Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 1 Study # 1
September 10, 2023
Broadlands, Louisiana
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Thesis: There is a profound danger to "faking it".
Introduction: The letter to the church in Thyatira was intended to get the church there to remove the woman, Jezebel, from the church because of her teaching "the deep things" that included sexual promiscuity and severe contradictions of conscience. What Jesus said He would do to her because of her impenitence was summarized as the experience of "great tribulation". This letter highlights the need for sexual purity and cleanliness of conscience.
In this beginning study of the next letter, we are going to look into the problem of "fake" Christianity.
- I. The Letter To The Angel Of The Church In Sardis.
- A. Jesus' Self-description.
- 1. He that has the seven Spirits of God.
- a. There are 72 texts in this book that contain the word "pneuma".
- b. References to "the seven Spirits of God" are...
- 1) 1:4; in the introduction to this book, the Trinitarian God is identified in terms of "The One Who is and was and is to come", "the Seven Spirits Who are before His throne", and "Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the Dead, and the Ruler of the Kings of the Earth".
- a) "Before the throne".
- i. In 4:5 the Seven Spirits are "Lamps of Fire burning before the throne".
- ii. In 4:6 there is a sea of glass before the throne.
- iii. In 4:10 the Twenty Four Elders "fall down before the throne and worship Him that lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying, 'You are worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and power...'"
- iv. Etc. (several other "before the throne" statements).
- v. At issue is this: the "Throne" is the Seat of the Heavenly Sovereign Who rules and is acknowledged by those "before the throne" as the One Who is to be worshiped and acknowledged for all His works.
- b) The Seven Spirits are an aspect of the Trinitarian Sovereign Whose "Throne" is the symbol of The Kingdom of The God.
- 2) 3:1; in this text/context regarding the angel of the church in Sardis.
- 3) 4:5; in the record of the Great Throne there are seven lamps of fire which are identified as the Seven Spirits of God.
- 4) 5:6; the slain Lamb Who possesses "seven eyes, which are the Seven Spirits of God sent out unto all the earth".
- c. Isaiah 11:2 posits the identity of The Spirit Of The Lord as being...
- 1) The Spirit of Wisdom. ("...you have a name that you live, and are dead..."; 3:1).
- 2) The Spirit of Understanding. ("...I have not found your works completed..."; 3:2).
- 3) The Spirit of Counsel ("Be watchful and strengthen..."; 3:2)
- 4) The Spirit of Might. ("...I will come on you as a thief..."; 3:3 compared with Matthew 24:43).
- 5) The Spirit of Knowledge ("I know..."; 3:1).
- 6) The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord. ("...defiled their garments ... walk with Me in white raiment..."; 3:5). "Garment" refers to the clothing of the saints which are their righteousnesses; (himation): and "robes" are "white" because they were made white by the blood of the Lamb (stole); the righteousness of Christ (6:11).
- d. If anyone knows who is "alive" and who is not, it is This One Who Possesses The Seven Spirits of God Who, in turn, "see" all there is to see.
- 2. He that has the seven stars.
- a. These "stars" are identified as "the seven angels of the seven churches" (1:20).
- b. That He is in possession of these seven stars in His right hand is referred to in 1:16, 20 and 2:1 and 3:1.
- 1) The overall impact of His possession of these stars in His right hand is the reality of His power over them (for good or ill).
- 2) The linkage between 2:1 and 3:1 is that the one who has left his first love and this one who is "dead" seems to be that both have left their earlier commitments and the works that arose from them. These two are the first and fifth of the "angels".
- B. Jesus' Message.
- 1. What He knows.
- a. I know that you are dead even though you have a name that you live.
- b. Be becoming awake.
- c. Make fast the remaining things which are about to die.
- d. I have not found your works having become complete before My God.
- e. Remember therefore how you had received and listened and be keeping watch and repent.
- 2. What He plans to do.
- a. If you should not wake up...
- 1) I shall come as a thief.
- 2) You shall not know when I shall come upon you.
- b. But you have a few names in Sardis who have not stained their garments and they shall walk with Me in white because they are worthy.
- 3. The promise.
- a. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments.
- b. I shall not blot the name of him out of the Book of The Life.
- c. I shall confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
- II. The Application To All Of The Churches.
