In my youth, I recall a time when my father had to travel abroad for work. This left my mother solely in charge, tasked with the responsibility of disciplining us. However, her becoming the main enforcer of rules didn’t really bother me. Her warnings held no weight for me, failing to deter me from acting out. The presence of a father, or a male figure, in disciplining is crucial for the well-rounded upbringing of children in a household. Mothers, by nature, are often nurturers and tend to employ a gentler approach to discipline. On the other hand, fathers typically play the role of the stricter disciplinarian, providing a necessary balance.
This memory serves as a backdrop to the context of the letter to the church in Thyatira. The church was actively serving and showing love to its community, demonstrating endurance. In the words of Christ, their latter actions even surpassed their initial ones. Yet, this church was grappling with a dangerous issue – it was being undermined by false teachings that had been mistakenly accepted under the guise of Christian love. They were tolerating the intolerable, and it was something that the living Christ was set to address sternly.
The Passage : Revelation 2: 18-29
18 “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.
19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 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. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 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, 23 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. 24 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. 25 Only hold fast what you have until I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule[a] them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
What is the historical context of Thyatira
Thyatira was a city where the sun god, Apollo, was worshipped. This city was steeped in syncretism, where Judaism intermingled with pagan rituals. Christianity, within this city, was similarly at risk of blending with these practices.
How Does Christ Reveal Himself? ( V18)
The Son of God, Co- equal and of the same substance as the Father, shares the same divine essence. He is uncreated, holy, and set apart, deserving of our sole worship.
His eyes, as flaming fire-the implication: a severity of inspection , He sees through all things and judges righteously as fire burns up that which is unholy. His feet, resembling burnished brass, imply a resolve to stamp out the evils detected by His probing gaze. The severity of this judgement is such that these brass feet will crush God’s adversaries as if they were pottery. This symbolic portrayal of Christ was influenced by the city’s worship of Apollo, the sun god whose statue radiated with an overwhelming brilliance. Thus, the fiery eyes and brass-like feet were intended to present an image of Christ that far surpassed the luminosity and glory of Apollo’s statue.
The Lord’s aim was to eradicate and trample the moral wrongs threatening the church, and this task required more than a gentle touch – these evils needed to be wholly incinerated. It’s the very perfection of love that makes it stern and severe against all misdeeds, particularly those actively corrupting the body of Christ, the Church.
Things Commended In The Church ( v19)
The things which Christ commends in this church are the more feminine graces of the excellent Christian character i.e. the loving ministrations, patient endurance, warm hearted faith. This is important to understand because it is going to help us to properly understand why the Lord admonishes the church later. The church or Thyatira needed to be aroused, but in what way: by calling into exercise the more masculine graces of the Christian faith. Now we have to be careful to not go to both extremes. It is a perilous mistake for a church to develop active graces ( orthodoxy, sound doctrine ) and neglect the passive graces. And it is equally dangerous to develop only passive graces , feminine graces to the neglect of those that are manly , active and strong. There is a righteous zeal against evil which churches should exhibit; and Christ has put into His church the power and right to judge and condemn. The Lord certainly commended the church in Thyatira for their works , their love and faith and ministry and patience , and for the fact that their last works were exceeding their first works. Unlike the church in Ephesus, Thyatira was excelling in their first love- the gospel was being preached and followed through with loving actions. They were serving , they were showing their Christian character and they were growing.
The things which the Living Christ condemned in the church ( 20-23)
No amount of loving and sacrificial works can compensate for tolerance of evil, especially in a church community. There was a woman whom the Living Christ compares to Jezebel. While I don’t believe her actual name was Jezebel, her actions mirrored those of the infamous Jezebel ( 1 Kings 16-19), hence why the Lord refers to her as such. Her influence on the church was detrimental from a moral standpoint. It’s likely that she persuaded the people in the Church that they were enslaved and in need of freedom or liberty. Christians were made to feel isolated, being urged to partake in what were deemed society’s pleasures. Given that Christians were particularly conscientious about their diet, specifically avoiding food sacrificed to idols, the woman probably encouraged them to exercise their ‘liberty’ and eat as they pleased. She taught the believers how to compromise with the Roman religion and the practices of the guilds so that they wouldn’t lose their jobs or lives. It was to the point where some engaged in the eating of food sacrificed to idols ( demons) and sexual immorality.
This woman, likened to Jezebel, introduced these harmful heresies, at a time when Gnosticism was infiltrating many churches. Syncretism was also rampant in the region of Thyatira and the combination was very detrimental to the church. See, Gnostics claim that whatever one did with his body had no bearing on their spiritual connection with Christ; in other words it was ok to eat food sacrificed to idols and engage in sexual immorality because matter was evil anyway and all that counted was the spirit, a very destructive teaching.
One crucial insight we can glean from Christ’s warning to the church is that the woman He refers to as Jezebel was granted ample time to repent. However, scripture explicitly states that she rejected repentance, openly defying Jesus’s authority. This suggests that she was fully aware that her actions were wrong. Despite being cautioned and urged to repent, she persisted in her sin, leading others astray in the process. The Lord declared that He would cast her onto a bed of sickness as a result of her actions. The exact meaning of this is unclear – it could imply physical illness, or perhaps a state where she could no longer carry out her malevolent deeds. Whatever the case, it suggested she would be incapacitated, disabled, and subjected to judgment.
Jesus also issued a warning to those who ‘committed adultery’ with her. This could refer to those who engaged in her abhorrent actions, or perhaps those who sinned alongside her or even participated in the very act with her. These individuals, too, would face severe tribulation and divine discipline if they continued on their current path.
Yet, there’s another distinction to be made here. The living Christ declared that He would ‘kill her children’, likely referring to her followers. There seems to be a difference between those who ‘commit adultery’ with her and ‘her children’. Her ‘children’ were already condemned to death, but those who ‘committed adultery’ with her were still offered the opportunity to repent.
Jesus reiterated His true nature in the remaining part of verse 23, as the one who searches the mind and heart and rewards individuals based on their actions. He wanted the church to understand that He was neither unaware nor indifferent to the church’s condition. There would be repercussions, and these would serve as evidence of Jesus’s righteousness and just judgment. This aligns with the depiction of God’s character in Romans 3:25,
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
The Admonition ( v24-29)
Not everyone within the church had been unfaithful to the Lord, and for those individuals, He had an uplifting message. They had steadfastly rejected the false teachings propagated by Jezebel and the gnostics. Christ openly denounced this teaching as the depths of Satan. The gnostics proudly claimed to possess special or profound knowledge, enticing others to follow their path. However, Christ referred to this so-called knowledge as the depths of Satan.
The Lord did not impose any additional requirements on those who remained faithful, other than urging them to hold firm in resisting evil. The phrase “Till I come” in this context pertains to Christ’s second coming, as He connects His return with a time of rewards. The believers in Thyatira were promised authority over the nations, indicating that God’s people would live and reign alongside Christ. When the Lord establishes His earthly kingdom, it will be a realm of righteousness with flawless justice. He will rule with an iron rod, as mentioned in Psalms 2:8-9, reducing rebellious individuals to fragile clay pots easily shattered.
Jesus Christ is referred to as the Bright and Morning Star in Revelation 22:16. And the promise found in verse 28 suggests that God’s people will have such a close connection with Christ that He will belong to them.
I’ll encourage you to watch Voddie Bauchaum’s sermon on this passage as well, see video below
PS: I started Tayibs.com for the sole purpose of exploring difficult questions about the Christian faith that most of us shy away from. All the content generated on this website is thoroughly analyzed prior to being shared. And the site is run solely by myself, your generous support is very much appreciated
My name is Tayib Salami and I started Tayibs.com for the sole purpose of exploring difficult questions about the Christian faith that most of us shy away from. In 2017, I entered a very dark time in my life and it’s only by the grace of the Living God that I’m still alive today. It led me to really go deeper in my faith and consider a myriad of questions that I never thought about asking myself or others before. Welcome and enjoy the ride with me.