"Thyatira" Sermon: Revelation2:18-29 (manuscript)

 

“Thyatira”

Revelation 2:18-29

November 12, 2023 YouTube

          Next in our loop of churches in Asia Minor is the church in Thyatira.  Thyatira was about forty miles east of Pergamum.  It was not a very important city, but it did host many trade guilds:  there were clothiers, bakers, metal workers, tanners, potters, and so forth.  Guilds are very similar to unions. As far as worship, Apollo and Artemus were the main gods worshipped.  We will remember Lydia was from Thyatira.

          We read, “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. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’ And she prevailed upon us” (Acts 16:14-15, ESV).

          Our text begins with the appearance of the Son of God:

“And to the angel 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.

Let us remember, again, that this letter within the book of Revelation is written to the real, historic minister and church in Thyatira, but it is also to all ministers and churches throughout time and space.

With each introduction of each letter, we are given an additional picture of Who Jesus is.  Here we are told that He is the Son of God.  He is divine.  His words are the words of God.  There is no other authority higher than Him.

And we are told He has eyes like flames of fire and feet like burnished bronze.  The eyes of Christ burn through a person.  Nothing can be hidden from Him.  He sees through every wall that we set up to keep things from Him.  There is no secret that is not plain to Him.  Do not think that He does not know everything about you – the good and the sinful. His burnished bronze feet – like the feet of the Creature in Daniel and Ezkiel – indicate that He is without blemish, that He has the authority to exact punishment – this is in line with His being all-knowing – Omniscient.

Then Jesus praises the church in Thyatira:

          “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.

          Jesus tells them that He knows their works – He knows the love of the church.  He knows the faith of the church.  He knows the service of the church.  He knows the patient endurance of the church during persecution. And, they are growing in love, they are growing in faith, they are growing in service, and they are growing in patient endurance.

          The author of Hebrews is disappointed with his audience because they have not been like the church in Thyatira:

“About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:11-14, ESV).

          What a joy it must have been to the church in Thyatira to hear these words – that Jesus knows they are growing as Christians in love, faith, service, and patience endurance. If Jesus sent our church a letter, would He praise our growing in love, faith, service, and patient endurance?

          But.

“‘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. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

Jesus says He is angry that they have tolerated Jezebel – who she claims to be, and what she does.

We will remember that Jezebel was the wicked wife of the wicked King Ahab.  Samuel writes, “And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (I Kings 16:31-33, ESV).

Jezebel claimed to be a prophetess and seduced some of the people of God to worship false gods and to take part in the eating of food offered to the false gods and to engage in sexual immorality.  So, it was then, so it was in the days of the church in Thyatira.

The church in Thyatira did not teach the teaching of Jezebel, but they tolerated her teaching and misleading people in the church.

But who is this Jezebel?  Most commentators say that she was not a person at Thyatira, but -- as Jesus will say – “the deep things of Satan.”  Some argue that this was a philosophy or theology that taught there was a mystical knowledge to be had deeper than what is merely taught in the Bible – and there were people teaching that in addition to the Bible, one must engage in idol worship and temple prostitution and eating food offered to idols.  Yet, there are some who say this is one single person.  However, it doesn’t really matter all that much because the result was the promise of a “deeper knowledge” – than God gives in the Bible – it is a trick of the devil.

There is another reason this teaching would have been tolerated in the church in Thyatira:  to buy and sell, you had to be a member of a trade guild, and the trade guilds required you to take part in the worship of the false gods and eat the food offered to them and have sexual relations with the temple prostitutes.  If you were not part of a guild and did not abide by their rules, you would be inviting commercial suicide.  You would not be able to run your business, buy the things you need, or survive in any way. The church may have tolerated this thinking that those who participated knew the gods weren’t real, so it didn’t matter.

There are teachings that matter – things that we must believe, and then there are not matters of salvation.  It is possible for someone to be a weak, confused, ignorant Christian and still be saved.  The idea that the Bible is not enough to know everything God would have us know about faith and life – for example, that Jesus is the Savior, but it the end, God saves everyone, so it doesn’t matter if you believe in Jesus or not – that’s heresy.  You can’t say you’re a Christian and it doesn’t matter if you believe in Jesus for your salvation.  And we have churches that tolerate that teaching – and, perhaps, even teach it.

We don’t like to be intolerant.  We want to “love” everybody – though that love is not the love of the Bible.  The fact of the matter is that there are things we can be tolerant of – whether you prefer the RSV or ESV translation of the Bible, for example.  And then there are things we must be intolerant of.  Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6b, ESV).  No one!  Jesus is intolerant about the truth of salvation. There are times when the church must be intolerant.

“But these people wouldn’t be able to buy or sell. Wouldn’t it be ok to go along with if they didn’t believe in what they were doing? Sometimes, isn’t it ok to go against what God commands for the greater good?”

“The story goes that one day a Christian complained to Tertullian, the early apologist, of the need to make a living. ‘After all, I must live,’ he pleaded.

“Tertullian replied, ‘Must you?’” (Boice, Seven Churches, Four Horsemen, One Lord, 111).

Jesus says He gave Jezebel time to repent, but she refused. So, Jesus tells her that He is going to throw her into a bed of tribulation and all those who commit adultery with her – if they do not repent – He will put them to death. Sometimes Jesus will put Christians to death for not repenting of their sin – He shows His Justice and His Wrath and delivers them from the sin they would not repent of.

“And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God” (II Samuel 6:6-7, ESV).

In Acts 5, we read that Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, sell a piece of land, and when they went to the Temple to donate the money, Peter asks if they are bringing the whole total of the money they received, and they lie and say they have, and God strikes them dead.

Jesus says that when He kills the followers of Jezebel, the other churches – the people who see them – will know that God sees the hearts and minds of all people and gives according to their works.

There are times when being tolerant is sinful.  There are times when we must be intolerant for the sake of a person’s soul.

But.

“’But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.

Those who have refused to tolerate the teaching of Jezebel – to those who did not seek a deeper, Satanic, “understanding” of the Bible – to the true Christians who taught only the Word of God Alone – the peace of God is with them.  No other burden is laid upon them.

John writes in his first letter, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (I John 5:3, ESV).

And Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, ESV).

“Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.

The light burden they were already growing in was love and faith and service and patient endurance.  Keep up that – with the belief of Jesus as God the Savior – conquering through Jesus and the work of God the Holy Spirit in us, and believers will be given authority and will rule.

Jesus is saying what is said in Psalm 2, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:8-9, ESV).

Do you see what Jesus changed?  Rather than saying they will break them with a rod of iron, He says they will rule them with a rod of iron.

Later in the book of Revelation we read, “Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4, ESV).

Carrying out the work of Jesus is a light burden – one that we do out of joy for the salvation He has given us.  And we are promised in the Kingdom – in the new heavens and the new earth – we – all those who believe in Jesus alone for salvation – will rule over the restored Creation – that is, the Kingdom.

“And I will give him the morning star.”

Who or what is the morning star?  Jesus.  Jesus gives Himself to all we who believe.  He has lived and died and rose and ascended that He could substitute Himself for us that we would have His righteousness and be forgiven of all our sins.

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

We ought to be growing in faith and obedience, and God the Holy Spirit empowers us to grow, and He gives us joy as we do grow, becoming the people God has called to be.

There are times when Christians and the Church must be intolerant.  There are times must insist that teachings go against the Word of God and will not be allowed in the church or in the lives of believers.  Leaving people in sin is not love, and the church must be disciplined and discipline its people.

Jesus has given us Himself that we would be His and He would be glorified.

God the Holy Spirit speaks to the churches and convicts believers of what is true and biblical and when there is a need to discipline and to be intolerant for the sake of our brothers and sisters.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You for the example of the church in Thyatira.  We are encouraged by their growth in matters of faith and obedience and pray that You would grow the current churches and the Christians who call Jesus Savior.  Let us know that this burden is light. Help us not to be lax in our teaching or in our discipline of those who would distort You Word, even if they believe it is a good or negligible teaching. Thank You for the promise that we will reign and have dominion over the Creation with You in the Kingdom. And thank You that Jesus has given Himself to us and for us that we would eternally be His.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.