https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=D3xlKHOgdso
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen say John the Evangelist pray for us in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen All Right. So tonight the goal is to get through Revelation chapters 2 & 3 these are the the letters to the individual churches and Yeah, it’s probably gonna be about the most straightforward part of the book of Revelation that we’re gonna cover It’s really very direct and personal So yeah, we shouldn’t have too much crazy stuff going on here Wow so I Heard this story and it seems relevant to me. We’re talking about Prophecy in a modern context, right? And and what and what st. John was doing with these letters to the churches is that he was doing acts of prophecy with these churches and I Heard this story about I think it was a Quaker Church Something going on and I don’t know if it’s if it’s just a joke or if it’s a true story, but I think it’s relevant so the Quakers believe have this doctrine of the inner light that you have the light inside of you and if you just if you quiet everything and Everything is calm and still that the Holy Spirit will just speak through you And so they spend their their worship on Sundays in quiet and contemplation if somebody receives a prophetic word From the Holy Spirit then they will speak up. But otherwise, it’s it’s still and there was there was discontent at a Quaker Church that one man had been speaking up over and over again week after week and And and and some people were having coffee or whatever and it’s like yeah You know what I’ve learned from from Bob recently is that the Holy Spirit watches just as much Fox News as he does You know So so Yeah prophecy if somebody Somebody comes up and says, you know, I have a message of God from God to you. It’s like Okay, what’s going on here? Right? Can I really trust that? Can I really understand what it is? And so We look at this This section, you know John giving a word from God to the churches and he’s an apostle How does this this prophetic word play out in our own lives? So Yeah, what do we mean by prophecy though? What do we mean by prophecy? We’re talking about delivering a word from God and and my man st. Thomas Aquinas He kind of came up with these three different ways that prophecy was done in Scripture, right? And so there’s kind of the classical Version of prophecy where the prophet would have a vision of something and Then would be given the light of the Holy Spirit in order to interpret this vision So a classic example would be from the beginning of the book of the prophet Jeremiah where? Jeremiah has this vision of a boiling cauldron coming out of the north, you know and Okay. Well, what’s this boiling cauldron? The boiling cauldron is the Babylonian Empire coming to invade the land of Judah, right? And so he’s got that vision and then he’s got the interpretation of the vision coming right along with it The second mode of prophecy was the vision without the interpretation so you could think of King Nebuchadnezzar having the dream of the Statue with the golden head and the silver arms the bronze torso the iron legs and the clay and iron feet Right and Nebuchadnezzar had this dream, but he didn’t understand What the dream meant until Daniel the prophet came and interpreted the dream for him So that’s the vision but without you know, the lights to interpret the the the vision and then finally The third mode of prophecy that Thomas Aquinas comes up with is is just the light to interpret Right just the light of the Holy Spirit inspiring the sacred author to to write down the words that He he specifies and Thomas Aquinas gives the example of the book of Proverbs, right? The book of Proverbs is very much based on kind of day-to-day, you know practical ways to live There’s no particular vision or revelation From God himself, but it’s like practical advice pride goeth before the fall You know and and all those different just pithy sayings which you know seems like kind of a human wisdom And so so the idea behind behind prophecy this delivering this word of God and can there still be kind of a prophetic thing going on in In our world and the answer I think is yes that we can still be Prophets to one another right and we talked about that as being one of the three offices that we inherit at our baptism being of Priest, prophet, and king in the kingdom of God and I really think it’s that last one when you get that understanding of the Holy Spirit Coming upon you helping you to interpret a current situation something you see And being able to tell the truth to somebody in such a way that they’re able to receive it, right? In such a way that and you’ve got to align everything Properly right so the the fundamental Christian disposition is always to love your neighbor right to love your enemy Sometimes they’re the same person and so it’s like you got to have your Your intentions right and you got to tell the right truth at the right time because it’s not you know sometimes People can get a little bit fired up about telling the truth, right? It’s like I’m just gonna go out there, and I’m just gonna tell them the truth and and I don’t care if they accept it or not it’s like Sometimes that’s necessary, but really if you want to if you want to actually deliver You know a message from the Lord you’ve got to like actually Love the person you’re talking to and you actually have to want to deliver this message in such a way that they might receive It well instead of just going there and and smashing it you know down their throat, right? and so I Don’t know just trying to apply John Writing this section and so you could also write ask the question did did John write this section himself or was it? dictated to him by the Holy Spirit Right because you’ll as we go through these letters to the churches You’ll see very specific ways that he references the city that they’re living in right But all of this is being framed as a message from Christ himself right say to the church in Laudacia Say to the church in Smyrna I am the Lord I say this to you right and so it’s like okay Which is it because it’s obviously John addressing a specific situation? But it’s also being framed as Christ himself speaking of the answer again It comes with that that inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the vision that he was having Placing it all together, so Yeah, I think that’s it’s gonna be the best way to understand this I myself have had kind of an experience of Delivering a message and and it being more Powerful than I had originally intended. I was giving a an Ash Wednesday Homily right and Ash Wednesday you tend to get a lot of people into church Maybe people that you don’t normally see and so I was you know I was just kind of trying to lay things out as well as I could and it’s like, you know This is this is good and this is sin, you know And if you’re sinning then you’re not winning the game It was all a sports analogy, right? If you’re gonna play the game you should play the game to the win and these sins well, that’s losing and so this then That’s in the other said these are the common sins that people fall into you got to repent of it We’re being called to repent of the day. That was a basic outline of the homily Now the next day I was I was talking to somebody a woman who had just gone through a rather painful divorce and there was numerous Infidelities on the part of the husband and all sorts of bad behavior and she was like, you know I thought you were talking to me specifically, right Because you know just hearing me as as a deacon at the time Hearing me just lay down these are kind of the Guidance that the church has given us as to sin and her going through the list in her head of like Yeah, I was so miserable and caught up in this marriage and and he was doing that He was doing that and he was doing that he was doing that all it all kind of came together for her And it was like a healing moment for her and so, you know, and I I wasn’t even aware You know, that wasn’t what I was going for in the homily. So I really think that that when you when you dedicate yourself to prayer and you’re able to really Carry that Word of God it can be a powerful healing moment. And so Yeah, hopefully we can continue to have the Word of God preached effectively in our world today Now these letters to the churches are the messages to the churches they all have a Set pattern right and so that patterns on the right side of the screen there the it’s addressed to the the angel of the church is of This city and So again, we wonder is the angel supernatural being is the angel of bishop? Maybe it’s both We like to do this both and thing so and then Christ will present himself with that imagery drawn from that initial vision from one to Verses 12 to 20 so you’ll have references to the sword references to the flaming eyes references to the seven lampstands Jesus’s disclosure of the condition of each church is like I know what’s going on in your church, you know, I see all things I’m in charge here a specific exhortation to each church in light of what’s going on I know this are stated as an imperative you guys I’m giving you guys a command here and then finally Not quite finally But there’s a general exhortation every time to listen to what the Spirit is saying to all the churches And so I had three older brothers growing up Right and one of the useful things about having older brothers is you can watch them go Do stupid stuff and see how that works out for them and then you can if you’re you know, like me You can decide not to do those stupid things and avoid all sorts of trouble and high school is just a lot less dramatic for you and so, you know, even though You know this there’s gonna be a specific message for the church in Smyrna or the church in Ephesus It’s like hey guys you watch what’s happening to your brothers in the other town. You can learn something You can learn from what’s going on there. Maybe avoid a mistake Maybe get an encouraging word yourself and there’s no reason why that same message You know can’t continue on down the line that we can’t still learn from what was happening to these early Christian churches in the first century and then finally The promise to the victor links to the final salvation in Yeah, oh, I missed some punctuation there. That’s why it doesn’t make any sense So there’s always a promise along with the exhortation if you do as we’re being asked to then Your final salvation will look like this and so we get an image of of what the church Believed what Jesus teaches about what the resurrection and the end days is going to look like And then in the two of the message the order of the final two elements is reversed and then Mark would you hold up that book you were reading? I saw you read earlier I can’t remember if I mentioned this book, but that’s that’s a major source for me right there So he’s he’s reading the spoilers ahead. That’s the Catholic commentary on sacred scripture And so that particular volume is on Revelation and it’s by dr Peter Williamson who actually taught at Sacred Heart Seminary where I went for the first four years I never had any classes with him, but the books been good so far So I think that was my loss so anyway I can’t remember if last time when I was showing you all those books I showed you that book because I only have a Kindle version of it So it would been really hard for me to to show you that Since it’s on my computer’s hard drive all right, let’s get into it All right to the angel of the Church of Ephesus write this The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven gold lampstands says this I know your works your labor and your endurance and that you cannot tolerate the wicked You have tested those who call themselves apostles, but are not and discovered that they are imposters moreover you have Endurance and have suffered for my name and you have not grown weary Yet I hold this against you you have lost the love you had at first Realize how far you have fallen Repent and do the works you did at first Otherwise I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent But you have this in your favor you hate the work of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches to the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of life To the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the garden of God All right, so Right there Christ is identifying himself as the one who stands in the midst of those seven gold lampstands Does anybody remember what the seven gold lampstands stand for? Does anybody remember what those seven gold lampstands stand for? The seven cities right the seven churches, yeah, okay So so it means then Christ identifies himself as standing in the midst there, right? So Christ isn’t far away from what’s going on even though he has ascended into heaven, but he is still Very close right very personal as to what he is standing in the midst of Even though he has ascended into heaven, but he is still very close right very personal as to what is going on and You know, it’s very obvious from this letter that the light is still burning in Ephesus right now We remember Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says you are the light of the world and let your light shine brightly before men so that they may see your good works and And give glory to God so this is definitely Definitely kind of a link there a link between you know, obviously it’s all the same faith and so Given that they’ve held on to the light given that they have continued to be Just and have not fallen into any major sin The light is still shining forth right and they are still able to be witnesses of Christ in the world Now Ephesus was the largest and most important city in the roman province of Asia I think it was the capital too. And so I learned this recently the word metropolis Means mother city Right. So a metropolis is a mother city So the idea is is that they got this mother city and it’s got the you know child cities all around it So it was kind of the the metro metropolis of the entire roman province of asia Okay All right. Um, another interesting thing about Ephesus was that it was also uh one of the major patronesses of the city was the goddess Artemis, right now the goddess Artemis was a um The uh, one of the things that she was a patroness of was childbirth and children Which was very interesting because she was she was one of the virgin goddesses. So I wonder how that uh How that all that symbolism all came to be it’s very interesting. Um, you notice at the end of the um The uh the letter it’s talking about this tree of life, right? The reward for listening to christ’s message is giving getting food from the tree of life that is in the garden of god and so We’ve got this kind of mother city of asia. It’s also the mother church of asia. It was founded by Uh, the church there was founded by st paul in axe chapter 19 And so I kind of see the symbolism of of a new birth of a new mother coming into this thing and seeing that that That tree of night life imagery, you know, it’s like that’s where the life comes from and so uh really seeing st paul kind of displacing Artemis from her Her position as the as the mother And placing the church there in its stead the church where you can eat from the tree of life and This was kind of the mother church of asia. So You know effesus and all these other towns that were kind of economically and perhaps even pastorally dependent on it so that that that that subversive message again to the powers of the day, um, And the uh, the the displacement of the powers of the day and and replacing that with the the truth that comes from christ And we hear Also about endurance. You’re going to hear about that a lot That’s one of the major themes of the book of revelation because it’s written to these seven churches Many of them are suffering persecution and john sees more persecution coming on down the line So you’re going to hear a lot about that There’s also got this these false apostles, um And uh, you know, okay, who are these false apostles and what are they? All about and I think it’s it’s helpful to look at um Kind of the second and third letters of john, right? These were written Uh, just advising people. How do you how do you treat certain people and gives the criteria for false apostles according to john’s view and those were uh Antichrists, right and he says that in a plural right these antichrists and what they do is they deny Christ coming in the flesh, right? And so you could see even very early on Some of these these heresies which would later be much bigger deal for the church denying that jesus was truly a human being right and so That was that was something that they had to deal with at the time, um People saying things like christ didn’t really suffer on the cross. It was just an illusion or um Or things like that And so apparently in ethesus, uh, some of these false apostles had showed up and the ephesians had actually conducted themselves Very well, they said this this is contrary to the gospel we received from st Paul from john and we’re not going to have you um Moreover, um, you got that link with those lamps from the beginning, right? These false apostles are coming They’re spreading darkness, right? They’re spreading the darkness of error of not understanding who christ was and You know, it may not seem like it would be that big a deal immediately But all sorts of things come down the line if you deny christ truly coming in the flesh All sorts of other moral disorders can even be introduced and so it can cast a community into darkness Talking about the nickelations we will cover that later. All right I think i’ve covered everything we got there any questions about the letter to the ephesians All right, I hope that bit about the mothers wasn’t too confusing it didn’t come out properly I think To the angel of the church in smirna write this the first and the last who once died but came to life says this I know your tribulation and poverty, but you are rich I know the slander of those who claim to be jews and are not but rather are members of the assembly of satan Do not be afraid of anything that you are going to suffer Indeed the devil will throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will face an ordeal for 10 days Remain faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life Whoever has ears ought to hear what the spirit says to the churches the victor shall not be harmed by the second death So We’re now moving up kind of to the north of Ephesus right and this is going to kind of make a circle like the person who was carrying this letter on john’s behalf Was going to make a circuit around to these different churches and end up back in Ephesus and so now we’re in smirna Now smirna was a wealthy port town and these these towns on the coast were often Quite wealthy because of the trade and commerce that they were able to do Also a long tradition of worshiping the roman gods there the the First began worshiping roman gods in in 195 bc and Began the worship of the roman emperor in the 26 ad and so this was kind of a major hub for that Imperial religion right all of these this imperial religion that would build that up It’s also the home of st. Polycarp, right and st. Polycarp Uh the tradition has it and st Irenaeus writes this down that st. Polycarp was taught directly by st. John himself when he was a little boy He remembered st. John’s sermons and so he’s one of those apostolic fathers And so this this church in smirna has a very long tradition of christianity And so where jesus identifies himself as the first and the last who once died but came to life again all right So that’s another one of those callbacks to the to that first chapter So we’ve got this uh, you know Jesus is talking to them about their tribulation and their poverty that this community has really been Tested right they’ve really been stretched. They’re not sure maybe Of of what’s going on and the message that jesus gives them then is I am the first and the last who once died but came to life and so this this message is really a reassurance of Jesus’s sovereignty in this situation Right. I’m in control here. I know what i’m doing and um And I died and I came to life, right? So whatever tribulation that you’re facing it’s not going to be worse than the one that I faced while I was here on earth Um Okay, and then we’ve got this um this bit about the People who claim to be jews but are not or members of the assembly of satan. Um, you know, we got to be honest the the separation of Christianity from judaism was a very Painful kind of process in that first century and there was frankly just kind of a lot of bad blood generated on On both sides. Um So, um What might have been Happening here is um, and the the roman empire Respected antiquity right anything that was ancient anything that had an immemorial tradition According to the roman mind that was something that was worthy of respect worthy of deference, right? And so when the romans invaded the holy land They saw this ancient Religion and they wanted to try and keep things as peacefully as possible and so the jews were one of the few people who Were exempt from the imperial cult they never had to offer any sacrifices For to the roman emperors or any of the roman gods They were allowed to offer sacrifices to the one god of heaven on behalf of the roman empire, right? um Now these christians, uh, they were new right and anything that was new was immediately suspicious was immediately Treated as foreign and as as not a good thing So what some people think might have been going on is um You know while the christians were at times still participating in the synagogue worship They would have kind of been, you know, the romans couldn’t tell the difference between Different sects of jews, right? They’re not an expert in that But what might have happened is as this separation was going on and the christians were being expelled from the synagogue um Synagogue Some of the some of the the jews there might have been turning in these christians saying they are no longer A part of the jewish nation. They’ve been expelled. They’ve been excommunicated And they’re practicing a superstition, right and they should be persecuted for that and so You know, that’s that’s a possibility of what was going on there why this Community in smirna in particular would have endured such heavy persecution Do not be afraid of anything that you’re going to suffer Indeed the devil will throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will face an ordeal for 10 days So we’re looking at this This this 10 days thing. Um And and the apocalyptic literature like the book of daniel and the book of ezekiel Would would talk about things like, you know 70 years Or it’s going to happen for two weeks and a half a week, you know, and and these these aren’t like literal How exactly things are going to last it’s like It’s just kind of a symbol of a short time, right? So the prophecy that jesus is giving then isn’t necessarily that the persecution is going to last exactly 10 days but it indicates a short time and there was also a Gosh, I didn’t write this down, but it’s in that book there. There was a goddess that had Some sort of a festival that went on for 10 days there. So there might be a link there And remain faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life, okay, so they’re worried about their life And jesus is promising them that I have the true life. I have the real life that you can be given And then finally, uh, the victors shall not be harmed by the second death. And so if you look at revelation 20 and 21 Tells us what the second death is the second death is the lake of fire That’s the image that saint john uses and so whoever remains faithful to the end will not fall into the lake of fire Identify that as the fires of hell. Um, so sounds like it’s worthwhile to be a victor All right, any questions about smirna it’s not as hard to pronounce as it might look To the angel of the church in Pergamum write this the one with the sharp two-edged sword says this I know that you live where satan’s throne is and yet you hold fast to my name and have not denied your faith in me Not even in the days of antipas my faithful witness who was martyred among you where satan lives Yet I have a few things against you You have some people there who hold the to the teaching of balam Who instructed balach to put a stumbling block before the israelites to eat food sacrifice to idols and to play the harlot Likewise, you also have some people there who hold to the teaching of the nicolations Therefore repent otherwise. I will come to you quickly and wage war against them with the sword of my mouth Whoever has ears ought to hear what the spirit says to the churches to the victor I shall give some of the hidden mana And I shall also give a white amulet upon which is inscribed a new name which no one knows except the one who receives it All right, so we got a lot going on here some rather obscure references so Talks about this city of pergamum being satan’s throne, right? So that place where satan rules satan where exercises his dominion what’s going on there? Well in pergamum there was a huge number of pagan temples It was a center of pagan religion in asia and in particular a massive temple to zeus, right? Who was considered? Was considered the chief god in the greek religions And so it’s it’s not hard to couch that in language You know the church fathers teach that that idol worship wasn’t simply just You know an idol worship or worship of a false god many of them like san augustin would have taught that when you were worshiping idols you were actually worshiping demons who had deceived humanity into thinking that they were they were true gods that they were worthy of worship or actually, you know had the intention of diverting appropriate worship away from god and you know Claiming it for themselves. Um And so, uh, we can certainly see why the church fathers would would say that when they look at read this carefully and Yeah, see where satan’s throne is Now this was a major problem for the early christians, right? Because there was no such thing as separation between church and state back then right that the you know We talk about the imperial cult right this this worship of the emperors and this worship of the gods of the romans, right? That was a major thing that you had to participate in if you were conquered by the romans, right? You had to offer this appropriate worship to the roman gods and this appropriate religion or The gods would become angry. They would no longer protect you and Like who was the one who who messed this up? Who was the one who didn’t offer the incense who didn’t offer the sacrifice? so it was unpatriotic or even subversive of The order of the romans of the or whatever town you were in to not participate in kind of those minimal festivals And so that’s a problem for christians, right because they were only um would only offer worship to the one god You can imagine You know just to just to kind of place things into perspective you can imagine being at At some kind of a sporting event and we’re going to sing the national anthem, right? You can imagine, you know if you saw somebody who was You know young and clearly able to stand just sitting through that whole thing while everybody or else around them is standing You know and you’d be like what is up with that guy? You know like you don’t have to like the current president of the united states or even the trajectory that our country is on in order to stand for the national anthem, you know, it’s like the the the The symbol of the flag of of our country’s history is more than just the politicians we have it’s it’s something that you know Deserves a certain level of respect which is why catholics can certainly stand and sing the national anthem So anyway, so that just kind of gives you an image of of what the christians were dealing with there We hear about this antipas The faithful witness that might have been their bishop who was uh, who was martyred so this is a example of an early martyrdom it might have been ordinary guy, but um You know the word faithful witness, right? That he gave his life in the same way that christ did and and christ describes himself as a faithful witness in revelation one five and so You have to see this pattern again of living the way that christ lived over and over again that pattern repeating itself Of giving that witness to god All right. Now we get to something really exciting. Does anybody remember who baleam is? What Nope He was a he was a prophet but he wasn’t a hebrew prophet was he no he was um some kind of a uh A magician or a pagan prophet Uh witch doctor, I don’t know the exact word for him and so the story goes back to the book of numbers and the book of numbers is Takes place after the exodus from egypt while they’re wandering in the desert for those 40 years, right? and so The israelites are wandering in the land of moab at that time which are kind of one of the classical enemies of the of the israelites and uh balak the uh The king of the moabites He wants balem to come and offer a curse onto the israelites, right to curse them and that you know Like the way they thought about language was very very interesting back then And and baleam is actually unable to do anything but bless the israelites because he says I can only you know say what? God is giving me right? And so that’s a very interesting way that even though this guy was was a pagan That that god was still Giving him a gift of prophecy, right? Very interesting there But uh baleam, you know, even though he couldn’t help but Give blessings to the israelites. He still didn’t like them. And so he advised, uh, uh balak to have The uh, the israelite men introduced to these moabite women and um They would uh, you know Do as men and women do and then invite them to these uh, idolatrous sacrifices, right and um, and there was this there was this deep intuition, you know kind of starting from the uh the the the pentateuch the first five books of the old testament and running all the way through as a thread in the old testament between um Sexual impurity and idolatry right like the things are they’re almost the exact same Pattern right the exact same pattern. Uh, this infidelity To marriage and this infidelity To the god of heaven, right? Same pattern repeating itself over and over again Now do you guys remember when when father tony was here giving his uh, his mission back in february? Now, what did he say the difference between a covenant and a contract was? Yes We can start with a contract right like you want to have your let’s say your your bathroom redone So you’d hire a contractor to come in right and it’s just an exchange of goods and services. Okay, so You hire him you pay him money. He redos your bathroom for you And then the relationship ends at that point and maybe you could pick it up again later Maybe he does good work, but there’s no more of a connection between the two of you, right? Now a covenant is different a covenant is kind of joining different peoples together for a life long relationship for a life long Agreements right and so we would you know, we could talk about marriage as a contract, but that’s not really correct, right? No, it’s a it’s a covenant right and when you are married that you pledge your lives to each other, right? And so covenants were kind of all over the ancient world It was a very easily understood thing people certainly did it when they were married But also, you know kings would enter into covenants with each other And there was rituals the way we do it now on might mount sinai Um The people had entered into a covenant with god and they had offered the kind of appropriate sacrifices to enter into a covenant with god and you know The terms of the covenant were laid out that you will worship me alone and you will not go after any other false gods, right? And then they go and they Offer sacrifices to the Moabite gods, right? They’re violating the covenant just in the same way that they would violate their marriage covenants with the moabite woman It’s the same exact pattern that you’re tempted away from those promises that you’ve made to another person And you are unfaithful to those promises breaking that relationship not being faithful and so um Yeah, yeah that pattern it’s the exact same kind of pattern that infidelity to your spouse that infidelity to god That’s how it works out. That’s what it’s like It’s the same thing only worse Now what was exactly going on here, how were they doing that? So there’s this idea of eating food sacrifice to idols, right? and so the interesting thing about the the ancient world is that Temples weren’t just temples. They were also kind of meat markets. It was where you would go to get meat And what people would do was they would bring in An offering and the offering would be partially consumed by the priests would be partially burnt up And then part of it could be eaten and participated in By the people who were offering that sacrifice, right? And so there’s always this notion that if you were going to offer up a sacrifice that you needed to have your Participation in it as well. Otherwise the sacrifice wasn’t necessarily completed and so obviously Going into one of these temples and eating the meat of the sacrifice Would be the same as offering up that sacrifice yourself, right? and so christians had to had to avoid this Participation and a very common thing that all of their pagan neighbors would have been involved with Eating these meats that had been sacrificed to idols Now there’s another there’s another issue that st. Paul brings up of It’s in the letter to the corinthians of of kind of the next day If that meat is left over, it’s not actually a part of the religious ritual Can we eat that and he says yes, as long as you’re not Leading other people into sin, right? So that’s that’s very much a theme of first corinthians The nickelations, oh and then Eating the food sacrifice to idols and playing the harlot which is Kind of a euphemism for for any kind of sexual immorality and the romans You know christians to this day we have like the highest Standards for sexual morality out of basically anybody in the world One of the revolutions was of christianity of st. Paul was holding men and women to the same standard, right? That was a revolutionary idea in the ancient world men and women were treated different standards because you know Men wanted to know that they were the the father of whatever child there was Well, they didn’t hold themselves to that same standard And so whoever these people were these nickelations They Were fuzzy at least on the boundaries of eating food sacrifice to idols and these Sexual immorality and which is the same pattern right the same sort of infidelity, right? Infidelity to your spouse infidelity to the god of heaven and so They are being told to repent and otherwise I will come to you quickly and wage war with against them with the sword of my mouth right and so this In that inaugural vision, uh, there’s the sword coming out of christ’s mouth, right? Which is the word but it’s not just a word that’ll be um Ineffective, but it’s a word of judgment right a word that can that can destroy you if you’re if you’re not going to be careful of it But whoever has to the victor gets pretty great things I shall give some of the hidden mana I shall also give a white amulet upon which is inscribed a new name Which no one knows except the one who receives it All right. So what’s going on there? Well, you guys remember what the mana is, right? Or that’s the food that was given from heaven to the israelites in the desert, right? Sustained them in a holy miraculous and supernatural way now when we’re Talking about the theology of john Jesus identifies himself As the bread of life, right? I am the bread of life. Whoever eats of me will not hunger whoever drinks of me shall not thirst And again, we’re looking at this liturgical context of the book of revelation, right? And so this hidden mana Is the eucharist, right? Whoever holds out I will give the eucharist jesus himself And of course when i’m on the altar when i’m saying mass You know the bread doesn’t become a piece of human flesh in my hands, right? The substance of jesus’s body and blood are hidden under the sacramental signs That we are using under the appearances of bread and wine So it’s still hidden there. It’s hidden underneath those sacramental signs um Christ himself is hidden All right now we’re looking at this white amulet and this is another interesting thing about the new american bible as far as I can Tell it’s the only major translation that translates this bit as white amulet every other Translation gave us white stone, right? So maybe some of your bibles say that um And so these white stones Would be used by a jury to indicate an acquittal and kind of back in ancient greece juries were huge, right? They would have juries of maybe 199 299 people hearing a particular case the idea being that you couldn’t bribe that many people In order to get a favorable outcome, right? So that was an interesting theory And then if you thought this person was innocent you would place this white stone Into into the jar and that was how they would tabulate it was also would be used for An invitation to a sacred assembly, right? And there was a lot of mystery cults a lot of esoteric Cults back in those days where it was kind of an invitation only it wasn’t a Public thing it was a private thing. And so If you had maybe the right white stone, you would be able to be let in And so this this white stone then kind of has this this double signification of symbolizing innocence that you have in rejecting these false teachings and then also Gaining you admittance to the heavenly liturgy, right? The wedding feast of the lamb Which is going to be a major major scene that we’re going to see going forward and then finally Got this idea of the new name that you receive So You know the name really is the identity of a thing and a lot of ancient languages a lot of ancient languages really kind of had that That sense of the names And identity is going to better a lot more strongly than we do in our in our modern era, right? so You know that’s really receiving that identity from god as his child And and knowing that uniquely in your own heart versus it being something that everyone can see To the angel of the church of thayatira Write this the son of god whose eyes are like fiery flame and whose feats are like polished brass says this I know your works your love faith service and endurance and that your last works are greater than the first Yet I hold this against you that you tolerate the woman jezebel who calls herself a prophetess Who teaches and misleads my servants to play the harlot and to eat food sacrifice to idols? I have given her time to repent but she refuses to repent of her harlotry So I will cast her on a sickbed and plunge those who commit adultery with her into intense suffering Unless they repent of her works. I will also put her children to death Thus shall all the churches come to know that I am the searcher of hearts and minds And that I will give to each of you what your works deserve But I say to the rest of you in thayatira who do not know the truth But I say to the rest of you in thayatira who do not uphold this teaching and know nothing of the so-called deep secrets of satan On you I will place no further burden except that you hold fast to what you have until I come To the victor who keeps my ways until the end. I will give authority over the nations He will rule them with an iron rod like clay vessels They will be smashed just as I received authority from my father and to him I will give the morning star Whoever he has ears ought to hear what the spirit says to the churches so thayatira Was a small manufacturing city And it had temples to apollo and apollo was the sun god, right? So the god of light and Christ here is Is Presented as the son of god. Oh and and apollo was also the son of zeus So christ here is presented as the son of god whose eyes are like a fiery flame, right? He was who’s the true Claim it to the throne that apollo was a pretender to And apparently the thayatirans are okay, their works are pretty good but they Tolerate this jezebel in their midst. Does anybody remember jezebel? Right, she was the wicked queen of israel the wife of king ahab and her Her major sin at that time was promoting this idol worship, right? Promoting these false gods in the midst of israel from the royal palace, right? Somebody who had authority somebody who had a will and could carry it out promoting this evil And so this uh this Jezebel, so obviously this is a symbolic name Styles herself a prophetess somebody who has a word of god, but does not actually have that Does not actually have that word of god is is leading people away from true worship So given time to repent she’s been warned either by saint john or by another Uh another authority, uh that it’s not going good and It’s It’s too late She has refused to repent This idea of those who commit adultery with her probably is it meant to be taken literally likely means that those who Share in her false teachings and who promote? What’s going on here? and then her children would be anybody who learns these things from these people and are um Are are brought into error through that? And obviously there’s going to be some uh punishment Maybe even eternal punishment Now when john is referencing these deep secrets of satan That could mean two things it could be that she was actually also a sorcerer and engaged in those sorts of things Or he could just be indicating that the teaching she has actually comes from the bowels of hell and not from the god of heaven Um So um This church is generally in good shape, but there’s this one group that just is not doing right and is being warned here now um This reference to uh ruling with an iron rod. That’s from one of the major of the psalms. That’s a prophecy of christ God talking to my son. It is I who have begotten you this day ask and I will bequeath you the nations You will rule them with an iron rod um and then um The interesting thing Is that we are also given that authority over the nations that we are also ruling with that iron rod, right? And so the church’s teaching is that we’ve got those three offices from our baptism priest prophet and king and so You know as a christian You have been given your life and you’ve been given Responsibility for your life in order to to bring everything kind of in your sphere of influence into the kingdom of god and you’re you’ve been given authority over that and So so the idea is is that everything in your life that you bring into the kingdom of god that you point that to god But um Yeah, and so so kind of the image here is also The judges appointed by moses he was being overburdened by judging the people and so his father-in-law jethro Advises him to appoint judges over the smaller groups over thousands over hundreds over 50s and over tens to handle the smaller cases And the more important things they reference to you So this idea of of participating in the higher authority That’s kind of what we do. Um And so it’s clear to me how this works out on earth that we’ve been given this responsibility of our own lives over those around us But somehow it continues into the resurrection and I don’t know what that looks like And I don’t think any of us really can imagine what the resurrection is going to be like this new heavens and this new earth So anyway Mysteries for another time Right and then um Jesus also promises them the morning star, right? So the morning star the planet venus It’s the first star that comes out at night. It’s the last one to fade in the day And it’s the brightest star at night that’s traditionally been used by christians as a symbol of the resurrection The Angel in the church of sardis write this the one who has the seven stars of seven spirits of god and the seven stars says this I know your works that you have the reputation of being alive, but that you are dead Be watchful and strengthen what is left which is going to die for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my god Remember then how you accepted and heard keep it and repent If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you However, you have a few people in sardis who have not soiled their garments They will walk with me dressed in white because they are worthy The victor will be thus dressed in white and I will never erase his name from the book of life But will acknowledge his name in the presence of my father and of his angels Whoever has ears ought to hear what the spirit says To the churches and so the judgment is, you know Internally everything’s a mess even though externally things seem to be fine and um, you know, you can look at Things that are actually kind of corrupt things that are actually kind of weak They can often Look fine and then collapse remarkably quickly, right? And so um In 2019 we would have all said that our supply chains in this country worked pretty well, right? Because you would order whatever it is you wanted to order on amazon and then it would show up two days later one day later You know, it was all just moving right along That everything you wanted you could just get so the supply chains Looked robust if you weren’t looking closely the supply chains in our country looked strong And then all of a sudden this global pandemic comes up they were very fragile systems and now you can hardly get anything You know these talking about these massive lumber shortages these semiconductor shortages all different sorts of things that are short now You know trucks and cars you can’t get them anymore It looked fine in 2019 Nobody would have thought that it would have collapsed that quickly, but it was a fragile system. It was not a resilient system You know, um the 1980s the soviet union looked as powerful as it ever did But it in a couple of years, it just completely buckled and fell apart, you know, and then um The 1950s church attendance was at an all-time high, you know, everybody was going to church, right? Things never looked better. Um And and it all just kind of collapsed very quickly So there was something something kind of corrupt and rotten underneath that that wasn’t actually strong but it had that appearance of being strong Now how did they get there? Well, I have not found your works complete, right? So there’s no such thing as just being Partially obedient to god, right? Just like there’s no such thing as being partially married to your wife It’s like you got to be all in or it’s not going to work out Right and and that that kind of holding something back hesitating Not being upfront sincere any of that that’s going to um, that’s going to manifest itself, right? The thing is going to fall apart things aren’t going to be as good as they could be And so you gotta you gotta be all in you gotta you gotta want it and and and put that effort in daily Not just half efforts And so they’re given time to repent but There’s this idea that comes straight from the words of christ himself that he comes like a thief, right? He’s not going to give you a warning. He doesn’t want you to know that he’s on his way, but he’s just going to show up For those who who think that everything’s going well and then it’s not Okay, so they’ve got a few people in sardis who have not soiled their garments, right? So the soiled garments that being an image of sin Now Again, we we we go back to this liturgical context and it comes up over and over again, right? And so you guys have all been to baptisms, right? After the baptism we put on a white garment, right now here at st. John’s We just kind of put on this white stole but it used to be you know that you would Put on a whole white outfit and many times, you know when i’m doing baptisms You’ll see the parents have already put a white outfit on the child. It’s like okay We’re kind of missing the sacramental symbolism here, but I guess it’s a nice enough nice enough tradition. We’re not going to complain about it too much When else do you wear white? Weddings, right and we are the bride of christ, right? Okay, so that’s again with this this covenant symbolism with the symbolism of the marriage it comes up over and over again You soil that garment via sin um, if you come back to Book of the prophet zechariah chapter two or chapter three Then the angel showed me joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the lord While satan stood at his right hand to accuse him and the angel of the lord said to satan may the lord rebuke you satan Is not this man a brand snatched from the fire now joshua was standing before the angel clad in filthy garments He spoke and said to those who were standing before him take off these filthy garments and put him in festal garments He also said put a clean miter on his head and they put a clean miter on his head and closed him with the garments then the angel of the lord standing said see I have taken away your guilt and so Repentance is possible right repentance is possible that christ can bring us back to himself Can wash us clean of our sins if we will heed? His word There’s also um in roman triumphs People so triumph if a general won a great victory, then they would put on a triumphal procession, right? Um, and the the clothes you would wear there would be these white garments And so in addition to this kind of wedding symbolism, we’ve also got this victory of christ working its way in there All right, I think we got two more churches to get through to The angel of the church in philadelphia in turkey not pennsylvania Write this the holy one the true who holds the key of david who opens and no one shall close who closes and no One shall open says this I know your works behold. I have left open a door before you which no one can close You have limited strength and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name Behold I make those of the assembly of satan who claim to be jews and are not but are lying Behold I make them to come and fall prostrate at your feet and they will realize that I love you Because you have kept my message of endurance I will keep you safe in the time of trial that is going to come to the whole world To test the inhabitants of the earth. I am coming quickly hold fast to what you have so that no one may take your crown To the victor I will make into a pillar in the temple of my god And he will never leave it again on him I will inscribe the name of my god in the name of the city of my god The new Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from my god as well as my new name Whoever has ears ought to hear what the spirit says to the churches so we again have this theme of this conflict between the the jews and the The uh the christians, uh, this this painful separation Holy one is old testament Title for god the holy one of israel and so once again identifying christ with god Christ holds the keys and opens the door to the kingdom of god Now this idea of of them coming and falling prostrate at your feet is a reference to isaiah chapter 60 isaiah chapter 60 verse 14 The children of your oppressors shall come bowing low before you all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at your feet They shall call you the city of the lord zion of the holy one of israel and so Saint john is making a very pointed point here that’s um That the christians are the true inheritors of these promises made to the kingdom of israel all throughout the old testament Um And this new nation is being made up of both gentile and jews all those who have uh have faith in christ Now we’ve got this question about uh this time of trial that Saint john is predicting it’s possible that this was the uh, the the persecution of uh at the emperor domitian between the eight years of 81 and 96 ad and um You know this idea of endurance and crowns. Um now philadelphia was famous for athletic games um and so This training that they have gone through Uh will strengthen them this training of the small persecutions will strengthen them through This persecution that they are are soon to endure the um The reward being a pillar in the temple of god, right? So a pillar in the temple of god first off. It’s never to leave says that always get to stay in god’s temple and then it also holds the temple up right that you guys are such a An example you guys have witnessed to christ so effectively that your faith will hold the church up in itself, right that your faith is uh, it is Strengthening the other churches i’m trying to be mindful of time here. So let’s wrap this up To the angel of the church of laudacia write this the amen a faithful and true witness The source of god’s creation says this I know your works. I know that you are neither hot nor cold I wish you were either hot or cold So because you are lukewarm neither hot nor cold. I will spit you out of my mouth For you say I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything And yet you do not realize that you are wretched pitiable poor blind and naked I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich And white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed and by ointment to smear on your eyes So that you may see Those whom I love I reprove and chastise be earnest therefore and repent Behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door Then I will enter his house and dine with him and he with me I will give the victor the right to sit on me with my throne on my throne As I myself have won the victory and sit on with my father on his throne Whoever has ears ought to hear what the spirit says to the churches so Laodicea was rich and powerful. It was near the city of Colossae. Do you guys know where else in the new testament the city of Colossae comes up? The letter to the Colossians right And so it’s very it’s very closely associated and If memory serves me correctly st. Paul actually instructed That the Colossians share the letter with the Laodiceans, right? Jesus Jesus identifies himself as the amen the faithful in Isaiah chapter 65 verse 16 the god of amen is That’s a title used for god and the word is variously translated amen true and faithful all those ideas kind of go together So we’re talking about Christ as the source of god’s creation and this connection with the letter to the Colossians if you turn to Colossians 1 18 He is the head of the body the church he is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he himself Might be preeminent for in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell And through him to reconcile all things for him making peace by the blood of his cross Uh, no, I think I might 16 For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth Yeah 16 not 18, uh whether thrones or dominions or principalities or power all things were created through him and for him and so Did st. John actually read st. Paul’s letter to the Colossians? It seems like a very Seems like a very uh interesting overlap there Now we’re talking about this lukewarmness and that’s a very it’s a very famous image in The the book of revelation now nearby cities Hierapolis and colossi were famous for hot springs in hierapolis and cold springs in colossi And and laudica in the middle of them is neither hot nor cold it doesn’t have Any of those you know extremes it doesn’t have that purity right doesn’t have that purity of being one way or the other of being All in or all out it’s mixed. It’s half-hearted. It’s not all the way there and um, you know, uh I will spit you out of my mouth. A lot of times you also see this As I will vomit you out of my mouth. It’s it’s the same kind of idea the same kind of word and so Uh, this this this half-heartedness this lukewarmness is disgusting to christ. It makes him sick And so their wealth their affluence Distracted them it distracted them from christ. They were no longer being wholehearted about it And christ advises them to buy gold garments and ointment well Um, the city of laudica was known for its wealth Its textiles and its eye medicine, right? And so it was precisely these things that they were proud of in the world that was They needed to to to stop relying on they needed to to separate themselves from and get the true things from christ, right? And and ointment for the eyes especially right? Like that’s a potent image there that they can’t see what’s going on. They can’t see how you know, uh, Perilous their state is that they’re not giving the appropriate attention to god They’re not giving the appropriate worship to god and and there’s a deep connection between Attention and worship right? Worship is is basically coming together as a community and trying to pay as much attention to god as we could possibly manage You know, that’s why all the pews face towards the altar, right? We’re going to be paying attention to what’s going on here. That’s why we you know When you when you hear a loud distraction or something going on, it’s like kind of ruins it, you know And you can you know, somebody passes out somebody drops something Um can really really just make that The good news is is that those whom god’s loves he chastises, you know To try and get your attention back to where it needs to go to be and oftentimes We won’t turn to god until we’re in pain until we’re missing something And then um, and finally this beautiful image of the invitation to open the door Uh that christ, you know, he doesn’t barge in but you’ve seen that famous painting, right christ the light coming to the door There’s no doorknob on the outside. You got to let him in So that’s the letter to the churches. Thank you for your time