THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Revelation: God's Revelation To His Servants Today On Events About To Occur

Part III: "The Things Which Are": Church History

D. Thyatira: Message To The Apostatizing Roman Catholic Church - Trusting Christ To Stay Sound

(Revelation 2:18-29)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Many in our Church are Roman Catholic in background and still have associates in the Catholic Church, so Christ's Revelation 2:18-29 address to those in that Church is important to us. We thus view that message as follows:

Need: "Since nearly half of us who attend Nepaug Bible Church are Roman Catholic in background and many of us still have associates in that body, what does Jesus Christ have to say to those in the Roman Catholic Church?!"

I. In line with past lessons in this series, the Revelation 2:18-29 message to the Church at Thyatira was to the Apostatizing Roman Catholic Church of A. D. 800-1517 (J. Dwight Pentecost, Things To Come, 1972, p. 153), and Revelation 2:18 exposes its needs relative to pressures to apostatize with very errant beliefs:

A. Christ held the Church of Thyatira needed to correct its work of unduly exalting Mary and diminishing Him:

1. Jesus defined His deity in Revelation 2:18 as "the son of God," the only place this title appears in the book of Revelation, so it contrasts with His "son of man" title back in Revelation 1:13 (B. K. C., N. T., p. 937).

2. As Jesus is the "son of man" by one human, Mary (Matt. 1:18-25), and the angel Gabriel told her God would cause her to conceive Him so "Jesus" would be "called the son of God" (Luke 1:30-35), Christ's replacing His Rev. 1:13 "son of man" title with His "son of God" title in Rev. 2:18 shows the Church at Thyatira needed to correct its undo exaltation of Mary and its demeaning of Jesus. The Church at Thyatira is thus the fully developed Roman Catholic Church, Loraine Boettner, Rom. Cath., 1978, p. 146.

B. Christ also revealed how believers in the Church at Thyatira needed His help regarding demonic oppression:

1. Christ's flaming eyes and feet of fine brass in Rev. 1:14b-15a and in 2:18 appear in a being elsewhere in Scripture only at Daniel 10:6 in an angel who fought demons behind nations and rulers (Dan. 10:20-11:1).

2. We learned from Jesus' "son of God" title above that the Thyatira Church is the Roman Catholic Church, and in our last message on Pergamum's "Catholic" hierarchy, we learned that they existed at Satan's abode, so believers in Catholicism needed Jesus to war against strong demonic forces behind their hierarchy.

II. Jesus in Revelation 2:19 first commended Thyatira for its works of love, faith, "church ministries" (diakonia, Abbott-Smith, A Man. Grk. Lex. of the N. T., 1968, p. 107) and patient enduring in trials, noting that such good works had increased in number over time.

III. However, He critiqued its "toleration" (aphiemi, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 125) of the figurative "woman Jezebel . . . " in Revelation 2:20, and we explain this as follows:

A. We before learned the Pergamum "Catholic" hierarchy taught "fornication," transubstantiation, and "eating things offered to idols, "ingesting the "host," what the "woman Jezebel" also teaches at Thyatira (Rev. 2:20), so Revelation 2:20 shows Pergamum's "Catholic" hierarchy had since then gone deep into paganism:

1. O. T. Jezebel urged Ahab to lead Israel past the "fornication" of homespun golden calf idolatry (1 Kings 12:26-30) to exchange Israel's true God for pagan Baal and Ashtaroth in "adultery" (1 Kings 16:29-33; 21:25) like the "adultery" (moicheuo, Ibid., Arndt & Ging., p. 528) of Rev. 2:20's "Jezebel" at Rev. 2:22.

2. Ashtaroth was the Canaanite mother-goddess version of the mother-goddess cult begun by Semiramis of Babylon (Z. P. E. B., v. One, p. 358; Harry A. Ironside, "Babylonian Religion," ldolphin.org), and Christ added that the Rev. 2:20 "Jezebel . . . calls herself a prophetess," with the Greek term for prophetess (prophetis) existing elsewhere in the N. T. only at Luke 2:36 of godly Anna (Ibid., Abbott-Smith, p. 39).

3. Since Jesus in Matt. 7:15-17 said we could discern a false prophet by his "fruits," and since the Catholic hierarchy falsely called itself a prophetess, we contrast TRUE prophetess Anna's "fruits" in Lk. 2:36-38 with their OPPOSITES, and identify the "fruits" of ancient Babylon's FALSE prophetess Semiramis:

a. "Anna" is from the term "Hannah" (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 210; B. D. B., H. E. L. O. T., p. 336) referring to God's "grace," Ibid., but Semiramis is from "Sammur-amat," meaning "gift of the sea," a title Semiramis took to claim in self-help merit she was "a virgin sprung from the sea" eligible to wed emperor Nimrod and hide her past in a brothel, Ibid., ldolphin.org, Bryce Self, "Semiramis, Queen of Babylon."

b. Anna wed as a virgin, but Semiramis wed as immoral, Ibid.; parthenia, Lk. 2:36; Ibid., U. B. S. G. N. T.

c. Anna's husband died naturally (Lk. 2:36-37), but Semiramis murdered her husband Nimrod, Ibid., Self.

d. Anna in widowhood humbly served the true God in His Jerusalem temple with fasting and prayer for many years (Lk. 2:37), but Semiramis started a pagan religion deifying her illegitimate son and herself as a goddess to keep Nimrod's throne, calling herself "Queen of Heaven" until her infant son Damu, later called Tammuz, could reign on the throne. In widow, Semiramis thus ruled Babylon for many years, Ibid.

e. Anna testified to all Jerusalem of God's redemption in Jesus (Lk. 2:38), but Semiramis taught a child would be born to a divine mother and gain deity and turn the rule of the earth over to the Serpent, Satan. This belief was kept a secret among the upper priestly hierarchy, the start of all "mystery" religions that institute many sacraments for salvation, the sign of the cross [for Tammuz] and holy water, Ibid., Ironside.

f. Anna openly worshiped the true God; Semiramis secretly worshiped the ultimate false god, Satan.

g. Anna served in God's chosen Jerusalem temple; Semiramis served in God-judged Babylon, Gen. 11:1-9.

4. The Catholic hierarchy thus moved past the "fornication" of transubstantiation and "eating things offered to idols" in ingesting the host to switch gods in "adultery," secretly extolling Satan in the Semiramis cult, the "depths of Satan," using the Semiramis-Tammuz motif as a model for Mary and Jesus, Rev. 2:24 KJV.

IV. The Church had not repented since the Pergamum era, so Christ sent it the Boubonic Plague in critique of Semiramis who, later being called Ishtar, was the "Shining Light of Heaven" who allegedly healed, Rev. 2:21-23; Ibid., Showers. As He had judged Egypt's false gods in Ex. 12:12, God judged Semiramis.

V. This judgment fell on the Church for each INDIVIDUAL'S failure to heed "Sola Scriptura," Rev. 2:23b:

A. Jesus' claim that all the churches would know He "tried the reins and the hearts" refers to Jer. 17:10 (Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T., ftn.), and its Jer. 17:1-9 context reveals Israel relied on pagan nations versus God; Jer. 17:1-4; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn to Jer. 17:5-8. Thus, each man who relied on pagan men like as the "paganized" Church hierarchy, would be cursed, but each who relied on God would be blessed, Jer. 17:5-9.

B. Martin Luther did this: in 1511, "Luther knew he had to part from Staupitz [his Vicar-General] as he had to part from medieval tradition and practice. Luther turned to the Bible . . . As a theologian Luther from now on began to go it alone" [Sola Scriptura], and in 1513 read in Romans 1:17 that salvation was by faith alone [Sola Fide], and later wrote: "'When I realized this I felt myself absolutely born again.'" (J. Atkinson, The Great Light, 1968, p. 18-20) Thus, practicing Sola Scriptura, that one's own interpretation of God's Word is his final authority [not Semiramis' theology] led to Sola Fide, justification by faith alone [not Semiramis' sacraments], then to Sola Gratia, salvation by grace alone [not Semiramis' taught self merits], then to Solus Christus, Christ as Mediator alone [not the Semiramis-led exaltation of Mary as mediator] and then to Soli Deo gloria, glory to God alone [not Semiramis' exaltation of Satan]. (theopedia.com, "Five Solas")

VI. Jesus then gave a call to Thyatirans, Rev. 2:24-25: for those who had not known Satan's depths in the hierarchy, Christ would not do what that body did similar to the Matthew 23:4 Pharisees, place more false, legalistic, Semiramis-type burdening rituals on them. They were only hold to His truth to the end, what Luther did in refusing to recant his Biblical faith at the Diet of Worms, Ibid., Atkinson, p. 63-70.

VII. Christ then offered rewards in victory over Satan and his forces in the angelic conflict, Rev. 2:26-29:

A. Overcomers in the faith would be granted rule with a rod of iron to shatter the nations much as Jesus will do in setting up His Messianic Kingdom, Rev. 2:26-27. For 100+ years after Luther's stand at Worms, various nations shattered, breaking off of the Holy Roman Empire into Protestant lands (C. S. Anderson, Augs. Hist. At., p. 44-47), ending the control the paganized and demonically backed Catholic hierarchy had on all Europe.

B. Christ also promised to give overcomers "the morning star," Rev. 2:28. Semiramis was the goddess/planet Venus (Ibid., Self), and Venus was called "the Morning Star" (Ibid., Z. P. E. B., v. Two, p. 48), so the honor Semiramis gave to herself and that the Catholic hierarchy in turn gave to Mary, Christ gave to the Reformers, the honor of starting like a morning star a new "day," a new era of religious liberty from dark oppression especially in the newly discovered land of America, Wm. W. Sweet, The Story of Rel. in America, 1973, p. 8.

Lesson: Christ called believers in the Roman Catholic Church to hold to the true beliefs of the Bible's God versus the secret pagan, Satanic theology held by their Church's demon influenced upper hierarchy.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ to be saved by faith alone, John 3:16; Eph. 2:8-9. (2) May we heed Christ's call that every individual is accountable before God himself to interpret and to heed God's written Word.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

To apply this sermon, we as a Church hold to the section "V, B" above "Five Solas" of the Reformation (as cited in theopedia.com, "Five Solas," by The Cambridge Declaration of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals).