To The Church of Thyatira

Revelation 2:18-29

Immanuel – 12/12/21

We arrive at the center of Jesus’ messages to the seven churches. It is the longest of the seven. It is the message to Thyatira.

In the Roman Empire, Thyatira was a manufacturing giant. Every imaginable industry was in the city. But Thyatira was most famous for its production of purple textiles. In Acts 16 we read about the very first Christian convert in the city of Philippi. Her name was Lydia and she traded in purple goods. But Lydia was not from Philippi, she was from Thyatira (Acts 16:14).

And because Lydia was a merchant of things purple, she was likely a very wealthy woman. That’s because manufacturing purple was difficult and highly labor intensive. Purple was expensive to produce, and it was exceedingly expensive to purchase. So much so that the color of choice for the most fabulously wealthy was purple. Indeed, purple was the color of kings.

How fitting then, that the letter to Thyatira is full of images from the Israel’s age of kings. But even more, a prophesy underlies this message; a prophesy about the one king to rule them all: the Son of Man/the Son of David /the Son of God.

Purpose

What was the situation in Thyatira?

How does that relate to us?

What are the promises set before the church?

Read Revelation 2:18-29

The Son of God

To the pastor of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.”

When the Apostle John was taken up in the Spirit, he saw an awesome and terrifying vision. And in 1:13, he sees one like a son of man. Something about this glorious being resembles a human; but He is so otherly – a being like a blazing inferno, with the brilliance of sun. He is like a son of man, but He is completely different than any man or woman history has ever encountered.

Remember two things. (1)The seven golden lampstands of chapter 1 are symbolic of the seven churches. (2) Thyatira is the message in the middle, it is the center of the seven. And right here, from the middle of the seven lampstands, this one like a son of man declares His name: the Son of God.

This is the only time in Revelation that the name “Son of God” is used. And such a name does not mean that Jesus is the child of God. It means that He is the divine person of the Trinity who was born into human flesh. And like a loyal son, Jesus perfectly fulfills the will of the Father.

The Son of God is the most precious name of Jesus in the gospels, because the name “Son of God” is the deepest part of Jesus’ identity. In fact, in the gospel of Mark, a gospel all about the mysterious identity of Jesus, only reveals Jesus to be the Son of God after He has died. Because Jesus’ true nature can only be perceived through the sacrifice of the cross; a perception that the empty tomb confirms.

Though Jesus is the Son of God, above everything else, the cross proves He is worthy of such a name. For He was willing to lay down His life in obedience to the Father and in love for His church. Because Jesus is worthy, because He is humble, because He is victorious; the nations are His to command and the earth is His to possess.

And this is a precious fulfillment of an ancient prophecy.

“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”

–Psalm 2:6-8

This is a prophesy about the Davidic King, the Messiah: a king that will reign forever and whose dominion will stretch across the earth. He is the King to rule all other kings. He is the Lord before which all other lords must bow. All peoples, all nations, the earth and everything within it, is His.

And this king is the only begotten Son of God.

The Father has given the Son this most precious gift: the earth and the nations that inhabit it. Will this glorious King allow what He possesses to become corrupted, and putrefy? Will He burn it all up with fire so He can start over? No! He will take what is ugly and make it beautiful. He will take what is unclean and make it holy. He will take what is in bondage and redeem it! Any that refuse such a glorious transformation will be removed, separated. They will experience the fire; but not the whole earth.

Another prophesy of the Servant King.

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations…He will not grow faint or be discouraged till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for His law.” -Isaiah 42:1,4

Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and who stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

-Isaiah 42:5-9

Jesus, the Son of God, the King of kings, is our living covenant by which we are able to come to God. He is the One that has brought light to our blindness, that has purchased freedom from our chains. He is the One that makes all things new. And He will not rest until He has established justice in the earth and every coastland loves His law.

All of these marvelous truths are wrapped up and packed into the name “The Son of God.” And this glorious name comes bursting forth from of the center of the church. Yes, it is from within the church that the Son of God will conquer the nations; not with swords, but with righteousness, peace, and joy.

And since the Son of God transforms and recreates from within the midst of the church, He is jealous that His church first be transformed and recreated. So He casts His fiery gaze first upon the church.

Read vs 19

When we read that the Son of God has eyes like a flame of fire it is not meant to be literal, just as He does not have a sword coming out of His mouth. It means that He sees everything, piercing even the darkest of places. He sees and He knows the works of every human being.

And He sees and He knows the works of the church in Thyatira. This is a church that truly understood what it means to have faith, for they love and they serve; and they patiently endured the persecutions common to all Christians in that century. They faced the hostilities of apostate Jews and the rejection of a society that demanded Caesar be called lord.

Trade guilds dominated the manufacturing scene of Thyatira. If the trade guild did not accept you, you did not work in that trade. Every one of these guilds required an oath of loyalty to the lord in Rome. For the Christians, who refused to make that oath, it meant that they were barred from participating in the flourishing economy of Thyatira. Yet they patiently endured it, knowing that such mandates would not overcome them, but that through the reign of the Son of God, they would overcome.

And indeed, it seemed that the overcoming was well underway; for the works of the Thyatiran church were only increasing: their latter works were exceeding their first works. Their ministry was increasing. Their expressions of love, through service, were getting better and louder.

If we ever face mandates that restrict our interactions with society, then let us learn from Thyatira: not becoming fearful or bitter, but growing in love, service, faith, and patient endurance. Certainly, this is well pleasing to the King.

But in Thyatira there was a problem – a major problem.

Read vs 20-21

Jezebel

If you are unfamiliar with Jezebel, she is one of the most infamous characters in all of the Old Testament. She was a pagan queen of Israel, the wife of King Ahab, and nemesis to the prophet Elijah.

There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel.

-1 Kings 21:25-26

Perhaps more than any other figure, Jezebel was poison to Israel. Her marriage to Ahab was a sad turning point in Israel’s history. It sped the kingdom of Israel’s long march into Assyria, into oblivion.

(Parenthesis)

It’s important to note that when we come to the end of Revelation there is another figure that draws greatly from the symbolic imagery of Jezebel. She is the royal whore of Babylon. As we will see when we get there, she symbolizes the people of Israel, throwing herself into the bed of other gods, poisoned by arrogance and unrepentance, quickly marching into oblivion.

(Close Parenthesis)

In verses 20 and 21, Jesus lists four things that characterize this evil woman.

She calls herself a prophetess.

She teaches and practices sexual immorality.

She promotes and eats food sacrificed to idols.

She is defiantly unrepentant.

Once again, what we are seeing is symbolic. There was not an actual woman in Thyatira named Jezebel. In fact, there was likely not a single individual that Jezebel is symbolizing. Jesus even says it in verse 24, Jezebel is symbolic of a false teaching.

And this false teaching is now very familiar to us; because we see that the same indictments Jesus levies against Jezebel are the exact same indictments He levied against Balaam in the church of Pergamum. It is likely the Nicolaitans were engaging in the same, or similar, abominable practices.

As we move through Jesus’ epistles to the seven churches, it becomes increasingly clear that every church is facing the same challenge, or variations of that same challenge: a false teaching, and evil practices that flow out of it. Ultimately, this false teaching revolves around the Roman Empire’s paganism, sexual immorality, and Caesar worship. And all of these things threaten to devour the first century church, like some sort of demonic beast.

I want you to know, such a false teaching was not just something that ignorant and ancient people fell for. Our culture is saturated with the same false teachings. Instead of the pagan gods of Rome, we have made gods out of ourselves. The altars of social media accounts prove it. Sexual immorality drives our culture. We kill our unborn children and attempt to redefine biology just to maintain our obsessions with sexual immorality. We might not have a Caesar to worship, but government has been practically deified, with worshippers hoping in a salvation through legislation. We are not so unlike Thyatira.

The Son of God Strikes

But before Jezebel has her way with the church in Thyatira, the Son of God will strike first.

Read vs 22-23

Jezebel would cast herself into the beds of other lovers. So Christ will cast her into a bed of sickness – her deathbed.

Those that commit adultery with her, particularly those in the church who fornicate with her false teachings, their reward will come with the Great Tribulation that Jesus says (in Revelation 3:10) is soon coming upon the whole world. But before the trial, He summons them to repent.

The children of Jezebel are those that have fully embraced false teachings and wicked influences. It is as if they were born by evil. Evil is their nature, sin comes naturally, false teachings sound good. The last thing they want to do is repent. Jesus says that these children – like Jezebel – will also be killed.

And when Jezebel and her children are judged, then every church, all those within the Kingdom of God, will know that the Son of God has eyes like a flame of fire. He sees what no human eye can see: the secret thoughts of the mind and all the way down into the depths of the heart. Nothing escapes His fiery gaze. He gives to all according to what their works have earned.

The Thyatiran church, with their increasing works of love and faith and service and patient endurance, will enjoy the favor of the King and will be rewarded. But those that go the bed of Jezebel, and those that are born of her teachings, they will be trampled beneath the burnished bronze of the King’s feet.

So when we see those in our world lying in bed with Jezebel, know that the Son of God sees it too. He sees it better than you do. He has a sickbed for them. They will not be victorious; despite what it may look like today.

Read vs 24

Jesus equates Jezebel’s teachings with the deep things of Satan. A further connection must now be seen. As we saw in 2:9, Jews that reject Jesus as the Messiah are not Jews, and they worship at the synagogue of Satan. So also do those that practice paganism and Caesar worship. All of it is devil worship, is the synagogue of Satan.

Even the godless secularism of our day is worship at the synagogue of Satan.

So if you hear our secular government, or media, or culture, proclaim a salvation that you can find nowhere else; then open your eyes, that you don’t walk into the synagogue belonging to Satan. If your hope is derived from the promises of legislators, or science, or celebrity; then be warned, false hopes await you in the bed of Jezebel.

Do not hold to these teachings! And like we saw last week in the church of Pergamum, we cannot tolerate evil in our midst. No church can allow false teachings to infiltrate. No church can allow evil to dwell here.

This is the dwelling place of the Son of God. He stands in our midst. He sees our works. Will we defile His glorious name by tolerating Jezebel in these walls? If there is repentance, then there is a warm welcome and a full embrace. But, if repentance cannot be found, we cast those individuals out and give them up to Satan; just as we saw in last week’s sermon.

You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. -1 Corinthians 5:5

If Jesus will not tolerate the unrepentant, how can we? We might not be able to see into the mind and the heart, as Christ can, but we can certainly see the works of a person. Therefore, in the church we do not judge the heart, we judge a person by their works. And if their works are evil, we first call them to turn away from those works and to change. If they refuse, then they can take their evil works elsewhere. We will not let them defile the name of Jesus in our midst. And we will pray that their exile will be temporary; and will lead to a humble, repentant, joyful returning.

But before we go judging the works of other hands, we look at our own. Before we go digging for specks in other people’s eyes, we must remove the log from our own (Matthew 7:1-5).

Let us again be reminded of the church of Ephesus; who were solidly grounded in the truth and faithfully fought off false teachers. But they were weak in their works of love and service to one another. Conversely, Thyatira was compromised in their doctrine but exceedingly strong in their good deeds. This makes the churches of Ephesus and Thyatira something like opposites.

Hold Fast

In order for the church of Thyatira to resist these false teachers, they had to be able to first identify them. How could they identify false teachers, the seductions of Jezebel, and how dangerous she is, if they were not first wholly rooted and grounded in the word of God?

In other words, it appears that the greatest problem in Thyatira was that the church – and the elders in particular – had a weak Scriptural understanding. They openly tolerated Jezebel and seemed not to know the peril they were in. A Christian only gets to that place by not understanding the truths of the Bible, by not being committed to the word of God.

Again, we are not too different from the first century Christians that lived in Thyatira. We desperately need to know what the Bible says; and not just with our minds, but with our hearts. We need the Bible to be the lense through which we look at our world. The only true red pill, the only way of seeing this world for what it is, of seeing what is false verses what is true, is through the Bible. If that ever flips, if we ever begin looking at the Bible through the lens of the world, we are dead, we are the children of Jezebel, we have been overcome.

We must hold fast to the word.

Read vs 25

The church of Thyatira was to hold fast until Jesus arrived. As we have now seen numerous times in Revelation, very soon Jesus was coming to judge. And until the enemies of Thyatira were judged, they were to hang on, to hold fast!

So too must we hold fast! The calls to compromise our faith, to tolerate evil, are constantly being shouted in our ears. Those that would strip away our conviction and make us questions the word of God, are relentless. Those that would compel us to violate our conscious for some consensus of the majority, constantly claw at our doors.

Brothers and sisters, hold fast to the faith that you have! Hold fast to the gospel that you have received!

Yes, what we hold fast to is the gospel we have received. We hold fast to the word of God found in this Holy Bible.

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. -Hebrews 10:23

That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life. -Philippians 2:15-16

And all those that hold fast to the confession of our hope – our faith in the Son of God – they will not be overcome, but will be the overcomers.

Read vs 26-27

These are not promises only reserved for heaven. These are promises that Jesus gives to His church in time and on earth. This is for us to experience, to some degree, right now. To understand what I mean, let us go once more to Psalm 2; for the language of Revelation is coming directly from Psalm 2.

And it is at this point that I think we should read that prophesy in full.

Read Psalm 2

In eternity, no one will rage and plot against God. This is a prophesy fulfilled on earth.

And the kings of the earth have been issued their warning. Bow to the Son of God or be broken to pieces. God laughs at their attempts to try to cast Him off.

All of us who live beneath the reign of lesser kings, let us find great hope and a strong refuge in the King of kings and Son of God. He will not rest until justice floods this earth and joy fills our hearts.

And until that day, as we read in Revelation 2:26, we must be about the works of Jesus. What are those works? Certainly, they are the works that Thyatira was growing in: love, faith, service, and patient endurance. But also, I cannot help but think of the works we were told about by the One who has been given authority from the Father.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” -Matthew 28:18-20

The Great Commission is how Jesus gives us authority over the nations. It is how we participate in His expanding kingdom and His reign on earth. He uses our mouths to proclaim the most transformational message the planet has ever seen, that will make all things new. By the words of the gospel, found in these mouths, the nations come before Jesus and bow down, or they are cast down and broken to pieces.

We reign with Christ now because the Son of God has given us Himself.

Read vs 28

Jesus is the morning star.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

-Revelation 22:16

Jesus gives Himself to all who hold fast to His word and keep His works.

Two things Thyatira teaches us, brothers and sisters.

You have life because of the living and abiding word of God. And that word will sustain your life. It is your vaccine against the ideological viruses of this age. It is the truth upon which you can firm plant your feet. It is what will keep you out of Jezebel’s bed.

The Son of God has given you His words; now you must go and speak them. He has given you holy hands; you must go and use them. Serve others in love. Patiently endure annoyances, differences, hostilities, and all the rest. Go into all the world and be a light in the darkness.

For the morning star is seen while it is yet night; a glorious signal in the dark that day comes. Though our days are dark, lift your eyes and see Him who is the Bright and Morning Star. Know that this is just the beginning. The dawning of the day comes. With ever increasing brilliance, the Son of God is casting aside the darkness. Though it may appear slow, all things are being made new. His timing is perfect.

Hold fast!

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.