JESUS TO THE CHURCH IN THYATIRA

 REVEALING JESUS

“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:"

THYATIRA HAD SILVERSMITHS THAT MADE IDOLS, AND CRAFTED OBJECTS FROM PRECIOUS METALS.  JESUS HAS EYES LIKE A BLAZING FIRE.  AND HIS FEET ARE LIKE POLISHED BRONZE.

"These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze."  Revelation 2:18 NIV

JESUS COMPLIMENTS THEM FOR THEIR LOVE, SERVICE AND PERSEVERANCE.

" I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first."  Revelation 2:19 NIV

CORRECTION FOR THOSE FOLLOWING THE TEACHINGS OF A PROPHETESS... JEZEBEL. SHE DECEIVED MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH INTO BELIEVING IT WAS ALL RIGHT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO, AND PARTICIPATE IN PAGAN WORSHIP BY EATING MEAT OFFERED TO IDOLS AND SEXUAL IMMORALITY.  

"Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.  I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.  So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.  I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds."  

Revelation 2:20-24 NIV

JESUS INSTRUCTS THE FAITHFUL TO HOLD ON AND BE STRONG.  SOME WILL LOSE THEIR JOBS, AND BE OUTCASTS; BECAUSE THEY DON'T PARTICIPATE IN PARTIES AT APOLLO'S TEMPLE.

"Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’  Revelation 2:24-25 NIV

OVERCOMERS WILL BE GIVEN AUTHORITY TO RULE WITH CHRIST OVER PEOPLE GROUPS.

"To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’ just as I have received authority from my Father.  I will also give that one the morning star.  Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches."  REVELATION 2:18-29 NIV New International Version

JESUS TO THE CHURCH IN SARDIS

 REVEALING JESUS

JESUS IS COMING BACK 

LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars:"

JESUS GIVES HIS CORRECTION TO THE DEAD IN THE CHURCH--TO WAKE UP AND REPENT!

“I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.  Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.  Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.  Revelation 3:1-3 NLT

JESUS WILL COME FOR HIS BRIDE, LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT.  

IN THE PARABLE OF THE 10 VIRGINS, FIVE HAD FAITH AND HAD EXTRA OIL FOR THEIR LAMPS.  WHEN THE GROOM CAME FOR HIS BRIDE AT MIDNIGHT, THEY WENT WITH THEM TO THE WEDDING FEAST.  AND THE DOOR WAS SHUT.

5 WERE FOOLISH AND DID NOT HAVE EXTRA OIL FOR THEIR LAMPS.  THEY WENT OUT TO BUY OIL AT MIDNIGHT AND MISSED THE WEDDING.

JESUS IS THE GROOM, RETURNING FOR HIS BRIDE, THE CHURCH.  NO MAN KNOWS WHEN HE WILL COME.

OVERCOMERS WILL HAVE THEIR NAMES KEPT IN THE BOOK OF LIFE AND BELONG TO JESUS.

“Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.  All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine."  Revelation 3:4-5 NLT

“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches."  

Revelation 3:1-6 New Living Translation NLT

JESUS TO THE CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA

 REVEALING JESUS

"This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia:"

JESUS HOLDS THE KEYS TO THE DOOR.  HE IS HOLY AND TRUE AND HAS THE SAME AUTHORITY KING DAVID HAD.

"I am the one who is holy and true, and I have the keys that belonged to David. When I open a door, no one can close it. And when I close a door, no one can open it. Listen to what I say."                Revelation 3:7 CEV

JESUS IS OMNISCIENT, KNOWING EVERYTHING, BECAUSE HE IS GOD THE SON.

 "I know everything you have done. And I have placed before you an open door that no one can close. You were not very strong, but you obeyed my message and did not deny that you are my followers.  Now you will see what I will do with those people who belong to Satan’s group. They claim to be Jews, but they are liars. I will make them come and kneel down at your feet. Then they will know that I love you."   Revelation 3:8-9 CEV

BECAUSE YOU OBEYED MY WORD, YOU WILL BE PROTECTED FROM THE TIME OF WORLDWIDE TESTING.

"You obeyed my message and endured. So I will protect you from the time of testing that everyone in all the world must go through.  I am coming soon. So hold firmly to what you have, and no one will take away the crown that you will be given as your reward.  Revelation 3:10-11 CEV

YOU SHALL RECEIVE A VICTORY CROWN AND DWELL IN THE NEW JERUSALEM.

"Everyone who wins the victory will be made into a pillar in the temple of my God, and they will stay there forever. I will write on each of them the name of my God and the name of his city. It is the new Jerusalem that my God will send down from heaven. I will also write on them my own new name."   Revelation 3:12 CEV

LISTEN TO WHAT GOD IS SAYS TO HIS CHURCH; PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

"If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches."  Revelation 3:12-13 CEV Christian English Version

JESUS TO THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA

 REVEALING JESUS

COLD MOUNTAIN WATER

JESUS IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER.  HE EXISTED BEFORE CREATION.

“To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these things:  Revelation 3:14 WEB

NO COMPLIMENTS FROM JESUS!  

HE COMPARES THEIR WORKS TO THE NASTY WATER THEY DRANK. LAODICEA HAD TO PIPE WATER INTO THEIR TOWN AND WAS LUKEWARM WITH SMELLY MINERALS.

NEIGHBORING TOWNS COLOSSAE HAD COLD WATER FROM MOUNTAIN RUNOFF,  AND HIERAPOLIS HAD HOT SPRINGS.

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.  Revelation 3:15-16 WEB

LAODICEA WAS WEALTHY. BEING ON A MAJOR TRADE ROUTE, THEY WERE A BANKING CENTER, SELLING EYE SALVE AND TEXTILES. 

Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked;  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.  As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.  Revelation 3:17-19 WEB

THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA WAS BLINDED BY THEIR AFFUENCE.  THEY HARDLY NEEDED JESUS ANYMORE.

JESUS STANDS KNOCKING AT YOUR DOOR; LET HIM COME IN.  MY EYE SALVE WILL OPEN YOUR EYES.  TRUE RICHES ARE A RESULT OF GOLD REFINED IN THE FIRE.

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.  He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.”    Revelation 3:20-22  World English Bible  WEB

OVERCOMERS WILL SIT DOWN WITH MY FATHER ON HIS THRONE.

THE RAPTURE

JESUS DIED, ROSE AGAIN, AND ASCENDED; SO WILL THE BELIEVERS WHO DIED WILL RISE AGAIN AND MEET JESUS IN THE CLOUDS.

"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus."1 Thess 4:13-14 LSB
THE DEAD IN CHRIST WILL RISE FIRST.THEN THOSE ALIVE WILL BE RAPTURED.WE WILL MEET JESUS IN THE CLOUDS."For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.Therefore comfort one another with these words.  I Thess 4:15-18 LSB
THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT FOR THE SONS OF DARKNESSNow concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.
While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman who is pregnant, and they will never escape.  But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.










But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
GOD HAS NOT APPOINTED US FOR WRATHFor God has not appointed us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.Therefore, comfort one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 LSB  Legacy Standard Bible
WHERE DOES RAPTURE COME FROM?THE WORDS "CAUGHT UP" IN GREEK MANUSCRIPTS IS "HARPAZO."  THIS WORD IS "RAPTURO" IN LATIN.
THE DAY OF THE LORD REFERS TO GOD'S JUDGEMENT.

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

"Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran.  When he came to a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had gone down. He took one of the stones from that place, put it under his head, and lay down there."   Genesis 28:10-11 GW

JACOB DREAMED OF A STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

"He had a dream in which he saw a stairway set up on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven. He saw the angels of God going up and coming down on it."  Genesis 28:12 GW

THE LORD STANDING ABOVE SHOUTED TO JACOB

"The Lord was standing above it, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give the land on which you are lying to you and your descendants.  Your descendants will be like the dust on the earth. You will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. Through you and through your descendant every family on earth will be blessed.  Remember, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will also bring you back to this land because I will not leave you until I do what I’ve promised you.”  Genesis 28:13-15 GW

JACOB WOKE UP FEELING GOD'S PRESENCE

"Then Jacob woke up from his sleep and exclaimed, “Certainly, the Lord is in this place, and I didn’t know it!”  Filled with awe, he said, “How awe-inspiring this place is! Certainly, this is the house of God and the gateway to heaven!”  Genesis 28:16-17 GW  God's Word Bible

JACOB'S SAW IN HIS DREAM THE DOOR TO HEAVEN OPEN.  JESUS WAS STANDING AT THE TOP; WHILE ANGELS CAME UP AND DOWN TO EARTH.

ENOCH HAS VANISHED

AMBER ALERT IN THE BIBLE

METHUSELAH WAS NOAH'S GRANDFATHER

 "Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah.  And after the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters.  So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.   Genesis 5:21-24  HCSB

WHERE DID ENOCH GO?

"By faith Enoch was taken away so he did not experience death, and he was not to be found because God took him away. For prior to his removal he was approved, since he had pleased God.  Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him."  

Hebrews 11:5-6  HCSB  Holman Christian Standard Bible

ENOCH NEVER EXPERIENCED DEATH AND WAS TAKEN AWAY BY GOD.