1.To the angel ofthe church inThyatira write The corrupt church

2. The Letter to Thyatira And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that yourdeeds of late are greater than at first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and thosewho commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of herdeeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know thatI am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of youaccording to your deeds. But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who donot hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they callthemI place no other burden on you. Nevertheless what you have, hold fast untilI come. He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 2:1829) 3. General Background on Thyatira Half way between Pergamum andSardis Under Roman rule for threecenturies Was a center of wool and dyeing ofcloth. A center of trade guilds (muchlike unions, today) A woman named Lydia, from thecity of Thyatira, a seller of purplefabrics, a worshiper of God, waslistening; and the Lord opened herheart to respond to the thingsspoken by Paul. (Acts 16:14) 4. The Description of ChristThe Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this (Revelation 2:18)His eyes indicate a penetrating gaze that finds the truth and knows those who are His: For the eyes of the Lord move to and frothroughout the earth that He may stronglysupport those whose heart is completely His.(2 Chronicles 16:9) Kings in ancient times sat on elevated thrones,so those being judged would always be beneaththe kings feet. The feet of a king thus came to symbolize his authority. Glowing feet indicatejudgment. 5. The Description of ChristThe Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this (Revelation 2:18)The eyes like a flame of fire andfeetlike burnished bronze may also allude to attributes of the local god Tyrimnos, identified with the Greek sun gods Helios and Apollo.The title Son of God appears onlyhere in the book of Revelation. 6. The Commendation I know your deeds, and your love and faith and serviceand perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greaterthan at first. (Revelation 2:19) Thyatira was the opposite ofEphesus, who had grown cold in loveand whose deeds paled to whatworks they showed in the beginning. Thyatira showed progress and maturity in that their faith was evidenced by works that weregrowing. The same should be true ofevery Christian. 7. The Condemnation But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel,who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat thingssacrificed to idols. (Revelation 2:20)Christ condemns what was evidently a rampant immorality in the churchthat was spearheaded by aprominent female figure that Jesuslikens to the Old Testament character of Jezebel.The specific deeds called out are spiritual adultery and the worship ofidols signified by the eating of things sacrificed to them. 8. you tolerate the woman Jezebel The singular pronoun points thisadmonition especially at the leader of the church.The Greek term tolerate simply means let go and allow. The main complaint Jesus had against thechurch was that they were allowing afalse teacher to parade her teachingand practices in their midst, with the end result being some being led astray. We need to remember thatthe church is not to be a home forfalse teaching. 9. It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him [Ahab] to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of theSidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him.(1 Kings 16:31) Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to doevil in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife incited him. (1 Kings 21:25) When Joram saw Jehu, he said, Is it peace, Jehu? Andhe answered, What peace, so long as the harlotries of yourmother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?(2 Kings 9:22) 10. who calls herself a prophetessThe word prophetess is only used in theNew Testament here and in Luke 2:36 tospeak of Anna it means one whointerprets oracles. The easiest way tojustify false teaching is to make the claim thatyou are a prophet from God and that thethings that you advocate and teach havecome directly from Him.This is a pattern that has repeated over andover again in history.False prophet False authorityFalse god, gospel, and Messiah 11. And She Teaches and Leads One thing that the church alsoevidently permitted was the teachingof women over the male leadership of the body, violating the Biblical mandate: But I do not allow awoman to teach or exercise authorityover a man (1 Timothy 2:12).Can a woman teach and lead in theChurch? Absolutely. Are the giftsof the Spirit given to women as wellas men? Absolutely. However, dueto Adam following Eve in spiritual instruction, the Church is to not have women teaching men. 12. What was Jezebels Teaching? she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so thatthey commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed toidols. (Revelation 2:20) The term immorality is porneuo (where we getpornography), which means to fornicate. While the reference certainly includes spiritualadultery, the possibility of cultic fornicationcannot be ruled out. The combination of food sacrificed to idols" with "sexual immorality" may refer to the common practice of participating in the sacrificial meal of the pagan gods (cf. 1Cor 10:19-22) and indulging in sexual intercoursewith temple priestesses in cult prostitution. The worship of Baal back in Jezebels day involved intercourse with temple prostitutes. 13. For this is the will of God, yoursanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality (1 Thessalonians 4:3) 14. The Children of God CultDavid Berg gave birth to theChildren of God cult (also known as The Family), which practiced rampant sexual immorality. He andhis followers advocated a technique called flirty fishing where theirmembers would entice non-membersinto the cult by having sex with them. They sometimes referred to these people as hookers for Jesus.When allegations of sexual childabuse surfaced, the cult dwindled in size. Bergs son also ended upcommitting suicide. 15. What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificedto idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which theGentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demonsand not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lordand the table of demons. (1 Corinthians 10:1921) 16. Keep the Door Closed on Demonic InfluenceA lot of folks dabble in the occult, or they will be involved in practices that classical Christianity at least would consider to beidolatrous. People can get themselves involved in Wicca, or peoplewill go see some sort of fortune-teller, or people will go to a sance, or they can go and they can learn how to channel spirits. . . .Demons arealways looking for human beings . . .- Gary Thomas, Catholic Exorcist 17. The State of Fallen UnbelieversI gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved thedarkness rather than the Light, for theirdeeds were evil. (John 3:19)The rest of mankind, who were not killed bythese plagues, did not repent of the works oftheir hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk (Revelation 9:20) 18. What if God, although willing to demonstrateHis wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory uponvessels of mercy, which He preparedbeforehand for glory (Romans 9:2223) 19. The Judgment on Sin Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation,unless they repent of her deeds. Of sickness is supplied as a readinghelp in the NASB. Because the false prophetess in Thyatira was evidentlycommitting adultery in a bed, Christ wasgoing to judge her on a bed. Even though some of the churchmembers were led astray by the fake prophetess, they were going to be judged unless they changed the paththey were on. 20. The Judgment on Sin And I will kill her children with pestilence. Her children likely refers to herspiritual children/proselytes vs. her biological children. The wordpestilence is literally death.For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if hedoes not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you areweak and sick, and a number sleep. (1 Corinthians 11:2930) 21. The Realization of the Judgmentand all the churches will know that I am He whosearches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may stronglysupport those whose heart is completely His.You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, fromnow on you will surely have wars.(2 Chronicles 16:9)We are not saved according to our works, but we are rewarded according to our deeds, whether good or bad. Peoples deeds reveal their spiritual condition. That is what Jamesmeant when he said, I will show you my faith by my works (James 2:18). 22. At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, myspirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments Theinhabitants of the world learn righteousness. (Isaiah 26:9) 23. The ExhortationBut I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not holdthis teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call themI place no other burden on you. Neverthelesswhat you have, hold fast until I come.Not everyone in Thyatira was caught up in sinful behavior and false teaching. All false teaching can be traced back toSatan; he is the origin of all false doctrineand heretical teaching. All false teachingcan be traced back to the physical originof Babylon: Stand fast now in your spells And in your many sorceries Withwhich you have labored from your youth (Isaiah 47:1213) 24. On her forehead a name was written, a mystery, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHEROF HARLOTS AND OFTHE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (Revelation 17:5) 25. People ask me all the time Do you think there are a lot of Satanic religionsaround today? and I sayYes, every religion that isnot Christianity isSatanic. - John MacArthur 26. The Exhortation But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, asthey call themI place no other burden on you. Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.Hold fast is literally adherestrongly to. Christ commands hisfollowers to strongly cling to the truth that they have and not to turn loose of it.Until I come could refer to Hiscoming for the church, or His coming in judgment upon the others. The former is probably the correctinterpretation. 27. The Promise He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end,to him I will give authority over the nations (Revelation 2:26)Overcome (nikao) means to be the victor; conquer. The overcomers in theNew Testament are believers: Forwhatever is born of God overcomes theworld; and this is the victory that hasovercome the worldour faith. (1 John 5:4)Keeps my deeds until the end referencesthe perseverance of the saints anindicator of true salvation. My deeds is in contrast to Jezebels deeds. 28. Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came,and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does notact on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house onthe sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it felland great was its fall. (Matthew 7:2427) 29. The PromiseHe who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations (Revelation 2:26) Christ promises believers who are faithful that they will join Him in His millennial rule. The word in verse 27 translated rule (poimanei)means to shepherd, indicating that they will not simply be administering justice but will also,like a shepherd using his rod, be dealing with his sheep and protecting them as well. Though Psalm 2:9 refers to Christs rule, Johns quotation of it here relates the ruling(shepherding) to the believer who overcomes.Believers will have authority just as Christdoes. 30. And I will give him the morning star What is the morning star? The last chapter of Revelation gives us the answer: I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root andthe descendant of David, the bright morning star. (Revelation 22:16).Jesus says He will give theovercomers Himself and they willknow Him fully: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I willknow fully just as I also have beenfully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12). 31. A command to HearHe who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says tothe churches. (Revelation 2:29) This phrase is repeated each time in Christsaddress to the seven churches of Revelation. Inthe gospels (it is never used in John), it is always used to highlight radical truths, great principles, and promises.Note that Jesus says it is the Spirit speakingto the churches, even though He is the actualone talking: All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16) 32. What Happened to Thyatira? The letter was written at the end of the first century. By the end of the second century there was no churchin Thyatira, it was gone; out of existence. 33. Conclusions This letter reveals the seriousness of practicing andtolerating sin, and that God will judge continued,unrepentant sin in the church. They werent grievous wolvesfrom the outside, they were perverse people on the inside. We should not tolerate any sin or false teaching either inthe Church or our individual lives A pattern of obedience is a mark of true Christians; truebelievers will one day be rewarded and reign with Christ 34. To the angel ofthe church inThyatira write The corrupt church