Chapter 2
Verses 1-7 Read the Bible verses.
John is told to write to the church at Ephesus.
Ephesus was in western Turkey. It was the capital city. This part of Turkey was ruled by Rome at this time.
Jesus is talking:
“ I know the things you do. I know how you have done good works. I know how you have been doing good works even in hard times.”
“I know that you do not like evil men. I know that you think carefully about men who say they are apostles (disciples of Jesus). You test them and try to find out if they are true or not. You learned that some were not true.”
“You have not given up in serving God or following Jesus’ teachings. You stayed true to God.”
“But there are some things that are wrong.”
“You have left your first love.”
“You have fallen away from loving me the way you did before.”
“If you do not repent and come back to loving Me first, I will come and remove your lamp stand.”
“One good thing you do is you hate the way the Nicolatans behave.”
The Nicolatans were a group of church people who had gone from the main way of Christian believing. They had allowed the church members to do sexual sins and they did not preach against it.
The Ephesus church were against this group. They knew that teaching was wrong.
The Jesus said, “He who has an ear to hear, let him hear.” (If you have a will to listen and obey–then do so.)
“To the person who overcomes sin and temptation, (the person who remains true to the end), to that person I will allow to eat of the Tree of Life which will be in heaven.”
Verses 8-11 Read the Bible verses.
Jesus talks to the church at Smyrna.
Smyrna is a seaport city in Turkey, today it is called Izmir. Then it was the center of imperial (emperor worship–worship of the king)
of Rome.
Jesus said, “ I know your tribulation (time of trouble). I know your poverty (poor). But really you are rich. I know there are those who blaspheme (curse) you. There are those who say they are “Jews”, but they are not. They are evil.”
“Do not be afraid of what you have to suffer. Satan is about to cause trouble so that some of you are put in prison. You will be tested. You will have tribulation (times of great trouble) for 10 days. Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life.”
Jesus warns these people that they will suffer for the name of Jesus.
People will be against them. Satan will stir them up. It will be a time of testing.
It is not clear what the “10 days” means. It could mean a future time at the end of the world. It could also mean a period of time in their near future. It could mean 10 real days, or 10 periods of time.
Jesus said that he knew that they were poor, but really they were rich.
They were poor in things of this world. They were having a hard time getting things to live everyday. But Jesus said, “You are rich.”
Jesus meant that because they had faith in God, they were rich.
Their souls were full and rich. That was not true of the other people in the city. They were empty in spirit–they did not have Jesus.
Jesus said, “Be faithful—even unto death.”
If they do that, they will receive a crown of life.
Jesus also said, “He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”
The first death is the death of our physical body. The second death is the death of our soul in hell.
At birth we are given the spirit of life. We will live forever somewhere. We can choose where we will live forever. If we choose Jesus and his salvation, Jesus’ death will pay for our sins. Then we can live forever in heaven.
If we do not choose Jesus and his salvation, then Jesus will not pay for our sins. We will have to pay for our sins ourselves. The payment for sins is eternal death. We will go to the place that God made for Satan–hell.
Being in hell is like a living death. People are still alive, but it is separation from God and a lake of fire. This goes on forever.
Verses 12-17 Read the Bible verses.
Jesus speaks to the church at Pergamum.
Pergamum had been the capital before Ephesus. It had one of the oldest libraries of that time. A special paper called parchment was first used there.
Jesus said, “I know where you live. You live in the center of Satan’s land.”
He said this because the people in that city worshipped the Roman ruler. (It could also mean they worshipped Zeus, a Greek god.)
Jesus said, “You kept my name. You did not deny (say you did not know Me). You did not give up the faith, even when Antipas (one of your leaders) was killed for witnessing, you stayed true.”
“But there is something that is wrong.”
“There are some among you those who follow the teachings of Balaam.”
Balaam was in the Old Testament. He was a “future teller”. He told the future by using enchantments. Enchantments are saying “chants” words over and over– often people say words over stones or other things hoping for spirits to give knowledge about something. The spirits that Balaam used were not from God.
One day King Barak asked Balaam to come and give a “prophesy” over Israel (Hebrews) and curse them. God came to Balaam and warned him not to curse Israel.
Balaam went to see King Barak but he told him he could only say what God allowed him to say. God did not allow him to curse Israel, instead he said a blessing over them. King Barak was really angry.
After Balaam left, King Barak got the Hebrew men to have sex with the Moabite women. He also got them to worship the Moabite idols. God was angry with the Hebrew men and punished them. King Barak was happy. Numbers 25:1-3
It seems that the idea to tempt the men came from Balaam.
That is why this kind of behavior was called the “teachings of Balaam“.
Sexual sin was being allowed. So was eating meat that had been offered to idols.
Another person named Nicolas, also encouraged sexual wrongdoing.
This kind of behavior was not what Jesus taught. Jesus taught that sexual relations were to be between a husband and wife married to each other.
The word adultery is usually used when married people have sex with someone other than the person they are married to, and fornication is used when unmarried people have sex.
In the Bible the two words are interchanged and used both ways.
Jesus said, “Repent, or else I will come and make war against you with the sword of my mouth.”
A person cannot knowingly do a sin, or knowingly continue in a sin and still think God will overlook it. We must repent of sin.
As Christians we sometimes sin because we are weak. But when we know we are sinning and we keep doing it, we are in danger of losing our relationship with God. The Holy Spirit will not stay in a person who chooses to sin and continues in sin.
We are responsible to keep ourselves from sin. If we are getting tempted in certain places–we should stop going there. If we get tempted when we are with certain people–we should stop seeing them. We cannot hang around the devil’s territory (area) and think we can stay clean and pure.
In the day in which we live, sexual sin has become accepted. So many think it is not wrong.
Jesus made it very clear that it was wrong. He told the church to “repent” or they would feel the sword of the Lord.
Repenting is more than confessing. Confessing means you admit that you did it. It does not mean that you are sorry and it does not mean that you will stop.
Being sorry is not repenting.
Repenting is stopping the sin and going the other way from the sin.
Being a Christian means we walk obeying Jesus’ teachings.
Jesus said, “He that will listen and he that will overcome sin and temptation, to that person will Jesus give “hidden manna”, and He will write their name on a white stone. It will be a new name and no one will know the name except that person.”
The “hidden manna” is God by His spirit coming to us to keep us and give us strength. Manna was the bread that God sent the Hebrew people when they were in the desert. The manna came down from heaven and fell on the ground. Just as the manna gave the Hebrew people strength in the desert, so God’s spirit will be like bread to our spirit. Exodus chp. 16
Jesus called Himself the “Bread of Life”. If we have Jesus we will have the strength to overcome.
The white stone may be talking about a custom used in that day.
When a person was brought before a jury to decide if he was guilty or not,
Each person of the jury would show their decision by putting out a stone on the ground. If they put out a black one, they thought the person was guilty. If they put out a white one, they thought the person was not guilty.
Jesus said, “If you repent, I will say you are not guilty and give you a white stone.”
On the stone will be written a special secret name that only you will know.
Verses 18-29 Read the Bible verses.
Jesus talked to the church at Thyatira.
Thyatira was a city that had many shops and businesses. It was famous for its wool and its dye (colors for cloth).
Jesus said, “I know your good works. I know your love and your faith. I know how you do good works for God. I know that you have stayed true. I know that the good works you do now are more than the works you did before.”
“But there is something that is wrong.”
Some of the people in the church at Thyatria had allowed the teachings of Jezebel to go among the people.
The teachings of Jezebel were like those of Nicolas and Balaam. They allowed sexual sin to go unchecked.
There was a queen in the Old Testament whose name was Jezebel. She was a wicked woman.
These teachings were sinful. Either the name Jezebel was used because the teachings were sinful or perhaps the woman’s name was also Jezebel.
Jesus said that this woman who was teaching these things had been given a chance to stop and repent, but she did not.
Jesus said that he would make her get a sickness and those that had sex with her will get a sickness and have great trouble in their lives.
Jesus said that he would kill her children with a sickness. Then all of the church would know that Jesus is the One who knows what is in the minds and hearts of people.
It could be that these sexual sins were secret. That this woman pretended to be a good Christian, but she secretly sinned. It also seems that some of the church men secretly sinned with her.
Jesus said that he gave her time to repent, but she would not. So he will make her punishment public. Her sickness will be known. Her children’s sickness will be known and they will die.
The men who secretly sinned with her would be punished publicly. They would get a sickness and have many troubles because of their sin with her.
This warning to this woman in Thyatria makes you wonder about sexual sins today. There are over 25 different kinds of diseases that are passed through sexual contact.
There is good reason for being sexually pure if you are single. There is good reason to protect your partner in marriage by being faithful.
Jesus said to the other people who were not guilty of this sin, and who had not accepted this teaching, –to hold onto their faith–until I come.
The person who overcomes sin and temptation and remains true until the end—to that person Jesus will give the authority (power over) the nations. He shall rule the nations with great power—just as a potter has power over a clay pot–just as Jesus has power from the Father.
Jesus said he would give that person the morning star.
It is not clear what this means. It could mean everlasting life.
Jesus is called the “morning star”. Rev.22:16
These verses do seem to say that Christians who are faithful until the end of their life or the end of time will help rule the world when Jesus comes back to earth as King.
Just how all of this will work, we are not sure. But there are several places in the Bible where it says that faithful Christians will have a place of leadership over the nations in the new heaven and earth that will be made.