“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Thyatira. This is the message from the Son of God, whose eyes are like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze:
I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things. But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman—that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet—to lead my servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality. Therefore, I will throw her on a bed of suffering, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly unless they repent and turn away from her evil deeds. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve.
But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching (‘deeper truths,’ as they call them—depths of Satan, actually). I will ask nothing more of you except that you hold tightly to what you have until I come. To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, To them I will give authority over all the nations. They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots. They will have the same authority I received from my Father, and I will also give them the morning star!
Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”
Revelation 2:18-29
Now that I have set the scene with the description of what life was like in Thyatira we will turn our attention to what Jesus told John to write to this church. You will see the match between the description of who Jesus Christ is and what He had to say to the church in this city. “This message is from the Son of God, whose eyes are like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze.’ Jesus sees everything that is going on, the public and the hidden. The eyes are like flaming fire, which speaks of judgement and the feet are like polished bronze. An interesting comment to make to the city famous for its fine bronze products. The bronze contrasts with feet of clay. The LORD’s feet are firm in contrast to feet of clay. This One is ready to hand out judgement, but is He holding back.
Once again Jesus begins His comments with “I know . . .”
- He knew all the things those in the church were doing.
- He had seen their love.
- He had seen their faith.
- He had seen their service.
- He had seen their patient endurance.
- he had seen their constant improvement in all the above.
That is quite a commendation given the nature of the culture I described in the last Gem related to Thyatira. The majority of the church were doing well in love, faith, service and their patient endurance in the midst of the cultural practices around them. Not only were they doing well but they were demonstrating CONSTANT improvement. I am sure we would all like a report card from Jesus like that. But . . . You know there is a ‘but’ coming, don’t you? This idea of constant improvement as the NLT puts it, literally reads “your last works are more than at first.” I would imagine every Christian wants their works at the end to be greater or better than at first. That yields evidence of growth or improvement. But be careful, because the same principle applies in a negative sense. An increase in your works or outworking of your faith is not good if it is channeled in the wrong direction.
At that point Jesus challenges them with the very thing he holds against them. They were [ἐάω / eaō] ‘tolerating’, ‘permitting’, ‘allowing’, ‘letting’ a woman lead the servants of God astray. How? By doing nothing; leaving her alone to practise what she was teaching. By doing nothing they permitted her to continue teaching things that would soon undo all the good work the saints in Thyatira had been doing. To allow this teaching to continue would be to the detriment of the church in Thyatira. To neglect doing anything about this situation could only end making the situation worse. Hence my reason for drawing attention to the curious contrast with “the constant improvement they were showing”. It would not remain a constant improvement if this woman was allowed to continue teaching; sowing her seeds of evil.
That is why I drew attention to the fact the Christians in Thyatira faced “a threat from without” and “a threat from within”. Did you pick up on my meaning? The threat from without was the strength of influence of the guilds around them, encouraging the Christians to get involved in idol worship. Going another step toward eating food offered to idols, then making your own offerings to idols and finally becoming involved in the sexual practices of the members of the guild you were forced to join. All such practices were part of the culture around you. Be careful of conforming to the practices others are doing. [// Romans 12:2]
That relates to the threat from without, the threat from outside of the Christian community. But it is another thing entirely when we allow dissident teaching into the church. When that happens it become more insidious, like a corrupter has been permitted to sow seeds of evil among the faithful. The threat from within was exactly what Christ is addressing in this case of the woman who calls herself a prophetess. Who was this woman? The opinion is divided on her identity. There are those who think Jezebel was the name of a woman in the church there in Thyatira. I am not so sure. The way it is phrased leads other commentators to conclude this woman was not necessarily named Jezebel, but was a woman like Jezebel, the wife of Ahab (1 Kings 16:31 and following). The Jezebel of old becomes synonymous with fifth column activity, infiltrating a group from within to sow seeds of destruction. Was the woman in Thyatira called Jezebel? Or was she a type of Jezebel, a jezebel for that particular time in the life of the church in Thyatira. It is interesting that Jesus (who knew their situation in Thyatira) said she called herself a prophetess, “in order to lead my slaves astray“.
We need to pay attention to another element in the text which also adds light to the situation in Thyatira. The reference to the ‘deep secrets of Satan’ in verse 2:24. There are various ways these deep secrets are described:- ‘Satan’s deep secrets’, ‘the deep things of Satan’, ‘the deep secrets of the adversary’ or the one I like the best “the so-called secrets of Satan” from the Christian Standard Bible [CSB] version. Who called them ‘Satan’s deep secrets’? I imagine it was the woman who was teaching such things, that she called them satan’s deep secrets. Either her or the adherents to her teaching. I like the way it is put in the NLT above.
this false teaching (‘deeper truths,’ as they call them—depths of Satan, actually)
Revelation 2:24
As they call them, meaning the woman teaching these things and what the ones who follow her also call them. So often false cults, false teaching is couched in terms of the deeper things of God. It is rare that the name satan is attached to such teaching. Most often satan masquerades as God or an angel of light in the hope of enticing the people of God across the evil side, as was clearly the case here. This woman, whoever she was, taught false things to lead the Christians of Thyatira astray. Seemingly she added her bit to convince the believers in Thyatira that it was ok to eat food sacrificed to idols (“Let us eat”) – John Lightfoot’s suggestion that Nicolaitan is derived from the Aramaic [nokhal] “Let us eat” – See Gem 2197. Perhaps her influence was wider than just Thyatira, maybe it stretched as far back as Smyrna, but the woman teaching these things was resident in Thyatira it seems.
Why would I categorically say that this woman was not named Jezebel? This woman was a Jezebel to those in Thyatira. Because of some hidden little words in the text, which indicate that this is actually a midrash. An examplar, a lesson for us all to learn.
“Throw her down!” Jehu yelled. So they threw her [Jezebel] out the window, and her blood spattered against the wall and on the horses. And Jehu trampled her body under his horses’ hooves.
2 King 9:33
This points to a Midrash. As the original Jezebel was “thrown down” so too this modern day Jezebel in the church at Thyatira would be thrown down. Only this one would be thrown down on a bed of suffering or sickness.
I will throw her on a bed of suffering, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly unless they repent and turn away from her evil deeds.
Revelation 2:22
The action of being ‘thrown down’ is a picture of the way God deals with those who are doing harm to his people. As with the Jezebel of old so too this one in Thyatira. Notice in verse 22 in the literal Greek, this Jezebel was to cast into a bed; into affliction.
ἰδοὺ βάλλω αὐτὴν εἰς κλίνην καὶ τοὺς μοιχεύοντας μετ᾿ αὐτῆς εἰς θλῖψιν μεγάλην
behold {I throw} her into {a bed} and the {ones committing adultery} with her into affliction great
As Ahab’s Jezebel was thrown down and killed so too this Thyatiran Jezebel will be thrown on a bed of affliction. That affliction could be anything but it is not good. In the context of Revelation is could be any one of the afflictions coming on those who are disobedient. You can see by the way this Greek sentence is constructed that all those who followed her teaching are also destined for the same fate. There is a deliberate link between the two Jezebels. This is an example of midrashic teaching. Subtle, deep links between two quotes which are meant to be read together for impact. I am left speechless at the depth God’s Word contains. This is an intentional link for the Jewish reader to pick up on the same wording and draw more meaning from the text. Made even more deep and subtle when set in the same passage with a reference to the ‘deep secrets of satan’. People let me tell you: the deep things of satan have nothing of the depth of the Word of God. Not only that but the so-called deep things of satan are actually simply lies and false teaching.
Yes of course there is more to come. Hang on to your hat and keep your wits about you. We can see that this clearly was not written just for the saints in Thyatira at the end of the First Century
Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person.
Revelation 2:23
Did you notice where I divided this introduction for the letter to the Church at Thyatira? I am confident you did. I know many of you have your senses tuned to subtleties in the text now.
Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision.
Muhammad Ali
My relationship with God is only as deep as my relationship to His Word.
Robb Thompson
Don’t just quote or retweet the cute, funny or deep quotes at the end of each Bible Gem. Read the whole Gem each time then you get the more complete picture.
Ian
Jesus taught profound truth in simple ways. We do the opposite. Many “deep” teachers are actually just muddy!
Rick Warren