Church in Thyatira
Author: Pat Aman…
““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. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. 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. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 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. 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. 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, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’ To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’ —just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Revelation 2:18-29 NIV
The church at Thyatira was due to them compromising with sin within the church. Thyatira was a church that became corrupt from within. There was a sickness in the church which could only be cured from that of true repentance and real identification and genuine forsaking of the sin and a putting on of purity. Don’t forget that these were real churches with real people facing real problems and spiritual opposition just like we do today. So this is very relevant to our lives.
Thyatira was well-known for a couple of things. It was famous for its dyeing industry and was a centre of the indigo trade, purple cloth was very expensive in those times. (In Acts 16 Paul met a woman called Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth who came from Thyatira). It was famous for its coppersmiths and also for its many trade-guilds.
Unlike some of the other cities around, the church in Thyatira hadn’t suffered a lot of persecution from either the Roman authorities or the Jews.
So why in our letter does Jesus seem to be so harsh with them?
Here is the problem. Thyatira was a city of craftsmen and merchants. The major problem for the church was posed by the many trade guilds in the city. Guilds had a patron god; the local god of Thyatira, a representation of Apollo, probably served that purpose. The feasts of the guilds were held in a temple and were viewed as religious occasions; the meat was offered to one of the gods. The participators shared it with him, and the occasions frequently ended in debauchery.
How could Christians participate in such meetings?
Then against that background, Jesus says this… 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.
Jezebel is probably not an individual but a symbolic name. Jesus is referencing King Ahab’s, Queen Jezebel. In 1 Kings, a book in the Old Testament Queen Jezebel led Led King Ahab astray and tempted him into worshipping false Gods, and he, in turn, led his people into worshipping false idols.
So that is the problem. It’s just like your Parents and mine always said. “Birds of a feather flock together. Or you become like those you hang about with, and that is not always good, depending who you hang around with.”
Was it only me who had a Parents who worried about who I hung around with? I distinctly remember parents saying, “there will be consequences you will get yourself into trouble if you do not stand up for yourself and your beliefs. “
That is the warning that Jesus is giving. He is saying to that church, I know the guilds you hang around in I know how they influence and tempt you into worshipping idols. There will be consequences.
We might think that’s OK we don’t worship other gods. There is no Jezebel tempting us into going the wrong way. But is there?
What is it that we put before God? Isn’t anything we put above Jesus an idol?
Who do we allow to influence us?
When Jesus says we should welcome the stranger and protect the widows, and orphans it seems obvious.
When Jesus says love your neighbour is up there with loving God, of course, we want to do that. But when society says to look after number one, where do we take our lead from?
Maybe Jesus warning to Thyatira is more relevant to us today two thousand years later than we would like to admit.
Devotion Written By: Pastor Pat Aman Book © 1996/2020, “Coffee With Pat Daily Devotionals” and Westbow Press a division of Thomas Nelson
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