El Shaddai Ministries

Pastor Mark Biltz: Hold on, buckle in. There are going to be some things that are going to be amazing today. They say the one thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history. I'm going to give you some history that you may not be aware of, so let's get started.

Before we start with the Book of Revelation, we're going to be going into the letters to the different assemblies or churches. What is the first congregation that's mentioned? Ephesus. Before we go to the message to Ephesus, let's remind ourselves whenever you study any book: context, context, context. The context isn't just the one book, it's all the books.

Let's start in Acts 18:19-21. It says they came to Ephesus and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and he was reasoning with the Jews. Where is the Gospel going? In the synagogue. There are Gentiles in this building with the Jews. The Jews and Gentiles met together in the synagogues. Here they asked him to stay, so they were not rejecting Paul or his message, but Paul declined. On taking leave of them, he said, "I will return to you if God wills," and he set sail from Ephesus.

Now look at chapter 18 of Acts, verse 24-26. There was a Jew named Apollos, who was a native of Alexandria, and where did he go? He came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, he was competent in the Scriptures, he had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Yeshua, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, and when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God even more accurately. This is happening in Ephesus.

Look at chapter 19, verse 24 and 25. There's a man named Demetrius, who was a silversmith, and he made silver shrines of Artemis, and he brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together with the workmen in similar trades and said, "Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth." What happens? He tells them if these guys keep preaching to everybody, we're going to lose our business because they won't want to worship the great gods.

In verse 34, when they recognized that he was a Jew, for almost two hours they all cried out with one voice, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" We know this writing to the church of Ephesus is where they had strong worship to pagan gods and goddesses.

In 1 Corinthians 16:8 and 9, he says, "I will stay in Ephesus until" when? "Pentecost or Shavuot." They were keeping all the feasts. He says, "A wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries." How many of you know whenever you're trying to do God's work, you're going to have adversaries? Who knows the Hebrew word for adversary? Satan, Shaitan. That's the Hebrew word for adversary.

Now let's take a look at 1 Timothy chapter 1, verses 3 through 11. "As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than stewardship from God that is by faith." We see they had a bunch of false teachers. He wouldn't have said that if there weren't false teachers there.

Then he says, "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." That's the most important thing. A lot of people will come preaching doctrines and they're just mean. It's the Torah terrorist or false doctrine, but the main point is love. He says there are certain people, by swerving from this, they've wandered away into vain discussion.

They desire to be teachers of the Torah, but they don't have any understanding of either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. This happens today. There are a lot of people that either throw out the Torah or they come and make all these strong assertions and they don't know what they're talking about.

He says, "We know the law is" what? Good. That's if you use it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, murderers, sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

All of this is going on in Ephesus. It's just like a knife. If someone is coming at you with a knife, is it for good or bad? It depends. If it's a surgeon having to remove your appendix, it's a good thing. The point is how you use the knife. You can't blame the knife; you have to blame the person who's wielding it.

We're going to the Menorah. He's speaking to the seven assemblies, which are also the seven stars, which also refers to the commandments, which also refers to the Torah. There are many layers. I want you to look at this. Revelation 2:1-2 says, "To the angel of the assembly in" where? Ephesus, write: The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. What is the first thing he says? "I know your works." To each one of these seven, he makes the same comment: "I know your works." That means works are important.

Works aren't important for salvation. Our works have nothing to do with our salvation. But you're going to be rewarded for your works. I don't want to go into eternity with nothing to show for it. This is why Revelation speaks of end times and God is telling us we need to go to work. God doesn't want a bunch of handicapped kids that aren't doing anything for His glory.

He also says, "I know your toil, your patient endurance, how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but you have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not and found them to be false." What does that mean? That means there have been false apostles at Ephesus.

If you remember in my book I wrote "Decoding the Antichrist," the Antichrist is not going to be a Muslim. The Antichrist is not going to be a Jew. The Antichrist is going to be a Christian. That's what the apostle John says. Paul and John say they came out from among us. John says they came out from among us, all these Antichrists. No one would be deceived if it was a Muslim or if it was a Jew. The deception is going to come because the Antichrist is going to come across as a believer. That's why the deception is going to be so strong.

We just read this letter was from one who's walking in the midst of the candlesticks. Look at Deuteronomy 23:14. It says, "Because the Lord your God is" doing what? "Walking in the midst of your camp," and the purpose is to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp must be what? Holy. So that He may not see anything indecent among you and then turn away from you. We have to tie the whole book of Revelation back to the Torah so we can see what He's talking about. These churches, these assemblies have to be holy because He's walking in their midst.

Look at Psalm 1:5-6. "Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked will perish." What is he telling the people at Ephesus? "I'm glad that you know who are the evil, who are the wicked, and they are not among you." Look at Matthew 24:11 and 12. "Many false prophets will rise and will deceive many. Because iniquity will abound, the love of many will wax cold, but he that endures to the end will be saved and this gospel will be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations and then shall the end come."

When you look at these false prophets that are arising, again, this is why the deception is going to be so strong. There's another verse I think I read last week where it talks about there will be people who say, "But Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name. We cast out demons in your name. We did many wonderful works in your name." He's going to say, "I don't know you."

Muslims do not prophesy in Jesus' name. The Jews do not prophesy in Jesus' name. Atheists do not prophesy in Jesus' name. Who prophesies in Jesus' name and does wonderful works in Jesus' name? Christians. This is speaking to Christians, where we can be deceived thinking that just because we come to church we're good. But if you're just coming to church to sell something or meet someone, what good does that do?

Revelation 2:3-4, He says to the church of Ephesus: "I know you are enduring patiently and you're bearing up for my name's sake and you've not grown weary." But He says, "I have this against you: you have abandoned the love you had at first." How many of you know sometimes when you're working hard for the Lord and everything, you can get weary, you can get tired, and sometimes you wonder why in the world am I here? What is the purpose? They've abandoned the love they had at first.

I can't help but think of the Shema. We're to do what? To love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Leviticus 19:18, you're to love your neighbor as yourself. We have to realize sometimes love isn't always a feeling, it's a choice. Love's a choice. I choose to put you before myself. I want to help you. That's what true love is. That's what the Torah does; it defines love.

Look at Jeremiah chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and He says, "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, thus says the Lord, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness in a land not sown." That was the love that was there at the beginning, but also what happens? The love of many waxes cold and it begins to wane. Sometimes that's like when the fire goes out, the lights go out. How do you start the fire again? You need some wind, the Ruach, the spirit. You need to get some of the wood or put yourself there again on the altar and ask the Lord to blow.

Malachi 3:13-15, He's speaking to the Levites here. He says, "Your words have been hard against me," says the Lord. But you say, "How have we spoken against you?" God tells the Levites He heard what they said. They said, "Oh, it is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge?" In other words, why were they in it to begin with? The motivation was profit. It wasn't to magnify His name.

They say, "What is the profit of our keeping his charge and of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed, evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape." How many of you sometimes wonder, God, how come I'm serving you with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength and the wicked are prospering and I'm not? It's not fair. That's what David said and then he said, "Oops, but I saw where they went, and then I was glad."

Revelation 2:5, look at this. "Remember therefore from where you've fallen and repent and do" what? They need to do their works that they did at first. He says, "If not, I'll come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent." Then look what he tells the Ephesians. He says, "Yet this is the good news: you do hate the work of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."

What does that mean? How many of you have ever studied the work of the Nicolaitans? If God hates it, don't you think it'd be a good idea for us to know what He hates? I think as believers we need to know what He loves and love it as well, and what He hates and hate it as well. There are different theories on what the Nicolaitans are by the scholars. Everyone has some different theory, but many agree on different ones. I'm going to give you what I think it is based on the context.

He's telling the Ephesian church to hate the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. What was happening in the Ephesian church? They were having false apostles, false teachers. Remember? That's what this is talking about. So let's look at it historically and in more detail. Who wrote the Book of Revelation? John, Yochanan. John was born in about 6 AD or CE and he died around 100 AD or CE. He wrote the Book of Revelation about the year 95.

Now there's another guy named Polycarp. Polycarp lived from 70 AD, when the temple was destroyed, to about 155 AD. He was the Bishop of Smyrna that this letter was written to. We'll know that Polycarp is the guy that's the Bishop of Smyrna in the Book of Revelation where it's talking about that. Notice he knew John for 30 years. They say historically Polycarp was John's disciple. John personally discipled Polycarp for about 20 years or 15 years. How many of you would like to have John for 15 years as a mentor? Talk about what actually happened. That was Polycarp.

Now it so happens there's another guy born a little bit later named Irenaeus. He was born in the year 125 and lived to the year 202, and he was born in Smyrna so he knew Polycarp. He didn't know John, but he knew Polycarp. He was born in Smyrna and he ended up becoming the Bishop of Lyons in 177 AD. Look what he had said: "The Jews are disinherited from the grace of God." Irenaeus is considered one of the first Church Fathers. This is what is going on.

The Nicolaitans were one of the heretical sects that plagued the assembly of Pergamum that we'll be talking about. It didn't plague Ephesus because Ephesus hated that doctrine, just like God did. That's why it's not at Ephesus, but God is mentioning it, that Pergamum has it and when I talk to my letter to Pergamum, I'm going to mention to them they have this horrible doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Irenaeus, who lived from 125 to 202, wrote who the Nicolaitans were. Even though he was an anti-Semite, from 2,000 years ago if you read his writing, he tells you back then who they thought they were, so I go with him from an historical point of view.

He said that the Nicolaitans were the followers of Nicolaus, who was one of the seven chosen in Acts 6. Remember they said, "How come you're serving the Hebrews and not the Greeks?" so they chose seven people to minister to them. They say that he got weird and he was one of the men, he says, who led lives of unrestrained indulgence. He related them also to Gnosticism. I'm going to define Gnosticism. Gnostics considered themselves Christians and they saw Jesus as a heavenly messenger. However, they rejected the idea of God becoming a human. They rejected the idea of God incarnate, dying and rising bodily.

Now here's the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. It appears also to be a form of antinomianism. Nomos is law. They were Torah-less. The Nicolaitans were the church that said the law's done away with. They were the ones who wanted nothing to do with it. As a matter of fact, when it talks about that wicked one will be revealed in Thessalonians, the wicked one in Greek is "anomos," without law. But they also make the fatal mistake that man can freely partake in sin because the law of God is no longer binding. This is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

It opposes what he wrote 2,000 years ago. He said it supposes that a merely intellectual belief held a saving power. Just believing it, you don't need to do anything God says, you just need to know the facts. Antinomianism comes from the Greek word meaning lawless or Torah-less. In the second century, the Nicolaitans seem to have continued and extended their views, holding to the freedom of the flesh and sinning, teaching that the deeds of the flesh had no effect upon the health of the soul and consequently no relation to salvation.

This is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Today the doctrine is now largely taught that the Gospel of Christ has made God's law of no effect and that by simply believing we're released from the necessity of being doers of the word. But this is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which was condemned in the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 2:7, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the assemblies. To the one who conquers," he says, "I will grant to eat of the tree of life," which is where? In the paradise of God. That's the Garden of Eden. We see the tree of life was in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:9, we see that out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, good for food, the tree of life also was in the midst of the garden.

Revelation 21:1-2, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth passed away, there was no more sea and I, John, saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Here comes the New Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem is not going to be in Argentina. The New Jerusalem is going to be in Jerusalem, Israel.

Revelation 22:1 and 2, "He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street, on either side of the river was the tree of life." There it is in the New Jerusalem, the tree of life. That means the Garden of Eden was also in Jerusalem at the beginning. It wasn't over in Iraq like many people believe. The Garden of Eden was in Jerusalem.

Now again, let me ask you something. Was the Garden of Eden part of creation when God spoke it? No, because it says the Lord God planted the garden. He personally came down and He planted the garden, and then it says He picked up the man and put him in the garden that He had planted. When you realize that was Jerusalem, when He rose from the dead and Mary comes and she thought he was the gardener, he was! He's the one who planted it.

Revelation 2:8, here we go, the next assembly is Smyrna. "These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive." Smyrna is about the distance from Tacoma to Seattle. Smyrna was about 40 miles north of Ephesus. The first thing he says in Revelation 2:9 to Smyrna, he says, "I know your works and tribulation and poverty, but you are rich. I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the assembly of Satan." Many Christians misunderstand this verse, spiritualize this verse, and say these are the real Jews and aren't the real Jews and they belong to Satan. That's not what this is saying.

What this is saying is exactly what is happening today. There are many people who claim to be Jews and they're not. You have to be careful. You have to find your identity in the Messiah. Your identity is not in being Jewish. Your identity is not in being one of the lost tribes. You have to find your identity in the Messiah. But there are people who claim just like the Samaritans claimed to be the true Jews until Hanukkah came and they realized they were going to die and they said, "Oh no we're not, we're just kidding." I tell you what right now, there are a lot of people who claim to be Jews today and they're from one of the lost tribes, but when persecution comes they'll be the first ones to say, "Oh no I'm not."

Even today in the news, just recently there's a big dispute on how you define Judaism. Trump recognized the Jewish settlements as being legal and I think it's Title 6 or Title 9. The State Department has one definition for anti-Semitism, let's say, but the Education Department had a different definition. They solved that problem by saying is Jewishness a religion or a nationality? That's the problem because there are Jews from every nation. So can it be a nationality? But there are a lot of Jews that are atheists, so is it a religion? So how do you define it?

The big problem today is the far left are all upset that he gave them the title of a nation. Why? Because that demolishes BDS in the colleges. All the colleges are promoting BDS and according to the government regulations they can't because in the past they only couldn't discriminate based on race or color, something like that. But now they've added nation, and so now any college that promotes BDS loses government funding. That is a good thing.

BDS concerning Israel means you boycott, you divest from them, and you sanction them. That's what the colleges are promoting. What Trump did now, he's helping the nation of Israel and the Jewish people, saying any colleges that are anti-Semitic and doing this kind of thing, you're going to have your government funds taken. That's a good thing. But the other thing is, now the Jews over in America were saying, "But I'm not from Israel. Are you saying I'm not an American anymore?" So it's going to cause some conflict, but I believe God's stirring the pot and that's okay.

Basically the thing that I believe is when it says those who are Jews and are not, I believe this speaks also of replacement theology where the church says, "We've replaced Israel. We are the true Israel, we're the true Jews." That can be a big problem.

Revelation 2:10 to Smyrna, he says, "Do not fear any of those things which you are going to suffer. Behold, the devil is going to cast some of you in prison that you may be tried and you shall have tribulation ten days. Be faithful to death and I will give you a crown of life." In the Book of Revelation at the end times, He's speaking, I believe, see this is the other thing, you have to realize there are many layers. I believe this was speaking historically to that particular church in Turkey at that time. That doesn't mean it won't apply to us in the future, but we have to realize the first implication is it was directly to them at that time.

Revelation 2:11, he says, "He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches or assemblies. He that overcomes will not be hurt of the second death." I would be more worried about the second death than the first death.

As many of you know, I've almost died so many times I've lost count. I've had guns at my head twice and they said they were going to blow my head off and I am still here. Major car accidents, all kinds of things. It's like I have no fear of death because I know God has numbered my days and there's nothing I can do to add or subtract from it. God just makes sure I get my mission done before I go.

The other thing I want to bring out for new people that may not have known this, in Revelation it talks about those in this verse that are of the synagogue of Satan. Oh, synagogue of Satan, Satan goes to Jews. But do you know the problem is the English translation? Because in the book of James, whose name was Jacob, it says if one comes to your assembly with a gold ring, the word is "sunagoge." But they translated it as assembly, not synagogue, because they didn't want anyone to think they were meeting in synagogues.

But now in Revelation where it talks about the synagogue of Satan, the word is "sunagoge" but now they translate it as synagogue because they want to equate Satan to the synagogue. So the same Greek word they translate as assembly over here, but over here synagogue. Is the media biased? So were the English translators. Why didn't they put assembly of Satan, like I put in my notes? That's the correct translation, not synagogue of Satan.

Now here's the thing. Polycarp, remember, is the Bishop of Smyrna. We don't find anything wrong with Smyrna. Smyrna has no problem. Smyrna's great. I think it's the only church He doesn't have any problems with. Historically, it is evidence in the difference between the believers who were in Asia and the Christians who were in Rome. This is where the separation came. It had to do with the observance of Passover.

Constantine, around 340 BC, said we're no longer going to keep Passover, we're going to do Easter. But they had already talked about it for over 150 years. He wasn't the first one to discuss it, Polycarp was. And he had discussed it with the apostle John, who he knew. Let me tell you what was said. While the churches in Rome had begun celebrating Easter as a replacement for Passover, Polycarp and the churches in Asia continued to observe the Passover on the 14th day of Nisan, the first month as the Bible requires.

This difference was quite visible since Easter always fell on a Sunday and Passover could fall on any day of the week depending on when the 14th day of Nisan fell. This difference between the churches in Rome and those in Asia continued throughout the lifetime of Polycarp. Later, a man by the name of Victor, who became one of the Roman Catholic Church's first popes, moved to establish uniformity among the churches by demanding that the seven churches in Revelation forsake their practice of observing Passover and begin observing Easter.

Now there's another man named Polycrates. Polycrates lived around 130 to 196, and he was the Bishop of Ephesus at this time, the one that John is writing to in Ephesus. Polycrates is a student of Polycarp. He wrote that the leaders of the congregation in Asia led by Polycarp decided that they would remain faithful to the practice they had received from the apostles of the first century. Explaining their decision, Polycrates wrote the following to Pope Victor I: "We will observe the exact day, neither adding nor taking away. For in Asia also, great lights or good people have fallen asleep, which shall rise again on the day of the Lord's coming, when He shall come with glory from heaven and shall seek out all the saints."

Polycrates wrote that Polycarp followed Passover and then he names all these other prominent people who did Passover, not Easter. He said even Thraseas and Sagaris and Papirius and Melito, for those greater than I have said we ought to obey God rather than man. I could mention the bishops who were present when I summoned at your desire, whose names should I write them would constitute a great multitude. There were many of the leaders in Asia wanted nothing to do with the pagan Rome's decision to stop doing Passover and start doing Easter.

Then he says, "All these observed the 14th day of the Passover according to the gospel, deviating in no respect but following the rule of faith. And I also Polycrates, the least of you all, do according to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have closely followed." He says seven of his relatives were bishops and he is the eighth, and his relatives always observed the day when the people put away the leaven. "I therefore, brethren, who have lived now 65 years in the Lord and have met with the brethren throughout the world and have gone through every holy scripture, am not afraid by your terrifying words, for those greater than I have said we ought to obey God rather than man."

He says they, beholding my littleness, gave their consent, knowing that I did not bear my gray hairs in vain but at always governed my life by the Lord Yeshua. I want you to see how soon this was going on. As a matter of fact, how many of you have ever heard of Justin Martyr? Look at when he lived. He was born right after John died. He was born in 100, he lived to 165, and so he knew Polycarp. He knew Polycarp, and Justin Martyr wrote, in speaking to a Jew he said, "The Scriptures are not yours anymore but ours."

This is how quickly the tide was turning. As a matter of fact, which I talk a lot about in my book "Decoding the Antichrist," the early Church Fathers did not know Torah. All they had was Socrates and Plato and Aristotle. That was where they got the moral philosophy from, the pagan philosophers.

Look at what Justin Martyr himself wrote, who's considered one of the early Church Fathers. According to Justin Martyr, Christianity filled the highest aspirations of Platonic philosophy and was therefore the true philosophy. In his first book, Justin argued that there were traces of Christian truth that could be found in pagan writings. He held to a doctrine which asserted that God had prepared a way to His final revelation in Jesus through hints of truth that are found within classical Greek philosophy.

The early Church Fathers, who were not Jews, many were anti-Semites and all they had for their philosophy was Greek philosophy and they tried to merge the two together. That becomes lukewarm. This is why we need to study the book of Revelation so we can see who John was talking to, what the problems really were. With that, let's stand and pray. Hopefully I didn't go over a little bit, but I hope you enjoy this study.