1 00:00:04,660 --> 00:00:10,000 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:14,619 moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. 3 00:00:14,619 --> 00:00:19,539 And today I want to challenge you to think through the issue of what does it feel like 4 00:00:19,539 --> 00:00:28,899 not to be able to work, to provide for your families, to be excluded from the economic system 5 00:00:28,899 --> 00:00:36,200 under which we live. Well, that doesn't have to wait until the Great Tribulation, supposedly. 6 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:45,060 That happened back in the first century in a city in Asia called Thyatira. And I want to read to you 7 00:00:45,060 --> 00:00:53,060 the letter that our Lord wrote to the church in Thyatira, because so many of the men and women 8 00:00:53,060 --> 00:01:00,039 of the church of Thyatira were experiencing the very thing that they'll talk about later with the 9 00:01:00,039 --> 00:01:04,900 mark of the beast, such that you wouldn't be able to buy or sell. We don't have to wait until the 10 00:01:04,900 --> 00:01:09,319 supposed Great Tribulation for that to happen, because it happened in the first century church, 11 00:01:09,439 --> 00:01:15,599 dear listener. As we explore this theme, the idea that although you live in a pagan town, 12 00:01:16,239 --> 00:01:22,879 church in Thyatira, you still embody six sterling qualities that shine out in the darkness. 13 00:01:23,060 --> 00:01:31,060 That's the theme for today's message. And first of all, then, I want to read for you the letter 14 00:01:31,060 --> 00:01:39,640 in the apocalypse, in the book of Revelation, the letter to the church in Thyatira. And here it is. 15 00:01:40,359 --> 00:01:47,219 Enter the angel of the church in Thyatira, write the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame 16 00:01:47,219 --> 00:01:54,719 of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service 17 00:01:54,719 --> 00:02:02,340 and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, 18 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:09,639 that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing 19 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:18,879 my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to 20 00:02:18,879 --> 00:02:26,319 repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed 21 00:02:26,319 --> 00:02:33,800 and those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into Great Tribulation unless they repent of her 22 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:40,319 works. And I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches 23 00:02:40,319 --> 00:02:46,240 mind and heart. And I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you 24 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:53,139 in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of 25 00:02:53,139 --> 00:03:00,460 Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast to what you have until I come. 26 00:03:00,460 --> 00:03:07,300 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the 27 00:03:07,300 --> 00:03:13,219 nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earth and pots are broken in pieces, 28 00:03:13,939 --> 00:03:20,020 even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. 29 00:03:20,699 --> 00:03:28,520 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Unquote. This is the letter to 30 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:39,419 the church at Thyatira, found in Revelation chapter 2, verses 18 to 29. And there we find that indeed this 31 00:03:39,419 --> 00:03:47,340 union town, if I can put it that way, where the guilds thrived, and we have seen in earlier letters 32 00:03:47,340 --> 00:03:53,319 that this was indeed the state of affairs for the working man in those days, that the working man, 33 00:03:53,319 --> 00:03:59,240 the skilled craftsman, uh, belonged to a guild, or it didn't work, right? You are out of a job. 34 00:04:00,060 --> 00:04:07,139 Stronger than unions are today, or ever have been, were the guilds, the craft guilds of the ancient 35 00:04:07,139 --> 00:04:14,520 world. And they thrived in the town of Thyatira, as we'll see as we move through this. But we have to 36 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:20,300 put this in context, dear listeners. We have to put these letters in their context, uh, in which they 37 00:04:20,300 --> 00:04:25,480 were written. And, uh, John was writing to a particular church with particular characteristics 38 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:33,899 and culture and so forth. Um, I myself, if you can just project, uh, with us, uh, the union, uh, 39 00:04:33,899 --> 00:04:40,180 shops that we have, the union culture that we have in so many of, of our states, uh, you can maybe 40 00:04:40,180 --> 00:04:46,839 help imagine what the church in Thyatira was facing. I'm now, personally, I grew up in a union town 41 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:52,899 that is Grand Rapids, Michigan. And my uncles used to joke that in Michigan, you were issued two 42 00:04:52,899 --> 00:05:01,740 documents at birth, your birth certificate and a union card. That's how deep union culture goes 43 00:05:01,740 --> 00:05:09,480 in Michigan. The United Auto Workers and the Teamsters are very strong in my state, the state 44 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:15,759 of Michigan. I worked for two years in a steel fabrication yard, and I belong to the iron and 45 00:05:15,759 --> 00:05:20,980 steel workers union. And one summer we went on strike and poof, there went my college money for 46 00:05:20,980 --> 00:05:27,120 the next year. But I also got a sense for the brotherhood of the union too, hanging out on the 47 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:33,779 picket line. The older guys stopped treating me as a temporary college kid and treated me as one of 48 00:05:33,779 --> 00:05:39,279 them as we all hung together to get a better contract. But on the other hand, I also know what 49 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:44,879 it means to be a strike buster, a scab, if you will. That's a terrible, derisive term in Michigan. 50 00:05:44,879 --> 00:05:51,699 You don't want to be labeled a scab in a union state like Michigan. The summer after my wife and 51 00:05:51,699 --> 00:05:57,560 I were married, I got a job at the Oscar Mayer meatpacking plant before shipping off to seminary. 52 00:05:57,899 --> 00:06:03,939 Now, the plant was in the midst of a hostile negotiation with the union, and I was a summer 53 00:06:03,939 --> 00:06:09,959 higher at slightly less pay than full-time. Well, tensions were very high that summer. They were 54 00:06:09,959 --> 00:06:16,980 threatening to go out on strike, and I was not welcome. And twice that summer, someone threw steel 55 00:06:16,980 --> 00:06:22,100 bolts into the meat grinder and spoiled thousands of dollars of ground meat with each batch. 56 00:06:22,939 --> 00:06:29,040 Police were criminally investigating the whole summer. Well, this added another layer of tension 57 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:35,639 since no one knew who were undercover cops amongst the new hires. And one day, in a remote part of the 58 00:06:35,639 --> 00:06:40,420 plant, one of the guys took a swing at me. He soon realized, though, that he wasn't going to win this 59 00:06:40,420 --> 00:06:45,680 one, and he walked away. It was a long summer, and I knew how it felt to be on the other side of the 60 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:54,399 union brotherhood, too. As we will see, Thyatira was a union town, a guild city, not a union town as 61 00:06:54,399 --> 00:07:01,459 we know it, but even stronger in its culture, a guild city whose loyalties to the respective 62 00:07:01,459 --> 00:07:08,579 brotherhoods outshone even Ephesus. In fact, Thyatira took pride of place throughout Asia for 63 00:07:08,579 --> 00:07:16,899 her craft guilds. Their festivals to the respective gods, each craft guild held up a particular god, 64 00:07:17,259 --> 00:07:23,060 worshiped a particular god, honored a particular god, and their festivals to these respective gods 65 00:07:23,060 --> 00:07:31,060 were lavish. Their dedication to them were famous, and these guilds thrived. This city in 66 00:07:31,060 --> 00:07:38,699 Thyatira particularly thrived as a work town, consequently. It was, if you will, Michigan on 67 00:07:38,699 --> 00:07:46,480 steroids. And one can only imagine what it was to trifle with the stability and order of these guilds 68 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:52,240 as a Christian who would not and could not really participate in guild life if he was to maintain his 69 00:07:52,240 --> 00:08:00,600 faith to the extent of his pagan counterpart. And being ostracized, as I was, is mild compared to 70 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:07,939 what our Christian brothers of the first century experienced. But our Lord knows this, and he 71 00:08:07,939 --> 00:08:16,660 responds with both commendation and condemnation to their situation. He has for them both commendation 72 00:08:16,660 --> 00:08:24,000 and condemnation. Let's begin to look then at these verses, shall we? And my first point I'd like to make 73 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:33,700 with you from verses 18 and 19 is that Thyatira, although you live in a pagan town, you embody six 74 00:08:33,700 --> 00:08:42,159 sterling qualities that shine out in the darkness. That's the point that verses 18 and 19 make for us. 75 00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:48,759 And once again, those verses to the church in Thyatira and to the angel of the church in Thyatira 76 00:08:48,759 --> 00:08:54,480 write the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished 77 00:08:54,480 --> 00:09:01,340 bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter 78 00:09:01,340 --> 00:09:09,220 works exceed the first, unquote. That is verses 18 and 19, which makes the point that although you, 79 00:09:09,220 --> 00:09:16,659 church in Thyatira, live in a pagan union town, you embody six sterling qualities that shine out in 80 00:09:16,659 --> 00:09:23,840 the darkness. Our Lord begins again here in this letter by hearkening back to the founding vision 81 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:32,120 of Revelation. He is, and once again, we told you back when we covered that in chapter one, that the 82 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:37,779 initial vision of the Lord casts its shadow throughout the book of Revelation, especially here in these 83 00:09:37,779 --> 00:09:44,700 opening letters. And here our Lord hearkens back to those qualities that he evoked for us in chapter 84 00:09:44,700 --> 00:09:50,779 one. Eyes like a flame of fire. We saw that in chapter one. Eyes like a flame of fire. Scripture 85 00:09:50,779 --> 00:09:58,120 wide, this is a metaphor for God's omniscience. He sees and he judges, does he not? He sees and he burns 86 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:04,000 away the dross of works. And if there's nothing there, then you are lost. But if there's silver and 87 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:10,220 gold indeed, then you are silver, gold, precious stones, as Paul says, then you are indeed a child 88 00:10:10,220 --> 00:10:18,100 of God. Our Lord sees all that transpires as well as the heart and the will, which motivates the actions 89 00:10:18,100 --> 00:10:24,399 of men. He sees these things. He is omniscient. Your good is not lost on him, no matter how insignificant 90 00:10:24,399 --> 00:10:32,700 it may seem to the world, but also your evil is not lost on him. Likewise. Secondly, we see the image 91 00:10:32,700 --> 00:10:40,940 of feet like burnished bronze. Our Lord has feet like burnished bronze. And we saw once again, this is not 92 00:10:40,940 --> 00:10:49,059 just some odd cartoonish vision of our Lord. No, it is a metaphor, scripture wide metaphor for God's 93 00:10:49,059 --> 00:10:55,179 presence. The presence feet like burnished bronze. Our Lord is at all points of his creation at every 94 00:10:55,179 --> 00:11:03,200 moment with the full force of his being to bless as well as to judge. That is the fire which purges 95 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:10,340 dross and refines precious metals. It is here in the feet like burnished bronze, pure burnished 96 00:11:10,340 --> 00:11:18,600 bronze. There is a title employed by John, which we haven't seen before and which we'll not see again. 97 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:26,179 And that is the son of God. He is indeed the son of God. Why is that included here for us, 98 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:33,379 dear listener? Why this title, the son of God, number three. We know from archeology that Thyatira 99 00:11:33,379 --> 00:11:41,159 had a lavish temple to the son of Zeus, chief of the gods, whose name was Apollo Tyrumnos, 100 00:11:41,159 --> 00:11:48,559 the pagan son of God. Apollo was the pagan son of Zeus. Rivaling it in splendor was the 101 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:54,279 temple to the emperor whom the citizens of Thyatira had no problem worshiping. In fact, 102 00:11:54,279 --> 00:12:00,679 from the days of the current emperor, Nero, and from him on, the emperor would be called the son of 103 00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:09,039 Apollo. Apollo, the son of Zeus, and the emperor would then be subsequently called the son of Apollo. 104 00:12:09,419 --> 00:12:15,279 Son of a son of a son, huh? There was a lot of deification going on in Thyatira. 105 00:12:15,279 --> 00:12:21,820 But here, for the benefit of his saints and to the consternation of pagan neighbors, 106 00:12:22,220 --> 00:12:29,039 our Lord lays exclusive claim to that title, son of God. It will be reinforced then in the 107 00:12:29,039 --> 00:12:34,200 citation of Psalm 2 at the end of this letter, that is, the Lord said to me, you are my son. 108 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:40,799 Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the 109 00:12:40,799 --> 00:12:46,860 earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's 110 00:12:46,860 --> 00:12:54,299 vessel, unquote. We need to keep this letter in its context. Too many commentators just slide right over 111 00:12:54,299 --> 00:13:00,960 this kind of setting on the way to the good stuff, supposedly, and they miss the true meaning of this 112 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:09,919 letter. We must always keep it in its cultural context. Well, in the midst of this, in the midst of 113 00:13:09,919 --> 00:13:19,320 this city of Thyatira, with temples right and left, dedicated the son of Zeus, Apollo, and to the chief 114 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:26,080 god, Zeus, and then to the emperor as well. In the midst of all this, our omniscient, omnipresent Lord 115 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:33,419 highlights those precious Christian attributes which the church at Thyatira possesses. 116 00:13:33,419 --> 00:13:42,159 And he has a kind of a catalog of Christian virtues for which he commends the church in Thyatira. 117 00:13:42,659 --> 00:13:50,019 Number one, your works. He commends them for their works. Faith without works is dead. Works matters in 118 00:13:50,019 --> 00:13:58,320 the book of Revelation. You better be about your work, dear listener. Faith without works is dead. But 119 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:04,299 Thyatira is living because when they see a brother hungry, they feed him. When he's thirsty, they give him a 120 00:14:04,299 --> 00:14:09,639 drink. When he's a stranger, they welcome him. When they see him naked, they clothe him. When he's sick, they visit 121 00:14:09,639 --> 00:14:16,279 him. When he's in prison, they come to him. All of those from Matthew 25 in Jesus' parable of the sheep and the 122 00:14:16,279 --> 00:14:23,220 goats would have been pertinent to the Christians at Thyatira, given their circumstances. He commends them also for 123 00:14:23,220 --> 00:14:33,200 their love. Unlike those at Ephesus, the Thyatira's love. Its love had not grown cold. Their agape, which is 124 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:41,820 Greek for love, their agape love, was strong and warm for God and his people. Our Lord also commends the 125 00:14:41,820 --> 00:14:48,879 church at Thyatira for their faith. Faith without works is dead. But correspondingly, works without faith 126 00:14:48,879 --> 00:14:54,299 is liberal and progressive and accomplishes no end for the kingdom either. Faith must have her proper 127 00:14:54,299 --> 00:15:00,940 object. And that is nothing less than the Lord Jesus Christ, the very one speaking to them in this 128 00:15:00,940 --> 00:15:07,860 letter. And faith must have its proper object, the Lord Jesus Christ, and those things that he teaches 129 00:15:07,860 --> 00:15:14,500 too, which is oftentimes called the faith, right? The teachings that issue from the mouth and heart of 130 00:15:14,500 --> 00:15:20,500 our Lord is called the faith. That is the doctrines and central truths of the Christian faith. All of 131 00:15:20,500 --> 00:15:26,799 these things the church at Thyatira had. Well, the church in Thyatira is also committed for its 132 00:15:26,799 --> 00:15:34,320 service. It's diakonos. And you can hear the word deacon coming from the idea of service there, 133 00:15:34,399 --> 00:15:40,700 right? Diakonos. You hear the English derivative. Well, it represents the ministry of the whole church 134 00:15:40,700 --> 00:15:48,440 here as a body, as it shares of its abundance with not only its members, but also the wider community. 135 00:15:49,100 --> 00:15:54,820 As Tertullian puts it, he says, we Christians share everything but our wives. You pagans share 136 00:15:54,820 --> 00:16:01,919 nothing but your wives. So in that little memorable saying, right, he encompasses the difference between 137 00:16:01,919 --> 00:16:09,279 the Christian culture and its pagan counterpart, right? We Christians share everything but our wives. 138 00:16:09,279 --> 00:16:16,279 And this was known. Pagan worldwide, too. Christians were generous and they shared of their means. 139 00:16:16,519 --> 00:16:23,799 But they didn't share their wives. That is, they were not adulterous. So it draws the morality line 140 00:16:23,799 --> 00:16:31,480 very clearly, doesn't it? Tertullian does in describing the early church. Well, the church in Thyatira is also 141 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:40,659 then commended for its patient endurance. It's patient endurance. This single word in the Greek, 142 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:49,659 hupo, monolane, is translated variously as patient endurance in the ESV or patience in the King James 143 00:16:49,659 --> 00:16:57,480 or perseverance in the New International Version, patient endurance. It has come to be associated 144 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:03,600 then with holding up well under persecution and suffering for the faith. We have the example of 145 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:10,519 John's patient endurance on the island of Patmos. We have the Ephesians patient endurance as they bear 146 00:17:10,519 --> 00:17:17,640 up for the name in the book of Ephesians. Well, this patient endurance will become its consistent meaning 147 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:24,980 then in the rest of the apocalypse, too. Patience under suffering and persecution. This church was not 148 00:17:24,980 --> 00:17:33,720 raptured out and no other church will be raptured out of suffering either in days to come. Number six, 149 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:43,339 the church at Thyatira then was also commended for your growth and maturation. That's the sense of the 150 00:17:43,339 --> 00:17:52,480 phrase, your latter works exceed the first. The church in Thyatira was maturing and it was growing 151 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:59,799 in all of these works. Your latter works exceed the first. That is, you are commended for your growth 152 00:17:59,799 --> 00:18:07,299 and maturation. Now, as we Christians as well, as we grow and mature in the faith, we tend to become 153 00:18:07,299 --> 00:18:15,359 more effective in what we do, hopefully. I am more effective now as a minister than when I was first 154 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:23,039 licensed in 1996 in the Evangelical Free Church. New Geneva is more effective as a church than when we first 155 00:18:23,039 --> 00:18:30,400 started in the year 2000. My prayer is that New Geneva will be even more consequential in southeast Idaho 156 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:38,019 10 to 20 years from now. Hopefully, we grow and mature, not only as individuals, but as ministers and as 157 00:18:38,019 --> 00:18:44,819 churches too. That can't always be said, can it? That can't always be said of the churches just because 158 00:18:44,819 --> 00:18:51,960 they've existed for many generations, right? Well, at the time of the writing of the apocalypse, 159 00:18:52,480 --> 00:19:01,140 the church at Thyatira was one of those consequential churches. It was one of those consequential 160 00:19:01,140 --> 00:19:10,880 churches. But in addition, then, to these very commendations, our Lord has expressed to the church 161 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:16,220 at Thyatira, to which they can take heart and encouragement. In addition to these commendations, 162 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:25,420 our Lord has a condemnation which threatens her very existence. Oh, yes, not only are there 163 00:19:25,420 --> 00:19:30,420 commendations for many of these churches, but there are also condemnations our Lord has for them. 164 00:19:30,420 --> 00:19:40,180 Not to discourage them, but to cause them, hopefully, then, to buck up and to correct those errors. 165 00:19:40,740 --> 00:19:50,759 And so we come to point two. Point two encompasses verses 20 to 25. Because you live in a pagan union town, 166 00:19:51,019 --> 00:19:56,700 you are liable to the pressures of compromise, which undermine everything good you do. 167 00:19:56,700 --> 00:20:05,819 Oh, yes. We're going to read those verses again in here. But they express out of our Lord's mouth that 168 00:20:05,819 --> 00:20:12,420 to the church in Thyatira, that because you live in a pagan union town, you are liable to the pressures 169 00:20:12,420 --> 00:20:20,799 of compromise, which undermine everything good that you do. And once again, then verses 20 to 25 read, 170 00:20:20,799 --> 00:20:26,799 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, 171 00:20:26,859 --> 00:20:33,099 and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to 172 00:20:33,099 --> 00:20:39,140 idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will 173 00:20:39,140 --> 00:20:44,740 throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation, 174 00:20:44,740 --> 00:20:52,180 unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know 175 00:20:52,180 --> 00:20:57,960 that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. 176 00:20:58,380 --> 00:21:05,039 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some 177 00:21:05,039 --> 00:21:12,480 call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast to 178 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:20,960 what you have until I come." Unquote. Those are the verses that express our Lord's mind on this, 179 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:29,140 and that is, church in Thyatira, because you live in a pagan union town, you are liable to the 180 00:21:29,140 --> 00:21:39,799 pressures of compromise, which undermine everything good you do. Now, most sentences roll along smoothly 181 00:21:39,799 --> 00:21:46,819 in a single direction until they butt into the little word, but, right? The word but here in 182 00:21:46,819 --> 00:21:53,839 verses 20 is an adversative, it's called. That is, it alters the flow of a sentence in another direction. 183 00:21:54,680 --> 00:22:01,220 In English, we have one word, but. But in Greek, there are two words for the word but. One is a mild 184 00:22:01,220 --> 00:22:08,839 adversative. Indulge me as I make this point of grammar, because it's important in the Greek. 185 00:22:10,039 --> 00:22:15,920 One word is a mild adversative, that is, it tweaks the direction of the sentence, and one is a strong 186 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:22,900 adversative, that is, it turns the direction of the sentence 180 degrees. And the but, in verse 20, 187 00:22:22,900 --> 00:22:31,000 is a strong adversative. God is saying that although you have all of these sterling attributes that we've 188 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:37,140 just articulated for you, this thing I do have against you, and it militates so strongly against 189 00:22:37,140 --> 00:22:44,200 you that it threatens all the rest of what you do and all the rest of what you are. Our Lord spends a 190 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:50,779 lot of time elaborating on what it is, too. What is it? First of all, it is religious tolerance. 191 00:22:50,779 --> 00:22:58,779 Tolerance. We would express it today as religious tolerance. We must be tolerant of other perspectives 192 00:22:58,779 --> 00:23:06,160 and other religions. This phrase encapsulates everything we mean negative by it in conservative 193 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:14,119 evangelical circles, which our Lord means when he is talking to the Thyatirans. Literally, he says, 194 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:20,180 you treat in a loose fashion that loose woman, Jezebel. There's a play on words there, 195 00:23:20,180 --> 00:23:30,279 and a deliberate pun. Your threatening condemnation is that you treat in a loose fashion this loose 196 00:23:30,279 --> 00:23:36,779 woman, Jezebel. Jezebel, of course, is a metaphor for all that was corrupt in Israel before the 197 00:23:36,779 --> 00:23:43,279 conquest. In lamenting the fate of the righteous, Isaiah alludes to her in this way. He says in Isaiah 198 00:23:43,279 --> 00:23:51,579 57, the children of Jezebel, indeed, but you draw near, sons of the sorceress, offspring of the adulterer 199 00:23:51,579 --> 00:23:58,119 and the loose woman. So John is alluding then to Isaiah here when he calls her the loose woman. 200 00:23:59,079 --> 00:24:06,180 Jezebel was the queen of Israel, and even over her husband, Ahab, who was the weak-willed son of David, 201 00:24:06,180 --> 00:24:14,180 who married this Sidonian woman in a gesture of peace with her father, Ethbaal, king of Sidon. 202 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:22,140 But Jezebel immediately led Israel into idolatry with Baal, where amongst many other things, 203 00:24:23,079 --> 00:24:28,160 Isaiah 57 says, you burn with lust among the oaks under every green tree, 204 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:36,700 who slaughter your children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks. Oh, yes. Ancient abortion 205 00:24:36,700 --> 00:24:45,019 that was sacrificing children then to the god Baal, slaughtering them and burning with lust among the 206 00:24:45,019 --> 00:24:54,720 oaks. Immorality and idolatry. Immorality and idolatry would characterize Israel and Judah ever after. 207 00:24:54,720 --> 00:25:04,559 And ever since, Jezebel has become synonymous with deceit, debauchery, and decadence. It is heavy 208 00:25:04,559 --> 00:25:12,619 artillery that our Lord breaks out to get the attention of his saints in Thyatira. Well, we're 209 00:25:12,619 --> 00:25:21,519 going to have to pause here then and take up the rest of this section then next week. But we want to 210 00:25:21,519 --> 00:25:27,420 make sure and have you join us next week as we continue to look at the cultural background to the 211 00:25:27,420 --> 00:25:34,000 city of Thyatira that will inform the rest of the letter of the apocalypse too, because we're going to 212 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:41,680 see how they were threatened with exclusion from the life and culture of Thyatira, that indeed they would 213 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:48,480 not be able to buy or sell, that they would bear the mark of the beast, if you will. And we'll see in 214 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:54,200 greater detail what that means to what that meant to first century context, not just some far off 215 00:25:54,200 --> 00:26:03,019 future casting context. No. Well, this has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian 216 00:26:03,019 --> 00:26:10,420 Church. And we meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and 217 00:26:10,420 --> 00:26:16,720 Boulevard. And we urge you to join us. We're preaching through the book of Revelation now. It's been a great 218 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:22,740 series. I've really enjoyed it, and our people have been edified. I hope you have been too. But come 219 00:26:22,740 --> 00:26:29,019 and see us. Come and worship with us personally and engage with us in this series. New Geneva meets 220 00:26:29,019 --> 00:26:36,440 for holy worship at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for 221 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:49,619 more information or give us some feedback on this series at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196.