Revelation 2: 18 - 29

18 ‘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. ¹⁹ I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

²⁰ 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. ²¹ I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. ²² So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. ²³ I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

²⁴ 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, ²⁵ except to hold on to what you have until I come.”

²⁶ To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations – ²⁷ that one “will rule them with an iron sceptre and will dash them to pieces like pottery” – just as I have received authority from my Father. ²⁸ I will also give that one the morning star. ²⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Be Faithful to the Truth.

Last week we looked at chapter 1 and saw how John’s vision of Jesus was described very clearly. And each of the seven letters picks up on one or more of the descriptions of Jesus. In this letter to the church at Thyatira, we read that ‘These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire,’ matching Rev. 1: 14. Jesus sees everything – he sees our sinful choices, he sees through our excuses and our attempts to justify our disobedience.

In verse 19, the Christians at Thyatira are commended for five things: love, faith, service, perseverance and endurance. Unlike the church at Ephesus, who were described as having lost their first love, Jesus here is commending the church at Thyatira for their love. And not only that, but they are now doing more than they did at first.

But, sadly, that is where the good things end. The big problem in Thyatira is that the church there is tolerating a woman who is a false prophet. She would have been a person who gained a following within the church. No doubt she had a commanding personality and was very persuasive in her teaching. But her teaching was opposed to the true teaching of Christ and the apostles. She is a person who misleads the true disciples in the church in Thyatira.

We often believe that we are pretty strong in the faith, and not likely to be led astray by false teaching. However, Christians can very easily be led astray even in the church today, and even those who believe they are steadfast in their faith. Whilst we should be open to new moves of the Holy Spirit and get involved in the mission of the Lord in our church and in our area, we should always test new teaching, and take care. There is a risk that Christians today are so keen to see something ‘new’ and get involved in the latest new spiritual teaching, that we become careless. We should all be so careful that we do not slip into the mistake that some of the members of the church at Thyatira made – being led astray by a member of their own church who was a false prophet. I suspect that this woman (referred to as ‘Jezebel’ in this letter, after the evil wife of King Ahab (1 Kings 18)) would have been an attractive person with a charismatic personality. Even in the church today, Christians can be led astray by being won over by a person’s worldly charms.

Take care when a new teaching sweeps across parts of the 21^st Century Church, and when a popular individual pushes it – Take great care to always be faithful to the truth!

 

Prayer

Lord, may we be faithful to you and your teaching, not led astray by that which is false. Please help us to be like the Thyatirans in our love, faith, service, perseverance and endurance. Help us remember that the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire, sees through all our actions and intentions. Amen.