Revelation 2:18-29
The
Would you open your Bibles to…
Rev. 2:18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass:
Rev. 2:19 “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.
Rev. 2:20 “Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Rev. 2:21 “And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.
Rev. 2:22 “Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.
Rev. 2:23 “I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.
Rev. 2:24 “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden.
Rev. 2:25 “But hold fast what you have till I come.
Rev. 2:26 “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations--
Rev. 2:27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’--as I also have received from My Father;
Rev. 2:28 “and I will give him the morning star.
Rev. 2:29 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’
Pray
Intro
√ Last week
We looked at the church in Pergamos…
“The compromising church”
…symbolic of that period of time in Church history in which it became popular within the Roman culture to be a “Christian”.
250-350 A.D.
There was a huge pagan influence that swept into the church so that it was difficult to tell the difference between those in the Church and those in the World.
Greeting (vs. 18a)
Rev 2:18a "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,...
√ Greeting
Thyatira was a city located 40 miles SE of Pergamos.
Began as a Macedonian colony, established after Alexander the Great destroyed the Persian Empire.
Mentioned one other time in the scripture in Acts 16:14 where Paul preaching in Philippi met Lydia a seller of purple cloth who haled from that city.
Gives a historical frame work for the record in Acts 16. Because the city of Thyatira was famous for the brilliant purple and scarlet material that was produced there.
The waters in that area are especially suited for the dyeing process - producing brilliant colors and permanence.
No record of any evangelistic effort there by Paul, so it is quite likely that Lydia was the first to bring the message of the Gospel to her home town where a church now existed.
To this church Jesus writes one of the heaviest of His messages in Revelation., note in the superscript the description of Thyatira as…
“The corrupt church”
…not a title any of us would want to be known by! What made this church corrupt? We’ll find out in our study!
Description (vs. 18b)
Rev 2:18b "...These
things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His
feet like fine brass:
√ Description
The description here reminds us that Jesus is the righteous Judge of all the earth.
It is He Who is able to see into every heart, and every motive of Man, and discern the evil and the good with His…
“eyes like a flame of fire”
…and to bring judgement upon those who do not repent with His…
“feet like fine brass”
Well, to this church Jesus reminds them that He is watching!
His eyes are searching, and nothing is hidden from Him the Judge of every man’s heart.
Sounds heavy doesn't it? It gets worse!! L
When we look back at Rev. 1:13 we find that Jesus is there described by the title "Son of Man" - speaking of His humanity.
But here, as He speaks to the church in Thyatira He reminds them of Who it is that is writing to them, He now uses the title - "Son of God."
The main point that we are to understand in this departure of His description of Himself is that this church had so seriously departed from the true worship of Jesus as God…
….that He must here remind them of His deity and at the same time of His power to purge out iniquity from the church with His fiery eyes!
Ap. The church in our day needs to be reminded of this Truth. For in every area of life today there is an attempt to make Jesus something less than God and to deprive Him of the worship that He alone is due.
Ex. Current thoughts on the Person of Jesus
John Dominic Crossan said…
"The tales of entombment and resurrection were latter-day wishful thinking. Instead, Jesus' corpse went the way of all abandoned criminals bodies: it was probably barely covered with dirt, vulnerable to the wild dogs that roamed the wasteland of the execution grounds."
That is, he and the rest of the Jesus seminar members flatly reject the Resurrection as fact, thus denying that Jesus is God and that He is alive today.
Therefore, the Jesus of the “Jesus Seminar” is not due our worship!
Robert Funk says…
"We want to liberate Jesus. The only Jesus most people know is the mythic one. They don't want the real Jesus, they want the one they can worship. The cultic Jesus."
Translation…
Robert Funk and the Jesus Seminar wants to give you a Jesus that is not God; a Jesus that is no different from any other man and therefore isn’t due our worship.
While these so-called scholars may enjoy the attention lavished upon them by the popular press today…
…there is this morning One Who’s attention they have also captured! His eyes will judge them for their arrogance and disregard of the Truth!
Well, the church in Thyatira, like many in the Church today, had forgotten that Jesus was more than just a Man…
…He was and is Almighty God to Whom they would have to bow before and worship as God.
So, don't forget - Jesus is very serious about Whom we believe Him to be and the worship we ascribe to Him.
Commendation (vs. 19)
Rev 2:19 "I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.
√ Commendation
As Jesus searches this church with His eyes of fire, amazingly He finds much that He can praise them for.
Works & Service; Jesus is quick to acknowledge that they busy about the work of the kingdom. In fact they are actually doing more now than when they first began!
What kind of works? We’re not told specifically, however, we know that the Bible recognizes many good works:
Assisting the poor
Feeding the hungry
Caring for the stranger, the widow and orphan in the Name of Christ.
All for the purpose of communicating God's love through our actions.
This church, perhaps wealthy (like Lydia), used their resources to do much in the Name of Jesus.
Ap. Sometimes we forget good works are supposed to be part of a healthy Christian church - they testify to the unsaved world of the work of Christ in our hearts.
1Pe 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
1Pe 2:12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
So, this church was recognized by the Lord for their good works.
Love; literally "agape"! These guys were known for that pure unselfish love that comes only from God.
They are the first church so far to be recognized for their love!
These guys stood out and exceeded the three previous churches in the display of their Christian love - to the world and to one another.
Amazing in the light of the very serious rebuke they get in vs. 20-23.
So, this church manifested the highest quality of Christian life (per I Cor. 13), while at the same time embracing the most serious of sins!
Ap. Reminds me that to keep a life, or a family, or a church on track we need all of God's character manifest in our lives.
We need both His love and His Truth in our lives to be an accurate reflection of Jesus.
Love cannot operate effectively in a vacuum without Truth. There are times in our families, and in the church, when sin or false teaching, must be addressed because God's Truth, and His Righteousness demands it.
Ex. The church in Corinthians (I Cor. 5) - sinning brother had to be removed so that his sin would not infect the rest of the church.
Some would argue that isn't love. It is though because the motivation is to protect others and to restore the sinner.
Remember…
Truth without love is dogma that does not touch the heart. Love without truth is sentimentalism that does not challenge the will. When truth is spoken with love, God's Spirit can use it to change a person's mind.
Faith; the word here is specific in it's object - that is, faith in God, vs. faith in man. Holding a firm conviction about the nature of God and the work of Jesus to save us based upon the Truth of the Gospel.
They were faithful to hold onto the message of the cross in an environment where it may not have been popular to call men to repentance.
Ex. Paul tells how the message of the Cross was received by the culture in his day…
"Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
However, the church in Thyatira was faithful to preach the Cross.
Ap. Cross of Christ isn't a popular subject in many pulpits today. Pastor's are being told to lay off the subject of sin all together as people in our "enlightened" age don't see themselves as sinners anymore.
Sin has been redefined and people are told that they aren't responsible for their wrong behavior. Instead they're just…
"righteously challenged"
However, if we are to preach the Cross of Christ accurately, then we must preach what brought about the need for the Cross - our sin!
Patience; this is our good friend "hypomone" - that steadfast endurance that is born of trials.
That is, the faith of the believers in Thyatira had been proven through some difficult times of persecution. The result was that the Christians there had a depth and maturity of faith.
√ Commendation
So, the church in Thyatira had a lot going for it…
Works, service, love, faith & patience!
But - there we also some very serious problems that threatened to destroy all the good things that Jesus saw in the church.
We’ll look at those in our next study.
Close
√ Works are not enough
Remember the warning of Jesus…
Mat. 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Mat. 7:22 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
Mat. 7:23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
The church of Thyatira serves as a warning to us not to trust in good works for our salvation.
Good works should be a product of our salvation, but they are no substitute for a right relationship with Jesus.
√ Good works are commended by Jesus
On the other hand, we're reminded by the church in Thyatira that Jesus commends good works.
So, Christians are called to participate in the work of God's Kingdom here on earth.