Devotions with Dre Episode 21: Book of Revelation Part 6: Thyatira
Letter to Thyatira - Rev 2:18-29
In this episode:
Read the letter
Look at the description of Jesus
Talk about moral compromise in the church, esp in leadership (with a side bar about sp w)
We’ll consider the meaning of the prediction that the Christian Church will rule the nations
Line by line commentary format - using MSG paraphrase
Credits to: Chronological Life App Study Bible, Lineage Journey on YT, Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer Sheridan Church in OK
MSG: To Thyatira
18 Write this to Thyatira, to the Angel of the church. God’s Son, eyes pouring fire-blaze, standing on feet of furnace-fired bronze, says this:
19 “I see everything you’re doing for me. Impressive! The love and the faith, the service and persistence. Yes, very impressive! You get better at it every day.
20-23 “But why do you let that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet mislead my dear servants into Cross-denying, self-indulging religion?
24-25 “The rest of you Thyatirans, who have nothing to do with this outrage, who scorn this playing around with the Devil that gets paraded as profundity, be assured I’ll not make life any harder for you than it already is. Hold on to the truth you have until I get there.
26-28 “Here’s the reward I have for every conqueror, everyone who keeps at it, refusing to give up: You’ll rule the nations, your Shepherd-King rule as firm as an iron staff, their resistance fragile as clay pots. This was the gift my Father gave me; I pass it along to you—and with it, the Morning Star!
29 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”
NLT: The Message to the Church in Thyatira
18 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Thyatira. This is the message from the Son of God, whose eyes are like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze:
19 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things.
20 “But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman—that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet—to lead my servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality.
22 “Therefore, I will throw her on a bed of suffering,[c] and those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly unless they repent and turn away from her evil deeds. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve.
24 “But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching (‘deeper truths,’ as they call them—depths of Satan, actually). I will ask nothing more of you 25 except that you hold tightly to what you have until I come. 26 To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end,
To them I will give authority over all the nations. 27 They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.[d]
28 They will have the same authority I received from my Father, and I will also give them the morning star!
29 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.
Background: Thyatira was a military outpost. lots of soldiers lived here. A garrison city, built to protect wealthy areas like Pergamos (previous letter) from invasions from the East. 25-30 miles E of Pergamos. Was captured, destroyed and rebuilt many times. Eventually became an industrial trade hub for bronze and brass items, sculptures, and cloth especially dyed red and purp (see Acts 16:14). The workers belonged to trade unions aka Guilds, and membership was required. This presented a conundrum for Christians bc the guilds each had a patron god that they sacrificed animals to and practiced hypersexualized ritual worship.
Other than the guilds doing that, it was mostly a secular town, not a big emphasis on religion.
The church of thyatira has often been referred to as the apostate church ‘cause there’s this whole line of thought that the churches in Rev are in order of the global church timeline and this one was the thousand yrs before the reformation. personally i have trouble reading that into it but it’s a very popular belief.
2:18 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Thyatira. This is the message from the Son of God, whose eyes are like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze:…
only letter that says “God’s Son”
locals would have been familiar with bronze and fire blazed things
bronze often represents Judgement in scripture
19 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things.
commended!
good and faithful servant vibes
even if you’re in a messed up situation or group, the Lord knows YOU are following and honoring HIM in the midst of it (He judges fairly)
20 “But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman—that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet—to lead my servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols.
Jezebel was a Phoenician worshipper of Baal that the Israelite King Ahab foolishly and disobediently married, making her queen. and allowing her to influence the ancient Israelites into idol worship.
Prob had to do with the trade guilds - it’s proposed that maybe a woman in the church was spreading the belief that immorality isn’t that bad, especially when you have to be part of a guild to feed your family.
the word tolerate stands out to me. i’ve seen churches in our day tolerate certain sins - this means letting it influence the church’s culture. we arent called to kick out every sinner (no one would be at your church!) but we are called to address and rebuke harmful behavior, not adopt it. especially in leadership.
what sins do we commonly tolerate in our churches? leader-worship? vanity? pride? distraction from real personal relationship with God? deceit? selfishness? manipulation and control? i’ve seen affairs / adultry in leadership circles, i’ve seen cooking the books, i’ve seen gossip and reputation trashing, i’ve seen hidden unrepentant drug addiction, i’ve seen narcissism disguised as leadership. (i’ve seen a lot of good leaders too).
there is a spirit (a network) we could call “Jezebel” that desires to infiltrate and compromise the Church. it’s often present when there’s witchcraft whether that’s overt occult witchcraft or the Christian white-washed kind, which is manipulation, control, micromanaging and unholy power dynamics. think high-control systems, cults - anywhere where there’s a person that others fear and esp when that person HAS NO FEAR OF GOD.
we see in Thyatira’s church 3 types of people: those who follow the compromised influencer, those who tolerate the compromised influencer, and those who have no part in her shenanigans. the first two types are rebuked by the Lord.
21 I gave her a chance to change her ways, but she has no intention of giving up a career in the god-business.
- Repentance is beautiful. Can be described as a mindset-change, remorse over wrongdoing, an attitude change, reorienting/reordering your life, turning around and going in the other direction, an about-face. It’s a term closely related to putting our faith in God and following Him.But it’s not a one-time thing. Whenever you realize you’ve been thinking something untrue or partnering with darkness in any little way in your life, you have an opportunity to cut ties with it and be free. that’s done by repenting.
look at the Lord’s patience - I’ve given her time (wow! i wouldn’t be that kind!)
22-23: I’m about to lay her low, along with her partners, as they play their sex-and-religion games. The bastard offspring of their idol-whoring I’ll kill. Then every church will know that appearances don’t impress me. I x-ray every motive and make sure you get what’s coming to you.
this is serious. making sacrifices to other gods, participating in idol orgies.
there is a special type of physical illness that does sometimes come upon people who get involved in things like manipulation, control, divisiveness, idol worship, and unholiness and drama in the church. I’m open to the possibility of this person that called herself a Thyatiran Christian may have literally fallen ill at some pt
moral compromise in the church looks different today but i think it’s just as serious.
maybe it looks like Christians who think New Age practices are fine. or Christians who refuse to ask the Lord how He’d want them to manage their sexuality.
24-25 “The rest of you Thyatirans, who have nothing to do with this outrage, who scorn this playing around with the Devil that gets paraded as profundity, be assured I’ll not make life any harder for you than it already is. Hold on to the truth you have until I get there.
commended!
a ref to the 2nd coming!
26-28 “Here’s the reward I have for every conqueror, everyone who keeps at it, refusing to give up: You’ll rule the nations, your Shepherd-King rule as firm as an iron staff, their resistance fragile as clay pots. This was the gift my Father gave me; I pass it along to you—and with it, the Morning Star!
the overcomers, those who honor God till the end, will rule with Him
- Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations conspire[a] and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5 He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:
He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. 8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will break them with a rod of iron[b]; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. 12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Bible Ref .com : “According to Psalm 2, someday the nations will unite in an effort to dethrone God, but He will defeat them in His wrath and fury. After defeating the rebels, He will place Jesus, the Messiah, on the throne in Jerusalem and proclaim Him king over all the earth. Matthew 25:31–42 captures the scene in which Jesus comes to earth in glory and all nations assemble before Him for judgment. His earthly kingdom will be glorious with unprecedented peace, prosperity, and holiness (Isaiah 9:6–7; 11:6–9; Micah 4:3–4; Zechariah 14:10, 20). During His reign over the nations, Jesus will grant believers the privilege of sharing in His rule (1 Corinthians 6:2; 2 Timothy 2:12)."
Christ’s faithful overcomers will rule over the enemies of God in the end. We will reign with him as he finally and completely judges evil. 1 Cor 6 tells us the saints will judge the world, AND ANGELS. if you want to fast forward Rev to chapter 20 you’ll see more about when Christ the Judge destroys the kingdom of darkness.
“and with it the Morning Star!” that’s Jesus - see Rev 22:16 where He explains that more explicitly. the Life App Study Bible says “ A morning star appears just before dawn, when the night is darkest. When the world i at its bleakest point, Christ will burst on to the scene, exposing evil with His light of Truth and bringing His promised reward”
29 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.” … in other words: NLT: 29 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches
conclusion: it takes closeness with Jesus - ongoing, deepening friendship with Him - to overcome. otherwise you’re likely to slip into compromise - bc it’s difficult not to. PRACTICE HIS PRESENCE.