The Spirit's Message to the Church in Thyatira
:Lesson scripture Revelation 2:18-29
The lesson began with the fourth church in a series of seven. As I said before when I began this study it was my intent to
glaze over the letters to the churches and go quickly to the 4th
Chapter of Revelation, and become enthralled with John’s panoramic view from Heaven. This is a subject that few preachers expound upon and as we said earlier it is the symbology and signification that deter many from digging into the deep message of Revelation.
The message to the fourth church or assembly takes on a more serious note than the message to the other three. Understanding these letters to the seven churches will aid us in understanding God's overall plan for humanity from the book of Geneses to Revelation. The message Jesus sent to the seven symbolic churches should not be cast aside so lightly. The church or assembly today is suffering from the same problems that John wrote about. To fully understand the message we must prepare our eyes and ears to see and hear the message as it unfold.
Beginning with the fourth message, the churches began to take on names that are familiar to us, the same will hold true with the study of the beasts of Revelation, nations, landmarks and states will be called out. In the next four letters John write, no church or denomination escapes the one whose "eyes like unto a flame of fire." The bible is a book that we must use our eyes and ears to understand it. In Revelation we must see the message before we can hear it, it is a message filled with signs and symbols. I encourage you to study the messages Jesus sent to the churches in detail on your own or with your pastor. Now let’s dig deeper into the problems that this early Christian assembly was facing and see how Jesus addressed the problems.
Revelation 2:18-29 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Each of the seven churches as representative churches represent a time span in the history of the church. As Wednesday is the fourth day of seven days that makes a week, days and weeks repeat themselves. The same hold true with the problems of the church that is addressed by the "Son of God". This is the first time in the letters to the churches Jesus identified Himself by this title, and the only time used in the book. The message to the church at Thyatira is the longest message in the group of seven. The seven messages are divided into two groups. The first three churches make up one group which we will discuss later and the last four messages describe the Church from the present age on until the Rapture takes place. The church at Thyatira represent the years between 500 and 1500 A.D. Jesus message to the assembly at Thyatira speaks to the hopeless, helpless, corrupt condition of the local assembly, a condition out of which the local church cannot and will not emerge, a condition that is absolutely incapable of being improved.
The message here needs to be distinguished from the three previous messages in that here corrupt teachers are permitted to teach corruption, and children are born,“her children”, the children of wicked, adulterous, murderous Jezebel. What a terrible commentary on the local assembly! What a terrible commentary on the church today. This is the only church of the seven where a woman is mentioned, Jezebel, the wicked wife of the apostate King Ahab, who was nothing more than a tool in her hands. The King was King in name only. The ungodly idolatress and murderess ran the kingdom. She was a very clever and determined woman. A Jezebel type is the prominent person named in the address to Thyatira. It not just a coincidence that the Holy Spirit mentions a woman in connection with Thyatira. In Acts 16 we learn of Lydia as Paul’s first convert. However there is a striking contrast between Lydia and Paul, and the woman Jezebel and Elijah. Read the account in Acts 16, and then read the comparison in 1st King, chapter 18 and 19.Of course, after Paul preached the Gospel to Lydia she was converted and invited Paul into her house and became a faithful friend and supporter of the Gospel. On the contrary, Jezebel sought to destroy God’s prophet, Elijah.
It is possible that due to Lida's conversion and her support for the church, it was easy for a Jezebel (type) to take control of the leaders of the assembly. A Jezebel (type), signifies that a person behind the scene is perverting the Gospel. A natural and literal analogy is that of a leader of an assembly guilty of the sins of adultery began to teach that it is okay to sin, because God is a God of love and he will forgive us, he knows we are weak. There is a serious spiritual implication at play here resulting from a polluted and shaped gospel.
Historically, Thyatira covers the period known as the dark ages, and in the message to that church we see in brief the picture of the Roman system of worship and religion, the worst system ever to disgrace the earth God created for His people. During the dark ages, Popery was in power. In Popery, every true thought of the New Testament Church is denied and lost. Certainly Rome boasts loudly of “unity” - but it is her own kind of unity, enforced by the sword, fire, and the dungeon, so unlike the divine unity which is effected by the Holy Ghost (I Corinthians 12:13). In the New Testament Church of which Jesus is the head, there is unity. Popery completely shuts Christ out as the head of the New Testament Church and in its place it placed a woman.
Since the church at Thyatira represents the age when Rome took over the reins of religion on earth, we have the statement, “These things saith the Son of God” Not Peter, not Mary, not some Bishop but the Son of God, the Foundation of the New Testament Church (Matthew 16:16-18). Can you think of a church that the foundation is built upon someone other than Jesus Christ? In our present text the Spirit further identifies the Speaker by saying, “He that hath His eyes as a flame of fire, (this denote his anger) and His feet are like fine brass.” (Judgement built upon a solid foundation) This is part of the detailed description of the glorified Son of Man in chapter 1:14, 15. We should always bear in mind that He to whom all judgment is committed, He who will execute His own judgment, is not only man (John 5:22-27), but He is God as well. He who will judge the quick and the dead is divine as well as human. His eyes “as a flame of fire” symbolize His moral hatred and intolerance of evil. He will search out sin and discover all hidden iniquity.
Who would even entertain the idea of escaping those eyes as a flame of fire? What His eyes discover, “His feet as fine brass” shall tread upon in judgment. Brass symbolizes judgment. Every system of evil that bears the Christian name (verse 22) must be utterly and totally destroyed. When the Lord Jesus comes in person to make good His sovereign right to rule the whole world, His feet are likened unto “pillars of fire” (Revelation 10:1,2). Fire is the symbol of judgment (Mark 9:43, Luke 16:24, II Thessalonians 1:8).
Verse 19: “I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.” But the faithful is also commended for their love their service, their faith, and their patience. The word works occurs twice in this commendation to the church at Thyatira. The angel (minister) at Ephesus had decreased in love, whereas the angel (ministry) at Thyatira had increased in works. The darker the night, the more devoted and zealous were the church (assembly), their “last works more than the first” more numerous, and more pure. Love is mentioned first (Galatians 5:22) because love is the first and greatest of all Christian values (I Corinthians 13:13).
Verse 20: “Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce (female traits) my servants to commit fornication(spiritual fornication), and to eat things sacrificed unto idols (love the collection of gold and silver).” The general state and picture of the church in the middle ages is represented by Thyatira and the condoning of the evil that was present in the very assembly itself. Why do you suppose the Holy Spirit chose Jezebel to be used as an illustration concerning the doctrine that was being set up and taught in the church at Thyatira? The only way to know the right answer is to compare spiritual things with spiritual.
- Jezebel was a woman,
- Jezebel was a queen,
- Jezebel was an idolatress. .
From a natural vantage point what do you see? You see a woman who is subject to evil inclinations behind the scene manipulating the man of God. Many will use this as an indictment against women preachers. At this point of our discussion I will neither stipulate nor infer that this is a formidable conclusion. We must remember in Revelation the natural signifies, the message is spiritual. Many will use this scripture to show Jesus disdain for women preachers, this is not true. If we switch to a literal translation of the book then we will have a book that will not make sense. If Jezebel who was dead at the time of this writing, then using the symbology of the bible Jezebel must be a (spiritual type without regard to gender) person that exhibits the traits of Jezebel. It is clear, Jezebel was a manipulator and it was jezebel's desire to manipulate the man of God. The Jezebel of Revelation was a manipulator of the word of God.
Now again lets ask the question who was Jezebel? She was a persecutor and she was the virtual ruler and director of the government of Israel. Her husband, King Ahab, was nothing more than a puppet in her hands. Read I Kings, chapters 18 through 21. All of this and much more is set forth in the Jezebel of Revelation. Here in Thyatira, her teaching, her doctrine, is certainly the beginning of the Papal system (read carefully Revelation 17 and 18). She (Jezebel) assumed the title “Prophetess.” She professed in the assembly at Thyatira to teach with authority. And as she taught, she seduced the minds of the people and trained them to follow her instead of following Him who stands in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. The Lord had a grave and serious indictment against the assembly at Thyatira. The church was permitting in its midst an evil more serious in character than any evil that had yet appeared in the local assemblies. The Papacy is certainly in the forefront of the message to the church at Thyatira. The supremacy of the Roman pope is simply the development in full of the dispute among the disciples as to “Who shall be the greatest” (Mark 9:33,34). Of course, popery had a beginning - and it certainly did not begin with Peter, because Peter was not a pope; he was just an ordinary human being like all the rest of the disciples. Today Rome cries out, “Hear the mother church!” Again, Rome proclaims, “The church cannot err in faith and in morals!” When Rome says “the church” she means the Papacy and the Roman system. This manipulation began with the Papacy and was reshaped by the Protestants as we shall see later.
Fornication and Idolatry were the two great errors in the assembly at Pergamos. These two satanic deadly evils were taught, practiced and condoned in the assembly at Thyatira. Fornication, as used here, symbolizes the professing Christian lives in the world, condoning the world, fellowshipping with the world. This terrible sin began with the reign of Constantine, and grew into the Papacy. Constantine was the first to bring church and state together. He bestowed expensive temples, crowns of gold and much wealth upon the professing church in his day, and the unholy union of church and state was perfected in the Papacy. The idolatry of the churches can be seen today, there is a general disagreement on how the Laws of Moses applies to the modern church, yet all agree on the rule of tithes. Such union is spiritual fornication, and certainly brings judgment. In the end, it will bring horrible and final judgment upon the systems of spiritual fornication.
Verse 21: “And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.” From its beginning, the Papacy reigned as queen for more than one thousand years. Rome never repented. The Reformation came along, and for three hundred years now in many countries, Rome has been in the minority with Protestantism in the majority. But the Papacy is unchanged. It is as it was in the beginning. The Lord “gave her space to repent.” There has been no repentance. In this message Jesus changed the focus of the message to the individual overcomer rather than the church, which we shall discuss later.
Verses 22 and 23: “Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto everyone of you according to your works.” In these two verses, three parties are named who will be judged. The first: Jezebel. The second: Those who commit fornication with her. Third: Her children . . . the offspring as a result of fornication. Jezebel will not repent, her judgment is certain; and those who ally with her will be judged unless they repent of their wickedness committed with Jezebel. Her children will be killed with death . I believe that goes further than physical death. I believe it means that they will be tormented forever and ever in the lake of fire, and will die eternally.
The lessons that Constantine taught the church is not lost in the churches of today.
The message to the fourth church or assembly takes on a more serious note than the message to the other three. Understanding these letters to the seven churches will aid us in understanding God's overall plan for humanity from the book of Geneses to Revelation. The message Jesus sent to the seven symbolic churches should not be cast aside so lightly. The church or assembly today is suffering from the same problems that John wrote about. To fully understand the message we must prepare our eyes and ears to see and hear the message as it unfold.
Beginning with the fourth message, the churches began to take on names that are familiar to us, the same will hold true with the study of the beasts of Revelation, nations, landmarks and states will be called out. In the next four letters John write, no church or denomination escapes the one whose "eyes like unto a flame of fire." The bible is a book that we must use our eyes and ears to understand it. In Revelation we must see the message before we can hear it, it is a message filled with signs and symbols. I encourage you to study the messages Jesus sent to the churches in detail on your own or with your pastor. Now let’s dig deeper into the problems that this early Christian assembly was facing and see how Jesus addressed the problems.
Revelation 2:18-29 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Each of the seven churches as representative churches represent a time span in the history of the church. As Wednesday is the fourth day of seven days that makes a week, days and weeks repeat themselves. The same hold true with the problems of the church that is addressed by the "Son of God". This is the first time in the letters to the churches Jesus identified Himself by this title, and the only time used in the book. The message to the church at Thyatira is the longest message in the group of seven. The seven messages are divided into two groups. The first three churches make up one group which we will discuss later and the last four messages describe the Church from the present age on until the Rapture takes place. The church at Thyatira represent the years between 500 and 1500 A.D. Jesus message to the assembly at Thyatira speaks to the hopeless, helpless, corrupt condition of the local assembly, a condition out of which the local church cannot and will not emerge, a condition that is absolutely incapable of being improved.
The message here needs to be distinguished from the three previous messages in that here corrupt teachers are permitted to teach corruption, and children are born,“her children”, the children of wicked, adulterous, murderous Jezebel. What a terrible commentary on the local assembly! What a terrible commentary on the church today. This is the only church of the seven where a woman is mentioned, Jezebel, the wicked wife of the apostate King Ahab, who was nothing more than a tool in her hands. The King was King in name only. The ungodly idolatress and murderess ran the kingdom. She was a very clever and determined woman. A Jezebel type is the prominent person named in the address to Thyatira. It not just a coincidence that the Holy Spirit mentions a woman in connection with Thyatira. In Acts 16 we learn of Lydia as Paul’s first convert. However there is a striking contrast between Lydia and Paul, and the woman Jezebel and Elijah. Read the account in Acts 16, and then read the comparison in 1st King, chapter 18 and 19.Of course, after Paul preached the Gospel to Lydia she was converted and invited Paul into her house and became a faithful friend and supporter of the Gospel. On the contrary, Jezebel sought to destroy God’s prophet, Elijah.
It is possible that due to Lida's conversion and her support for the church, it was easy for a Jezebel (type) to take control of the leaders of the assembly. A Jezebel (type), signifies that a person behind the scene is perverting the Gospel. A natural and literal analogy is that of a leader of an assembly guilty of the sins of adultery began to teach that it is okay to sin, because God is a God of love and he will forgive us, he knows we are weak. There is a serious spiritual implication at play here resulting from a polluted and shaped gospel.
Historically, Thyatira covers the period known as the dark ages, and in the message to that church we see in brief the picture of the Roman system of worship and religion, the worst system ever to disgrace the earth God created for His people. During the dark ages, Popery was in power. In Popery, every true thought of the New Testament Church is denied and lost. Certainly Rome boasts loudly of “unity” - but it is her own kind of unity, enforced by the sword, fire, and the dungeon, so unlike the divine unity which is effected by the Holy Ghost (I Corinthians 12:13). In the New Testament Church of which Jesus is the head, there is unity. Popery completely shuts Christ out as the head of the New Testament Church and in its place it placed a woman.
Since the church at Thyatira represents the age when Rome took over the reins of religion on earth, we have the statement, “These things saith the Son of God” Not Peter, not Mary, not some Bishop but the Son of God, the Foundation of the New Testament Church (Matthew 16:16-18). Can you think of a church that the foundation is built upon someone other than Jesus Christ? In our present text the Spirit further identifies the Speaker by saying, “He that hath His eyes as a flame of fire, (this denote his anger) and His feet are like fine brass.” (Judgement built upon a solid foundation) This is part of the detailed description of the glorified Son of Man in chapter 1:14, 15. We should always bear in mind that He to whom all judgment is committed, He who will execute His own judgment, is not only man (John 5:22-27), but He is God as well. He who will judge the quick and the dead is divine as well as human. His eyes “as a flame of fire” symbolize His moral hatred and intolerance of evil. He will search out sin and discover all hidden iniquity.
Who would even entertain the idea of escaping those eyes as a flame of fire? What His eyes discover, “His feet as fine brass” shall tread upon in judgment. Brass symbolizes judgment. Every system of evil that bears the Christian name (verse 22) must be utterly and totally destroyed. When the Lord Jesus comes in person to make good His sovereign right to rule the whole world, His feet are likened unto “pillars of fire” (Revelation 10:1,2). Fire is the symbol of judgment (Mark 9:43, Luke 16:24, II Thessalonians 1:8).
Verse 19: “I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.” But the faithful is also commended for their love their service, their faith, and their patience. The word works occurs twice in this commendation to the church at Thyatira. The angel (minister) at Ephesus had decreased in love, whereas the angel (ministry) at Thyatira had increased in works. The darker the night, the more devoted and zealous were the church (assembly), their “last works more than the first” more numerous, and more pure. Love is mentioned first (Galatians 5:22) because love is the first and greatest of all Christian values (I Corinthians 13:13).
Verse 20: “Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce (female traits) my servants to commit fornication(spiritual fornication), and to eat things sacrificed unto idols (love the collection of gold and silver).” The general state and picture of the church in the middle ages is represented by Thyatira and the condoning of the evil that was present in the very assembly itself. Why do you suppose the Holy Spirit chose Jezebel to be used as an illustration concerning the doctrine that was being set up and taught in the church at Thyatira? The only way to know the right answer is to compare spiritual things with spiritual.
- Jezebel was a woman,
- Jezebel was a queen,
- Jezebel was an idolatress. .
From a natural vantage point what do you see? You see a woman who is subject to evil inclinations behind the scene manipulating the man of God. Many will use this as an indictment against women preachers. At this point of our discussion I will neither stipulate nor infer that this is a formidable conclusion. We must remember in Revelation the natural signifies, the message is spiritual. Many will use this scripture to show Jesus disdain for women preachers, this is not true. If we switch to a literal translation of the book then we will have a book that will not make sense. If Jezebel who was dead at the time of this writing, then using the symbology of the bible Jezebel must be a (spiritual type without regard to gender) person that exhibits the traits of Jezebel. It is clear, Jezebel was a manipulator and it was jezebel's desire to manipulate the man of God. The Jezebel of Revelation was a manipulator of the word of God.
Fornication and Idolatry were the two great errors in the assembly at Pergamos. These two satanic deadly evils were taught, practiced and condoned in the assembly at Thyatira. Fornication, as used here, symbolizes the professing Christian lives in the world, condoning the world, fellowshipping with the world. This terrible sin began with the reign of Constantine, and grew into the Papacy. Constantine was the first to bring church and state together. He bestowed expensive temples, crowns of gold and much wealth upon the professing church in his day, and the unholy union of church and state was perfected in the Papacy. The idolatry of the churches can be seen today, there is a general disagreement on how the Laws of Moses applies to the modern church, yet all agree on the rule of tithes. Such union is spiritual fornication, and certainly brings judgment. In the end, it will bring horrible and final judgment upon the systems of spiritual fornication.
Verse 21: “And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.” From its beginning, the Papacy reigned as queen for more than one thousand years. Rome never repented. The Reformation came along, and for three hundred years now in many countries, Rome has been in the minority with Protestantism in the majority. But the Papacy is unchanged. It is as it was in the beginning. The Lord “gave her space to repent.” There has been no repentance. In this message Jesus changed the focus of the message to the individual overcomer rather than the church, which we shall discuss later.
Verses 22 and 23: “Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto everyone of you according to your works.” In these two verses, three parties are named who will be judged. The first: Jezebel. The second: Those who commit fornication with her. Third: Her children . . . the offspring as a result of fornication. Jezebel will not repent, her judgment is certain; and those who ally with her will be judged unless they repent of their wickedness committed with Jezebel. Her children will be killed with death . I believe that goes further than physical death. I believe it means that they will be tormented forever and ever in the lake of fire, and will die eternally.
The lessons that Constantine taught the church is not lost in the churches of today.
Continued Tomorrow:
The rest in Thyatira who have not this doctrine.
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