SEVEN ‘FROM The HEART of JESUS’ LOVE-LETTERS to the SEVEN CHURCHES of REVELATION - To The Church of Thyatira

Church #4 THYATIRA:

REV 2:18-29

18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; 19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. 24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. 25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. 26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Thyatira was a smaller city located further inland in the fertile Lycus River valley. Little is known of its history beyond the fact that it once belonged to the kingdom of Pergamum, and few archaeological remains have been found.


Yet the message to Thyatira is the longest of the seven messages: elven verses (as opposed to the letter to Smyrna which was only four verses). According to ACTS 16:14, Thyatira was the home of Lydia, a "dealer in purple cloth" and a "worshiper of God" whom Paul encountered at Philippi in Macedonia. The reference suggests the city's significance relating to the dye industry, and perhaps also the relative freedom and mobility of at least some of its women in pursuing careers.

The situation at Thyatira was similar to that at Pergamum, except that the false teaching (and consequently the calling-out) centers on a single individual. This is unique in the seven messages. Antipas, the only other named individual (REV 2:13), was singled out for praise and commendation rather than scorn or condemnation.

That woman Jezebel, by contrast (v. 20), is most likely not her real name but a nickname of sorts, after Israel's idolatrous queen (1 KINGS 16:31; 21:25) whose terrible fate at the hands of Jehu was prophesied by Elijah (1 KINGS 21:23; 2 KINGS 9:30-37).

The power and influence of this Jezebel, a self-styled prophetess at Thyatira, must be viewed in light of three facts: (1) women prophesied freely in early Christianity (see, for example, ACTS 2:17; 21:9; 1 COR 11:5); (2) women often played major roles as priestesses in contemporary Roman and Eastern cults in Asia Minor; (3) the Christian Montanist movement in the same region a century later assigned conspicuous leadership roles to two prophetesses--Priscilla and Maximilla (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.14-19).

In the procession of these seven churches representing seven periods of time in church history, Thyatira represents the period starting after Constantine’s edit of Milan that brought freedom to Christian expression of faith and alleviated their persecution, through the rise in power of the Roman Catholic church to the time of the Protestant Reformation. 

As the primary representation for Thyatira is the Roman Catholic church, with its 1000 year history, the name of this city is quite interesting: It means ‘sacrifice’ and one may immediately think of the Eucharist, in which, according to Roman Catholic dogma – is the perpetual, never-ending sacrifice of Christ, who is crucified afresh on the altar of every Mass, conducted in every one of their churches, the world over.  
  
Vs. 18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;

Once again as we have seen previously with the other three churches, Thyatira is addressed by the LORD with certain attributes that are relevant to them specifically: He is the Son of God – as opposed to the one revered in that church by Jezebel and her followers – the ‘mother of God’ or the “queen of heaven” (JER 7:18; 44:17-19, 25), a title originally attributed to Semiramis, the consort of Nimrod, King of Babylon* – and such titles were transferred by the Roman Catholic church to the person of Mary, the Mother of God. Semiramis supposedly gave birth to Tammuz her son immaculately – a virgin birth!**

*KNOW YOUR ENEMY – Part Five: Semiramis

**KNOW YOUR ENEMY – Part Nine: The Birth of Tammuz and Polytheism

The LORD’s eyes are a flame of fire – (DEUT 4:24; HEB 12:29) and fire is that which tests and purifies – imperishable materials like gold, silver and crystal are refined by fire, whereas perishable materials like wood are destroyed by fire. 

Spiritually speaking it is the same – that which is born of God is imperishable because we have eternal life, and the fire of God refines and strengthens us: we all know what a ‘trial by fire’ is! 

Yet for the saint, this is a blessing! For those not born of God’s Spirit, the fire of God represents judgment and destruction. So, for those of Thyatira – there should’ve been cause for careful consideration of their lives, their conduct and beliefs which offended the LORD. He says that His feet are like fine brass – and again, just as fire is a symbol for judgment upon the unrepentant sinner, so too is brass (ISAIAH 63:2-4 refers to the LORD coming in judgment, and will trod the winepress (a representation of wicked)).

God’s judgment of our sin fell upon His Son Christ Jesus: and in the Old Testament, there was prophetic significance to the various sacrifices: particularly relevant in regard to judgment was the Bronze (or brass) altar where burnt offerings were made for the sins of the people, so that the people were not charged with punishment, but rather the sacrifice that took their place under God’s judgment (EXOD 40:10, 29).

19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

We often think of the Roman Catholic church as it is during our own period, and that institution is full of false doctrine and corruption. What we may not appreciate is that it didn’t start out this way – back when it was just the church at Rome, there was a lot to be commended. And even once the corruption started to take hold, there was still a lot of good works, charity, service and faith, patience – and more works; and that the condition started to improve over time (This was different from Ephesus, which started out well, but began to degrade).

Just like Ephesus, who in the midst of all the commendation, suddenly heard “nevertheless” – Thyatira is here told, “notwithstanding” . . .

20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

Ephesus had a single, vitally important oversight to repent of: they left their first (best) love; however, Thyatira has “a few things” that the LORD is against and He specifically addresses the “angell” – the pastor – on these issues:

1) He (the pastor) allows the false prophetess to teach. It is doubtful that this woman’s name was really Jezebel – could you imagine a Jewish mother naming her child Adolf? However, the name is apt, because just as Jezebel, wife of Ahab, brought in over 800 prophets of Baal and Astarte (1 KINGS 18:19) to sway Israel away from YHWH and to the pagan gods of her own nation, so this woman was bringing in “damnable heresies” (2 PET 2:1).

The power and influence of this Jezebel, a self-styled prophetess at Thyatira, must be viewed in light of three facts: (1) women prophesied freely in early Christianity (see, for example, ACTS 2:17; 21:9; 1 COR 11:5); (2) women often played major roles as priestesses in contemporary Roman and Eastern cults in Asia Minor; (3) the Christian Montanist movement in the same region a century later assigned conspicuous leadership roles to two prophetesses--Priscilla and Maximilla (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.14-19).

2) She is permitted to seduce the LORD’s servants to commit fornication. As mentioned previously in the study of Pergamos, temple prostitution in honor of the pagan gods was a common practice, but in this instance, such fornication could have, and very well may have spiritual implications. “Whoredoms” in Scripture is often in reference to the people of God being unfaithful to the LORD, and instead, serving other gods (or sometimes both) – and this is seen as the spiritual form of fornication by the LORD (JER 2:20; 3:1-8; EZEK 16:15-28).

The risen Christ Jesus makes no distinction between prophets who condone idolatry and immorality and those who practice such things. He compares Jezebel to a prostitute, like the Mother of Harlots (false religions) "Babylon" in REV 17-18. She has had time to repent, but has not done so. 

Her punishment is to be put to bed (v. 22), "a bed of sickness in contrast with the bed of adultery" (Beckwith 1922:467). Her followers at Thyatira (those who commit adultery with her) still have time to repent, but are similarly in danger of intense, though unspecified, sufferings

3) She persuades them to eat things sacrificed to idols. We don’t know specifically what sort of idols these were that the people were persuaded to sacrifice to; ultimately, it’s not important to know this. What is vitally important is the fact that they are sacrificing to any idol whatsoever, and not devoting their entire heart to the LORD instead.

Obviously, this is a blatant violation of the commandment of the LORD:

EXOD 20:1-5

And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lordthy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

As Thyatira is representative of that period of time of the Roman Catholic church, these rebukes by the LORD are notably fitting of that institution: they have a different Jesus than the biblical Jesus, and He is worshiped by them – along with the ‘Mother of God’, Mary – who in some parishes, she is exalted to the unbiblical and lofty position of co-redemptrix!

The Roman Catholic church is vigorously promoting the visionsof ‘Mary’ that are appearing all over the world with ever increasing frequency; certainly, a manifestation of deception brought about by demonic influences. 

There is also the veneration of the host – the Eucharist, which is supposed to be the very body and very blood of Christ, transformed by the priest by the act of transubstantiation from bread and wine. This would certainly qualify as “eating things sacrificed to idols”! 

Of course anything in our lives that we consider more important than our LORD Jesus: our spouse or family, our career, or money, hobbies, etc. – these are all considered idols that must be struck down and removed from us, we who are the temple of the Holy Spirit. 

21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

Here we see the grace of God in evidence! Even though Jezebel and her followers were committing grievous sin by seducing God’s people, judgment did not come upon them instantly, but the LORD demonstrated longsuffering by providing her an opportunity to repent.

The fact that she – and her followers apparently – did not, resulted in the LORD’s intention to cast her “and them that commit adultery with her” into a time of chastening? Of corrective action? No: “into great tribulation” it says (“except they repent” – so there is still the loophole of grace offered even then!).

The church of Smyrna was already in tribulation (and poverty and suffering; see REV 2:9-10) that would last for a time period, after which they would be relieved, and they would continue. However, this time in which their tribulation would persist would affect “some” (vs. 10) to the degree of martyrdom – this is not the same as “great tribulation”. The LORD spoke of this time period:

MATT 24:15-22

15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

This time of great tribulation would occur once the “abomination of desolation” occurs “in the holy place” which is to say, the image of the Beast (anti-Christ) is set up in the Holy of holies in the near-future rebuilt Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem (See: 2 THESS 2:3-4; REV13:14-15).

So what Smyrna was suffering and what Thyatira was promised are two different forms of tribulation. Smyrna suffered tribulation at the hands of their persecutors; the great tribulation is a judgment upon those, who like Jezebel, refuse to repent and receive genuine salvation in Christ, and instead partake of their own religion(s).

Thyatira (those guilty of the sin the LORD mentions) was the only church that was promised “great tribulation” just as the church of Philadelphia was promised that the LORD would “. . . keep them from the hour of temptation that will come upon all the world to test them which dwell on the Earth” (REV 3:10) – Why? Because the church at Philadelphia “kept the Word of [the LORD’s] patience” unlike those in Thyatira that were engaged in false worship and idolatry.

23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

I will simply say that the LORD knows the works in our lives, what we do day by day, and He will render to each and every one of us the fruit of those labors: from the works of Thyatira, these resulted in death of “her children”. That is the spiritual fate of those who hate the doctrine of God’s truth; having itching ears is spiritually fatal (2 TIM 4:3).

24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. 25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.

Just as there are the deep things of God (1 COR 2:10), there are also the ‘deep things of Satan (“the depths of Satan”)’ which I believe will manifest during the time of the Great Tribulation when the One World Religion rules, the Mystery Babylon (see chapters in REV 17; 18). 

I believe that the Roman Catholic church will (and to a large degree, already is) spearheading a one world religion. For those who reject this Jezebel doctrine, the LORD admonishes them to hold fast. This holds true for Thyatira, and it will hold fast for those who will have to endure that time of Great Tribulation, under the reign of anti-Christ, who refuse the mark of the Beast (666): to endure to the end (MATT 10:22; 24:13).

That the LORD could speak to Thyatira and encourage them to hold on until He comes, speaks of the doctrine of imminence, that is, that we should expect the LORD’s return at any time, at any moment. He could have returned then during that time period; but we continue to watch and pray because we don’t know the time of His return – we know the seasons, but not the exact day or hour (MARK 13:31-33; 1 THESS 5:1-2).

And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Again, the church of Thyatira is representative of church history when the Roman Catholic church dominated the world, for well over 1000 years. It was the ambition of popes to rule the world as ‘king of kings and lord of lords’ (titles exclusive to the LORD Jesus Christ Himself (REV 19:16).

But what Thyatira is promised – as are all the saints who are overcomers and keep the LORD’s works which He has prepared for us (EPH 2:10) is that we shall rule the nations with a rod of iron – which speaks of our co-regency, our rule along with Christ Who Himself will rule with this same rod of iron, as granted by the Father (PSALM 2:9; REV 12:5; 19:15). The LORD grants to the overcomes, “the morning star” which is He Himself (REV 22:16). The morning star is the brightest object in the sky just before dawn, when the night is at its darkest.

The world will certainly be at its darkest during the reign of the Beast, when Satan is worshiped openly by the vast majority of this world. But the hope is, that the morning star will appear, and that just before the rising of the SON (of GOD)! He Who will come to reign upon the throne of David as the Messiah of Israel and Savior of the world (LUKE 1:31-33)!

Here ends the longest segment of this series; next we will look at the church at Sardis.