Maxwell, Sydney: The Seven Churches-06

Now I want to read a verse or two in the first book of the Kings, please. The first book of the Kings, chapter sixteen, verse twenty nine. And in the thirtieth year of Asa, king of Judah, began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel. And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethol, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him. Look over, please, to chapter eighteen for a verse here I want to lift up. Verse two: And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab, and there was a sore famine in Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, for it was so when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water. Now, to finalize our reading in the Old Testament, just look, please, if you will, to chapter nineteen, and we'll read maybe a couple of verses here. Verse seventeen. This is the word of the Lord to Elijah. And it shall come to pass that him that escapeth the sword of Hethiel shall Jehu slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which have not kissed him. Now the gospel according to Matthew, please. And we'll read the short parable there to relate with this. Matthew thirteen and verse thirty three. Another parable spake he unto them, the kingdom of heaven is like on the level, which a woman took and hid in three measures of me till the whole was leavened. By the book of the Revelation, chapter two, verse eighteen. And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write, these things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his eyes are like fine brass, and his feet are like fine brass. I know thy works, thy 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 to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and 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. Notice this expression, 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, this teaching, which have not known the depths or the deep things of Satan as they speak. I will put upon you none other part, but that which you 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 said unto the churches. The Lord bless to us the reading of his word. Now, as briefly as we can, we'll make our references to the chart now in relation to what we have read tonight, and eh, I don't think that we should take the time perhaps to cover what we have covered, only perhaps to make our connection between Pergamos and Thyatira. In other words, between the kingdom of Jeroboam, that was the first king that sat upon the throne of Israel, whereas you'll keep in your mind that Rehoboam actually sat upon the throne of Judah. Now, from Jeroboam's reign, things began to deteriorate. In other words, there was decline in wickedness and idolatry, until finally you come to what we have read of tonight in the First Book of the Kings, chapter sixteen. you come actually to the reign of Ahab. Of all the kings of Israel, I would say without fear of contradiction that here was the weakest man of all. In his character, he was weak. A man that, for the most part, couldn't stand on his own feet. And I believe, of course, under his reign, the kingdom was worse even than in connection with Jeroboam. We read that to you in the First Book of the Kings, chapter sixteen. And interesting enough, the Spirit of God adds this little notation, and he says, and as if that was not enough. In other words, as far as his weakness was concerned, and his sin and idolatry was concerned, the Spirit of God says, and as if this was not enough, he married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of the Sidonians. And of course, she, no doubt, was an idolater herself, and she stands out in the pages of the, of the Word of God as a wicked and a whoredish woman. She was likely a priestess of the cult that she introduced here and linked Ahab with, so that she was a great influence upon this man, Ahab, and that is the reason that the kingdom was marked by so much wickedness, so much idolatry, and of course, with that idolatry, so much uncleanness. I want you to notice then, eh, we suggested to you that in connection with Pergamus, this was the period when the church and the world joined hands. In fact, it is known, of course, as the marriage of the church and the world. We pointed out to you that in Smyrna it was a most dangerous thing to be a Christian. In other words, once you trusted Christ in this particular period, you were a marked man or a marked woman, no matter what age you may have been. I think that when we come to Pergamus, instead of being a dangerous thing to be a Christian, it was most popular. Now, I should say this to you because for the help of young believers, the particular conditions within these, uh, periods, we mustn't think now that they just cut, just finished, like the way you would pull a blind down. I think that's not so because there were some overlapping of the conditions, so that you see the first love that was lost, it was overlapping into Smyrna, and that was the reason for the persecution, to bring them back. And of course, there's an overlapping of this into Pergamus, because it was in this day as well that Antipas, the faithful witness of the Lord, was slain in the days of Pergamus. So then you can see an overlapping from Pergamus right into the period of Tyre. And so it was a very popular thing to become a Christian and to really identify yourself outwardly and even profess to be a Christian, because the man who introduced this role in the persecution was an emperor by the name of Constantine. And when he came to the throne, as a result, on his bed one night he seen a vision in the sky with a cross, and the words around it was this, by this conquer, this man embraced outwardly, professedly Christianity, even though he wasn't baptized until near his death. Someone as well said he wanted to make sure all his sins were in before he could baptize, because really, to every poor person that embraced Christianity, he gave them a white robe, and he gave to them a piece of silver. So it is a very popular thing to be identified with Christianity as it was in the days of Pergamus. It was a period of loose living, a period of very popular, when really you could embrace the world and yet profess to be a Christian. Another thing I should say quickly, because there's so much that you can say about this, you don't know what to say or what to leave out. But it's very interesting to know that the conditions that mark all these seven churches, you must remember that these conditions could mark any local assembly at any given time. And in fact, that is the reason that each church would be equipped with the condition of the other. And all these conditions could very well mark a local assembly unless preserved by the power of God. You see that we end in a split. An assembly could correct, correct doctrinally, and yet the heart not right, left its worst lot. An assembly could know something about bitter persecution. Many of them have. An assembly could know the intrusion of the world and worldliness into its members, so that we would hardly be distinguishable from those that are unsaved or those that are going home to heaven. So you see, this part too has a voice to it. I want you to notice then that in connection with Ahab, you have then distinctly a woman associated with him. Her name is Jezebel. And of course, eh, this woman, as we have pointed out to you, one of the most ungodly women that the word of God has anything to say about. Now, that's interesting because, in connection with Thyatira, the very first mention of Thyatira in your New Testament is really found in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter sixteen. That's where you meet another woman. It's remarkable that women are linked with Thyatira. She was named Lydia. She was a remarkable character. She was likely a person who brought the particular wares of Thyatira up to Philippi in order to sell them. She was a seller, and notice, of purple. That's the royal color, and of course you should keep in your mind it's the papal color as well. But you'll remember that she was a worshipper of God. That's a remarkable thing. She came from Thyatira. She was a worshipper of God, a God-fearer, and yet not saved until the Lord opened her heart. And you remember, she paid attention to the preaching of Paul, and then after being baptized, someone as well said, first of all, the Lord opened her heart, and then she opened her hope. And the servants of the Lord found hospitality with this good woman, Lydia from Thyatira. But I can assure you the other women that are associated with Thyatira, and particularly with the latter, and particularly with Ahab, they leave much to be desired. You know, there's no person can influence a man like a woman. So I would advise my young brethren, be very careful which woman you get, because I want to tell you, she'll either help you live for God or else she'll turn you away. Now, I don't think that that is overstating the fact. Many a man would have lived for God, some in the stead of his wife would have learned. And so these women had great influence. And, uh, of course, like with this family, there was another woman, we'll speak about her later. But I want you to notice, within the kingdom of Ahab, there was this woman, Jezebel, and of course, the first thing she did was to influence this man to the idolatry of Baal. Then I read to you, when you come to chapter, eh, 18, you find that she destroyed all the prophets of the law. In other words, she had only use for her own prophets, and they were the prophets of Baal. In fact, another woman in connection with this period is spoken of as a widow woman, whereas here we have a wicked woman. Now look at the contrast of the two. In regards to the widow woman, God has her prepared and ready to look after the prophet of God, Elijah, in the day of the famine. He says, I have instructed a widow woman in order that she might look after you. While that widow woman was looking after the prophet of God, this wicked woman, Jezebel, she was looking after the prophets of Baal. You can see the contrast. I want you to notice as well that within this particular period of the kingdom, there is very distinctively the Spirit of God notices a remnant. Now, I want you to keep that in your mind, because that really is what stands related to Thyatira for the first time. There's no idea of a remnant in Ephesus, Smyrna, or Pergamos, but when you come to Thyatira, for the first time, the Spirit of God emphasizes a remnant. That's the reason I read to you in connection with a good man by the name of Obadiah. And mind you, he was the governor of the house of Ahab. I really don't know why he was there. But you know what a remarkable thing that God has his people everywhere. And we who are enlightened and in happy association and fellowship with the people of God, we should remember this. Not all the people of God are with us. God has them in his sovereignty in different places. Now, that's not to say that that's the place they should be, but God is sovereign, and they're there, and God works out his purposes through them. And in connection with Ahab, there was a man who feared the Lord greatly by the name of Obadiah. And while this wicked woman, Jezebel, was destroying the prophets of God, why, you remember, he took a number of them by fifty and he hid them in a cave, and he fed them on bread and water. Their rations weren't too good, but at least he preserved them, and eh, I believe God gave him credit for them. But you can see that even during the witness of this reign, there was a remnant. Then go on further, if you will, to chapter nineteen, when really the man by the name of Elijah who took the prophets of Baal down to the brook, and he killed them there. He obliterated them and destroyed their idols. It's a remarkable thing when he get discouraged and despondent and he sat on the juniper tree. You remember what he said? He said, everything's gone, and take a look at me, I'm the only one left. You know, sometimes the people have got into that particular condition, but you know we shouldn't, because you know God has his people. He says, I only am left, and they're out to get me as well. They're out to destroy me. This woman's after my life. You know, it's a remarkable thing that a man like Elijah, he could stand before the prophets of Baal, he could bring them down, and he could cut them to pieces before the Lord, and a woman sent him word out of the palace. She says, tomorrow about this time, I'll have your life. And you know, when he heard that, he packed up and he went right out of the country altogether, scared of his life because of this woman. See? I don't believe for a minute that Elijah need to fear at all. God had other things for Elijah, and God had other things for Jezebel. But the remarkable thing is this, God says within that period there was not only Obadiah, but he says I have seven thousand who have not bowed their knee to Baal nor kissed his mouth. Not a wonderful thing. So you see, you'll notice when you come to Thyatira, God is a remnant. Now then, sufficient to suggest that to you, that it was in the kingdom of Ahab, marked by wickedness, idolatry, immorality, and associated with a wicked woman, and yet in the midst of it, God takes pleasure and recognize and knows where they are around them. Now, take a look up here, and you'll notice then that the parable of Matthew chapter thirteen stands morally in the same relationship as what we have here. Notice the deterioration, the field of wheat, the introduction of the tares, the profession, then that which started so humbly, it becomes a great tree, a monstrosity, and the birds of the air, satanic forces and evil teachers, and everything that's associated with satanic power finds a lasting place in its branches. Telling us, of course, that every man who stands in the pulpit of Christendom, you must not think he's a believer. He may be. There are godly men, we have known some of them, but we're speaking about Christendom, and these birds, of course, are telling us that they are the emissaries of Satan. Now then, when you come to the woman here, you'll notice what she's doing. In Matthew chapter thirteen, the kingdom of the heavens is likened unto. A young brother asked me, what is the idea of that expression, likened unto? You see, it's not said about the sower because it's not until you come to the tears that the kingdom of heaven is likened onto the man who sowed tears in the field. So, you see, liken onto is the character that the kingdom took when these particular matters took place. So when you come here, you have a woman, a woman again, and this time she's hiding the leaven in three measures of meal. Now, the three measures of meal, of course, you'll remember that three is the number of manifestation, and when you think of the meal offering, it speaks to us of the person of the Lord Jesus. And I leave particularly why it is suggested of the word of God and provision for the people of God. I think primarily we must look at the three measures of meal as that which stands related to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. She's adding the leaven to it, and the young believer should understand that the leaven is not really the gospel, permeating the whole world. That's nonsense. Wherever you get leaven in the Word of God, you search it well, young believer, in your concordance, and you'll find that God never at any time has anything good to say about leaven. You say, what about the two loaves in Leviticus chapter twenty three? Well, the two loaves in Leviticus chapter twenty three, the leaven's there, but don't forget the leaven is not active because these loaves have come through the fire. Leaven is always suggesting of the uprising of evil under the flesh. You read about the leaven of Hereth, political, the leaven of the Pharisees, hypocrisy, the leaven of the Sadducees, evil doctrine, the leaven of Corinth, immoral conduct, the leaven of Galatia. You remember that was, uh, that was the great matter of legalism, so that you have leaven spoken of many ways in the word of God, and every time it has an evil meaning in the word of God. So you see, she's corrupting the three measures of me. You'll keep that in your mind when we drop down to Thyatira. And so you'll notice that the great matter of doctrine came in here. In other words, at Pergamus, you'll notice a question more emphatic of conduct and behavior, but when you come now to what the Levan speaks about, it is not only the word of God corrupted, but at the same time, it is the person of Christ typically, and the great doctrines related to him that have been corrupted, so that even in Christendom today, the person of Christ has been attacked from every quarter. You know, the young believer should appreciate this, that if he's associated with the assembly of the Lord's people, he should thank God for it. For dear brethren, there may be things oftentimes that, eh, we would like to see improved, but there's one thing that we do thank God for, that in the assemblies of the people of God, gathering to his name and scriptures implicitly. There is one thing they will not tolerate. They will not tolerate an attack upon the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are loyal to his blessed person, and may God keep us like that until our traveling days are done. Well, now, you'll notice then you have a woman here, Jezebel, in the kingdom of Ahab, and you'll notice that you have a woman here in connection with the leaven. Let me point out to you and put a little heading to them because it might help. You know, when you come to this woman here, I want to suggest to you that here you have a woman and her mischief. She's hiding the leaven in the three measures of me. When you drop down here to the woman in relation to Thyatira, here you have a woman and her ministry, and we'll say something about that in a moment or two. Then when you go over, you remember, to the book of the Revelation, chapter seventeen, you have another woman. There you have the woman and her mischief. And then when you come over to chapter nineteen, you have another woman. And you remember the Spirit of God speaks about to John, chapter eighteen, He says, come up hither, and I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. So you have a woman and her marriage. So these are prophetic women, a woman in her mischief, a woman in her ministry, a woman in her mystery, chapter seventeen of the great war that answers, of course, to these two women, as we shall see in a moment or two. So then, in connection with Ahab's kingdom, it was really influenced by a woman and the corruption really brought about was by the power and influence of Jezebel. In connection with this woman, the influence there in the secret place was to hide the leaven in the three measures of meat. Now, I don't think that we need now to refer further to the chart just now. You have in your mind that in connection with the kingdom of Ahab, God sees a remnant, and we'll see when we come to Thyatira, that's exactly what the Spirit of God is going to teach us. Now, when we come to the message of Thyatira, I want you to think of the address of the letter. Who's it written to? It is written to the church at Thyatira. And it's interesting, you'll notice that the whole emphasis in these messages is not so much let the, he that have an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the angel. He that have an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. And you'll notice that throughout some of these letters, the plural pronoun is used, letting us see that actually the message is to the church and every person that really is related to that local church. We pointed out to you by way of application that in connection with the, the seven stars, they stand entirely distinct in the vision, in the mystery from the lampstand. The lampstands are the churches, the stars are the angels. And I don't know what you make of the angels, but you must remember that he holds the stars in his right hand, and they stand distinct and separate from the lampstands. The lampstands are the churches, the stars are the angels. We make what we believe, of course, to be wise application, that in connection with a star, we have the idea of teaching, the teacher. In regards to the star, you have light and guidance, and in regards to the angel, always you have the thought of ministry, so that in connection with that, I believe God holds those responsible who are set in the assembly of God to give light and to give ministry, and particularly the teacher. So that when you have the stars in his right hand, you should keep in your mind that all ministry as to principle is in the place of authority, it is in his right hand. I think that if you try to, eh, make the angel something different to others of the people of God, you have some of his right hand, you have others not. I don't believe that because all his saints are in his hand. Thank God for that. I think when we begin to give some saints an elevated position more than another, we're in great danger. And I believe, if you'll notice, that the, the spirit of God is speaking to the individual, he's speaking to he that happened here in the church. Now, Thyatira. Where about Thyatira? As to its historical background, it is one of the most prosperous cities in Asia Minor. In other words, you'll notice its name simply means, eh, the continual sacrifice or the repetition of sacrifices. It's good to keep that in your mind. Do you know the reason for that? You know, in Thyatira, there were idols and there were temples of every kind associated with idolatry, and as we have always pointed out, in Asia Minor, when you link yourself with the idols temple, you not only link yourself with Satan, but you link yourself with uncleanness and immorality of every kind. So you see, there was sacrifices of every kind, not going up to God, but sacrifices offered to their gods. In fact, you know, the patron saint, as you may call it, of Thyatira, remarkable enough, was Semiramis, that is the mother and the child. That really went the way back to Babylon. And I would say to a young believer, if you can get a hold of a book and you're going to take time to read it, you read His lips to Babylons, and look in your eyes. Because, you know, the Madonna and the child that we see in connection with Rome, Rome didn't pick that up to depict just Christ and the child. That goes away back to Babylon, and that's where its source is, Semiramis and the child. And, you know, I believe it, eh, comes away back from the Babylonish idolatry introduced here into Thyatira, so that when you see it, you know where it happened. In other words, at Pergamus, why the church is wealthy in Pergamus. Constantine has embraced it. He made priests of, of the lowest of the people, and consequently your priest craft in Pergamus, and yet at the same time, the world and the church in each other's embrace. Now, when you come to Thyatira, why, you can see that it was a place of commerce. Keep that in your mind. Commerce. Why do I emphasize that? Because, dear brethren, when you come finally to chapter eighteen of the book of the Revelation, what is the last thing that the judgment of God is going to fall upon? Commerce. Commerce. There's a difference between chapter seventeen chapter 17 and chapter eighteen Chapter seventeen really is the judgment of what is referred to here, as we shall see, and when you go back to chapter seventeen, the judgment of the great poor. Whereas in chapter eighteen it's not the religious side, it is really commerce. So you see, they were famous for their wool, they were famous for their dye, they were famous for their brass and iron works. In other words, it was an industrial city, an industrial city, and very wealthy. That's all I need to say about the historical background. I want to come now to, uh, the author of the letter, and you'll notice we have in mind here the particular character which the Lord has displayed, and of course that's interesting because, dear brother, if you take a look at the chart, you'll notice that the we have come to a remarkable change, and only once in the book of the Revelation have you this wonderful title of his deity given to us of the Lord Jesus. In other words, eh, you remember he was presented to us as the Son of Man. Now, I have said sufficient in other nights to, for the cult of young believers to draw the distinction between the Son of Man and the Son of God. The Son of Man has always got to do with his title in relation to earth and to its judgment. The Son of Man is his judicial character. The Son of God is his eternal and heavenly character. As to the Son of Man, he must come into manhood to take up that title. As Son of God, he ever was that, it has been well said, as son of God, he came into manhood in order he might lift men up to be sons of God. But as son of God, this is the first time in which he presents himself in this way. Is there a reason for it? I would think so. Because you'll notice that the period of Thyatira reminds us, of course, dispensationally of the period of the Dark Ages, Romanism, when you remember after the church and the world had joined together, you find then it moved into extreme darkness, and darkness settled down, and of course you find Rome taking over. I believe, of course, this always has a throwback from the idea of the deeds of the Nicolatians, which, whatever else they may have been, I believe that it is very likely the first seat of clerisy in the early churches. In the second century, even bishops that we know as overseers, while in the second century, they were actually elevated to one man over a number of these so-called churches. And in the second century, that was accentuated until, while in the period of Pergamus, the place was teeming, teeming with clergy and priesthood and priestcraft, so that it left the way open for Rome to take over, and we speak of this of the Dark Ages, and the Dark Ages it was. And if you haven't read about them, I would suggest you read about them, because, you know, there's nothing stirs me about the Dark Ages like this great fact. Dear brethren, it was dark. It was a time too when, uh, I wrote it down here in case I would forget to point out to you, but Sir Robert Anderson tells us that during the days of pagan Rome, fifteen million Christians were martyred. He tells us during the period here of papal Rome, he puts this account, he speaks about fifty million. Can you, can you take that in? Pagan Rome, fifty million saints died. Papal Rome, fifty million saints died. So you see papal Rome was more dangerous to the people of God than even pagan Rome. So then, it was the dark ages, and of course he presents himself as the son of God. Why? Because Rome always presents him as the child. That's the point. In other words, where you see that, you see Mary and the child. And of course, Mary is the most important. The woman, dear brother, can you see? In Thyatira, the woman has preeminence in Rome. It's always Mary. It's always the woman. And our blessed Lord Jesus is the Son of God. He takes second place. In other words, the only way that you can get to the throne is through the woman. See? Remember the woman up here? And the woman further up? And the woman here? Now Thyatira emphasizes the woman. And a woman out of her place. And where you get a woman out of her place, you get disorder and you get danger. Dear brethren, I believe that you can see because from Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, these conditions run concurrently. And we're living in the period now of what they call the woman's lid. You know it's infiltrating Christendom, a miraculously ordaining woman in the ministry now, as they call. And they must have the same rights. They must be able to officiate the sacrament, as the call. Where are we, dear brethren? We're just seeing the full-blowing consequences here of the promise of the woman in Thyatira. So why does he present himself as the Son of God? Because the particular period, the religious system that we see here was more emphasizing the mother of God. Dear brethren, never allow any person to speak about the mother of God. God is spirit. God is eternal, and God had no origin of being bringing forth. The mother of God is a term that is absolutely unscriptural. So he presents himself as the son of God, not the child, no, no, not the babe in Mary's arm, no, no, not at all. The Son of God, and notice, that's his personal dignity. But then you'll notice something else, his penetrating scrutiny because he has his eyes as a flame of fire. And then you'll notice that he's probing for reality because he's the one who tries the heart and the rain. That's what he did at Ephesus. He looked into the heart, and he saw the difficulty was in the heart. And then you'll notice the path of severity, because his eyes are not only like unto a flame of fire, but you'll notice again the Spirit of God says his feet are like unto thine brass. Irresistible, because you see it is his character to trample and put down under his feet everything that is unclean and unholy and that calls for judgment in relation to this particular assembly. Let me say this before I hurry on. Some believer might say, well, now, uh, would there be any, uh, relation now you've been speaking of the dispensational side of it? Is there any, eh, any relationship of this to the local assembly? Well, dear brethren, we must remember, of course, that they were local assemblies in which these conditions were found, and that is the reason the Spirit of God takes them up and lines them together in seven in proper order, dispensationally, to let us see the course of the church. We have already pointed out any of these conditions could be seen in the assembly. And you know, in certain places, why the woman is coming to prominence now. What was never heard of before, we have women's conferences now, and women rising to minister, something that the word of God never gives to her. So you have the woman coming into prominence. In fact, she was in prominence in First Corinthians chapter eleven, and that is the reason, you remember, the apostle has to write in order that he might set the sister in her right place, and her right place is a wonderful place because she teaches lessons to angels that the brethren cannot do, all in her head because of the angels. And how happy it is to see God's order, to see the sister in her place of submissiveness and silence, and yet as a priest and as a worshipper, inaudibly seeking to help on the work of God, and the brethren in their place be guided and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Son of God. His eyes like onto a flame of fire, and his feet like onto burnished brass. Now that's the author of the letter. That's the presentation of the Lord Jesus, and he presents himself in that way to correct and to show off the disorder that was there at Thyatira, and particularly in the dispensational calendar. You know, dear brethren, it was at this period of time as well when the great doctrines relevant to the person of Christ were being assailed, and as we point out to you, it was in this period of time when Athanasius stood down against all proclaimed the great truth that the Lord Jesus was God over all, blessed forever. Now then, let us go on and let us see the approval of the letter. The approval of the letter. Now notice, I know thy works. We have pointed to you, of course, that we have the divine perception right through these letters. I know thy works. Remarkable thing. I know thy works and thy love and faith, and that word faith there, the second is really ministry, and thy patience and thy works, and the last to be more than the first. It's remarkable when you come across that to Ephesus, the call is to do the first works, whereas here he's able to commend them at Thyatira in order that the last works are more than the first. So you see, dear brother, it is interesting that the Lord looks upon that which he can commend first before he ever sets it. But notice, we mustn't forget the lesson. You know, there's a great reference in Thyatira to works. Take a look down, I'll point them out to you because I may just, uh, miss it again. First of all, in verse nineteen, thy works. Now that is the works of the, the church, those that form the church. Notice again, in verse twenty two, except they repent of their deeds or the advisors say her works. Then notice further down in that same verse, and I will give unto you, every one of you. You see? He's sticking to every one, every one of them in the church. After all, it's individuals for he's sticking to the church's realm. It's the individuals he's holding responsible for the condition. And so he says, every one of you according to your works. And then notice in verse twenty six, he that keepeth my works. So you have thy works, her works, your works, my works. Now, remarkable. Why should there be so much about works in relation to this message? Well, you show me any system religious in this world that bases everything upon the foundation of works in Rome. When you think of that, you'll have no difficulty with a great question of their works. And yet, you know, in this church, God takes account of what they were doing, their works, and their patience, and their endurance. Now he says, that's the divine perception. But here's the accusation of the latter, and this is what we want to come to. Notwithstanding I have against thee, because thou sufferest, that word suffer is to permit, that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, that eh means that she was taken the place of the divine spokesman, or spokeswoman for that matter, which called herself a prophetess, and here's her teaching, to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Now, can you see the connection? Now, the young believer will naturally say, well, was there really a woman here at Thyatira with a name of Jezebel? No, there wasn't. No, there wasn't. I believe the Spirit of God is given to her this symbolic name because I believe that the woman brought in here is to let us see that there was actually a principle of evil that was working amongst those that had infiltrated into the church of Thyatira that had the very same character as the woman that was linked with Ahab, Jezebel, that wicked woman. In other words, the principle of teaching, the principle of teaching is viewed as a woman who is a prophetess. She has the same character as Jezebel, and she's doing the very same thing as Jezebel did when linked with Ahab, and the very same thing as the woman's doing when she was finding the leaven in the three measures of meat. Generally speaking, that when you get a woman in scripture, whether you go to the book of the Proverbs, whether you go to the Old Testament, you'll always find that spiritually it suggests to us a principle for good or evil. A principle of good or evil. So you have a principle of teaching because, you see, she's a prophetess. All right then, let me point out too. You'll notice there's one thing that Rome does say. The church teaches. In other words, it's the woman in the Dark Ages that's teaching. Rome, the mother church they call themselves. It's a remarkable thing, you know, when you come to your New Testament, the church is taught, but when you come to the system of Rome, it's the church teaching. In other words, in the New Testament, the church is taught by gift the Spirit of God lays up in their midst, whereas in the Roman system, you have the church teaching. In other words, they say to their, to their congregations, well, no, you must not interpret that book. The church will interpret to them. They're getting a little lenient now, and they're allowing, uh, their adherents now to read a little bit, but they must not look at the notes or anything like that. In other words, the church must teach them. See? In other words, it's the woman. But what's she teaching them? She's teaching them to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols. In other words, dear brethren, the whole system, and mind you, the council or conference better on the Acts of the Apostles, chapter fifteen— These were the two things that were legislated, that they should not eat things sacrificed to idols, and they should keep themselves from fornication. Now, I believe that this can be taken not only literally, morally, but it can be taken religiously as well. You know, if you're a good at the Old Testament, you'll find that fornication and adultery in its spiritual character was the illicit association with the people of God, with the world, and its religion and its idolatry. We used to have an old brother. He was a wonderful elder and shepherd. He used to open our Bible reading in the assembly that I was in for many years. One time he was going through the minor prophets, and he said this, and mind you, he wasn't minimizing moral evil, and God doesn't do that. God hates moral evil, and the people of God should hate as well. But while he did not minimize moral evil, he pointed out that what was most hateful to God was religious evil. It was the people of God linking themselves with the idolatry of the day. An interesting thing, once the people of Israel linked themselves with the nations in the land, do you know what happened? The next time you find they're linked with their God. They're linked with their religion. Consequently, God calls that circle fornication and adultery because God was always viewed as our husband. All right then, this is our form of teaching. And of course, during the Dark Ages, I have no doubt at all for my part from what I've read, and I won't give you the names of the books publicly, but I will list some of the books that deal with the system that wouldn't even be fit to be read from, would make you blush. Why? Because this is tolerated within the very views of the church, uncleanness. Not only that, but the system really is based upon idolatry, idolatry. And now you will see when we come to Sardis that takes up the Protestant side of things in Lord of the Afternoon. It's no better. It is no better in relation to idolatry. But what we're dealing now is the Dark Ages, when this woman was teaching, and she was permitted to teach, permitted to teach, and permitted to teach that which the Word of God had legislated should not be named or taken up amongst the people of God. You know, when we think of it in relation to our local condition, I believe that when we think of fornication, it should be not once named among the saints. Holiness becometh thine house forever. And not only that, but the idea, the idea of idolatry. Oh, you say, well, that's the point, preacher. You really can't get us there. Dear brother, listen to this. Anything at all that occupies my heart and takes the place of the Lord Jesus in my heart, remember it has become an idol and has become idolatry. Wasn't it John who said, little children, keep yourselves from idols? So, you see, here was the accusation of the letter. This woman and the divine protest was her doctrine was not only moral and religious, but her design, you'll notice, was to seduce. It's interesting, brethren, to point out this to you as we move on. Whether it was the Nicolaitans, Nicolaitanism, or whether it was Baalism, or whether it was Jezebelism. You know, a threefold cord is not easily broken, and I believe they were all linked together. The whole thing was linked together, and they had principles that were alike in their character in relation to their conduct. Now listen, you have the divine protest, but you have divine patience. He says, I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and the, the revised says properly, she willeth not to repent. What does Rome say? She has never changed. You that's her boast. That's the boast of this system. She's never changed. And it's in keeping with what the Lord Jesus says, she willeth not to repent. There's no change. No change in connection with the sister. Now, you know, God loves to see whether in the sinner or in the saint, he loves to see repentance. He loves to see a change of mind, but there was no repentance. Now notice, here's the, uh, the affirmation of the matter, what God affirms here. Behold, I do, I do cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation. Now here's, here's the metaphorical language, the spiritual language, except they repent of her works. Notice, and I will kill her children with death. And notice this, brother. Not all the angels, 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. Now, I don't have any doubt about that, but I want you to notice this had partial fulfillment. Now, listen carefully. This had partial fulfillment. When? During the days of Jehu. But I want to tell you, as you will see on on Lord's Day, here is the man that God used, and he used him to a certain point. And I want to tell you, this system here they have in TU, it came to a closeout when Jehu got on the throne. But we'll not anticipate that. But when you go further in relation to the kingdom, why, there was another woman linked with this family. She was actually the daughter of Jezebel, and her name was Athaliah. And you'll remember that in connection with Athaliah, it was the priest of God and a woman that sought to hide the young king so that she wouldn't destroy the seat royal. And you remember she met her death yonder. Have her out, have her out, the priest said. Take her out beyond the temple, and she met her death there. So, you see, this is a partial fulfillment of judgment, but I believe we must go on, brethren, to the book of the Revelation, chapter seventeen, and there we find the destruction of the great whore, mystery Babylon, the mother of harlots. Let me point this out to you, of course, before I finish. We must not just think that the book of the Revelation chapter seventeen is Rome solely. We believe that Babylon will not only be Rome, but will be every system that has taken on the name of Christian that shall be gathered up into the fold of Rome. Not only by Rome, but with Babylon in full. We don't have Babylon today, we have Christendom. Babylon will be that character of things that will be left to join them when the church is taken. Now then, he wants all the churches to know that he searches the reins and the heart. What for? Because he wants the people of God to keep separate from this. What you say, can the people of God touch that? Interesting enough, you know, there was a man, a good man by the name of Jehoshaphat, and one day he said to Ahab that was married to Jezebel, he says, thy people, my people are thy people, and thy horses, my horses, thy horses. And so they joined together in political and religious intrigue. God come in in judgment that he wants the people of God to be separate from it all. Now let us go on. But notice the remnant now. I believe, of course, takes us on to the judgment seat of Christ here. I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you, I say, to you, to pure Lord, and to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths or the deep things of Satan as they speak, I will put upon you none other burden. And of course, that was the language of the conference of Acts fifteen. will put on them no other burden. So you see, in the midst of this pressure and the dark ages, God saw and found all the love these things, and there were others, there was testimony to the name of the Lord Jesus, loyal to the Son of God, even in the darkness of Rome. Rome tried to stamp it out, and had a hard time trying to explain the Inquisition. And if you go to some of these wax works across the country and you see them, they have an awful time trying to explain to you really that those aren't Christians there, those are heretics. Now you understand. But God knows who they were, all right, what he had witnessed it. And he said, I'll not put any other burden. All I'm asking you to do is this, hold fast till I come. And brethren, you'll notice now it's in this church we get the first reference to a remnant, and it's in this church we get the first reference to the coming of the Lord Jesus. He says, hold fast until I come. And then notice the appeal of the letter. And we'll link on, of course, Lord's Day to give you the relationship. All we can do tonight is just point this out to you. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nation, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. That's the shepherd's rod too. As the vessels of the potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my father. And sufficient to say just now, do you know what this system is pulling for all along? Political power, world power. Is it going to get it for a while? Yes. Because you remember, dear brethren, you find in the book of the Revelation, it's the woman who holds the reins of the beast. And you know, when His Excellency as the column arrived from New York to the United Nations, every flag of the nations of the world were all flying. And I tell you, they had the royal carpet out for them. Someone asked me, she was a dear sister from the south of Ireland, she says, what do you think about it? And I said to her, calling her by name, he's only over to get a feet of the leaves. Feed of its life. But you know, instead of the system, it's going to be the true child of God, the remnant, the true overcomer, the true believer that is going to be associated with the Lord Jesus in the day of his reign and in the day of his rule. But what about before that? Here's what he said. And I will give him the morning. In other words, the bright hope of the star to greatness darkness. And I have no doubt, of course, eh, I will give him the morning star. There was the dawning of the day at Sardis, we'll see there. But in the hearts of the people of God, God was going to give them that blessed hope and bring the truth of it to revive them and to help them, as he did in Matthew chapter twenty five. Finally, now, do you see the difference? When you come to Thyatira, there's a remnant, there's the promise of his coming, and then the Spirit of God anticipates that it's only the overcomer that will have an ear to hear. Because you'll notice in these three, it's he that have an ear and to him that overcometh. Here it is, and to him that overcometh, he with an ear let him hear. So when we come to this stage, it's only the one who hears, the overcomer, will really have an ear to hear the word of God. Now, that's all we can say tonight. The time's gone. I'm keeping you a little over the time, and you'll pardon me for this because I want to try and fill in the whole picture for you at the short time that we have. The Lord blesses you.