7 Letters: Thyatira
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The Church in Thyatira was a church under pressure. Many of the believers were blackballed from the trade guilds of Thyatira because they refused to participate in the pagan cult rituals which were infused in the guilds. It was also a church that was being split by the immoral influence of a false teacher Jesus calls Jezebel. Jesus commends the believers who stood firm and rebukes those who rejected biblical morality and embraced lawlessness. This sermon deals with false teachings like the hyper-grace movement which elevates grace to the point where morality no longer matters.
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7 Letters: Thyatira
- 3. Letter : The Church of Thyatira The Church Under Pressure
- 4. “The longest and most difficult of the 7 letters is addressed to the least known, least important and least remarkable of the cities.”
- 6. Thyatira •First established as a military outpost. •No natural fortifications. •Came under Roman control in 190 B.C.
- 7. Pliny the Elder referred to … “ …Thyatira and other unimportant cities.”
- 8. “There were more trade guilds in Thyatira than in any other town of its size in Asia.” William Barclay
- 9. First Point Jesus affirms the church that perseveres under pressure.
- 10. Revelation 2 18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
- 11. Revelation 2 19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.
- 12. The Church in Thyatira faced a difficult challenge! •Pagan religions had penetrated and pervaded the trade guilds. •True Christians were in danger of being black-balled in the workplace.
- 13. Jesus commended the Thyatiran believers for identifying themselves with Him despite the consequences. •Their faith was real. •Their faith was tough. •Their faith was growing.
- 15. Matthew 16:25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
- 16. Second Point Jesus sternly warns those within the church who tolerate evil.
- 17. Revelation 2 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
- 18. Revelation 2 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,
- 19. Revelation 2 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
- 20. Queen Jezebel •Key sponsor of Baal cult. •Ruthless murderer •Threatened God’s prophets with death.
- 22. Revelation 2 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.
- 23. 2 Peter 3 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
- 24. 2 Peter 3 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
- 25. 2 Peter 3 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
- 26. New Expressions of Antinomianism “It is high time for the church… to get back to proclaiming the only message that matters—and the only message we have— the Word about God’s one- way love for sinners. Tullian Tchividjian
- 27. New Expressions of Antinomianism It is time for us to abandon, once for all, our play-it-safe religion and get drunk on grace. Two-hundred proof, unflinching grace. Tullian Tchividjian
- 28. New Expressions of Antinomianism It’s shocking and scary, unnatural and undomesticated, but it is also the only thing that can set us free and light the church—and the world—on fire.” Tullian Tchividjian
- 29. Third Point Jesus promises those within the church that resist evil a place of authority at His side.
- 30. Revelation 2 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.
- 31. Revelation 2 25 Only hold fast what you have until I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,
- 32. Revelation 2 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.
- 33. Revelation 2 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
- 34. Psalm 2: A Messianic Psalm 7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
- 35. Psalm 2 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
- 36. The Star "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth. (Numbers 24:17)
Editor's Notes
- The Church of Thyatira The Church Under Pressure
- “The longest and most difficult of the 7 letters is addressed to the least known, least important and least remarkable of the cities.”
- Ruins along old Roman Road in Thyatira. Very little remains of this ancient city.
- Thyatira was established as a military outpost by Seleucus I, one of Alexander the Great's five generals. Thyatira had no natural fortifications. Thus, it relied exclusively on its army for its defense. This proved inadequate when they faced the superior army of Rome in 190 BC. Thyatira was defeated and ascribed to the loyalist kingdom of Pergamum, and later to the Roman province of Asia.
- Pliny the Elder referred to “Thyatira and other unimportant cities.”
- Thyatira was a union town! There were more trade guilds in Thyatira than in any other town of its size in Asia. From coins it is evident that guilds of bakers, bronze smiths, wool workers, potters, linen weavers and tanners were active in the city.
- First Point Jesus affirms the church that perseveres under pressure.
- Revelation 2 18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
- 19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.
- The Church in Thyatira faced a difficult challenge! Unfortunately for the Church at Thyatira, the pagan religions had penetrated and pervaded the trade guilds. Idolatry and religiously sanctioned immorality were an integral part of business. The key god was called Tyrimnos, and equivalent of the Greek Apollos, who was the son of Zeus. 3. Thus, the true Christian was in danger of being black-balled in the work-place. 4. To this city of Christians, in danger of losing their livelihood because they refused to worship the son of Zeus, the true Son of God speaks. He presents himself as the one having eyes of flame and legs of bronze, a picture of penetrating perception and limitless strength.
- Jesus commended the Thyatiran believers for identifying themselves with Him despite the consequences. 1. Their faith was real. Faith is a nebulous thing. We cannot see faith. However, we can see the things which faith produces. Jesus commends this church for its deeds, deeds of Christian ministry. 2. Their faith was tough. They are commended for their perseverance. 3. Their faith was growing. Jesus remarks that their latter deeds were greater than the former. There is vitality in this church; a living church is a growing church. It stretches toward new and more difficult things. This church was not sitting in neutral, reminiscing on the exploits of the past, like so many churches that we know. They were pressing forward.
- Illustration: Josef Tson's greatest lesson. The communist government issued a new law that any children of Christian parents must either sign a document denying their faith and participate in atheistic instruction. Failure to do so would result in being black-balled from the universities. Thus, they would be destined for a life of poverty. Several of the young people in Josef's church at Oradeia asked him what to do. He perceived that their real question was "Pastor, what can you do for us?" 1. Despite the fact that he had no university age children, Josef took up their cause. He wrote letters to the Helsinki commission reporting this violation of human rights, and to a number of Western democracies. As a result, Josef was arrested, tortured, and stripped of his ministerial license. 2. After the initial torture, he was subjected to months of interrogation by a major in the army. Josef's initial response was to undergo these interrogations. For six months he preserved his life in this way, but lost all quality of life. 3. After these six months of interrogation, the Lord told Josef not to answer this man's questions. He came to the major and told him he would answer no more questions, but preferred to be "crushed." Initially, the major was enraged. However, later he was shamed by this man who was willing to die for his faith. Josef was released from the interrogations and permitted to preach, despite the fact that He had no license. In fact, he was more free than any licensed minister subject to constant scrutiny by the communist military.
- Josef said that on that day he learned the lesson Jesus taught in Matthew 16:25: For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
- Second Point Jesus sternly warns those within the church who tolerate evil.
- 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
- 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,
- 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
- Queen Jezebel Key sponsor of Baal cult. Ruthless murderer Threatened God’s prophets with death.
- Persuasive teacher misleading her church. Pagan meals. Orgies. Jezebel had been given time to repent, but her time had run out. She would soon be cast into bed, not the bed of her immorality, but the bed of disease. The "John's" of this spiritual prostitute are threatened a great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. The harshest threat is spoken to her children, those from the church who had followed her into paganism and immorality. In the Greek, it says, they will be killed with death. This redundancy is a Hebraism meaning to "slay utterly." The Lord may have intended for his audience to recall the story of the death of Ahab and Jezebel's sons. In II Kings 10 we are told that the 70 sons of Ahab were beheaded by the elders of Samaria, who then put the heads in baskets and presented them to Ahab's enemy, Jehu. Perhaps the Lord intended this image. If you do not repent of Jezebel's sin, your heads will be in the basket.
- 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.
- 2 Peter 3 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
- 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
- 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
- New Expressions of Antinomianism “It is high time for the church… to get back to proclaiming the only message that matters—and the only message we have—the Word about God’s one-way love for sinners.
- It is time for us to abandon, once for all, our play-it-safe religion and get drunk on grace. Two-hundred proof, unflinching grace.
- It’s shocking and scary, unnatural and undomesticated, but it is also the only thing that can set us free and light the church—and the world—on fire.”
- Third Point: Jesus promises those within the church that resist evil a place of authority at His side. In order to rule with Christ we must be uncompromising in our allegiance to Him.
- 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.
- 25 Only hold fast what you have until I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,
- 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.
- 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’