EPISODE 257 REVELATION CHAPTER 3 "More Letters to Churches"

Welcome to Share the Word. Revelation chapter 3 focuses on more letters to the churches. Pastor Paul addresses the messages that Jesus had to the final four churches. But if you are just joining us, may I suggest that you go back and listen to episodes 255 and 256 to get a clearer picture. Here we go. Revelation chapter 3.

More messages to churches. Paul McCartney, after his Beatles days, started a band called Wings. I'm dating myself now because this was when I was in high school. One of their most popular songs that's stuck in my head was titled Let 'Em In. Like a lot of pop songs at the time, I liked it, but had little idea what it meant, if anything. Someone's knocking at the door, someone's ringing the bell.

Do me a favor, open the door, let 'em in. Oh, let 'em in. Ring a bell. In an interview many years later, McCartney said it was just a song about letting good people and good ideas and good influences into your life. Then I heard him tell how once he had a knock on his door during his early Beatles days, and when he went to the door, there was a man there he didn't know, and so he asked who he was. The man said he was Jesus.

McCartney said, I thought that was odd, but hey, you never know, he said with a wink, so I let him in, and we had tea. He even invited him to a recording session they had scheduled later that day, told him if he stayed quiet and over in the corner, he could listen in. He said he never saw the guy again after that day. I thought of that song, Let 'Em In, because of something in one of the letters to the churches John delivers on behalf of Christ in Revelation chapter 2 and 3. We'll get to it in a few moments. These were letters, remember, to real Christian churches near the end of the first century, congregations John likely spent time with as he served as kind of an overseer of early Christianity in that region.

But the messages recorded are also timeless and representational. They could be to churches in any era. This episode, we're going to focus on the final four: to Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Let me describe some of their highlights. I should note for you, there are a lot of symbols and coded language in Revelation, as you probably know, often tied to Old Testament concepts and passages. It's not our purpose with Share the Word to try and unravel all of these, or certainly to speculate on possible hidden meanings John had behind everything.

Our purpose here, as always, is to convey the biggest ideas in each chapter. The message for Thyatira starts at chapter 2, verse 14, and goes like this: This is what the Son of God, the one who has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished bronze, says. As Margie described in her intro to Revelation, it's a revelation of Jesus Christ. One of the last times John saw Jesus was after his resurrection on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, which he describes in chapter 21 of his Gospel. He was with Jesus, still as a man, sitting on the beach. They were eating fish that Jesus had prepared for them over some coals after a night of bad fishing.

But now, when he sees Jesus in this vision many years later, and he sees him in his real heavenly persona, and he appears as an awesome, even frightening character, John fell down before this being like a dead man, he says. He needed Jesus to actually touch him and say, John, don't be afraid. It's still me. The point is, the Jesus who shows up on our pages of the Gospels in temporary human form is the same awesome character who John describes in Revelation, now in his eternal, powerful God the Son form. Jesus Christ, his essence is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His message for the church at Thyatira begins with some very solid commendations.

I know your deeds and your love and your faith and service and perseverance, and that your last deeds are greater than at first. Thyatira was a smaller town, but apparently the church had grown and had been doing well. The place was known at the time for textile production. A woman named Lydia, who Paul met in Philippi during his missionary journeys, was originally from this town, if you remember, Acts chapter 16, and she was a merchant who sold purple cloth. We don't know of any visit by Paul's team to Thyatira, so Lydia may well be the person who first took the gospel back there. But at this point, now around 50 years later, the church at Thyatira had a serious problem.

Jesus' message went on, You tolerate the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and deceives my servants so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. Sounds like at this point, the church included a domineering woman who claimed to be a prophet of God and was leading people astray with dangerous false ideas. The effect was members were being led to believe that it was okay for Christians to participate in local pagan immorality and idolatry. I don't think her name was actually Jezebel, by the way. That's an allusion to an infamous Old Testament character, a non-Jewish woman who was married to the weak king of Israel called Ahab. We read about those two in First Kings.

That Jezebel encouraged the people of Israel then to mix the practices of the pagan Baal cult with the worship of Yahweh, and so led Israel into immorality and idolatry, which ended up contributing to the downfall of the nation. Now, there is another one, a woman who, just like her, was misleading people in Thyatira, and she was obviously not a prophet of God. John knew that. Always be careful of people who claim to be prophets. Every false religion and cult from John's day to ours got its start when naive Christians believed someone claiming they had new revelation from God.

Such false prophets often tell people what they want to hear and assure people wrong beliefs and practices—I mean wrong according to the only standard that matters, God's Word—are fine with God, as this woman was doing, greenlighting their participation in idolatry and immorality that was so prevalent in their culture. To maybe get a better picture of this, industries at the time were often controlled by guilds, sort of like modern-day labor unions. And each of these guilds had their own patron god or goddess. Part of being a member was to participate in pagan parties and festivals sponsored by your guild dedicated to these pagan gods, which included stuff Christians should never, ever do. But this Jezebel, false prophet character in Thyatira claimed God gave her the message that, hey, it's okay to join in.

I watched a piece of video from a church service, church in quotes, the other day, and the woman preacher was telling her congregation that abortion is often an act of sacrifice to God. I had to back up and listen again, and sure enough, she claimed, The most compassionate, godly thing you can do sometimes is to love yourself enough to get rid of a fetus you don't want or don't think you can care for. My word. A modern Jezebel delivering a message little different from the pagan religions of the past that sacrificed their children to demon gods. But that kind of crazy, completely contrary to Scripture apostate teaching was going on in Thyatira in the first century, and the message from Jesus was, Unless she and her followers repent, I, the one who searches minds and hearts, am coming in judgment, and I will repay each one according to their deeds.

Do you think there are very many professing Christian churches around like this today? Tragically, thousands of them. I drove by a small denominational church in a town close to me, close to where I live, the other day and saw a large rainbow banner hanging outside, proudly identifying their church with the LGBTQ movement. I immediately thought of this passage. When supposedly Christian leaders openly identify with things and encourage things, telling people what they want to hear about things rather than what God's Word actually says about things, they are begging for judgment. There's nothing Christ hates more than those who claim to speak for Him telling people damning lies.

If you're in such an apostate church, the message in Revelation is, Come out of her, my people. When an organization calling itself a church will no longer speak of Jesus as a righteous judge, who will no longer call what he calls good good and what he calls evil evil, they are overtaken by apostasy, and they are heading for judgment. What was being tolerated by the church at Thyatira, Jesus called, probably sarcastically, the deep things of Satan. The woman they were listening to, who claimed to have deep insights from God, was really, in reality, just a mouthpiece for Satan, deceiving naive members into accepting things God already told us in his Word he hates. The message from Jesus to the church at Thyatira was, Realize I, the one who has eyes like a flame of fire and sees everything that's going on, I see what's going on in your church. Judgment is coming if you do not repent.

To the fifth church, the one at the city of Sardis, the message was, You have a name that you are alive, but you're dead. Wake up and strengthen the things that remain which are about to die. This church, too, was in trouble. They were trying, apparently, to live off past reputation, like, you know, Back in the '70s, we supported 30 different missionaries. Remember when our youth group was so active and our choir could put on the most beautiful programs? Okay.

And lately, little if anything God cares about is happening lately. Haven't baptized a new believer in anyone's memory. They're no longer preaching the whole counsel of God because they no longer really believe the Bible is God's very Word. Are there churches around who are just going through the motions, living in the past, fooling themselves that by keeping the doors open, they are being faithful? Yeah, way too many of them. I've been invited to speak at a few of them not that long ago, and I can tell you, just walking in, they were dead as a doornail.

The remaining members just couldn't admit that to themselves yet. There may be a few real believers left, but such dead churches, if they don't have the energy and conviction and gifted leaders to return to fruitfulness, would do better to shut down, so the few remaining believers there whose faith is real can get engaged with a local church that is alive and well and use their time and resources to actually advance God's objectives for His church. Very positive things are said to the six of the churches, the one at Philadelphia, and interesting things too, like, I know your deeds. Behold, I have set before you an open door that no one can shut because you have a little power and have kept My word and have not denied My name. I will also therefore keep you from the hour of testing, which is about to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming quickly.

Hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown, meaning the rewards that Jesus will award believers at the Bema seat. I grew up in a non-denominational Bible church named The Church of the Open Door. Always loved that name, and it was taken from this text. I appreciate that church because it was faithful to God's word and serious about the Great Commission of Christ, just like its first-century namesake here, who Jesus is commending. Because of their faithfulness, some great promises were made to the church at Philadelphia. First, about the open door, meaning great opportunities which God Himself was opening for them to increase their impact and the reach of their ministry.

But another was stated as, I am giving up those of the synagogue of Satan, those who say they are Jews and are not. Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and make them know that I have loved you. This refers to, as we mentioned before, Jewish opponents of the early Christians. The promise to them was that the time is coming when these people will realize and confess that they have been dead wrong about Jesus, as the apostle Paul had been when he persecuted the early church. Whether this promise meant some of those then opposing their church would soon convert to Christianity, or whether it's pointing to some time in the future, to something that will happen perhaps at the judgment, is uncertain. But who it is that belongs to God will become clear.

The promise to this church that's gotten the most ink over the years is the third one. Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming quickly. Those who interpret prophetic scriptures, I do, understand this to be a promise that church age believers will not go into the tribulation at the end of this age. One reason is this sounds like more than a promise of some immediate divine protection over one local church, because keep you from means literally keep you out of. And what they are kept out of is described as an hour of testing which is about to come upon the whole world.

No one knows when Jesus will return. But had it been in their generation, the promise to them was they were not going to have to go into the tribulation and endure what happens then. They will be kept out of it. The I am coming quickly, suddenly, is a reminder that Jesus' return is imminent. This is not the place those of us who believe the church will be raptured, that is taken up to heaven before the seven-year tribulation dawns, not the place I would go to first to make that case. That would be 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, as we discussed back in episode 87.

But things said here in Revelation 3 and 4 are consistent with and supportive of that view. We'll get into that a little more in our next lesson, I think. The fourth promise to the Christians in Philadelphia is one of even more assurance. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, and he will never go out from it anymore. And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven. Interestingly, when you go back and look at what remains of these ancient cities, it's often the large pillars of their once great buildings which have amazingly withstood the earthquakes and the elements over the centuries.

Many are still standing there after 2,000 years. The overcomers in these verses are true believers who stood firm, and the promises to them are piled one upon another. They belong to God. God knows who they are. They will certainly be with Christ in his coming kingdom. Remember, the application of these messages are not limited to these historical churches John first wrote to.

They are representative. True believers and followers of Jesus, I'm one, I hope you are too, all have God's mark on them. And the one who has the keys to the coming kingdom has a place prepared for every one of us in the New Jerusalem, which is just another name for heaven. So, are there still faithful churches like the one in Philadelphia who have stayed true to God's word and are busy doing the work of Christ that he has given the church to do, sharing the gospel, building up in the faith those who receive the message? Yes, thank God, absolutely. And you should be a part of one if you aren't already.

You might have to look a little bit, but churches remaining faithful to God's word and the Great Commission are alive and well all over the globe. If you can't find one where you live, message us where it is that you live, and we'll try to help you. The final letter to the church at Laodicea is jolting. This is what the Amen, the faithful and true witness says: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot, and so because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, I don't need anything,' and you do not know that you are in fact wretched and pitiable, poor, blind and naked.

I advise you, buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourselves, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be manifest, and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. At my house, we still have, unfortunately, well water. Some people have pretty good tasting water. Depends on how deep their well goes, maybe. But at my house, it is yuck.

I have to have two filters on my water line before I use it for anything and still don't like to drink it. It's kind of slimy and has too much orange iron or phosphorus and who knows what else in it. What I've read about Laodicea, that historical town at the time was that although cities nearby like Hierapolis had hot springs and cool, clear streams like at Colossi, their water supply had to travel miles through underground aqueducts and was barely potable. Christ told John that's how this church affected him, like trying to drink lukewarm, slimy water. The word he uses literally means it gagged him, made him want to reject them like spitting out a mouthful of tepid, foul-tasting, nasty water. Yet in their own eyes, they felt pretty good about themselves.

They were wealthy. They were satisfied. They had need of nothing. This sounds to me like what's sometimes called churchianity, people involved in respectable religion, participating in proper religious services, but without any inner reality to them. People imagining that they're in a good place with God because they are members of some long-established professing Christian church. They can recite the creeds and know the prayers, but they have never had any real encounter with Christ.

And worse, don't think they need one. Are there still churches around full of people like this? Sadly, yes. Sadly, because how those at Laodicea imagined themselves and how Jesus really saw them couldn't have been any further apart. When Jesus counseled them to get eye salve and gold refined by fire and to be clothed with white garments, actually those were things that had to do with some of the major products that came from their town. So he was urging them, using these as metaphors for spiritual realities, he was urging them about things they completely lacked.

They were complacent in religion, in which Christ had no part. They needed their eyes opened. They needed to be by faith clothed with His righteousness. They needed the things God sees as valuable. So, repent was the message. Change your minds, open your hearts.

I'm standing at the door and knocking. Let me in. It's true of every individual, and it's true of every church. None are compelled. Christ knocks, but we must want to let Him in. That's what the message was to Laodicea.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with me. He who overcomes, I will grant to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne. That man Paul McCartney invited into band practice was okay there if he kept out of the way and kept quiet. That's not the real Jesus for sure. Jesus wants to come in and give us a new heart, revive our churches so their lights burn brighter, and be the rightful center of things as He deserves to be.

We don't know the outcome for each of these first century churches, but the value in these messages now is not how people and churches long ago responded. But how we will. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Thanks for listening. This is Paul for Share the Word. Thanks, Paul.

You know, as we go through the last book of the New Testament, the book of Revelation, I'm reminded of the enormity and the importance of this project. Enormity because the amount of work that went into each episode by our teachers was truly an act of love, obedience, and worship to God. And the next step, well, that's exciting. It's to take everything we've done and go to the ends of the earth with God's Word to everyone. Our promise has always been to provide at no cost all that's been produced for download and sharing. And now we pray that if you enjoy this podcast and its contents, you'll not only share it, but also consider becoming a financial sponsor.

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