Studies in Revelation
by Dr. John H. Roller
Chapter 2
Verses 18-29
Introduction
The message to the church in Thyatira is the longest of the seven messages – both in terms of the number of verses in the text (12, as opposed to 7 for Ephesus, 4 for Smyrna, 6 for Pergamum, 6 for Sardis, 7 for Philadelphia, and 9 for Laodicea) and in terms of the number of years of history covered (980, as opposed to 73 for Ephesus, 212 for Smyrna, 226 for Pergamum, 282 for Sardis, 117 for Philadelphia, and probably only a few more than 95 for Laodicea).
Revelation 2:18
TO THE ANGEL OF THE ASSEMBLY IN THYATIRA (representing the Medieval Age, from AD 538, when the Bishop of Rome proclaimed his office to be that of ‘Papacy,’ to AD 1517, when the Protestant Reformation began) WRITE: ‘THE SON OF GOD, WHO HAS HIS EYES LIKE A FLAME OF FIRE (see Daniel 10:6 and Revelation 1:14), AND HIS FEET ARE LIKE BURNISHED BRASS (see Daniel 10:6 and Revelation 1:15), SAYS THESE THINGS:
Revelation 2:19
“I KNOW YOUR WORKS (the Church, in the Medieval Age, was very big on ‘works,’ even viewing them as a means to salvation), YOUR LOVE (there is no question but that millions of members of the Church, in the Medieval Age, were very devoted to Jesus), FAITH (in the sense of ‘faithfulness’ – their ability to continue believing throughout all of the changing circumstances of their times), SERVICE (certainly a tremendous amount of work was accomplished, in the name of Christ, during this era), PATIENT ENDURANCE (‘stick-to-it-iveness’), AND THAT YOUR LAST WORKS ARE MORE THAN THE FIRST (the sheer quantity of work that was accomplished during that age far exceeded the quantity of work that was accomplished during the Apostolic Age).
Revelation 2:20
BUT (after only one verse of commendation, the text continues with Jesus’ words of judgment against the Church of this era) I HAVE THIS AGAINST YOU, THAT YOU TOLERATE YOUR WOMAN, JEZEBEL (the literal woman, Jezebel, was the daughter of Ethbaal, the idol-worshipping king of Phoenicia – the country that is now called ‘Lebanon’ – and the wife of Ahab, the idol-worshipping king of Israel; she is used here in Revelation 2:20 as a symbol to represent the idol-worshipping leadership of the Medieval Church), WHO CALLS HERSELF A PROPHETESS (a messenger from God). SHE (the organizational Papacy, which called itself ‘the Vicar of Christ’ – the ‘Representative of God on Earth’) TEACHES AND SEDUCES MY SERVANTS TO COMMIT SEXUAL IMMORALITY (not physical ‘sexual immorality’ – actually, the Church, during this era, was very much opposed to physical sexual immorality, and promoted its opposite, virginity, more than any other organization in history has ever done; but ‘sexual immorality’ is used here in Revelation 2:20 as a symbol for idol worship, and the ‘idol worship’ taught by the Church, during this era, was the extreme ‘reverence’ for the Papacy that put the popes on a level with God Himself: at one point, the ‘slogan’ written on the Pope’s throne, in Rome, was, ‘Our Lord God, the Pope’), AND TO EAT THINGS SACRIFICED TO IDOLS (this may be a reference to the Roman tradition of ‘offering’ the Mass as a ‘sacrifice’ before a statue of Jesus, whereas the Bible makes it clear that the Eucharist is simply a memorial of Jesus’ sacrifice – not a ‘sacrifice’ in itself – and that it is wrong for Christians to think of statues as being ‘real’ representations of God). (See Numbers 25:1-2).
Revelation 2:21
I GAVE HER TIME TO REPENT (no other era in history included as much time for repentance as the Medieval Age did – as we have seen, above, it lasted 980 years!), BUT SHE REFUSES TO REPENT OF HER SEXUAL IMMORALITY (there was no feeling, in the leadership of the Church during this era, that there was any need for ‘repentance’ – in the sense of changing their ways – because they were fully convinced that what they were doing was right and didn’t need to be changed).
Revelation 2:22
BEHOLD, I WILL THROW HER (Jezebel, symbolizing the Medieval Church) INTO A BED (symbolizing, in this context, a place where punishment will take place), AND THOSE (church members who followed such false leadership rather than worshipping God as prescribed in the Bible) WHO COMMIT ADULTERY (symbolizing the worship of anything other than the true God) WITH HER INTO GREAT OPPRESSION (punishment from God), UNLESS THEY REPENT OF THEIR WORKS (which, we know from history, most of them didn’t – but some did).
Revelation 2:23
I WILL KILL HER (the Papacy’s) CHILDREN (church members who worshipped the Papacy) WITH DEATH (this is probably a reference to the “Black Death” – the bubonic plague that swept through Europe, where most of the Papacy’s followers lived, in AD 1347-1351), AND ALL THE ASSEMBLIES (the churches of all succeeding eras) WILL KNOW THAT I (Jesus) AM HE WHO SEARCHES THE MINDS AND HEARTS (knows all secrets). I (Jesus) WILL GIVE TO EACH ONE OF YOU (not just the followers of the Papacy, but all Christians of all eras) ACCORDING TO YOUR DEEDS (whatever you deserve as a result of what you have done with whatever knowledge of God and His ways you have had).
Revelation 2:24
BUT TO YOU (the Christians who lived during this era, but who didn’t follow the teachings of the Papacy – such as the Eastern Orthodox, the Waldensians, the Albigensians, etc.) I (Jesus) SAY, TO THE REST WHO ARE IN THYATIRA, AS MANY AS DON’T HAVE THIS TEACHING, WHO DON’T KNOW WHAT SOME CALL ‘THE DEEP THINGS OF SATAN’ (one of the worst things that took place during the Medieval Age was an actual mixture of Satan-worship with the professed worship of Christ), TO YOU I (Jesus) SAY, ‘I (Jesus) AM NOT PUTTING ANY OTHER BURDEN ON YOU (since such people had very little knowledge of the truth, although they knew that the extreme forms of Papacy-worship were wrong, Jesus reassured them that He didn’t expect very much of them, except, as He said in the next verse:).
Revelation 2:25
NEVERTHELESS, HOLD FIRMLY (don’t give up) THAT (small understanding of the truth) WHICH YOU HAVE, UNTIL I COME (which, from their point of view, in the Medieval Age, was still a long time in the future).’
Revelation 2:26
HE WHO OVERCOMES, AND HE WHO KEEPS MY WORKS (does the things that I want him to) TO THE END (of his life), TO HIM (any true believer in Jesus) I (Jesus) WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS (something that the Papacy illegitimately claimed to have).
Revelation 2:27
HE WILL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, SHATTERING THEM LIKE CLAY POTS (Jesus’ consistent promise to all His followers has always been that they will receive a share in His Kingdom when it is finally established); – AS I ALSO HAVE RECEIVED OF MY FATHER (God):
Revelation 2:28
AND I (Jesus) WILL GIVE HIM (the one who overcomes) THE MORNING STAR (a symbol of Jesus Himself; to the believer in Jesus, Jesus will give a personal relationship with Jesus).
Revelation 2:29
HE WHO HAS AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR (see Matthew 11:15, 13:9 and 13:43; Mark 4:9; and Luke 8:8 and 14:35 – this was a ‘favorite’ expression of Jesus’) WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO THE ASSEMBLIES.”’
Conclusion
In the few statements in these 12 verses, we (of course) haven’t learned everything that we are going to learn about what happened during the Medieval Age. Much more information about the events of those centuries is to be found in later chapters of the book of Revelation. That fact shouldn’t be surprising, since (after all), the Medieval Age covered almost half of all the time that has gone by since Jesus’ return to Heaven.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Revelation 2:12-17
Studies in Revelation
by Dr. John H. Roller
Chapter 2
Verses 12-17
Revelation 2:12
TO THE ANGEL OF THE ASSEMBLY IN PERGAMUM (representing the Constantinian Age, from AD 313, when the Edict of Milan ‘legalized’ Christianity, to AD 538, when the Bishop of Rome proclaimed his office to be that of ‘Papacy’ – during much of this time, the official Church was ‘married’ to the State; the word ‘Pergamum’ literally means ‘married’) WRITE: ‘HE (Jesus, as described in Revelation 1:16) WHO HAS THE SHARP TWO-EDGED SWORD (referred to as “the word of God” in Hebrews 4:12 – something you need when you’re going to try to split two things apart that are very, very close together – as, for example, in the Constantinian Age, if you’re trying to discern between the true Church and the false Church) SAYS THESE THINGS:
Revelation 2:13
“I KNOW YOUR WORKS AND WHERE YOU DWELL, WHERE SATAN’S (representing the Roman Emperor’s) THRONE IS (Pergamum was the capital city of the Roman province of Asia; it was a place where Emperor-worship was practiced in John’s time; and Rome was the city where the official Church was beginning to have its ‘headquarters’ during the Constantinian Age). YOU (the true Church within the official Church) HOLD FIRMLY TO MY NAME, AND DIDN’T DENY MY FAITH IN THE DAYS OF ANTIPAS MY WITNESS, MY FAITHFUL ONE, WHO WAS KILLED AMONG YOU, WHERE SATAN DWELLS. It sounds like Jesus is referring to a specific historical event here, but unfortunately we don’t know what specific event He was referring to. There were about 3,000,000 Christian martyrs during the Persecution Age, and many of them may have been named Antipas, which was a very common name at the time. Notice how little commendation Jesus had for the church in Pergamum: ‘I know where you are, and I know that at least some of you are still faithful to Me.’ It would be good if He could say a little more than that about today’s true Church!
Revelation 2:14
BUT I HAVE A FEW THINGS AGAINST YOU, BECAUSE YOU HAVE THERE SOME WHO HOLD THE TEACHING OF BALAAM (a false prophet), WHO TAUGHT BALAK (the king of Moab) TO THROW A STUMBLING BLOCK BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL (see Numbers 31:16), TO EAT THINGS SACRIFICED TO IDOLS, AND TO COMMIT SEXUAL IMMORALITY (as was done, for example, in the cult of Dionysius).
Revelation 2:15
SO (in the same way; but spiritually, rather than physically) YOU ALSO HAVE SOME WHO HOLD TO THE TEACHING OF THE NICOLAITANS (see Revelation 2:6) LIKEWISE.
Revelation 2:16
REPENT (of your sin of tolerating the presence of such false teachers in your midst) THEREFORE, OR ELSE I AM COMING TO YOU QUICKLY, AND I WILL MAKE WAR AGAINST THEM (the false teachers) WITH THE (sharp two-edged) SWORD (that comes out) OF MY MOUTH (as described in Revelation 1:16 and referenced in Revelation 2:12). That ‘sword’ is (of course) the “word of God” (Hebrews 4:12) – the message contained in the Bible. To the extent that people pay attention to the message of the Bible, they don’t pay attention to false teachers; so Jesus pictures Himself as ‘fighting’ against them, using the Bible as his ‘sword.’
Revelation 2:17
HE WHO HAS AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR (see Matthew 11:15, 13:9 and 13:43; Mark 4:9; and Luke 8:8 and 14:35 – this was a ‘favorite’ expression of Jesus’) WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO THE ASSEMBLIES. TO HIM WHO OVERCOMES, TO HIM I WILL GIVE OF THE HIDDEN (see 2 Maccabees 2:8) MANNA (see Psalm 78:24), AND I WILL GIVE HIM A WHITE STONE (‘a badge or token of admittance or membership’ – like a hand-stamp), AND ON THE STONE A NEW NAME (see Isaiah 62:2) WRITTEN, WHICH NO ONE KNOWS BUT HE WHO RECEIVES IT.” (Many suggestions have been given to explain this expression, but I’m not going to get into them, since I don’t have any idea which one of them – if any – is right.)’
Explanation
For 211 years (AD 102-313), Christianity had been “illegal” in the Roman Empire, and the government had made frequent efforts to stamp it out by killing Christians and by passing laws against Christian activities, especially in the last 10 of those years (AD 303-313), as we saw in our study of the letter to Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11), which represents the Persecution Age.
But in AD 313, Emperor Constantine I, after fighting a battle with some of his enemies, and having a vision in which he saw a cross in the sky with the words “In this sign, you will conquer” written on it, and painting crosses on the shields of his soldiers, and winning the battle, legalized Christianity, and everything changed. Now that Christianity was legal, Christians were free to worship as they pleased and to witness to their pagan neighbors. This was good, or so they thought at the time.
Some time later, the situation changed again: Christianity was made the official religion of the Roman Empire, and paganism was outlawed. You might think that that was a good thing for the Church, but it proved to be otherwise. The Church was now “flooded” with members who didn’t really understand the Gospel of Jesus, and some of them rose to positions of leadership in both the Church and the government. They used their government power to force “Christianity” on the remaining pagans, and the form of “Christianity” they forced on them wasn’t much more Christian than their former paganism had been.
So the Church was “married” to the State, and it was becoming more and more like the State had always been, and less and less like what Jesus had intended it to be. Then the State itself began to fall apart: first, in AD 395, the Empire was divided into East and West; then, in AD 410, the city of Rome (the Western Empire’s capital) was attacked; finally, in AD 476, the Western Empire fell apart completely, conquered by “barbarians” (Germans) who invaded it from the north. The “widowed” Church took the place of “authority” in the lives of its members that its deceased “husband” had once held; and the Constantinian Age came to an end when the Bishop of Rome proclaimed himself to be the “pope” (the word literally means “father”) of all Christendom, in AD 538.
by Dr. John H. Roller
Chapter 2
Verses 12-17
Revelation 2:12
TO THE ANGEL OF THE ASSEMBLY IN PERGAMUM (representing the Constantinian Age, from AD 313, when the Edict of Milan ‘legalized’ Christianity, to AD 538, when the Bishop of Rome proclaimed his office to be that of ‘Papacy’ – during much of this time, the official Church was ‘married’ to the State; the word ‘Pergamum’ literally means ‘married’) WRITE: ‘HE (Jesus, as described in Revelation 1:16) WHO HAS THE SHARP TWO-EDGED SWORD (referred to as “the word of God” in Hebrews 4:12 – something you need when you’re going to try to split two things apart that are very, very close together – as, for example, in the Constantinian Age, if you’re trying to discern between the true Church and the false Church) SAYS THESE THINGS:
Revelation 2:13
“I KNOW YOUR WORKS AND WHERE YOU DWELL, WHERE SATAN’S (representing the Roman Emperor’s) THRONE IS (Pergamum was the capital city of the Roman province of Asia; it was a place where Emperor-worship was practiced in John’s time; and Rome was the city where the official Church was beginning to have its ‘headquarters’ during the Constantinian Age). YOU (the true Church within the official Church) HOLD FIRMLY TO MY NAME, AND DIDN’T DENY MY FAITH IN THE DAYS OF ANTIPAS MY WITNESS, MY FAITHFUL ONE, WHO WAS KILLED AMONG YOU, WHERE SATAN DWELLS. It sounds like Jesus is referring to a specific historical event here, but unfortunately we don’t know what specific event He was referring to. There were about 3,000,000 Christian martyrs during the Persecution Age, and many of them may have been named Antipas, which was a very common name at the time. Notice how little commendation Jesus had for the church in Pergamum: ‘I know where you are, and I know that at least some of you are still faithful to Me.’ It would be good if He could say a little more than that about today’s true Church!
Revelation 2:14
BUT I HAVE A FEW THINGS AGAINST YOU, BECAUSE YOU HAVE THERE SOME WHO HOLD THE TEACHING OF BALAAM (a false prophet), WHO TAUGHT BALAK (the king of Moab) TO THROW A STUMBLING BLOCK BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL (see Numbers 31:16), TO EAT THINGS SACRIFICED TO IDOLS, AND TO COMMIT SEXUAL IMMORALITY (as was done, for example, in the cult of Dionysius).
Revelation 2:15
SO (in the same way; but spiritually, rather than physically) YOU ALSO HAVE SOME WHO HOLD TO THE TEACHING OF THE NICOLAITANS (see Revelation 2:6) LIKEWISE.
Revelation 2:16
REPENT (of your sin of tolerating the presence of such false teachers in your midst) THEREFORE, OR ELSE I AM COMING TO YOU QUICKLY, AND I WILL MAKE WAR AGAINST THEM (the false teachers) WITH THE (sharp two-edged) SWORD (that comes out) OF MY MOUTH (as described in Revelation 1:16 and referenced in Revelation 2:12). That ‘sword’ is (of course) the “word of God” (Hebrews 4:12) – the message contained in the Bible. To the extent that people pay attention to the message of the Bible, they don’t pay attention to false teachers; so Jesus pictures Himself as ‘fighting’ against them, using the Bible as his ‘sword.’
Revelation 2:17
HE WHO HAS AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR (see Matthew 11:15, 13:9 and 13:43; Mark 4:9; and Luke 8:8 and 14:35 – this was a ‘favorite’ expression of Jesus’) WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO THE ASSEMBLIES. TO HIM WHO OVERCOMES, TO HIM I WILL GIVE OF THE HIDDEN (see 2 Maccabees 2:8) MANNA (see Psalm 78:24), AND I WILL GIVE HIM A WHITE STONE (‘a badge or token of admittance or membership’ – like a hand-stamp), AND ON THE STONE A NEW NAME (see Isaiah 62:2) WRITTEN, WHICH NO ONE KNOWS BUT HE WHO RECEIVES IT.” (Many suggestions have been given to explain this expression, but I’m not going to get into them, since I don’t have any idea which one of them – if any – is right.)’
Explanation
For 211 years (AD 102-313), Christianity had been “illegal” in the Roman Empire, and the government had made frequent efforts to stamp it out by killing Christians and by passing laws against Christian activities, especially in the last 10 of those years (AD 303-313), as we saw in our study of the letter to Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11), which represents the Persecution Age.
But in AD 313, Emperor Constantine I, after fighting a battle with some of his enemies, and having a vision in which he saw a cross in the sky with the words “In this sign, you will conquer” written on it, and painting crosses on the shields of his soldiers, and winning the battle, legalized Christianity, and everything changed. Now that Christianity was legal, Christians were free to worship as they pleased and to witness to their pagan neighbors. This was good, or so they thought at the time.
Some time later, the situation changed again: Christianity was made the official religion of the Roman Empire, and paganism was outlawed. You might think that that was a good thing for the Church, but it proved to be otherwise. The Church was now “flooded” with members who didn’t really understand the Gospel of Jesus, and some of them rose to positions of leadership in both the Church and the government. They used their government power to force “Christianity” on the remaining pagans, and the form of “Christianity” they forced on them wasn’t much more Christian than their former paganism had been.
So the Church was “married” to the State, and it was becoming more and more like the State had always been, and less and less like what Jesus had intended it to be. Then the State itself began to fall apart: first, in AD 395, the Empire was divided into East and West; then, in AD 410, the city of Rome (the Western Empire’s capital) was attacked; finally, in AD 476, the Western Empire fell apart completely, conquered by “barbarians” (Germans) who invaded it from the north. The “widowed” Church took the place of “authority” in the lives of its members that its deceased “husband” had once held; and the Constantinian Age came to an end when the Bishop of Rome proclaimed himself to be the “pope” (the word literally means “father”) of all Christendom, in AD 538.
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