Revelation
The Lamb of God: On His Throne And Among His People
The Church at Thyatira: Misunderstanding God's Grace
Revelation 2:18-19

• Read Revelation 2:18-29 and answer the following questions:
  • What did you learn about the city of Thyatira in the message or from your personal study? What questions do you have about the text?
  • Why do you think Jesus took so much time with this church that was in a seemingly insignificant city
  • Compare Revelation 2:28 with Revelation 22:16. What comes to your mind?

• Dennis Johnson said, “Materialism, no less than persecution, is the serpent’s weapon of war against Christ’s church.” What did he mean and why is true (or not true)? Have you faced economic pressure/temptation to deny the truth of Scripture (and thus deny Christ) in your decisions and business practices? How can we help one another with economically driven temptations?

• Take time to discuss the points of application from the sermon and pray about each of these challenges. Pray for your missionary, as well. Would someone commit to writing, calling, emailing your missionary to tell him/her that the group prayed for them in this way?
  1. Ask God for the courage to maintain doctrinal integrity and moral purity within the church
  2. Ask God for the courage to stand for truth in the public square and in the business world, no matter the social, economic, or personal consequences
  3. Ask God for a heart that seeks after Jesus

• If you have time (and interest), read Psalm 2 (the text is printed below). The Anointed one of verse 2 is the Messiah (Jesus, of course), and while the Israelites would have understood the Son (in verse 12) to be the nation of Israel – God’s chosen nation – we know that the Son is ultimately pointing to King Jesus. Kiss the Son, indeed, lest he be angry. Blessed are all those who take refuge in Him!

Extra Notes

Go to our website to read (or hear) the introduction to the sermon where the cultural practices involving pagan worship and sexual immorality are explained. The people in the church that had compromised biblical standards to conform to the culture’s practices were the target of Jesus’ words.

From Dennis Johnson: How convenient, in a city dominated by trade guilds, for a prophetess to reveal the “deep secret” that Christians need not suffer loss by refraining from the guilds’ immoral and idolatrous celebrations! The harlot (Revelation 17-18) offers the profits of participating in the economy that flows from Rome. Her siren song sounds sweet, but in her chalice is the blood of Jesus’ witnesses (17:6). Materialism, no less than persecution, is the serpent’s weapon of war against Christ’s church.

Psalm 2:1 Why do the nations rage

    and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves,

    and the rulers take counsel together,

    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,

3 “Let us burst their bonds apart

    and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;

    the Lord holds them in derision.

5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

    and terrify them in his fury, saying,

6 “As for me, I have set my King

    on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 I will tell of the decree:

The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;

    today I have begotten you.

8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

    and the ends of the earth your possession.

9 You shall break them with a rod of iron

    and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;

    be warned, O rulers of the earth.

11 Serve the Lord with fear,

    and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son,

    lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,

    for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Revelation 22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Application from the Sermon

1. Ask God for the courage to maintain doctrinal integrity and moral purity within the church
2. Ask God for the courage to stand for truth in the public square and in the business world, no matter the social, economic, or personal consequences
3. Ask God for a heart that seeks after Jesus

How should believers live in a world that increasingly resembles the first-century Roman Empire? Read 1 Peter. All of it.

Scotty Smith: Holiness is our radical commitment to live out the implications of what it means to be the tenderly loved bride of Jesus. We are to live for the pleasure and praise of Jesus, not that He might accept us, but because we are thankful that He already has – fully and eternally! Any other motivation turns our obedience into legalism and self-righteousness. We are to demonstrate to the watching world what it means to be captured by the love of Jesus. As a betrothed bride, let us keep ourselves pure and holy for our true love.