First Baptist Church of Tawas City Michigan
Rev. Bruce A. Shields
www.tawasbaptist.org
Revelation Chapter 2
Vs. 18-29: to the church in Thyatira
Key Verse; Revelation 1:19
“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.”
Revelation Chapter 1: Things you have seen,
Revelation Chapter 2 & 3: The things which are,
Revelation Chapters 4 – 22: The things which shall be hereafter.
Chapter 2 & 3 – The Things that Are.
Chapter 1 – We see the Lord Jesus as the Glorified One.
Chapter 2&3 – We see the Lord Jesus as the Head over the Church.
Chapter 4-22 – We see the Lord Jesus as the Triumphant One.
We will see the Lords striking message to the seven churches of Asia.
They are applicable to the churches of today.
Before the vision of the Father in Heaven in Revelation Chapter 4, we have the vision and words of the Son, Jesus Christ in Chapters 1 – 3.
We must know the Son before we can know the Father. He is the only way to God.
18 – Called the “Papal Church,” signifying the beginning of Catholicism; with Pergamos laying the foundation, it began about 500AD and continues even today.
19 – Some in the church, as wrong as it was, continued to love the Lord; the Lord knew who they were.
19b – “Works” are mentioned twice, with the last being in a negative sense, meaning they were depending on this instead of Christ and the Cross.
20 – The Lord is speaking here of spiritual fornication and adultery, which means they had forsaken Christ for other things.
Romans 7:1-4
“1 Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know the law—that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 3 So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.”
Christ is alive, therefore we, as the bride, belong to Him alone. To forsake Him for another religion or belief is spiritual adultery and fornication. In essence, we are ‘cheating’ on Jesus.
This principle only applies to those who belong to Christ to begin with.
21 – The Church did not heed the message, and, in fact, continues in their “Salvation by works” unto this day, which of course, is false.
22 – The “bed” refers to false teachers who taught Salvation by works, which was spiritual adultery. Again, there was a warning to repent.
23a – Speaks of spiritual death.
23b – He that searches…This is a continuous ongoing searching.
23c – I will give according to your works…one can look at the works of an individual and ascertain exactly where their faith is. True works proclaim the fruit of the spirit.
Galatians 5:22, 23
“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Ephesians 5:8-10
“8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord.”
24a – not this doctrine …Have not succumbed to the teaching of Jezebel.
24b – known the depths of Satan…the teaching of Jezebel was spiritual adultery, which was a departure from Christ and is labeled here as “the depths of Satan”.
24c – None other burden…meaning their total burden was the opposing of “jezebel teaching”, which was a tremendous responsibility within itself.
25a – That which you have already, hold fast…hold to the cross, and don’t allow your faith to be moved to other things.
25b – till I come…the rapture of the Church.
26a – And he who overcomes, and keeps My works unto the end…it is “His works,” and not “our works”; pure and simple, it is what Jesus did at the cross on our behalf.
26b – to him will I give power over the nations…speaks of the coming Kingdom Age. (Thousand year reign).
27a – refers to the fact that the Saints of God in the coming Kingdom Age under Christ will rule the nations, not allowing evil to prevail or even take root.
27b – even as I received my Father…In the day of His coming, we shall share in His power and glory of victory!
28 – The “Morning Star” is the bright planet [Venus], which is the most beautiful and leads on the morning. This says the coming Kingdom Age will be glorious beyond compare.
29 – The spirit is saying that to leave Christ and the cross is to commit spiritual adultery, which will result in spiritual death.
