“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, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’” – Revelation 2:24-25
INTRODUCTION
This week’s article is Part 4 of the series on the letters from God to the churches. The fourth letter was addressed to the believers in THYATIRA, a wealthy town on the Lycus River in the Roman province of Asia (modern-day Turkey). Though thriving in commerce, the city was also steeped in idolatry, posing significant spiritual challenges for the church. In this letter, Christ acknowledges their faithfulness but also issues a strong warning against compromise, reminding them that true devotion requires both love and unwavering obedience to God.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THYATIRA CHURCH
- The letter also begins with an introduction of the writer and the addressee, dictated to John as a scribe. “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. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.” – v 18-19.
Without beating about the bush, God describes the church as though He held a mirror to their face. Reading it, they knew that He knew all about them. They knew that they could not go anywhere nor do anything that He was not aware of. Everything they did in secret and in the open were before Him. And so, He begins by commending them.
The Thyatira church was in a commercial and wealthy seaport. There were potential people to witness to and lots of potential distractions to keep them from doing so. Their location exposed them to vast knowledge from far and wide through tourists and business owners frequently plying their city for different reasons. As a result, they were also exposed to the influence of the many pagan deities that were freely worshipped around them. Many of them had been converted from the detestable practices of those gods and still had to endure the worship of their images by their unbelieving families and neighbours.
In spite of these distracting influences however, this church was exemplary in love, in faith, service, perseverance, and good deeds. This church was way ahead. They grew very fast spiritually and the record of their work at the time of writing to them was admirable. Compared with how they started out earlier, God testified in the letter to them that “you are now doing more than you did at first” – v. 19.
The Thyatira church was so engaged in strengthening their faith and good works that every member was given the spiritual responsibility of “working out their salvation with fear and trembling.” Principles of personal piety and devotion were upheld. They encouraged each member to grow, with the hope that the individual growth of the members would lead to continuous corporate growth of the church. This was a dangerous error that could have robbed them of their salvation, hence the need for the caution in the letter to them.
DIAGNOSES OF THE SPIRITUAL OF THYATIRA CHURCH
After the good testimonials of the Thyatira church, however, God gave them a very solemn warning through the diagnosis of their spiritual condition. It was timely intervention that they needed. They were very sick, and did not know it. Like someone carrying precious liquid in a leaking jar, the church of Thyatira was busy about building their faith while they had a big problem on their hands.
God diagnosed them thus: “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. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.” – v.20-21
Why was this such a problem? Could the church, being so spiritually rich in faith, love, service, and perseverance not have made a profound and positive influence on this woman, Jezebel? Why was God angry at them for tolerating her?
As stated in the third letter to the Pergamum church, the offence of tolerating those teaching messages that lured members into the two heinous offences of sexual immorality and eating of food sacrificed to idols was an abomination in the sight of God. The same holds true today.
The leaders of the church at the Jerusalem Council had sent letters out to all the churches that had new believers to warn them specifically “to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood” – Acts15:20. This warning was not new.
The sins warned against had led to the destruction of many of the Jews in the wilderness, and even after they settled in the Promised Land. Interestingly, Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, one of the monarchs of Israel in Old Testament times had taken the worship of pagan gods and the many detestable practices of Baal, her favored deity to new heights.
Jezebel ended up influencing Ahab to turn his heart away from God. She also established such a corrupting influence on the nation of Israel that many of the people abandoned God and turned to her pagan gods. At the time, sexual immorality, eating food offered to idol, child sacrifice to Baal, and temple prostitution were a few of the atrocities that attended the regular worship of this pagan god.
Until prophet Elijah confronted her false gods head on (he cursed the land that rain would not fall for three and a half years)and returned at the end of the stated time to challenge the priests of Baal to a public defense of their god and its worship. At the end, the demonstration of the power of the Lord God reminded the people that they had strayed.
Four hundred of those false prophets of Baal were put to death for their detestable practices and corrupting influence. This infuriated Jezebel and made her more determined to continue in her false ways, until her death. Before and after then however, her wicked influence led many into apostasy and death. And for the rest of the Bible, she became a powerful symbol of idolatry and pagan worship – 1 Kings 16:29 – 19:9.
Now, whether there was a member of the Thyatira church named Jezebel, or it was someone else who followed the ways of Jezebel, that person posed significant danger to the church. Apparently, the person had turned some converts in the church to her ways and had taught some of them some strange things including the acceptance that those who sought to grow in God’s grace as believers should exposed to learning ‘Satan’s so-called deep secrets’.
Of course, God was not happy that the congregation tolerated whoever was referred to as this Jezebel. And He had given her time to repent, but she was unwilling. Instead, she was making more converts within the church and influencing them to engage in abominable practices of the pagan gods around them, though they professed to have faith in Him as God. Hence the warning.
PRESCRIPTION FOR THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THYATIRA CHURCH
With such a serious situation, the prescription to treat the spiritual condition of this church was grave indeed. Three groups of people were addressed separately.
To Jezebel, who was unwilling to repent after being given the opportunity, she and her children had already earned a sentence of destruction and death.
The second group which included those who had bought into her teachings were given the opportunity to repent of her ways. Whatever they had learnt from her, they had to repent of and turn away from. They were given time to do this, or they would suffer the same fate as her.
To the third group who had been so focused on their own spiritual growth that they had had nothing to do with Jezebel or any of her teachings, they were told to hold on to their faith and keep it undiluted till the end. Only such people would be rewarded with eternal life and a share Jesus’ authority to rule the nations. Though the church had testimonials of good deeds and much love and great faith, He showed them how those alone would not save them. It was more about how faithful they remained till the very end.
In His words, “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, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations – 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. I will also give that one the morning star.” – v. 24-28. ‘This Morning Star’ is Jesus Himself, as Revelation 22:16 reveals. He will give Himself to His church, and they will fellowship together forever as husband and bride.
A WARNING TO 21ST CENTURY BELIEVERS
To us living today, again we are told: “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches” – v 29. The prescription of the church in Thyatira was given so that “all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your feeds.” – v. 23.
This is one of the reasons why the message to the church is relevant to us believers of this stage of earth’s history. All our piety and good deeds – our hopes and aspirations, our giant spiritual steps, like those of this church in Thyatira amount to nothing if we do not search our hearts and minds to purge them of every immoral influence.
Whether as a corporate church, or in our individual body, the temple of God, we need to get rid of influences that can lead us to violate God’s ways. He is concerned about us in totality. He searches our hearts and minds to see things that we are doing right and the ones that can trip us if left to take root and bloom. And He wants us to act speedily, based on the warning to this church, against tolerating such evil influences.
THINK ABOUT THIS: Martin Luther King, Jnr. Captures the essence of God’s reaction to the Thyatira church’s difference to growing apostasy in this quote: “He who passively accepts evil is a much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” Look around you. In what way are you tolerating what God expects you to root out?
Stay Blessed!
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