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Introduction: Christ's Letter to the Fourth Church
"And to the angel of the church of Thyatira, write the words of the Son of God who has eyes like flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceeded the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols."
Revelation 2:18-20
This is heavy stuff if you stop and think about it. Let's slow down and look at this for all that it means - not what we want it to be, but what Jesus is actually saying here.
The City of Thyatira: Historical Context
Thyatira was the smallest of the seven cities mentioned in the letters to the churches. It is also a city about which the least is known. Yet it is to this little church in this little-known city that Christ addresses his longest letter.
Not a ton is known about Thyatira, but I'm just going to mention a couple of things because I think they're worthy:
Origins and Name
First, Thyatira was probably founded by Alexander the Great some 300 years before Christ. The name Thyatira means in its literal sense "unceasing sacrifice." So that's where you get the different pronunciations coming out of the different translations of the ancient languages.
Military Buffer City
It probably received its name as "unceasing sacrifice" because it was a military buffer city. It was located some 40 miles southeast of Pergamum, the capital city of that province. So when enemies invaded, they would naturally come to Thyatira first and its location did not allow it to defend itself very well. Its mission, its sacrifice, was to just hold off the enemy long enough so that Pergamum, the capital, could prepare itself for battle.
As a result, it's known that Thyatira was destroyed and rebuilt multiple times during its history. I think some of us can relate to that mission. Lord puts us in the front lines. We get beat down and we get built back up again, multiple times.
Commerce and Purple Dye
Thyatira was also somewhat famous in its day for its commerce. There was a main trade route that went through the city. Thus tradesmen from around the world bought and sold there. And the city is known for its woolen industry, especially for the dyes produced there.
They manufactured a very expensive purple dye that was valued by royalty and the wealthy of that era. And this dye was obtained by a certain shellfish. Now check this out. This little creature was brought up by divers. Its throat would be slit and a drop of this stuff would come out and then they would collect it. Along with the water composition in Thyatira, they could create colors that nowhere else in the world could be produced.
This industry is actually mentioned in the Bible. We are told about a woman named Lydia who was called a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira. That's in Acts 16:14:
"One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul."
Trade Guilds
What is known about Thyatira is they had trade guilds. This is very important to understand later on in the message. See, they were like ancient unions of the day. Workers from various industries in the city like bakers, wool workers, dyers, bronze workers, potters, others. They all banded together to set prices and guarantee work.
To refuse to join a guild was to give up your prospects of employment. This little fact will become very important. So, pocket that one.
Center of Cult Worship
Another thing, Thyatira was also the center of cult worship. There was a temple in the city dedicated to fortune-telling and it was presided over by a female oracle named Sambathe.
The Church at Thyatira
It was this church operating in this city that Jesus sends this letter. Now, we don't even know who founded this church. It is possible that the gospel was brought to Thyatira by Lydia who was in fact saved in Philippi in Acts chapter 16. But we don't know for sure or as some think it might have been evangelized by believers coming from Ephesus.
There is one thing we do know for sure though. While the church in Thyatira may or may not have been founded by a woman, it was certainly being deceived and attempted to be destroyed by a woman. There were serious problems in the church of Thyatira and the Lord comes with a word tailored just for them and their need.
How Jesus Presents Himself to Thyatira
Now, as Jesus comes to this church in verse 18, I want you to notice a couple things. He presents himself three ways:
1. The All-Saving Son of God
First, he comes as the all-saving Son of God. He reminds these people that he is the Savior and he alone is worthy of worship.
2. The All-Seeing Judge
Secondly, he comes as the all-seeing, "eyes like a flame of fire." He comes as one who sees all. He sees the works of the hands and the motives and the thoughts of their hearts. He comes seeing all. He comes not as a meek and lowly Jesus, but with his eyes ablaze with anger over their sin.
3. The All-Judging Authority
Thirdly, he comes as the all-judging, "feet like fine brass." Brass or bronze in the Bible is symbolic of judgment in many places. Jesus not only comes as one able to see all, as one able to save all, but he comes as one able to judge all.
If there is one word that describes the situation we find in Thyatira, it is the word compromise. Compromise. This is a church that has left its founding principles and has gone off into compromise and apostasy.
Three Ways to View These Letters
These churches can be viewed three ways:
- Practically - They are literal letters to real churches with real issues where real people were.
- Prophetically - That's how the modern church in the last 50 to 100 years has really tried to take on the seven churches. They've tried to slot them in church history prophetically, different periods of time where we now live in the church of Laodicea, which is the last church. But this one in the prophetic timeline is placed between 600 AD and 1500 AD. It's a time known as the dark ages, a time when practices similar to what Catholicism was starting to do led to the great reformation.
- Personally - And then the big one for us today, I think, is it can be taken personally. These letters have a message for every church and every believer to hear and to heed. And a church just like every one of these seven churches can still be found in the world today. There is a word for us in this church letter if we want to find it and if we want to grasp it.
1. Jesus Applauds Their Service
Point number one, Jesus, he applauds their service. In verse 19, he applauds their service. He praises their ministries there. There was an active church. They were working within their own number within the community around them. Jesus tells us that they were busy and they were active in service. Busy with works. That means deeds. It speaks of them being active in good deeds and benevolent in their outreach. Bravo.
"Kicking Up Dust"
Active in their service. The thought here in original language means "kicking up dust." In other words they were so busy that they kicked up dust where they went. There was no task that was left undone. They were busy busy busy.
Motivated by Agape Love
What was behind these works? What motive baited them for doing good works? Well, this is even better. They were motivated by love. And the word here is agape. They were motivated by agape love. That refers to unconditional unceasing love that knows no boundaries that is not influenced by the worth or object being loved. It is a God kind of love.
See, it's good that this church had love, but we are not told what they loved. Did their works arise out of genuine love for the Lord? Or did they simply love their fellow man? Either one in an agape way. As the verses unfold, I think we will see that their love was centered on mankind and not on God.
When God speaks to us and we have agape love for him and all that he's done for us, godly works will arise out of a heart that is alive with the love of God Almighty. 2 Corinthians 5:14 part A says very simply:
"For the love of Christ controls us."
Faithful and Growing
They are motivated by their faith and their standing in Christ. It refers to their faithfulness. These were folks who could be counted on to get the job done and they were faithful and they were not fickle. Jesus says their maturity was solid. And now when I say maturity, I'm not talking about spiritual growth. I'm talking about growth in the level of their works. They were developing and progressing in their efforts. Their outreach and ministry to their fellow man was ever on the increase.
This may look the same as a good ground church to the naked eye. But all good ground churches should be busy for the glory of God, not just having activities for the sake of doing something.
The Triple E of Ministry
We should be active in the Lord's work, but we should do everything that is motivated by either:
- Edifying the saints
- Evangelizing the sinner
- Exalting the savior
The three E, triple E. Those three tasks comprise the whole of what our business is supposed to be about. And everything we do kind of leads towards that. That should be the activity of a good ground church giving glory to God.
So all this good is going on in Thyatira. But like five of the seven churches, now it's time to get real. Now Jesus is going to turn the tables. Now we get to see some things that can be horribly wrong in the midst of some really good things happening.
2. Jesus Confronts Their Sin
Point number two today, he confronts the sin. Jesus confronts the sin in verses 20-23. Now, while this church appeared to be everything a church ought to be on the surface, at its heart, there was a simmering poison. And the more you look into it, the more heartbreaking it becomes. See, the church looked good on the outside, but it was corrupt at its core.
Jezebel: The False Prophetess
The church in Thyatira was being led away from the Lord by teachings of an influential woman in their congregation. Jesus exposes her teaching and her judgment in these verses. The woman is called Jezebel. She is called by the name of one of the most vile women in the entire Bible.
A little background on the biblical Jezebel will help us to understand what Jesus is saying here:
- Jezebel was the wife of wicked king Ahab (First Kings)
- She was the daughter of a gentile king
- She was a devoted worshipper of Baal, and she supported 850 prophets of this wicked sensual religion
- Baal was a fertility god and his prophets and priests were no more than temple prostitutes
- Baal was worshiped through vile sexual acts and gross wickedness
When Jezebel came to Israel, she brought her perverted religion with her. She led her weak-wristed husband to follow her gods and thus influenced Israel to seek Baal instead of Jehovah. She even did her best to kill the true men of God she could get her hands on. She threatened Elijah one time and he ran away in fear. That's in First Kings 19.
Now, you might even remember one of the most horrible stories in the Bible. When Ahab had a desire for Naboth's vineyard, it was Jezebel that arranged the murder of Naboth so that Ahab could have the vineyard. This act prompted Elijah to pronounce God's sentence upon Ahab and Jezebel.
So, the name Jezebel came to be identified with wickedness and idol worship. Jesus uses this name that everyone would know what he meant. If he used her real name, there would be no context down through the ages. So, he uses Jezebel. Make sense?
The Trade Guild Problem
In verse 20, her sin is described. This self-appointed prophetess, whoever she was, was guilty of leading the people away from the true God and the true worship of the real God of heaven.
No one is quite sure what's actually going on, but I want to tell you my theory. Remember when I mentioned the trade guilds earlier? These guilds would often have meetings in pagan temples around town. Such meetings were often immoral affairs involving drunkenness, drug abuse, and sexual immorality. These meetings would also involve a meal that would either begin or end with a sacrifice to a pagan god.
When an animal was sacrificed in a pagan temple, often only a small portion of the animal was actually sacrificed, sometimes as little as just clipping a piece of hair and throwing it on the little incense thing. And then the animal would be divided up between the temple priest and the worshipper. And the worshipper could either sell his portion of the meat in the marketplace or he could throw a feast for his friends and they would eat the sacrifice.
When the pagans in Thyatira were saved, they were now faced with a problem:
- Did they refuse to stay in the guilds?
- Did they refuse to join the guilds and be unemployed?
- Or did they participate in the pagan rituals and compromise their testimonies?
Compromise Through False Teaching
So the teaching at Thyatira may have been the same teaching that was rampant in that era. That teaching is this: that even though we could be saved by grace, our fleshly appetite for sin should be let loose because our soul and our bodies are separate. They held the view that the soul and the flesh were not connected. They taught that what a person did in their body had not affected their spiritual life and vice versa. That whole teaching is all laid bare in the book of First John. It's countered and corrected in First John.
This woman preacher may have been telling the people in this church that they could hold on to their pagan beliefs and practices and still serve the Lord. Sound familiar? That they could be all about the sin and still be saved? That one thing had nothing to do with the other.
This may have been the tool for that church to get the pagans of Thyatira to come to their church. They were compromising their standards to attract the world. That's what they were doing. They were saying:
"Oh, come as you are. Don't change a thing. Keep living as you've always lived. We'll accept you just like you are. Our God loves you and we do too. Neither he nor us expects you to change anything."
"Come As You Are" vs. "Leave Changed"
"Come as you are" is very, very real. We have a little thing called "leave changed." Without "leave changed," you are walking on thin ice with the Lord. And this passage lays it bare if you really look into it. Without the "leave changed," I want nothing to do with "come as you are." Why?
Well, look at what Jesus has to say about it. Jesus tells us she was teaching and seducing them. The word seduce means "to lead out of the right path." She was leading them into immorality directly or overlooking immorality in order to be liked by the world, to be nice, to be welcoming. Follow. Do you see it? It can refer to sexual sin or it can be a metaphor for idol worship. Regardless of what they were doing, this is what the Lord calls it. It's right there in your Bible. He calls it "the deep things of Satan."
It looks like the teachings that's abounding in the modern era, doesn't it? And Jesus calls it the deep things of Satan. Everywhere we got people calling themselves Christians claim that they have a relationship with the Lord on one hand and live lives of open sin on the other. Get this - open sin, not stumbling. We all stumble. None of us is perfect. No, not one. Open, not wanting to change or even consider changing. In fact, if you ask me to change, you're hurting my feelings.
Biblical Truth About Transformation
The Lord told his people to separate from that kind of lifestyle in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. He told us that his people received a new birth in John chapter 3 and that they become new creatures in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The Bible tells us that anyone who lives a lifestyle of committed continual unrepented sin is lost. We have liberty as Christians, but our liberty is not a license to open committed continual sin.
Judgment Is Coming
The stubbornness is exposed here. The Lord has given this woman and her followers time to turn and repent from their sins, but they refuse to do so. Now his patience has run out, and they are teed up for judgment. Our God is a patient, loving God. He gives lost sinners and wayward believers opportunity upon opportunity to get right with him. And when they refuse, they can expect nothing less than judgment. Now, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. That's what biblical Christianity is.
They are now headed for judgment. It's final. The worst kind. "But I love them so much, I can't hurt their feelings." Then in verses 22 and 23, the sentence is actually handed down. Because of what she has done, she and all her followers will face God's wrath. By using the phrase "throw into great tribulation," he is telling us that these people are not saved. Notice the grace in his judgment. He's still giving them space to repent. Our savior's awesome. But they refuse. And if they refuse, they will be judged according to their works.
Salvation is always based on God's grace. And judgment comes based on mankind's works. So let's not deceive ourselves. People who will not bow to the Lord Jesus Christ, trust him for salvation, demonstrate that salvation through changed dedicated lives are people who are either one of two things. They're either baby baby baby Christians or they have never been saved. And if you have never recognized yourself as a sinner, repented and turned from your sins and trusted Jesus as your savior, your redeemer, your substitute, taking the judgment that belongs to you, then let me challenge you to come to God today while there's still time. One day the patience of God will reach an end and nothing will remain but death, judgment, and hell.
3. Jesus Confronts Their Tolerance
Look back on verse 20. He confronts the tolerance of this church. Jesus expresses displeasure with this church because they allowed this woman to be in a position of leadership and because they tolerated the lies she was teaching as truth. The word "to tolerate" in verse 20 means to permit, to allow. God is displeased that they would allow things of that nature to go on there. They were probably like many in our day. They might have said:
"Well, I don't agree with it, but we shouldn't say anything because we don't want to hurt their feelings."
Some people need their feelings hurt. Sorry, not sorry.
The Problem with "Church Hurt"
Now, to weak wrist the authentic church even further, there's a new movement called church hurt. There's a church hurt movement now where the church hurts people by telling them the truth, asking them that if they accept Jesus, they need to change. "That church hurt me. I want to find a church that doesn't hurt." I'm not saying there aren't churches that have done bad things to good people. Okay? I'm not saying that.
What I am saying is the church hurt movement is a way to take any kind of conviction out of anything and turn Jesus into your buddy and everybody's just "I'm okay, you're okay, love is love, blah blah blah." It's just another way to weaken the church from standing for the truth.
Standing for Truth
When false doctrine is being preached in the church, those who know the truth have a duty to stand up and do something about it. When we sit back and allow that kind of wickedness to go unchecked, we invite the anger in the judgment of God. No matter how nice you try to be, no matter how professional you try to approach it, these folks who have descended into straight up error - when you attempt to lovingly correct them, many times they will just try to blow you up.
Every church that stands on God's truth experiences it. Some churches pride themselves in their tolerance. Some churches have made a false doctrine around tolerance and sold this counterfeit to themselves as if they are loving. I think God still expects his people to be different from the world, be different from the folks around us in many respects. And that starts with honesty. Can we at least be honest? Balance out the grace and truth. Allow "come as you are." Yes, be about that, but really pin your hopes and your actions and your attitude on the "leave changed" with the triple E. Make sense?
The Price of Compromise
See the church in Thyatira had been established to bring the word of God to a pagan city. They had functioned well for a while but they had abandoned the right path. They are going to pay a heavy price for their sin unless they repent. The Lord won't tolerate sin in the church when it's allowed to flourish. Sin is one thing. Sin being allowed to flourish and encouraged to flourish is another.
Judgment begins in the household of God. Is that a theological theory? No. It's actually in the word of God in 1 Peter 4:17:
"For the time has come for judgment to begin with God's household. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who disobey the gospel of God?"
Is life and death on the line? If it is, then we should be pretty serious about this stuff. In other words, when there is sin in the camp, the Lord's going to deal with it. He will remove his presence, his power, his touch. He'll take that off the congregation. He may write Ichabod over the door and it'll dwindle away to nothing. That is the price for compromise.
And guess what? In America, that church dwindling down to nothing sometimes blows up into thousands of members. But they're nothing in the kingdom of God. They have as much honesty and truth as pork in the pork and beans. They're nothing but just a country club of comfortable Sundays to make people feel better. When I say dwindle to nothing, it's not attendance. It's the aliveness of the people that are there that love each other, that care for each other, and that want to make his name great.
4. Jesus Gives Hope to the Saints
And that's my last point today. He gives hope to the saints in verses 24-29. Not everyone in Thyatira had walked away from the Lord. Even in that tolerant, compromising, sinful church, there was a faithful remnant. And the Lord has a few words of hope and comfort for them as they struggled to walk holy in an unholy congregation.
Hope for Their Duty: Stay the Course
He gives them hope concerning their duty. He tells them that all he expects for them is that they stay the course. He wants them to avoid being sucked into the vortex of evil that is swirling there in Thyatira. That his will for us in these confusing days as well is the same. He wants us to stay the course for the glory of God. Just because everyone around us is taking a new path does not mean we have to. We can stand our ground and be faithful until death or the rapture takes us away.
I don't have it on the screen for you, but Ephesians 6:11-18. Look it up sometime. And I want you to count how many times he tells you to stand. Three times he tells you to stand. If only God would give us clues.
Hope for a Better Tomorrow
He gives us hope of a literal better tomorrow. In verses 26-27, the Lord Jesus promises them that if they remain faithful to him, they will rule with him when he comes in his kingdom. He's saying to them:
"Hey peeps, you are powerless to change your situation now, but the day is coming when I will put my power into your hands. You will reign with me, and your struggle will be worth it all in the end."
See, one day, our king is returning. And when he does, he's going to let his faithful servants reign with him. We might be weak today. The worldly compromising churches might be the ones with all the people, all the power, all the prestige, but when the king returns, those who have served him faithfully will now reign with him. And it'll be worth it all when that day arrives.
The Morning Star Promise
Lastly, in verse 28, Jesus promises these faithful believers the morning star. There's some debate amongst biblical scholars what he's talking about here. Some believe that he's promising them himself. I mean, after all, he is the bright and morning star. Revelation 22:16, right? Some think this refers to Satan, that Jesus will let the church see Satan get what's coming to him someday. I don't know. I mean, we're going to see that. Revelation 20:10 tells us we're going to actually get to see that.
But I think he may be talking about the return of Christ. Let me explain why. You see, when the night grows the darkest, the morning star or the planet Venus becomes visible. When that heavenly body appears, you know that daybreak is not far behind. I think the Lord is telling these folks to just hold on a little while longer. He seems to be saying:
"It's mighty dark right now, but there's a glimmer of hope in the heavens. Hang on. I'm coming to get you. Hang on. I'm on my way."
That's his promise to us. This dark night we are in right now will not last forever. Our Lord and King is returning. The signs are visible all around us. Symbolically, the morning star has appeared and it signals the approach of a new day. He is coming to get us and we're taken off. We're out of here. So hang on just a little while longer.
Final Thought: Stay Vigilant
Now final thought today. Satan would love nothing better than to slither his way into our fellowship and cause us to abandon the Lord's truth. So in that area, we must be vigilant. And that's from the leadership on down to the ministries on down to some of you who just attend every now and then together. We're all part of it. Vigilant.
First Peter 5:8 says this:
"Be sober minded. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
We must watch and work against those tactics at every turn. We must look not only at the church as a whole, but at our individual hearts. So we as individual believers must not allow Satan a stronghold in our life. Stay the course, my friends. If you are married, cherishing your marriage is a big thing. The number one thing you can do for the church? Protect your marriage. Stay the course.
Be strong, be courageous, and stay the course.