Thyatira
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In 313 AD the Roman Emperor Constantine, rolled back the persecution against the Christian church that had begun under with the Apostles receiving the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in the upper room.
After that the Bible tells us that many started to believe and came into the faith in Christ.
In the letter to the church of Ephesus, Jesus exhorts them to get back to business, because they had been so busy routing out all the heretics and scammers who tried to come in to confuse them.
They slowed down their personal commitments and devotion to God.
God told them basically to get back to the business of their devotion to Him.
When approaching the Book of Revelation through the lens or eyes, of the Prophetic / or Futurist view,
We see a pattern emerge laying out the detailed history of the entire church age,
From the beginning of the church, to the end times,
Making it even more intriguing being that this Book of Revelation is the last written Words of our Lord Jesus to His beloved creation
This detailed pattern of Church history begins with the first of seven letters that Jesus wrote to seven churches, of seven different ages.
The letter to the Church of Ephesus began what we call the Apostolic age of the Church.
Then the pattern moves to the age of persecution.
Of course, when the early church began to explode, the world powers decided they needed to do everything they could to stop the spread of this new church.
To which Jesus addressed His second letter to the persecuted church age of Smyrna.
A fitting name for this age, as the very word Smyrna denotes a Hebrew root meaning Myrrh.
Myrrh, is a type of sap or a gum that exudes from The African Commiphora tree that is native to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and even Oman, Saudi Arabia,
But this Myrrh only gives up it defining scent through a violent process of crushing and pulverizing it, like grapes giving up its sweetness to be converted into wine.
Then following this age of Persecution, the detailed pattern of church history leads into the third of the seven letters that Jesus wrote to these seven ages.
The third being the church age of Pergamos.
Which means perverted Marriage.
This perverted marriage is expressed to in the letter to Pergamos.
For the word Pergamos actually means = Perverted Marriage
The understanding we get from this period is that,
As I mentioned that in AD 313 Emperor Constantine officially ended persecution.
Which allowed all of the Christians to come out of hiding, and boldly proclaim their faith in Christ.
But this fourth letter to the church age of Thyatira, tells us that somewhere along this process, an evil influential spirit was welcomed into this age of the church
To which we find ourselves at this point of this series.
18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: 19 “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. 20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. 24 “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. 25 But hold fast what you have till I come. 26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— 27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’— as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’
First off, we see that the Son of God has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet are like Brass.
Why this is statement is significant and stands out , involves several reasons.
But before we get into them, lets cover a few things of note:
First, this fourth letter addressed to the church age of Thyatira is the longest of the letters and covers the longest period of time through the church age.
Some consider this age spanning over a thousand years of church history,
Stretching from the time that Constantine ended the persecution in 313 AD, to about the time Martin Luther nailed his thesis on the door of the castle church of Wittenburg in 1517 AD,
I tend to agree with this point of view.
Now, one of the reasons that Jesus’ opening statement to the church age of Thyatira about His being the Son of God is significant is due in part to the history of the city of Thyatira
The city of Thyatira was once named Pelopia after a Theban princess, and the name of Semiramis, in honor of either the wife or Mother/wife of Nimrod.
(Missler, Chuck. Learn the Bible in 24 Hours: An Overview of the Whole Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2011.)
Semiramis was a consort of Nimrod, and was either his wife or mother, regardless, they had a son and named him Tammuz.
Pagan history details the death and seasonal rebirth of this figure symbolically by the burning of a Yule log,
Which this pagan practice among others have found its way into the Christian practice of Christmas.
For more information on these things I suggest you do some self study on the pagan origins of Christmas and other holidays.
However, the town also had a patron god named Tyrimnos or Apollo which according to Greek mythology was the son of Zeus
Zeus being god.
Or the Greek version of the son of god.
So, Jesus’ statement here in verse 18 is clearing the air so-to-speak, referring to Himself, as the only TRUE son of God.
18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass:
The fiery eyes convey a burning anger, or as a strong displeasure.
Similar to one in anger saying HE SAW RED.
And the bronze feet denoting judgement.
Digress to New point
It was Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander the Greats generals that claimed the area after the death of Alexander.
While Seleucus was a war, with another ex-general of Alexander, a daughter was born to him,
To which he changed the name of the old city Semiramis to simply, “Daughter”
Which is what the word Thyatira means.
19 “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.
The early period of this church age did a lot for the gospel, and Jesus is recognizing their efforts for it, but then it takes a dark turn in the very next verse.
20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.
Here is where things get interesting and deep, so please pay attention:
Jesus is invoking the name of Jezebel, the queen of Israel who was married to probably the worst king Israel had, Ahab.
Jezebel was a Sidonian princess, born of the King and Priest of Sidon.
When she married Ahab, she not only turned her wicked influence loose on him but made the whole of Israel sin,
By killing off the prophets of God, Yahweh and establishing the corporate worship of baal, the Sidonian god.
We don’t know if Jesus is referencing an actual woman who was in the church of Thyatira at the time, or if He was simply using it as a symbolic representation of the queen of Ahab.
Jezebel may also be a veiled reference to the pagan prophetess Sibyl Sambathe, for whom a shrine had been built just outside the walls of the city.
(https://www.samstorms.org/all-articles/post/what-is-the--jezebel-spirit---revelation-218-29#:~:text=The%20exact%20nature%20of%20the,the%20walls%20of%20the%20city.)
However, I find it interesting that around the 900’s AD there was a prostitute and her daughter that was written about in the Catholic church’s history
Her name Theodora of Rome.
This is a quote from David Hunt’s book, “A Woman rides the Beast.”
Some popes were put in office by their mistresses-six by a mother-and-daughter pair of
prostitutes. Theodora of Rome (wife of a powerful Roman Senator) was most successful at this
strategy. She manipulated Roman politics by exploiting the fact that her daughter, Marozia, was
the mistress of Pope Sergius III. Known as "the mistress of Rome," Marozia did not hesitate at
murder to accomplish her ambitions. Theodora herself was mistress to two ecclesiastics whom
she maneuvered in quick succession, after Sergius's death, onto "Peter's throne"-popes
Anastasius III (911-13) and Lando (913-14). Falling in love with a priest from Ravena, she
maneuvered him also onto the papal throne.
“A Woman rides the Beast, David Hunt, Chapter 8 page 67
Her grandson also became Pope and he was one of the worst Popes in the history of the Papacy.
He was Pope John XII.
So vile was he that women were afraid to become known to the Pope John XII.
And it is said that this same Pope, the grandson of this prostitute that was allowed to influence the church so boldly during this period, was killed by the jealous husband of one of his illicit lovers
Reading an online article about this prostitute’s influence, surely reminiscent of the spirit of Jezebel, the following quote is appropriate.
John Stott put it bluntly: “In that fair field a poisonous weed was being allowed to luxuriate. In that healthy body a malignant cancer had begun to form. An enemy was being harboured in the midst of the fellowship” (71).
(https://www.samstorms.org/all-articles/post/what-is-the--jezebel-spirit---revelation-218-29#:~:text=The%20exact%20nature%20of%20the,the%20walls%20of%20the%20city.)
You see, what happened after Constantine ended persecution was the church came out of the shadows, and began to get to business again.
To which Jesus commends,
But along the way, in an effort to allow for inclusion, etc.
Pagan practices crept their wicked way into Christianity.
Now, wether or not there was an actual woman who Jesus was referring to or not isn’t the point.
The point He was making was that evil was creeping in.
Paganism began mixing in with the faith,
So terrible and strong was this penetration of paganism into the church in Thyatira that some of the most evil, and diabolical acts against humanity were perpetrated by this early christian church during this period.
For example, the Spanish inquisition,
Bishops adopted the title of both Kings and Priests, calling themselves the Vicar of Christ,
Christ human representative on earth in the flesh, and ultimately the position of Pope.
Still aspiring to achieve the position of King/Priests in one,
Just like Jezebel did in her days in Israel,
Regardless, of who or exactly when these practices happened, the bottom line is, the church was infiltrated by the enemy.
Idolatry was introduced, and the church changed forever.
Which led to the eventual rebellion of protestants and the reformation in 1517 AD.
It was also the times in which Millennialism was introduced into the church, meaning taking the return of Christ to reign for a thousand years, figuratively instead of literally.
Also, the use of icons, and figurines, or statutes were permitted in worship, another practice which continues to this day in the Catholic church.
Which is rejected by most protestants.
This practice was clever,
You see, in Thyatira there was a Trade Guild, kind of like a workers UNION.
It was the same back then, if you wanted to work in a specific field according to your training or calling, you had to be a member of this union.
The problem was, the church controlled this union, and often held banquets and balls in honor of certain saints, etc, and dedicated food to them etc.
So, if you wanted to feed your family or work so you wouldn’t starve, you had to be a member of this evil union.
Doesn’t sound any different to what we have today,
I know of a particular union my self here in Southern Illinois that acts in the same manner.
If you want to a member of that union, you have to vote a certain way.
Digress into closing of the letter
In closing the letter to the church age of Thyatira, Jesus says something that I think we should clarify
24 “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. 25 But hold fast what you have till I come. 26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— 27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’— as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
If you hold fast until the end, He will give you the morning star.
The morning star is usually attributed to the star Venus
That is because it is the brightest in the morning just before sunrise.
You see, He is saying to you and I,
If you hold fast in your faith until the end, without corruption,
When you are stumbling around in the dark uncertainty, He will give Himself to you
For He is the bright and morning Star.
The one that shines brightest just before the coming of the light in your life.
Amen to that
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