The Seven Churches of Revelation Part 3 (December 21, 2014)

Smyrna

History

There is not much of Biblical Smyrna to see.  What we saw was from 178AD.  It is located within the modern city of Izmir.

Smyrna means myrrh (spice).  It was settled in the 11th century BC.  In 600 BC a Lydian king decimated it.  It remained a small village until Alexander the Great rebuilt it.  He was hunting in the area, and laid down under a tree.  He had a vision of building a city at the base of Mt Pagus.  So the city died came back to life again.  It was then a Greek city, and when Alexander died, this area of his kingdom went to the Seleucids, and eventually came under Roman control.

In 195 BC, Smyrna was the first city to establish a cult to Rome.  They were early adopters.  They built a temple to Roma – the essence or personality of Rome.  Cicero said of Smyrna, “The city of our most faithful and ancient allies”.

In 26AD, Smyrna won the right to be the neokorus for Caesar Tiberias (remember Laodicea did not get it).  The city was more than 100,000 people at that time.

On their coins, it was engraved “First of Asia in beauty and size”.  The city was known for its beauty, both in terms of buildings and people.

Homer was born here.  The Iliad and the Odyssey were written in the 8th & 7th centuries BC.

The city had a gladiator school.  It was well known for athletic contests.  If you won, you got a crown, perhaps of an olive wreath.  Mt Pagus was called the crown of the city.  The city was known as the crown of all Asia.  The symbol of the city was a crown.

The city had 2 harbors.  It was vying with Ephesus and Pergamum for importance to Rome.  It had great commercial trade value because of its location on the Aegean Sea.
      
Letter

Rev 2:8-11

∙    The shortest letter
∙    No deeds mentioned
∙    No corrections

V8    The first and last, who died and came to life again.  Perhaps there is a connection with the city’s history there.

V9    I know your afflictions and your poverty, yet you are rich.  This is the exact opposite of the church at Laodicea.  The church here is not falling prey to the guilds, but are somehow eking out an existence.  They are building riches in heaven.  They are doing what they are supposed to be doing.  They are standing firm in their walk with God, and representing him well to the people around them.

V10-11    Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.  “Do not be afraid” is the #1 command in the Bible, occurring over 100 times.

Satan is going to put some of you in prison to test you.  You are going to be persecuted 10 days.  Perhaps the good news is that it is relatively short, but it will be intense.  The idea of 10 days is probably a remez to a story earlier in the Scriptures.  A remez means a reference to something similar in a different context, that you can read into the current context.

Daniel 1:8-15    Daniel refused to compromise his obedience to God even in diet.  He was tested for 10 days.

• He first resolved to not disobey God.
• He then looked for permission to be excused from the king’s diet.
• You can be sure his resolve was going to be there, even if the permission wasn’t.

This is going to happen, but like Daniel, don’t stop doing what you know to be right.  Don’t let fear paralyze you.  Resolve to be obedient even if it costs you your life.

• You will get life as your crown, not just a wreath.
• You won’t be hurt by the second death.
• So don’t be afraid even if what you face leads to death.

Polycarp was a disciple of John.  He was Bishop of Smyrna for 45-60 years, appointed by John or others of the apostles.  In 156 AD, as Christians were being killed for their faith, he too was brought to the stadium, and was given the opportunity to recant, to spare his life.  He was the first recorded Christian martyr after the New Testament era.  There is a lot of good information available on the web about Polycarp.

 

Ephesus

Background

Ephesus became the most important harbor city in all of Asia Minor.  It’s name means “desirable” or “desired one”.  It is the second largest city in Asia Minor (behind Syrian Antioch), and the 4th largest in the Roman Empire (also behind Rome and Alexandria).  250,000 population.

In 1000 BC a Greek colony was founded here by Androclus, son of an Athenian king.  It was on the north base of Mt. Pion, where they believed the mother goddess (Artemis) fell to the earth (no doubt it was a meteor).  It was ruled by the Lydians, Persians, Alexander the Great (who moved the city to the west side of the mountain base for access to the harbor), the Pergamine Empire, and finally by Rome.  Everybody wanted it because of its port, and because it was the western terminus of the road through the interior of Asia (to Antioch and the rest of the world).  Around 70-90 AD, Ephesus surpassed Pergamum as the most important city.  It is less than 15% excavated today.

History

There are two Biblical periods for Ephesus.  One is during Paul’s missionary journeys, and the other is from the Revelation letter to the church.  We’ll take a look at both of them from sort of a time-line view.

AD 52 at the end of Paul’s second missionary journey.

• Acts 18:18-21    Paul brings Priscilla and Aquilla here from Corinth to plant the church in Ephesus.  The text goes on to say that they get a lot of help from Apollos who joins them there for a while.

AD 52-57 during Paul’s third missionary journey

• Acts 18:23, 19:1    Paul hikes here from points east, 600 miles.
• Acts 19:8-10 
• 3 months in the synagogue (has not been found yet)
• 2 years in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
• Presumed to be near or in a lower level of the library
• 3 stories tall, connected to commercial agora
• Statues in niches representing wisdom, excellence, insight, and understanding
• Ephesus was known for its philosophies. The number-1 school in Asia was in Tarsus; this was number 2, the best in west Asia Minor.
• Ephesus made a name for itself in rhetoric studies.
• This would have been right up Paul’s alley
• Paul probably would have rented it 11-2 during the heat of the day
• Somehow it must have been economically beneficial to the hall to do that for such a long time.
• Paul is here for 3 years (Acts 20:31).  Why so long?
• It was a really important city.  Paul wanted to establish a church in the heart of Greco-Roman society.
• He wasn’t chased out like he was everywhere else except Corinth (he was there 18 months).
• Almost all of Asia heard the gospel through Paul here.
• Epaphrus (who became pastor to Colossae) was discipled by Paul here
• Acts 19:11-16    Ephesus was a major sorcery center
• Acts 19:17-20    The beginning of the church.  A drachma was about a day’s wage, so the value of the scrolls was the combined annual income for about 200 people.
• Acts 19:23    A disturbance arose about the Way.  Hebrew halakh; Greek peripateo. Your walk is your life; your life is your walk.  How you live is how you walk.  This is a strong metaphor emphasizing that the Christian life is something you live out, not something with which you just have mental agreement.
• Acts 19:24-27    Demetrius raises a problem.  This likely takes place in the agora, next to the library and the theater.
• The agora was quite large, a square 111 meters on each side.
• Ephesus was the slave trade capital of the world at the time, which took place in the agora
• Infant exposure:  Abortions in the ancient world almost meant certain death for the mother, so babies were generally carried to full term.  The father then determined whether the child lived or died.  Unwanted children were dropped off in the hills and left there.  In Ephesus, they would leave them in the agora.  Soramus of Ephesus (well known at the end of the first century) wrote a book on how to recognize a newborn that is worth rearing.  It contained detailed criteria with lots of measurements and proportions.  The slave traders would come through the market to see if there were any kids worth rearing for brothel purposes.  The Christians rescued numerous babies from the market.  See how Ephesians 1 reads, with that background:
• Verses 4-5    Chosen for adoption
• Verse 11    Chosen, predestined
• Verses 12-14    The Jews were the first to put hope in Christ, and the Gentiles were included, sealed by the Holy Spirit for an inheritance.
• Brothels were everywhere.  Symposiums were mostly for the upper class, but the brothels were for everyone.  They were run on a cash-only basis; it was a rich business and became taxed.  In 79 AD Mt Vesuvius erupted and buried Pompei, a city of 6000.  It is the best preserved site representing first century Roman civilization.  That town had 41 different brothels; think of Ephesus with 250,000 people.
• The temple of the great goddess (the Artemisium) will be discredited, and the goddess will be robbed of her divine majesty.  I don't understand how any thinking person could actually believe that someone/something could be divine if it required human beings to defend it.  But that was their view.
• The temple was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world
• Ephesus was the neokorus for Atemis worship
• The temple had 127 columns 60-70 feet high, all supporting a very large roof.  Only one column is still standing.
• 425 x 225 feet, four times the size of the Parthenon in Athens
• The temple was very wealthy and became a banking center
• The Artemis parade happened every 2 weeks with cutting and castrating like at Sardis
• Her image fell from paradeisos (referring either to heaven or to her birthplace in the nearby garden named Ortygia).  Paradeisos is the same Greek word used of the Garden of Eden.
• Acts 19:28-41 
• Verse 35    Another reference to the neokorus and the meteor
• Verse 37   These men have not blasphemed our defamed our goddess.  Paul and his companions didn’t have to defame her.  They just needed to teach the Word of God in a way people understood.  People derive the connections and realize that two similar but conflicting things occupying the same space can’t both be true.
• I Corinthians 15:32  Paul wrote the letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus in 56 AD.  We don't believe he was actually in the gladiator arena, but it makes a good metaphor for the trouble he had while he was here.
• Acts 20:17-31  Paul is finishing his missionary journey, meeting with the Ephesian elders in Myletus, and warning them to guard the church against false teaching that would surely come, even from within the church.

AD 54-68    Nero is emperor
AD 61    Paul finally arrives in Rome and lives in house-arrest for 2 years before being released.  This all started when he was arrested in Jerusalem, and appealed to Caesar, and it took more than 2 years for him to make it to Rome before his house-arrest.  Apparently he was tried under Nero and no basis for his arrest was found, just like when he was before King Agrippa and Governor Festus (Acts 26:32). 

• Paul wrote the letters to Ephesus, Colossae, Laodicea, and Philemon while in prison, all delivered by Tychicus.
• We typically refer to this trip to Rome and his imprisonment as his 4th missionary journey, and we think of it as his last because the book of Acts ends here.  But there's more....

AD 63  Paul is released from prison and begins what would really be more of a 4th missionary journey, which is not recorded in Acts, but which can be somewhat pieced together from evidence in various epistles.

AD 63-64  Paul brings Timothy with him to Ephesus, sees the church is struggling, and leaves him there as pastor while he goes on to Macedonia.  From Philippi, Paul writes the First Letter to Timothy.  How often do we read these pastoral epistles as simply stand-alone instruction to Timothy without realizing the context from which they were written?  Timothy is the pastor of the church in Ephesus, and all of Paul's instructions are in the context of problems which were occurring in that church.

• I Timothy 1:3-4  False doctrines, spending time on myths and geneologies - controversial speculation
• I Timothy 1:19-20  Hymenaeus and Alexander were elders in the church who had hijacked the church
• There are many other specific instructions in the letter which give insight into other issues in the church
• Paul visited Ephesus again, to help Timothy deal with the problems.

AD 67    Paul is in prison in Rome again, where he ultimately dies as part of Nero's purge of Christians (remember, he blamed the fires in Rome on the Christians).

• Paul writes the Second Letter to Timothy, to encourage him, as he is by now an intimidated and discouraged pastor.  Again we get a peak at what is going on in the church:
• II Timothy 2:16-18  Godless chatter, Hymaneaus and Philetus destroying the faith of some by their false teaching
• II Timothy 4:14  Alexander the metalwork has caused a lot of havoc in the church

AD 81-96    Domitian is emperor.  Revelation probably was written in AD 95.

• The Ephesians built huge structures dedicated to Domitian, including a prominent temple designed to be the world center of Domitian worship, his neokorus. They built up the valley floor to make room for it, and built arches to support a huge platform of 50 x 100 meters.  One of its features was a twenty-seven-foot-tall statue of Domitian. The entire focus of the city was here, and anyone approaching the city by sea or by land could see the temple and its statue and know that the Ephesians as a whole believed Domitian to be king of the gods. 
• Domitian took emperor worship to the nth degree. He demanded that everyone (even his wife) address him as "lord and god".  He had coins minted showing him holding lightning bolts in his right hand, as a symbol of deity, and wielding "the right hand of power". Along the city streets, altars reminded the people of Domitian's lordship and of their required allegiance to him. Once a year, the people had to say publicly in front of the altar, "Caesar is Lord." Anyone who didn't recognize Domitian’s lordship, was subject to death.  He had some 40-45,000 people killed for not honoring him.  
• There are some interesting ties between Domitian and some of the Revelation imagery later in the book:
• He was nick-named "the beast"
• People had to worship his colossal image
• In order to buy or sell in the agora, you had to burn incense to Caesar, acknowledging his deity.  Shoppers would have then had some sort of ink stamp put on their hand, in order to participate in the market.
• He was officially blotted out of Roman records (Damnatio Memorae) after his death.  Ephesus changed the neokorus to honor Vespasian and Titus, his father and brother instead.

AD 97  Timothy died here, at age 80 when he tried to halt a procession in honor of Artemis by preaching the gospel.  The angry pagans beat him, dragged him through the streets, and stoned him to death.

Luke, John, and Mary the mother of Jesus all died here at some point as well.  Jesus had given John charge of his mother when he died, so no doubt he brought her here with him.  John was 40 miles off-shore in Patmos when he received the Revelation, but later came back to the city where he died.


Letter

Revelation 2:1-7   

Verse 1    Seven stars in right hand parallel Domitian’s right hand of power

Verses 2-3  There are a lot of good things about this church

• Tested those who claim to be apostles but are not
• Your deeds, hard work, perseverance
• Tested false apostles and found them false
• Persevered, endured hardships for my name and not grown weary 

I think you would have to conclude that all of the problems related to false teaching during Paul's lifetime were cleaned up under Timothy's pastorship.

Verse 6   You hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans.  They are not compromising.  More commendations from Jesus for this.

Verses 4-5  You've forsaken the love you had at first.  Consider how far you have fallen.  Repent and do what you did at first.  This is more literally translated “you have lost your first love”.  It is probably a reference to their love for Christ which was demonstrated so powerfully when they started.  This church started out really strong.  How can they lose it?  It seems that the bigger a church gets, the more time and energy it will have to spend on institution, governance, and structure.  Jesus is saying, "You’re going through the motions.  You’re doing some good things, but your heart is not engaged.  You’ve got the right theology but you’ve lost the reason for it."  Something to keep in mind as Christ Community grows; beware of too much focus on keeping the "machinery" going.

Verse 7    Eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.  Just reading that from our vantage point, it seems unnecessary to say "which is in the paradise of God".  So the fact that it is there seems to be a direct confrontation to Artemis and her paradeisos.  The tree of life may also be a confrontation to Atemis herself as the mother goddess.

The Seven Churches of Revelation Part 2 (December 14, 2014)

Thyatira              

Background

Thyatira was the smallest and least influential of the 7 churches.  Ancient Thyatira is under modern-day Ahkisar, with just one city block excavated.  That’s all that apparently will ever be excavated.

Apollo, a son of Zeus (king of the gods) was the chief deity of the city.  He was the god of the sun.

The city was founded along the road in a vulnerable position, not on high ground, but on main communications and trade lines.  It developed into a thriving and prosperous manufacturing and marketing center.

This is a manufacturing city; a blue-collar city; a trade city.  All kinds of goods were produced here.  There were different guilds, which were like unions, organized around different trades: bronze, tanner/leather, wool, linen, dyers, potters, bakers.  Its bronze workers made idols.  The city was known for its purple dye. 

Acts 16:14    Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, was from Thyatira.

More guilds were found here than in any other contemporary Roman city in Asia.   Every guild owned property in its own name, made contracts and wielded wide influence in the city's political, economic, social and religious life. Guild membership was compulsory for anyone pursuing a trade. Each provided specific benefits and took actions to protect its interests. Each guild had a patron deity, and all proceedings and feasts commenced with paying homage to that god or goddess. The guilds held banquets, probably in temples, which included sexual orgies in a room with many couches where all would participate together, and wild feasts where food that had been offered to idols was served.  If you want to work, you're part of the guild. If you’re part of the guild, you need to attend, or you lose your membership.  There was a lot of pressure on these Christians to compromise.
   
Letter

Revelation 2:18-29    This is the longest of the letters, to the smallest of the churches.

V18    Son of God.  The image matches Rev 1:15, and smacks a little of Daniel 7.  But the greatest significance for this church may be its contrast to Apollo, the son of the king of the gods, and the god of the sun.

V19    I know your deeds.  You are doing better.  There is quite an emphasis here and in subsequent verses on deeds and what you do.  The point is your deeds, not just your “beliefs” or theology.

V20-23    You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet.  This speaks directly to the guild feasts:

• She misleads my people into sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols.
• I will cast her on a bed of suffering and make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely.

The prohibition of sexual immorality is easy to understand, but what about food offered to idols?  Didn't Paul say this was okay?

• I Corinthians 8:4  An idol is nothing; so what's the problem about eating?
• I Corinthians 10:27  Eat whatever is put in front of you without asking; what's the problem?
• I Corinthians 5:11  Don't eat with a believer who is living like an unbeliever.  Having a meal together indicates comradery.  It is fellowship.  You're part of it.  It's one thing to eat something sold in the marketplace for your own use, but it's another thing altogether to participate with other people in the worship of idols by eating at their feasts which occur for that purpose.
• I Corinthians 10:21  You can't participate in both the Lord's table and the table of demons.  Worship of idols is actually demonic.

Why would she be called Jezebel?  We should look to Jezebel in the old Testament to understand what she was about.

• 1 Kings 16:29-33    Ahab is Israel’s worst king.  And not only that, he married Jezebel, daughter of the Sidonian king, and she imported Baal worship into Israel.  This is only 85 years after Solomon’s temple is constructed, in the glory days of Israel’s worship of God.
• I Kings 21:20-26    This exchange between Ahab and Elijah was in response to Jezebel having Naboth killed so Ahab could have his vineyard.  Jezebel was ruthless.  She synchretized Baal worship into Israel’s worship of God.  She influenced Ahab to further evil.  There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife.  He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the Lord drove out before Israel.
• 2Kings 9:30-37    The entire chapter deals with the death of Ahab’s family, and gives a lot of air time to Jezebel’s demise.  You don’t really have any confusion about what God thought of Jezebel.

Jezebel was about the worship of Baal, synchretizing it with the worship of God.  She influenced others to join her in this.  So apparently there was a woman in Thyatira that was influencing the people of God, encouraging them to participate in the guild feasts, promoting compromise or synchretism.  “Just go to the guild feasts and do what you have to do to get by; after all, you do need to be able to work to support yourself and your family, don’t you?”  Jesus could not tolerate her, and that line of thinking, because our deeds matter.  "I will repay each of you according to your deeds", he says. How are you going to stand for Jesus if your life looks like you don’t?

This brings up the whole “faith vs works” tension.  Can you truly have faith without deeds?  Greek pistis is “faith”, and ergon is "deeds".  Two separate words.  In Hebrew, the word translated “faith” is emunah which carries with it both the concepts of belief and action.  You can’t have one without the other in the Hebrew mind.  It is more along the lines of “faithfulness”, just like the Sh’ma is about the concepts of hearing and doing tied together.

• Ephesians 2:8-10    You have been saved through faith, to produce good works.  We often quote verses 8 and 9 to emphasize the faith and grace aspects, but verse 10 is equally important.  Your faith has to result in works.  If you believe, you "do"; equivalently, if you do not "do", you do not believe.
  
• James 2:17-19    You show your faith by what you do.  Jesus said you would know them by their fruit. Your deeds show what you really are.  The whole chapter is oriented along these lines. It gives old testament examples of Abraham and Rahab’s faith being lived out.
• Matthew 7:20  Jesus said you would know them by their fruit.  Your deeds show what you really are.
• Matthew 7:21    Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
• Matthew 7:22-23    And not everyone who “does” will enter the kingdom of heaven. “Depart from me; I never knew you.  And all the good things you did are no better than doing evil."  It requires a relationship with Jesus, that then needs to be lived out.
• Acts 10:34-35    God accepts those who fear him and do what is right.

V24-29    There’s a lot of this that I can’t explain or give any context to, except to contrast ruling over the nations under God's authority with Jezebel's rule over Israel as queen. 

But I do keep hearing the command to “hold on to what you have”.   That’s either been implied or explicitly stated in all of the messages to the churches we’ve looked at.  “No compromise”.  I think that’s the message for us in our world today, as the gospel of Jesus Christ is increasingly opposed and disregarded.  How are we going to stand?

Pergamum

History

Pergamos (in Greek) means "elevation, height or citadel".  The city was built 1300 feet above the valley floor.  It is a fortress city, defending the Caicus river valley and trade.  It had to channel its water via aquaduct for 26 miles.  It had running water and sewage drains to each home.

Many of the city's buildings were built on terraces because the hills are so steep.

Pergamum was the capital of the Roman province of Asia.  Before the Romans, it was the capital of the Pergamine empire.  Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamum were always vying to be the chief city.  During the 1st century AD, the chief city status was shifting from Pergamum to Ephesus, which excelled over time because of its harbor.

Attilus III ruling in the Pergamine empire, died without an heir, and willed his empire to Rome in 133BC.  In 89 BC, Pergamum became the 2nd city in Asia to build a temple to Roma (a goddess representing the personification of Rome) (Smyrna does it first).  In 29 BC, Pergamum was the first city to build a temple to the emperor (Caesar Augustus).

This is Augustus’ neokorus.  Emperor worship is introduced by Pergamum.  It was another 50 years before another emperor temple is built anywhere.  People came here for pilgrimages.

150,000 people lived here; the biggest city we’ve seen to this point.  Pliny the Elder said, “Pergamum is the most famous place in Asia”.  It was the seat of the governor of all Asia.  He ruled here on behalf of Rome.

Ius Gladii = the right of the sword.  The governor alone had the right for capital punishment.  It was done by gladiator fights.  This was the superbowl of gladiator contests, held here twice a year.  The governor was still ruling from here at the time of the letter.  He had the power of life or death.  Think of Pilate, the governor of Judea, speaking to Jesus in John 19:10-11, where he says, “Don’t you realize that I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”  That was Ius Gladii at work.

This was one of the most wicked cities of the ancient world, for a variety of reasons.

Letter

Jesus letter to Pergamum in Revelation 2:12-17 would have been understood by the people of that time in the light of the present and historical culture.    

V12-13

• The sharp double-edged sword reminds us who really has Ius Gladii.  Think of Jesus’ answer to Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above”.
   
• You are faithful in spite of what happened to Antipas.  Tradition says he was the Bishop of Pergamum, appointed by the apostle John.  He was martyred in 92 AD under Domitian.  He was roasted alive in the belly of a bull-shaped brazen altar that was used for casting out demons worshiped by the local population.  His refusal to acknowledge Domitian as lord and god was likely the reason for his execution.
   
• You are faithful in spite of the fact that you live where Satan has his throne.  How difficult must that be?  And what does it mean?  Is it literal or figurative?  Satan was cast to earth.  He is not omnipresent.  He has to live somewhere.  It is thought that Satan originally lived in Babylon (in association with Nimrod and mystery cults in Genesis), but moved his headquarters to Pergamum when the mystery cult priests had to flee as Babylon fell to the Persians. You can find a lot of information on the web to fill in the details if you want.

V14 

• Balaam taught Balak to entice Israel to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and committing sexual immorality.
• Numbers 22-24   Balak, the king of Moab, fears Israel.  He summons Balaam from his native land near the Euphrates river (which suggests that Babylon is at least a possibility) to curse Israel.  God won’t let him.  He only speaks a blessing.  Balak finally gives up, and Balaam goes home.  (It is curious that Balaam knew God, so this again suggests some connection to Satan and his possible throne in Babylon).
• Numbers 25:1-3    The very next thing that happens is Israel committing sexual immorality with the Moabite women.  How did this happen?
• Numbers 31:15-16    Balaam recommended this be done.  Balaam in Hebrew means “devourer of the people”.  What devours God’s people?  Compromise!
• How can you think of holding to sexual immorality and idol worship and of being a Christian at the same time?

V15

• Nicolaitans are compromisers.
• Named from the goddess Nike (nie-key) (yes, think of the shoes), which personified victory.  Loas means “people”, so their name means "conqueror/victor of the people".
• Acts 6:5    Church tradition says the cult was started by Nicholas of Antioch, one of the 7 deacons chosen by the early church.
• It is interesting to note that Nicolas was a proselyte of Antioch, a convert from Judaism. A proselyte is one who converts from one religion to another. In Nicolas’ case he had converted from paganism to Judaism and then from Judaism to Christianity.
• "According to the writings of the Early Church leaders, Nicolas taught a doctrine of compromise, implying that total separation between Christianity and the practice of occult paganism was not essential. From Early Church records, it seems apparent that this Nicolas of Antioch was so immersed in occultism, Judaism, and Christianity that he had a stomach for all of it. He had no problem intermingling these belief systems and saw no reason why believers couldn't continue to fellowship with those still immersed in the black magic of the Roman Empire and its countless mystery cults.”
• So, basically, according to the Nicolaitans, the God of Abraham and the Savior of the world would have no problem with people worshiping Him and Satan at the same time. No wonder Jesus hated their teachings.

The Nicolaitans and Balaam’s teaching are the same thing.  Jesus says, “You’re holding on to my name and those teachings at the same time and I won’t stand for it”.

V16    "Fighting against you with the sword of my mouth" again refers back to who really has the ius gladii.

V17    I'm not sure what is meant by the hidden manna.  Manna was God’s provision for Israel.  Perhaps Jesus is saying, "You might think it impossible to live here, but I will give you what you need.  Persevere, even to death if necessary.  It will be worth it."

Satan’s Throne

For the curious, there’s always the question of what Satan’s throne actually is.  You could spend a lot of time on this, and we did while we were there, because there’s a lot to see in Pergamum.  There are several possible candidates, each with its own twisted imitation of God’s truth; after all, Satan is the master counterfeiter.

1.    Zeus Altar.  The only one in the ancient world.  117 feet long, 110 feet wide, 40 feet tall, 66 steps leading up.  It was built in 170 BC by Eumenes II.  We don’t know if it was for sacrifices or incense.  It towered over everything else here.  It had a commanding view.  A huge surface area.  A German excavation took it apart, and moved it all to Berlin, and reconstructed it in the Pergamum museum there.

• Revelation 19:16    Zeus is recognized in the ancient world as king of kinds and lord of lords.
• Isaiah 14:12-14    Satan’s aspiration:  “I will be like the Most High”.  It's not a stretch to see him counterfeiting the Most High in the person of Zeus.  

Most of the information on the web regards this as Satan’s throne.  And there’s a lot of information there to connect Hitler to it, as though it was brought to Germany for his rise to power.  (And there is more, if you care to look, but be careful, because how are you going to know whether something is trustworthy?)

2.    Athena Temple.  It was built in the 3rd century BC.  Eumenes II built the temple complex to Athena.  She was the goddess of wisdom.  The Pergamine library was found in her temple precincts, containing 200,000 scrolls.  The library in Alexandria (Egypt) was damaged during the fighting with Julius Caesar.  Cleopatra got Mark Anthony to capture the Pergamine library and move it to Egypt.  This is an interesting aside, but it illustrates the importance of the library as a source of knowledge and wisdom.

Parchment was made on a large scale here first, using leather of animals.  It was thicker than papyrus, so it couldn’t roll very well, and lead to the development of individual pages and books.

Athena would say of herself “Wisdom guides/provides the way which gives life”.  Consider Jesus' statement in John 14:6, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life".  This statement is recorded only in the gospel of John; John wrote his gospel to an Asian audience.  It seems like John included the statement to oppose what Athena would say of herself.  Again, it's not a stretch to see Satan using Athena to counterfeit Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

3.    Emperor worship (Imperial Cult).  Pergamum was the neokorus for Caesar Augustus for 50 years, though we have nothing of that temple remaining.  But there are temples to later emperors Trajan and Hadrian, both of whom also had Pergamum as their neokorus.  It is interesting that their temple is far higher on the hill than Zeus’ Altar, which would have to indicate Zeus’ approval of Emperor Worship.  The emperor is the bringer of prosperity and life and peace.  The “Imperial Cult” is a title given to emperor worship, and it was happening big-time in Pergamum at the time the letter was written.  So here we’ve got the worship of deified emperors, the Roman gospel (euangellion), Augustus the chosen son of god to bring peace (Pax Romana) to the world -- a whole host of counterfeits to the gospel of God.

4.    Dionysius. The god of wine, the vine, party, theatre, and resurrection (recall the Dionysius Spring Festival).  All of the gospels have ample evidence of Jesus' resurrection, but John is the only one which records Jesus saying that he was the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).  Again, John may have been targeting this directly against Dionysius, whom Satan could use as a counterfeit of Jesus' resurrection.

We talked a couple sessions ago about the symposium, the drunken orgy parties held by patrons for clients, in the andron (men’s room or men’s club), so we’re not going to revisit that today, but it certainly took place here in Pergamum.  One of the points from that discussion was that the various passages in the New Testament that talk about the immorality of the Gentiles are not talking about some theoretical sort of thing – they are addressing the kind of lifestyle that was prevalent among the Gentiles, exemplified by the symposium.  And in Paul’s letters to the Ephesians and Colossians, where he is addressing this, he makes a big point of putting off that former behavior, and putting on new behavior.

• Ephesians 4:17-19    Symposium behavior to get rid of
• Ephesians 4:20-24    Put off the old, put on the new
• Colossians 3:5-9    Put off the old behavior and old self
• Colossians 3:10    Put on the new self
• Colossians 3:12    “Clothe yourself.”   

These passages are in “clothing language”, which helps deliver a deeper message.  You have to get rid of the old clothes to wear the new.  Certain clothes have to go from your wardrobe.  You can’t wear both sets.  Which are you wearing?  What do you look like?  This goes directly to Balaam and the Nicolaitans.  And to Jezebel at Thyatira.  You’re trying to wear both sets of clothes; you can't do that.  Wear the clothes that match your identify.

Take this a little further.  God took Israel out of Egypt where they were slaves and he changed their identity.  He made them priests representing him to the world; the priest is the greatest representation of what God is like --  the hands and feet of the Divine.  This same purpose and privilege now belongs to Christians.  Wear the blue well.  Be the best representation you can.  Your fundamental identity is now as a priest.  Wear the clothes well.  Stand between God and the world.  You've got no business trying to look like the world.

5.    Temple of Demeter.  You had to be covered with the blood of piglets to enter her temple.  Her cult worship was for all gods known and unknown.  The only altar to an unknown god ever found was found here.  Her Latin name is Ceres, from which the word cereal comes.  She is the goddess of grain.  She provides food from the earth.  The bread that sustains life.  Jesus' words, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35) come to mind, again recorded only in the gospel of John, written to Asia Minor, perhaps to oppose Satan counterfeiting God as the source of life in the person of Demeter.  And having to be covered with the blood of an unclean animal to enter her temple certainly stands out as a grotesque parallel to Jesus' sacrifice and the entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament.

6.    Asclepius - the god of healing.  He was the son of Apollo, who was the god of the sun.  John declares Jesus to be "The Light", (John 1:9) and records Jesus saying of himself that he was the light of the world (John 8:12).  Again, these statements are only recorded in the gospel of John and may be directed against Apollo/Asclepius.  Obviously Jesus' miraculous healings recorded in all of the gospels contrast him with Asclepius.

The Asclepion was the “destination medical center” of the day.  It started in the 4th century BC.  People came from all over the world.  The second-most important Asclepion in the world was here, second only to the one in Greece.  This was an international hub for the worship of Asclepius, the great god of healing.  All parts of the Greco-Roman world are here in microcosm:

    ∙    Library
    ∙    Stoa - covered colinaded walkway
    ∙    Theatre for 3500, all comedy, no tragedy
    ∙    Gymnasium
    ∙    Bathhouse

You come here, and a priest escorts you to your room, where you expect to meet Asclepius.  They give you a supplement to relax you, make you groggy.  “Asclepius” then speaks to you through a tunnel into the room area.  He either heals you or prescribes a treatment.  Priests/doctors would interpret his message. When you awake, you either are healed or know what to do to be healed.

They would prescribe a slower lifestyle, teach you to exercise, teach you nutrition, let you use the mudbaths, the hot pool, the cool pool, and give you education on how to take care of your body.  You get better, so obviously Asclepius healed you, even though maybe all that was done for you was to put you in a position where the body could heal itself.   But everything is done in the name of Asclepius.

This was affordable for everyone.  It worked.  The body was created to heal itself if given some rest.  But it was more than that, as miracles are also recorded here, and it can't be brushed off as just a hoax.

However, they didn’t let old or terminally ill people in – people who probably would die there.  But still some patients would die, and they had the same problem that we Christians have in accounting for it: “For his own reasons, Asclepius didn’t intervene”.

What is Satan’s throne?  There is a lot of information out there that says it is Zeus' Altar, but no one really knows.  Our conclusion was that everything about this city says that everything is controlled by the gods.  You put it all together and it’s a perfect storm.  Satan’s throne might very well be all of the above –Satan's counterfeits for God's attributes.

The Seven Churches of Relevation Part 1 (December 7, 2014)

Laodicea

Historical background

Hierapolis, Colossae, and Laodicea are a triangle of cities in the Lycus river valley, that share a common history.  We need to look at all 3 of them in order to get the context for Jesus’ message to Laodicea.

All three cities had churches started by Epaphras (Ep-uh-frehs), after hearing Paul in Ephesus and being discipled by him.  Epaphras was from Colossae, but Paul had not been to these churches.  At some point Paul was in prison in Rome, and Epaphras was also there in prison with him.  It is likely that Epaphras asked Paul to write to “his churches”.  Paul wrote letters to the churches in Colossae and Laodicea (but apparently not to Hierapolis), and a separate letter to a wealthy individual named Philemon in the church at Colossae.  Paul had these letters delivered by Tychicus and Onesimus, who were also from Colossae.  Tychicus would have read Paul’s letter out-loud to the churches; Onesimus was a former slave of Philemon who had apparently robbed him and fled, but had encountered Paul in Rome and had become a Christian, and now Paul was sending him back with a letter to Philemon encouraging him to receive Onesimus back as a brother.  You can refer to the following Scripture passages to sort out these relationships.

• Philemon 10-12  Onesimus (whose name means "useful") was a former slave of Philemon's, and has become a Christian while with Paul in Rome, and Paul is now sending him back as a brother.
• Philemon 23    Epahpras is in prison with Paul
• Col 1:7-8    Epaphras started the church in Colossae
• Col 4:7-16    Tychicus and Onesimus are delivering the letter; Epaphras and Onesimus are from Colossae; I don’t know how Philemon is known to be from there.  Epaphrus is associated with all 3 churches.  The letters to Colossae and Laodicea are to be read to each other as well. 

Hierapolis

The only reference to Hierapolis in the Bible is at the end of the book of Colossians.

It’s a Greek name, meaning “holy city”.  Hieros and polis.  It contained many temples to many gods.  It was built up from the end of the 4th century BC to the middle of the 3rd century BC.  It was an important city.  It’s on a hill, overlooking the Lycus river valley, so it is in a position of power and control.  The valley leads to Smyrna and Ephesus, which are also major cities, so it is on the trade route.

The city was flattened by an earthquake in 17AD.  Rome rebuilt the city.  It was really important to them.  It was flattened again in 60AD, and Rome rebuilt it again.

It was known for textiles and purple dye.  But it was best known for its thermal pools -- hot springs.  Mineral springs deposit travertine (a form of limestone), composed of calcium carbonate.  If you’ve been to Yellowstone, you’ve seen this at Mammoth Hot Springs.  It was a medicinal spa.  People came here from all over the world for its healing effects.  This is the point you want to remember this about Hierapolis, but while we’re here, I want to mention of one of Jesus’ disciples whose faith cost him his life here.

You enter the city of Hierapolis through the necropolis, which is the “city of the dead” - the cemetery.  It is more than a mile long walk through before you get to the metropolis - the city of the living, where people lived.  At the entrance to the city is the Domitian Gate.  It was built to honor emperor Domitian in 83AD (Domitian became emperor in 81).  To enter the city, you had to sprinkle incense on the altar to Domitian (remember he was to be called “lord and god”), and pay homage to him.  It was an act of treason if you did not.  The message is very clear coming into the city after going through the cemetery, that “Domitian gives you life”.  Your choice of whether to honor Domitian or not, is what will determine which side of the gate you get to reside on :-).

There is a martyrium here in honor of  Philip, the Apostle (not Philip the evangelist).  He was the apostle to Hierapolis, and his martyrdom would have been well-known through Asia Minor.  The only gospel in which stories of Philip appear is the gospel of John.  John lived in Ephesus when he wrote it, and there is some thought that his intended audience was Asia Minor.  If that is true, it would make sense for John to have included stories of Philip in his gospel.

Tradition says that Philip came here and mades disciples in the early 80s.  Then Domitian put up the gate.  Philip wouldn’t pay homage, and was arrested.  He was dragged through the city after being flogged, was dragged to the top of the hill, iron circles were strung through his ankles and achilles, and he was hung upside down until he bled to death.  He was buried in a 1st century tomb.

The martyrium was built in the 5th century in his honor.  There is a road leading to it.  Something big must have happened in the culture that would allow that.  Part of that must be a result of Constantine making Christianity the official religion of Rome.  But before that happened, Philip paid the ultimate price to follow Christ.  We have the gospel now because Philip and people like him did what Jesus said.

Philip’s tomb has recently been found.  It is inside a 5th century church built around it, near the martyrium.

A great martyr is not just someone who is willing to die for his beliefs, but someone who wakes up every day and lives like God wants him to live.  You lay down your life; you pick up your cross; you flesh out the Word.  We will find messages like that as we look at the letters to the churches.

Colossae

Colossae is unexcavated.  It is in a very fertile area, with rushing cold water from Mt Cadmes nearby.  It is 8500 feet high and snow-capped 9 months of the year. It is always supplying Colossae and the surrounding areas with cold water.  As a result, Colossae was known for its vineyards and its crops.  Wool was also cultivated here, and the city was known for red-purple dye.  The tint was called Colossinous, from which the city got its name.

In the 4th & 5th centuries BC, Colossae is the leading city of Phrygia.  Then from the end of the 4th century to mid 3rd century, Hierapolis (15 miles to the NW) is being built up, and Laodicea is being developed as well.  Colossae no longer is the leading city, and begins to dwindle.  In the 60AD earthquake, Rome does not rebuild Colossae, but does rebuild Hierapolis.  Nevertheless Colossae is still minting coins in the 3rd century AD, but is gone by the 8th to 9th century.

Paul never visited here, but he writes a letter, probably at the request of Epaphrus, who started the church and was with Paul in prison in Rome.  Paul uses imagery in his letter, that the Colossians would be able to relate to out of their daily lives:

Col 1:6    The image of the gospel bearing fruit and growing.
Col 2:6-7    The image of being rooted, and of the overflowing abundance of water.
Col 3:8-12    Things to put off, things to put on, the way you are to clothe yourself as a part of resurrection living.  This is all a textile area.

Laodicea ("lay-o-dih-say-uh")

The city was founded in the 3rd century BC by Antiochus II.  It was named after his wife Laodice, whom he later divorced.  It was the leading city in the area in the 1st century AD.  It was 6 miles from Colossae and 11 miles from Hierapolis.

It was leveled by the earthquake in 17AD.  Rome rebuilt it.  In 26AD Laodicea competed against 10 other cities for the right to build the neokorus for emperor Tiberias.  This right is only given to one city.  Laodicea did not get the bid, because only 9 years after the earthquake, they did not have enough resources at that point.

It was leveled again by the earthquake in 60AD.  Rome offered to rebuild it again, but by this time the city was wealthy and strong enough that it refused the Roman assistance, and rebuilt it out of their own wealth.

Jesus uses images from the city’s history and current life as a context for his message to the church, found in Revelation 3:14-22: 

Rev 3:14-16    You are neither hot nor cold.  I wish you were one or the other.  But are lukewarm, and because of that I’m about to spit (or vomit) you out of my mouth.

How do we traditionally interpret this passage?  We think of this as hot being someone on fire for God, and cold being someone who clearly is opposed.  And we interpret this passage to mean that  God would rather have it clear who you are and where you stand, than to be lukewarm, riding the fence, dabbling in both worlds, not committed to either.  We’ve all heard sermons like that, and no doubt that’s a valid application of the Text.

But that’s not the point of the letter; it doesn’t fit the context.  The people there would have understood this quite differently.   And we need to have that understanding before we get into the rest of the letter.  So what have we already talked about that may apply?

∙    Hierapolis has hot water and it is good.  It is medicinal.
∙    Colossae has cold water and it is good.  It produces crops and vineyards.
∙    " I know your deeds.  You’re neither not nor cold.  You’re not helping anybody.  You’re not producing any fruit. There’s nothing good about what you do. You make me sick."

But the imagery is even stronger.  Laodicea had a water problem.  They had no natural spring, and water had to be piped in via aquaduct from a spring 6 miles away.  (I'm not sure whether this was from Colossae or not).  By the time the water arrived it was tepid, lukewarm, and full of calcium.  (Whether the calcium was leached from the stone after traveling 6 miles in the aquaduct, or whether the source of the water was a mineral hot springs so the water was laden with calcium to begin with is not clear).  But it was lukewarm and calcified by the time it got there, and it was not good to drink.  It literally made you want to vomit.  So Jesus has very clearly used the city's water situation to illustrate what he thought about the church:  "You're not good for anything; you make me sick".  And he goes on to use images from the city’s culture and history to make his message to the church really clear.

Rev 3:17-18    “You think you’re rich and need nothing, but you don’t realize you’re wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.”

• Laodicea was on the crossroads of N/S traffic (between Sardis & Perga) and E/W traffic (between Ephesus and the Euphrates river).  It was one of the wealthiest cities in the ancient world.  It was a great center of banking and finance, the banking center of Phrygia.  It minted its own coins.  Laodicea was wealthy enough to rebuild itself after the earthquake, but they did nothing to help Colossae with the same issue, only 6 miles away.  “Just like your city, you’re not doing anything good with your wealth.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich”.  Being rich toward God has nothing to do with your financial wealth.  Jesus said in Matthew 19:21 to give that to the poor and follow him, and you’ll have treasure in heaven.
   
• The Laodicean sheep produced raven-black wool.  It was world famous.  They produced the designer clothes of the day.  But the deal was that the calcified water was what caused the sheep’s wool to be raven-black.  “You think your deeds are pretty terrific, but you don’t realize that their source is tepid, and that there’s really nothing there.  I counsel you to buy from me white clothes to cover your shameful nakedness.  Get your clothes from me.  They’ll be white.  You’re not to look like the rest of your city”.  It’s probably not a stretch to apply Jesus’ words of being “Living water” here, when he says that rivers of life will flow from your innermost being (John 7:38)".  You drink from that, and you’re going to look and act different.
• Laodicea was famous for its school of medicine, and particularly for its eye salve, but Jesus says, “You’re blind.  I counsel you to buy salve to put on your eyes so you can see.  Get your eye salve from me so you can see the needs around you and do something about them."

Is there any hope for this church?

Rev 3:19    Those whom I love, I discipline.  So be earnest and repent.  Is that not a loving, inviting possibility?  Isn’t Jesus saying, “We can fix this; it’s not too late”?

Rev 3:20    The evening meal in Greek culture was called diepnon.  And in that culture, the Roman soldiers had the right to come to any house they wanted and demand that the meal be provided for them and their guests.  Jesus is saying, “I want to diepnon with you.  I’ll knock at the door, but it will be up to you to open it.  I want to fellowship with you.”

Rev 3:21    I don’t necessarily understand this verse, but it’s got to be good.

Rev 3:22    If this were in Hebrew, it would be, “Whoever has ears to sh’ma, let him sh’ma”.  But it is in Greek, and while the Greek language can separate hearing and doing, my understanding is that the Greek word here has the same dual meaning as sh’ma:  Hearing and doing.

Jesus’ message to this church echoes of the CCC mission statement: Restoring Our Broken World.  It sounds like expanding the kingdom of God and like supporting causes of justice and righteousness, all of which we talked about in earlier weeks.  And its not a message just to be agreed with.  Just as Jesus was telling the Laodiceans, it’s about hearing and doing.  What are you going to do?

Philadelphia

All we have of this ancient city is an old tell with marble shards on the top and barley growing all around.  Nothing of this city has been excavated.
                                       
History

The city of Philadelphia was founded by Eumenes II in the second century BC, for the purpose of spreading Hellenism, the Greek world view.  He named it after his brother Attilus II, who eventually was his successor in ruling the city.  Attilus II had earned the nickname Philadelphus which means “one who loves his brother”, because he did not listen to his advisors who were urging him to overthrow his brother and take over the city, before his time.

The city is on the Imperial Highway, connecting the major cities Ephesus and Pergamum with points east.  It was a doorway city, the doorway to the east.  It controlled the traffic.  It was built on a steep hill, which made it easier to protect.

It was in an earthquake-prone region.  It was on the fault line.  There were active volcanoes.  The soil is volcanic ash, and the area is known for its vineyards (grapes grow well in volcanic soil).  They had a monopoly on the vineyards.  The chief deity here is Dionysius, which makes sense because of the vineyards.

The city flourished in the 1st century BC. It was an important city to Rome. 

• It is decimated by the 17 AD earthquake.  There are tremors for days on end.  People move out of their houses and live in tents for extended periods of time (years).  Caesar Tiberias gives Roman funds to rebuild, and gives them exemption from tribute/taxes for 5 years.  The people respond by renaming the city Neo-Caesarea in honor of Tiberias.
• In 54 AD Nero comes to power and the city thinks twice about its name because of how bad Nero was, and returns it to its original Philadelphus.
• There is another devastating earthquake in the 70s AD, and emperor Vespasian gives Roman aid again.  And the city renames itself Flavia in honor of the Flavian family which included Vespasian (and also included Josephus).
• Domitian (son of Vespasian) comes to power in AD 81.  (Remember “lord and god” and “the beast”).  In 92 he wants to protect the viticulture of Italy, so he orders Philadelphia to pull up 50% of its vineyards and replace them with grain. (Egypt was the primary grain supplier for Rome).  Disobedience was punishable by death.
• When Domitian dies in 96 AD, he is thought of being such a bad emperor that he is given Damnatio Memorae and his name is scratched off everything in Rome.  The city again wants to disassociate itself from him and renames itself back to Philadelphus.

Understanding the Text

Jesus uses the city’s history to illustrate his message to the church, found in Revelation 3:17-13.

There are no corrections in here.  The only command is essentially to “hold on”.

V8    I have placed before you an open door.  That speaks of influence.  Are you going to be the influencer or the influencee?  The city is on a major trade route; it is the gate to the east.  There is opportunity here to spread the gospel of Jesus, rather than of Hellenism.

V8    You have (only) a little strength, a little power.  Think of all the changes and instability that has happened to them.  They’ve had to move out of their homes because of earthquakes; change their name because of who has been in power; change their vocation because of Domitian’s demands.  Everything has changed and gone haywire.  “Has God given up on us?”  They could easily fall prey to the other world views; hence the encouragement to hold on.  It is interesting that though they only have a little power, God has no criticism for them.  It reminds me of the verse that says God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

V9    You can find stuff all over the web about what the Synagogue of Satan refers to.  Our teacher said it probably refers to Jews who were given certain rights and protections under Rome.  Christianity came out of Judaism, but the Messiah message was not tolerated by Rome.  The Jews “turned in” the Christians, saying “they’re not one of us”.

V10    I don’t know what “keep you from the hour of trial that is to come on the whole world” refers to.

V11    I don’t have any context for understanding what “I am coming soon” means.

V11    The only imperative in the letter is “hold fast” krateo – grasp firmly.  As the world changes underneath you, hold on to Jesus.  Hold tightly.  God has not lost his place on the throne.  But unless you hold fast, you will not be able to endure.  This is a warning we can heed.  What does krateo look like?  Our teacher suggested the following:

• Take the Sabbath to keep your perspective by nurturing your relationship with God.
• Remember what God has already done.  Jews viewed themselves as walking backwards through life, always able to keep their bearings from the past.
• Remember your calling.  Don’t doubt in the dark what God has revealed to you in the light.       
• It is an Alijah experience.  It is a struggle upward to God.  The turbulence will make you stronger.
• How can you love God in the darkness?  Help someone else.

V12    Even though we don’t necessarily understand the symbolism, there is a lot of permanence and stability that is suggested there, as a reward for holding on.

• Because temples were so important, they were designed to absorb shock and resist earthquakes (but big earthquakes still win).  The picture of being a pillar in God's temple and never leaving suggests permanence and stability.
• I will write on them the name of my God, and of his City, and my new name.  These are names that are not going to be changed, and are not going to be erased.

Sardis 

Location

Sardis is located on what was the western edge of the Persian empire, at the end of the Persian royal road from Susa. It is in a very strategic and defensible location, among drastic geography on a spur line of the Tmolus mountains, overlooking the Hermus river valley.

The acropolis (city of the gods -- temples) and necropolis (city of the dead -- the cemetery) are on two separate mountains.  This is the only city in the ancient world built that way.  But viewed from the right angle, it looks like they are all on one mountain.

History

Sardis was the capital of the Lydian empire in the 7th - 5th centuries BC.  Its most famous and last king was Croesus, who decided to challenge Cyrus the Great in 547BC.  Cyrus besieged Sardis.  Everyone fled to the Acropolis on top of the mountain.  Cyrus circled for 2 weeks to try to find a way up.  A Persian soldier named Hiroates saw a helmet fall, and saw a Lydian soldier come out of a secret entrance to retrieve it. Under cover of night, Hiroates got into the city and opened the city gate.  Cyrus and the Persians got in, and the Lydians were conquered.

Sardis remained under Persian control until it was surrendered to Alexander the Great.  When he died, it was given to Seleucid, one of his generals.  Antiochus III was ruling in the Seleucid line when his cousin, Achaeus (one of his generals) rebelled and wanted Sardis for himself.  Antiochus came to take back the city.  What followed was a 2-year seige, again at the Acropolis.  Some of his soldiers noticed vultures circling at a place where they were throwing the dead bodies out of the Acropolis, over the wall, and they reasoned that that was an unguarded place.  They came under cover of darkness and with ladders were able to scale the wall and climb in.  So the impregnable city (Acropolis) fell under cover of night for the second time.

Artemis worship

Cybele (si’-bih-lee) was the mother-goddess of the region of Phrygia in more-ancient times.  She is associated with mountains, town and city walls, fertile nature, and wild animals, especially lions.  Some of her influence was still there in the 1 century AD, though in Sardis, Artemis became the mother goddess.

Sardis has the best-preserved Artemis temple in the world.  (The main temple to Artemis is in Ephesus).  Construction started in 334 BC when Alexander the Great freed Sardis from Persian rule.   They ran out of funds.  Construction resumed again in 176 BC.  The temple was functional but never completed.  It was decimated in the 17 AD earthquake, and rebuilt.  It was never completely done, but, again, was functional.

By some measure Artemis was the most important deity in the Greco-Roman world.  There were 50 different cities where she was one of the main gods/goddesses.  She is connected to sexuality and issues of fertility.  At that time, 50% of women died of childbirth by age 40, 50% of children died by age 3.  As a result, allegiance to Artemis was off the charts, to seek her protection.  The temple became wealthy, even functioning as a bank.

Every year there was an Artemis Festival.  There was a procession to her temple, where they would take her image out of the naos (holy-of-holies). Then there was a parade with people dressed in white, complete with cult prostitutes and ritual cutting, and then they would put her back in the naos.  As a part of this festival, men by the thousands would castrate themselves and lay their testicles on her altar.  It was their most significant act of worship:
∙    Placate Artemis because of fear of what she would do or cause or permit
∙    Seek her protection for your wife and kids
∙    Giving her your fertility since she is the goddess of fertility indicates your sincerity about this
So this parade was a very bloody occasion.

The city
                  
When we walk through the city today, we see a number of things that we don’t know how to interpret, perhaps because we don’t know the motive behind them or because we don’t know how to read the time-table.

• Shops with Christian markings on the main road (10 of 27 shops excavated had Christian proprietors).  They were not ashamed to make their Christianity visible to the ancient world.
• The largest synagogue of the ancient world. 
• Big table of animals dates to 1C.  The mother goddess Cybele is represented by lion.  Rome is represented by the eagle.
• Synagogue right next to shops.  Big property value.  Wealth and influence.
• Right next door to (actually part of) the Gymnasium, which included naked training. Is it influence?  Is it compromise?  Is it reuse?  Is it syncretism? Is it a multi-use facility?
• 4th century church with 6th century addition right next to Artemis temple, with access to the church from inside the temple.

Letter

Jesus once again uses the city’s history as the context for his message to the church, in Revelation 3:1-6:

V1   You have a reputation for being alive but you are dead

• Separate mountains for the acropolis and necropolis that look like the same mountain from the right angle.  You can’t distinguish between your life and death.
• Synagogue and the church (though the timeframe doesn’t fit), helps give us the impression that it looks like they are trying to live in both worlds, which really is Jesus’ point.

 V2  Wake up!  Strengthen what remains and is about to die.  I have found your deeds unfinished in my sight.

• They’ve established a Christian presence
• But haven’t distinguished themselves from the rest of the world.  They look just like the rest of the world.

V3   Remember, hold it fast repent - otherwise I will come like a thief

• Just like your city, you think you’re in a good position, but remember how it was taken twice unexpectedly in the night
• What is it about, if you don't want to repent?  It's pride, isn't it?  Jesus is saying, "You’re in a prideful position, thinking you have nothing to repent of, leading to apathy and complacency.  You will fall just like your fortress did."  Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall”.
• Gaavah - pride - to be high, tall, majestic
• Shever - destruction - to break or snap
• More literally “Pride falls before destruction” – you get too high such that you can’t support yourself and you break
• Pride wants itself to be high.  It wants to create a gap or separation between ourselves and others.  We don’t want to let other people into our struggles, because that closes the gap.
• Romans 12:3 - Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but with sound judgment.
• To be in the right place, get low to close the gaps
• Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less; don't think about yourself.
• To downplay the gifts God has given you is to downplay God
• Give God credit for what He is doing through you - redirect the praise.  When we would commend our teacher, he would always respond with "Bless God".

V4   “A few people who have not soiled their clothes.  They will walk with me dressed in white.”  A few people in Sardis did get this right, but most, including some in the church, were participating in the Artemis festivals.  Jesus says to wear white and walk in his parade.  It makes me think of 2 Corinthians 2:14, where it says that God leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

V5   "I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life".  We read something like that and think, “Well, there must be some condition under which my name could be blotted out”.  But we probably miss the point.  Christians standing against the Roman establishment (and particularly against Domitian) lost their lives and their names were blotted out from the city records, but Jesus says their name would be preserved where it matters most.  Ironically, Domitian himself was blotted out from Rome’s memory on a very large scale after his death.

Jesus is saying, "You are trying to hold onto both worlds - Christianity and Artemis worship -- and you can’t do both.  You’re proud of your position, and you think you’re alive, but you’re really dead because there’s nothing of value there.  Wake up before it is too late."  Is this not a warning to us to not look like the world?

Introduction to Revelation and the Greco-Roman World (November 30, 2014)

This lesson will be less from the Biblical Text and more from a historical perspective.  This is to build the background for the lessons which follow, from the letters to the seven churches of Revelation.  Our aim is to get ourselves oriented to the first century so we can understand the letters to the churches in the context in which they were written.

On the Isle of Patmos, John received a revelation that the cult of emperor worship would soon become deadly to Christ's followers.  The book of Revelation (or Apocalypse, meaning unveiling) is a warning, circulated to seven cities in the Roman province of Asia Minor.  John's main point is to challenge and encourage believers in the midst of their opposition and persecution.

Look at some of the messages you hear when you read Revelation chapter 1:

• Verse 1:  The revelation is about what must soon take place.  I think that means, "Pay attention because this is going to affect you".  My assumption is that the letters to the seven churches fall into that category.  After them, Chapter 4 starts with "I will show you what must take place after this".
• Verse 5:  Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth.  Don't forget that in light of what the Romans are doing.
• Verse 6:  Jesus has made us to be a kingdom of priests to serve God.  We're still to wear blue even when it isn't convenient.
• Verse 7:  Jesus is still going to come back.  Nothing has changed in God's plan.
• Verse 9:  We share in suffering, the Kingdom, and patient endurance in Jesus.
• Verse 18:  Jesus holds the keys of death and Hades, in spite of what Rome can do.

We'll look at the letters in subsequent lessons.  With this lesson we want to understand what it was like to be a Christian in the Greco-Roman world, and to understand how Christianity could have survived, much less thrived there, and to translate that to our present times.

There is debate about when the book was written.  The two main contenders are during the time of Nero (AD late 50s) or Domition (AD 95), both of whom were extreme persecutors of Christians.

Chapters 4-22 describe things which apparently occur after the times these churches were warned about, and we're not going to attempt to study or understand them, except to understand that in the end, God will make everything right and new.  No matter what we may have to go through in our present lives and no matter where our world is headed, there is great encouragement that persevering and remaining faithful is going to be well worth it.  It is, in fact, our only viable option, as well see in later lessons.

Apocalyptic literature was common about 30 BC - 180 AD.  You can imagine John using it because it was impossible to describe what he saw in his vision.  But it is also likely that John used it to disguise his anti-Roman message.

Foundations of the Greco-Roman World View

There are 2 key foundational aspects of the Greco-Roman world view.

1.  Gods and goddesses

I've always pretty much written this stuff off as fanciful; no one would really take it seriously.  In imagined that the people of the time would think of it like we think of Santa Claus.  But not so:  It was a core/central part of their culture.

The gods and goddesses were capricious, originating from the Greeks and incorporated and renamed into Roman society.  People made up these gods in their own image, glorified their excesses, worshiped them, and then ended up having to appease them.  This leads to more excesses, and a vicious circle.  They actually believed and lived out the mythologies we read about in high school.

The gods and goddesses had their own lives that they lived along-side human life.  Theirs was much like a soap-opera, and it intersected human life.  Some of the human heroes were considered to have been born out of divine/human unions.  Some of the great human heroes actually became gods through a process called apotheosis.

Exodus 20:4:  God told Israel not to make any images of anything to represent him, because of the tendency for that to become "God" and to worship it.  Then you begin to define God in your own terms.  So the Hebrews took this seriously, and wouldn't make an image of anything. For example, you will never see a Hebrew mosaic that depicted any object or likeness; you will only see geometric patterns.

But in the Greco-Roman world, images of the gods and goddesses were everywhere, in mosaics, statues, and temples.  There were many temples to many gods in the cities.  The temples were given the prominent locations in the cities.  They were massive.  You, as a stone-carver, may spend your entire life just carving part of one column in a temple (which might have hundreds of columns).  This was huge.  The gods controlled all aspects of life.  Different gods controlled different aspects.  Can you imagine what it was like having to continually appease many capricious gods?

Romans 1:21-23: Paul speaks of how they exchanged the glory and worship of God for images.

2.  Emperor worship and deity (Imperial Cult)

People worshiped the emperor, and considered him divine.  I've always written this off as another Santa Claus fantasy, but this is not true.  It was accepted and fashionable in Rome, but in Asia Minor (western Turkey, where these churches are), it was over the top.  Emperors were incarnations of the gods on earth.  This started with Augustus and was carried through the line.  It was considered treason to not worship the emperor.

A list of the first several emperors:

1. 61 -44 BC  Julius Caesar - moved the power from the senate to the emperor
2. 27BC - 14 AD  Octavian - Caesar Augustus -- means divine son of god.  He was Julius' great-nephew.  Julius was said to have ascended to Zeus (Jupiter) and was declared to be divine, so Augustus claimed to be the son of a god and Zeus incarnate.  He was 100% divine and 100% human.  He was ruling when Jesus was born.
3. 14 - 37 AD  Tiberias -- was ruling when Jesus died.
4. 37 - 41 AD  Caligula, also known as Gaius.  He was wacko, an insane tyrant.
5. 41- 54 AD  Claudius - Made all the Jews leave Rome (Acts18:12)
6. 54 - 68 AD  Nero - Apollo incarnate, burned Rome, blamed the Christians, tortured Christians.  Revelation may have been written in his time.
7. 68 - 69 AD  Galba, Otho, Vitellius
8. 69 -79 AD  Vespasian -- was ruling when his son Titus took Jerusalem in 70 AD and Masada a couple years later.
9. 79 - 81 AD  Titus, son of Vespasian
10. 81 - 96 AD  Domitian, another son of Vespasian.  His nickname was "The Beast".  He tortured Christians.  He demanded that everyone address him as "lord and god", even his wife.  He was formally erased from memory (damnatio memoraie -- condemnation of memory, his name scratched off all the records and carvings) after his death because he was such a wicked ruler.  Revelation may have been written in his time (95 AD).
11. 96 - 98 AD  Nerva
12. 98 - 117 AD  Trajan
13. 117 - 138  AD  Hadrian

There were massive temples to worship the emperors.  Cities vied for the right to build a worship center for the emperor - the emperor's neokorus.  Such a city would have been given the ranking of neocorates, and would received favorable treatment from the emperor.  Cities wanted this rank.

Here are some points from an article I found regarding the Imperial Cult:

• Many scholars see worship of the emperor as the background for the worship of the Beast in Revelation
• In no part of the world was there such fervent and sincere loyalty to the emperors as in Asia (western Turkey).  Augtustus had been a savior to the Asian peoples, and they deified him as the Savior of Mankind, and worshiped him with the most whole-hearted devotion as the "present deity".
• Augustus is known in some inscriptions as CAESAR DIVI FILIUS, Son of God, that is, Son of eternal Caesar.  Oaths were taken on the divine spirit of the emperor.  His image was publicly adored.  Worship of the image was a regular military duty.
• Caligula was the first emperor to demand to be worshiped; he demanded that citizens everywhere bow to his name.
• Nero also claimed to be divine.  As Augustus had been Zeus incarnate, so Nero was Apollo incarnate.  Even Seneca called him "the long-awaited savior of the world".
• Domitian took the title "lord and god" and ordered people (even his wife) to confess he was "lord and god" as a test of loyalty.

How prevalent was the Imperial Cult in Asia Minor?  Of the seven cities mentioned in Revelation chapters 2-3, five have imperial priests and altars (all but Philadelphia and Laodicea) and six have imperial temples (all but Thyatira).  At Pergamum, an imperial temple was established as early as 28 BC.  Pergamum was so central to the imperial cult that Revelation describes it as "where Satan has his throne".  In short, a Christian in Asia Minor could not avoid the imperial cult.

It was during the reign of Domitian that the Imperial Cult became a unifying factor of the empire in Asia Minor.  If you lived within the empire, then you owed the emperor supreme allegiance.  So it is not hard to see the struggle which Christians in the late first century would have showing allegiance to Rome -- if that allegiance required worship of the emperor, then the Christians must refuse or compromise their faith.

Christianity in the Greco-Roman World

When we think of the "gospel:", we think of the gospel of Jesus, but the word means simply "good news", and Rome had its own gospel -- the euangelion.  The Latin form of that is evangelium, where we get our word "evangelical" and words related to it.  It just means "good news". The Greco-Roman world has its own message of good news.  It includes the gods, deity of the emperors and their worship, and the Pax Romana or the "Roman Peace", which is peace maintained by force.  All who agree and believe in the deity of the emperor will have eternal life.  The emperor is given such titles as "Lord", "God", and "Savior".

So if you're a disciple of Jesus, and you're taking the Gospel of Jesus to the Greco-Roman world, does it mean anything?  By all appearances, they already have what the gospel offers:

• Son of God
• Eternal life
• Peace
• Resurrection of the dead (the god Dionysius)

So why should anyone be interested in hearing about the Gospel of Jesus?  What do you do?  We'll just let this sit in tension for now.

Key elements of the Greco-Roman society

There are several key elements that were part of the Greco-Roman society or culture.

1.  Theater:  The god of theater is Dionysius.  He is also the god of wine and drunkenness.  The theater was both to entertain and to instruct.  It was the proponent of the Greco-Roman world view -- what Caesar wanted you to understand/believe.  It would promote the gospel of Roman culture in an entertaining and uninhibited way.  It would push the envelope.  It was the equivalent of Hollywood.  The plays reflected what the Roman establishment wanted you to believe was the actual truth.

Each spring there was the Dionysia or spring festival celebrating the resurrection of Dionysius.  So here you've even got a god who was raised from the dead.

Look at Colossians chapter 3.  Here Paul spends the chapter telling the people how to live in a "posture" of having been "raised with Christ" (verse 1), so Christ's resurrection is the backdrop for what he's saying.

Colossians 3:17:  Paul got that from the theater.  Each play started with, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, may it all be done in the name of Dionysius."  Paul says, "Think of how you used to live to honor Dionysius, who was said to have been raised from the dead; live now to honor Christ instead, who actually was raised from the dead and has given you the same resurrection life".

2.  Sebasteion:  I cannot find any evidence that suggests there was another Sebasteion, other than than the one in Aphrodesia, outside the temple to Apollo, which we talked about a few weeks ago.  This was the big wall complex that held the sculpted reliefs which told an imposing message:

• Greek mythology
• History of Rome's successes
• Gods and emperors
• Current story of the day

Aphrodesia was home to the premier sculpture school of the day. There would have been plenty of artists to keep the stories current.

3.  Stadium:   Stadiums were used for athletic contests and gladiator fights.  Rome valued bloody fights.  This was a blood-thirsty culture. The gladiators usually fought against slaves.  Usually it was a fight to death, such as for capital punishment.  Sometimes it was a way to die with honor, rather than being tortured or thrown to the animals in the arena.  Sometimes it wasn't to death.  A slave might be able to win his freedom by prevailing in the gladiator arena.

Everyone could attend, from all classes of society.  This was probably the only place in the culture where everyone could go.  The gladiator contests were sponsored by Rome.  You showed your allegiance by attending.  So if, as a Christian you don't think this is a very God-honoring place to be, consider what the consequences would be for not proving your allegiance to Rome.

4.  Gymnasium:  This comes from the Greeks, and was originally intended for physical exercise and training.  Scholarship, philosophy, and ethics were added over time.  In the Roman culture they were used for exercise, communal bathing, and scholarly and philosophical education.  The word gymnus means "naked".  The gymnasium was a naked school as far as the exercise and baths were concerned.

Closely related were the Roman Baths, both inside and outside the gymnasium.  They were not about hygiene, but were a social institution.  They were very elaborate complexes, with hot and cold rooms.  Part of the Greek influence was the appreciation of beauty, and nothing was more beautiful than the naked human body.  Hence there was so much nakedness in art and in actual life, such as the sporting events, baths, and mixed-gender open-air public toilets.

5.  Nymphaeum:  This is the decorative water fountain which was the source of the city's water.  The water flows from the temple of a particular god or goddess.  Do you want water?  You've got to honor the deity.

6.  Agora:  This is the market place.  You cannot participate in the market, either buying or selling without paying tribute to the patron god, and/or the emperor.

Other social institutions

1.  Medicine:   Asclepius was the god of healing.  Do you want to go to the doctor?  If you go to the medical centers, you'll need to pay homage to Asclepius.

2.  Social classes:  You had to associate with people in your class.  Not everyone could go everywhere.  Slaves were the lowest class.  There were many slaves in Roman society, maybe half or more of the people.  My understanding is that the people they conquered were assimilated as slaves.

3.  Patria potestas:  "Power of a father".  From Roman law, this was absolute power that the male head of the family exercised over his children and his remote descendants in the male line, whatever their age, including anyone brought into his family by adoption.  The father alone held power of capital punishment, and any rights in private law.

When children were born, he alone decided whether they were to be kept or discarded.  The discarded children either died of exposure, or were taken to the agora where someone would pick them up and raise them for the brothels.

Those who were kept still had no inheritance rights unless they were formally adopted by the father.   It is out of this background that there is so much said in the New Testament letters about God adopting us as his children, so we receive the same inheritance as Christ.

4.  Guilds:  Labor unions of tradesmen/craftsmen of a particular trade.  These were your social, religious, and civic connections.  You can't do your kind of work in the city if you're not part of that guild.  Each guild had its own patron deity.  You had to pay tribute to the deity to be part of the guild.  Do you want to work?  Honor the deity.

Acts 19:23-27:  Think of Demitrius the silversmith and his fellow craftsmen who made silver shrines for Artemis in Ephesus.  This was an example of a guild.

Guild feasts were similar to Symposia, just in the context of the guild.

5.  Symposia:  These were banquets put on by a patron.  This was a patron/client world.  It's all about relationships, politics, and getting ahead.  As a patron, you honor your clients, who are helping you climb your social or political ladder, while you help them climb theirs.  The symposia was a banquet someone held for those whom he wanted to help support him in the next election, for example.  You always wanted to be invited.  The whole social structure consisted of multiple pyramid schemes occurring simultaneously.

The Symposia took place in the andron -- "the men's room", a room in the home where the banquet took place.  Think of it like a "gentlemen's club".  You socialize in the bathhouse or pool in the home before dinner.  Couches are set up all over the andron.  You recline.  Servants bring food and drink.  Professional male and female strippers abound.  It's a big orgy.  Young boys are available.  It's a symbol of your power and authority to have sex with young boys.  Sometimes it's a right of passage for the boy.  The servants are required to perform whatever sexual favors the person on the couch wants.

Wine flowed freely, in bowls mixed with water.  As the party progressed, the amount of water was decreased, thus increasing the drunkenness.

At some point the host would take a bowl of wine and pour it out as a drink offering to Dionysius.  "We do all of this for and because of him".  The point of the symposia was to get drunk, have sex, eat food, and party together as a way of honoring and declaring allegiance to the patron, who was the host of the home.  In the Greco-Roman world, sex and drunkenness reign supreme.

Adultery was when you had sex with someone who was married. Whether you were married or not did not matter; what mattered was the marital status of the other person.  Sex between husband and wife was only for procreation; otherwise you had slaves for sex.

Conclusion

How many times have you read Scripture passages that describe what the Gentiles do, and go on to say not to live like them?   So often I read those words and think of it as some hypothetical situation perhaps, not realizing how much those words speak to the very core of the Greco-Roman society.

• Ephesians 4:17-19
• Ephesians 5:18
• Galatians 5:19-21
• Romans 1:24-32

So if you're a Christian in the Greco-Roman world, what do you do?  You have nothing to offer them that they apparently don't already have, and you can't participate in society on any level unless you want to be part of what you know is wrong.  We've got a major culture clash here.

There are 4 ways to deal with culture clash:

1. Concede and retreat.  Think of the Essenes, or perhaps legalistic Christians
2. Condemn and criticize.  Think of abortion clinic bombers.
3. Compromise.  Think of the Nicolaitans -- "gods aren't God, so we can worship them in a civic sense".  But the Nicolaitans were compromisers.  "Go ahead, appease the emperor; you don't need to be overt about your beliefs".  Jesus said he hated this kind of thinking, and we'll encounter it in some of the seven churches.
4. Contend at the crossroads.  Some of the message of the book "Roaring Lambs" by Rob Briner is as follows:
1. Be involved in the culture.  Christians need to be in every aspect of society, and need to re-enter the fields we have fled.
2. Christianity is not an affirmation of theology, but a life lived out.  People will praise God because of what you do, not because of what you say you believe.
3. Be salt and light.  They don't do any good until they come into contact with something.  It doesn't take much, but it's got to be where it is needed.  A Sebasteion has to be where the world is walking if it is to be at the crossroads.
4. Be known for what we're for, not for what we're against.

How are we going to do this?  We probably need individual answers, but we need to hold ourselves accountable to each other in community.  How long are the doors going to be open in our own country to be in places of influence?  How long will it be before we have to compromise our faith if we want to earn a living, or visit the doctor, or buy food, etc?  Some of these early Christians paid the ultimate price to live out their faith.  We'll see that in more detail as we look at the seven churches.

What changed Asia Minor?

Something did change Asia Minor.  Christianity took a hit for a long time, but eventually prevailed.  (And then it suffered when it was adopted as the official religion of the Roman empire).


How did these early Christians survive?  No doubt they had to live in community and develop alternative networks, depending on each other for various goods and services.  It seems God could have provided for them that way.

How were these early Christians to have an influence?  It's like they have nothing of interest to offer to the culture.  But here's a suggestion.

Matthew 22:36-40:  It's the Sh'ma.  It sounds like Jesus is giving 2 commandments there, but they're run together as a single command by the use of the word ve'ahavta, meaning, "and you shall love".

I John 4:20-21:  How do you love God?  You love your neighbor.  How do you love your neighbor?

Matthew 7:12:  This is sort of the same thing that Hillel taught (from last week’s lesson), except he taught the negative side of it – not to do what you don’t want done to you.  Jesus took that and turned it on its head; he made it proactive.

Psalm 103:1:  Praise the Lord, all my inmost being.  Praise his holy name.  The word praise is barakh.  It means "to praise" or "to bless".  The word barekh is the word for knee.  It has the same consonants (but different vowel sounds), so the words are related.  To praise or to bless is literally "to bend the knee".  By me bending the knee, I make someone else bigger.  I take the emphasis off myself.  I this particular passage, I make God bigger.

In the ancient world, everything was about making yourself as big and well-known as possible.  What's going to change Asia Minor is to live out your Christian life by bending the knee to those around you.  That's going to stand out.

• Slaves were accepted by Christians on equal terms with other classes.  The church was class-less.
• The Christians took care of the sick and dying, when they were discarded by the medical establishment.
• The Christians redeemed the unwanted babies from the agora and adopted them.

Philippians 2:5-11:  Jesus bent the knee first.  The emperor makes you sacrifice and bow to him.  Jesus came to bend the knee.

Matthew 20:25-28:  You want to become great?  Become a servant.  The Son of Man came to bend his knee to others.  This what the Way, the Truth, and the Life looks like.

John 13:1-17:  What Jesus did was outrageous. This was the lowest activity possible.  It was slave's work.  Peter says Jesus is above that.  Jesus says, "Now that you have experienced these things, you will be blessed if you do them.  I needed to show you one last time what it means to follow me."

If you want to change the world, bend the knee.  Jesus had every right to be big, but he took every opportunity to get low.  The entire Roman world can't handle that posture.  It blows it all out of the water.  That's what changed their world, and its the only thing that will change ours.  The greatest among us is the one who is willing to serve.

• How do you love God?  By loving others
• How do you love others?  By bending the knee

Revelation 4:1-2:  By way of encouragement to all of the churches, we see God on throne, even after the troubles they will go through.  He's in charge all the way to the end.  The reward is there for those who will remain faithful.

Handouts


Introduction to Revelation from the 2011 NIV

    Revelation 1

Foundations of the Greco-Roman World View

    Gods and goddesses
        apotheosis
        Exodus 20:4
        Romans 1:21-23

    Emperor worship and deity (Imperial Cult)
        61 - 44 BC        Julius Caesar
        27 BC - 14 AD    Caesar Augustus (Octavian)
        14 - 37AD        Tiberias
        37 - 41 AD        Caligula
        41 - 54 AD        Claudius
        54 - 68 AD        Nero
        68 - 69 AD        Galba, Otho, and Vitellius
        69 - 79 AD        Vespasian
        79 - 81 AD        Titus
        81 - 96 AD        Domitian (damnatio memoraie)
        96 - 98 AD        Nerva
        98 - 117 AD        Trajan
        117 - 138 AD        Hadrian
        ...
        neokorus
        neocorates
        CAESAR DIVI FILIUS
   
Christianity in the Greco-Roman world

    euangelion, evangelium
    Pax Romana

Elements of the Greco-Roman world

    Theatre
    Dionysius
    Dionysia
    Colossians 3:17
    Sebasteion
    Stadium
    Gymnasium
    gymnus
    Nymphaeum
    Agora

Other social institutions

    Medicine
    Social classes
    Patria potestas
    Guilds
    Acts 19:23-27
    Symposia
    Andron
   
What do we do?

    Ephesians 4:17-19
    Ephesians 5:18
    Galatians 5:19-21
    Romans 1:24-32
    Dealing with culture-clash
        1
        2
        3
        4
        “Roaring Lambs” by Rob Briner
    Matthew 22:36-40
    I John 4:20-21
    Matthew 7:12
    Psalm 103:1
    Philippians 2:5-11
    Matthew 20:25-28
    John 13:1-17
    Revelation 4:1-2