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Hey everyone, this is Pastor Bruce Mejia here from First Works Baptist Church. I want to share a little truth with you that I've been thinking about over the last couple of days. On Friday evenings, I've been going live on Instagram teaching through the Book of Revelation. And last Friday, I just finished teaching through chapter number two. Now, of course, we know that chapters two and three are the letters that are written to the seven churches which are in Asia. And of course, we know that these were literal churches that existed at one time. Jesus is addressing the strengths as well as the weaknesses that are found within these local assemblies. And although I believe that each of these churches existed at one time during the first century AD, I also believe that each and every one of these assemblies had underlying prophetic significance to them as well. And let me give you an example of this. In chapter two, at the latter end of chapter two, we see Jesus addressing the church at Thyatira. Now, the church at Thyatira had some pretty big issues with it. The Bible tells us, notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. It goes on and saying, I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. So these are some pretty grievous sins that we see being highlighted with the church at Thyatira. Number one being that they're permitting and tolerating a woman preacher in the church. And this obviously goes completely against scripture, the Bible tells us. That I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in subjection. The Bible tells us that a woman ought to keep silence in the church. And this is something that they were definitely guilty of tolerating. And to add insult to injury, we also see that she's seducing the servants of God to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed unto idols. And these are two very grievous sins that according to 1 Corinthians chapter five, merit excommunication from the local assembly. And then lastly, he's given her space to repent of her fornication and the Bible says that she repented not. So we obviously see that they're prideful, they're arrogant, they're glorying in their sin and they're unwilling to repent of this wickedness. Now these are some pretty severe and grievous sins that we see the church at Thyatira committing. I mean, you have women preachers, fornication, eating things sacrificed unto idols, pride, and unrepented attitude towards God. Pretty bad. Now what is the prophetic significance to this? Well, the prophetic significance is actually found in the punishment that they receive. Because it says, behold, I will cast her into a bed and them to commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent. The punishment that they're going to receive is that God is going to cast them into a bed and into great tribulation. Now what does this mean? Well, we have to ask ourselves this, what is a bed for? Well, the answer is simply this, to sleep in, right? He's putting them to bed when they go through great tribulation. He's putting them to sleep when they go through great tribulation. Now you obviously see where I'm going with this. You know, the Bible clearly tells us throughout the New Testament, especially in regards to the great tribulation, that we should be awake. We should constantly be aware, alert, sober. The Bible tells us what I say unto you, I say unto all watch. Romans chapter 13, verse 11 says, and that knowing the time that now was high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than what we believed. So the Bible constantly reiterates this importance of being awake in the Lord. Well, when you think about the famous passages dealing with the tribulation and the rapture, we think of 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5, for example. And the Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 1, but of the times and seasons, brethren, ye need not that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. And then he says later on in the passage, but ye are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. We are children of the light and of the day, not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. The Bible is constantly instructing us and telling us to be awake. And of course, we understand that being awake doesn't mean pay attention to what's going on in the news. Being awake doesn't mean, hey, make sure you stay up to date on every conspiracy that's out there. Make sure you vote for the right person. Make sure you know who are the powers that be, who are the puppet masters of this world. That's not what it means to be awake. You know, according to the Bible, to be awake actually simply means to walk in the Spirit. And in Romans chapter 13, it tells us this. It says, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, the Bible says, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness and chambering and wantonness and strife and envying, but put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. So the person, according to the Bible, who's asleep is the individual who's living in wantonness and chambering. They are living in drunkenness and rioting. They're living in fornication, eating things sacrificed into idols. They have an unrepentant spirit. They're not right with God, they're backslidden. And the Bible considers this as being asleep. And this is why the Bible tells us awake to righteousness and sin naught. For some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. So over and over again, we see this concept and this instruction to be awake, to be alert. You say, what significance does this have to end times Bible prophecy? Well, when it comes to the tribulation, for example, we want to make sure that as Christians, we're awake, that we are walking in the spirit, that we're ready, that we are aware of our surroundings spiritually speaking, that we're reading the Bible, we're winning souls to Christ, we're congregating with the local assembly of believers. We want to make sure that we're right with God. You see, the punishment that Thyatira was going to receive was not that they were going to go through great tribulation, but rather that they were going to be asleep when they did. You see, the worst possible way to go through a trial is to be asleep, is to not be right with God, is to not be reading the Bible, is not to be prayed up and in the spirit. That's the worst possible condition that you can be in when you go through a trial or a tribulation. And more specifically, if the rapture happens in our lifetime, we want to make sure that when we go through the great tribulation, that we are prayed up, that we're reading the Bible, that we're doing that which is pleasing unto the Lord. We're not asleep at the wheel. We're not fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Think about the story of Jesus going into the garden of Gethsemane to pray, and he instructs his disciples to watch. And he comes back and finds them sleeping for sorrow. And he rebukes them and tells them, couldest thou not watch with me for one hour? The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And what do we see after the garden of Gethsemane? Well, Jesus Christ is arrested and the disciples are scattered. We want to make sure that we're not as the disciples who just fell asleep at the most important time. We want to make sure that we're walking with God so when persecution arises because of the word, we don't fall away. I finish with this, Luke chapter 21 tells us, take heed unto yourselves, lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life, so that that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the earth, watch ye therefore and pray that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and stand before the Son of Man. The only way you could really escape these things, so to speak, is by being in the spirit, is making sure that you are right with God. And so when we compare that with the church of Thyatira, what's going on there? Well, because they're unwilling to get right with God, God is basically telling them, all right, I'm going to put you to bed and you're going to go through great tribulation asleep. The Bible tells us, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. Hope that helped. God bless and have a great one.