The Book of Revelation - Session 6 of 24 - A Remastered Commentary by Chuck Missler

Well, Father, we thank you for who you

are and we thank you for

this opportunity that you've placed

before us, for we know that there are no

accidents, no coincidences in your

kingdom that we're all here right now by

your divine appointment.

So, we do pray, Father, that your

purpose would be accomplished in each of

our lives

this evening.

We pray, Father, that you would reignite

in each of us

a new hunger, a new appetite, a new

awareness of your word.

And help us, Father,

to understand more clearly just what it

is you would have of us personally

in the days that remain as we commit

ourselves this evening

without any reservation into your hands

in the name of Yeshua, our Lord and

Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well, we are studying the book of

Revelation. We are in the sixth session

and we'll be exploring specifically

the last part of chapter 2, which has a

letter to the church at Thyatira.

But we have but just by way of review

and warm up, we're talking about the the

Revelation. Notice that's singular. The

word means the unveiling. The it's the

consummation of all things. It's the

only book of the Bible that promises a

special blessing to the reader for its

particular um

reading or hearing. And

there are over 400 verses, 404 verses

that include over 800 allusions from the

Old Testament. And tonight's going to be

a good example of several of those.

And that's one reason it may sound

strange to us as we read the book, it

may sound strange to our ears because we

haven't done our homework in the Old

Testament in large measure.

And so that'll

it also represents the climax of God's

plan for man.

And man, you know who that is? That's

you and me.

Mr. and Mrs. Man, if you will.

It has a a climate it's going to lay out

for you and me personally the climax

that's ahead of us.

Now, to whom was the book given? Let's

keep this in front of us. The Revelation

of Jesus Christ

which God gave unto whom?

Unto him, Jesus Christ.

That shocks many people. Many people

will just slough over that first

sentence. It's profoundly significant.

And why did he give it to him? To show

unto his servants things which must

shortly or more perhaps more precisely

suddenly come to pass.

And he sent and signified it. He

rendered it into signs

by his angel unto his servant John, who

bare record of the word of God and the

testimony of Jesus Christ of all the

things that he saw. John actually saw

these things.

And but they are signs.

One of the most profound experiences I

had as a teenager when I heard a lecture

say that the entire book of Revelation

is in code, but every code is explained

somewhere else in the Bible. And one of

the reasons it's such a blessing

if you study it carefully, takes you

virtually into every other book in the

Bible. So, that's part of what we're

about.

And here's the promise. Verse 3 is the

promise that's echoed several times

throughout the book. Blessed is he that

readeth and he they that hear the words

of this prophecy.

The landscape is littered with so-called

experts and very prominent people in the

Christian field who say this isn't

prophecy, it's all been fulfilled.

And so it's making you know

I can I obviously take exception to

that. So, and keep those things which

are written therein for the time is at

hand.

And this book is one of the unique books

in the Bible that gives you an outline

of the book. By the time you get to the

close to the end of first chapter, there

is an outline. John has said write the

is told write the things which thou hast

seen, the things which are, and the

things which shall be meta tauta after

these things.

And the things which thou hast seen by

the time you get to here is the the

personal appearance of Jesus Christ, his

visit physical description that occupies

verse 12 through 18 in this chapter. So,

by the time you get here, those are the

things we had he had just seen. Write

the things which you have seen,

and the things which are, which will

turn out to be chapters 2 and 3, the

seven letters, seven churches. These are

seven letters written to seven real live

existing churches

in the province of Asia Minor, the Roman

province of Asia Minor, which we would

call Turkey. But these seven churches

what we're what we're going to focus on.

And then the things which shall be meta

tauta after these things. And chapter 4

verse 1 opens with that word meta tauta.

After these things. And then we have

chapters 4 and following which are yet

future.

Very interesting book in total, but the

area of the book that's most profoundly

significant to you and me

is chapters 2 and 3.

And that's why we're going to we're

going to spend a full session on each of

those seven churches.

And so this is this is the core of the

whole thing. We believe that the rest of

the book we will watch from the

mezzanine.

And I'll show you about why when we get

to chapter 4.

Then the the chapter 1 closes, the

mystery of the seven stars which thou

sawest my right hand, the seven golden

lampstands. The seven stars of the

angels of seven churches, seven

lampstands which thou sawest are the

seven churches.

Just as an example, the chapter closes

where Jesus himself explains a couple of

the signs that had been that emerged

earlier in the chapter. That's going to

be the pattern throughout the book. More

often than not, the book will explain

the signs you're going to watch.

Others it relies on you doing your

homework in the in the rest of the

Bible.

Now, seven churches. The great mystery

that you need to think about yourself is

why these seven churches. There were

over 100 churches in the New Testament

period.

Why these seven?

And uh

each letter has a strange phrase that is

sort of the closing

signature on the letter.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what

the Spirit says to the churches. That

occurs seven times here, of course, cuz

seven churches, but also occurs seven

times elsewhere in the New Testament.

So, I'll leave that with you to search

that out. It's kind of fun.

There are at least four levels

of application of these letters. First

of all, they were local local churches.

So, William Ramsay researched this they

much to his surprise he discovered that

these seven churches really had

relevance in term the letter had

relevance to them in that first century.

But there's more than that.

The Holy Spirit says he that hath an

ear, let him hear what the Spirit says

to the churches plural. Every letter

applies to every church.

We're going to be talking about

different churches, the the seven

letters,

but you need to recognize that every

church here described is also existent

in every church.

You may have two

you may have a teaspoon of Ephesus, a

tablespoon of Smyrna, and a whole that

you know other words, you have

if you took each church, you could take

a percentage of each one and add up to

100%. There's going to be some

percentage of every church in every

of the seven churches in each of your

churches. So, it's a it's a way of

profiling any church.

Now, obviously because it also says he

that hath an ear,

how many of you have earlobes? Can I see

a show of hands?

That letter is for you then. He that

hath an ear, let him hear what the

Spirit says to the churches. So, this

means there is a personal application.

No surprise. As we understand each

letter, we'll be able to It doesn't take

a lot of spiritual insight to begin to

apply it to ourselves.

Um

so that's uh

um

pretty straightforward.

One of the things we're going to

discover

is that each of the letters has a

specific theme.

It isn't as if all the churches were

guilty of the same mistakes. Each one

had a slightly different mistake or or a

need need of correction.

These are these are going to be seven

report cards.

Every report card has something good.

Here's what you've done well.

Here's what you need to work on.

And each one is different. Part of the

the mastery of this series is to

understand the theme that's operative in

each of the seven letters.

But then comes the surprise. Having said

all that, it's easy to visualize seven

letters, each one did some good things,

needed some correction, and we can apply

that to our churches, we can apply it to

ourselves personally. No problem. Here's

the surprise that may shock you.

And it's also an area that not all

scholars agree. You draw your own

conclusions.

But turns out

that these seven letters lay out a

history

of the church in advance.

Now, you say Chuck, that's pretty wild.

Yes, it is.

Is that true? You decide yourself.

We're going to look at what the letters

say

and we'll take a look at history. And I

I'm going to predict you'll be

astonished at how they fit. In fact, if

they were in any other order, this would

not be true.

So, I believe that order is deliberate

and is instructive.

There are seven elements to each letter.

First of all, the name of the church

will turn out to be significant. The

title that Jesus uses of himself to open

the letter

is selected from chapter 1. There's

seven different titles, but he picks a

different one for each church.

The title that Jesus takes of himself,

the emphasis in other words, is a clue

that'll help you understand what is the

issue with that particular letter.

So, it's it's this is going to be like a

little treasure hunt here.

Then there's a commendation. Here's the

good stuff. Here's what you've done

well. Well done. Here, here, here.

Here's my concern, he'll Jesus will say,

"Here are the things that

Jesus is not so pleased about."

Then there's of course from all of that

an exhortation, "Do this and do this and

do this."

Then there's a promise to the overcomer.

The letter includes a special promise to

the person to the one that's an

overcomer. We'll talk about what an

overcomer is in a minute.

And then we have this closing phrase.

"He that hath an ear, let him hear what

the Spirit saith to the churches." You

need to recognize there are these seven

elements because in a couple of places

one or two of these elements will be

missing.

And you wouldn't notice it unless you're

sensitive to the structure of each

letter. And that's also a clue as to

what's really going on here.

So, the first letter we was Ephesus,

which means the desired one or darling.

And we

talked we understood that they were very

strict on doctrine. They good That was

the good news, but they had lost their

first love.

God wants Jesus Lord our Lord Jesus

Christ wants devotion, not just

doctrine.

But we noticed as we went through that

something very strange

that the promise to the overcomer in the

book of to to the letter

Ephesus was appended after the closing

phrase. It was like a PS on it, if you

will.

When we get to Smyrna, Smyrna means

myrrh or speaks of death, and of course

it turns out to be the persecuted

church.

And again it has that same structure

that the promise to the overcomer is

outside the body of the letter for some

strange reason.

But if we look carefully, we notice

there were no concerns.

Jesus simply encouraged them because

they were a church under great

persecution. He just says, "Hang in

there, guys." He had no particular

concerns.

Pergamos, which means

which refers to a perverted marriage,

um

uh we we talked about last time. I'll

review a little bit of that as we get

into the tonight's thing. But there

again we discover that the promise to

the overcomer is appended outside the

body of the letter. Why am I making such

a thing of that? Cuz you're going to

discover in the letter tonight

and all the ones following, it doesn't

do it that way.

What does that mean? Don't know yet.

We'll just hold it in reserve before as

we go.

The prophetic profile we said, "Here are

the seven churches, Ephesus, Smyrna,

Pergamos, Thyatira, and so on."

And Ephesus was descriptive of the

apostolic church that seemed to fit.

Smyrna, clearly the persecuted church.

That one was pretty easy. Pergamos was

where the church married the world. What

Satan could not accomplish by

persecuting the church, he accomplished

by having the church

marry the world under under

Constantine and all of that.

So,

and we noticed there were tares sown in

the early church. We talked about

legalism, the denial of God's complete

Christ's completed work, Gnosticism, the

denial of Christ's humanity, and Caesar

worship, the denial of Christ's

lordship. These are the main uh

frailties, if you will, in that early

century in those early centuries.

There's also one that was mentioned in

the letter last time, but in reviewing

my notes I realized I may not have

emphasized it, and that's the

Nicolaitans.

And what were they? The Nicolaitans,

some are believe it was a first-century

sect that abused the their liberty in

Christ. There are scholars that

conjecture that was the That's what it

was.

More than that, most scholars recognize

that it's an untranslated word. Nikeo

means to conquer or rule, and laos means

the the people, the laity. And the whole

idea of Nicolaitans was to rule over the

people.

And

that's what Christ hated. He told the in

the church of Ephesus, "The good news is

you also hate the the deeds of the

Nicolaitans, which I also hate."

And we we suspect that in either case

the Nicolaitans refers to

the whole idea of using a clerical

structure to rule over the people.

And to to seek apostolic authority for

their opinions of the early times. And

so, Jesus told us how to organize a

church. He had the leader wash the feet.

That's his concept of an org chart is in

John 13.

Now, the deeds that were hated by the

Ephesus and they get commended for that

became the doctrine

in Pergamos as part of that whole

episode. So,

we see a progression

progressive there. As you talk to

application of all churches, Ephesus

obviously was devotion, not just

doctrine. Smyrna was just hang in there,

endure endure the persecution.

Pergamos, stand fast against the world

is what they should have been rather

than not be part of the world, but to be

a witness to the world.

And personal application, Ephesus again

is a question of neglected priorities

personally. Where are our priorities? Do

Are we so busi- busy on the business of

the king that we have no time for the

king?

Jesus would have devotion, not just

doctrine.

And Smyrna, trying to apply that

personally, just be sensitive to the the

satanic opposition.

You don't have to be in a persecuted

church to be persecuted.

And uh

and Pergamos, of course, was the whole

issue of spiritual compromise with the

world again. So, and the overcomers

probably had various special promises,

promise to the overcomer, and we'll talk

about that as we go. Well, that's by way

of review. Let's just jump into

tonight's letter. And what I'm going to

do,

I'm going to we'll put the letter on the

screen before we go through. But before

we do anything else, let's get your

Bible, and let's read chapter Revelation

chapter 2.

Like all textbooks, the answers are in

the back.

That's what Revelation is all about.

And uh

So, let's pick it up about verse

chapter

2 verse 18.

"And to the angel of the church at

Thyatira

write,

'These These things saith the Son of

God, who hath his eyes like a flame of

fire and his feet 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.

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.

I gave her space to repent of her

fornication, she repented not. 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 and reigneth 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 no other burden.

But that which you have already hold

fast till I come.

And he that overcometh and keepeth my

words unto the end,

to him will I give power over the

nations, and he shall rule them with a

rod of

rod of iron. As vessels of a potter

shall they be broken into sherds, 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.'"

So, that's the It's the longest of the

letters. Brief as it is, it's still the

longest of the bunch.

And let's uh

take a look at the geography.

We're dealing, of course, with the

the proconsular

uh province of Asia,

which is a Roman province, not Asia like

we use the term Far East. We're talking

what you and I would consider as part of

Turkey.

And I've got on the map here, you see

where I put Athens and Istanbul on there

for just reference.

The little red circle is Patmos. That's

where all this is taking place with

John.

Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamos we looked

at before. Thyatira is a small

town today, about

30,000 people live there. And

it occupied

it occupies the site that Thyatira

originally did back in the New Testament

times. In the New Testament times it was

at the juncture of three roads that led

to Pergamos, Sardis, and Smyrna.

And so, it was a frontier fortress to

guard those very critical roads.

So,

originally it was a Lydian town

bearing the name of Pelopia,

then Semiramis, and then Euippia.

And here's the clue. The word Thyatira

really come is a word that means

daughter.

But what's really a clue to its

spiritual significance is to recognize

that its previous name one of its

previous names was Semiramis. And who

was Semiramis? Anyone?

The consort of Nimrod,

the mother of the posthumous son of

Tammuz that becomes the core trio,

Nimrod, Semiramis, and Tammuz, in the

Babylonian mysteries.

All paganism, all idol worship has its

roots in the Babylonian legends having

to do with Nimrod, Semiramis, and

Tammuz.

So, the fact that this town is a town

that once held the name of Semiramis, I

think is a very important clue.

In any case, it was taken by the

Persians and then, of course, the Greeks

under Alexander. It only passed to the

possession of one of his key generals,

Lysimachus, and

the but in 301 BC, Lysimachus defeated

by his rival, Seleucus, another one of

when you know, when Alexander died, four

key generals divided up the empire. And

so, it became really part of Syria.

And uh

uh

Seleucus Nicator

named it Thyatira when he was informed

that a daughter had been born to him.

So, the word Thyatira suggests daughter,

but I think the more important name is

the previous name that it had earlier,

Semiramis. Let's keep that in mind as we

go forward.

See, the Babylonian legend, of course,

is that Tammuz was born to Nimrod and

Semiramis. He's associated with the sun

god. He was considered to die at the

winter solstice. That's when the you

know, the days get shorter and shorter

and shorter. And then he's considered as

resurrected as the days get longer. And

that was celebrated by

burning a Yule log in the fireplace and

then replacing it with a trimmed tree

the following morning.

If you want to find the biblical

references that, check out Jeremiah 10.

It's astonishing to discover, if you

haven't yet, how many of our so-called

Christmas traditions all lead back to

Babylon. The mistletoe, the wassail

bowl,

uh and so forth.

But let's move on. This is somewhat by

way of review.

Nimrod founded the original Babylonian

religion.

And uh

Semiramis and Tammuz of Babylon

in other languages. On Phoenicians they

were Astarte and Tammuz and

Isis and Horus of Egypt, Aphrodite and

Eros of Greece or Venus and Cupid of

Rome. All this is mapped out in the

classical study of by Alexander Hislop

called The Two Babylons or a more

contemporary version of this whole

scholarship is by Dave Hunt, A Woman

Rides the Beast. And we'll talk a lot

about that before our study in

Revelation is over.

But most people don't realize that the

priesthood that was founded in Babylon

moved. When Cyrus conquered Babylon, the

Babylonian priesthood and the initiates

fled and set up shop in Pergamos. We

talked about this last time.

So the centroid of power ultimately goes

from Pergamos to Rome

where it gets a Latin labels and forms

the foundation of pagan Rome. We're

going to talk a lot about that as we

unfold this The The background of

Pergamos and Thyatira have much in

common. So this this review is a double

review in a sense.

And when Cyrus conquered Babylon, of

course, they founded the center of

Pergamos and the king there took the

title Pontifex Maximus, which was a

religious title. He was the high priest

of the Babylonian

pagan system.

And uh

And as it goes, Rome, of course, all the

Caesars kept that title up until 378 AD.

That's when the bishop of Rome uh

absorbed that title for himself and and

endured from that point on as in the

bishops. We'll come back to that.

Constantine

um has a strange experience which causes

him to uh when he takes over the empire

to uh make

um

Christianity no longer illegal.

In 325, the Edict of Toleration.

He favored Christians at court. He

exempted Christian ministers from taxes.

He issued a general exhortation to all

his subjects to become Christians. He

did not make it a state religion. That

comes two

leaders later.

But he does He's so fed up with the

paganism of Rome.

He moves the world empire to

Constantinople.

And uh we'll talk about the implications

of that as we go here.

But Constantine is a much maligned guy.

Many people, especially Christians, are

critical of him. He did a He did a lot

of interesting things. He

He ceased the gladiator thing. He

reduced the killing of unwelcome

children. He abolished It's amazing, by

the way, how many ancient cultures, the

Persians, the Romans, others, regarded

abortion as a crime.

Because population was a force of

strength and to abort a child was to

injure the state. That was their view.

Interesting.

He about He Constantine abolished

crucifixion as a form of execution. He

repealed the the persecution edicts of

his predecessor Diocletian.

He assumed the headship of the church.

Advanced Christians to high offices. He

declared Sunday as a day of worship.

That's widely misunderstood. He had

three different groups of sun worshipers

in his empire plus the Christians that

are now legal.

And so he declared a day that would

presume in his mind, at least, that

would unite them all. It It was his

gesture to try to unite the empire.

It was also a big deal for the slaves

because he forbid work on Sunday. They

never had a day off. This created a day

off for the

for over 50% of the population, which

were slaves.

And uh so and he reduced slavery and

relocated the capital, as I say.

So the marriage is now consummated

between the church and the world.

Julian the Apostate comes along, Julian

calendar, that preceded the Gregorian

one. Um he sought to restore paganism,

but he only lasted a couple of years.

Jovian reestablished the Christian

religion, but it was Theodosius that

really established Christianity as the

state religion. That was the biggest

disaster of all because now you have

unregenerate people entering the church

and running the churches.

So ambition, um

heathenism, and so forth, all emerge in

the in this world

church situation. That starts

bad news. Big bad news.

Now getting back to Thyatira, Thyatira

is turns out to be a very important

center for the powerful trade guilds.

That trade guilds were a big deal in

those days.

You had If you were had a skill of some

kind, in order to have a job, you'd have

to be a member of that union. But that

union was only compulsory. They each

Each union was under the patronage of

one some pagan deity. And all their

meetings and procedures were all tangled

up in the worship of that deity. So it

was a real a real source of conflict for

a practitioner that was Christian

because he couldn't get a job unless he

was in a trade guild, but in the trade

guild it raised all kinds of issues.

That's the problem.

Thyatira, by the way, was also known for

its dyes.

Particularly purple, but actually it may

turn about But you always hear purple,

it may have been scarlet, but I don't

split hairs here here here.

Uh it was Apparently they had a madder

root that is very prolific in that area.

When you get to Acts 16, you encounter

Lydia, who is a sales rep living in

Philippi, but for for Thyatira.

Just a, you know, she was a she was a

sales rep. Okay.

So we have heathenism now

is is Christianized. The pagan temples

now become Christian churches. The

heathen festivals get relabeled into

Christian ones. That's how the

Saturnalia and so forth becomes

Christmas and all that stuff.

Pagan priests slip into offices

Christian priests.

The change was mostly nomenclature.

See what the persecution didn't

accomplish

with Smyrna did The The marriage to

Pergamos did.

And we're going to see the fruits of

that as we get into Thyatira. Let's take

a look at the letter now in more detail.

Unto the angel of the church in Thyatira

write. And again

starting with the name, Semiramis is the

key name here in my mind because it ties

you to the Babylonian culture. You see

why we're going to get into that here in

a minute.

Thus saith the Son of God.

This is the only mention

of the Son of God, that title, in the

book of Revelation.

Jesus picks it here.

And I'm going to suggest the possibility

is that it's in apposition

to the theme of the letter, which is

going to be the queen of heaven.

With Jezebel and all of that. Thus these

things saith the Son of God

who hath his eyes like a flame of fire

and his feet are like fine brass. Now

when you see the word like, that tells

you it's a simile.

Doesn't say his feet were brass.

If he said that, it would be a maybe

metaphor, but here it says it's like, so

you know it's not bra It's It's a

metaphor. It's a simile.

His eyes were like a flame of fire.

These are the eyes of inspection. These

are the eyes of judgment. His feet like

fine brass. Feet

deal with the walk.

And brass speaks of judgment. Brass was

the material that could sustain fire.

That's why brass is used Levitically to

suggest to judgment. That's why we had a

serpent of brass that we talked about

previous sessions and so forth.

So the title of Christ is the Son of

God. Very strange strange illuminating

label that puts us right away. He's And

he apparently is coming in the form of

judgment here. He's He's concerned.

But he opens up, as he does all his

letters, with a commendation.

I know thy works. That's a key phrase.

Jesus knows what you're doing.

He knows the fruits of what you're

doing. I know thy works. Nothing will be

a surprise to him. I know thy works. And

charity and service and faith and

patience and thy works

and the last to be more than the first.

He gives them a good compliment. He's

fully informed on them and they their

walk is good and improving.

We're going to talk about a lot of

negative things here shortly. Let's not

lose sight of the fact that he opens up

with a commendation. Okay?

And it's not only his commendation, but

it's even that aspect of it is

improving. But there is a problem.

Here's his concern.

You get that horrible word

notwithstanding.

Your boss calls you into his office and

says, "Hey, you've really done a good

job. You've done this this this. I'm

quite impressed." And you feel pretty

good.

Then he says, "Notwithstanding

Mhm.

Sounds like a pink slip coming, doesn't

it?

Notwithstanding, I have a few things

against thee.

Because thou sufferest that That means

permits. Sufferest that woman Jezebel,

which calleth herself a prophetess.

Doesn't say she was. It says she called

herself one.

To teach and seduce my servants to

commit fornication, to eat things

sacrificed unto idols.

And I gave her space to repent of her

fornication, and she repented not.

Now the word fornication, obviously,

speaks of sexual immorality.

And that may be at the local level

exactly what was going on.

But that term is also used throughout

the scripture, Old and New Testament, to

refer to idol worship.

Having intimacy with a false god is

fornication

in God's eyes. He's a very jealous God.

So we've got to recognize that word

fornication doesn't exclude sexual

immorality, but the term goes far beyond

just that. Are we together?

Seduce my servants to commit fornication

and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

I gave her space to repent of her

fornication, and she repented not. It's

in Now the the problem here isn't

Jezebel.

The problem here is that the church is

condoning Jezebel.

See, the problem in Sodom and Gomorrah

in Genesis 19 was not homosexuality.

The problem in Genesis 19 is that the

whole town

condoned homosexuality.

All the men of the of the town were at

that door.

It was the widespread condoning of it.

There's homosexuality

elements of it all the time. No, it's

when it's widespread and condoned

civically, that's the problem in Sodom

and Gomorrah.

And we're you dealing with a similar

thing here. The problem isn't Jezebel.

It's that they all embrace it. They They

don't do anything about it.

Jesus goes on and says, "Behold, I will

cast her into a bed and them that

committed adultery with her into great

tribulation, except they repent of their

deeds. Boy, this is quite a term. First

of all, this is the first phrase of this

this first use of this phrase in the

book of Revelation, the great

tribulation. And what it's saying is if

they don't change, they're going to go

into the great tribulation.

That also implies, by the way, if they

do change, they won't.

This is a heavy implications here.

The outcast them that committed adultery

with her into great tribulation, except

they repent of their deeds.

And uh we could uh

talk a lot about this, but perhaps let's

talk a little let's let's understand we

need to to understand this letter, we

need to really understand who is this

person Jezebel, what's she all about?

Well, she was the daughter of Ethbaal,

which was the king of Sidon,

the priest of Astarte, the and he was

the murderer of his predecessor Phaëles,

whom he killed to seize the throne. So,

that's she's she comes from a rough

family.

She married King Ahab, the king of the

northern house of Israel.

Married King Ahab to seal a profitable

trade alliance between Israel and

Phoenicia. King of Sidon and was part of

Phoenicia, so it was a it was a

commercial deal.

But as she marries Ahab, becomes the

queen, she sets out to exterminate the

prophets

of Yahweh

or Yahweh or Jehovah, however you want

to pronounce it.

And so she is bad news. If you In your

background here would be to read 1 Kings

18 through 21 to get the background.

We'll just highlight some of it here.

What she brought to the table was pagan

worship.

She's a worshiper of Baal and Astarte,

which all of which originated in

Babylon.

So, she, along with her husband, ushers

in the worst period of time in the Old

Testament. And that's saying something.

That's saying something.

She worshipped Ashtoreth, which is

another variation of Astarte.

Also associated with all this are the

what called the groves. When you read

about the groves in the Bible, you may

not understand

the Jews never had their holy places on

the top of a hill.

That was always the pagan locations.

And on the top of the hill were the

groves. You say, "What are the What are

the groves?" They're trees that were

carved to look like phallic symbols.

It was part of the pagan worship, the

fertility rites and all of that.

And uh all this this is all also called

the abomination of Sido- the Sidonians

and so forth. The whole concept of the

queen of heaven, incidentally, is a

Babylonian concept. And that lurks

behind many of these things, and I won't

spend a lot of time on that here.

But let's give you a You can I can't get

into Jezebel and Ahab without and deal

with this issue without using it as an

excuse to jump in to 1 Kings 18.

I don't know how Cecil B. DeMille

missed this chapter in the Bible.

He made so many movies

with Samson and Delilah and David and

Bathsheba and of course the 10

Commandments. Cecil B. DeMille had a had

a a thing for this. He missed the what's

got to be one of the most incredible

showdowns you've ever seen anywhere.

So, we're going to just go through it

quickly to get a flavor of this cuz it

talks about what Jezebel's really all

about. Came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah

that Ahab said unto him, "Art thou he

that troubleth Israel?" This is the

king's

Elijah says, "I have not troubled

Israel, but thou and thy father's house,

in that ye have forsaken the

commandments of the Lord and has

followed Baalim." Baalim Baalim here

being a plural of Baal,

the the the false gods.

"Now therefore, send and gather unto

me," Elijah says, "all Israel unto Mount

Carmel and the prophets of Baal 450 and

the prophets of the groves," there we

go, "400, which eat at Jezebel's table."

Everybody knows about the 450, they

overlook there's another 400 others.

You're talking 850 of these false

priests.

Elijah challenges the king, "Bring them

all up to Carmel, we're going to have a

showdown."

So, Ahab sent to all the children of

Israel and gathered the prophets

together at Mount Carmel. They came

there cuz the king told them to.

Elijah came in all the people and said,

"How He's gathering The priests are

there, but he gathers Israel around.

There's a show There's a

This is showtime.

Elijah came in all the people and said,

"How long will halt ye between two

opinions?

If the Lord be God, follow him.

But if Baal, then follow him."

Nobody said a word.

Then said Elijah unto the people, "I,

even I, only remain a prophet of the

Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men.

Let them therefore give us two bullocks.

And let them choose one bullock for

themselves and cut it in pieces, lay it

on wood, and put no fire under it.

And I will dress the other bullock and

lay it on wood and put no fire under it.

And call ye upon the name of your gods,

and I will call upon the name of the

Lord.

And the god that answers by fire, let

him be god."

All the people said, "Aye,

well spoken.

Cool deal. Let's get this resolved."

Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal,

"Choose you one bullock for yourselves

and dress it first, for ye are many.

And call on the name of your gods, but

put no fire under." And they took the

bullock which was given them, dressed

it, called it called on the name of Baal

from morning until noon, saying, "O

Baal, hear us."

But there was no voice,

nor any that answered. And they leaped

upon the altar which was made. And it

came to pass at noon. I love this part.

This is a key.

That Elijah mocked them and said, "Cry

aloud, for he is a god.

Either he is talking

or he's relieving himself."

That's what the word really means there.

"Or he's on journey or peradventure he

sleeps, must be awakened." Here's

You sort of visualize these two guys on

two hills. Elijah is just having a field

day, mocking them.

"A little louder, we can't hear you.

Maybe he's sleeping. Maybe he's on Maybe

he's going to the john. Something's

wrong."

And they cried aloud and cut themselves

what one of their ways of expressing

themselves was to was to slash and cut

and bleed.

They cried aloud and cut themselves

after their manner with knives and

lancets till the blood gushed out upon

them.

And it came to pass when midday was past

and they prophesied until the time of

the offering of the evening sacrifice

that there was neither voice nor any to

answer nor any that regarded.

Elijah said unto all the people, "Come

near to me."

And all the people came near to him.

And he repaired

There apparently was an altar that was

broken down, was destroyed earlier. So,

he repairs it. He takes his puts the

stones back up, repairs the altar that

was broken down. He took 12 stones

according to the number of the tribes of

the sons of Jacob, unto whom the Lord

word of the Lord came saying, "Israel

shall be thy name." Remember when it

when when Jacob was given the name

Israel. That's

And with the stones he built an altar in

the name of the Lord and he made a

trench about the altar as great as would

contain two measures of seed. Now,

here's something he just introduces. You

golfers will understand what he's doing,

it's called a handicap, okay?

He puts a trench about the altar.

Put the wood in order and cut the

bullock in pieces and laid him on the

wood, that is bullock, and said, "Fill

four barrels with water and pour it on

the burnt sacrifice and on the wood."

He's dousing it with water.

And he said, "Do it a second time." And

they did it a second time. He said, "Do

it a third time." And they did it a

third time.

And the water ran about the altar and he

filled the trench also with uh water.

And the water ran about the altar and he

filled the trench also with water. And

it came to pass

at the time of the offering of the

evening sacrifice, how appropriate, that

Elijah the prophet came near and said,

"Lord, God of Abraham,

I'm from Isaac and Israel.

Let it be known this day that thou art

God in Israel,

that I am thy servant and that I have

done all these things at thy word.

Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this

people may know that thou art the Lord

God, that thou has turned their heart

back again."

And then the fire of the Lord fell

and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the

wood and the stones and the dust and

licked up the water that was in the

trench. Can you imagine that scene? Oh,

man.

When all the people saw it, they fell on

their faces. Boy, can you imagine?

They said, "The Lord, he is God. The

Lord, he is the God."

And Elijah said unto them, "Take the

prophets of Baal, let not one of them

escape."

And they took them and Elijah brought

them down to the brook Kishon. And what

he do?

He killed them. Didn't mess around.

1 Kings 18, there's more, but we're

we're going to just we're going to move

a couple chapters. There's another

incident

that is in the scripture and I believe

there's no incident in the scripture

that isn't there by design.

And I believe that the event that we're

going to look in 1 Kings 21

is perhaps the most revealing of all.

Let's take a look what happened in 1

Kings 21.

It came to pass after all these things,

several other things that happened

between 18 and chapter 18 and 21, but

anyways, it says, "That Naboth the

Jezreelite had a vineyard

which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace

of Ahab, the king of Samaria.

So, this little guy, Naboth, got a

vineyard. It happens to be convenient

for the king.

So, Ahab spake to Naboth saying, "Give

me thy vineyard that I may have it for a

garden of herbs, because it is near unto

my house. And I will give thee for it a

better vineyard than it, or if it seem

good to thee, I will give thee the worth

of it in money."

So, give him a trade or cash, he wants

the deal.

But then said Naboth, "The Lord forbid

it me that I should give the inheritance

of my fathers unto thee."

This whole concept of land The land was,

you know, allocated by tribe and and you

didn't you could lease it in terms of

letting somebody use it for a while, but

you didn't get rid of it.

No, he says, "I I I

He wouldn't do that."

So, Ahab is in a pout.

All right?

Verse 4, "Ahab came into his house heavy

and displeased because of the word which

Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him.

For it said, 'I will not give thee the

inheritance of my fathers.' And he laid

him down upon his bed and he turned away

his face and would eat no bread."

Just like a spoiled brat, right?

Uh, Jezebel.

But Jezebel's wife came to him and said

unto him, "Why is thy spirit so sad that

thou eatest no bread?"

He said unto her, "Because I spake unto

Naboth the Jezreelite,

and said unto him, 'Give me thy vineyard

for money, or else if it please thee, I

will give thee another vineyard for it.'

And he answered, 'I will not give thee

my vineyard.'" Jezebel his wife said to

him, "Dost thou now govern the kingdom

of Israel? Arise and eat bread, and let

thine heart be merry. I will give thee

the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

Jezebel says to the king, "Don't sweat

it. Let me handle it."

How does she handle it?

She wrote letters in Ahab's name, and

sealed them with his seal, and sent the

letters unto the elders and the nobles

that were in his city dwelling with

Naboth.

She wrote in the letter saying,

"Proclaim a fast,

and set Naboth on high among the people.

And set two men, sons of Belial, before

him to bear witness against him saying,

'Thou didst blaspheme God and the king.'

And then carry him out and stone him

that he may die."

Straightforward procedure.

The men of the city, even the elders and

the nobles who were the inhabitants in

his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto

them.

And as it was written in the letters

which she had sent to them, they

proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on

high among the people. And there came

two men, children of Belial, that sat in

other words,

devil worshipers in effect, and sat

before him. And the men of Belial

witnessed against him, even against

Naboth, in the presence of the people

saying, "Naboth did blaspheme God and

the king."

Then they carried him forth out of the

city, stoned him with stones that he

died.

And then they sent to Jezebel saying,

"Naboth is stoned and is dead." What is

not mentioned here, but is mentioned

elsewhere in the scripture, they didn't

just kill Naboth, they slaughtered all

his heirs, sons and grandsons.

So there'd be no claim on the land.

Doesn't end there. Doesn't end at verse

14.

It came to pass when Jezebel heard that

Naboth was stoned and was dead, that

Jezebel said to Ahab, "Arise and take

possession of the vineyard of Naboth the

Jezreelite, which he refused to give

thee for money. For Naboth is not alive,

but dead." And it came to pass when Ahab

heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab

rose up to go down to the vineyard of

Naboth the Jezreelite and take

possession of it.

And the word of the Lord came to Elijah

the Tishbite saying,

"Arise and go down to meet Ahab the king

of Israel, which is in Samaria.

Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth,

whither he is gone down to possess it.

And thou shalt speak unto him saying,

'Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed

and also taken possession?

And thou shalt speak unto him saying,

"Thus saith the Lord, In the place where

dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall

dogs lick thy blood, even thine."

Very specific, very direct.

You know, it really is ridiculous.

Here's a king who could have gotten

anything he wanted, but here's this

little vineyard of this little guy

for that to be an issue. It's just, you

know,

anyway.

And Ahab said to Elijah, "Hast thou

found me, O mine enemy?" And he

answered, "I have found thee, because

thou hast sold thyself to work evil in

the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will

bring evil upon thee, and I will take

away thy posterity, I will cut off from

Ahab him that pisseth against the wall,

and him that is shut up and left in

Israel." You say, "What on earth is that

about?" It's a rather call for way of

saying his male sons

and grandsons.

In other words, the ones that would

inherit.

Them that pisseth against the wall. I

didn't say that. That's King James said

that.

I'm going to hear about that when I get

home here.

And will make thine house like the house

of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like

the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah,

for the provocation wherewith thou hast

provoked me to anger, and has made

Israel to sin."

And and of Jezebel also spake the Lord

saying, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel by

the wall of Jezreel.

Him that dieth of Ahab in the city, the

dogs shall eat. And him that dieth in

the field, shall the fowls of the air

eat." But there was none like unto Ahab,

which did him sell himself to work

wickedness in the sight of the Lord,

whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And on

it goes. He did very abominably in the

follow in following idols, according to

all the things did the Amorites, whom

the Lord cast out before the children of

Israel. And it came to pass when Ahab

heard those words, he rent his clothes,

put sackcloth upon his flesh, and

fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went

softly.

Naboth's vineyard. The king wants the

vineyard. The queen arranges the

inquisition,

arranges for false witnesses,

condemnation, execution,

and it's property is seized for the

king. Does that echo something in

history?

What's it called in history?

Anyone?

The inquisition.

Dark days.

What also is that they they about's

heirs were also slain as indicated.

Let's look ahead from 1 Kings into 2

Kings chapter 9 when Jehu Jehu is quite

a guy. I don't have time to get into him

tonight, but there is

he was a quick on the draw here.

He also drove too fast. He broke speed

limits, but I won't go into that here.

When Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel

heard of it.

And she painted her face, and tired her

head, and looked out at a window.

And as Jehu entered in the gate, she

said, "Had Zimri peace, who slew his

master?" That's a taunt by the way,

because Zimri had slain his master. And

and uh

Anyway, and he lifted up his face to the

window. She's up there. And he says,

"Who's on my side? Who?" And they looked

out two eunuchs, two officers of the

harem there. Said, "Throw her down." So

they threw her down.

Some of her blood was sprinkled on the

wall and on the horses, and he trod her

under foot.

And when he's come in, he did eat and

drink.

She falls there, he runs his horses and

chariots over her, so she makes sure

she's dead. He goes in and has a has a

bite to eat.

This is Jehu, right?

He said, "Go see now this cursed woman,

and bury her, for after all, she's a

king's daughter, right?"

And they went out to bury her, but they

found no more of her than the skull, and

the feet, and the palms of her hands.

Wherefore they came again told him and

said, "This is the word of the Lord,

which he spake by his servant Elijah the

Tishbite saying, 'In the portion of

Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of

Jezebel.

And uh the carcass of Jezebel shall be

as a dung upon the face of the field in

the portion of Jezreel, so that they

shall not say, 'This is Jezebel.'"

Forgot to mention that Jehu is with his

sidekick. The two of them were servants

of Ahab at Naboth's vineyard. So they

witnessed the sin of Ahab.

But now Jehu is king, and his sidekick,

they also witness the judgment of Ahab

and of Jezebel. It's very very There's a

lot of retribution under all of this.

But uh so Jezebel gets her due.

Well, so Jesus is using Jezebel as an

idiom here. Uh apparently, I assume that

there was a literal Jezebel of some kind

there in the church in Thyatira, but I

think it's something far deeper that's

coming on here.

Jesus says, "I will kill her children

with death, and all the churches shall

know that I am he which searches the

reins and the hearts." So the minds and

the hearts. And I will give unto every

one of you according to your works.

It's interesting, this sort of already

starts to imply that there is a remnant

in Thyatira that may survive.

The church itself is in big trouble.

Here's the exhortation that Jesus says,

"But I said 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."

Now, the deep things of Satan, the

depths of Satan, what on earth is that

all about?

Uh there's a play on words here, because

the the uh

the deep things of Satan is bathos, and

the burden is baros. So then in the in

there's a

uh a phonetic similarity in the Greek.

But anyway, that which ye have already,

hold fast till I come.

This is the first place

in the seven letters

that there is an explicit reference to

the second coming of Christ.

She says, "Which that which you have

already, hold fast till I come." That

till is a very important word.

Then we get to he he that overcometh and

keepeth my works unto the end, to him

will I give power over the nations.

Now, he's he promises that to the

overcomer. The context implies that was

the ambition of Jezebel, that power over

the nations.

Don't go that way.

Hold fast to your faith.

And keepeth my he he that 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 potter shall they be broken

to shivers. These are all echoes of

Psalm 2 and so forth. Even as I received

of my father.

And I will give him the morning star.

This will happen before sunrise.

And uh

the there may be an echo of the star of

Jacob that Balaam, the prophet Balaam

talks about, but we'll let that one go

for here. And then we have of course

this closing phrase, "He that hath an

ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith

saith to the churches." This is the

first letter where the promise to the

overcomer is in the body of the letter.

So we have Thyatira, we have the name,

we have the all the elements that we've

just gone through.

But we notice

that unlike the first three, the promise

to the overcomer is in the body of the

letter as it will be for the coming

three ones. There's a change in

structure here for some bizarre reason.

We'll explore that when we have all the

letters in front of us.

We've looked at the local We've Let's

talk about the admonitory. How does this

apply to churches today? Are there

Jezebels in churches today?

Well,

are there pagan practices in the church

today?

Absolutely.

And we be we're going to be talking

about some specific ones, but let's

recognize there are pagan practices in

every church you'll walk into. The

question is, how much?

Find a church that worships on Sunday.

You got Constantine there, not the not

the New Testament. I'm not a Seventh Day

Adventist, don't misunderstand me.

But anyone that thinks that that Sunday

is the Sabbath hasn't done their

homework.

But that's not a big deal. Paul says,

"Don't let anyone judge you for keeping

of any holy day, Sabbath or or

Sabbaths." So, don't make that a

divisive thing. But just understand that

that's a that that uh Shabbat is the

seventh day of the week, Sunday isn't.

Sunday is the first day of the week.

And some people say, "Well, we worship

it because of the resurrection." If

that's your argument, fine. We'll leave

it lay for now.

But let's go on.

There are pagan practices.

Um when we talk about Easter, that's a

that's the golden egg of Astarte.

And the formula for the Easter calendar

was deliberately designed by the

churches so it would not fall on

Passover.

And usually it's close. This year it's

strange because of the extra month, but

the point is that that um there's

paganism everywhere, some churches more

than others.

Okay, we also have a personal thing.

Well, that probably fits pretty much all

the way through. Again, pagan practices,

how do we deal with that personally?

And we need to deal with that.

And the overcomers promises. There's all

kinds of promises, but we'll leave that

one leave that That's pretty

straightforward, also.

And who is the overcomer? Let's not get

into a legal trip here. Who is the First

John 5:4 is your verses.

The same author that wrote Revelation

wrote a letter, first letter.

"Whatsoever is born of God overcometh

the world. This is the victory that

overcometh the world, even our faith."

"Who is he that overcometh the world,

but he that believeth that the Jesus is

the son of God." That's our job.

We are a walk by faith, not of works. If

you have serious faith, works will be a

byproduct. But don't put that cart

before the horse or you get into a whole

a denial of Christ's completed work.

Okay, we've covered three of them. Let's

get to the

most astonishing one of all, the

prophetic side of this.

What are these depths of Satan, first of

all? Esoteric mysteries of the

Babylonian cults, of course.

In 378 AD, Damasus, the Bishop of Rome,

took the office of Pontifex Maximus.

That was the high priest of the

Babylonian religion. It previously had

been the prerogative of the Caesars.

But here he took it on, and that is when

the Christian church now had as its

titular head Pontifex Maximus, the very

title from the Babylonian pagan

paganism. But let's get into the papacy.

This is the core issue here. Let's

review this. And I want to apologize in

advance for any of you who are from a

Catholic background, cuz I'm I'm pretty

confident we're going to talk about some

history that you may not be aware of.

And I'll give you biblical bibliographic

references at the end where you can

verify this. I do encourage you not to

believe a word I say,

but do your own homework.

But let's take a look. You will not

understand the history of Europe

unless you understand the tensions

between the Vatican and the various

kings of Europe as the Vatican aspired

to temporal authority more than

religious authority.

The word pope, of course, simply means

papa or father. It initially applied to

all Western bishops, by the way. About

500 AD, it began to be restricted to the

Bishop of Rome.

For 500 years, the Bishops of Rome were

not popes, by the way. What about Peter?

They have a Roman Catholics promote a

tradition that Peter was the first pope.

It's fiction, there's no historical

basis for this. There's no evidence that

Peter was ever a Bishop of Rome.

In fact, he himself seems to have a

foreboding

over his successors. In 1 Peter 5:3, it

says, "Neither is being lords over the

God's heritage, but being examples to

the flock." This is emphasis, just the

opposite, if you will.

And by the way, there are people that

argue that word Babylon in his second

letter

that shows up there as a code name for

Rome. That's not true. Babylon was a

major Jewish center. In fact, that's

where the Babylonian Talmud was

compiled. That's all another myth that

we'll talk about later in the study,

later in the study of Revelation.

In the fourth century, there were five

major primary centers, Rome,

Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and

Alexandria. They each had the bishop in

that area was called a patriarch. All

five were originally equal.

In 395 AD, when the empire divides,

Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria

acknowledged the leadership of

Constantinople, not Rome.

Constantinople, that's one reason

Constantine moved it.

But that started a struggle between

Rome, pagan Rome, if you will, and

Constantinople.

And that struggle goes on for quite a

while.

And

the Bishop of Rome and his lust for

worldly power claimed universal

jurisdiction over the church. He just He

just asserted it.

Unfortunately, that was all It was his

under his watch, the empire divided into

two separate empires, east and west.

The Roman Empire itself split into two

arms, two legs, if you will.

The east, of course, was beset with all

kinds of

theological controversies. The west was

under increasingly weak emperors, and it

was breaking up before the barbarians.

They would fall apart by 476 AD.

The eastern leg outlasted the western

leg by 1,000 years.

But these jawbone attempts, these

attempts for the Bishop of Rome to

somehow declare that he's in charge of

all of them, those attempts that

continued until Leo the First. We want

to get to Leo the First here. Um the

in 445 445, he obtained from the emperor

uh the the the imperial recognition for

his claim as primate of all bishops. In

452, he did a Understand the barbarian

Rome was falling apart. The barbarians

were at the gates. And uh Attila the

Hun, he he he persuaded Attila the Hun

to spare the city of Rome.

Pretty cool. I mean, he he pulled that

off.

Uh in 455, a few years later,

uh Genseric, the Vandal, uh he did the

same thing. He talked him into having

mercy on the city.

These jawbone attempts, these these

these

diplomatic moves really earned Leo the

First his his reputation. He had it

made. So, he declared himself lord over

the whole church. He advocated exclusive

universal papacy, just following

along here that the same claims that

predecessors had, but in his case, he

sort of earned some respect here.

And he proclaimed that resistance to his

authority was a sure path to hell.

These are the kinds of assertions that

are starting to They also advocated the

death penalty for heresy. So, this is

starting to This is These guys are

starting to get pretty tough.

But we have the fall of Rome.

And

Simplicius was the Roman Pope when the

Western Empire came to an end. That's

roughly 476 AD.

And

now there was no civil authority. All

the fragmented kingdoms of barbarians

gave all kinds of opportunities to do

deals among the

And the Pope became one of the more

commanding figures in the west, not

because of his political authority, just

as as a center of influence.

Gregory the First is regarded by many

scholars as the first pope. Others would

say Leo was. There's debates in in that

in various ways, but but Gregory the

First was quite a guy. If um

there if there'd been more popes like

him, I think the world would have a

whole different estimate of the papacy.

He labored unceasingly over the

purification of the church. He deposed

neglectful or unworthy bishops. He

opposed the sale of offices, that's

called simony.

Um

But let's get to a guy by name of

Charlemagne.

Zacharias was instrumental in making

Pippin the king of the Franks. The

Franks was the Germanic people that

occupied uh Western Germany and Northern

France.

And uh so,

uh succeeding pope requested Pippin to

lead his army to Italy to conquer the

Lombards, which had pillaged Italy, and

he did, and he succeeded. And he gave

the center core of Italy to the Pope.

That became the beginning of the the

Papal States, if you will. And that

continued, by the way, all the way till

1870, when uh Italy regained

uh those lands back, all except Vatican

City itself.

So, they had that for 1,100 years,

thanks to to uh um Pippin.

Pippin has a son by name of Charlemagne,

who becomes a major player.

And he was He turns out to be one of the

greatest rulers of all time. That's why

we're getting into this a little bit

here. But he was He reigned 46 years

through many wars and incredible

conquests.

And his realm included Germany, France,

Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Belgium,

and parts of Spain and Italy.

So, that was the so-called Holy Roman

Empire, if you will. And he helped the

Pope, and the Pope helped him. They had

a real duet going here.

And he was one of the greatest

influences in bringing the papacy to a

position of world power.

Uh following the the tradition I might

mention he's the grandson. Charlemagne

was the grandson of Charles Martel, who

stopped the Moors in 732.

That was a big thing in European

history. They had Charles Martel.

The the the Moors were were taking over

Europe. And at Tours, France, he he

stopped So, Charlemagne is his grandson.

So, he comes from a very distinguished

background.

And we get to the Treaty of Verdun.

After Charlemagne dies, of course, the

Treaty of Verdun divided his empire into

what later became the foundations of

Germany, France, and Italy. That's where

it really came out of, the Treaty of

Verdun.

But this is where a ceaseless struggle

starts between the popes and the

primarily the German and French kings.

And the so-called Holy Roman Empire

lasted 1,000 years until Napoleon

brought it to an end in 1806.

It's interesting how the Holy Roman

Empire,

which was neither holy nor Roman, but

that's the label,

uh is sort of the echo of ambition

subsequent Hitler's Third Reich was the

Third

regime. You had the original Roman

Empire, the Holy Roman Empire. It was

the Third Reich. That was the idea. And

uh

so on. And what we're seeing in Europe

is heading in the similar direction.

Well, we have a strange thing occur. Um

Nicholas the First, by the way, is the

first pope to wear a crown.

And it's about this time, 857, that a

book surfaces called the Isidorian

Decretals.

And it purported to be letters and

decrees of bishops and councils of the

2nd and 3rd centuries.

And the whole idea was to to exalt the

power of the Pope stamping the papacy

with the authority of antiquity

and antedating the Pope's temporal power

by five centuries.

They were very very important except

after a couple of centuries, they were

proven to be forgeries. Most colossal

forgeries in history.

Deliberate forgeries forgeries.

See, until 1860 until 869

all these ecumenical councils were held

under the auspices of Constantinople.

They were in Greek, not Latin. We tend

to forget that.

But that was really where the real

issues were joined.

And uh Nicholas I undertook to interfere

in the affairs of the Eastern Church.

He excommunicated the patriarch of

Constantinople who in turn

excommunicated him. So, they they traded

excommunication notes.

Um

and uh the claims of the Roman Church

became increasingly unbearable. So, the

East finally it's separates itself. This

is called the Great Cleavage where the

where the Eastern Orthodox separates

from the Roman Catholics if you will.

They really that's where they really

split. The Eastern Orthodox

um

uh has many traditions that are similar

but many that are very distinctly

different than the Roman Catholics.

They don't have celebrate priests and so

forth.

Um

and of course the breach became becomes

wider through the centuries and uh

the uh brutal treatment of

Constantinople by the armies of the Pope

Innocent the II during the Crusades

um

deepens the whole

uh division between the two. So, there's

a huge tension between them.

Well, from 904 to 963 is known in

history, strangely enough,

as the rule of the harlots.

And uh it turns out that uh

uh under Sergius III in 904, there's a

gal by name of Maro Marozia.

Marozia, excuse me, and uh her mother

Theodora

and her sisters, they filled the papal

uh chair with paramours and bastard sons

and turned the papal then into a den of

robbers. And this is why they call this

era called the rule of the harlots.

Um

Sergius the I gets replaced by John the

X. He was brought from Ravenna to Rome

by uh and made Pope by Theodora for her

more convenient gratification.

He was uh smothered to death by

Marozia

who then in succession raised the papacy

uh

Leo VI

Stephen VII and John IX.

Uh

uh

Uh

who was her own her own illegitimate

son.

And uh

another of her sons was another of her

sons that appointed the following Popes

Leo VII Stephen the uh

VIII

Martin III and uh

uh Agapetus the II.

And uh

then we get to John the XII.

He was the grandson of Marozia.

Guilty of almost every crime you can

imagine. Violated virgins and widows.

Lived with his father's mistress. Made

the papal palace a brothel.

Um was killed in the act of adultery by

the woman's enraged husband.

So, this is the

legacy that's from that era.

But the descent continues. Um

we have uh Benedict the VIII and

and John the IX that bought the office

of the Pope through by open bribery.

And then Benedict IX was made Pope as a

12-year-old boy

through a money bargain with the

powerful families that ruled Rome.

He committed murders and adulteries in

broad daylight and robbed pilgrims and

on the graves of martyrs.

A hideous criminal.

The people drove him out of Rome and

some people call him the worst of all

the Popes.

But that that

he at least make the finals.

Then we have a period of time where

there were three rival Popes. Benedict

IX continued but Gregory VI and

Sylvester III um the Rome swarmed with

hired assassins. The virtue of pilgrims

was violated.

And uh so we get to Clement the II. And

uh

he was appointed Pope by Emperor Henry

the VIII of Germany, quote,

"Because no Roman clergyman could be

found who was free of the pollution of

simony, that is purch buying offices,

and fornication."

So, it's that bad. The king steps in and

appoints Clement the II to fill the

bill.

Now, we start moving into better days.

The golden age of papal power at least.

And uh there was a cry of reform was

answered by Hildebrand who led the

papacy into its golden age from 1049 to

1294.

And uh he controlled five successive um

administrations prior to his own.

And uh when he he he controlled he

appointed those four and then he he uh

became uh Gregory the the uh VII.

And he took he undertook a a major

reform.

So, things are getting better

presumably.

We get to Innocent the III, however, who

may be the worst of the bunch.

He was the most powerful of all the

Popes by most uh historians.

Um

he claimed to be vicar of Christ and

vicar of God. He said, "All things on

earth and in heaven and in hell are

subject to the vicar of Christ." This is

crazy. More blood was shed under his

direction and that of his immediate

successors than any other period of

church history

except perhaps the papacy's effort to

crush the Reformation in the 16th and

17th centuries.

He considered himself the supreme

sovereign of the church in the world.

All the monarchs of Europe obeyed his

will including the Byzantine Empire.

That's astonishing.

He ordered two Crusades. He decreed

transubstantiation. He confirmed

auricular confession. He declared papal

infallibility. He condemned the Magna

Carta. That's interesting.

Forbade the reading of the Bible in the

vernacular.

And the institute of the Inquisition.

And we can't go very far without export

understanding a little bit about the

Inquisition called in and by the Vatican

the Holy Office.

The Inquisition was instituted by Pope

Innocent the III and was perfected by

Pope Gregory the IX.

Everyone was required to inform against

heretics. Anyone suspect was liable to

torture without knowing the name of his

accuser. The proceedings were secret.

The inquisitor pronounced sentence and

the victim was turned over to civil

authorities to be imprisoned for life or

to be burned.

And his property the victim's property

was confiscated and divided between the

church and the state. Do you understand

the insidious incentives here?

There's a real incentive here to you

know to to for a guilty verdict whatever

the circumstances are.

The Inquisition of course claimed vast

multitudes of victims in Spain, Italy,

Germany, the Netherlands. It did its

most deadly work against the Albigenses.

Let's talk about them a little bit.

They were in Southern France, Northern

Spain, and Northern Italy.

They preached against the immoralities

of priesthood, the worship of saints and

images. They completely rejected the

clergy and their claims. They opposed

the claims of the church at Rome.

They made great use of the scriptures

and lived self-denying lives with great

zeal for moral purity.

That's a formula to get persecuted,

isn't it? By 1167, a majority of

population of Southern France

and and they were and and they were very

numerous in Northern Italy.

In 1208, the Pope Innocent the III,

strange label, isn't it?

Ordered a bloody war of extermination

which utterly wiped out town after town.

The inhabitants murdered without

discrimination until all the Albigenses

were utterly wiped out.

They weren't the only ones. The

Waldenses.

A similar but not identical group in the

same region emphasizing Bible reading

and rejecting clerical usurpa-

usurpation and profligacy were similarly

wiped out. Notice this is well before

the Reformation. These are backgrounds

that lead of course to the Reformation.

In the 30 years between 1540 and 1570

no fewer than 900,000 Protestants were

put to death by the Pope's war for the

extermination of the Waldenses.

For 500 years, the Inquisition was the

most diabolical thing in human history.

Well, we get to Boniface the VII or VIII

I mean.

He in his famous bull Unam Sanctam, he

said, quote, "We declare, affirm,

define, and pronounce that it is

altogether necessary for salvation that

every creature be subject to the Roman

Pontiff."

That was their style.

He was so corrupt that Dante, the famous

English author who visited Rome during

his pontificate, called the Vatican a

sewer of corruption and assigned him

among with Nicholas III and Clement V to

the lowest parts of his famous, you

know, uh Divine uh

Inferno. Yeah, thank you.

Then we get to another era that many

people don't know about, the French

control of the papacy.

See, the papacy had been victorious in

its 200-year struggle primarily with the

German Empire.

But they met their match with Philip the

Fair, the King of France

with whom the history of modern France

begins. At the death of Pope Benedict

the XI, the papal palace was removed

from Rome to Avignon on the south border

of France and for 70 years, the papacy

was the mere tool of the French court.

Many people don't realize that. For the

next 40 years, there were two sets of

Popes, one at Rome and one at Avignon,

each claiming to be the vicar of Christ,

hurling anathemas and curses at each

other.

Then we get to what's called the

Renaissance Popes

from the John the XXIII on.

And uh

he's he was called by some the most

depraved criminal who ever sat on the

papal throne, guilty of almost every

crime.

As Cardinal Bologna, he was

200 maidens, nuns, married women fell

victim to his amours.

As Pope, he violated virgins and nuns.

Lived in adultery with his brother's

wife. Was guilty of sodomy and nameless

vices. Bought the papal office in the

first place.

Uh sold cardinalates, I guess you call

it, uh to children of wealthy families

and he openly denied the future life. No

surprise.

And uh so and we get to Pope Pius the

II. Uh he said to have been the father

of many illegitimate children. He spoke

openly of the methods he used to seduce

women and encourage young men, even

offering to instruct them in the methods

of self-indulgence. That's quite an

example.

Paulus II filled his house with

concubines, we're told.

Uh Sixtus IV

sanctioned the Spanish Inquisition.

Decreed that money would deliver souls

from purgatory. That's a great way to

raise funds.

Was implicated in a plot to murder the

Lorenzo de Medici and others who opposed

his policies and used the papacy to

enrich himself and his relatives.

He made eight of his nephews cardinals

while as yet some of them were mere

boys.

In wealth and pomp, he and his relatives

surpassed the old Roman families.

And we get to uh

Innocent VIII.

Had 16 children by various married

women. Multiplied church offices, sold

them for vast sums of money, decreed the

extermination of the Waldenses,

appointed the brutal Thomas of

Torquemada as the Inquisitor General of

Spain.

And ordered all rulers to deliver up

heretics to him.

Then we have Alexander VI, the most

corrupt of the Renaissance popes.

These are tough competitions, by the

way. None of these guys are

um

He was licentious, avaricious, depraved.

He bought the papacy, made many new

cardinals for money, had a number of

illegitimate children whom

he openly acknowledged and appointed to

high church office while they were yet

children.

And murdered cardinals and others who

stood in the way.

And then we get to Pius the

the

By the way, Alexander VI also had a

mistress of the

had a mistress.

Uh a sister of a cardinal who he then

made pope, Pope Pius III.

So, they all get a piece of the action

here. Well, that leads us That's the

background for a young coal miner's son.

1483, was born born to a coal miner, guy

by name Martin Luther.

He was out to become a lawyer when he

had an experience in a very violent

lightning storm

that caused him to pursue a doctorate in

theology.

Very pivotal time for the world,

actually.

He went to Rome

and to give you just a short rendering

of this, he was so disillusioned

that he had been advised when he was he

was very ill on the going through the

Alps to Rome that a monk told him to

He he he had Luther very early in his in

his doctoral studies became very

um

burdened by his own sin. He really

couldn't deal with that. In fact, his

his

confessor said, "Stop coming to me until

you've got something to confess." I

mean, he was just you know

But he

this monk said, "The key to your life is

Habakkuk 2:4."

He went to Rome, became very

disillusioned, but on the way back he

realized that's the key to the whole

thing. And then Habakkuk 2:4 says, "The

just shall live by faith."

And that became his life verse.

In fact, Paul wrote a trilogy on that

verse, the book of Romans, book of

Galatians, book of Hebrews.

Who are the just? That's what the book

of Romans answers and quotes that verse.

How shall the just live? They shall live

by faith.

How do How do How you do that? That's

what Galatians is all about.

The just shall live how? By faith. And

that's what the book of Hebrews

elaborates on in in the in that verse is

quoted in all three. So, there's it's a

very key thing worth worthy of study.

But in any case, that leads him

ultimately on October 31st of 1517,

Luther nails his famed 95 Theses to the

door at Wittenberg College. He was his

dream, his hope, his ambition was to get

the church to reform, to to to shed

these pagan uh pa- practices.

But the response is just the opposite.

On December 10th of 1520, there's a bull

excommunicating him and unless he

retracts within 60 days or death.

And Luther burns it publicly and the

Reformation in effect is born.

Uh the Diet of Worms in 1521, Charles V,

the emperor of the so-called Holy Roman

Empire, that would be Germany, Spain,

Netherlands, and Austria, summoned

Luther to appear.

And he has his big climactic appearance.

If he if he doesn't recant, he's going

to they're going to kill him. Says,

"Here I stand, I can do not else. So

help me God."

And that was

fortunately, because of the support of

the German princes and so forth, they

didn't kill him, obviously. And the but

the century of wars began, the war on

the German Protestants,

the war on the Protestants of the

Netherlands, the wars the Huguenot wars

in France, Philip's attempt against

England. These are just a whole century

of wars here. 30 Years' War is it's

called.

All were wars trying to stamp out or

curtail the so-called Reformation. So,

we have the Reformation popes. You got

Julius II, called the warrior pope.

He's the richest of the cardinals with

vast income from numerous bishops and

church estates.

Uh he bought the papacy, obviously, and

he attained and personally led vast

armies and used and issued indulgences

for money.

Uh that was part of what uh

uh we have

dealing with here with Leo the

the uh

He was pope when Luther started the the

whole Protestant Reformation. And Luther

People argue he didn't really start it.

He was just a precipitating event. There

were a lot of things already going on in

different parts of Europe. The

the Martin Luther thing was sort of is

what caused it all to to

to move forward in a dramatic way.

That's why they

say the Reformation started with him.

Technically, there were a lot of

movements that already started in other

places. But anyway,

Leo X was made an archbishop when he was

8 years old.

And he uh

he became a cardinal at 13.

He held 27 offices before he was 13

years old.

He appointed cardinals as young as

seven. See, these were just games

they're playing, in a sense.

Um

He maintained the most luxurious and

licentious court in Europe. As a

legatory, he reaffirmed the Unam Sanctam

in which it declared that every human

being be subject to the Roman upon for

salvation.

He used indulgences and for stipulated

fees

and declared the burning of heretics a

divine appointment.

So, we we get to Adrian and we get to

Let's keep moving along here, Paul.

Uh the third had many illegitimate

children. He was a determined enemy of

the Protestants and he offered Charles V

an army to

to exterminate them.

And we have the Jesuits. That was a They

they uh

based on a principle of unconditional

obedience to the pope having its

objective of recovery of territory lost

to the Protestants and Muslims and the

conquest of the entire heathen world for

the Roman Catholic. It was very militant

group.

Their supreme aim was the destruction of

heresy, that thinking anything different

than what the pope said to think.

And uh

for this accomplishment, though, their

ground rules are pretty broad. Anything

was justifiable, deception, morality,

vice, even murder.

In France, they were responsible for the

St. Matthew's massacre. I'll come to

that in a minute. The persecution of

Huguenots, the revocation of the

tolerant edict, and they even

facilitated the French Revolution. In

Spain, Netherlands, South Germany,

Bohemia, Austria, Poland, and other

countries, they laid they led in the

massacre of untold multitudes

and thus saved the papacy from ruin. St.

Matthew's

a St. Excuse me. St. Bartholomew's

massacre.

Catherine de Medici was the mother of

the existing king at the time, an ardent

Romanist and willing tool of the pope.

She gave the order on the night of

August 24th of 1572, 70,000 Huguenots

were massacred.

There was great rejoicing in Rome. The

pope and his college of cardinals went

in solemn procession to the Church of

San Marco and uh

and ordered the Deum to be sung in

thanksgiving. They struck a medal in

commem- in commemoration of the

massacre.

Sent a cardinal to Paris to to bear the

king and the queen mother the

congratulations of the pope.

Strange times.

Well, with that background, we had a

very interesting thing occur on March

29th of 1994.

All this apparently some kind of big

misunderstanding.

A joint declaration was signed called

the Evangelicals and Catholics Together:

The Christian Mission in the Third

Millennium.

Uh most signi- This is Some people

herald it the most significant event in

500 years of church history.

Is it?

Difficult area. Some very prominent

Christian leadership have joined in

signing this.

And an equal equally impressive In fact,

maybe more impressive group of Christian

scholars are shocked

because it's really a denial

of the of the people that willingly went

to the to be burned at the stake for

their belief in biblical doctrine.

The compromise of the gospel lies at the

heart of the agreement. And the gospel

hasn't changed.

And that's the problem.

But there was in a surprising

announcement that you also should make

part of the record here, and that's May

21st of 1995. The pope himself, believe

it or not, asked forgiveness

for all the wrongs and crimes committed

and permitted by the Roman Catholic

Church throughout their history.

It would have been a little more

impressive if he asked forgiveness of

what the Vatican perpetrated during the

history. But he he generalized it.

And at least that's a

uh you know, a

stake in the ground.

You say, "Chuck, this is pretty wild

stuff. You've been very offensive here.

I'm sure some people are I encourage you

to do a little homework.

One of the most accessible products you

can get at any Christian bookstore is

Halley's Bible Handbook.

But the one I use is the 24th edition

published in 1965. It originally

published way back in 27. It's a

classic. You can get it in any Christian

bookstore. I might caution you, though,

don't get the special edition that was

handed out by Billy Graham.

Cuz you'll discover this particular

section was removed from that special

printing run.

So, get Make sure you get the whole one.

And that that'll have a history of the

of the Vatican thing.

And it'll give you the references where

you can check things out.

Another way to deal with this subject is

to check out the book by Dave Hunt, A

Woman Rides the Beast, published by

Harvest House in 1994.

It's I I regard it as a must-read for

every serious Christian.

There are some viewpoints that Dave

holds that I don't happen to be quite in

step with, but they're not material

here. They He's done an outstanding job

at researching the background and he

will he has the thing documented

thoroughly, so you can check it out.

Dave and I did a briefing pack together

here called The Kingdom of Blood where

we each spent

did a session, and that's available

here. But I recommend even better than

it that's handy here. I I recommend that

this book go to any Christian bookstore

and and get it. If you can't get it

uh you can get it on the net, whatever.

Well, let's get to this prophetic

profile. Remember we said that we had

these various churches. Um Ephesus was

the apostolic church, Smyrna the

persecuted church, Pergamum is the

married church. What do I call Thyatira?

Well, for lack of another name, I'll

just call it the medieval church. We

together? That's I think a reasonable

descriptor.

Um

And again, we we made note of the fact

that if there's a change in architecture

that has just occurred,

and we're going to study that in the

subsequent sessions, but I'll give you a

a glimpse in advance.

If I take these

churches,

and I take the various

appellations on them,

Thyatira, we notice a couple of things.

First of all, we notice that these first

three had the promises to the overcomer

postscripted.

And the second group, the promises are

in the body of the letter.

If nothing else, it least clusters these

into two groups.

It's interesting, too, that the last

four each have an explicit reference to

the

of the coming of Christ. First three did

not, the last four do. So, that's also a

distinctive.

Thyatira is distinctive in that there it

includes a threat

that if they don't repent, that they'll

be thrust in the great tribulation.

We're going to see one of the other

three churches have just the opposite

commitment made.

And uh we'll talk about that as we get

to it.

So, that's just a fore-glimpse. As we

get through all seven, we'll backtrack

and try to look at the how these all fit

together in an in a overall design.

So, let's talk about next session. I've

run a little over time already, so let's

read for next time. Read chapters 2 and

3. Read all all seven letters. I think

that's useful.

But outline the next one, which is the

letter to Sardis, Revelation chapter 3

verses 1 to 6.

And what is

the the Sardis What is their primary

need?

It won't be as obvious until unless you

study carefully.

And find out what are the dis- What What

are the distinctives of this particular

letter?

That's your assignment for next time.

Let's stand for a closing word of

prayer.

Tough stuff.

A very difficult period of history to

try to summarize briefly.

Um

And let's remind ourselves that Jesus

commended them, the church of Thyatira,

for their works, their services, and so

forth.

There's some positives there.

But he did emphasize this woman Jezebel

and all that she represented.

And uh

I think the parallels to us seem very

very obvious.

How does it affect you and me?

How does it affect you and me?

That's the challenge.

Because he that hath an ear, let him

hear what the Spirit says to the

churches.

There are lessons here. Independent

Independent of the church you happen to

attend personally.

It has to do with our personal walk with

the Lord.

And our our forbearance of

paganism in whatever form we find it.

Our forbearance of immorality,

sexual and spiritual immorality. That's

the issue all the way through.

And immorality always goes hand in hand,

sexual and idolatrous together.

It caused the church to stumble.

It caused Solomon to stumble, the wisest

man on the earth. Started off great,

but became apostate at the end

because of

sexual immorality

and

um

false worship.

Bow our heads. Father,

we come before your throne awed

that you

have loved us so much

as to give us your son, Jesus Christ.

And yet, Father, if we stand back and

look at history, we just grieve.

Just grieve

at the miserable respon- miserable

response

that

on balance, we collectively have made.

We thank you, Father, that nevertheless,

that you've given us your son. We thank

you, Father, that you've brought us to

this point in time. We pray, Father,

through your Holy Spirit for discernment

and understanding,

and yes, resolve.

We do pray, Father, that you would help

us understand what you would have of us

where you have planted us.

We pray, Father, you'd give us the

strength

and the equipping

to hold fast,

to be strong

as your ambassadors.

Keep us from being married to the world,

Father.

Help us to never forget that we're just

passing through. We're pilgrims here.

For we look for a city whose maker

is you.

Father, we would just pray that you

would help each of us to grow in grace,

the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,

Jesus Christ.

Help us to shed the grave clothes of the

past.

Help us to

step forward untrammeled, unhindered

by the traditions and the missteps of

the past.

Help us, Father, to be your ambassadors.

Help us to be fruitful stewards

as we commit ourselves into your hands

without any reservation.

As we come to you in the name of Yeshua,

our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in

whose name we do pray. Amen.