When It’s Hard to Say No

Studies in the Book of Revelation

Dr. Jim Denison

Revelation 2:12-17

Jesus’ letters are addressed in a circular route. From Smyrna, the road north followed the coastline some 40 miles before turning in a northeastern direction up the valley of the Caicus River. About 10 miles from the Aegean Sea stood the city of Pergamum.

Pliny, the Roman governor of the area, said Pergamum was “by far the most distinguished city in Asia” (Historia naturalis 5.30). For more than 300 years she was the capitol city for the entire region.

Built on a cone-shaped hill a thousand feet in elevation, Pergamum dominated the valley below. From this height the inhabitants of the city could see the Mediterranean Sea 15 miles away. “Pergamum” in Greek means “citadel,” an appropriate description of the city.

Her history began 400 years before Christ, and was a story of constant warfare. Attalus III (ca. 170-133) bequeathed his entire empire to Rome, so that Asia Minor became a Roman province with Pergamum as its capitol. The city retained this status until AD 130.

Pergamum was Rome’s capitol in the region; it was Satan’s as well: “I know where you live–where Satan has his throne” (v. 13). His temptations were three in number.

First: cultural possessions. Pergamum had an outstanding school of art; and was best known for its library, second in size only to the famed library at Alexandria, Egypt, with some 200,000 volumes.

Parchment (animal skin used as writing material) was invented in Pergamum, in conjunction with its library. And when scholars in Pergamum found their parchments difficult to store as scrolls, they invented the “codex,” or book, to bind them together. The stadium of the city is well preserved and stunning as well. And sculpture was highly developed in Pergamum and famous for its quality.

This cultural prosperity may explain why the cult of the Nicolaitans thrived in Pergamum. The sophistication of the society made this heresy very attractive and persuasive.

Second: religious performance. Gigantic altars to the pagan gods stood at every corner. The most famous was the altar to Zeus. Forty feet high, it rested like a throne 800 feet up Pergamum’s canonical hill. All day long it smoked with sacrifices offered to Zeus. Carved around its base was one of the greatest sculptures of the ancient world, a frieze of the Battle of the Giants which proclaimed the victory of the Greek gods over the barbarian giants. These ruins are still visible to visitors today.

The shrine to Athena was important as well. This is the first site a visitor to Pergamum sees today. A third shrine was dedicated to Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing. Sufferers from around the world flocked to it. As a result, medical wards, schools, and priests made their headquarters in Pergamum. Galen, second only to Hippocrates in ancient medical significance, was born in Pergamum and made its medical practice even more famous.

As we will see, there are very clear parallels between the pagan worship of the city and the Balaamite heresy so prevalent in the church.

Third: political power. This was the official center in Asia Minor for the imperial cult. In 29 BC Emperor Augustus gave permission for a temple to be erected in Pergamum to “the divine Augustus and the goddess Roma” (Tacitus, Annals 3.37). This was the first temple in all of Asia built to the worship of a living ruler. Soon the people added a second and third temple as well.

The ruins of the temple of Trajan are still visible today, a reminder of the idolatry of the city and its constant pressure on the Christian church.

Faithful but flawed

As his letter to the Pergamum Christians begins, Jesus speaks a word of hearty commendation: “you remain true to my name” (v. 13). The Greek says, “You are holding onto my name”–“holding” means to grasp tightly onto a treasured possession. Jesus’ “name” denotes his character or person. These Christians are honoring the third commandment in a city which breaks it daily.

Then Jesus describes their courage in another way: “You did not deny my faith.” They have held his name by refusing to deny their faith. And this refusal has come at great cost: “even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city–where Satan lives.”

Antipas is the only person named specifically in any of Jesus’ seven letters to his churches. His name means “against all,” a reputation he fulfilled to the death. He refused to bow the knee to Caesar or proclaim him lord, and paid the price of faithfulness with his life. Every Christian in Pergamum could expect the same consequences for keeping the faith.

Satan cannot defeat the church by a frontal assault, so he attempts an insidious strategy: idolatry, then heresy. First he uses idolatry: “You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality” (v. 14).

Here’s the story in brief. Balak, the king of Moab, tried to entice Balaam the Hebrew prophet to curse Israel, but Balaam refused. However, he did even worse. He arranged a plan whereby the daughters of the Moabites seduced the men of Israel. Then these men led the Israelites to sacrifice to the pagan god of Moab and worship him (Numbers 22-25). From then to now, Balaam stands for the deception of idolatry.

And so Satan attempts a successful, strong church in the same way, enticing us to worship things or people other than God.

Second, Satan employs heresy: “Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans” (v. 15). We met this heretical group in Ephesus. Apparently they practiced a kind of Gnosticism, an early heresy which taught in part that physical actions do not bear on our spiritual lives.

In the letter to Ephesus we learned that Jesus “hates” this heresy. Unfortunately, the Christians in Pergamum did not.

A pivotal choice

Now these Christians are confronted with a monumental decision: “Repent, therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth” (v. 16). Jesus began his letter to Pergamum with the same image: “These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword” (v. 12).

This is the same sword which came “out of his mouth” in his earlier vision to John (1.16). This is an image for the word of God which is “sharper than any two-edged sword’ and “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4.12). With the sharp sword of his mouth, Jesus will conquer all nations (Revelation 19.15) and will cleanse his church in Satan’s capitol.

Those who repent and return to Jesus will have the “hidden manna” (v. 17a). The Jews believed that when the Messiah comes, he will bring with him more of the wilderness manna first given to Israel in the days of Moses. Here Jesus promises to replace the food they’ve sacrificed to idols with the feast of the Messiah.

And they will also receive “a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it” (v. 17b). This probably refers to the tessera, invitation stones on which were engraved the names of people invited to special feats and functions.

Jesus promises that his people, restored to doctrinal purity, will have a new name. This promise fulfills the prediction of old: “You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow” (Isaiah 62.2).

We will suffer for our faith. But Jesus promises that the results of our faithfulness will always be worth their price.

The church at Pergamum illustrates the fact that idolatry is a constant temptation for believers. We learn here also that heresy is a perennial enemy of the faith. And we discover that God rewards faithfulness beyond all that it costs.

When Life Makes No Sense

Studies in the Book of Revelation

Dr. Jim Denison

Revelation 2:1-7

Ephesus was the greatest city in Asia Minor and was often called Lumen Asiae, “the light of Asia.” It was the wealthiest city in Asia Minor and had the greatest harbor in that part of the world. Three lucrative trade routes led to her shores, bringing wealth from across the Empire. And so she grew to a population of a quarter-million people, a giant metropolis for her day. Her ruins are spectacular still today.

Ephesus was the most religious city in Asia as well. Her money had built the greatest temples and shrines in the ancient world. Her chief claim to fame was the Temple of Diana. It had the following characteristics:

425 feet long by 225 feet wide.

127 columns, each 60 feet high and the gift of a king.

36 of the columns were covered with gold, jewels, and carvings.

The entire temple was made of cypress wood.

The Greeks said, “The sun sees nothing finer in his course than Diana’s Temple.”

Emperor worship was very significant in the city as well, with shrines to the emperors on every major street. Greek mystery cults had followers here as well, and the Jewish contingent was strong.

Visiting the Ephesian church

By popular consent, the Ephesian church was the most accomplished Christian congregation in the world.

The church was probably founded jointly by Aquila and Priscilla; they were later joined by Paul, who preached there for more than 2 years (Acts 18.18-19; 19.1-10). Timothy succeeded Paul here, as did Apollos. John the Beloved Disciple pastored in Ephesus as well; tradition says that Mary lived and died in the city also. Church councils would be held here in later centuries, bringing Christians from across the world.

In our letter, Jesus commends the church with wonderful praise. First, he commends their actions (v. 2):

He knows their “deeds” (ergon, activities).

And their “hard works” (kopos, to toil or work hard).

He notes their perseverence. The word is hupomone, which means to endure with steadfast courage despite all opposition. Jesus commends them: “I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary” (v. 3).

He commends their integrity: “how you cannot bear evil men but have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not, and found them to be false” (v. 2).

Later he repeats his approval: “this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (v. 6). Nicolaitans are mentioned only here and in 2.15: “You also have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”

Irenaeus attributed the movement to Nicolas, one of the Seven (Acts 6.5) and said, “They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence” (Against Heresies 1.26.3). Clement of Alexandria described them as “abandoning themselves to pleasure like goats, as if insulting the body, lead a life of self-indulgence…while their soul is buried in the mire of vice” (Miscellanies 2.20).

Victorinus of Pettau, the first commentator on Revelation, refers to them as “false and troublesome men, who, as ministers under the name of nicolaus, had made for themselves a heresy, to the effect that what had been offered to idols might be exorcized and eaten, and that whatever should have committed fornication might receive peace on the eighth day” (Commentary on the Apocalypse 2.6).

Perhaps the reason more is not known about them is that their sect lasted for only “a very short time,” according to Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History 3.29).They were obviously a doctrinal threat to the church, for Jesus says that he “hates” them (2.6). And the Ephesian Christians agree.

So we begin our tour of the seven churches with the most attractive one of all. Their actions, courage, and doctrine are above reproach. They appear successful in every way. But appearances are usually deceptive.

Solving the Ephesian problem

Their problem is simple, and disastrous: “I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love” (v. 4). “First” means “first in time.” The person a Christian loves first in coming to faith in Jesus himself. Put simply, the Ephesian Christians have forgotten Jesus. In doing the work of the church, they have forsaken the Lord of the church.

They have lost their sense of purpose, their direction in life. They are so busy doing, they have forgotten being. Their lives and faith makes no sense, as they are consumed in the busyness of “success.”

Now they must return to him, or he will “remove your lampstand from its place” (v. 5). The lampstand symbolizes their church (1.20). As the “light of the world” (Matthew 5.14), their church exists to shine the candle of God’s love into a very dark world. But this lampstand is in Jesus’ hand, and it is about to go out. They are perilously close to losing their church. They must “Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first” (v. 5).

We must “remember” the time when we loved Jesus first and most of all and “repent,” change our minds and lives about our priorities now. Then we must “do the works we did at first,” acting ourselves into a new way of feeling about the Lord Jesus.

Do not assume that you can make this decision later. Today Ephesus is no more, their church gone, their city in ruins. The Temple of Diana is a metaphor for her greatness and fall: the once magnificent temple today has only one column standing amidst the ruins.

So it is with any church or Christian who forsakes Jesus. But you and I have this day to return to him. Does your life make sense? Would Jesus say that he is your first love, your first priority? What practical step does he intend you to take, today?

When You’re Afraid of Tomorrow

Studies in the Book of Revelation

Dr. Jim Denison

Revelation 2:8-11

In this study, we visit Smyrna, the second of the seven churches of Revelation and location of the modern-day city of Izmir. “Smyrna” is translated elsewhere in the New Testament as “myrrh.” Myrrh was a gum resin used to make perfume, oil, and embalming fluid. It was extremely bitter. This city was so named because myrrh was one of the products often traded through its port.

For Christians living in ancient Smyrna, “myrrh” or bitterness was not just a name but a reality. Consider the following five stark areas of contrast between the city and her Christian population.

First, her beauty. Smyrna was a thriving metropolis located 35 miles north of Ephesus. She was a resurrected city–destroyed around 580 B.C. by Alyattes, king of Lydia, the city lay in ruins for 300 years before being rebuilt personally by Alexander the Great as a model city and center for his cultural movement.

Her population of 200,000 made her the second-largest city in Asia Minor. While Ephesus claimed to be the “Light of Asia,” Smyrna was known as the “Glory of Asia.” She owned a famous stadium and library, and boasted the largest public theater in Asia. The city also claimed to be the birthplace of Homer, with a famous monument dedicated to the poet.

In contrast, the Christians living in Smyrna struggled for survival and lived in the most basic simplicity. They experienced none of her beauty and grandeur.

Second, her wealth. The city lay on the eastern shore of the Aegean Sea and boasted an excellent harbor. The road leading east from Smyrna extended to the rich valley of the Hermus River, making the city a major export center in the ancient world. While impoverished Christians struggled to support their families and earn the barest of essentials, the rest of their city lived in remarkable wealth and opulence.

Third, her heathen worship. The most famous road in Smyrna was called the “Golden Street.” At one end of it stood the Temple of Cybele, and along its way there were temples to Apollo, Asklepios, and Aphrodite. Inland, where the Golden Street ran into the foothills, stood the Temple of Zeus.

Smyrna was also famous for her devotion to emperor worship. She was the first city in the world to erect a temple to Dea Roma, the goddess Rome, in 196 B.C. (Tacitus, Annals 4.56). In AD 26 the city competed with eleven other Asian cities for the opportunity to erect a temple to Tiberius, the reigning emperor, and won.

In contrast, the Christians of this city met in humble, obscure places of worship, in the midst of some of the most stunning temples and religious shrines in the Roman world.

Fourth, her pride. Smyrna was known as the proudest city in Asia Minor. She claimed to be the first in beauty, first in Caesar worship, and the birthplace of Homer. She was the center of all that was glorious and great. And so her people looked in utter contempt on the poor and humble Christians in their mist.

Choose Caesar or Christ

Smyrna had always been a center of great political influence. In the numerous civil wars of preceding centuries she had consistently chosen the winning side, and the winners were grateful. Her emperor worship and political connections made Smyrna a place of great political prestige and influence. The government which crucified Jesus would do no less to his followers here who commanded little respect from their pagan neighbors.

In Smyrna, the worship of Caesar as Lord was mandatory and enforced. When such worship was offered annually, a certificate was given to the worshiper. Failure to possess this certificate was punishable by death. We have an actual request for such a certificate, found among the artifacts of the Empire:

To those who have been appointed to preside over the sacrifices, from Inareas Akeus, from the village of Theoxenis, together with his children Aias and Hera, who reside in the village of theadelphia. We have always sacrificed to the gods, and now, in your presence, according to the regulations, we have sacrificed and offered libations, and tasted the sacred things, and we ask you to give us a certification that we have done so. May you fare well.

Accompanying the request was an official certificate which read: We the representatives of the Emperor, Serenos and Hermas, have seen you sacrificing. Then the date follows (Barclay, Letters to the Seven Chuches, 29).

Those who refused to burn incense to Caesar and proclaim him as Lord were subject to charges of treason and paganism, and often put to death in Smyrna. Believers here risked their lives daily to follow Christ.

And the Jewish population in the city only made things worse for the Christian church. The Empire had long since given up coercing the Jewish people into their emperor worship. And so they granted them an exemption from this idolatrous practice. So long as they saw Christianity as a Jewish sect, they exempted Christians from emperor worship as well. But the Jewish leaders in Smyrna soon made clear their own rejection of the Christian faith.

And so Jesus says, “I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” (v. 9). The Christians faced persecution from their Roman rulers and their Jewish neighbors as well. Things were “bitter” indeed in Smyrna for the followers of Jesus.

Why serve Jesus?

Jesus offers his suffering saints several reasons why they should choose to follow him and not Caesar, even in the face of a very uncertain future.

First: he knows our problems and has conquered them. In verse 8 he claims: “These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.” Jesus calls himself “the first and the last,” identifying himself with God the Father, who called himself by essentially the same name earlier (1.8). In Isaiah 44.6 the Lord says, “I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.” Now Jesus claims this same sovereignty for himself. And he makes clear the fact that he “died and came to life again.” He has already defeated our greatest enemy, so we have nothing to fear when we follow him.

Second, he knows our pain and shares it personally. He knows our “affliction.” This word translates thlipsis, meaning “pressure,” a terrible burden which presses down and grinds us up. The Greeks used this word for the stone that grinds wheat into powdery flour, or presses grapes into wine. Jesus knows the burden we are bearing today.

He knows our “poverty” as well. This is the word ptocheia, which means the person who has nothing at all (contrasted with penia, meaning someone who has nothing to spare). Early Christians were typically poor (cf. 1 Corinthians 1.26-27; 2 Corinthians 6.10; James 2.5), and often suffered the confiscation of their goods and property (Hebrews 10.34). But in Smyrna, Christians lost everything. Jesus knows our financial needs, whatever they are.

He knows our “slander.” The word is literally “blasphemy.” The Jewish leaders hated Christians and slandered them in terrible ways. And he knows our pain. When he says “I know” in v. 9, he means that he feels their pain deeply. He has been wherever we are today.

Third, he controls the future. He flatly states, “The devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (v. 10). He knows what will happen to them in the future, but promises a reward far greater than their present sufferings.

“Ten days” means a hard time of limited duration. Jesus may be referring to Daniel’s ten days of testing in Babylon from which he and his friends emerged victorious (Daniel 1.11-16; see also Genesis 24.55). We would say that things will be hard “for a while.” But the eleventh day always comes, and with it our victory.

God will never let us suffer beyond what we can stand: “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10.13).

Last, he rewards our faith. When we are faithful unto death, we will receive the “crown of life.” This is the stephanos, the wreath of victory given at the Olympic Games to the victorious. God will give us great reward when we have served him faithfully. James 1.12: “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

And so, “He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death” (v. 11). The “second death” refers to the final, eternal judgment and punishment of the wicked (cf. Rev 20.11-12, 14-15). Jesus warned unbelievers to fear judgment (cf. Luke 12.4-5). But he comforts us with the knowledge that our faith will be rewarded eternally.

The Smyrnan Christians continued to be faithful in the face of an uncertain future. Ignatius wrote to their church around AD 107 these words:

I give glory to Jesus Christ, the God who has thus given you wisdom; for I have observed that you are established in immovable faith, as if nailed to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, both in flesh and spirit, and confirmed in love by the blood of Christ, being fully persuaded as touching the Lord (Ignatius, “To the Smyrnians” 151).

What about the future most worries you today? How would you commit that problem to God, right now?

When Your Faith is On Trial

Studies in the Book of Revelation

Dr. Jim Denison

Revelation 2:18-29

Thyatira was located 45 miles due east of Pergamum. Jesus wrote his longest letter to the smallest of the seven cities, proof of the significance of the issues confronting his followers there. Her ruins today are not remarkable, but her challenge to Christian fidelity was of vital importance.

Thyatira possessed strategic military significance. It lay at the mouth of a long valley connecting the Hermus and Caicus rivers. Enemies of the empire would have to pass by Thyatira on their way to attack Pergamum. And so the city would defend the capitol of the region, and at least delay attackers until the main city was ready.

The city was not a center of religious importance. She housed temples to Artemis and Apollo, but they were not famous. Neither did she possess a special center for emperor worship. She did own the shrine of Sambathe, a kind of ancient fortune-teller whom many came to consult for guidance.

Her chief importance was as a commercial center. The roads traveling through Thyatira brought to her doors the commerce of half the world. The city was known for its linen, apparel, leather work, and tanning. It was also a great center for wool trade and the dye industry. The city was especially noted for its production of purple cloth (from the madder root, which grew abundantly in the region). It is no surprise that Lydia, a “dealer in purple cloth,” came from Thyatira (Acts 16.14).

Labor unions were important in Thyatira, and the city possessed more of them than any other town in the region. This is where the problem Jesus addresses originated. No merchants or craftsmen in Thyatira could prosper unless they joined a guild or trade union.

Each trade union had its own patron god. Whenever the union members met, they shared a common meal which began and ended with a wine offering to this god. The meat at the meal would usually be from an animal sacrificed to the pagan god as well. They would burn a few hairs from the animal on the altar and then barbecue the rest as their supper. After the meal, the meeting would often become a drunken orgy.

Now imagine being a Christian in Thyatira. If you refuse membership in your union, you will go bankrupt or worse. Your family could literally starve to death. But if you join your union, you must attend its mandatory meetings, where you will be required to eat the food and drink the wine offered to idols, and then to join in the corruption which follows.

The leader named “Jezebel”

To make matters even worse, there was a leader in the church at Thyatira seeking to convince members to make exactly this compromise–a woman whom Jesus assigns the name “Jezebel.” This person encouraged the believers to join the trade unions and participate in the activities, all the while maintaining their faith in Jesus.

The original Jezebel was the conniving daughter of the king of Sidon. She married King Ahab and became the queen of Israel (1 Kings 16.31). She soon brought Baal, Astarte, and other assorted pagan deities into her new kingdom, and led the people in their worship. She defiled the nation and earned an everlasting reputation for corruption. Now, at Thyatira, her first-century counterpart is doing the same thing.

We know that she “calls herself a prophetess,” an office of great influence (v. 20). A female prophet was not nearly as unusual in the first century as it is for us. Philip the evangelist had four unmarried daughters who prophesied (Acts 21.9); Luke speaks of Anna the prophetess (Luke 2.36), and Paul assumes that women will prophesy in the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 11.5).

The Old Testament describes Miriam, Huldah, and Deborah as prophetesses as well. In the New Testament context a prophetess would cite the inspiration and leading of the Holy Spirit in whatever she said. The fact that she could claim divine authority in encouraging compromise would be very alluring to these Christians.

Furthermore, this Jezebel may have had an even more influential position in the church, quite possibly as the pastor’s wife. The “angel” in Thyatira receives this letter (v. 18), and “angel” can signify the “messenger” or “preacher” of the church. “Woman” (v. 20) can be translated “wife.” In fact, some ancient manuscripts inserted “your” before the word, thus “your wife Jezebel.” It’s possible that this Jezebel is not only a prophetess herself, but married to the prophet of the church as well.

Her sin is simple: “By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols” (v. 20). She is misleading the followers of Jesus in Thyatira, encouraging them to compromise with the morality of their trade unions and culture.

She has been warned: “I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling” (v. 21). Perhaps Jesus has already sent earlier letters to the church, or preachers to address the situation, or simply the strong conviction of the Holy Spirit. But she has refused to repent of her compromising leadership and immorality.

So the consequences will be severe: “I will cast her on a bed of suffering” (v. 22a). Here Jesus could refer to the “beds” or banquet couches used at Thyatira in their idolatrous feasts, or he could be using a Jewish expression for becoming ill.

What’s more, “I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways” (v. 22b). Her followers may be committing adultery physically, or spiritually. Both lead to the same punishment: they will “suffer intensely.” This phrase translates a Greek idiom for the crushing stone which ground wheat into flour and grapes into wine.

In addition, “I will strike her children dead” (v. 23a). These could be the physical children of her sexual adultery, or more likely, the spiritual children of her moral compromise. The Greek is “kill with death,’ an idiom for pestilence (cf. Rev 6.8).

The sentence is clear: Jezebel and her followers will suffer intensely, unless they repent now; “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” (v. 23b).

Help for hurting believers

If his people will refuse such compromise and “hold on to what you have until I come” (v. 25), the rewards will be worth far more than their cost. Here we find the first of several references to the Second Coming in these letters.

Christians in the smallest church in Revelation will have “authority over the nations” (v. 26). Here Jesus quotes Psalm 2.9, a forecast and picture of the triumphant work of the conquering Messiah (v. 27). With him, we will rule with an iron scepter and dash the enemy to pieces like broken pieces of clay. The local god of Thyatira was pictured with an iron staff on his shoulder. But those faithful to Jesus will have the real iron scepter of power from God himself.

He will also give us the “morning star” (v. 28). This could be the promise of resurrection, an indication that just as the morning star reigns over the darkness of night, so Christians will reign over the darkness of death. Thyatira may put these believers to death physically, but they will never die spiritually.

This could signify hope in hard times as well, since the morning star shines brightest in the hour preceding the dawn The symbol could refer to Jesus’ return, as this promise is like the morning star rising in our hearts (2 Peter 1.19).

Jesus could be referring to the planet Venus, the actual morning star in the sky. From Babylonian times Venus was a symbol of sovereignty; particularly, it was the symbol of victory to Romans. The Roman generals erected temples to Venus after their victories, and Caesar’s legions carried the sign of Venus on their standards.

But the best interpretation of this symbol is Jesus’ promise at the end of Revelation: “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star” (Revelation 22.16). Those who are faithful to Jesus, whatever the cost, can claim the greatest hope of all: we will know Jesus himself.

The church at Thyatira illustrates the fact that compromise always grows. We find here also the principle that compromise ruins our witness and dilutes the power of God. Last, we learn from Thyatira that compromise will be punished and faithfulness rewarded.