Monthly Archive for October, 1998

After His words of condemnation, Jesus now turns to those who walk with the Lord. There is always a remnant that is true to truth and does not follow false doctrine.

as many as do not have this doctrine

“This doctrine” is the doctrine of immoral practices through the cultic guilds that participated in sex as a part of worship.

who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say

Some people believed that they had an edge on the “depths of Satan.”

I will put on you no other burden

Jesus asks no more than they “hold fast what you have till I come” (2:25). He wants us to be true to the objective Word of God and measure everything by the Bible. A subjective approach to spirituality is dangerous.

Adulteresses usually commit their sin in bed. Jesus casts Jezebel into bed, but it’s not a bed of sexual pleasure. It’s a bed of pain and sickness (1 Corinthians 11:29-30). An adulteress practices her occupation in bed, so Jesus will cast her into a bed of pain. The place of sin becomes the place of discipline.

and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation,

“Adultery” here is metaphorical, representing those whom Jezebel led away with her solicitations to false doctrine.

unless they repent of their deeds

God is open to those who repent of false doctrine. Repentance averts God’s discipline.

Jesus turns from commendation to condemnation of the church at Thyatira.

because you allow that woman Jezebel

The trouble in Thyatira was tolerance. The word “allow” means to tolerate. The church at Thyatira tolerated a false teacher by the name of Jezebel. The church distanced itself from this problem and let it lie to fester only to become a greater problem later. Tolerance is a concept of compromise.

The Jezebel of the Old Testament was King Ahab’s queen. She was a Canaanite and daughter of a pagan priest by the name of Ethbaal, a worshipper of Baal. He killed his brother in order to become King of Sidon, Lebanon. Jezebel may have been a priestess who worshipped Astarte, later called Aphrodite [the Romans called her Venus], the goddess of lust.

When King Ahab of Israel brought his wife to Samaria, the capital of the northern tribes, she brought her religion with her. Baal was a fertility god. Baal worship used both male and female temple prostitutes to appease him. Jezebel built a temple to Baal and an altar to Astarte. With this came hundreds of prophets to promote her religion.

“Now it happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, ‘Is it peace, Jehu?’ So he answered, ‘What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many?’” (2 Kings 9:22).

Jezebel fancied her religion, a Phoenician Baal cult in Israel that promoted harlotry and magic. She seduced her tolerant and weak husband to persecute the Lord’s prophets and led Israel into idolatry. Her name stood for anything that endangers orthodox teaching. The Jezebel counterpart of this verse is a symbolic name for a person who distorts doctrine.

Some manuscripts read “your wife” instead of “that woman.” If so, this would mean that this Jezebel was the pastor’s wife! However, the strongest manuscript evidence does not support this.

who calls herself a prophetess

Jezebel was a self-styled and self-appointed prophetess, but she was no true prophetess. Just because people claim something does not make it true. Many people claim religious status in our day but this does not mean they carry authentic biblical authority.

Jezebel taught that it was permissible to belong to a trade guild. Belonging to a trade guild included idol worship and sexual immorality at religious feasts.

to teach and seduce My servants

This phony priestess both taught and seduced her followers. “Seduce” means deceive. Jezebel was probably beautiful, brainy, personable but deceptive. The church at Thyatira was more interested in the delivery than the content. The church of our day is more interested in form than substance.

Jezebel seduced God’s servants. She seduced Christians.

to commit sexual immorality

Committing “sexual immorality” is not the same as committing adultery. This is a much more general term than “adultery” and means to engage in any illicit sex act. This could range from fornication to prostitution. A person who commits this sin, sins against his own body (1 Corinthians 6:18). It is God’s will that we abstain from sexual immorality by consecrating ourselves to Him (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

“Sexual immorality” here is sex acts associated with idol worship. Jezebel taught Christians to engage in sexual promiscuity in idol worship. The Jezebel of this verse attempts to draw God’s people into sexual immorality through religion.

and eat things sacrificed to idols

The combination of religion and sex is a great problem. Jezebel taught the church to combine paganism and Christianity. The appeal for this combination was sex. Whenever we combine Christianity with paganism, truth always loses out.

Again, Jesus speaks to the leader of the church as the representative of the church and the one responsible for the church.

in Thyatira write

The fourth and longest letter to the churches is the letter to Thyatira. This was the most corrupt of all seven churches.

Thyatira is about 55 miles northeast of Smyrna (Izmir Turkey) and 45 miles southeast of Pergamum. This city is of lesser prominence than the other seven cities. They had no temple dedicated to an emperor. Seleucus I Nicator founded the city in 300 BC. The town Akhisar stands on this site today.

Thyatira lay on the Lycus River. Thyatira, situated strategically, located on an important low-lying corridor that connected the Hermus and Caicus valleys. It was an important place in the Roman road system as a frontier garrison and postal route. Many people traveled this road.

There were many industrial and commercial guilds in this city by the time that John wrote Revelation. Trade was very difficult without belonging to a guild. The guilds were social clubs fettered with pagan worship and immorality. These guilds carried vast power in the community. These guilds formed opposition to Christianity (Acts 19). The city manufactured wool, linen, leather, pottery, brass-smiths [renowned for this] and slave trading. Thyatira was a dyeing centre as well.

Thyatira is the home of Lydia whom Paul led to Christ (Acts 16:14). Lydia was a “seller of purple goods.” She may have been an agent of a Thyatiran manufacturer of dyed woolen goods.

A significant Christian community existed in Thyatira toward the end of the first century.

‘These things says the Son of God

Jesus calls Himself “the Son of God.” He stresses His deity, “This is God talking to you.” The two characteristics that follow stress attributes of His deity.

who has eyes like a flame of fire

John uses terminology common to bronze workers in Thyatira. This description is similar to that of the first chapter (1:13f). Jesus’ eyes here may represent eyes of fury and judgment that can penetrate any sham. No facade will pass His notice. We cannot disguise ourselves or pretend in His presence.

and His feet like fine brass

The first chapter used the term “fine brass” (1:15). This brass was brilliant when polished. This may represent His fixed orientation to truth.

The word “repent” is a strong command. This is sharp censure for imbibing false doctrine.

I will come to you quickly

“Quickly” has to do with the rapidity with which Jesus will come if the church at Pergamum does not repent. Jesus will go to war swiftly. He does not give leeway when it comes to false doctrine (2 Peter 2:1).

and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth

The word “fight” means to make war, to engage in open warfare (12:7; 13:4; 17:14). Jesus will make war on false doctrine. We do not often think of Jesus in terms of General Jesus. In this verse, He personally wields a sword of war. He is totally intolerant of tolerance.