httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnw3V8ns81M
18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
Thyatira is the name of the modern day city of Akhisar, Turkey. It was the smallest of the seven churches mentioned and yet it has the longest letter. It reminds us that even small churches can have a great impact on church history, both good and bad. In this case, it was bad and it reminds us that it only takes a little leaven to leaven the whole lump. (Gal. 5:9, 1 Cor. 5:6) It takes only one man or woman to begin a heresy in the church, to divert thousands and tens of thousands astray from the gospel of Christ, the true universal church of Christ and cause the death of her children. Just think of the damage false teachers have done and are still doing under the name of Christianity in the Christian church. Unlike the church of Ephesus, they were not able to identify a false prophet when one rose up among them.
Unlike the church of Smryna, which faced outside persecution by the Jews through the Roman Emperors, the church of Thyatira faced its spiritual attack on the inside through false teachers and false doctrines that began to lead it astray, specifically through one woman who Jesus called Jezebel.
Much like today, these false teachers and false prophets of god in the early church were often popular. They were influential, elegant speakers, personable, relatable and appeared as nice, good men and women. Like bandits, they are able to get past the watchtower of the people. Outwardly they appear as sheep who could do no harm, but inside they were ravenous wolves who in the end devoured the people as all false prophets do, they devoured the resources of the poor, the weak, the widows instead of tending and caring and feeding the Lord’s sheep, they ate them for dinner, they lived off of them. Ezekiel’s prophecy against the false Shepherds of Israel aptly applies to them:
Ezekiel 34:1-6 – 1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. 6 My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.
As Jesus warns us in Matthew 7:15, this is what happens when a wolf enters the house, the sheep are forced to scatter and look for refuge elsewhere, “ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” These false prophets are like their father Satan, they disguise themselves as angels of light, (2 Cor. 11:14) claiming to possess special revelation from God that came to them specifically outside the bible or through divine revelation of a text that was twisted in their arrogance and instability as Peter warned in 2 Peter 3:16-17. Over and over again Jesus Himself and the Apostles warned us about these false prophets who would rise up from among us, from inside the church to deceive many.
Mark 13:22-23 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.
2 Peter 2:1-3 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
The Apostle John warns us in his letter 1 John 2:1-27:
“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us eternal life.I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you have received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teachings you about everything, and is true, and is no lie – just as it has taught you, abide in him.”
In the epistle of 1 John, the Apostle John pleads with us to remember the gospel, remember what we heard in the beginning and hold on to. He warns us that there are false prophets and teachers who have gone out from among us, this was probably in reference to the Nicolaitans mentioned in the book of Revelation which is believed to have began with one man Nicolaus, a convert to Judaism and later to Christianity who was counted among the seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom the Apostles appointed the duty of serving the church so the Apostles could devote themselves to preaching the gospel and to prayer. (Acts 6:1-6)
What happened to the faith of Nicolaus? We do not know. We can only know that the secret desires of his own heart led him astray, as all sin begins in the heart: pride, selfish ambition, fear, arrogance, disbelief, elitism, ignorance, instability and so on. This why we are called to guard our hearts for it is the wellspring of our life. His heart no longer led him to pursue Christ, but to pursue his own desires. Perhaps his position as serving the church seemed to small and insignificant. He thought, I have the same spirit, I too have special insight, special revelation, special understanding and am called to preach and to teach and he stepped out of the position that God had placed him in as his heart rose up and like his father, he fell. He fell into false preaching and teaching the doctrine of demons. We do not know what happened to him specifically, but we do know what happened with him generally, because this is the same pattern of all false teachers and prophets who follow their heart instead of Christ.
So the Apostle John warns us further in the epistle of 1 John to test not only ourselves to see if we are in the faith but also the spirits.
1 John 4:1-6 – “1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
Thyatira was a small city and false prophets and false teachers often find their beginnings in these small churches where the people are often innocent, more open to visitors, often very intimate with one another lovable because of their size, very much like a house church, but unless the members are in the word consistently and testing what they hear and knowledgeable of the scriptures, these small churches are often left gullible without the resources and the great teachers of the larger congregations leaving them vulnerable to such false teachers rising up among them. It doesn’t have to be this way but unfortunately it is often this way. Large churches fall to false prophets too but there are more eyes in congregation to watch for such attack. In both instances it relies on the alertness and the watchfulness of the individual people to recognize and cry out “Wolf!” when a wolf has entered in among them.
John Newton (1725-1807) who lived during the Great Awakening once said:
“I count it my honor and happiness that I preach to a free people who have the bible in their hands. To your bibles I appeal, I entreat. I charge you to receive nothing upon my word any further then I can prove it from the word of God. And bring every preacher and every sermon that you hear to the same standard.”
What was also unique about Thyatira was not only the smallest of their size and their long letter but also their physical demographics. Unlike the larger cities around them like Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum which were located on and around an acropolis, an area of elevated ground that was often the nucleus of the city because it was defense and stronghold which the people would go to in times of battle. The city of Thyatira on the other hand was situated in the midst of a long valley between the larger acropolis cities of Pergamum which it lay closest to and Sardis. It was not only small but left wide open on all sides for easy enemy attack. Because of its small size and lack of natural barriers, it was left vulnerable and defenseless against enemy attacks and was often overtaken first in battles as the enemy advanced towards the larger city of Pergamum.
It was in this position that it found its greatest value to the larger city of Pergamum and the emperors who laid claimed to it. It had the ability to delay the advancing armies. It did not have the ability to stop them and would be eventually be overcome, but they could at least delay their advancement by acting as a small obstruction in their path. W.A. Ramsey describes it as:
It is one of those cities whose situation exposes them to destruction by every conqueror, and yet compels their restoration after every siege and sack. It lies right in the track of invasion: it blocks the way and must be captured by an invader; it guards the passage to a rich district, and hence it must be defended to the last, and so provoke the barbarity of the assailant; but it could never be made a really strong fortress in ancient warfare, so as to resist successfully. Yet the successful assailant must in his turn refortify the city, if he wants to hold the country. He must make it the guardian of his gate; he must make it a garrison city. Its situation defines its history; but the history has not been recorded.
As a result of this, the city was often made up of military people and posts. It was the city on the front lines and by its continual sacrifice the larger cities lived. The name Thyatira is said to have several meanings in the Greek language “continual sacrifice”, “odor of affliction”, “dominating female” and “daughter” being the most popular. In Turkish language it means “hill graveyard” perhaps because it was where those lived on the hill buried their dead. Because of its weak position on the front lines and dismal future, it’s military often needed immense encouragement to keep its spirits up. Their job was to be an attendant to the larger cities and to protect it from the ever threatening danger of attack.
The city of Thyatira did have a small population who lived there. It was a great city for communication and as a commercial trade center because of its location along the long much traveled main highway leading to Pergamum and Sardis. It thrived because of all the travelers who passed through it. Its people were tradesman and merchants, they had bronze-smiths, modelers in bronze, potters, tanners, slave-traders, textile-workers such as wool-workers, linen-workers, makers of outer garments. Thyatira may not have been a great place to live, or to be stationed as a military soldier, but it was a great place to hold a business and to stop and go shopping on a long journey, especially clothes shopping. They were most known for their special purple dye and were the center of the indigo trade. This dye could only be found in a certain small shell-fish of the coasts which they did not have access to easily being more inland, and in the roots of a little blue flower that was prevalent in Thyatira called the “madder root, which was known as a Turkey red color. This would have been what Lydia dealt with. She was a woman merchant of purple goods from Thyatira who was at a prayer meeting for woman down by the river and was hospitable to the Apostle Paul at Philippi in Acts 16:11-15. She is described as a worshipper of God and act of Paul finding her at a prayer meeting down by the riverside with a group of women. When Paul shared the gospel with her down by the river she was saved and her whole household was baptized we are told. Some commentaries say it is a possibility that the church of Thyatira began with Lydia.
All the trades of Thyatira were centered within trade guilds, which could be compared to our unions of today. They were closed shop. You could not be a merchant in Thyatira without belonging to one of these various trade guilds. There was the dye-guild, which Lydia probably belonged to, the bronze-guild and so on. Each of the guilds were centered around not only their trade but also one of the gods of the day which that particular trade guild dedicated itself to and worshipped. This would have caused serious problems for Christians who lived in Thyatira and who could not join a trade guild to gain work.
Thyatira like its surrounding cities of its time was filled with the worship of the Greek gods and the emperor cult worship but their major worship was that of Apollo Tyrimnaios, known as the sun-god or god of light who gave oracles and revelation to prophets according to Greek religion. This was where Greek religious belief breaks with traditional mythological views of Homer’s Apollo who was portrayed as being a god of hunting and archery and was never connected with the sun prior to the Greek religions adoption of Apollo as one of their favorite gods.
In Greek religious belief, Apollo was believed to be the protector from evil, the healer and giver of light and oracles. As the god of light and prophecy, Apollo was connected with hidden knowledge. It was said to be through Apollo the sun god that Zeus’s will was made known and the future was foretold to prophetess also known as oracles. They acted as the human voice of Apollo and other gods in the times of Greece and Rome. The most famous one was Pythia (‘python’), the priestess at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. The oracle or prophetess would often sit in a tripod chair and enter into a trance and claimed to receive and deliver his messages and divine advice to the people who flocked to them from great distances and various places to ask a question and have an opportunity to hear an answer from a god. The young girl of Acts 16:16 who possessed the spirit of divination that Paul cast out is said to have had the spirit of ‘python.’
Oracles could easily compared to what we call today as psychics and fortune tellers. Even today people flock to call a 1-800 number to hear their future and to get advice or stop by a booth, just for fun. They claim to have hidden knowledge, superior wisdom, and special powers to see and predict the future, communicate with the dead and departed spirits.
With this understanding of the Greek and Roman culture and the history of the city of Thyatira in particular we are ready to look at how Christ reveals himself in a very personal way to the Church in Thyatira showing that He truly knows them and understands their conditions and their circumstances and is speaking directly to their hearts personally, as well as our own as we too open our ears to listen and hear paying close attention to what the Spirit says to the churches.
‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
This letter written by John delivered to the Church of Thyatira is not the words of John, for John was just a scribe. With great authority John writes these are the words of the Son of God.
The title Son of God is used 41 times in the New Testament books but here in the book of Revelation, it is only used once and that is in this verse which makes it even more significant.
This revelation of Jesus Christ in this particular matter was certainly expressed against the idea of Apollo, the sun-god, the son of Zeus. There are great descriptions of the beauty of Apollo but they are all but myths and doctrines of demons and empty cold dead lifeless statues that can neither hear, see nor talk. Our God alone is a Living God, who truly sees us, truly hears us and truly communicates with us and walks in our midst. Here we see the description of Jesus as having eyes like a flame of fire which is repeated from Revelation 1:14 “his eyes were like a flame of fire.” Christ’s eyes burned brightly as intense light, and shone as the flaming sun. Nothing remained hidden from their penetrating light. All was laid bare before their gaze. No man could stare into them, as no man could stare into the sun itself because of Christ’s purity and holiness that shone through them. His penetrating eyes alone could render a person undone and ruined, let alone the sword of his mouth. I remember as a child how one unfavorable look from my own mother’s eyes could cause me to cry when I was in trouble. She never had to spank me, all she had to do was look at me and I was undone. How much more so the eyes of Jesus would be. His blazing eyes of fire speak of righteous judgment and of his great wrath against evil.
The description of Jesus carries on revealing him to be not only the Son of God, with eyes of flaming fire but also one whose feet are like burnished bronze. This too is drawn from Revelation chapter one in the next verse 15. Rev. 1:15 says, “His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace.”
Some bible versions may interpret this as “fine brass.” The Greek word used here is “chalkolibanon” and is not used anywhere else in the bible except for these two verses in chapters one and two of Revelation. It is a compound of the two words “copper” or “bronze” and “whiteness and brilliancy.” It gives the idea of the glowing copper heated in a furnace to a white glow. This idea is reinforced by Rev. 1:15 that adds the additional description of his feet being refined in a furnace. This brings to mind the method used to refine and perfect metals which was in a crucible or melting pot. It is an emblem of untarnished and unmingled truth and brings to mind Hebrews 5:7-9:
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
The description of Christ’s fiery brilliant white feet combined with his fiery eyes show his holiness and purity from head to toe. There is no part of him that is impure and perfect and all his ways are perfect as symbolized by his feet. His fiery bronze feet also are a symbol of his authority and judgment for with his feet he will tread down his foes. (Psa. 60:12, Isa. 63:6) It is at his feet that men fall in fear and in worship and one day we will cast our crowns at his feet when he makes all of his enemies his foot stool and crushes Satan under our feet. (1 Cor. 15:25, Rom.16:20)
19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance,
Once again, Christ begins his letter with “I know your works.” He knows their toil and their efforts and he wants them to know that he sees it. This brings to mind Colossians 3:23-24:
Colossians 3:23-24 – Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
In all that we do, we are to do our work as for our Lord and not for men. Sometimes it may seem as if the Lord does not see our labor, does not see our sacrifices, our toil or what we have to endure and put up with for his sake, but this reminds us that he does see them. No one else in the world may see or understand or toil and suffering, but Jesus sees and he will one day reward us for our work.
Their works are divided into four subcategories, their love, faith, service and patience. Unlike Ephesus this church scored high in its evaluation of its love towards God and towards others. There is no love towards God that is not displayed and made manifest towards others. So we can be sure they displayed their love to God as God calls us to, not only through our worshipping of Him, but also by displaying God’s love to others. They would have acted in God’s interests and defended the cause of the poor and needy, shared their bread with the hungry, brought the homeless unto their home and clothed them, cared for the sick, remembered the widows, the fatherless and those in prison for is this not what it means to know the Lord? (Jer. 22:16).
1 John 3:11, 16-18 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another…. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
The early church was known and recognized for its extraordinary love for others that even their enemies commented on it. Tertullian records that the pagans would comment “See how these Christians love one another.”
John 13:35 – By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
This church in Thyatira had this. Their love for God and their faith in God was displayed in their service towards others, their sacrificial love and their patience in their work.
and that your latter works exceed the first.
They were growing in grace. This was a church that was not tiring out, not relaxing but losing force and momentum in its walk with God, but was growing in its love, was growing in its faith, was growing in its service and was growing in its patient endurance.
20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel,
Here we come to Jesus’ criticism and rebuke of the church of Thyatira. Even though they scored such high marks in so many other areas, they scored low in tolerance. They permitted the woman Jezebel to remain among them and left her alone to do as she pleased. The KJV uses you “sufferest the woman Jezebel” This woman already sounds like someone unpleasant to deal with since they suffered her and tolerated her. They were a church known to Christ for their patience, their steadfast endurance but this was one woman they should have never endured. If only in this they would have been more intolerant like the church of Ephesus who could recognize a false teacher and false prophet a mile away, the course of church history may have changed.
Instead, they were alert, they knew they had a problem in the church, they knew something was wrong but they allowed it, they put up with it, they permitted her to remain. To this they were held accountable and responsible in their inaction to take action.
This woman’s name probably was not Jezebel, but this was the name Jesus called her. When Jesus gives us a new name, this is not one I would want him to give to me. This is not a name that you would even name your kids, for there is a repugnant reputation that still clings to it 3000 years later. That is quite a stink left behind. The story of Jezebel begins in 932BC and can be found in 1 Kings 16:31, 18:3-4, 18:17-19, 19:1-3, 21:23:25 and 2 Kings 9:22, 9:30-37.
In these verses we learn that Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab, the King of Israel. King Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord and one of the evil things he did was take Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians as his wife and went and served Baal and worshipped him.
Jezebel hated the prophets of the Lord with a passion and set out to make her mission in life to kill them all. Obadiah would hide a hundred of these prophets that Jezebel sought out to kill in caves and fed them bread and water. Obadiah runs into the prophet Elijah one day and Elijah sends him to tell King Ahab to set up a meeting with him to which Obadiah freaks out because he knows how badly King Ahab and Queen Jezebel hate the prophets, especially Elijah and wants to kill him. Obadiah fears the King and Queen will kill him if Elijah does not show up for this meeting. Obadiah eventually goes and Elijah meets with King Ahab and sets up the famous showdown on Mt. Carmel between the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table with all of Israel present to see it. There they offered sacrifices and the prophets of Baal and Asherah called upon the name of their gods and Elijah called upon the name of Yahweh and the God who answered by fire was declared to be God. Which Yahweh did. After this great success of a showdown, the prophets of Baal are all seized and Elijah slaughters them all. King Ahab goes back and tells his wife Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he killed all the prophets with a sword. Jezebel is now even more angry at the Prophet Elijah and intent on killing him for slaughtering all her prophets of Baal. Jezebel sends Elijah a note swearing to kill him the next day which causes Elijah in fear to flee for his life and hid in a cave for a time. Later in 1 Kings 21:1-6 Jezebel is responsible for the death of Naboth so that her husband King Ahab could claim his vineyards as his own.
Death is pronounced against both of them by the LORD and King Ahab eventually dies in a battle and Jezebel is finally put to death by the new King of Israel, King Jehu who has her tossed out the window and horses trample on her and dogs devour most of her body. Then Jehu kills her and King Ahab’s 70 sons.
So this is the comparison being given to us of the domineering woman who has risen up in the church of Thyatira. Just by the name that Jesus refers to her as, we know that she is in a position of authority and influence in the church, she is a domineering woman and powerful, frightening opponent who hates the prophets of God, those who hold fast to God’s word and teach truth are her enemies who threaten to expose her. In seeing Elijah’s own personal fear of Jezebel, we can sympathize with the Church of Thyatira in dealing with this particular woman.
who calls herself a prophetess
We learn more about this woman called Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. God never called her a prophetess, this was a self appointment. And she was no prophetess of God or for God for she did not speak the words of God, she was not his mouth-piece.
and is teaching and seducing my servants
We see her position and role is one of leadership in the church, she is a teacher and like the woman of Folly in Proverbs, she acts as a seducing prostitute, she picks the highest place where she can be seen and heard and she loudly calls out to anyone passing by who is simple and will listen to her in an attempt to seduce them to turn aside and enter her dwelling. (Proverbs 9:13-18):
The woman Folly is loud;
she is seductive and knows nothing.
She sits at the door of her house;
She takes a seat on the highest places of the town,
calling to those who pass by,
who are going straight on their way,
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
And to him who lacks sense she says,
“Stolen water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
But he does not know that the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
Here we get a glimpse of what she was teaching. This false prophetess seduces Christ’s servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. These were two of four items listed in Acts 15:29 that the Council’s letter to the new Gentile converts told them to abstain from. The new Gentile converts did not need to be circumcised as some Jews tried to teach, they only needed to worry about four things:
“For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood , and from what was been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” Acts 15-28-29
Sexual Immorality and fornication has always ran rampant and been a great temptation for God’s people to avoid. Even today many would teach under the guise of grace and love and thereby permit sexual immorality in the church, sex before marriage is common place and accepted, schools pass out condemns and birth control in junior high, parents pass out birth control, parents allow boyfriends and girlfriends to move in under their own roof with their sons and daughters, adults engage in sexual relationships while dating, adultery is common, open marriages, pornography is growing, homosexuality is growing, there isn’t a television show on t.v. nowadays except maybe the discovery channel and history channel that does not somehow show some form of sexual immorality.
This is a battle for us a Christians to fight in our own church and culture just as much as in Thyatira. We cannot spread the blanket of grace over our sexual sins and lusts and expect God to overlook it and pass it by. Despite their loving nature, it was the weak willed leadership of the church of Thyatira that allowed this teaching to take root in their churches and I am afraid that it is our own weak will in our hearts that allow this to take place today in our homes.
Food sacrificed to idols, this is difficult to find a parallel in today. We don’t typically eat food dedicated to idols today, not that I am aware of. But this would have been a big thing for those who lived in the Early Church and especially those who lived in Thyatira because of the trade guilds that the tradesmen were forced to belong to if they wanted to work. These guilds would hold mandatory social occasions to worship the god of that particular guild. They would have a feast, and the food would be sacrificed in honor of that guilds god and they would all eat the offering. This was a difficult problem for the Christians and one Paul addressed in his letter to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 8. and in 1 Cor. 10:14-33. Guzik states:
One ancient Christian named Tertullian wrote about Christians who made their living in trades connected to pagan idolatry. A painter might find work in pagan temples or a sculptor might be hired to make a statue of a pagan god. They would justify this by saying, “This is my living, and I must live.” Tertullian replied Vivere ergo habes? “Must you live?”
Food sacrificed to idols may not be our temptation today, but seeking employment in places that are contrary to God’s way is. In this, as well as in the area of sexual immorality, and the avoidance of all idolatry which still remains the same and has only changed faces in our culture, God calls us to remain faithful to death.
21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
Here we see the great love for God in his allowing time for repentance even for such false prophetess as Jezebel who kills his prophets. When such people come into leadership and are allowed to remain, we often wonder why God allows them to remain if we can’t throw them down, why doesn’t he? Here we are reminded of 2 Peter 3:9:
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Here we see the long suffering of the LORD magnificently displayed in his own forbearance of Jezebel. We also see the hardness of heart that only grew harder and refused to repent over time. She is much like Revelation 9:20-21 at the 6th trumpet:
“The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
And Revelation 16:8-11 as the fourth and fifth bowls are poured out upon the earth and in their pain and anguish the people chose to curse God and refused to repent.
The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursedthe name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.
22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed,
This too brings back to mind the story of Jezebel and her sons who she also wickedly influenced just as she had her husband Ahab. After King Ahab was killed by a random arrow in the battle of Romoth-gilead, his and Jezebel’s son Ahaziah took his place and ruled Israel. 1 Kings 22:52-53 tells us that he did evil in the sight of the Lord and he walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother by causing Israel to sin and serving and worshipping Baal. He provoked the LORD, God of Israel to anger in every way that his father had done.
2 Kings 1 tells us that he ironically falls out the lattice of his upper chamber window, just like his mother who was thrown out of one. However he survived but laid sick from the fall. He sent his messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, asking if he would recover from this sickness or not. However, God sends Elijah the prophet to intercept these messengers and sarcastically asks them “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekon?” Then he gives these messengers this message from the LORD, the God of Israel. “This says the LORD, you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.”
The messengers of Ahaziah turn back and Ahaziah is surprised at their return so soon and asks them why they came back and they explain a prophet had met them on the road and give Ahaziah’s the prophet’s message from God. Ahaziah asks for a description of this prophet. I think he had a sneaking suspicion it was Elijah because he recognized his description these messengers gave of the man wearing a garment of hair with a leather belt around his waist. He Ahaziah responds, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
He sends three groups of captains each with fifty men to go find Elijah and bring him back. They each find him sitting on a hill and call out to him, “O, Man of God, the king says come down.” To which Elijah replies, ‘If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.” This happens to the first two groups of fifty men. The third group captain was a little wiser and begged God’s mercies before asking Elijah to come down. Elijah went with that group as the Spirit led him and returned with them to King Ahaziah.
Elijah appears before the King Ahaziah in his sickbed and pronounces the same judgment his messengers passed down. “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?—therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’”
Elijah did not change his message. He merely repeated it and King Ahaziah later died because he would not repent. He too was given time and opportunity to repent of his idolatry in his worship of Baal, but refused to the end, his end.
So this Jezebel persists in her own way and ignores God’s warnings of grace, and as judgment is thrown into a bed, since it was the bed of adultery she sought and wanted through her idolatry, God in his perfect judgment gives her what she wants and promises to cast her into a bed, but this will be no bed of pleasure, for there is no pleasure or any other good or enjoyment apart from God, and she has already shown that she wants no part of God, so this is a bed of suffering, a sickbed that she will be unable to rise from.
Sickness and illness is often used by God in his judgment of sin in the Old Testament. Job said “Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones,” (Job 33:19) James recognized this when he says in James 5: 14-15 “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” And Paul also in 1 Cor. 11:29-31, “For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.”
and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,
This could include physical adultery since sexual immorality was so highly interlaced with the idolatry worship of the Greek and Roman culture. It definitely includes but spiritual adultery. Anytime we turn to idolatry, we commit adultery against God himself who we have entered into a covenant relationship with to love him first with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength. In this covenant relationship we have committed to faithfulness to Him, our One True God, and are to keep ourselves, our hearts, pure as virgins, as we wait for his return for us.
Those who followed Jezebel were convicted of convicting spiritually adultery along with her because they too entered into idolatry by listening to her instead of God, and because of her leadership they were led into sin instead of away from sin.
This verse warns that those who follow her leading and commit adultery as she committed adultery by giving in to sexual impurity and eating food sacrificed to idols will be thrown into greater tribulation then the tribulation and suffering they were attempting to avoid by giving in to and refusing to temporarily afflict themselves now by sharing in the Lord’s suffering for righteousness.
But once again they have opportunity to repent.
23 and I will strike her children dead.
This Jezebel is portrayed as a mother. She has children that she is raising up, teaching to follow her. But just as Jezebel and Ahabs 70 children died and their entire household destroyed, so the children of this woman, the children of heretics will be destroyed by God and his righteous judgment. There will be no memory of them. This is a dead end life with no fruit. No future.
And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
Thoughout the Old Testament you will read such phrases as “by this you shall know that I am the LORD” and “The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD” and “then you shall know that I am the LORD”. This verse follows the same pattern. “And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart.” Once again God is revealing himself and his divine authority by his judgment of sin. By Jezebel falling on a sickbed and by her children being struck dead, because of their end, their destruction, all the churches will know that this judgment was from God and know that his position is God and that He truly is a God who sees, as the flaming eyes of Christ reflect penetrating judgment. These idols are no gods and they certainly cannot see or talk which makes false gods and idols easier to worship since they don’t rebuke people and they can continue to do as they please. Our God is a living God who sees.
The wicked are continually blinded by a false confidence believing that no one including God sees the wickedness of their ways and it remains hidden. They get away with so much that it builds their confidence and they continue to do more and more wickedness because God does not seem to respond, right away and they get away with it, or so they think. David contemplates this problem in Psalms 10.
1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
who are caught in the schemes he devises.
3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.
4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
5 His ways are always prosperous;
your laws are rejected byhim;
he sneers at all his enemies.
6 He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.”
He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”7 His mouth is full of lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.
8 He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
9 like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
10 His victims are crushed, they collapse;
they fall under his strength.
11 He says to himself, “God will never notice;
he covers his face and never sees.”12 Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.
13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
“He won’t call me to account”?
14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked man;
call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
that would not otherwise be found out.16 The Lord is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.
17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that mere earthly mortals
will never again strike terror.
The reason the Lord does not immediately trample us when his righteous eyes behold our sin is because of grace, he is giving us time to repent, to stop lying and covering things up, to stop committing sexual idolatry, to stop pursing idols instead of him. Instead the wicked interpret this period of grace as an opportunity to sin and not be judged ever. They see God’s grace as a blanket that covers their sins and sinful behavior. Instead of repenting and practicing righteousness in this time of grace, they continue in their sins, practicing their sins and growing in their sinfulness instead of growing in righteousness as God’s grace allows and gives us opportunity to through Jesus.
The LORD did not immediately trample this woman Jezebel and He often does not immediately trample the other heretics and false prophets and teachers that rise up among us. Instead he allows them to remain for a time and to prosper and to teach their heresies. They may think what they do is hidden from the eyes of the LORD, and they are often full of secrets, full of darkness and hate the light as John says:
John 3:20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
But Jesus tells us to endure patiently and not to be afraid of them for their will be nothing concealed that will not be disclosed and nothing hidden that will not be made known. – Matthew 10:26
Paul too reminds us:
Heb. 4:13 – Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
The LORD does see, he searches the minds and heart. As 1 Cor. 4:5 says, ‘He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.
The LORD watches us and will call us to account, and will give each one according to their works. We are justified by our faith in Christ, this is our salvation, but our works which are evidence of our salvation are judged and will be called to account
1 Cor 3:13-15 – 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching,
The remaining portion of this letter is focused on the rest of the congregation, who do not follow this heretic’s teaching. Not everyone in Thyatira followed her teaching. God always has a remnant kept to himself.
Who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan,
The Gnostics often called their teaching the depths of God. They claimed as heretics today still claim to have received profound secrets of Divine wisdom. Here Jesus is quite blunt that it is not the profound secrets of God’s wisdom they claim but of Satan’s. For our God is a God of light. Our gospel is a gospel of light, we all possess knowledge, although we all may be at different point of maturity and growing in our knowledge but God’s truth is plainly made known in the bible which thankful is available to all of us in our day in age.
Many gullible people ignorantly seek these “deep things of Satan”, this secret wisdom and mysteries because it leads to pride and elitism. It enables them to look down on people who do not possess such divine wisdom and insight. If you try to correct them, you will be patted on the head and merely pushed aside or cast out because you do not have the ability to comprehend the deep things of God as they do.
to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. 25 Only hold fast what you have until I come.
This is a reference to Acts 15-28-29, no other burden was laid upon them then the burden they already had, which was to keep pure from sexual immorality and from food sacrificed to idols.
Hold fast to what they already know and have. Sometimes is times of great tribulation that is all we can do when our world and our faith is being shook, is to just hold on to our faith and to trust God and that is enough. Don’t let go. Don’t give up. Don’t fall from the position God has placed you in and seek to gain a more comfortable spot. Hold on. Hold fast. There is an element of waiting when we are told to hold on so in this verse we are also told in a sense to hold on and wait on the Lord. Trust him. Remain faithful to him.
26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end,
Here is the reward for those who hold on to when? To the end, whatever it may be, relief in life or death. Remember from Revelation chapter one that Jesus Christ himself is The Beginning and The End. He is our end. To the world it may look like we are losing the battle, by losing our life for Christ, but to Christ this is our victory, this is what it means to overcome the world and conquer.
Here we should recall Christ’s words to his disciples in Matthew 10:16-22:
16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
The rewards of a race are only given to those who complete the race, not to those who give up. We must complete the race; complete the course that God has placed us in and this means faithfulness unto death – death to us or to the sin that call God is calling us to slay. As John Owen’s famous quote goes, “be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
Think of the Christians who were martyred such as Peter, Paul, Stephan, and Polycarp and so on and how they finished well. In the face of death and persecution and suffering they were faithful and kept their testimony to the end. They finished well. They finished strong.
We do not want our example and testimony to be that of the parable of the seed that had no root in itself, who received God’s word with joy and endured for a little while until tribulation and persecution arose on account of the word and immediately fall away. (Matt. 13:21)
We want to be like Paul and be able to say:
2 Tim. 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”
Look at our lives here in America, what is it that we are called to fight against? We are not like the church of Smyrna who faced severe outward persecution on the account of the word of God. We do face some outward ridicule by family and friends who are not Christians, who may label us as self-righteous, judgmental or hypocritical as we follow the word of God and stand strong in our faith by not joining in with them, like the church of Thyatire we are labeled as unsocial. And we are facing some outward confrontation by our growing liberal culture who would change our constitution and laws if we allow them to.
But we are very much more like the church of Thyatira here in America. Our greatest battles are in churches, in the false gospels and heretics and prosperity gospels that have invaded many of our churches. It’s on the inside, not the outside so much. It is in our churches and in ourselves, our own hearts that we are being assaulted. Our churches will only be as healthy as we are, we are the individual members, the individual cells of the church body. If we are not healthy and holy in or personal lives, we cannot expect our churches to be. If we are not on guard in our personal lives, we cannot expect our churches to be when we come together. Faithfulness starts with us. Our individual faithfulness affects the entire church body, it affects the other members who follow our example and see what the status quo is. If other members of the church body see that we ourselves are serious about obeying Christ, living for Christ and being faithful to Christ in all areas of our lives and not just on Sundays it challenges them to be faithful too. But if we are lax, and they see us lax and just as worldly as the rest of the world on Monday, then others relax their guard, and those around them relax their guard and the church walls begin to weaken.
Like the church of Thyatira we allow behaviors that we know to be against the word of God, against the spirit of God to keep their positions in our lives. We do nothing. We too have a tendency to be weak willed but that too just causes us to shrug our shoulders and go on and not deal with it instead of praying about it and asking God by the power of the Holy Spirit to help us over come, to help us to stand strong in our temptation because apart from him we can do nothing. We must take our faithfulness to Christ seriously because Christ will.
to him I will give authority over the nations,
To him who overcomes the reward promised is that he will be given by Jesus authority over the nations. This would have had special implications to those who lived in Thyatira, if you remember they were in a position of great weakness. They had no barriers. They were bait. They were weak and dependent. The very idea of them ruling the nations would have been incredible. But this is indeed God’s promise to the weak. They will no longer be ruled over by other nations but they themselves will rule over other nations plural.
This is God’s promise to those who were weak in casting out Jezebel, a domineering woman such as her always takes advantage of the weak. They were weak willed and did not want to deal with such a contemptuous woman. They probably felt like it was a losing badly, they could not possibly overcome her. This is a promise to them. God will make them strong rulers.
This is God’s promise to you, if you are feeling afraid, you don’t like conflict, it’s easier not to make a scene and to let things just happen around you and not get involved, not say anything. God is calling you to take a stand. Hold fast to what you know. Be faithful until the end and he will make you a ruler instead of being ruled over by your complacency and your sins.
The Kingdom of Christ will come and is coming already and has come in senses. We need only to set in our hearts who our allegiance is to and keep his ways to the end.
27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces,
Pay special attention to verses 8-9 in the following Psalm of David found in Psa. 2:7-12 which says:
I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
8 Ask me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will break them with a rod of iron;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him
This reminds us of Christ’s sovereign authority and that one day he will reign completely and in faithfulness of this knowledge we are to be warned and to be wise to serve God with fear and to celebrate his rule with trembling. Christ is giving us an invitation to share his inheritance that he received from his Father, to rule over the nations with a rod of iron, to rule with justice and those who rebel against it will be broken to pieces or shivers just as a potters vessel is broken to pieces that refuses to comply to the design of its maker. Once a potter’s vessel is broken to shivers there is no repairing it. This shows the everlasting destruction of those who set themselves against Christ, making him their enemy instead of their Savior and King. They will be destroyed by his wrath.
even as I myself have received authority from my Father.
Christ himself received his authority from God the Father, and he is able to give us authority to rule with him. If we abide in him, we too shall overcome, for he who resides in us is greater than he who is in the world and Christ has overcame him already, and we have too, if we are in Christ.
John 16:33 – “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
28 And I will give him the morning star.
Rev. 22:6 – “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.
Christ himself is the morning star and like giving us of the hidden manna in the previous letter, once again he promises us to give us himself and we will share his glory and we too will shine brightly as he does in his description of his eyes and his feet in the first portion of this letter.
29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Once again this is a reminder that this message is not only for the church of Thyatira but to anyone who has an ear to listen and to hear and understand what the Spirit says to the churches. That the Lord is speaking and has spoken to us through this letter reminding us to hold fast to true doctrine, to his truth as he has revealed to us, to remain pure, to stay away from sexual immorality, to avoid use this time of grace that God has given us as an opportunity to sin without being seen and judged by God but to use it as time to repent and to practice righteousness, for anyone who thus hopes in him purifies themselves as he is pure.
