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 teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of foods 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 - jus 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 has to say to the churches. (Rev. 2:18-29)
This is the longest letter to any of the seven churches. There is much here for us to ponder and reflect upon, in our quest for the hidden riches that this passage holds for us modern-day believers.
We will start with the manner in which Jesus describes Himself to this church:
-Son of God
-eyes like blazing fire
-feet like burnished bronze.
He presents Himself first and foremost in the fierceness of His power and authority to a church who has not purged itself of sin and false teaching. He is establishing His authority as God to a church in which a woman has improperly assumed authority to teach, and to teach things that are false; it is clear that neither her teaching nor her authority comes from the Lord or else He would not rebuke her and her followers. Thus He comes as one who is ready to purge the church Himself if necessary.
His eyes of blazing fire, as though having x-ray vision, have located the problems in the church and are prepared to consume them in that fire if repentance does not come quickly.
His feet of steel (burnished bronze) are ready to trample upon that which is not reflecting His holiness in this churcht:
He treads the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. (Rev. 19:15)
John MacArthur, in his sermon titled Thyatira, the Church that Tolerates Sin, describes the church at Thyatira in this manner:
Here is a church that has been infiltrated by error and sin, a church that has done nothing about it. It takes us back to a very basic understanding that we have to have in regard to the church and that is that the Lord wants His church holy. He wants His church in every sense intolerant of sin. The Lord wants His church pure; the Lord is the bridegroom, the church is the bride, and He expects not an adulterous bride, but a chaste virgin, neither adulterous in the sense of engaging in idolatry, not adulterous in the sense of engaging in sexual sin.
We are reminded of two issues Paul had with the church at Corinth; the first issue was about sexual immorality, the second was about eating food sacrificed to idols....the same two issues this church at Thyatira was allowing in their midst without any rebuke or censure.
Regarding sexual immorality, Paul had this to say to the Corinthians:
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ Himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, The two shall become one flesh. But whoever is united with the Lord is one with Him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:15-20)
You will recall in Acts 15:20 that the Gentiles were forbidden four things, two of which included sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols, yet here Paul is so quickly having to remind them of things they have been commanded not to do:
Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than He? (1 Corinthians 10:19-22)
If Paul is appalled at the acts of these Corinthians, how much more so is Jesus toward the church at Thyatira?
Thyatira was a city located in what is now modern-day Turkey whose main industry at the time of this letter was textiles and the production of the color indigo which also produced purple.
A certain woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God was listening and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. (Acts 16:14).
Because the main thrust of the city was textiles, (and it was a booming business!) trade guilds were popular there, with traits similar to our modern-day unions. But these were pagan trade guilds, each having their own god to sacrifice to. Surely, the Christians in Thyatira who were involved in the textile industry felt forced to compromise their faith in order to be a standing member of these guilds, which in all likelihood had the power to grant or deny work to individuals who were not willing to conform to their guild's rituals, including eating food sacrificing to idols, and often sexually immoral practices in the temples of these gods.
They might have withstood, however, and not compromised, even facing poverty as a result, until a certain strongly religious woman entered the church and somehow convinced all of them that compromise "in this particular situation" was justified.
We will get into details about this "Jezebel" in the next posting.
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 teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of foods 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 - jus 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 has to say to the churches. (Rev. 2:18-29)
This is the longest letter to any of the seven churches. There is much here for us to ponder and reflect upon, in our quest for the hidden riches that this passage holds for us modern-day believers.
We will start with the manner in which Jesus describes Himself to this church:
-Son of God
-eyes like blazing fire
-feet like burnished bronze.
He presents Himself first and foremost in the fierceness of His power and authority to a church who has not purged itself of sin and false teaching. He is establishing His authority as God to a church in which a woman has improperly assumed authority to teach, and to teach things that are false; it is clear that neither her teaching nor her authority comes from the Lord or else He would not rebuke her and her followers. Thus He comes as one who is ready to purge the church Himself if necessary.
His eyes of blazing fire, as though having x-ray vision, have located the problems in the church and are prepared to consume them in that fire if repentance does not come quickly.
His feet of steel (burnished bronze) are ready to trample upon that which is not reflecting His holiness in this churcht:
He treads the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. (Rev. 19:15)
John MacArthur, in his sermon titled Thyatira, the Church that Tolerates Sin, describes the church at Thyatira in this manner:
Here is a church that has been infiltrated by error and sin, a church that has done nothing about it. It takes us back to a very basic understanding that we have to have in regard to the church and that is that the Lord wants His church holy. He wants His church in every sense intolerant of sin. The Lord wants His church pure; the Lord is the bridegroom, the church is the bride, and He expects not an adulterous bride, but a chaste virgin, neither adulterous in the sense of engaging in idolatry, not adulterous in the sense of engaging in sexual sin.
We are reminded of two issues Paul had with the church at Corinth; the first issue was about sexual immorality, the second was about eating food sacrificed to idols....the same two issues this church at Thyatira was allowing in their midst without any rebuke or censure.
Regarding sexual immorality, Paul had this to say to the Corinthians:
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ Himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, The two shall become one flesh. But whoever is united with the Lord is one with Him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:15-20)
You will recall in Acts 15:20 that the Gentiles were forbidden four things, two of which included sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols, yet here Paul is so quickly having to remind them of things they have been commanded not to do:
Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than He? (1 Corinthians 10:19-22)
If Paul is appalled at the acts of these Corinthians, how much more so is Jesus toward the church at Thyatira?
Thyatira was a city located in what is now modern-day Turkey whose main industry at the time of this letter was textiles and the production of the color indigo which also produced purple.
A certain woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God was listening and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. (Acts 16:14).
Because the main thrust of the city was textiles, (and it was a booming business!) trade guilds were popular there, with traits similar to our modern-day unions. But these were pagan trade guilds, each having their own god to sacrifice to. Surely, the Christians in Thyatira who were involved in the textile industry felt forced to compromise their faith in order to be a standing member of these guilds, which in all likelihood had the power to grant or deny work to individuals who were not willing to conform to their guild's rituals, including eating food sacrificing to idols, and often sexually immoral practices in the temples of these gods.
They might have withstood, however, and not compromised, even facing poverty as a result, until a certain strongly religious woman entered the church and somehow convinced all of them that compromise "in this particular situation" was justified.
We will get into details about this "Jezebel" in the next posting.
No comments:
Post a Comment