Sun.’s Devo - Thyatira and Sardis

Read: Amos 4:1-6:14; Revelation 2:18-3:6; Psalm 130:1-8; Provers 29:21-22 Amos was a shepherd from Judah who was called by God to prophesy to Israel. Israel persecuted their prophets so most of them fled to Judah. Amos was of humble beginnings from the town of Tekoa. Amos began his speech today against the women of Samaria who oppressed the poor and needy to please themselves. They would be led by hooks in their mouths out of their plush homes and in to exile. (They literally put hooks in their noses and led them out to Assyria.) God had brought famine, took away their water, brought blight, plagues and destruction to the towns of Israel, but it still didn’t get their attention or make them repent. Their men went off to war and few came home alive. God begged them to return to him and live. Their gods did them no good; they caused them to twist justice and oppress the righteous. With the money they extorted from the poor, they built beautiful houses but they would never live to enjoy them. God knew the vastness of their sins and the depth of their rebellion. God would be their helper if they did what was good and turned from evil. If they renovated their courts into true halls of justice, perhaps God would have mercy on the remnant of them. Amos warned them that the day would come where they would cry and mourn in the streets. They had prayed for the “day of the Lord” to come but they had no idea what they were praying for. The Day of the Lord would be dark and hopeless. God reminded them of the gods they served in the wilderness. They brought their offerings to the pagan idols of Moloch and his star god Chiun. For this, God would send them into exile into Syria. He spoke to the ones who lived in Israel’s capital, Samaria and Judah’s capital, Jerusalem. They thought they were safe there but God told them to remember what happened in Calneh, Hamath and Gath. They were once great cities of other nations that God destroyed. Their denial only brought their judgement faster. They would be destroyed with few survivors. In Revelation, the next church John wrote to was Thyatira. He commended them for growing in their love, faith, service and endurance. His complaint against them was that they tolerated a prophetess with the spirit of Jezebel. She boasted that she spoke from the Lord but led the people to commit sexual sin and eat food offered to idols. She had refused to repent so she would suffer along with her followers. God had described himself with eyes like flames of fire and feet like polished bronze. His eyes saw the secrets of what was going on and would judge it. His bronze feet showed his judgment over their sins. To those who had not followed this Jezebel and her teachings, John encouraged them to hold on to the truth. Their reward would be authority over nations to rule with Christ with an iron rod. To the church at Sardis, God described himself as the one who had the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars. God rebuked them for their soiled fruit. They had a good reputation, but beneath the surface there was sin and evil. If they didn’t wake up and repent, they would be destroyed suddenly. Some of them had remained pure and they would be closed in white and the names would not be erased from the Book of Life. Lord may we walk as children of the light, loving justice and doing good.