In our study today the Lord addresses the church at Thyatira. This was the smallest of the seven cities mentioned in Chapters 1-3, although it was an important trade city in John's day. Many trade guilds were located there and the city was especially famous for its purple dyes and purple fabrics. It was also a heavily fortified city with a large Roman military garrison.
The Lord addresses the church of Thyatira like this: "To the angel of the church of Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze." (Revelation 2:18) You will recall from Chapter 1 that when Christ appeared to John, John said he had eyes like blazing fire and feet like burnished bronze. The Lord chooses to emphasize these particular characteristics to the church of Thyatira. Eyes of blazing fire would be able to cut through an outward veneer and see straight to the heart, which we will find the Lord doing in our passage today. Brass is a material that had to be refined by fire in order to skim off the dross, plus bronze in John's day represented strength and endurance. So the feet of bronze here may represent the need for the Christians of Thyatira to refine their faith, or the feet of bronze may represent the unchanging nature of Christ. The world changes all the time, but Christ doesn't. Laws of man change in every era to suit the morality of man in every era, but God's word is unchanging. Jesus will chastise some of the church members of Thyatira for compromising their beliefs and for conforming to the ways of the world.
First, He compliments them. He says that their good deeds are even more plentiful now than they were when they first came to faith. It's often the other way around: people become excited about their salvation at first and want to win the world for Christ, then as time goes on and as the cares of this world drag them down, they do less and less for the Lord's kingdom. The Christians of Thyatira have done just the opposite. "I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first." (Revelation 2:19) The Lord makes no mention of them enduring persecution, and there are no historical records of persecution against Christians at Thyatira, so we can assume that they were generally allowed to practice their faith without opposition. That's probably why they were able to do so many good deeds in that region. Lack of persecution is a blessing, but at the same time it can cause people to become soft, as we said yesterday. This church has not had to face anything that has made them have to delve deeply into the word of God and into prayer in order to obtain the strength to make it through. As a result, they are not standing up against the teachings of a false prophetess in their midst.
"Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she leads 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." (Revelation 2:20-21) Jezebel in the Old Testament was the pagan wife of King Ahab of Israel. She was an especially evil and immoral woman, so the name "Jezebel" became a term that indicates a woman of loose morals. The false prophetess in our passage today was probably not literally named Jezebel, but at heart she was just like the sinful wife of Ahab. The Lord says this woman is teaching things that have led Christians to fall into sexual immorality and to engage in practices related to idolatry. The Lord has been dealing with her heart for some time now, urging her to repent, but she has refused.
If this "Jezebel" and those who have fallen into sin with her do not heed the Lord's words and repent, He will be forced to discipline them. "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." (Revelation 2:21-23) The Lord can't allow their behavior to continue indefinitely. It is for their own good and for the good of all the churches if He deals with this sin harshly. Since some of these people at Thyatira have ignored His words, perhaps they will repent when He takes action. And even if they don't, His discipline will serve as an example to other churches not to fall into the same sin as some believers at Thyatira did.
He tells those who have not followed the teachings of Jezebel to keep standing firm on the word of God. "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 deep secrets, 'I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have til I come.'" (Revelation 2:24-25) Sometimes all we can do in this troubled world is to hold on. The Christians of Thyatira were living in a very idolatrous city. They were not going to be able to lead every citizen of their city to Christ. Even some of their own church members fell victim to wrong teachings in a city where statues of false gods stood on practically every street corner. There are periods of time in which it's quite difficult for the church to win many souls to Christ, when it's difficult just to maintain one's own faith. In those times, all the Lord asks us to do is hold on.
Thyatira was a literal city with a literal church in it during the Apostle John's lifetime. But it also represents a period of church history, from about 590 AD to 1517 AD. This means it includes what is known as the Dark Ages. One reason this period of time is called "dark" is because there are not as many historical records of it as there were in times previous to it and times after it. Another reason it is called "dark" is because of the struggle between Christianity and pagan mythology, and the struggle between orthodox Christianity and the tendency of the Roman Catholic Church during that time to take the interpretation of Scriptures out of the hands of the common people. We have already seen Jesus criticizing a similar movement in John's day. When Scripture is doled out only by those in authority, and when the church members can't take what they hear in church and check it against the word of God, it's possible for all sorts of doctrinal errors to arise, to spread, and to become considered as fact. In the United States we are blessed to have the word of God available to us 24/7. We can buy Bibles at pretty much any bookstore. We can read the Bible online from any device capable of accessing the internet. There are places where we can obtain free Bibles, or we can check them out at no cost from the library. We have no excuse for not studying the word of God, because the Lord has so graciously made it available to us in any form we wish to study it. And one reason we need to study it is so we can recognize false doctrine and not be deceived by it.
The Lord concludes His letter to the church at Thyatira: "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." (Revelation 2:26-29) The verse Jesus quotes in this passage is from Psalm 2, in which we are told that the Messiah will someday rule over the earth. We who belong to Him will also reign with Him, as we will see later on in Revelation 20. So here He is promising a great reward for those who stand firm.
He also promises to give the morning star, which is most likely a reference to Himself, for in Revelation 22 we will find Him calling Himself "the morning star". When Christ comes to rule the world forever, we will be right here with Him forever. His actual physical presence will be with us. We will not commune with Him by prayer as we do now, but face to face. When we arrive at the portion of Revelation that describes the eternal kingdom, we will be told, "God's dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and will be their God." (Revelation 21:3)
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