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;
We must always examine which name Jesus uses when He begins
these letters. The name He chooses for
Himself explains why He has come to each church and in retrospect, to each of
us. With Pergamos He was the sharp two
edged sword of judgment and in Ephesus He was the one in charge but even more,
the one who will never leave you nor forsake you. Ephesus might choose to forsake their
bridegroom but He remains faithful. Here
his eyes are like unto a flame of fire and his feet are like fine brass. Since it says “like unto” or “like” we
understand that He is not really a flame of fire or fine brass, but His
attributes are attributes of judgment and holiness.
In Numbers 13, Korah the son of Levi was the Jezebel of
their day. Moses led the Children of
Israel out of their bondage and Korah, filled with arrogance and pride rebuked
Moses and his own father Aaron and accused them of leading God’s people without
God’s direction. He truly believed that
he was the better choice to lead the people of God and that his elders were out
of touch with the people and with God. Like
Absalom, Korah was also respected for his leadership abilities.
Moses proposed a test to determine who was God’s choice to
lead. Everyone who felt God was leading
them would prepare a censor to hold before the Lord. It was forbidden that anyone except those who
God specifically ordered to do so would carry the fire of God. Only holy vessels might carry it. Besides Korah and his closest friends, 250
men carried censors of God’s fire.
Fire purges sin but fire also destroys unless the grace of
God in Christ preserves our lives. We
need the fire but we MUST have His grace to receive it and live. At Moses’ commandment Korah and his closest
friends stood in one area and the rest of Israel stood in another. Without any preamble the earth opened up and
swallowed them all alive, men, women and children, in just a moment of
time. Israel was filled with terror but
God was not yet finished. Fire came out
of the altar and devoured the 250 who dared to present the holy fire of God
with impure hearts.
Sadly, the Children of Israel were not yet delivered of
their pride. The next day they murmured
against Moses and blamed HIM for murdering the people of the Lord. They actually blamed Moses for opening the
earth and swallowing Korah (who was very popular) and for the fire that came
from the Altar and devoured the 250 who carried the fire of God in their
pride. That was too much for God to
accept. He wanted to destroy all Israel
but Moses had Aaron the first High Priest rush in great haste to the altar and
carry a censor filled with the fire from the Altar and run through the
camp. In this way they stood between the
living and the dead. Before the end of
the day, fourteen thousand seven hundred died of plague. It is never a good idea to murmur against God or His chosen servants. They might even be wrong, but He will judge. You do not have that grace unless they are under
your leadership.
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.
Thyatira was a strong, vibrant, living church in a largely
industrial town filled with many different professions. Lydia of Acts 16:14 came from Thyatira. The problem with the town is that you had to
be a part of a guild to have a profession and each guild had their own patron deities. These people worked hard and were extremely
business minded but they also worshipped hard and frequently let that hard
charging business mindset overcome them.
Notice verse 19 above. Jesus
listed works at the beginning and at the end, Thyatira was the Alpha and Omega
of church workers. Yes they were
charitable and loving and served. Yes
they had faith and even patience. They
also had more than a little pride.
Most of all however, they had their works. Works began their day and ended their day and
if they felt their ideas were better than someone next to them they would do it
their own way. This attitude created a
church with individualism raised to a high level and unity suffered. They would obey the Word of God as they saw
fit and if you disagreed, they would not always refer to scripture but opinion
to meet the disagreement.
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.
Jesus appreciated all the works done in Thyatira but not if
it was going to go against good doctrine and godly living. There are many Jezebel spirits in scripture
but the actual story of Ahab and Jezebel is in 1 Kings 18. In chapter 19 she threatens to kill Elijah
for killing all the false prophets in Israel and in chapter 21 she lies and
deceives to murder an entire family so she can get a vineyard for her
husband. It should come to no surprise
to see someone like that declaring herself a prophet. In 2 Kings 9:29 after Jehu had become King,
Jezebel put on her makeup and jewels and tried to ingratiate herself with
Jehu. He refused to be taken in and had
her killed for her sins.
Now, whether or not this was a different Jezebel or Jesus
just used that name so you would know her character, the problem is the
same. Thyatira had allowed this woman to
come in and through falsehoods and lies subvert judgment and corrupt the
church. The fact that they carry the
same name is prophetic in the Jewish sense.
In Greek thought (which most of us follow), prophecy is prediction of
some future event. In Jewish thought
(which God follows), prophecy is pattern.
If you see a pattern of behavior and God’s response is thus and so, it
will always be thus and so. In this you
see God moving prophetically. This makes
it especially significant when God says, “You will see a new thing.”
This woman must have been one of the more powerful and
respected of the guild workers in Thyatira.
She was listened to because of her corporate and commercial success, not
for her spiritual insight and holiness.
People often feel that someone successful and well off must be
spiritually discerning. That need not be
the case. In this country we see famous
actors promoting one political policy or another and they have a tremendous
influence. Sadly, as a group, they are
the least godly in all of America. We
need scripture to be true and unchanging so we have a firm foundation to stand
on.
There were only a few things gentiles are required to observe
to serve God. At one point the disciples
gathered together to discuss this and with the help of the Holy Spirit chose a
limited number of basic rules. Some of
the rules were: Do not eat things
strangled or offered to idols; commit no fornication or adultery; abstain from
drinking of blood (Acts 15:20). This had
nothing to do with the actual meat but because of the spiritual sensitivities
of the people though God has said frequently, “Life is in the blood,” and has
placed drinking blood off limits (Leviticus 17:11). The only time it is allowed is for our
salvation. We must spiritually drink
Jesus blood (John 6:53).
Paul said that food offered to idols is not important except
that some of us would feel convicted if we were to eat it. God does not convict us of it but our own
immature consciences. An idol is
nothing; it’s not alive and it can’t help or hurt you; but we get frightened by
what we do not understand and we give power to a piece of wood (1 Corinthians
10:19-29). Since Jezebel knew they would
still have some fear of their old guild gods, she knew they would stumble if
they ate food offered to them. She
herself may have still believed in the old gods.
As for fornication, we are allowed to have no gods but our
Lord. If we cheat on our husband or wife
it is a TYPE or MODEL of the relationship we have with God. Remember, in Jewish thought pattern is
prophetic prediction. Our heart toward
our mate mirrors our relationship to our God.
If we can cheat on our spouse then we can certainly cheat on God. This is why God is so serious about
fornication or adultery. If you are
unmarried God does not allow trial sex or living together. You either marry or stay celibate. You are either saved and born again or you
are NOT.
21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and
she repented not.
In this case she must have been warned earlier and chose to
continue to do things her own way.
Before the Torah was written down, Israel often went years, even decades
without hearing what it said. There were
times when the law of God was discovered and the people were terrified because
they realized how far they had fallen (2 Kings 22:8-19). In 2 Kings it was too late to spare Israel
but it did at least postpone the judgment.
We have no excuses. We
have our Bibles and we should know what they say. Our greatest sin is to say the Bible is just
a good book and not the Word of God. We
choose what we want to obey (if anything at all) and choose what we want to
ignore. If we interpret the Word of God
to mean what is comfortable to us and throw out those places that are
uncomfortable, we may as well change our names to Thyatira. God will not hold us blameless for our lazy
doctrine. He expects us to believe
fully.
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.
Politicians are men or women who may or may not believe in
something but they have a great skill to make others want to follow their
lead. The great sin is a professional
statesman who has no personal statement to make and no convictions to hold on
to. A Jezebel wants what they want and
uses all her wiles to get what they want.
They will speak swelling words of high honor and spiritual increase
while seducing men or women in whatever way it takes to have their way.
Perhaps an even worse consequence of their willfulness is
that they will either lead the church leadership astray or will practice their
wiles behind the back of leadership. In
the Pentecostal churches these so-called counselors are sometimes called
parking lot prophets. They know they are
not allowed to minister in the church because the pastor has determined their
spirit is not right so they wait until after the pastor goes home and continue
to spread their poisons outside after services.
According to scripture these have a spirit of witchcraft as well.
God however will hold both she and those she seduces,
responsible for knowing and obeying His word.
He has already decided on her future and warns her lovers and foolish
supporters to repent or they will endure a tribulation like those who will be
left behind in the Rapture.
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 knew a family who did not seem able to get the sword from
their home. One child died as a young
adult, another had emotional problems.
One was murdered, also at a young age, and the forth suffered through an
adulterous marriage. I have always
believed that there must be something unknown to me in their lives. These were people who always served and did
what was asked of them by the church.
They held Bible studies in their home and appeared quite holy. I suppose they might have been like Job’s
family when he lost everything (Job 1:13-22) but I don’t think so.
There was another family who followed their father and he
chose another route. Within a year all
three children were dead and the wife became deathly ill. When she divorced her husband her disease
left her. Following disobedient people
is a dangerous proposition even within your own family.
God examines our hearts and judges both our thoughts and our
actions. None of us will escape His
sight or His justice.
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.
There are times when we might live in such difficult times
and places that all God expects of us is to live saved and die in faith. I know that might seem useless, but each of
us is being followed and observed by the lost and dying. The book, “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” is filled
with example after example where someone died in faith and violence who touched
someone else by their death. You are an
eternal creature. You must die at least
once and God wants that death to accomplish something good. He does not want us to die unused and
unsung. We are eternal beings and living
a useless life in order to live a long one is a waste of oxygen. It is better to live well for a moment.
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.
I wonder how many saints of God feel driven to accomplish
something ‘special, outstanding or exceptional’ in their lives and believe
themselves to be forced to accomplish those things NO MATTER WHAT! I have seen bored saints, scared saints,
tired saints and driven saints. Those
who are driven often push themselves beyond their calling or abilities so they
might make that one connection that will raise them above those around
them. They might even be willing to make
deals or choose partners that are not in God’s plan or their own best
interests. The truth is that God knows
where you need to be and has a plan to get you there if you will simply ask Him
and follow His lead.
In the case of the faithful in Thyatira, Jesus was simply
thrilled that they were living a holy life in the midst of so much sin and
temptation. In verse 25 he tells them to
hold on to the truths they have learned so far.
It is a warning not to link up with the devil in order to tap into his
network. No matter that ‘his’ network
might get you more exposure, it will definitely get you EXPOSED. Jesus doesn’t want you exposed in a negative
way. His promise is that when the time
comes He will bring you before rulers.
God will bring it to pass. The
Apostle Paul never went anywhere without asking God for direction and never
linked himself to anyone out of some desperate fear he would not be
discovered.
Go ye out into the highway and hedges and bring the love of
God to those around you. Eventually you
will be known as someone who has the answers they need. An overcomer is someone who endures to the
end (Luke 9:57).
Here is a simple and powerful truth; the one who endures to
the end and lives saved; the one who uses the gifts God has given Him and has
turned one talent into two or five into fifty; the one who has lived a humble
and submitted life to God will one day RULE OVER all those arrogant and
seemingly powerful men and women who once disdained to notice them. We will rule then because God is honoring our
obedience now in the midst of a disobedient and evil people.
On the day Jesus came to Jerusalem and read Isaiah to them
(Luke 4:16-19), he stopped before he finished the passage. That passage in Isaiah 61:2 ends with, “And
the day of vengeance of our God.” This
is what Revelation 2:27 refers to. God
will have his vengeance over all those who have for so long ignored His love
and mercy.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
I have read commentaries and scholar’s notes and am not thrilled with any of their
explanations of the morning star. It
isn’t even the same phrase in the Greek as in 22:16. Verse 2:28 is proinos aster which is better
translated ‘dawn star’ and 22:16 is orthrinos aster which is translated ‘early
or morning star.’ Why the same author in
the same book would use two different words is unknown though there was a
reason and it is up to us to discover it.
God makes no mistakes.
I personally believe that as in Hebrews 1:3 Jesus is the
brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person, and we too will
become the brightness of God in our glorified bodies. This will be the dawning of a new day when
light is indeed light and no longer perceived as darkness by the lost. This will happen during the millennial reign
after the battle of Armageddon when every nation on Earth will declare that
Jesus is Lord. Jesus is giving Thyatira
this honor for their ability to stand in the midst of this fallen world. They will be one of the first to see the Day
Star arise (2 Peter 1:19), not just in our hearts, but in truth and deed on the
Earth.
29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches.
When you read this…what do you hear? Does my literal and absolute belief in
scripture cause you to laugh at my ignorance or do you say, “Finally, someone
who believes in the inerrant Word of God.”
This is an honest question because I have heard that most American
Seminaries teach that most things in scripture are an allegory. It is certain the Sadducees believed
this. They did not believe in the
reality of angels, demons or spiritual warfare.
I believe that one day science and doubters and skeptics
will all bow down to the reality that is our God in Christ Jesus and declare
that Jesus is Lord of ALL! For many this
will be a day of great sorrow. For some
this will be a day of great rejoicing.
What will it be for you? What do
you believe beloved?
Bishop J
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