The Seven Churches Of Asia 13

INTRO: We are studying the seven churches of Asia. Ephesus means to let go, to relax. Smyrna meant bitter, but the name comes from myrrh, which makes a perfume. At Smyrna they suffered bitter persecution, but they became a sweet aroma to God. Perrgamos meant a high place and to marry. To marry the church and the world. Thyatira has a number of suggestions, but the idea of unwearying sacrifice may be the meaning.
The promise to the Ephesian church was that the Lord would give to the overcomer to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God; to Smyrna, that they would not be hurt by the second death; to Perrgamos, He would give to eat of the hidden manna and give him a white stone the name of which no one knew but the one that got it; to the church at Thyatira, He would give power to rule over the nations, and He would give him the morning star.
We recommended that Ephesus pictured the early Church in the time of the apostles. Smyrna pictured the church during the time of the persecutions of Rome. It was the church whose name meant bitter but it made a sweet smell to God. No criticism was given to this church. We are now in the fourth century. When we come to Perrgamos, the royal city, we enter the time after Constantine supposedly became a Christian. It is the beginning of Roman Catholicism. Thyatira is Catholicism in full bloom, it was or began the time called the pornocrasy.