Revelation’s
Commentary – The Seven churches
– Part I
Verses 1:20 through
2:24
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Church at Thyatira:
Revelation 2:18
“To the angel of the church in
Thyatira write: These are the words
of the Son of God, whose eyesare like blazing fire
and whose feet are like burnished
bronze.
Revelation 2:19
I know your deeds, your love and
faith, your services and
perseverance, and that you are now
doing more than you did at first.
Revelation 2:20
Nevertheless, I have this against
you: You
tolerate that woman Jezebel, who
calls herself a prophetess.
By her
teachings she misleads my servants
into sexual immorality and the eating
of food sacrificed to idols.
Revelation 2:21
I have given her time to repent of
her immorality, but she is unwilling.
Revelation 2:22
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.
Revelation 2:23
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.
Revelation 2:24
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)!
Revelation 2:25
Only hold on to what you have until I
come.
Revelation 2:26
To him who overcomes and does my will
to the end, I will give authority
over the nations –
Revelation 2:27
“He will rule them with an iron
scepter, he will dash them to pieces
like pottery’- just as I have
received authority from my Father.
Revelation 2:28
I will give him the morning star.
Revelation 2:29
He who has an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit says to the churches.
Commentary:
Jesus spoke to the
church members at Thyatira with words
of comfort and condemnation –
comfort for the believers who were
doing right and the threat of death,
death for those who were doing wrong.
The BIG problem in Thyatira (as in
Pergamum) was sexually immoral
leadership.
Jesus was angry with
church leaders at Thyatira because
they tolerated a woman named Jezebel
in their church! (See also 1
Corinthians 5:11.) The devil is
particularly gratified when an
immoral person holds a position of
religious authority because they can
do so much damage to the mission of
Christianity. (See Ezekiel 36:20-23.)
The numerous child
abuse cause that have recently
surfaced have made this painfully
clear. Catholic priests and in fact,
the Catholic Church, have lost a lot
of respect in recent weeks because of
sexual charges. In Thyatira’s
case, a prominent woman named Jezebel
was leading the church into evil.
Note: The
Jezebel in Thyatira should not be
confused with Jezebel, the rebellious
wife of King Ahab who lived about a
thousand years earlier.
Jezebel in Thyatira
must have been a very bright and
capable woman. She called herself a
prophetess, but she was not a
prophetess of Jesus. She prostituted
the teachings of Jesus by leading
others to do the very things that
Jesus condemned! She justified sexual
immorality through Gnostic logic and
philosophy. Jezebel taught that sex
was not limited to the confines of
marriage and she freely engaged in
sexual activities, herself.
She also endorsed the
popular belief that eating flesh
offered to idols insured the
blessings of those Gods to whom the
meat was offered. The bible does not
reveal everything that Jezebel
taught, but we can determine why
Jezebel was successful in a
Christian church!
She promoted and
endorsed ideas that gratified the
sensual passions of carnal members.
It is amazing what lay people will do
(or not do) when someone presuming to
speak for God defines right and wrong
for them! In many cases, it seems as
though the Bible does not even exist.
For example, after the founder of the
Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W.
Armstrong died in the early
1990’s his successor informed
the church that several moiré
doctrines of the church were wrong.
In just a few months,
most of the lay members agreed and
the church imploded. Today,
Armstrong’s church has all but
disappeared. How could this happen?
Were the members of the Worldwide
Church of God following a religious
leader or the teachings of Jesus? Did
the Bible suddenly change when Mr.
Armstrong died? (Incidentally, the
implosion of the Worldwide Church of
God parallels the coming experience
of all religious systems during the
Great Tribulation. God is about to
separate people who love truth from
those who play “follow the
leader.”)
Jezebel skillfully
merged contemporary pagan thinking
and practice with Christian ideals.
This made the threshold for Christian
converts so low that pagans could
join the church at Thyatira without
having to give up their pagan ways!
This is an area where Christians have
particular vulnerability. In fact,
many Christians today teach that
Jesus will unconditionally accept
any person that believes in Him. This
understanding is false because it is not
completely true. (Ezekiel 14:6-8)
The Bible does
teach that Jesus will
unconditionally accept any repentant
sinner that comes to Him IF the
sinner is repentant. A repentant
sinner is a sinner who is deeply
sorrowful for his sin. A repentant
sinner will (a) loath the sin and (b)
do whatever is humanly possible to
“make it right” and (c)
will cease from repeating the sin
again.
The devil believes
there is a God and he trembles, but
he has not stopped doing evil nor
repented of his evil deeds. (James
2:19) Because Jezebel lowered the
threshold into the church of
Thyatira, church members were not
required to forsake their pagan ways.
Thus, false teachings found little
resistance and lower standards of
behavior allowed the church to grow
and prosper. Membership swelled and
the church was packed, but the church
did not grow in sanctification. The
members in Thyatira became more like
the devil instead of becoming more
like Jesus.
Jesus condemned
Jezebel for using ‘the mysteries
of religion” (Satan’s
so-called dark secrets or
superstitions) to manipulate and
control an uninformed laity. The
“mysteries of religion” is
a catchall phrase that describes many
meaningless rituals and traditions (I
call it “religious bamboozle”).
Religious leaders have
used religious bamboozle for
millenniums to sway and control the
laity. Invariably, television
documentaries about primitive tribes
show a witch doctor conducting a
meaningless, but grossly expensive
ritual to invoke the blessings of the
tribal gods.
Do not laugh at the
poor heathen; similar rituals occur
in Christianity today. For varied
reasons, lay people do not study
their Bible to understand God’s
truth for themselves and they end up
playing “follow the
leader.” Since religious
bamboozle does not make any sense to
the laity, this lack of understanding
makes the mysteries of religion
sacred and beyond question.
This is so sad.
Religious leaders have exerted
authority and dominion over their
subjects for thousands of years using
religious bamboozle and Jezebel was
no exception. Jesus condemned Jezebel
for four reasons:
(a)
She led others to commit sexual
immorality;
(b)
She led others to eat food sacrificed
to idols;
(c)
She was defiant; and
(d)
She used bamboozle or Satan’s
“deep secrets” theology.
Jezebel had been
confronted with her errors, but she
refused to repent and the religious
leaders of the church were unwilling
to throw her out of the church. So,
Jesus revealed Jezebel’s true
condition to the church. Jesus said
He would turn her bed of pleasure
into a “bed of suffering.”
Jesus also promised to
inflict great suffering to her
followers who followed her example.
In fact, Jesus promised to strike her
children dead. Whether the children
mentioned in verse 23 were biological
offspring or her spiritual offspring,
the Bible does not say. In either
case, Jesus left no wiggle room:
Death to all who participate in
sexual immorality. (See also
Colossians 3:5,6 and Revelation
22:15.)
The devil is a master
of gradualism. In fact, most people
do not perceive his stealthy efforts.
However, over time the separation
between truth and tradition becomes
great. Jesus closed His remarks to
the church at Thyatira saying,
“To him who overcomes and does
my will to the end, I will give
authority over the nations. *
He will rule them with an iron
scepter; he will dash them to pieces
like pottery’ just as I received
authority from my Father. I will also
give him the morning star. He who has
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
says to the churches.”
* This occurs when the
saints reign with Christ for 1,000
years. To be discussed when we get to
Revelation 20.
Jesus encouraged the
church at Thyatira with two wonderful
promises for those who have ears for
what the Spirit says. First,
overcoming sin is possible through
repentance and the indwelling power
of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 6) People
who endure and fight the fight of
faith will reign with Jesus! They
will share in His awesome authority
and at the appointed time, the
redeemed will sit in judgment on
those who harmed them. (1 Corinthians
6:1-3; Revelation 20:4)
Second, Jesus says
every overcomer will be given
“the Morning Star.” The
Morning Star is Jesus Himself.
(Revelation 22:16) Jesus offers every
repentant and faithful sinner
Himself. Wit Jesus we receive a God
of love, a Savior who was willing to
die in our place, and a Savior who
offers us His perfect righteousness.
(Romans 1:17)
What could be better?
There is no God like the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
End text:
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