isn’t that the church is merely tolerating the teachings, as if they are taking a stand against her, yet she was still active outside the church, no, they were actively forgiving her, acting like her sin was okay, about allowing it to continue in the church itself.
Jezebel in the book 2nd Kings, lead the Israelites into idol worship and killed the prophets of God. In John’s day, this modern day Jezebel, is leading the church into sexual immorality, idol worship, and a proto-gnostic belief where secret knowledge is to be found outside of the person of God.
Jesus’ judgment for those that follow this prophetess is to join here on a bed of suffering” which in the Greek is kline (klee’-nay), which is best translated as a bed of sickness. Which means Jesus will bring a great sickness upon those who follow the false prophetess that will effect their children as well. In Jesus’ judgment, he states that, “Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.” In other words, because Jesus searches the hearts and minds of people, he knows true repentance and he gives out forgives to those who turn away from sin. The church is irresponsible in forgiving those that Jesus is pointing out have not repented, thereby, speaking for God where he has not spoken.
Finally, in Jesus’ reward, the person who is victorious and doing the will of Jesus will receive a place of authority to judge others and the morning star. The authority of judgment is a response to recognizing and standing against false teaching, such as this Jezebel’s preaching. If we can see and stand against such false teachers, we show true discernment of godly and ungodly things. In addition, Jesus gives the morning star to those who do this. In Revelation 22:16, we find out what the morning star is, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” The morning star is an eternal relationship with the victor’s Savior.
Finally, we turn our attention to the Church at Sardis. Here we get the first of two churches who get no real commendation from Jesus. We read that this church has deeds and even has a good reputation among either the rest of the churches in Asia Minor, or perhaps among their own city. Yet, Jesus calls them dead. These deeds and reputation mirrors that of the city of Sardis.
The legend of Sardis is connected to that of King Midas. The story goes that Midas treated a particular satyr, and companion to a Roman god, very well. This Roman god then granted Midas one wish. Midas asked that everything he touched would turn to gold, which led Midas to almost starving to death. In the end, this Roman god told Midas to wash in the Pactolus River to cleanse him of his wish. This river was then said to flow with the gold from Midas’ hands. This river flowed through Sardis.
Like the church who’s reputation did not reflect their true relationship with God, the river did not flow with the gold that people said it did. Instead Sardis’ wealth was in its clothing industry. An industry that produced fine linens and dyes.
Here Jesus calls the church to hold onto, not their reputation of doing good, but the Gospel itself. Jesus words of, “2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent.” Brings to mind his Parable of the Sower’s seed from Mark 4. Jesus tells the parable like this, “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
It is revealed later that the seed represents the Gospel, and the soil, four different responses to it. The first is a complete rejection of the Gospel, the second is a person who seems receptive at first, yet does not seek God to grow the relationship. The third is a person who allows the world’s desires and problems to choke the Gospel out of their lives. Finally, the fourth is a person that seeks to deepen their relationship with God and grows because of it.
Jesus is calling the church at Sardis away from the second and third soils to be the fourth. To not let the Gospel die in their midsts, but to return to it through repentance and holding fast to its hope and teaching.
Jesus then speaks of solid clothes and white linen. To the person in Sardis they would understand this. They live in a textile world of linen manufacturing. Jesus is revealing that though they live in a society that produces fine linen, their garments are soiled, they are stained with sin. This carries with it the words in the first part of Isaiah 64:6 that we looked at in our first week, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…” Only in Jesus can a person have fine white linen. Only in Jesus are sins forgiven and a right relationship with both God and people can be found.
All three of these churches speak to a common point. As believers, we can easily fall into the spiritual lifestyle of only doing what we think is most important for God. This has it’s expression either in legalism or in experientialism. Legalism lifts up certain rules, while giving a wink to others. Experientialism lifts up certain experiences, while giving a wink to the stated Word of God. Rules are good, if they are given evenly, and experiences are good as long as they are not in conflict with God’s Word. Yet here, we see both rules unevenly applied and experience that’s moving away from God’s Word.
We see in these churches, the legalistic wink to the Nicolaitans (Nick-o-lay-tens) and Jezebel in both Pergamum and Thyatira, and we see the experiential wink to the taking seriously God’s Word in Sardis. We cannot follow these churches in how they carry out their Gospel work. We must instead joyfully carry out the work of God while at the same time taking serious the Word of God, not tolerating heretical and detrimental teachings. We must stand upon the Word of God, pointing others to Jesus, who the Scriptures point towards, and going about the work of God of sharing the Gospel and meeting needs.
God is calling us away from worldly things and into his holiness. Away from the soiled garments, to be robed in white. We must stand against heretical teachings, not allowing some to fester, but against all false teachings. If we don’t then our ministry will become corrupt and have even more problems. Also, we must not think that our experiences of doing good and gaining a good reputation, whether with other churches or with our community, is a stand-in for true Gospel work. If we do then have lost sight of the power of the Gospel and the eternity in which Jesus calls us.
My challenge for you this week is take time in prayer asking the question, do I engage in legalism. Do I make certain rules more important than others, and in doing so give room for heresy and sin to fester? Or do I engage in experientialism, where I get the experience high of the praises of people for my good work, but at the cost of my time in going deep into God’s Word? We can do both at the same time, and it’s easy to fall into this trap. Yet God callus to stand from in all areas of the Gospel, and to proclaim in biblically to the world.
So let us then seek God to bring us to his Gospel, to hold onto what the Gospel and what God calls us to, and by doing so to be a people who stand separate from the world, yet loving it as God loves it. Amen.
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