The congregation at Thyratira got a glowing commendation; however, that did not keep them from getting a harsh commendation. This devotional reading looks at what that condemnation entailed.
Nuggets
- Many churches are divided today without even knowing it.
- God, in His love and mercy, calls all sinners to repent.
- The congregation at Thyratira would be used to draw all men to God.
The congregation at Thyatira got one of the longest letters in the Book of Revelation. It, like Pergamum, also was filled with sexual immorality. They, too, like Ephesus and Pergamum, were succumbing to false teachers.
We first read of Thyatira in Acts 16 during Paul’s second missionary journey. “One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul” (Ac. 16: 14 ESV).
I am guessing that the timing of this letter was probably about 30 to 40 years after that. Man, things can go downhill quickly, can’t it?
Let’s see what happened.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the The Letters to the Congregations series
Thyratira’s Condemnation
“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” (Rev. 2: 20 ESV)
Many churches are divided today without even knowing it.
Audio Man had a big this against Thyratira.
We think we interpret God’s Word correctly, but we forget that we will never have all God’s wisdom. We are going to get things wrong.
Disciples may believe they are following Jesus, but we have let Satan in. We’ve let false teachers in the church tell us what we want to hear. We hear what we will accept as God’s truth — even if it is not His truth.
The false teacher at Thyratira were trying to get the disciples to reject the verdict of the Council of Jerusalem (Ac. 15: 2-35). They wanted things to go back to the way things were before.
Ooo, baby! Don’t we do that? We question sometimes every decision made by the authority figure in our lives. We do not think we have to abide by their edicts.
The thing is — God isn’t going to allow evil in His Church.
Oh, yes. Unsaved worldview people do come into the church.
God let’s then in when they are searching for Him.
Katie, bar the door when they come in as wolves in the henhouse! Worse yet will be when all the gloves are off, and they come in with the express intent to blatantly do evil.
Jezebel
Jezebel was a heathen woman from the Old Testament – a very evil woman. She was the wife of Israel’s King Ahab (I Kgs. 16: 31).
I don’t know which was worse – Ahab or Jezebel. And Ahab was the worse king Israel had had (I Kgs. 16: 30, 33)!
Jezebel was a follower of the Baals. She had God’s prophets killed (I Kgs. 18: 4). She wanted to kill Elijah because he had killed the prophets of the Baals (I Kgs. 19: 2).
This is the person to whom Thyatira is compared. No, strike that. This Jezebel and that Jezebel could have been twin sisters.
Both were championing wantonness and corruption.
A Prophetess
The Messianic congregation at Thyatira was being led away because of one person. This person was a prophetess leading disciples to practices that were totally against those to which God is calling us.
This Jezebel was using the title prophetess. She definitely wasn’t God’s prophetess.
She wanted to have the appearance that she came straight from God. (Don’t we want to hear for certain what God is telling us? How better to do know than when one person gives us the message straight from Him?)
No, we don’t know exactly what she was teaching. We do know the results. “… seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols” (Rev. 2: 20 ESV).
God’s teaching is not going to lead us to sin.
What was the congregation’s response? Tolerance.
Disciples are not supposed to tolerate sin. We are to do God’s work to call people back from the evil.
The congregation at Thyratira had a huge doctrinal error.
Oh, yes. Churches can get it wrong. We can’t assume that, just because we call ourselves a church, we get it right.
God wants us to get everything right. Oh, we will one day. This is just practice.
We have to ensure that we have a firm foundation with Christ. We cannot be veering off to the left or the right.
We have to stay firmly rooted and grounded in Jesus.
Call to Repentance
“I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 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, and I will strike her children dead …” (Rev. 2: 21-23 ESV)
Refuses to Repent
God, in His love and mercy, calls all sinners to repent.
Don’t miss what verse 21 says. “I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality” (Rev. 2: 21 ESV).
How many times have we heard that God sends us to hell if we do wrong? No, we send ourselves to hell by not repenting of our sins and following Him.
The prophetess was given time to repent. God would have forgiven her.
God forgives everyone who truly repents of their sins.
God will not tell anyone that they can disregard His laws and commandments. If we think something doesn’t apply to us, we are wrong.
Instead, God calls all to repentance. He offers us the opportunity to make our relationship with Him right.
Consequences
God will punish those who are trying to undermine His Church. There were consequences for the false prophetess and those who followed her teaching.
- Illness for her (Rev. 2: 22).
- Great tribulation for those who are swayed by her teaching – except those who repent (Rev. 2: 22).
- Death for her followers (Rev. 2: 23).
We scratch our heads at the reference of “… I will strike her children dead …” (Rev. 2: 23 ESV)? No, God does not want anyone to perish.
They will if they refuse to repent. Man, woman, senior, adult, or child. We must choose God.
But it wasn’t just Jezebel who would be punished. Whoever in the congregation at Thyratira followed her and tolerated her teachings would be punished.
The ultimate punishment is physical and spiritual death. Our days are numbered (Job 14: 5) as is the days of this earth (Rev. 20: 11).
Those who are not following Christ on the Day of the Lord will face eternal death.
For the Faithful
“… 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. 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. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 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. And I will give him the morning star” Rev. 2: 23-28 ESV)
Example to All Churches
The congregation at Thyratira would be used to draw all men to God.
Yes, Audio Man was concerned about the spiritual condition of the congregation at Thyratira. But He wanted all who read these words to be forewarned.
False teaching would not be permitted. Tolerance of sin would not be permitted.
Searches Mind and Heart
Jesus sees all within us.
There are many references in God’s Word that Jesus knows our hearts and minds. Here is but one example. “But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’” (Mt. 9: 4 ESV).
If Jesus is to be Judge of all, He must know all. Being God, He does
Give According to Works
Doing the works without having the right mind and heart is as bad as not doing them at all.
Jesus will reward us — or punish us — what we deserve. We have to options.
- Eternal life in reward for obedience to Him.
- Eternal death in punishment for rejecting His salvation.
It is as simple as that. We choose.
Yes, Audio Man is talking to the Church here. He will reward or punish the church according to its actions.
To the Faithful in Thyatira
The good news was not all the congregation was buying what the false prophetess was selling. They were not going to be punished for the sins of others.
How did they miss punishment? They didn’t give into false teachers spewing false doctrine.
Deep Things of Satan
It is unknown exactly to what “… the deep things of Satan” (Rev. 2: 24 ESV) refers.
But think about it. Satan doesn’t want to wear everything out on his sleeve. Then we will see them for the lies that they are.
Hold Fast
The rest of the Messianic congregation at Thyatira was told to endure because salvation is worth the struggle.
Endure is a standard command. It is not, however, one that is always easy in which to succeed at.
It is really important that we do.
We have something good when we are in a relationship with God because we have trusted in Jesus as our Savior. Morris explained it this way. He wrote, “You have some right views, right feelings, right principles; hold them fast.”
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We don’t want to lose them.
We don’t want to give up God’s mercy and grace. Neither should we want to give up God’s laws and doctrine.
I know. It is so easy to get pulled off by the world. It can entice us to turn away from God in any areas of our lives.
Worse yet is when we pull ourselves off the Sanctification Road. We consciously choose to disobey God.
The sad part is when it is just an error. We think we are right, but darn, we aren’t.
There is one wonderful encouragement. We are only holding fast until Jesus comes again.
Jesus will make it perfect when He returns.
Authority Over the Nations
John would have been reminded of Psalm 2. I can see where this ties to Revelation 2: 20-28. The false prophetess was teaching that the congregation at Thyatira could burst the bonds of God’s laws and commandments.
She was wrong, but she taught it anyway.
We would be reminded of Revelation 20: 4-5. We’re going to leave discussion of the 1,000-year reign until we get to Chapter 20.
What we can say here is that Jesus has already been given authority over the earth. “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’ (Mt. 28: 18 ESV).
Let’s look at verse 26 again. “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,” (Rev. 2: 26 ESV).
But this verse can’t be talking about Jesus. He may have conquered, but He doesn’t need to endure until the end. The authority will be given to those who conquer by enduring,
This ties into something Paul said. “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!” (I Cor. 6: 2-3 ESV emphasis added).
We don’t know what authority Jesus is going to delegate to us. Whatever it is, disciples will not be tolerant of sin in Heaven. We will rule with an iron staff to enforce the God’s laws.
See why we say that this life is practice for eternal life? We are to live by the Laws of Moses because they show us God’s character. Those will be the law of the land in Heaven.
Morning Star
There are a couple of verses that discuss the morning star.
- “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (II Pet. 1: 19 ESV).
- “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Rev. 22: 16 ESV).
Vaughan wanted to make sure we knew the distinction between the dawn and the morning star. He wrote,
“The dawn ‘is to the whole world’; the day-star ‘arises in our hearts.[’] What ‘the day-star’ is, is left without a shadow of a doubt. For Christ has singled it out as the last title which He claims in the whole Bible. ‘I am the bright and morning star.’
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Elaine-speak. Each and every one of us is called to salvation (the dawn). However, we don’t all accept the gift. Only those who open the eyes of our hearts receive the day-star (faith).
Go back a second. “… even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star” (Rev. 2: 27-28 ESV).
God gave Jesus authority (Mt. 28: 18), and Jesus gave God Himself.
Well, isn’t that what Jesus always did? He gave Himself to be born as a human and gave Himself to die as the Savior. He did nothing that wasn’t of God.
Jesus, as morning star, would still be providing light. He is, after all, the Light of the world.
Closing
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 2: 29 ESV)
There comes a time when we have to quit waffling and make a choice.
Oh, isn’t that interesting! The other three letters that we’ve looked at had commentary after the have ears, hear part.
This one doesn’t.
We think God is always going to give us opportunities to choose Him. Whether we are choosing to submit to Him or rededicate our lives to Him, we think we should have all the time in the world too make our decision.
That may have been the case in the past.
God has given us everything we need to make the decision. We are either with Him or with Satan.
When we get to the Day of the Lord, there will be no time to choose. The choice will be made.
Choose wisely.
Making the Connections
It wasn’t just at Thyratira that the false teachers were attempting to undermine the gospel. It was all over the churches in Asia. It is just more pronounced at Thyratira.
Disciples have to pay close attention to whom they are allowing to teach them. They may purposefully be leading us astray.
They may just be mistaken in their knowledge. While that is bad enough, they intent isn’t to be detrimental to God’s Word.
We have to study everything they say. We have to compare it to God’s Word and decide for ourselves what is God’s doctrines.
How Do We Apply This?
- Don’t buy into false teachings from Jezebel or anyone else.
- Check out our pastors and teachers to ensure they are teaching correctly.
- Don’t tolerate evil.
- Do God’s work to grow our spiritual graces.
- Avoid so-called prophets.
- Follow God’s doctrine.
- Be rooted and grounded in Christ so that we can be consistent in our faith.
- Understand all God is telling us to win us to Himself.
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Father God. Lord, we don’t want to be fooled by false teachers. We want to be totally buried in Your Word and in Your presence. That way we can see the false teachers for who they are – Satan. Amen.
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