Revelation 2:23

And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. HER CHILDREN - (Isaiah 57:3; Ezekiel 23:45; Ezekiel 23:47.) Her proper adherents: not those who suffer, but those who are begotten of, her. A distinct class from those, Revelation 2:22 (cf. note there), whose sin was that only of connivance. KILL ... WITH DEATH - which overtook the literal Jezebel's votaries of Baal, and Ahab's sons ...

18-29 Even when the Lord knows the works of his people to be wrought in love, faith, zeal, and patience; yet if his eyes, which are as a flame of fire, observe them committing or allowing what is evil, he will rebuke, correct, or punish them. Here is praise of the ministry and people of Thyatira, by One who knew the principles from which they acted. They grew wiser and better. All Christians should earnestly desire that their last works may be their best works. Yet this church connived at some wicked seducers. God is known by the judgments he executes; and by this upon seducers, he shows his certain knowledge of the hearts of men, of their principles, designs, frame, and temper. Encouragement is given to those who kept themselves pure and undefiled. It is dangerous to despise the mystery of God, and as dangerous to receive the mysteries of Satan. Let us beware of the depths of Satan, of...

Verse 23. _AND I WILL KILL HER CHILDREN WITH DEATH_] "That is, I will certainly destroy her offspring and memory, and thereby ruin her designs. Jezebel's two sons, being both kings were both slain; and after that, all the seventy sons of Ahab; (2 Kings 10:1); in all which the hand of God was very visible. In the same manner God predicts the destruction of the heretics and heresies referred to; see Revelation 2:16. It should seem by the expression, _I am he which searcheth the reins and the hearts_, that these heretics lurked about, and sowed their pernicious doctrines _secretly_. But our Saviour tells them that it was in vain, for he had power to bring their deeds to light, having that Divine power of searching into the Evilly and affections of men; and hereby he would show both them and...

AND I WILL KILL HER CHILDREN WITH DEATH - A strong Hebraistic mode of expression, meaning that he would certainly destroy them. It has been made a question whether the word “children” here is to be taken literally or figuratively. The word itself would admit of either interpretation; and there is nothing in the connection by which its meaning here can be determined. If it is to be taken literally, it is in accordance with what is often threatened in the Scriptures, that children shall be visited with calamity for the sins of parents, and with what often occurs in fact, that they do thus suffer. For it is no uncommon thing that whole families are made desolate on account of the sin and folly of the parent. See the notes on Romans 5:19. If it is to be taken figuratively, then it refers to those who had imbibed her doctrines, and who, of course, would suffer in the pu

EXPOSITION REVELATION 3:1 _The epistles to the seven Churches. _Once more we have to consider rival interpretations. Of these we may safely set aside all those which make the seven letters to be pictures of _successive periods _in the history of the Church. On the other hand, we may safely deny that the letters are _purely typical, _and relate to nothing definite in history. Rather they are _both historical and typical. _They refer primarily to the actual condition of the several Churches in St. John's own day, and then are intended for the instruction, encouragement, and warning of the Church and the Churches throughout all time. The Catholic Church, or any one of its branches, will at any period find itself reflected in one or other of the seven Churches. For two Churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia, there is nothing but

AND I WILL KILL HER CHILDREN WITH DEATH,.... Her popes, cardinals, priests, Jesuits, monks, friars, and all that join in the Romish apostasy, they shall be killed with death; there shall be an utter extirpation of them in God's own time; or they shall be killed with the second death: מותנא, when used alone, or as distinct from any other kind of death, signifies the plague; compare with this 2 Kings 9:24; AND ALL THE CHURCHES: that shall be in being at the time of Rome's destruction: SHALL KNOW THAT I AM HE THAT SEARCHETH THE REINS AND HEART; or am the omniscient God; which will be known by inflicting punishment on the followers of antichrist; when their hidden things of darkness will be brought to light, and exposed by him; and they shall receive the righteous reward of their evil practices, which they have coloured over, and glossed with specious prete

II. THE THINGS WHICH ARE, THE SEVEN CHURCH MESSAGES, AND THEIR PROPHETIC MEANING CHAPTER 2 _ 1. Ephesus: The post-apostolic period (Revelation 2:1)_ 2. Smyrna: The period of persecution (Revelation 2:8) 3. Pergamos: The corruption period (Revelation 2:12) 4. Thyatira: The Romish corruption (Revelation 2:18) The two Chapter s which follow the introductory chapter contain seven messages to seven local churches which were in existence in the province of Asia in the days when the Apostle John was prisoner in the isle of Patmos. The view held by the late Dr. Bullinge

REVELATION 2:1 TO REVELATION 3:22. THE LETTERS TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES. These letters are addressed to individual churches, but their messages are intended for the Church as a whole. In every letter there occurs the phrase, He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches....

_THYATIRA_ IS NAMED FIRST IN ACTS, CHAPTER XVI. IT IS PROBABLE THAT LYDIA AND HER HOUSEHOLD FORMED THE NUCLEUS OF THE CHURCH. THE NAME IS NOT MENTIONED AGAIN UNTIL IT APPEARS IN REVELATION. THE CITY WAS SITUATED NEAR PERGAMOS, STILL EXISTS UNDER. NEW NAME, AND CONTAINS ABOUT. THOUSAND HOUSES. THE CHURCH WAS REBUKED IN THE LETTER OF THE LORD, FOR FALLING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF. WOMAN WHOSE LIKENESS TO THE IDOLATROUS QUEEN OF AHAB GIVES HER THE NAME OF JEZEBEL. THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN. PROFESSED CHRISTIAN POPULATION. THE SEVEN CHURCHES.--At the time when John wrote there were hundreds of churches in existence. On the Asiatic Continent many had been founded in Judea, Syria, and elsewhere, and in the district of which Ephesus was the commercial metropolis, and which was especially designated as _Asia,_ we know that in the last quarter of the first century there were not only the seven churches...

THE LETTER TO EPHESUS (Revelation 2:1-7)...