← All lessons

The Book of Revelation - Part 9

19 Apr 2026 · this lesson on the church site

Taught by Dr. Keith Palmer, Grace Bible Church, Granbury, Texas — from the church’s Sunday School series on Revelation. These are lightly edited transcripts of the audio, posted for personal study; the teaching and its content belong to Dr. Palmer and Grace Bible Church. Listen to the originals and find his notes on the church website. Transcribed from the audio by AI. Edited only where the audio was unclear (all edits marked with *). Errors are possible — the recording is the authority.

Introduction (00:00)

Back to Revelation. We've taken a few weeks off to think about Easter, the moon landing, and related fun things, but we're coming back to the book of Revelation. If you're just joining us, or if you came along the way, we're looking verse by verse through the book of Revelation. It's the last book in the New Testament and the last book in the Bible. As we see in the latter chapters, especially chapter 22, this book takes us from where the early church was in the first century, as the gospel first went out from the apostles, to the new heavens and the new earth and the final judgment. So Revelation bridges a gap between the first century and eternity yet to come. That's why we're particularly interested in it, because you and I are curious. What happens now? The gospel is going forth, and here we are at Grace Bible Church in 2026, trying to be faithful.

When we hear of wars and rumors of wars in the Middle East and things about Israel and whatnot, we say, "Wow, what are we supposed to think about these things?" We'll get to all of that. But the book of Revelation is designed first and foremost to show us the message of Jesus Christ. Remember, the title of the book helps us know what it's about. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ to the apostle John, given to his churches.

Review of the Outline (01:01)

We're working through the first section, which is all about the letters to the seven churches. By way of review, remember the outline:

  1. A brief introduction, which we saw back in chapter 1.
  2. The letters to the seven churches.
  3. What chapter 4, verse 1 calls "the things that take place after", meaning future things.

We will get to all those fun items in the future. For now, let's look briefly at the diagram of the book to load it back up into your minds. The top row represents the 22 chapters, and there is a series of visions that come over the course of those chapters.

So that's where we're coming from and where we're going. It'll be a great journey.

Returning to Thyatira (03:06)

Now let's jump back into the section we left off in Revelation chapter 2. If you want to turn there, these two chapters, chapter 2 and chapter 3, address letters to specific, historic, actual churches. I was in a Bible department meeting with the Masters University Bible faculty this last week. We have students in Israel. There's an extension campus there, and because of all the issues going on, the decision was made to move those students out of Israel. So what are they doing? They're in Greece, touring some of these places. I guess they're not in the seven churches. They're over in Greece, in Philippi and Thessalonica and whatnot. I think they're going to go to Crete too. But there are actual historic churches and artifacts that relate to the churches in the New Testament.

If we jump across the Aegean to the west coast of Turkey, that's where we find the seven churches. We've looked at Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamum, and now we're coming down to Thyatira. We started this a couple of weeks ago, so I'm going to review, and we'll come back and finish it off. There were a couple of particular verses we didn't get to that are of great significance.

Historical Background of Thyatira (04:11)

Let me remind you of the background of Thyatira. Like many of these other churches, it is a historic church. It is 40 miles southeast of Pergamum. It was established in the third century BC* and came under Roman control around 190 BC. You'll remember that in Acts 16, Lydia is described as a seller of purple garments, and she was from Thyatira. We actually have archaeological evidence that gives some credibility to that in terms of what was manufactured there. There is a lot of architectural evidence of pagan worship here: Apollo, Artemis, Helios, and other false deities of the Greco-Roman world.

There are some fun pictures here. This one references Titus Vespasian. You can't read it, I know, but you can kind of see Titus Vespasian there, with a reference to his rule. There are lots of fun little artifacts with Greek writing. Some of the ruins here are of temples and various other structures. This was actually part of the marketplace. You'll see the road here in a minute. Where is that one? Yes, here are the remains of the road, the major thoroughfare in ancient days. Again, there are a lot of old ancient ruins there.

The Chiastic Structure of the Letters (05:14)

I mentioned this earlier, and some of you were intrigued, so let me circle back to it. I put it in your notes because some of you asked for it. The structure of the letters may form something of a chiastic structure. I don't want to review it in full since we talked about it last time, but essentially the letters are arranged like a mirror image. So:

This is not seen so much in the actual syntax and grammar you would see in poetry. It is more of a thematic chiastic structure. Ephesus lost its first love. Laodicea was lukewarm. Smyrna is given largely a positive message. Philadelphia is given a positive message from Jesus. Both Smyrna and Philadelphia are mentioned as dealing with those who are fighting against the so-called synagogue of Satan. So you can see how they mirror each other.

Remember, X marks the spot. You have this X pattern, this arrowhead, and it points to the center element, which is Thyatira. It is the longest letter, and it is the only church that specifically references all the churches. Perhaps there's a reason for that. We don't want to make too much of it, other than to say that as Jesus brought this message, giving it through the angel to John, he arranged it in a way that is artistically significant. That's called a chiasm, and this is a thematic chiasm because of the arrangement of the themes and patterns in the verses.

Reading Revelation 2:18–29 (07:23)

We've got to move on, so let's jump right into the text. Let's load it back up here. Revelation 2:18:

"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 'The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like burnished bronze, says this: I know your deeds, your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and leads my bond servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold to this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them, I place no other burden on you. Nevertheless, hold fast what you have until I come. He who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"

Now, you should be thinking that sounds a little familiar. Yes, it does. You see the reference to Psalm 2 right there at the end, so we'll circle back and talk about that. But let's get caught up. Let me review where we were last time, and then I'm going to very quickly get to the section we didn't get to, so I don't run out of time today.

Review: The Son of God Described (09:29)

Here we go. This is the angel of the church of Thyatira. Some of the references we saw last time: this is the only place where Jesus calls himself the Son of God, so there's some significance there. Remember, back in chapter 1 we saw that description of Jesus, and we see elements that Jesus is using here. John saw the vision. He saw Jesus and described him: his eyes like a flame of fire, his feet like burnished bronze. John wrote that down. Then as Jesus writes to these individual churches, he references different parts of what John saw, and that's significant. Eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished bronze are references to those elements.

Commendation and Admonition (10:36)

In Revelation 2:19, we see the commendation: Jesus says, "I know your deeds, Thyatira, your love and your faith and service and perseverance," and he notes that their deeds of late are greater than at first. We said last time that this is a very good sign of a true believer. A true believer is someone who is growing and maturing. Not perfect, still with work to do. But when you and I see evidence of growing fruit and the development of Christlike character, those are good signs that we are walking with the Lord the way we should. Jesus commends them for deeds that are greater than at first, and their faith is growing. We say amen and amen.

Then Jesus turns to admonishment. In Revelation 2:20, which is where we left off last time, the admonishment is that they tolerate, look at the text back at verse 20, "the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess," who teaches and leads his bond servants astray. One of the things we've seen Jesus do, and we're going to see it throughout the book of Revelation, is use analogies. He talks about people or nations from the past that in some way describe present or future persons or even nations. Here we have one of those references: these folks at Thyatira are being deceived* by a woman running around Thyatira, a self-proclaimed prophetess, a girl prophet whom Jesus calls here Jezebel. Now, let me ask you a question. We'll ask our young theologians here. Okay. If Jesus is going to call a lady Jezebel, do you think that's a compliment? Or do you think that's a critique? What do you think? Probably a critique. I think you're right. Why would that be a critique? What do you think? Why a critique? She was not a good woman. Yes, we saw this back in 1 Kings 16. This gal was a piece of work. She killed the prophets. She went after Elijah. She led her husband Ahab, who was supposed to be leading the Jewish nation to fear and love Yahweh, and she strayed him. Well, he was not a great guy anyway, but she added to that and led him to full-blown idolatry and to the bringing in of pagan gods and worship into the nation of Israel. So be careful who you marry. Be careful who you marry. This is not a good lady to follow. And she would not repent. That's right. That's right.

Okay, so Jesus is going to take this historic wife of Ahab, and he's going to say, Thyatira, there's a gal running around in your community who is just like her, or similar to her in some way. In this case, Jesus says she calls herself a prophetess, and she is teaching, back to verse 20, "teaching and leading my bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols." We've seen this in some of the other letters. What's going on in the Greco-Roman world as men and women are being saved and becoming Christians is: okay, what does this new life following Christ look like? You remember that the culture of the day was such that many people in the community were involved in idolatrous, pagan, false-god rituals and religious practices. These involved things like sexual immorality. They involved idol worship. They involved the sacrifice of food items to those false gods. And so here we have someone who says that in some way she's a believer. In fact, she's a prophet of God. And yet she is leading Christians to continue in these things.

Syncretism (13:46)

We talked about the issue of syncretism. You remember that word? What does syncretism mean? It could be two things that are in sync, and that's yeah, that makes sense. Add to that, Joan. Right. Yeah, so we're bringing different things together, sort of in sync. You're right. But it's kind of like going to your favorite ice cream shop or frozen yogurt shop, and you're like, I'm going to have a little bit of sherbet and a little bit of Rocky Road and a little bit of mint chip and a little bit of pistachio, and you're putting it all together. If you have young children, that's what they do in ice cream shops, right? They just kind of... and then they add gummy worms and sprinkles and stuff like that. Syncretism is where we take different things and put them all together into a system that sort of tries to go together, and that's what's going on here.

This prophetess was not saying Jesus is horrible, the gospel is wrong, and you need to abandon it. What she was saying was, yes, Jesus is important, yes, the Bible is important, Christianity is important, but you need to do these other things. The Judaizers did the same thing in other churches. They said, yeah, Christianity is great, but you need to do some of these uniquely Jewish practices from the Old Testament, merging those together. And I think, guys, as I think about the challenges of life today, that's true for us too, isn't it? There are ideas, practices, and things we can put our time and money into out there that are out of alignment with our faith, but we're tempted to merge them into Christianity. Again, we're not abandoning Jesus. We're still going to church, we're still singing Christian songs and whatnot, but we're starting to act like the world over here and over here and over here. The danger is when we make that compatible with Christianity, and we're blinded to the incongruities, and we get comfortable with a composite, with a merging of those things together. That's syncretism.

So I think one of the challenges of this letter is that we need to look at our lives and say, are there things that I have started adding to my Christianity? Or maybe there are things that were just part of your life or my life before Christ, and I've brought in Christianity, but I'm still engaged in these worldly things, and somehow I've gotten comfortable letting those things be married to my new faith. What Jesus is saying is, he wants it all. He wants us to purge our lives of anything that does not fully align with a consistent faith in the Lord Jesus. That might be a good home group conversation to have, or a talk with your family after lunch today. Just ask, are there things we've adopted in our family that really conflict with our faith rather than helping it, and we've just gotten used to them?

Okay, I think that's helpful here. Jesus reaches back in history and pulls up Jezebel as an example and says, hey, you've got a prophetess, Thyatirans, right here today, and you need to look out for her. She's teaching, she's calling herself a prophetess, she leads them astray, and notice the things here: practicing sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols. Remember, that's merged with pagan worship. So it's not just the eating that's the issue; it's that it's joined with false worship and idolatry itself.

Jezebel's Teaching and Judgment (17:59)

Why would she teach those things? We talked about this. She's probably teaching these things because they're popular. You guys know that what false teachers do, and this is true today, is take some Christianity and merge it with practices that are popular, and bring them together, and that's how they get a following and an audience. That's how they sell books. That's how they get YouTube channels. It's all about appealing to worldliness and the fallen desires we're attracted to. It's nothing new. She's just doing what was popular in the culture, trying to meld it with Christianity to get a following.

We've got to move on. Furthermore, she is speaking for God, and we talked about the danger of speaking for God. We talked about some different categories:

We talked about some of that. Jesus goes on: "I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality." We're going to see a reference to this in Revelation chapters 17, 18, and 19, talking about Babylon. We get similar language here about immorality and a refusal to repent. So that's a preview of what's coming.

Jesus says, as a judgment, she will be thrown on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation. Remember, that could actually mean there's physical immorality going on as part of the idolatry of the day. So, actual physical immorality. But it could also be a reference to the fact that when Christians go after a false teacher, the Bible describes that false worship, that false pursuit of religious things outside of or out of alignment with Scripture, as adultery or immorality. So perhaps it's talking more about their unfaithfulness to the Lord here than physical adultery, but nonetheless, both are certainly in view. And unless they repent, this is going to continue.

Furthermore, if she doesn't repent, and her followers, it says here, "I will kill her children with pestilence," literally, to strike her children dead. The children are probably the followers of the false teacher, not her physical children. Then "all the churches will know." This is interesting, so let's pick it back up here. Look at verse 23: "and I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know." Here's the reference to all churches that we don't get in any of the other six letters. And all the churches will know what? What are they going to know? Yeah, they're going to know that Jesus knows. That's exactly right.

So let's pause here for a minute and get ourselves in this frame. What is Jesus saying to this church, and as a warning to all churches, which includes, guess what? Grace Bible Church of Granbury, 2026. Jesus knows our hearts, doesn't he? No one may see the syncretism that you and I have allowed to creep in. Sometimes people see that, sometimes they don't. People don't always see our struggles, do they? One of the most deceptive and dangerous ideas that you and I can entertain as Christians goes like this: "But no one will know." How many times have we justified something we know is not right and said, "But nobody will know"? I'll raise my hand. You've done that?

The One Who Searches the

So the warning here is, we're not fooling the King of Kings. His eyes are a flame of fire. What does that mean? Purity. He sees right through; it penetrates, right? It's a reminder that what Jesus is looking for is sincerity of heart. He wants to see undistracted devotion and unhindered service coming from the heart. Again, are we going to be perfect in this life? No, but he's looking for sincerity there. That's what he says here, that all the churches will know that "I am he who searches the minds and hearts." There's a reference there to Jeremiah 17 and Psalm 7*, which use that language. Remember, mind and heart are used somewhat synonymously here to talk about the inner man, the real you. Jesus knows the real you.

That can be a blessing or a threat, right? It's a blessing when you do what is right, when you sacrifice, when you apply your faith to an area that's hard and hurts, and yet you're like, this is about my Savior, so I'm going to do it. Maybe no one else knows about that. Well, guess what? The One who searches the minds and hearts knows, and he sees your faith, and he's honored and glorified by that. That's a blessing, that he can see our inner man. But it's also a threat, because when you and I think that nobody sees and nobody knows, and we're somehow fooling God, that's foolish talk, because he sees right into us. Let's remember too that even when he sees our shortcomings and our sins, that knowledge is actually intended to be redemptive. When we see that we're not fooling anybody, we can go to him and ask for his help and repentance, and he will help us there.

So the warning here, guys, is that Jesus is the one who searches the minds and hearts of all of us. And notice this: "and I will give to each one according to your deeds." It's interesting, it's plural here now. So we're not talking about just the individual here. He will give to each one, plural, according to their deeds. This is interesting. Hold your place in Revelation. Flip back to Jeremiah chapter 17.

Jeremiah 17 and the Heart (24:17)

We've seen a couple of references to language in Jeremiah. There's a reason Revelation comes at the end of your Bible. Do you know why that is? It's not just because it's about the end of the story. It's because Revelation assumes you've read the first 65 books of the Bible. There's language, there are references to historic people like Jezebel, there's symbolic language, there's prophecy, and all of that. Revelation is going to assume more of the reader than almost any other book in the Bible. It assumes that you know what's going on in the first 65 books and that you're going to pick up on some of this stuff.

So we see this in Jeremiah 17. You know that passage. It's the passage about the cursed man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, like the bush in the desert. Then there's the one who trusts in the Lord, the tree planted by water. Those of you who have read David Powlison's illustration, or Paul Tripp and Tim Lane's book How People Change, know the diagram in there, what we call the three trees diagram. That's where we get this from.

This is also the passage where verse 9 says, "The heart is more deceitful than all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?" Look at the next verse: "I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind." Notice the contrast. We should talk about that in terms of the depravity of the human heart, and that's true. Even our own hearts are so tricky and deceptive that it's hard to know what's going on in there. We say, "Man," and then God says, "But I know your heart. I know exactly what's going on." There's our little parallel of heart and mind again.

Look at verse 10: "to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds."

Judgment According to Deeds (26:22)

From Genesis to Revelation, you will read over and over that God will recompense you and all people according to their deeds. What do you think about that? Good news, bad news? "But we're safe by being so bad"? Okay, George. Let's take the blanket statement here: God will judge you according to your deeds. Good news, bad news. Bad news. Yes, that's exactly it. We will see this again in Romans, and we will see it in Revelation, that God judges according to deeds and gives the proper responses. "Oh Lord, if you mark our transgressions, who could stand?"

A judgment of all people for their deeds is not good news for any honest person. God does not judge on a sliding scale, where everybody fails the class and the professor goes back and adjusts the curve. No, it's what Romans 3:23 says: all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, period.

Why This Points to the Gospel (27:27)

So this is not good news, and that is why Easter matters so much. A few weeks back we talked about the atonement and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and it's so important because there is no hope for anybody if God judges us on the basis of deeds, unless we have a substitute. And the Lord Jesus came and did what? He lived the life you and I should have lived, in perfect conformity to God's moral law. So if Jesus, as the God-man, is judged on the basis of his deeds, how does he do? Perfect score. He's the only human being who has ever lived in perfect conformity to the law of God. He's the only one whose deeds are perfect.

Which means that if God judges on the basis of our deeds, our only hope is a substitute who lived perfectly and offers his deeds to us. This is what we call the active obedience of Christ, his perfect righteousness. You know the passage: God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. It's an exchange of deeds. The gospel is all about an exchange. He gets my sin, and I get his righteousness, that perfect record of keeping the law.

So yes, God judges on the basis of deeds, and the only hope we have is if the deeds of Christ get credited to our account. That's what happens at justification, and that's what happens in the atonement for people who repent and trust in Jesus alone. So when you hear this, George is right: where's the gospel in this? The judgment according to deeds is what sets up our need for the gospel. Do you see that? Does that make sense?

We can talk about believers being judged for rewards and things like that, and we will. But in this context, that's not really what's being referenced. What's being referenced is the reality that God will judge all people according to their deeds.

Revelation 20: The Great White Throne (29:40)

Now turn back to Revelation. Go right past chapter 2 and head over to chapter 20, because in Revelation 20:12–13 we see the fulfillment of what Jeremiah taught, what Jesus taught in Revelation 2 and Matthew 16, and in many other places in the Bible: people will be judged according to their deeds. At the judgment, the great white throne is set up. Verse 12: "I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books," according to their deeds. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds."

So this final judgment is the fulfillment of exactly what Revelation says in chapter 2, what Jesus said in Matthew 16, and what Jeremiah said in chapter 17: people are judged according to their deeds. My understanding of this passage is that believers do not stand in this judgment. Why? Because the merits of Christ have already been applied, and so there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). If you have a different view on that, we'll get to it down the road, in a few weeks.

Final Encouragements to Thyatira (31:50)

Back to Revelation 2, to Thyatira. Here are some final encouragements. Verse 24: "But I say to you again, in the plural, still, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them."

Notice that Jesus has used this kind of language in multiple churches. When you and I take something from the world, or from fallen humanity, or from some other religious system, and we superglue it to Christianity and develop a comfort with it, call that syncretism. That's not a small thing. Jesus is using words like "the doctrine of Satan" and "the deep things of Satan." I don't know what you think about Satan and his strategies. I did a whole series on spiritual warfare last summer, so maybe go back and listen to that. But you need to understand that anything you and I believe, want, speak, or practice that is out of alignment with Scripture is, by definition, Satanic, because there are only two choices:

Even though you may not be overtly or consciously saying, "I want to follow Satan today," unbelievers don't do that. But they don't realize that they are under the power of the god of this world. Until we're rescued by the gospel, that's who we're following. So when we take worldly things and try to align them with the gospel and with Christianity just because we like them, we're actually mixing in with what they call here the deep things of Satan. The Bible isn't saying that to exaggerate. It's saying it because you and I don't realize what we're messing with.

So he says to the rest, who have not gotten involved in these deep things of Satan, "I place no other burden on you." Then he says this, and this is great: "Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come." There's that reference to persevering that we see in lots of these letters. Faithfulness to the gospel is growth, as we saw here, but you know what Al Mohler's famous line was: don't just do something, stand there, think about it. A significant part of what Christianity means is just staying faithful, practicing what you know is true. Yes, we want to grow, but it's mostly about faithfulness, or holding fast.

Faithfulness and Reigning with Christ (34:00)

"He who overcomes and who keeps my deeds until the end," and watch this, "to him I will give authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from my Father." Stop right there and say what he just said to the one who overcomes, the one who perseveres. What's the outcome? Rule over the nations.

What do you think about in your future? You think about what's coming ahead. One of the incredible promises we read in Scripture is that if we belong to Christ and persevere, we will also reign with him one day. Can I show you something real quick? Just hold your place there. We saw Psalm 2, where God gives the Son authority to rule the nations with a rod of iron. What Psalm 2 doesn't say is that his people will be with him. Hold your place there and go back to Daniel 7. We looked at Daniel a few weeks back, and this is the last time for the morning, so let's go back, guys.

Daniel 7: The Saints Receive the Kingdom (35:08)

Daniel is receiving this vision. You remember, this is the Ancient of Days, and we talked about the Son of Man coming in this wonderful vision. We've looked at that already, but notice what Daniel describes in chapter 7, verse 18, as the vision is interpreted to him, talking about the beasts and the four kings and whatnot. We'll get into all that later in Revelation, but notice the takeaway in 7:18: "But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever." The saints, that is, the followers of this King, the Son of Man, will inherit that kingdom and possess it.

Look down to verse 27 of the same chapter: "Then the sovereignty and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey him.*"

Believers Reigning with Christ (37:16)

So we see here that Jesus, the Son of Man who approaches the Ancient of Days, and the Ancient of Days grants him dominion and authority. We see that come to pass in the book of Revelation, and it is pictured by Psalm 2. But what we're learning here is that followers of this King, that is, believers in Jesus, will not only possess that kingdom with Christ, but they will rule and reign with him as well.

Okay, back to the New Testament. Look at 2 Timothy 2:11–12. You guys probably know this, it's a gospel text. We'll start in verse 11: "It is a trustworthy statement: for if we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him."

There we have that same passage that points to the reigning of believers with Christ.

Revelation 19 and 20: When It Happens (38:17)

Now, those are all prophetic. Those are all saying, "Someday Jesus the Son of God inherits the kingdom, and his people will rule the nations with him." Can I show you when it happens? Can I show you what happens?

Go back to Revelation, past chapter 2, into chapter 19. Now, when we get here, you're wondering when this is happening and how we know. I know we have to establish a timeline. There are smart, godly men who disagree on the timeline, on when all these things happen and how much is symbolic and how much is literal. I know, I know, I know. But let me just show you when this happens. Revelation 19, and we'll pick it up in verse 11.

"I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! And He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written that no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God Almighty. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."

Look at that. Those armies are the people of God. Verse 17: "Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, 'Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, both small and great.'" And verse 19: "I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army." This is King Jesus coming with redeemed people to battle.

Now look at chapter 20, in the aftermath of this battle, verse 4: "Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." Now, I know you've got questions about that, but what I want you to see at this point is that these verses describe the fulfillment, a quite literal fulfillment actually, of what Daniel and Psalm 2 and other passages, even 2 Timothy and some New Testament passages, say is coming to pass: that believers will co-reign with Christ in the future in his kingdom. That's pretty cool, isn't it?

The Morning Star (41:28)

And then last, we've got to figure this out, and we'll land the plane here. "And I will give him the morning star." And we go, "What? What do we do with this? What's the morning star?"

The morning star is used in Isaiah, and it's probably an allusion to Satan. The morning star, astronomically, in this day and age, refers to what? Anybody know? Venus, because it's often the brightest star in the morning sky.

Okay, and then we have other passages here. What's going on? In Revelation 22:16 we see this reference used: "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star."

So we're certainly not talking about the devil or Satan, and we're probably not talking about Venus. If we cross-reference this to Numbers 24, "a Scepter shall rise out of Israel," a star is going to arise. And if that's a messianic prophecy, then what we have here is Jesus saying to his churches, "I will give him the morning star," meaning you will fully possess me in the kingdom forever. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

Now, you've got to come back next week so we can

* = the audio was unclear here and the words were reconstructed from context. Scripture read aloud is in red.

Taught by Dr. Keith Palmer, Grace Bible Church, Granbury, Texas — from the church’s Sunday School series on Revelation. These are lightly edited transcripts of the audio, posted for personal study; the teaching and its content belong to Dr. Palmer and Grace Bible Church. Listen to the originals and find his notes on the church website. Transcribed from the audio by AI. Edited only where the audio was unclear (all edits marked with *). Errors are possible — the recording is the authority.

← All lessons