Introduction to Revelation

Listen in as Dr. J starts a study of Revelation!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Welcome to Dr. J in the Bible. Quick shout out to Cincinnati, Ohio. Welcome. Glad you're listening. And hope everyone is doing good today. Glory be to God. We're looking at Revelation chapter 2, Jesus' messages to the first four churches. And we're looking at this. These four churches, these churches were actual historic churches in John's day, symbolic of seven types of churches that exist at all times, and a prophetic timeline of the church age from a classic pre-trib interpretation. Chapter 2, we look at focusing on the church of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatara. So Revelation chapter 2, 1 through 7, Ephesus is that church. And Ephesus was one of the most important and influential cities in the Roman Empire, often called the Gateway to Asia, served as the capital of the Roman province of Asia Minor. It was a thriving port city located on major trade routes, making it wealthy, cosmopolitan, cultural diversity. And the city was famous for the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, drawing pilgrims, tourists, and massive commercial activity. Ephesus was filled with statues, shrines, temples dedicated to many gods, making it the center of pagan religion, occult practices, and had a huge theater seating around 25,000 people, bustling markets, bathhouses, libraries, paved streets lined with shops. Socially, it was the lively but spiritually dark, marketed by immorality, idolatry, and magical arts, much of which the early Christians had to resist. Economically powerful, it was a banking, it had a banking system, it was self-governed, it was culturally influential and religious plural pluralistic, where it had many, many different religions, not exclusive but inclusive, kind of like today where we live. Ephesus was a city of great opportunity, but had intense spiritual pressures for believers. When we look at Ephesus, it was famous for its magicians and sorcerers and fortune tellers. In Acts chapter 19, 18 to 20, uh records many believers renouncing magic, burning their scrolls of sorcery, uh totaling 50,000 pieces of silver, and magical practices included incantations, charms, and spells, often linked to pagan deities. The city's dominant temple, the temple Artemis or Diana, it's quite interesting how Satan will confuse even then gender by uh Diana, which is a feminine, and Artemis, which is a masculine. Nevertheless, they believed that Artemis or Diana was fall fell out of the sky and uh from the gods. And it was it was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. Artemis' uh worship included ritualistic ceremonies, likely with elements of divination and mysticism. And many religion, many residents were devoutly pagan, practicing ceremonies that we would now consider cultic or spiritually deceptive. Astrology in Ephesus was big. Um, Ephesus was like much of Asia Minor, strong astrological traditions. They worship the stars. People sought guidance from stars and signs and seeking in the future, like fortune tellers and wise men to predict. Ephesus church had to navigate this. It had intensive spiritual opposition while maintaining faithfulness to Christ. Paul's ministry in Acts 19, the letters of Ephesus indicate the resisting this. We also know the spiritual warfare in Ephesians chapter 6. Paul spells it out, we don't fight against flesh and blood. And this all comes back to Ephesus. Timothy, 1 and 2 Timothy, Timothy ends up becoming a pastor in Ephesus. Um we'll get into that more as we get through this. But Ephesus also represented the church, uh apostolic church. And the early church was the apostles. It was not, they had no denominations. Some ways that's good, and some ways it's bad. You know, I think denominations do set boundaries. Uh, I think they also create legalism. And so I think there's a pro and a con to that. Leadership came from the apostles and the elders, Paul, John, and Timothy. And worship was centered on house churches, uh teaching from scripture and apostolic tradition. There was no formal denomination, but the unity, largely doctrine and faith in Christ, was central. When we look at this, it says that in verse one, he who holds the seven stars, this speaks of his sovereignty. God in his sovereignty, his right hand holds power, the seven stars, which are the pastors or angels. And he who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. And those lampstands represent the church. So Jesus is not sitting down on the job in heaven. He's actively involved with his church before the rapture. He holds the church leaders in his hand. He speaks and he shows his sovereignty and protection. And he's walking through the church like a gardener tending his lamps. Ephesus in chapters two, uh chapter two, uh two through three, Jesus praises their hard work and patience and discernment against false teachers. Uh the apostolic church was doctrinally solid. You had Paul, you had Peter, you had John, you had Pete, you had uh James. But the problem came because they were so focused on the urgency of the gospel. Nothing wrong with that. I mean, they were so intense that they began to lose their first love. And you can't lose your first love unless you had your first love. So Ephesus lost passion and affection for Christ. The love cooled as the first generation of believers died off. And a marriage is similar, where the routines continue, but you're married, but the intimacy fades because it becomes loveless. It becomes more rote or mechanical or robotic. So that's a warning to marriage as well. It's a warning to our relationship with Jesus. It's a warning to our relationship with our spouse. And Jesus says in verse 5, repent, or I will remove your lampstand. A church can lose this witness even if it maintains doctrine. You can be absolutely right on doctrine and everything else, but you not have love, and he will remove. I've seen it. He will remove your lampstand. And he promises in verse 7 to overcomers to eat from the tree of life. You know, this points to uh restored Eden and the millennial kingdom, the and the eternal state. That's gonna be good. In Revelation chapter 2, 8 through 11, the letter to Smyrna, I like that word, Smyrna. Yeah. This is an interesting one. Smyrna was a prosperous port city on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, modern day Ismir, Turkey, strategically located on a major trade route known as the Crown of Ionia. It was culturally Greek but under Roman political control, boasting a natural harbor, bustling marketplace similar to Ephesus, theater, luxurious goods, and the city was heavily devoted to pagan worship and Roman emperor cult, particularly emperor worship, which created intense pressure on the early Christian community. Christians in Smyrna faced persecution, poverty, even the threat of death for refusing to participate in civic religious practices. Yet the church remained spiritually rich and faithful. Unlike Ephesus, which struggled with doctrinal compromise in waning love, Smyrna challenge was endurance under suffering, making it a model of perseverance and steadfastness of faith in the early church. Now Smyrna is AD 100 to 313 AD. It was known as the persecuted church. Christianity was still largely underground and non-denominational. Persecution by Rome forced believers to meet secretly. Early theological distinctions were minimal, though heresies like Gnosticism were beginning to emerge. Gnosticism was this belief Gnostic Genosos, spirit, it was basically the belief that the flesh was evil. They also believed in secret um well information, secret knowledge. I think a lot of the cults, even today, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons, are like offshoots through the Gnostics. Even the cults of Freemasonry, secret societies, build off Gnosticism of secret knowledge. And so, yeah, that is it was a big heresy back then. Matter of fact, the Gospel of John was written based off combating Gnostic heretics. That's why people didn't doubt Jesus was God in the early church. They doubted that he came in the flesh because of Gnostic heresy. So the church was defined by faithful adherence to Christ under persecution, once again, rather than denominational lines. It's amazing to me when you're under persecution, you forget your differences and you focus on what you have in common. Verse 8, Christ as the first and the last shown to the suffering church to remind them persecution does not have to be the final word. Christ overcame death, and he will never leave you or forsake you. Poverty, but rich. Smyrna financially was poor, but spiritually rich. It was battered, but faithful, but a faithful believer, shining with internal treasure and diamond. It was coal from the world's perspective, but diamond from God's. I would rather be that way than rich in this world and poor for heaven. Verse 10, you will have tribulation ten days. Some take this to mean ten literal waves of Roman persecution. Some say ten symbolic periods of intense suffering. But nevertheless, it's limited duration of suffering that God controls. This is not the tribulation, it's persecution within the church age. Lots of people want to say if you're pre-trib, you believe the rapture's coming and rescuing you, you don't want to go through the tribulation. Why don't? And I do believe in tribulation for to the saints of God, the church. We all go through tribulation. But the difference is, is the great tribulation is specifically the wrath of God. It's not the same as the the tribulation we go through in the world that we do today, because we still have the Holy Spirit. Believers, faithful believers, escaped the second death in Thyatara. Revelation 2, 12 through 17 is Pergamum. Pergamum was another one that was a prominent city in Roman province of Asia, located inland on a hilltop overlooking the Caucasus River Valley. It was wealthy, politically influential, renowned as the center of learning culture, medicine. Boasting a famous library that rivaled Alexandria. The city was a hub of pagan worship and emperor cults, the temples dedicated to Zeus, Athena, and the god of healing, as well as altars to the Roman emperors. This created a spiritually challenging environment for Christians in Pergamum. Civic and religious life were closely intertwined, pressuring believers to compromise their faith. The church in Pergamum was praised for holding fast to Christ's name despite living where Satan's throne is. Yet some members tolerated false teachings and practices symbolized by the doctrine of Balaam and Nicolaitans. Pergamum's church exemplifies the challenge of compromise and moral danger within a powerful influential society, highlighting the need for discernment and faithfulness. So this church was the symbolic of the church period of 313 AD, 600 AD, and the church married to the state after Constantine. So really, this is the Catholic Church. After Constantine legalized, actually Theodosius legalized it, Constantine just uh, he uh really started the formation. He did that under the edict of Milan Milan uh A.D. 313, and the church became institutionalized and intertwined with the Roman state. And so basically, in it was really, some people argue that Constantine was a believer. Maybe he was, but I doubt it. Okay. Only God knows. And so it is believed that in order, they many, many of the leaders of Rome saw the fall coming, destruction of the Roman Empire. And really, for every one Christian, seven more rows that the emperor killed. And so basically, if we can't beat them, we'll join them by becoming religious. And that's that's the what I believe from what history says, that, and from the Bible, it says it right here, that uh they became Christianized in order to try to save the Roman Empire, but paganized Christianity. And so this is the dominant form of the Catholic Christianity, pre-Reformation, with the bishops and the Pope gaining political influence. And pagan practices and emperor worship influenced some parts of the church, but reflecting compromise, warned against in Pergamum. And so what they did when they Christianized the Roman Empire and the government, they basically went to all their cult occults, like uh Isis worship, which was the goddess Isis from Egypt, and they put Mary where that was, Mary and Jesus, and that's where the high elevation Mary goes. And they went to the uh Babyl uh not the Babylonians, but the um some of the other ones, where they had their gods that that they worshipped because they're heroes, and that uh instead of praying to all these other gods, they made the saints, each saint, uh their own type of representative of Christ. So what they did, in short, was they took all this to integrate in paganism, and the gospel would become very watered down and pagan. Yeah. In verse 12, it represents his authority and ability to judge false teaching. That's Jesus with the sharp double-edged sword. In verse 13, where Satan dwells, Pergamum was the center of emperor worship, a deep pagan environment, very dark. There was a picture of the church mingling with the world. And it gave two major errors, Jesus did, in 14 and 15. The doctrine of Balaam, the compromise of immorality, and Nicolaitan teaching, which religious hierarchy dominated, dominated the people. As Christianity gained political influence, moral and doctrinal compromise entered the church. And so Jesus warned, repent, or Christ will fight you with his word, with his word. And then verse 17 talks about the hidden manna and the white stone, symbols of intimate fellowship and acceptance. The white stone in ancient courts, the white stone equaled acquittal. In games, white stone meant victory, it was a victory token. Some see it as a symbol of a rapture, of the rapture reward. So as we see this, we see that God is working with a different types of churches throughout different periods of time. And God will get his message through it, no matter what type of church it is, whether it's Ephesus, whether it's um Thyatara, whether it's Pergamos, God will accomplish his goal and he won't fail. Um the next one that we're looking at is the corrupt church of Thyatara. Thyatara was a prosperous commercial city in Asian mire, known for its trade guilds, especially those dealing with dyeing and textiles and manufacturing, which gave it a reputation for wealth and industry. The city's strong guild culture pressured believers to participate in pagan rituals associated with commerce, creating moral and spiritual challenges for the church. And the church in Thyatora was commended for its love, its faith, service, perseverance, yet it tolerated a false teacher symbolized as Jezebel, who promoted idolatry and immorality. And it really illustrates to us how long-term compromise within the church can take root even amid faithful believers. That's why Jesus talked about the yeast. A little yeast ruins the whole batch. And that, you know, we uh have to be serious about doctrine in churches. Because a little compromise ruins it all, spreads like wildfire. And Thyatora exemplifies a church that's facing internal spiritual corruption, highlighting the need for discernment, repentance, and steadfastness in faith while maintaining Christ-centered devotion. Thyatora was AD 600 to 1500 AD, is known as the corrupt medieval church, dominated from the Roman Catholic Church in medieval Europe, characterized by hierarchical structure, widespread influence over society, and the doctrinal authority claimed by the papacy. During this era, many see the fulfillment of Jezebel influence on false teaching, idolatry, corruption within the institutional church. And this is the longest letter that Jesus wrote, reflecting the long duration of the era it symbolizes. In verse 18, the eyes of fire, the feet of bronze, Jesus represents the penetrating judgment, the purifying justice the church receives, the harshest correction. Because just like the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, they claimed to see, but they couldn't. They were blind. Commendations, they have love, faith, service, perseverance, but love doesn't cancel sin. And love doesn't love without truth is a lie. So they were they were manifesting these qualities, but they did not have the gospel. We still see that today in many churches, including the Roman Catholic Church. The Jezebel influence is the false symbolic of the false teaching, the immorality and idolatry, spiritual manipulation. And the corruption and the idolatry in the medieval church specifically. Merging of pagan practices within Christianity. In 21 through 23, Christ gives a judgment. Christ gives time to repent and then warns tribulation for false teachers, judgment for those who follow corruption. The true believer, the rest of you, versus the corrupted system. It's a picture of how God separates true believers from compromised institutions. And it really tells us, I mean, sometimes God, God uses false teachers to separate who's really a believer. Yeah. That's one way he separates the goats from the sheep. It's a judgment of God. He gives them what they want. Verses 24 through 25, hold fast until I come. It means that faithful believers are to remain uncorrupted. Christ's return is implied as imminent, meaning it could happen anytime. And the reward in 26 through 29, authority of the millennial kingdom. Believers will rule nations with Christ. This is not symbolic or spiritual. It's literal in the millennial reign. Receive the morning star. It's symbolic of Christ Himself. I mean, that's what we need. We don't need fame or fortune. We need Jesus. And so this really reinforces a literal earthly reign after the second coming of the millennial kingdom. And it really gives the believer hope. Hope that this is not it. And what we're doing, living now, is preparation for eternity. Today is the day of salvation. My hope is that you know the Lord and you're getting blessed through this, and I hope that you will eat this up and remember that God can take your mess and He can turn it into a message for His glory and for your good.