The next two chapters are chapters where Jesus addresses the seven churches of the world. The doctrine is both consistent with lessons taught elsewhere in the Scriptures and important in relation to the events that will be happening at the end of the world.
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; 'These things saith He That holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
As we learned in the last chapter, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches. The statement above is an affirmation that God has everything in hand during the events of Revelation, and is in the middle of the churches to comfort them.
I know thy works, and thy labour and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
The testing of spiritual lessons and teachers is not a message I see too much these days, which is ironic. Now, more than ever, people need to be tested that say they come in the name of the Lord. Jesus taught this in Matthew 24:5 & 11, and the New Testament teachers also taught it 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 (Paul), 2 Peter 2:1 (Peter), 1 John 4:1 (John), and Jude 1:4 (Jude). Paul even wrote of how the rising of many false teachers would be a sign of the end of the world: "Preach the Word... For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themsleves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables (2 Timothy 4:2-3)." And that is the litmus test for whether someone is a false teacher or not. It is very difficult to teach directly from the Scriptures, line for line, and turn it into false doctrine. On the other hand, if only a small part of Scripture is taught, it is not too difficult to knock it out of context to create your own message. So we must be careful to take the Scriptures line upon line, and not just believe anything that comes out of the mouth of someone who calls himself a teacher - we should prove what they are saying by looking it up in the Scriptures. I am not a teacher; I just love to study Scripture, and I would even say that you should check out anything that I say on here against the Scriptures before you are going to believe it. (You won't hurt my feelings if you do!)
And hast borne, and hast patience, and for My name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
I believe the "first love" is God. The two greatest commandments, in order of prominence, are, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind," and, "[Love] thy neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 22:37-40); therefore, loving God comes first before loving (and catering to) man.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
There is no documented history of who the Nicolaitanes are, though there are many theories. The word "nicolaitane" means "destruction of the people", and it seems very clear from Jesus stating that He hates their deeds, that destruction is exactly what the doctrine sets its followers up for. This is the first of two references to the Nicolaitanes in these chapters, and the next reference contains more information, so I will further discuss my thoughts there.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.'
There are two references to Old Testament in this last statement. The phrase "he that hath an ear, let him hear" was a popular phrase in Jesus' teachings in the gospel. But what is not commonly discussed is that the phrase is taken from Ezekiel 3:27. Ezekiel 3 is a powerful chapter in that book. It is the chapter where God gives Ezekiel his authority as a watchman and a prophet - that authority carries on through the rest of the book, and similar phrasing appears in Ezekiel 33, where God tells Ezekiel that there also will be watchmen that He has set up for the end of this age to warn people about the end of the world. God gives the people the choice to listen or not (and suffer the consequences of that decision) because He knows the prophecy is directed at a people that doesn't want to listen (see my reference to 2 Timothy 4 above... the prophecy is directed at the same people).
The second reference is to the tree of life, which is Jesus, and the reference is to Genesis 3. What is being said is basically that things are going to go back to the way that they were in Eden when this present age is over and that heaven will return to earth (heaven is wherever God is, and He has promised to live with us on earth - see Revelation 21, when new Jerusalem comes to earth).
The next church is one of two that don't receive a rebuke from Jesus for what they are doing - so the doctrine of the church is an important one to follow if we want to be in good standing.
And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; ' These things saith the First and the Last, Which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty (but thou art rich), and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.'
Wow! A lot said here. There is speculation that the "Jews who are the synagogue of Satan" are a specific genealogical people. I would disagree. If anyone who believes in Jesus Christ can be adopted as a child of God, showing a spiritual condition rather than genealogical heritage, then I would say the same of who makes up the "synagogue (church) of Satan". On the other hand, if one believes that they are saved simply because they are of a certain genealogical heritage, and not because of what they believe, then I would say that that person is in for a rude awakening, because "the just shall live by [his or her] faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38)."
This church shall be held captive ten days, and then the Lord shall speak through them. See Jeremiah 42 and Daniel 1.
"Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life." This resonates a similar saying from Jesus' ministry, "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it." My favourite place where this saying appears is in Matthew 10:39. Matthew 10 is clearly an end times chapter. Being delivered up to Satan appears in Matthew 10:19, and the confirmation of not being hurt of the second death (i.e. the flesh body dies but the soul is not killed) appears in Matthew 10:28.
And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; 'These things saith He Which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth.
There are traditions that speak of Saint Antipas; however, Satan has not yet "dwelt" on the earth: he is currently being held captive by Michael, until he is cast down to the earth (see Jude 1:9, Revelation 12:6-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:6). So this Antipas is likely a future character, in which case, his or her name is not likely to be "antipas", but that is given for the vision's sake. The name Antipas means "in the place of the father". Jesus identifies him as His "faithful martyr"... so, if my reasoning is right, this is a prophet in the end, who is sent to deliver the word of God, in the place of the Father, against the synagogue of Satan (see Smyrna above). And he or she is killed for it (see Revelation 11).
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication.
The story of Balaam can be found in Numbers 22-24, with a reappearance in Numbers 31. Balaam means "not of the people" or "not of the family" - not of the family of God. Balac (or Balak as spelled in the Old Testament) means "devastator" or "destroyer". Balaam was a prophet for hire, meaning he was willing to sell blessings and cursings to the highest bidder... this is not what one of the family of God does. Worse yet, Balaam was willing to sell out the children of Israel to the destroyer Balac... and he knew what he was doing, and that God had told him not too! But the money was just too good, so he kept asking God if it was alright until God finally gave him an answer that he could accept.
Jesus said to His disciples, "freely ye have received, freely give (Matthew 10:8)." He was speaking about blessings, healings, and spiritual gifts. One who has been blessed with these gifts, and is in the family of God, gives them freely. On the other side of the coin, Elisha's servant Gehazi went to collect payment for a healing that the Lord performed through Elisha, after Elisha had specifically said that he would not take payment (because it was God who had accomplished the healing and not Elisha), and Gehazi was both found out by Elisha, and received punishment for what he had done (see 2 Kings 5). God gives blessing and chastisement as He sees fit, and these things cannot be bought nor sold.
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.
This is the elaboration on the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes that I had mentioned earlier. The word "So" in this sentence is the Greek word "hautos", which means "thus/therefore/likewise/in this manner". It is conditional on the preceding statement; therefore, it connects the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes to the doctrine of Balaam. I've wondered if it is connected with the fact that St. Nicolas (Santa Claus) seems to slowly be replacing Jesus as the face of Christmas as time passes, to appease a multi-cultural western world that all want to celebrate the "holidays". Santa Claus appears to be the major mascot for any retail corporation looking to hawk its wares around Christmas time, thereby making Christmas more of a retail bonanza than a family time of celebration, thankfulness, and togetherness (after all, the best things in life are free)... but that could be my own cynicism on the changing nature of how Christmas is celebrated as I get older. In any event, the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes is connected to religious service for financial gains by connecting it to Balaam. Nuff said.
Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.'
Because manna has always represented the word of God (or "the Bread of life"), this statement documents that there are messages hidden in Scripture that not even the majority of churches see. It is those who are earnest in seeking truth who will receive this manna.
An interesting note on the "white stone" mentioned above. The stone mentioned here was used for a specific purpose in Greece - it was used in the system that gave birth to democracy. The stone is one that would be gathered from a river bed that had been worn smooth over time. Black and white stones were used to cast a vote for one candidate or another. Here, the white stone is connected with Jesus. In Revelation 13:18, the word "count" to count the number of the beast is to count by this same method of voting. If Jesus is the white stone, the beast (Satan) is the black stone. This is one more illustration of the choice between life and death, between Christ and antichrist (see my earlier post).
And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; 'These things saith the Son of God, Who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
Notice that "works" is mentioned twice, and that the works at the last are more than the works at the first.
Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Jezebel ("married to Baal") was the wife of king Ahab. She was the daughter of a priest of Baal, a prophetess of Baal. She was not a nice person to say the least. Her story can be found in the Book of Kings, primarily in 1 Kings 18-21 and 2 Kings 9. Baal means "lord", and the servants of Baal wished to place him in place of the Lord, but Baal is a false lord. The message fits very well in Revelation, since the entire book is about the coming of the false lord, also known as the antichrist. The Jezebel here will be the churches who attempt to get people to serve the antichrist as though he were the real Christ.
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
This is a powerful statement! This shows God's abundant mercy in that, even if Jezebel herself, one of the most notorious "villains" of the Old Testament, were to truly repent, she would be forgiven. This gives one of the most powerful themes that runs through Revelation, and throughout all of Scripture. God is looking for any and all who will repent, and all sin will be forgiven upon repentance from the heart.
Behold, I will cast her into a bed, 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 reins 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. 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. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.'
Ruling with a rod of iron is a reference to Psalm 2, which denotes that God will triumph over all nations.
The messages to the churches carries on into Revelation 3. God bless.
