JMA Missions Mid-Month May 2026
The Great Commission in the New Testament
The Mighty Book of Revelation, part 3
Welcome back to our ongoing series. This is #3 on the Great Commission in the book of Revelation.
Disclaimer: This is not a study on end-times. We will not be producing charts, or lunar eclipse calendars, or forcing any certain end-times interpretation on the text which the context does not support. Let me briefly remind us all of the three main parts of the inductive method we use: observation, interpretation, application.
Last month, we looked at the letters to the churches, ch2-3, focusing on the evaluation of the discipleship process by Jesus. He told each church, "I know your works", and He followed that up with some encouragements and corrections, all aimed at 'making disciples' who love Him, who hold to the truth, and who are faithful.
This month, we are going to relook at these same chapters, at an important aspect of 'making disciples' within the context of the local church which the Great Commissioner brings out. Last month, He focused on 'works'. This month, He is calling out 'teaching'.
First, there were false apostles, ch2:2. In the early days of the church, there were a lot of ministers traveling from one church to another. Some of them were not legit! Some were conmen! Some were trying to preach a different gospel (Galatians 1-2). Some were just pretenders (Philippians 1:18).
The church in Ephesus was founded by an actual apostle in Acts 19. So, that church knew very well what an apostle was, and when rando dudes came to town saying this and that, the church was able to determine pretty quickly they were lying. Also, about 8 years after planting this church, Paul wrote them a letter, which was and is a pretty fabulous doctrinal statement.
Second, there was a group called the Nicolaitans (Revelation 2:6, 15). This is the only reference to these people in the Bible, and the extra biblical historical records are not exactly clear. Whoever they were, it appears that they had established a presence at Ephesus and Pergamos. Many commentators believe they held some form of gnostic teaching (we are not going to explore that here, do your own homework!). What we see in v6 is the deeds of the Nicolaitans, and in v15, the doctrines. And we also see that Jesus hates it.
The deeds and doctrines of the Nicolaitans were connected to another false teaching called the doctrine of Balaam (ch2:14-15). In Numbers 22, Balaam, a local soothsayer, was hired to curse the children of Israel as they came out of Egypt, but the Lord would not let him. But what he did was to give advice to Balak (Numbers 31:16), the Bible does not record that conversation, only that it happened. What we see is that Balaam was determined destroy God's people by trickery. Food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality were normal life to many people in the day. The church was normalizing the behaviors of the people in the culture in which it was planted. Instead of changing the culture, the church looked just like it.
Finally at Thyatira, we find Jezebel. No one knows if this was the lady's real name, or she was being called that because of her behavior. What we should notice: v20, the church allowed her; she called herself a prophetess (a lying title, and stolen authority); sexual immorality and food sacrificed to idols (the same two issues as Balaam); v21, chance to repent given and refused; v22-23, judgment; v24, not everyone had this doctrine, 'known the depths of Satan', this phrase is found nowhere else.
So, the Jezebel is a doctrine, known as the 'depths of Satan'. I personally don't know what that is, but I'm thinking it can't be good!
In a nutshell, we have false apostles teaching who knows what but they're getting found out. We have groups of Nicolaitans in the church whose deeds and doctrines Jesus hates. We have false prophets and pretenders teaching church members the best way to defile themselves. And we have an Old Testament evil queen also defiling the church members!
This is why Paul said, 2 Corinthians 11:28, "besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches."
The Great Commissioner is also concerned! In Matthew 28, He said, "teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you."
The Great Commission is not done until Ephesians 4:13-14, 13"till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting"
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