Thyatira - The Church That Tolerated Apostasy - Revelation 2:18-29

INTRODUCTION:

            This morning we will finish chapter two and the first four letters to the seven churches to whom this book was addressed.  As I have already stated these seven churches represent all the churches during this time that we call the church age, from the formation of the church at Pentecost until the Lord’s returns to take the church to be with Him.

            This morning we will look at a church that appeared to be doing all the right things, but within they had slipped and were tolerating apostasy in their church.  Apostasy is a departure from the truth, a departure from the faith that they had once accepted, a departure from the sound doctrines of the church to believe in another doctrine or teaching.  In our Scripture reading this morning Paul said that he prayed for the Philippian believers that their love would abound more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that they may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.  Paul’s prayer was that they would remain true to the faith, that they would not depart from the sound doctrines of the church.  This is what happened to the church in Thyatira.  Let’s pray and get into God’s Word.

--PRAY--

SCRIPTURE:

            Turn in your Bibles to Revelation 2:18-29, this is the longest of the letters to the churches.  Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.

     Revelation 2:18-29,

            “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.  But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.  I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.  Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.  And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.  But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you.  Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (Revelation 2:18–29, NASB95)[1]

THE AUTHOR, THE CHURCH, THE CITY (Revelation 2:18)

            This letter begins like each of the letters and we are going to look at each component of verse 18, we will begin with the author of the letter, then look at the church and finally a little background on the city.

            The author identifies Himself with these words: “The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:” (Revelation 2:18b, NASB95)[2] The author first identifies Himself as the Son of God, which we know right away to be the risen, glorified, and exalted Lord Jesus Christ, this title emphasizes the deity of Jesus Christ, stressing the fact that He is of one essence with God the Father.  This is a distinct wording change from chapter one where John described for us his vision of the risen Lord Jesus.  There John described Jesus as the Son of Man.  The title “Son of Man” views Jesus Christ in His ability to sympathize with the trials, the temptations, the needs of the church.  By being identified here as the “Son of God,” the only time this title appears in the book of Revelation, Christ’s deity is the emphasis because He is approaching the church as the Divine Judge.  The church’s diversion from the true worship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God was of such a serious nature that it called for a reiteration of Christ’s deity, the fact that He was, is, and always will be God; the one and only true God.  As God, as the Head of the church He is also the Judge of the church and will bring judgment upon sin in the church if it is not dealt with.  The description goes on to say that He has eyes like a flame of fire which speaks of burning wrath against sin and purifying judgment.  The piercing vision of the Lord Jesus Christ sees all.  From the outside the church may seem that it is doing well, has a good testimony in the community, has a good reputation with other churches.  But the eyes of Jesus Christ see how things really are.  His feet are like burnished bronze, this phrase refers to a brilliant appearance that emphasizes the purity and holiness of our Lord as the glorious judge about to trample out impurity.  I wonder if when this description of Jesus Christ was read in the church of Thyatira if they were shocked and forced to realize that Christ will judge ongoing, unrepentant sin in the church.

            The recipient of this letter as already noted is the church in Thyatira.  We do not have any information about the founding of this church.  The only other reference that we have of Thyatira is in Acts 16 when Paul was in the city of Philippi and he went out by the river on the Sabbath and there were a group of people assembled there for prayer.  In Acts 16:14-15 we read, “A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.’ And she prevailed upon us.” (Acts 16:14–15, NASB95)[3] It is possible that Lydia and the members of her household who came to faith in Christ were instrumental in starting the church in Thyatira upon their return.

            The city of Thyatira was a small city and did not have any of the prestige of the first three cities.  It was founded by one of Alexander the Great’s successors as a military outpost guarding the north-south road.  It was about 40 miles southeast of Pergamum.  Pergamum was the northernmost city of the seven to whom the letters were addressed, the other four are south of Pergamum and begin to move inland from the Aegean Sea.  The city of Thyatira was in a rich agricultural area and was famous for the manufacture of purple dye.  Lydia mentioned earlier was part of that trade being a seller of purple cloth.  Thyatira was also known for numerous guilds, similar to our present-day trade unions.  Its main industry was wool and dyed-goods, but secular literature also mentions guilds for linen, bakers, slave dealers, and bronze smiths.

            Unlike the cities we have already looked at, Thyatira was not an important religious center.  The primary god worshipped in Thyatira was Apollo, the Greek sun god.  The Jewish population was also very small in Thyatira.  The pressure the Christians faced in Thyatira came from the guilds.  To hold a job, to operate a business, it was necessary to belong to a guild.  Each guild had a god or goddess in whose honor feasts where held, this included making sacrifices to these gods and goddesses and the sexual immorality that was a part of Greek and Roman idolatry.  As a Christian, you had to decide to participate in the idolatry of your guild or lose your job.  It was how some in the Thyatira church were handling the situation that caused the Lord Jesus Christ great concern.

THE COMMENDATION (Revelation 2:19)

            Jesus Christ again begins His letter to the church in Thyatira with some words of encouragement, He commends them for the things they are doing right.  He begins by assuring them that He knows their righteous deeds and He divides these into four categories.

            First, He commends them for their love for God and for one another.  The deeds they were performing were done out of their love for God and because of their love for one another.  In contrast to Ephesus, Thyatira was strong where they were weak.  Thyatira is the first of the seven churches commended for its love.

            Second, Jesus Christ commends them for their faith, or their faithfulness.  Those in Thyatira who remained true to the faith showed this in the faithfulness in serving the Lord.

            Out of faith and love grows service and perseverance the other two categories.  Those who love show it by helping others, those who are faithful will patiently endure or persevere in their faith. 

            Not only did the Lord Jesus commend them for these Christian virtues, but their righteous deeds were growing greater than at first, it was becoming more consistent and they were faithfully persevering and growing in grace and advancing the testimony of Christ in their community.  For this the Lord commends them, but there was one thing that Lord held against them, it was a deadly cancer that was growing quickly and it had to be dealt with most swiftly.

THE CONDEMNATION (Revelation 2:20-23)

            The Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine Judge of the church says, “‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.  I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.  Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.  And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.” (Revelation 2:20–23, NASB95)[4] The problem in Thyatira was not persecution from outside the church, but toleration or compromise inside the church.  Jesus uses the singular pronoun “you” when He says, “I have this against you.”  Jesus points the finger at the leader of the church.  This was something that he had failed to deal with and the sin consisted in two parts.  First, they had not followed the biblical teaching that women were not to be teachers or preachers in the church.  Paul had instructed Timothy when he was at Ephesus in 1 Timothy 2:12, “But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.” (1 Timothy 2:12, NASB95)[5] By not following this teaching this led them to tolerate Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess.  This woman claimed she was a prophetess and was receiving special revelation from God, but God had not called her to be a prophetess and her teaching was not from God, but from Satan.  By her claims, and because the leaders of the church did not follow the biblical teaching, this woman was allowed to teach error in the church.  Jesus Christ says that the result of this sin is she leads My bond-servants astray, literally she seduces them or causes them to wander away from the truth, they had been led astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols thus remaining in their guilds.

            Jezebel was not this woman’s real name, Jesus Christ called her this because her actions were like those of the woman who was the wife of king Ahab in the Old Testament.  Her name was Jezebel and she was a very vile and evil person, and through her evil influence she led the nation of Israel away from the true God and into widespread Baal worship.  Likewise, this woman whom Jesus Christ labels as Jezebel succeeded in leading Christ’s bond-servants astray so that they were committing acts of immorality and eating things sacrificed to idols.  We are not told the specific content of her false teaching, but it led a majority of the believers in Thyatira astray from truth and righteousness.  True Christians can fall into sexual immorality and idolatry and we see that happening even today, if these were not true Christians the Lord Jesus would not have called them His bond-servants.  To lead Christians into false doctrine or immoral living is sin and the Lord Jesus, the righteous judge will punish such sin.  In the case of the Jezebel of the Old Testament she died in a very gruesome death.  God in His mercy and grace had given this false prophetess time to repent, but Jesus says she did not want to repent of her immorality.  This refusal to repent meant that swift judgment would come upon her and Jesus says that He will cast her on a bed of sickness.  This phrase bed of sickness most likely refers to her death and then hell, a place of torment, the ultimate place for those who refuse to repent.

            Jesus also warns those who have gone astray with this Jezebel, Jesus refers to their following after her as committing adultery with her, because they strayed from their relationship with the Lord Jesus, the covenant relationship He has with His bride, the church.  Because they are believers He does not threaten to send them to hell, but to cast them into great tribulation, or into distress and trouble, this is not the tribulation described in Revelation 4-19, but a chastening from the Lord unless they repent of her deeds, in other words, recognize that what they are doing from her teaching is sin, and abandon that behavior, those deeds and seek forgiveness.  Again, this word repent means to change one’s life, based on a complete change of attitude and thought concerning sin and righteousness.  Jesus the righteous judge continues to tell how He will purify this church by killing her children with pestilence, this refers to her adherents who were in the church, but I do not believe they were true believers because Jesus refers to them as her children.  He would remove any that might rise up after her and carry on her work of false teaching. 

            Jesus says that by this judgment, by this purifying of His church all the churches would know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God is He who searches the minds and hearts, and gives to each one according to your deeds.  He knows your heart, He knows if you are truly His and if you have fallen into sin and if you have repented.  He knows the minds and hearts of each one of us and whether or not we have sin that needs to be dealt with and He will chasten us with tribulation to bring us to that place of repentance or He will remove us from this earth so that we do not tarnish the testimony of Jesus Christ.

THE COMMAND (Revelation 2:24-25)

            The Lord Jesus has an exhortation to the remnant of believers in Thyatira who did not hold to the teaching of Jezebel, who have not known the deep things of Satan.  This false teaching that Jezebel claimed was deep things from God, was truly deep things of Satan. Her teaching was from the father of lies whose desire is to lead the people of God into sin.  This false teaching seems to have been labeled by Christ’s faithful followers as the “deep things of Satan.”  Jesus tells those who have remained true to Him through all this that He places no other burden on them, He only wants them to remain faithful, to hold fast to what you have until He comes.  John Walvoord says, “It is remarkable that here first in the seven churches there is reference to the coming of Christ for His church as the hope of those engulfed by an apostate system.”[6]

THE PROMISE AND THE COUNSEL (Revelation 2:26-29)

            Again, Jesus ends His letter with a word of counsel and a promise, but unlike the first three letters He reverses the order and give first the promise to the one who overcomes and then the word of counsel and this will be the order for these last four letters.

            The Lord Jesus Christ’s promise contains two elements again, and the promise is made to the one who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds until the end, Jesus qualifies this promise for those who remain faithful to Him until the end, this fits with what He had just told those who had not been led astray by the false teaching, He had told them to hold fast to what they had, in essence He was telling them to remain faithful, to continue to be overcomers and not to give into apostasy.  To these overcomers He promises first that He will give them authority over the nations.  Jesus is talking about His millennial reign on the earth as King of kings, He says you shall rule with me.  His promise is taken from Psalm 2:7-9.  He says you will have authority over the nations and you will rule with a rod of iron.  This word rule is literally the verb “to shepherd” which means you will be caring for and protecting God’s people.  And any that rebel against Christ’s rule or threaten His people you will crush like a rod of iron sweeping through a bunch of pottery smashing it into pieces. Jesus says that He gives us this authority just as He received it from His Father.  Secondly, Jesus promises to give to him who overcomes the morning star.  This term morning star refers to Christ Himself in His role as the returning One who will rapture the church before the dark hours preceding the dawn of the millennial kingdom.  Those dark hours are the seven years of tribulation that will come upon the earth and will culminate in the Second coming of Jesus Christ and the beginning of the millennial kingdom, or the 1000-year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth.

            Jesus closes this letter with those words of counsel that have become familiar to us now, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Again, Jesus is urging not to listen and forget, but to really listen and respond to what is written here.  Again, He calls upon us as individuals to follow the message of this letter.  We must understand the seriousness of practicing and tolerating sin in the church, and God will judge sin in the church.  May we be found as those who are the remnant of true believers holding fast to what we have in Christ, faithfully standing by the truth of the Gospel, the doctrines of the faith.

CONCLUSION:

            Those in Thyatira thought that they could participate in the guilds and have their faith in Christ also.  But Christ called this adultery, a breaking of the covenant bond with Him.  To tolerate sin in our own lives or in our own local body is the same cancer that was destroying the church in Thyatira.  They allowed strange doctrine into the church which began leading Christians astray.  This should not happen, this is what the church in Ephesus was commended for, they kept pure doctrine, they did not let false teaching into the church.  The church in Thyatira had love, but they did not guard the truth.  A church needs both.  This is why it is so important that we are in God’s Word every day, so that we know what it teaches, a true doctrine of the church is not just in one place in the Bible, it will be a doctrine of the whole Bible.  This is why I have warned you many times to be careful, be discerning of what you listen to, or what you read in books, on the internet, because you never know what people believe who have written in books and especially the internet.  There are very few sites on the internet that I trust as sites I can go to and not be led astray.  We must be very careful not to be led astray or to tolerate sin or apostasy in our lives or in the church.  If you want the truth, stick to God’s Word and learn it.

[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995

[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995

[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995

[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995

[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995

[6]Walvoord, John F., The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Chicago, Ill. : Moody Press, 1966.