This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Thyatira: I am the Son of God! My eyes are like flames of fire, and my feet are like bronze. Listen to what I say. I know everything about you, including your love, your faith, your service, and how you have endured. I know that you are doing more now than you have ever done before.
But I still have something against you because of that woman Jezebel. She calls herself a prophet, and you let her teach and mislead my servants to do immoral things and to eat food offered to idols. I gave her a chance to turn from her sins, but she did not want to stop doing these immoral things. I am going to strike down Jezebel. Everyone who does these immoral things with her will also be punished, if they don’t stop. I will even kill her followers.
Then all the churches will see that I know everyone’s thoughts and feelings. I will treat each of you as you deserve. Some of you in Thyatira don’t follow Jezebel’s teaching. You don’t know anything about what her followers call the “deep secrets of Satan.” So I won’t burden you down with any other commands.
But until I come, you must hold firmly to the teaching you have. I will give power over the nations to everyone who wins the victory and keeps on obeying me until the end. I will give each of them the same power that my Father has given me. They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash those nations to pieces like clay pots. I will also give them the morning star. If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 2:18-29, CEV)
The Thyatiran woman, Lydia, was a seller of
purple cloth. Paul met her at Philippi. She may have been the overseas agent of
a Thyatiran manufacturer. Lydia may have been arranging the sale of dyed woolen
goods which were known simply by the name of the dye. This ‘purple’ was
obtained from the madder root, and was still produced in the district, under
the name Turkey red into the present. [i]
Thyatira was about 45 miles to the southeast
of Pergamum. It was famous for manufacturing; dyeing, garment-making, pottery
and brass-working. It passed under Roman rule in 133 B.C., and was an important
point in the Roman road system from Pergamum to Laodicea. A large town (Akhisar) still stands on the
same site.
One important component of Thyatira was its
church. The fourth church in Asia Minor to get a personal message from God was
this one. The positives in this assembly
included their love, faith, service, patient endurance, and the improvements
with their relationships with God. Problems existed in their tolerance of wrong
teaching and wrong doing.
“Difficult times
have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and
beautiful life is in every way and that so many things that one goes worrying
about are of no importance whatsoever.” (Isak Denisen)
The prescription for this problem is to stay
true to the Bible. The promise for
doing the prescription is to share in the authority and glory of God.
“God does not
exist for the happiness of man. Man exists for the holiness and glory of God.” (Alan Davis)
“He
who fears God has nothing else to fear. We should stand in such awe of the
living Lord that all the threats that can be used by the proudest persecutor
should have no more effect upon us than the whistling of the wind.” (C.H. Spurgeon)[ii]
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| City of Thyatira |
[i] Then
on the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to a place by the river, where we
thought there would be a Jewish meeting place for prayer. We sat down and
talked with the women who came. One of them
was Lydia, who was from the city of Thyatira and sold expensive purple cloth.
She was a worshiper of the Lord God, and he made her willing to accept what
Paul was saying. Then after she and her family were baptized,
she kept on begging us, “If you think I really do have faith in the Lord, come
stay in my home.” Finally, we accepted her invitation. (Acts 16:13-15 CEV)
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