The Promise to the Church of Philadelphia

Behold, I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Because thou hast kept the word of My Patience, I also will keep thee from the Hour of Tribulation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Behold, I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of My God, and the name of the City of My God, which is New Jerusalem,which cometh down out of Heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My New Name.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.

The Commendation to the Church of Philadelphia
       
I know thy works: behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name.

The Church at Philadelphia
        A Favored Church

And to the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia write: These things saith He that is Holy, He that is True, He that hath the Key of David, He that openeth; and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man openeth.

While the reformers did away with much ritual and doctrinal rubbish, they didn't recover the promise of Jesus' Second Coming.

                      They turned to God from idols but not to wait for His Son from Heaven.

The Reformation began with Martin Luther's Theses, but it was more of a struggle for political liberty than a Christian or religious movement.

                  It had the advantage of circulating the Bibles that had been a sealed book, and a revival of the Doctrine of 'justification by faith' and a reversion to more simple ways of worship.

The conditions during the Papal Church became intolerable and came to a crisis when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517.

The meaning of the word "Sardis" is the escaping one, or those who came out and so it is an excellent type of the Church of the Reformation Period.

                     That's the period in history of the Christian Church when Marin Luther and a number of other reformers protested against the false teaching, tyranny and claims of the Papal Church.

The Church at Sardis
       was called a 'Dead Church' though it had a name to live.

       It was a formalistic church, a church given over to formal or ritualistic worship.

           It had the form or godliness without the power.

The Promise to the Church of Sardis

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.

The Warning to the Church of Sardis

If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

The Counsel to the Church of Sardis

Be watchfull and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent.

The  Condemnation of the Church at Sardis

I know thy works, that thou hast aname that thou livest and art dead.

The Church at Sardis
      A Dead Church      Rev. 3:1-6

And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis write:
these things saith He that hath the Seven Spirits of God, and the Seven Stars.

When the 'Papal Church' introduces images and pictures into its churches for the people to bow down to it became idolatrous.

               And when it set up its claim that the teaching of the Church is superior to the Word of God, it assumed the role of Prophetess.

There is no question that Jezebel was a real person.

              She represents a 'System' and that system was the 'Papal Church'.

The marriage of Jezebel's daughter, introduced idolatrous worship into Judah and it wasn't long before there was a house of Baal built in Jerusalem; so Jezebel caused all Israel to sin.

Jezebel's influence wasn't only while her husband, Ahab, was alive, but also during the reign of her two sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram.

Ahab, king of Israel, to strengthen his kingdom, married Jezebel and she was aided by Ahab introducing the worship of Baal into Israel and killed all the prophets of the Lord that she could get her hands on.

Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was not a daughter of Abraham by birth, but a princes of idolatrous Tyre, at a time when its royal family was famed for savagery and devotion to Baal and Astarte.

Jezebel was a pretender and called herself a prophetess.

       Probably she was of a noble line, she was a woman of commanding influence.

             Whether her real name was Jezebel or not, she was so like her type in the Old Testament, the wife of Ahab, that Christ called her by that name.

In His commendation of the Church of Thyatira, Christ lays the emphasis on their 'works', as if they depended on them and claimed they deserved merit.

But He had a complaint to make against them that was terrible. He charges them not only with permitting a bad woman, Jezebel, who called herself a Prophetess, to remain in the Church, but with permitting her to teach her doctrines and to seduce the servants to commit fornication and to eat thing sacrificed to idols.

The Promise to the Church of Thyatira

But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shiver: even as I receive of My Father.
And I will give him a Morning Star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.

The Complaint to the Church of Thyatira

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.
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; 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."

The Commendation to the Church of Thyatira.

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.

The Church at Thyatira.
       A Lax Church       Rev. 2:18-29

And unto the Angel of the Church in Thyatira write: These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire and His feet are like fine brass.

Post-Millennial View came into the Church as it became rich and powerful. It was suggested that by joining the Church and the State a condition of affairs would develop that would bring in the Millennium without the return of Jesus Christ.

                   Since some scriptural support was needed for this doctrine, it was claimed that the Jews had been cast off forever and that all the prophecies of Israel's future glory were meant for the Church. 

A sensuous form of worship was introduced,
  the character of the preaching was changed,
    and the great 'Pagan Festivals' were adopted,
      to please the Pagan members of the church and
        attract Pagans to the church.

When the men of Israel went to those feasts and saw the daughters of Moab, they committed whoredom with them, which angered God and He sent a plague that destroyed 42,000 of them.

              The word Pergamos means marriage.
And when the Church entered into a union with the State it was guilty of spiritual fornication.

The Doctrine of the Nicolaitanes was supremacy of the Clergy over the Laity.

The Doctrine of Balaam invited Israel into licentious feasts causing them to fall into a snare that angered the Lord that He would destroy them.

Constantine's motive was more political than it was religious.

                     He wished to join his Christean and Pagan subjects into one people, and consolidate his Empire.

       The result was that two false doctrines crept into the Church;         
           the Doctrine of Balaam and
           the Doctrine of the Nicolaitanes.