The Revelation of Jesus Christ Pt 9, 2:18-29

On By aaronosowski7In Verse by verse

JESUS’ LETTER TO THE CHURCH AT THYATIRA

Thyatira is the fourth letter which we find in Revelation. The name Thyatira means “daughter” and it relates to the major problem in this church: Jezebel.

Before reviewing this letter, look here for a brief summary on the seven letters in general.

  1. Exposition
  2. Parable
  3. Cultural Relevance
  4. Prophetic
  5. Accompanying Epistle(s)
EXPOSITION

VERSE 18

"And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who is having His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass"
  1. TITLE OF THE CHURCH

The name Thyatira means “daughter.” It was named this way by Selecus 1 Nicator. As we will see, Jezebel’s parentage is not heavenly. Based off Jesus’ remarks to the male Pharisees, we could label Jezebel as a “daughter of Satan,” in contrast to Jesus: The Son of God.

We are not sons and daughters of Satan as Jezebel, as those who are unsaved. In contrast, we are children of The Most High, begotten of God. And “we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” [1 Jn 5:18] and “whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him.” [1 Jn 5:1]

  1. TITLE(S) OF JESUS CHRIST

All three titles of Jesus represent judgment in some fashion, which is especially relevant, considering the end of Jesus’ exhortation, wherein Jesus states, “…and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts…”

Jesus, as The Son, to whom all judgment has been committed, will one day judge every soul with perfect discernment and crushing severity.

  • Son of God
    • Jesus reminds Thyatira that He is the Son of God. He is the One who holds supreme authority and is the Only Begotten of God, not Jezebel. Jesus explains this relationship – Son and Judge – in John 5,
      • “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; And hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.” [Jn 5:22-27]
  • Is having His eyes like unto a flame of fire
    • Jesus’ fiery eyes are a symbol of His judgment in that He sees all. As Hebrews says, “…all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we must give account.” Nothing escapes the fiery gaze of Christ, “for the ways of man are before the eyes of The LORD, and He pondereth all his goings.” [Prov 5:21]
  • His feet are like fine brass

VERSE 19

"I know thy works, and love [agape], and ministering, and faith, and thy endurance, and thy works; and the last to be greater in number than the first."
  1. COMMENDATIONS
  • Love [agape]
    • As Paul states, “love never faileth.” Love is the most important thing that we need, whether it is love of God or love for others, most of our problems can be worked down to a lack of love in one of those two areas. Love is “the bond of completeness;” it is what all of our actions are to be done with according to 1 Corinthians 6:14. Not only that, but our love is to mimic Jesus’ love, which, according to Paul, “is surpassing knowledge.” John tells us,
      • “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” [1 Jn 4:10-11]
    • And Jesus instructs us,
      • “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” [Jn 13:34-35]
  • Ministering
    • Ministering, or serving others, is complimentary to love and also to faith. In fact, if one has faith and love, then works of ministry must follow.
      • “Hereby perceive we love, because He laid down His life for us: and we are continually indebted to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and gazes upon/analyzes that his brother has need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” [1 Jn 3:16-18] [Relevant post]
    • And we ought to endure in ministry. Remember the words of Hebrews,
      • “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” [Heb 6:10-13]
  • Faith
    • Though all the churches presumably had some measure of faith, Thyatira’s faith was well enough for Jesus to make special mention of it.
      • “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” [Heb 11:6]
  • Endurance
    • Endurance is important. The word means to “remain under” something. We are to remain under every circumstance in life with longsuffering.
    • Notes from Ephesus:
    • In addition to this, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:1, “therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.” I think it is safe to say that Thyatira was receiving an abundance of mercy in order to endure and to minister. It is also important that we endure, for “[God] will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by endurance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.” [Rom 2:6-7]
  • Thy works; and the last to be greater in number than the first
    • Their works are increasing as they press on in their faith. We are told in Corinthians,
      • “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” [1 Cor 15:58]

VERSE 20-21

"Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou continue to permit that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to continue to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not."
  1. CONDEMNATIONS
  • Thou continue to permit that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to continue to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
    • Though Jesus speaks of a literal woman living in this time period, associated, and apparently within, the church at Thyatira, let’s take some time to review the Jezebel of the Old Testament.
      • Jezebel, whose name means “un-husbanded” was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, whose name means “living with Baal.” [1 Ki 16:31] She persecuted and killed prophets of The LORD [1 Ki 18:4; 13; 45-19:2]; had the prophets of Baal eating at her table [1 Ki 18:19]; murdered in order to gain property [1 Ki 21:1-16]; stirred up Ahab to do wickedness and follow idols [1 Ki 21:25-26]; and her whoredoms and witchcrafts were many. [2 Ki 9:22] Jezebel was eventually killed by some eunuchs and Jehu’s order [2 Ki 9:31-37]
    • Similar to the Jezebel of old, this Jezebel in Thyatira stirs up the congregation to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed to idols.
    • Jesus is not pleased that they permit Jezebel. Jezebel is purporting to be a prophetess but she is leading the people astray. God says that this is worthy of death in the Torah,
      • “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.” [Deut 13:1-5]
    • Even if there is a so-called prophet which does miracles or tells the future — if that prophet leads us astray from The Bible, he is not to be listened to. I think one of the problems with Thyatira is that they were not exercising discernment in their love. Paul tells us, “and this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all discernment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ…” [Phil 1:9-10] It is not loving to allow deceivers to continue in deceit: we must keep the church pure and undefiled.
  • And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
    • Jesus is extremely longsuffering. He is always giving people, and us, time to repent from our wicked ways. We should take heed to that. Paul says,
      • “Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” [Rom 2:4]
    • It is not God’s will to bestow wrath on anyone or to punish anyone. He wants us to live; He wants us to live pure lives. But He will, He must, if a person lives in unrepentant sin.
      • “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” [2 Pe 3:9]
      • “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? Saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” [Ezek 18:23]
      • “…Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgression; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith The Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” [Ezek 18:30-32]
    • Just like our Lord is incredibly longsuffering with others, so should we be. Though it is difficult, we should aim to be “merciful, as [our] Father also is merciful” and to be moderate in judgment, knowing that eagerness to judge and condemn is sinful. Proverbs says, “a fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes” and again, “in the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride…”

VERSE 22-25

"Behold, I will cast her into a sickbed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the inmost mind/affections/emotions and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come."
  1. EXHORTATIONS
  • Behold, I will cast her into a sickbed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
    • Those who are seduced, or deceived, by this spirit of Jezebel, and who do not repent but continue in that lifestyle: these will enter into the great tribulation. The solution to avoiding this is to repent. Repent from fornication and fellowship with idols. No one who practices idolatry or fornication will enter into the kingdom of heaven.
      • Idolatry is more than just bowing down to a little figurine; more broadly, it is when we place spiritual significance in anything other than Jesus Christ: when we seek to other things/people/idea/etc for joy, peace, hope, strength, etc… – those things which only Jesus can provide.
      • Fornication is any sexual act outside of marriage or perverse sexual acts within marriage.
        • “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the sexually immoral, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” [Rev 21:8]
        • “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters…shall inherit the kingdom of God.” [1 Cor 6:9-10]
    • If anyone is committing fornication or an idolater there is hope. Jesus offers restoration. He urges those in Thyatira to repent. Continuing in Corinthians,
      • “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of The Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” [1 Cor 6:11]
  • And I will kill her children with death
    • Those who refuse to repent, along with Jezebel, are going to suffer. To be killed with death is reminiscent of the fourth horseman. Reading from Revelation 6,
      • “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” [Rev 6:7-8]
    • The language is clear: those who are engaging in these activities that Thyatira was seduced into and survive past the rapture will face the torment of The Great Tribulation.
  • And all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the inmost mind/affections/emotions and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
    • Through the judgment of these fallen brothers all the churches are going to recognize that Jesus sees all, that nothing is hidden from His fiery gaze and that He has the power to mete out all judgment. Jesus doesn’t make mistakes in His judgments. We read in Psalms, “…the judgments of The LORD are true and righteous altogether.”
    • Take note also that Jesus gives us according to our works. Our works are manifestations of what is in our heart, manifestations of our faith. The trueness of our faith will be shown through our works. James says,
      • “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” [Jam 2:17-18]
    • Perhaps Paul says it best,
      • “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of The Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.” [2 Cor 5:10-11]
  • But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come
    • Those who do not hold to this doctrine, and thus partake of the deepest parts of Satan, Jesus doesn’t ask more of them than this simple thing: “that which ye have already hold fast till I come.”

Though the admonitions of impending judgment may sound harsh, and they are, there is a sense of mercy displayed here by our Lord. Jesus desires us to repent from wickedness for He knows that those continuing in a lifestyle of repentance and bearing of fruit are saved. Those who do not exhibit that they are not truly saved. Jesus shows us this in Luke 13:1-9. In that passage He says,

"...except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." [Lk 13:1-9]

Furthermore, The LORD tells us in Jeremiah that one of the reasons for prophecies of judgment are so that the people turn and are not judged. The LORD says to Jeremiah,

"Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." [Jer 36:2-3]

VERSE 26-29

"And he that overcometh, and is keeping/guarding/observing my works unto the end, to him will I give delegated authority over the nations: And he shepherd them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken in pieces: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
  1. PROMISE

Note: those who are overcomers/overcoming are defined in 1 John: “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” [1 Jn 5:4-5]

Notice how this promise is unique among the six other churches. Jesus adds, “and is keeping/guarding/observing my works unto the end.” So Jesus is here emphasizing the necessity for keeping His works: for not only believing on Him, but working it out “with fear and trembling,” and to endure in that to the very end. For Paul says that God,

 "will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by endurance in well doing are investigating glory and honour and immortality, eternal life." [Rom 2:6-7]
  • Will I give delegated authority over the nations: And he shepherd them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken in pieces: even as I received of my Father.
    • The word for power here is “exousia.” It is the same word Jesus used when He sent out the twelve. It means delegated authority and is a strong word meaning that we will have complete authority in certain jurisdictions to shepherd.
    • To those who fulfill the two requirements of Jesus laid out here, they will, as Jesus was promised in Psalms 2:8-9, to rule the nations with a rod of iron.
    • The ruling of the saints is shown to us in Daniel, who records,
      • “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.” [Dan 7:21-22]
      • “…And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” [Dan 7:27]
  • And I will give him the morning star
    • Jesus is the Morning Star. He Himself says, “I am the Root and Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star.” [Rev 22:16]
    • Similarly to Pergamos/Pergamum, Jesus offers Thyatira Himself. Just like manna gave life to the Israelites through physical food, so too the sun gives life, providing energy to all.
  1. ADMONITION

Notice how this has now switched to the last part of the letters. This new pattern continues until the last church.

  • He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches
    • Repeated in each letter. An admonition for the reader of the letter, member of the particular church or not, to hear.

CONCLUSION

Jesus is the True Source of all energy and life. He Himself, and nothing/no one else offers what our Beloved Lord does. He offers us freedom from fornication and idolatry, a life filled with love, ministry, faith, and patience; and a life where we can increase in the grace and knowledge of Himself. If we endure to the very end, we will be able to experience Jesus in a far greater way than we ever have imagined.

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PARABLE

The parable of the woman and the leaven relates to this letter. [Mt 13:33, Lk 13:21]

  1. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven,
    • Verse 20b – to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
      • Leaven is bad doctrine, hypocrisy, malice, wickedness, spiritual and physical fornication
    • which a woman took,
      • Verse 20a – Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou continue to permit that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess,
        • Jezebel is a type of the Mystery Babylon, the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the earth.
          • Revelation 17:1-2 – “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:   With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”
          • Revelation 17:6 – “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”
    • and hid in three measures of meal,
      1. This is a fellowship offering, a meal offering. Leaven was and is placed into the fellowship of the believers by “daughters/sons of Satan.”
    • till the whole was leavened.
      1. The entire church is affected by this bad doctrine. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” [Gal 5:9]
  2. Leaven
    • Corrupt doctrine
      • “How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” [Mt 16:11-12]
    • Hypocrisy
      • “In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” [Lk 12:1]
    • Malice and wickedness
      • “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” [1 Cor 5:8]
    • It spreads
      • “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” [1 Cor 5:6]
  3. Unleavened bread
    • Sincerity and truth
      • “but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth“

CULTURAL RELEVANCE
  1. These things saith The Son of God
    • The city of Thyatira’s chief deity was Tyrimnas (Apollo), the son of Zeus.
    • Jesus is telling us that He is the real Son of God, not Apollo. Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God, and He is the judge.
  2. …and His feet are like fine brass.
    • The Greek word for “fine brass” here is χαλκολίβανον. It is transliterated chalkolibanon.
      • In Thyatira, there were many, many “blue collar” guilds. Each guild was also under the patronage of a pagan deity. One of the leading guilds of Thyatira was an extensive network of bronze smiths. They specialized in a very famous kind of bronze that we know as “burnished bronze.” In a world that didn’t have the glass technology of today, burnished bronze was the material used to produce the closest thing to mirrors they had. The Greek word for this special bronze was chalkolibanos.
      • Jesus is telling the believers in Thyatira that He is the one with the burnished, the fine, brass. Jesus Christ, The Son of God, He has feet of burnished brass, and it is His judgment that will stand, not the pagan guilds.
  3. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou contineu to permit that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to continue to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
    • A shrine outside Thyatira paid homage to the goddess Sambethe or Sambethe, a Sibyl (from the Greek sibylla, prophetess) who claimed to speak for Apollo.
  4. And I will give him the morning star.
    • The city of Thyatira’s chief deity was Tyrimnas, the son of Zeus. Tyrimnas is just another name for Apollo. Apollo’s most common epithet was “Phoebus,” which literally means “bright.” Apollo was the god of the sun.
    • Jesus is saying that He alone is the Bright Morning Star, The Sun. Jesus Christ is The Sun. He is the brightness of God’s glory. Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness.

PROPHETIC

The Church at Thyatira is prophetic of the Catholic Medieval church from 600 to 1500 AD.

  1. These things saith the Son of God
    • Contrast to Mary, “Mother of God”
  2. Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess
    • Catholicism claims to uniquely speak for God, taking the role as a prophetess.
  3. Jezebel is a type of Mystery Babylon
  4. Catholicism started in Rome.
    • Mystery Babylon is Rome.
    • Christianity married the state of Rome (mentioned in the church of Pergamos), mixing together the pagan beliefs and practices of Babylon and putting Christian names to them, and produced a daughter: Catholicism.
      • “Known the depths of satan”
  5. Catholicism is responsible for the blood of millions of God’s saints.
    • Revelation 17:6
    • 590-604 – Gregory 1, one of the purest popes and a good man.
    • 741-752 – Zacharias, made Pepin, father of Charlemagne, King of the Franks.
      • Charlemagne was a great influence in bringing the Papacy to a position of world power. After his death, the Treaty of Verdun in 843 divided his empire into basically what would become Germany, France, and Italy. This started a struggle between the Popes and German/French kings.
        • The “Holy Roman Empire” lasted 1000 years until Napoleon brought an end to it in 1806.
    • 752-757 – Stephen 2, requested Pepin to lead his army to Italy. Pepin succeeded and gave some of the land to Pope Stephen, starting the beginning of the Papal States, which lasted 1100 years.
    • 858-867 – Nicholas 1, first pope to wear a crown. In 857 “The Isidorian Decretals” were released, which were a major and deliberate forgery that were designed to exalt the power of the Pope.
    • 9th Century – East church separates itself from Rome (but is still mixed with paganism)
    • 904-911 – Sergius 3, had a mistress, Marozia. She, her mother Theodora, and her sisters filled the Papal chair with paramours and illegitimate sons and turned the Papal den into a den of robbers. This is called in history, “The rule of the harlots” (904-963; characterized by bribery, corruption, immorality, & bloodshed)
    • 914-928 – John 10, made pope by Theodora (above). Smothered to death by Marozia, who gave the Papacy to Leo 6 (928-929), Stephen 7 (929-931), and John 11 who was her own illegitimate son (931-936).
      • Another of Marozia’s sons appointed these popes: Leo 7 (936-939), Stephen 8 (939-942), Martin 3 (942-946), & Agapetus 2 (946-955).
    • 955-963 – John 12, grandson of Marozia was very corrupt. Violated women, lived with his father’s mistress, made the Papal Palace a brothel, and was killed while in the act of adultery by the woman’s husband.
    • 1012-1047 – Benedict 8 (1012-1024) & John 19 (1024-1033) bought the office with bribery. Benedict 9 (1022-1045) committed murder and adultery, was a thief, a hideous criminal, and was driven out of Rome for such.  Clement 2 (1046-1047) was appointed Pope by Emperor Henry 2 of Germany “because no Roman clergyman could be found who was free of the pollution of simony and fornication.”
    • 1049-1294 – Golden age of Papacy, which included reform and was made independent of Imperial power. Innocent 3 (1198-1216) was the most powerful Pope. He claimed to be “Vicar of Ch,” “Vicar of God,” “Supreme Sovereign over the Churches and the World,” & “All things on earth and in heaven and in hell are subject to the Vicar of Christ.” More blood was shed under his rule than any other period of church history except in the Papacy’s effort to crush the Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries.
    • The inquisition – called “The Holy Office” and instituted by Gregory 9. Under this, everyone was required to inform against heretics. Anyone suspect was liable to torture. The proceedings were also secret, and those found guilty could be imprisoned for life or burned. The victim’s property was confiscated and divided between the church and the state. The Albigenses preached against the immoralities of the priesthood, worship of saints and images, and rejected the clergy. In 1208, Pope Innocent 3 ordered a crusade in which the bloody war of extermination killed many towns and innocent inhabitants until all the Albigenses were wiped out.
      • 1294-1303 – Boniface 8 said that it was necessary for salvation that every creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff. He was extremely corrupt. When Dante visited Rome, he said the Vatican was a “sewer of corruption.”
      • 1540-1570 – In these years and estimated 900,000 Protestants were put to death by the Pope’s war against Waldenses, a group with emphasized Bible reading and rejected the clergy.
    • 1410-1503 – Renaissance Popes.
      • John 23 (1410-1415) – called by some the most depraved criminal who ever sat on the Papal throne. Violated virgins and nuns, lived in adultery with his brother’s wife, guilty of sodomy, and many other things. Bought his office and sold Cardinalates to children of wealthy families.
      • Pius 2 (1458-1464) – Spoke openly of his methods used to seduce young women.
      • Paul 2 (1464-1471) – Filled his house with concubines
      • Sixtus 4 (1471-1484) – Decreed that money would deliver you from purgatory, implicated in plots to murder those who opposed him.
      • Innocent 8 (1484-1492) – multiplied church offices and sold them for money
      • Alexander 6 (1492-1503) – Called the most corrupt of all Renaissance popes.
    • Martin Luther – Habbakuk 2:4 become his life verse, and on October 31, 1517 he nails 95 theses to the door at Wittenburg College. He was told to retract it or die and Luther publicly burned the notice and the reformation was born.
    • Centuries of Wars
      • The thousands killed by the hands of Caesars are dwarfed in comparison to the millions killed by the Vatican. These wars were all started by Roman Catholic Kings and urged on by the Popes.
      • War on German protestants – 1566-1609
      • War on Netherland Protestants – 1566-1609
      • Huguenot Wars in France – 1572-1598
      • Philip’s attempt against England – 1588
      • Thirty years war – 1618-1648

ACCOMPANYING EPISTLE

The epistles of Galatians correspond to this letter from Jesus to Thyatira.

  1. to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
    • Galatians 5:9
      • A little leaven, leavens the whole lump. Just a little bit of sin in a church can spread. We need to be diligent not to spread or cling to false doctrine, worldly doctrine, or worldly compromise.
    • But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.  
      • Galatians 1:6-12
        • Our doctrine comes from one person – Jesus Christ. Anything that does not glorify Jesus Christ, anything that cannot be verified by Jesus Christ or by His word, is wrong.
    • I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation[……]But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.   And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:   And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.   And I will give him the morning star.
      • Galatians 1:4
        • It is God’s will that we cling to Jesus Christ, that through the power of Jesus Christ, we would be delivered from this present evil world.
    • But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.   And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end
      • Galatians 6:7-10
        • God is not mocked. You will sow what you reap. So for us, we should hold fast in doing good works, in not fornicating with the world, but “not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

One thought on “The Revelation of Jesus Christ Pt 9, 2:18-29”

  1. Pingback: Notes on Seven Church Letters of Revelation – Bright And Morning Star

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