Text: Revelation 2:18-29
OPEN:
As we look at these seven letters in the book of Revelation, it is helpful to remember that they are a picture of seven kinds of churches that you find in any age, in any period of history. Every church in the world today will fall into one or more of these categories of churches. We fit into one of these ourselves.
Today we come to the fourth of these churches, the church at Thyatira. Beginning in Verse 18 of Chapter 2, the Lord addresses the pastor of the church. Thyatira was located about 35 miles southeast of Pergamum. It was a very small city, but a busy commercial center. It was on a major road of the Roman Empire, and, because of this, many trade unions had settled in this city. Everyone who worked there was a member of one or more trades. There were carpenters, dyers, sellers of goods, tent makers, etc. In the church at Philippi, which the Apostle Paul began, there was a woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who came from Thyatira. It was difficult to make a living as a Christian in Thyatira without belonging to the union. This is a factor which will bear upon the interpretation of this letter, as we will see.
"These are the words of the Son of God, whose has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze." 2:18b-19
Thyatira is the most corrupt of the seven churches that are presented in Revelation 2 & 3. The message is clear: Christians must live among unbelievers, but belong only to the Lord.
I. LOVE LEADS TO SERVICE.
But there were some good things going on in this church. Our Lord tells us what they are: "I know your works-- your love, faith, service and patient endurance." These are related to one another.
1. Love leads to service; faith leads to perseverance.
If you love God, you will serve his people. It is the sign that you love that you are willing to serve. Service without love is senseless and vain.
And if you have faith you will persevere; you will understand that God is in control and things will work out according to his purpose. You keep at your work; you do not quit.
So here was a church that had many people that loved God and served his people. They had faith in his word, and they persevered. They helped many, and they kept it up. As others then got involved, the church grew.
So the deeds, or the works, of the church were far more when this letter was written than when it first began.
2. Thyatira was an active church.
If you and I had been there at Thyatira, we would have been greatly impressed by this church. It was a busy, bustling, active church with some wonderful people in it who obviously manifested love and faith, concern and care for others. It must have seemed a very attractive church. In fact, you would probably think it an example of the best that the culture had to offer.
But now the blazing eyes and the burning feet go into action. We begin to learn deeper facts about the church.
II. TOLERANCE IS NOT ALWAYS A VIRTUE.
"But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and to eat of food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication." Rev 2:20-21
1. The Church Tolerated Wrong Leadership.
Evidently there was in the church at Thyatira a woman who was a very dominant leader. Jesus names her "Jezebel."
That was not her name, of course, but our Lord always names people according to their character. Here he chooses the name of the most evil woman in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament Jezebel was the daughter of the king of Sidon, a town in Lebanon. She was the wife of King Ahab of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and she is particularly noted for having made the worship of the god Baal popular in Israel.
She was the one who tried to kill Elijah after his famous encounter with 480 of the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel when fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. That mighty man of God had faced with great courage 480 false prophets, but when Jezebel got after him he ran for his life.
She was also the one who murdered her neighbor Naboth because her husband wanted his vineyard.
She was a ruthless, immoral, seducer of the people, and that is why Jesus selects her name for this dominant woman at Thyatira. According to the prophecy of the Old Testament, Jezebel ended her days by being thrown from her palace window into the courtyard below where the dogs came and ate her body and licked up her blood.
2) This Jezebel in Thyatira called herself a "prophet."
There is nothing wrong with that in itself. It was not her gender that was the problem concerning her leadership in the church-- it was what she was teaching.
There were other women prophets in the Bible. The Old Testament lists a number of them who were well respected in Israel. In the book of Acts, in the New Testament, we are told that Philip, that wonderful, Spirit-filled evangelist who preached throughout the land of Palestine, had four daughters who were prophetesses and who had prophesied within the church.
But the trouble with Jezebel is that she was a false prophet. She taught that it was all right for Christians to indulge in sexual immorality and in idolatry.
3) Here is the link with the trade unions of Thyatira.
In order to work in these unions, which constituted the entire business of the city, Christians had to join a union, or guild, made up of pagans for the most part.
The meetings of the guilds were devoted to licentious debaucheries which were connected with the worship of erotic idols of the Greek world.
Essentially, this false leader was saying that the Church should be no different from the culture. This whole scenario is paralleled in many churches today who pride themselves on accommodating the world and closely resembling it.
But notice that the Lord holds the church responsible. His accusation to them is, "You tolerate that woman Jezebel."
2. The Church and Individual Believers are Held to a Higher Standard.
If people deliberately reject the Lord's authority, he is no longer their God.
Whatever you are living for, whatever makes life worthwhile to you, becomes your god.
The Church was never intended to be identical to culture. Churches should always reflect their communities; they should always stand out in relief against the customs of unbelieving culture.
We are called to be relevant; we were created to be unique.
III. JUDGMENT HAS A HIGHER PURPOSE.
1. The punishment that our Lord assesses against this teaching reflects the sickness that idolatry and immorality always bring. There are three parties involved:
First, there is Jezebel herself. Jesus says: "I am throwing her on a bed."
There is a note of irony or sarcasm there. He is saying, in effect, "She likes beds, so I will give her one, but it will prove to be a bed of agonizing pain and hurt." It would constitute her only chance to realize what was happening to her, and lead her to change.
2) Then there is another group: "and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings."
Those who commit adultery with her are those who followed her way of removing the distinctions between the Church and the world.
3) There was still a third group: "I will strike her children with death."
"Children" represents those who not only practice immorality but who teach it as well, as Jezebel was doing.
2. Our Lord Always Gives an Opportunity for Repentance.
"unless they repent of her ways."
Repent of accommodating their faith to the culture around them.
CLOSE:
"But," Jesus says, "she was unwilling." And so the judgment must come. The impact of that judgment is given in verse 23:
"And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve." 2:23b
"Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches." 2:29
The message to Ephesus: Return to your first love.
The message to Smyrna: Remain faithful even in the hardest times.
The message to Pergamum: Refuse to compromise your commitment.
The message to Thyatira: Repent of accommodating your faith to the ways of the world.
Christians must live among unbelievers, but belong only to the Lord.
(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)
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