Letter to the Church in Thyatira

Johns fourth Letter

Psalm 150 “Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.”

Daniel 10:4–6 “On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.”

Revelation 2:18–23 ““To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.” “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called

Revelation 2:24–29 deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’ To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Background

We have been studying the book of John’s Revelation. Given to him on the Lord’s day while he was in the spirit, a time of worship and prayer. He was in exile on the island of Patmos during the reign of Domitian one of the most wicked of the Roman emperors. Christians refused to bow to and worship the emperor. They were persecuted and killed in horrific ways.

Today we are going to look at the letter to the church in Thyatira. In this message Christ appears with eyes like flaming fire and feet that glow like exquisite or another version says like burnished brass. Thyatira is smaller and not as well known as the other cities. It was however on a major postal route and linked the other cities. Thyatira was well known for its craftsmanship and perhaps the reason for the reference to the blazing eyes and burnished bronze of the feet. (Daniel also makes reference to the feet of bronze.) The craftsmen were members of trade guilds much like unions today. Members of the guilds were usually successful enjoying the benefits of merchandising. However members were expected to join in guild activities which would have involved worship of local gods, emperor worship and eating of food that was offered to idols. Some of the guilds had their own god and anyone who would not participate would be not be a part of the guild and that ment economic hardship. There are some union shops today where people are forced to pay union dues in order to work there.

Commendation:

Jesus said Rev. 2:19 I know your deeds, your love, faith, service, and perseverance and that you are now doing more than you did at first. This is a commendation that we would all like to hear. That we are increasing in love and faith and that our service and perseverance are recognized. A pat on the back we would feel good.

Condemnation:

Then comes the condemnation. “You tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess.” There is a lot in this short sentence. You tolerate means that they allow her in their community. She is able to move freely and in doing so brings down others. That woman Her name might not even have been Jezebel, but she is labeled as such. We know Jezebel for her wicked reputation in the Old Testament. She was the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, who married Ahab. She brought Baal worship to Israel, 450 prophets of Baal that ate at her table. She persecuted and killed God’s prophets. Ahab went along with her and this was a very bad time in Israel. She calls herself a prophet, she is certainly not called by God. She is self proclaimed and by her teaching she leads others astray. Sexual immorality and eating foods sacrificed to idols. Baal worship as well as other gods of that day involved consorting with temple prostitutes and taking part in lavish banquets. There were both male and female prostitutes.

I find it interesting that if you mention a Jezebel to people who are not familiar with the Bible they will recognize the name and define that person as a very wicked person willing to destroy anyone who gets in her way. It is sad that there are so many people who are not familiar with the Bible, even some of the most popular stories. When I was growing up most of the people in this neighbor hood went to church every Sunday. Studies show that the fifties was the peak of church affiliation perhaps as high as 90%. At the current time it is less that 50% and of those the average is once a month. One of the regular workers at Blessings Of Hope came up to me on Friday. she knew that I had cataract surgery and wanted to know how it went and if I could see better. I told her that all went well and that I only needed glasses for small print. She told me that she had had it several years ago and she exclaimed to the Dr. and nurses that it reminded her of the miracle when Jesus spit on the ground and made a paste and put it on the face of the blind man and restored his sight. she was shocked when no one in the office knew about that miracle of Jesus’ healing a blind man. People have fallen away from the teachings of the Bible.

Jesus said that he had given her time to repent. It is interesting to note that she is given time. We often observe people in sin and wonder why God allows it. this verse tells us that he is giving time to repent. He goes on to say that she would not. I have heard people say that I know that it is wrong but I am going to do it anyway. Jesus promises suffering to Jezebel and death to all that follow her. He who searches the heart and mind. We can do a good job of putting on a good face, shielding our inner self from the world, but Jesus knows our hearts and our minds. Nothing is hidden from him. Remember He is the one who is introduced as having eyes like blazing fire. He will repay according to your deeds. Then all the churches will know. This confirms that the letters should be read in all the churches, then and also today. This was a well known warning in the Old Testament. The nations surrounding Israel would see both God’s blessing and his punishment. “They will know there is a God in Israel.” 1 Samuel 17:46 God has not changed. He is holy and righteous sin will be punished. One of the things about human nature is that when we do something that we think is wrong and we see no consequences, we will continue to do it, and more.

Promise:

To those who remain faithful, who do not follow the teachings of Jezebel and have not learned the so-called deep secrets of Satan. Hold on , persevere until I come. Learn the deep secrets. There is a tendency in human nature to want to know first hand about the things that we are warned against. We see it in children. We tell them not to touch something that is hot because they might get burnt. The child will look at it, study it, and when no one is looking touch it to see if it is really hot. I knew someone who was looking at a belt driven pulley on a piece on machinery who touch the belt and burned his finger. His response was; “Oh I guess I shouldn’t have done that.” Teens often want to test the limits, in their relationships, to see how far they can go. Driving a car as fast as they can without regard for the speed limit or the laws of nature, such as gravity. The Bible warns against drunkeness. I have known people who deliberately got drunk just to experience personally what they had been warned against. One person told me afterwards that there was nothing fun about it and didn’t know way anyone would do it.

They were to hold on, avoid these things and the promise is that they will be given authority over the nations. Just as Jesus received authority from his Father. Jesus also promises the “morning star.” There is much discussion as to what this refers to. One theory is that it is in reference to the brightest star visible in the morning which is Venus or to just the light appearing in the darkness. I like what we find in 2 Peter 1:19 “We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” Jesus the morning star rising in our hearts.

Lets take this message personally. Hold fast to the teachings of Jesus. When I think of holding fast I remember the hymn by Ada Habershon “He Will Hold Me Fast. It is found in many hymnals and was recorded recently by Steve and Kristen Getty

What should we take home from this letter?Don’t be lead astray by false teachings, don’t compromise with the ways of the world. Remain faithful even when it might hurt our relationships both personal and in business. In doing so we will receive the promised reward. Jesus the bright and morning star.