Jesus, identified as the Alpha and Omega of Time, has some words for seven different churches in Asia. Here is his message for the church in Thyatira.
Thyatira is in western Turkey, due east of Athens, Greece, about 80 kilometers from the ocean. In the book of Acts (Acts 16:14) we are told that at the beginning of Paul's ministry in Philippi, a woman, Lydia, is the first convert. Lydia is a identified as a merchant from Thyatira, across the Aegean sea from Philippi.
Thyatira is in western Turkey, due east of Athens, Greece, about 80 kilometers from the ocean. In the book of Acts (Acts 16:14) we are told that at the beginning of Paul's ministry in Philippi, a woman, Lydia, is the first convert. Lydia is a identified as a merchant from Thyatira, across the Aegean sea from Philippi.
Revelation 2: 18-25, The message to Thyatira
“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.
22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.
23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you,
25 except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
Many of the images of Jesus involve glaring brightness, painful to the eyes. In Revelation 1:16 his face is "like the sun shining in all its brilliance." Here we have eyes of blazing fire and feet of burnished bronze. For the ancient times, before electricity, it was hard to imagine objects brighter or more startling.
This church has been improving... but there is "Jezebel". A certain individual, here called Jezebel, needs to be confronted. Jezebel was a notorious figure in Old Testament times (queen of Israel and wife of King Ahab, see I Kings 16...) and we apparently have a similar individual or a similar force or idea.
Jesus says that he has given this person time to repent, but she has not. So a dramatic punishment is coming. (How literal should we take this passage? Is Jezebel a single individual promoting, say, ritual sex with temple prostitutes? Or does she represent a type of idolatry?)
As to the other churches, the members are encouraged to "hold on" until Jesus comes.
To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—
27 that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father.
28 I will also give that one the morning star.
29 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.
22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.
23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you,
25 except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
Many of the images of Jesus involve glaring brightness, painful to the eyes. In Revelation 1:16 his face is "like the sun shining in all its brilliance." Here we have eyes of blazing fire and feet of burnished bronze. For the ancient times, before electricity, it was hard to imagine objects brighter or more startling.
This church has been improving... but there is "Jezebel". A certain individual, here called Jezebel, needs to be confronted. Jezebel was a notorious figure in Old Testament times (queen of Israel and wife of King Ahab, see I Kings 16...) and we apparently have a similar individual or a similar force or idea.
Jesus says that he has given this person time to repent, but she has not. So a dramatic punishment is coming. (How literal should we take this passage? Is Jezebel a single individual promoting, say, ritual sex with temple prostitutes? Or does she represent a type of idolatry?)
As to the other churches, the members are encouraged to "hold on" until Jesus comes.
Revelation 2: 26-29, The promise to Thyatira
27 that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father.
28 I will also give that one the morning star.
29 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The quote in verse 27 ("He will rule them with an iron scepter") is from Psalm 2:9.
To those who hold on, we have promised "the morning star." The message then ends with the ritualistic, "Whoever has ears...", a phrase emphasizing the importance of listening.
In three of the four churches we have some type of false teaching that is to be confronted: the teachings of the Nicolaitans, of Balaam, or of the woman Jezebel. Each church is told to persevere; each church is told of approaching suffering and persecution and is reminded that their suffering is only temporary. This is the theme of the book.
This church gets more serious criticism. I give this church a B–?
To those who hold on, we have promised "the morning star." The message then ends with the ritualistic, "Whoever has ears...", a phrase emphasizing the importance of listening.
In three of the four churches we have some type of false teaching that is to be confronted: the teachings of the Nicolaitans, of Balaam, or of the woman Jezebel. Each church is told to persevere; each church is told of approaching suffering and persecution and is reminded that their suffering is only temporary. This is the theme of the book.
This church gets more serious criticism. I give this church a B–?
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