Did anyone wake up this
morning seriously concerned about whether or not they were going to have any
food to eat today? Probably none of us
woke up this morning facing such a scenario.
However, some believers in the church at Thyatira that we are going to
look at today did face such a scenario. Thyatira
was known for its many trade guilds,
which were groups of tradesmen or women in partnership with one another. Thyatira was a city with a guild for nearly
every trade and each guild was dedicated to a particular god or goddess (pagan
or imperial), so that participation in the guild would include idolatrous worship of that god or goddess as well as
participation in the pagan festivities associated with them. In order to make a living and to buy life’s
basic necessities, one had to participate in this system.
Rather than allow participation in such immoral
and idolatrous practices, Jesus rebuked the church at Thyatira for their
toleration of immorality and idolatry and charged to them to repent and hold
fast until His return. This letter to
the church at Thyatira is the longest of the seven letters and is perhaps the
most disturbing of them all. We must
listen closely to the message of this letter because the church today is also
under tremendous pressure to compromise with the pagan culture around us. The difference is that our pressure is a
pressure to “fit in,” while the pressure these believers faced was to
survive. If Jesus’ words are this strong
for a church simply trying to survive, how much stronger and more disturbing
would His words be for the toleration of sin in the church in our culture?
[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 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.’ (Revelation 2:18-29 ESV) Let’s consider four truths from this
passage.
I. Even a Messed-Up Church can Get Some Things Right (19)
Jesus begins His diagnosis
(19-21) of the church at Thyatira
with a commendation that He knows
their good “works” and that their “latter works exceed the first.” The good works mentioned here are “your love and faith and service and patient
endurance.” In other words, there was a faithful remnant in this church and
there was some faithfulness on the
part of this church. These words
become all the more significant when you consider that many of the faithful
believers in this church would be looking for their next meal for refusing to
partake in the immorality and idolatry around them. That’s the type of “patient endurance” that their “faith”
required of them. It is also commendable
that there were other believers in the church willing to “love” them and serve them
so they could survive. Unlike the church
at Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7), this
church was gradually becoming a more loving church rather than a less loving
church.
I take from this commendation that even a
messed-up church can get some things right.
Even a church that has gone off the deep end can have a remnant of
faithful believers in it. We must strive
for balance in how we approach
tolerance of sin in the church and our critiques of other church’s tolerance or
intolerance of sin. The church at Ephesus was commended for being intolerant of sin but rebuked for being unloving. The church at Thyatira is commended for being
loving but rebuked for being too tolerant of sin. In our critiques, may we follow Christ’s
example by commending what is commendable
and rejecting what is condemnable.
II. Toleration of Immorality and Idolatry in the Church
and in Our Lives is a Serious Matter (20-21)
We see how serious a matter the toleration of sin
in the church and in our lives is in (1) the allusion Jesus uses and in (2) the language Jesus uses. Jesus’ rebuke is that this church is tolerating “the woman Jezebel” (20-21).
Please catch that: He does rebuke Jezebel and her followers, but His
rebuke for the church is that they are tolerating
Jezebel and her followers. In the Old
Testament, Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, King of the Sidonians, who married
King Ahab of the Northern kingdom (1
Kings 16:29-33). She enticed Ahab to
worship Baal and Asherah, enlisting some 400 prophets of Asherah and 450
prophets of Baal. She also slew many of
Yahweh’s prophets and “programmatically
led the northern kingdom into Baal worship and sorcery,”[1]
which was marked by ritual prostitution and licentiousness. 1
Kings 21:25 says, “There was none who
sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom
Jezebel his wife incited.” For her
wickedness she was thrown from a
window in Jezreel, trampled by horses, and eaten by dogs (2 Kings 9:30-37).
“Jezebel” is probably a reference to a prominent woman who
is a false teacher in the church. Jesus
says that she “calls herself a prophetess,”
but is in actuality “teaching and
seducing” His servants to “practice
sexual immorality” and to “eat food sacrificed to idols” (20). This “Jezebel”
was encouraging believers to partake in the immoral and idolatrous practices of
the city in order to maintain their social status and livelihood. Jesus calls this teaching the “deep things of Satan” (24).
The language that Jesus uses here is also
disturbing. Whereas with the other
churches, their diagnosis is followed by a prescription to repent, this
toleration of Jezebel here has apparently worn
out God’s patience because He says that He has already “gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual
immorality.” These people have HAD
their chance to repent. This teaches us
that rebellion (refusing to repent) is a serious matter, because God’s patience
will eventually wear out.
“Sexual
immorality” is a reference to
literal sexual immorality and is also a metaphor for rebellion and idolatry
(21-22). This too is a day when sexual
immorality is rampant in the church. Sexual immorality doesn’t just mean sex at a
pagan festival. Sexual immorality is any
sexual activity that takes place outside
of the boundaries of marriage as defined by Scripture. Your body is not your own; it belongs to God,
your Owner and Creator (1 Corinthians
6:18-20) and is only to be shared by your spouse. Also, no man or woman’s body whom you aren’t
married to belongs to you. I hope you
see the gravity of this sin in these two letters to Pergamum and Thyatira. You will encounter the wrath of God if you
persist in sexual immorality. One reason
that sexual immorality is so serious to God is that it is a picture of spiritual adultery, and we see it used
that way in this letter.
We also can identify with
the temptation to comprise with world around us in order to save
ourselves. Many believers compromise
today in an effort to keep their jobs and social status. Have you?
III.Toleration Immorality and
Idolatry in the Church and in Our Lives Provokes the Wrath of God (18, 22-23)
There are two ways in
which we see God’s imminent judgment in this address. It is seen in Christ’s description of Himself (18) and
in the pronouncement of judgment that Jesus issues (22-23).
Jesus’s description of Himself as “the
Son of God” is very important.
Together with verse 26-27, this addressed is wrapped in an allusion to Psalm 2.
Psalm 2:1-9: [2:1] Why
do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? [2] The kings of the
earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD
and against his Anointed, saying, [3] “Let us burst their bonds apart and
cast away their cords from us.” [4] He who sits in the heavens laughs; the
Lord holds them in derision. [5] Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and
terrify them in his fury, saying, [6] “As for me, I have set my King on
Zion, my holy hill.” [7] I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me,
“You are my Son; today I have begotten you. [8] Ask of me, and I will make
the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. [9] You
shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel.” This allusion communicates
God’s judgment upon the nations. Judgment
is also communicated His “eyes like a
flame of fire” and His “feet like
burnished bronze.” These two images
communicate Christ’s penetrating insight and intent to judge what He sees, and
also the power to judge what He sees. This
is confirmed by verse 23: these flaming eyes search “mind and heart” in order to give to everyone what they
deserve. Jeremiah 17:10 says something similar: “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man
according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” This is not a picture of a sweet and gentle
Jesus. This is an image of a man of
war. Jesus is a Divine Warrior in
Revelation.
Christ also pronounces
judgment upon three groups within the
church at Thyatira, giving one of them space to repent (21-23). He
spells out the consequences for “Jezebel”, “her children,” and those who have committed spiritual adultery
with her. “Jezebel” herself will be thrown
“onto a sickbed.” She has been seducing Christ’s servants to
crawl into her “bed” of immorality, so now Jesus will “throw” her onto a “bed” of sickness and death (a bed of
judgment). Jezebel’s “children,” or followers, will be struck
dead. This is a group who has become so
loyal as her disciples that they too are beyond
repentance and can expect only judgment.
Ironically, Jezebel and Ahab’s seventy sons were killed as a consequence
for their rebellion as well (1 Kings
21:20-24).
Finally, “those
who have committed adultery with here will also be thrown into great
tribulation (terrible suffering, the kind that unbelievers will experience
in Revelation), unless they repent of
their works.” Notice that this group
still has time to repent and the connection between sexual immorality and
spiritual adultery here. This means that
there has to be some distinction in dealing with immorality in the church
between those who are in an outright struggle and those who are in open
rebellion. People who are struggling
need to be afforded opportunity to repent.
This is the beauty of redemptive church discipline: it affords every
possible opportunity to repent, so that by the time someone is removed, it has
become clear that they have set their face like flint to rebel.
Notice also that Jesus wants this display of wrath
to be seen and for something to be learned from it (23b). Jesus says that He wants all the churches know that He is the one “who searches mind and heart” and based upon that knowledge will “give to each one of you according to your
works.” The church learns something
essential about the character of Christ through His judgment: that He is holy! This is one of the functions of not
tolerating sin in the church (church discipline): to communicate Christ’s
intolerance of sin and His faithfulness to judge so that others may fear (1 Timothy 5:20). May I just add here that the vindication of
who God is matters way more to God than we do.
This is very disturbing and sobering message for
the church. Jesus will be faithful to
judge sin, even if the church isn’t. What
is more is that He will even judge the
church for tolerating what He
refuses to tolerate. We learn here that
Jesus’ patience CAN run out. People who
call themselves Christians should never presume upon God’s grace and use it as
an excuse to sin. We must always repent
while there is time, because if we do not there may not be time. This may be the last chance some of us in
this room ever have to repent.
IV. The Rewards Promised to the Church are Far too Great
to Tolerate Immorality and Idolatry in the Church or in Our Lives (24-29)
Thankfully, there was a group of believers in this
church who had not crawled into bed with Jezebel (24-25). For the rest of the Christians in Thyatira
(1) who do not hold to Jezebel’s teaching and (2) have not learned what some
call “the deep things of Satan,”
Jesus promises not to lay upon them any other burden. His only prescription for
the faithful is to “hold fast what you
have until I come.”
Those who do so will receive the promise given to
those who conquer (26-29). Notice here
how it is reiterated that one who conquers is one who holds fast until Jesus
comes. A conqueror is one who keeps “Jesus’ works until the end” (26). This does not mean that Christians work for their salvation, but it does
mean that people who have experienced salvation WORK until Jesus comes! They make it, by God’s grace, to the
end. God’s people don’t go AWOL
indefinitely.
The one who conquers will be given two things that
both signify a share in Christ’s
end-time reign. They will first be
given “authority over the nations”
and will exercise this authority by ruling
(shepherding) them with a “rod of iron,
as when earthen pots are broken in pieces.” This image is again an allusion to Psalm 2. Psalm
2 makes this statement about the Messiah Himself, but here we see (as we do
in other places in the New Testament: 1
Cor. 6:3, 2 Tim. 2:11-13, Rev. 20:4, 22:29-30) that those who endure to the
end will share in Christ’s reign over
the nations. They will also be given the
“morning star” (28). Jesus is said to be the “morning star” in Revelation
22:16 and these are probably allusions to Numbers 24:14-20, which is also language used of the Messiah and
His coming reign. So those who conquer
get Jesus and get to share with Him in the Messianic reign to come. Remember what this promise means to these
Christians in Thyatira. If they hold
fast, there is coming a day when they will rule over their oppressors.
Please don’t let this call to hear what the Spirit
says to the “churches” go in one ear and out the other. These are glorious promise of eternal life
and God’s protection from everything that this world can throw at you, even
death!!! In the same breath, these are
also sober promises of judgment for anyone who refuses to repent, who is more
fearful of man than of God and is willing to tolerate sin, and who does not
remain faithful until the end. Don’t be
ignorant of Satan’s devices, for he desires to do something very elementary, but
also very eternally devastating: to lead you astray from “a pure and sincere devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). Embrace Him
today as the reigning Son of God in your life.
He has borne all the judgment of God on your behalf so that you could
spend eternity with Him.
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