Revelation 2:18

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and has feet like fine brass. I know your works, your love, your service, faith, and your patience... Nevertheless, I have a few things against you. Because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants, to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols... And he who overcomes and keeps my words until the end, to him I will give power over the nations... I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

When a small church grows in love yet tolerates a deadly teaching, Jesus—who sees all and judges thoroughly—calls it to repent, hold fast, and overcome.

One Small Word

When the King James Bible was reprinted in 1631, a thousand copies were delivered, and as printers reviewed the text they discovered that among the 788,280 words, one word was missing. It was a very small word in a small verse—Exodus 20:14, the seventh commandment, which in that edition read, "thou shalt commit adultery." Just one little word, not, but it made a big difference.

All but about eleven copies of that printing—which came to be known as the Wicked Bible—were burned and destroyed. The printer's license was revoked and he was fined 300 pounds, about a year's wage. You can still buy one of the surviving copies online today for about $99,500.

About ten years ago I was sitting with a group of pastors discussing how to minister to those who are grieving. We were looking at a booklet by Pastor Chuck Smith, and one of the pastors, Matt Dotson, found a paragraph quoting 1 Corinthians 15:53. It read, "this mortal must put on immorality." Of course the verse actually says, "this mortal must put on immortality"—but one letter can make a big difference.

Of course, misprints and typos are not the reason people engage in immorality. We find ourselves thinking or doing things against the Scriptures not because of misprints, but because of our fallen sin nature. We don't need typos to justify those things; we do that just fine on our own.

A Church Engaged in Immorality

The church Jesus addresses here, Thyatira, was not only caught in compromise like Pergamos last week—it was actually engaged in immorality. Now, it isn't strange that people in churches sin, because churches are made up of sinful people. Every one of us has fallen short of the glory of God this week. Maybe someone cut you off on the way here, and during worship you were asking God to forgive your attitude. It's not unheard of to find sinners in church—this is not a perfect group, I am not a perfect person, and if you think you're perfect, you've got a bigger problem.

But the problem in Thyatira was bigger than individual sins in people's hearts. There was a much more grievous issue, as we shall see.

The City of Thyatira

Thyatira was the smallest of the seven cities mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3, situated about 40 miles southeast of Pergamos. For many years before the Pax Romana, it was little more than a speed bump to invading armies. Established during the Greek empire after Alexander the Great's death, it served as a military outpost to delay armies advancing toward Pergamos. It was conquered, destroyed, and rebuilt several times.

Situated on a trade route running from Pergamos into the interior of Asia Minor, Thyatira grew prominent for its trade guilds—the closest modern equivalent might be a union. Archaeologists have found more evidence of trade guilds there than in any other Asian city of the time: guilds for wool makers, tent makers, leather workers, tanners, and makers of fine linen. The city was especially known for purple dye, a costly, difficult-to-produce commodity associated with royalty and the upper levels of Roman society.

We actually meet someone from Thyatira who dealt in this very thing. In Acts 16, on Paul's second missionary journey, he reached Philippi. Finding no synagogue, he went on the Sabbath to the river, where he met a gathering of God-fearing women.

Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us, and she was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. And the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.

Lydia became a believer, and very probably she was among the first to carry the gospel back to her family and her trade guild in Thyatira. Many believe the church there began in part through her ministry. It was no doubt established further during Paul's two years of teaching in Ephesus, when, as Acts 19 records, the whole peninsula of Asia Minor heard the gospel.

The Revelation: Jesus Sees All and Will Judge Thoroughly

Jesus writes to this small gathering about forty years later. He begins, "These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like fine brass."

In ancient Middle Eastern thought, to be the "Son of" something meant you shared the same nature. Jesus is called the Son of Man because He has the nature of man; He is the Son of God because He has the nature of God. This is the only place in Revelation where Jesus introduces Himself as the Son of God. For those who tell you Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God, come right here to Revelation 2:18—He says, "I am the Son of God." He has the nature of God, with all authority and power. He doesn't often highlight this, so when He does, it should get our attention. This church needed a wake-up call.

This revelation points back to Revelation 1:14, where John saw Jesus with eyes like a flame of fire and feet like fine brass refined in a furnace. The eyes mean He has a penetrating gaze—nothing is beyond His view; He sees all. The feet of fine brass speak of purity and enduring stability. Recall Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image, whose feet were iron mixed with clay—broken because they had no stability. Jesus, by contrast, has feet of finely refined brass: enduring strength.

Brass throughout Scripture is also associated with judgment. So Jesus, with His penetrating gaze, sees all and will judge thoroughly. Revelation 14 and 19, pointing back to Isaiah 63 and 34, declare that He will tread the winepress of the wrath of God. It is not a pretty picture, but at the very least it tells us He sees all and will judge thoroughly.

Judge Not—With a Plank in Your Eye?

Christians stand in a difficult position. Because the Spirit of God dwells in us, we are sometimes compelled to say of things in the world, "that's wrong, that ought not to be." People then say, "Doesn't the Bible say, thou shalt not judge?" It doesn't quite say that. Jesus did say, "judge not that you be not judged," but in Matthew 7 He was not forbidding all judgment—He was warning us to be careful.

Judge not that you be not judged... And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and do not consider the plank that is in your own eye?... Hypocrite, first remove the plank from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

When we bring judgment, we must first judge our own lives—judgment must begin at the house of the Lord. And here is the only One in the universe who sees perfectly, because there is no speck or plank in His eye. His eyes are a flame of fire; no speck can remain there. He alone has the power to fully judge.

Hebrews 4, right after declaring the Word of God living and powerful, says, "there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account." Jesus sees all and will judge thoroughly. Isaiah 29:15 pronounces woe on those who hide their counsel from the Lord, doing works in darkness and saying, "Who sees us?" Some may think they hide their deeds beneath a cloak of false righteousness—attending church, carrying a Bible, putting a "Not of This World" sticker on the car. But Luke 8:17 tells us all things done in darkness will be brought to light. Nothing is ever hidden from the Lord.

The Commendation: Increase in Good Works

This church may have thought they were doing everything right. Look at the commendation: "I know your works, and love, service, faith, and your patience."

Jesus knew their love—agape, sacrificial love, sometimes translated "charity." He knew their service, which springs from love. He knew their faith—better translated faithfulness, dependability, reliability—and the patience that springs from faithfulness. And He adds, "as for your works, the last are more than the first." The New Living Translation reads, "I can see your constant improvement." They were growing in these things, and it was a wonderful sight.

This is point two: we need to increase in good works. We are not saved by works—Ephesians 2:8–9 makes that clear—but the very next verse says we are "His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works." Peter exhorts us in the same direction:

Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The believers in Thyatira were growing in love, faithfulness, service, and patience, and Jesus commends them for it.

The Indictment: That Woman Jezebel

"Nevertheless, I have a few things against you. Because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants."

Her name was probably not Jezebel—people don't name their children Jezebel any more than Adolf or Judas. The name connects her to the Old Testament Jezebel of 1 Kings 16–21, the daughter of a pagan king who married Ahab, king of Israel. She was, frankly, a false-god-worshipping harlot witch—Satan's agent to corrupt God's people toward idolatry and sexual immorality. She raised up 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah who seduced the nation. After Elijah's showdown with her prophets in 1 Kings 18, where God displayed His power, Elijah immediately fled in fear of her threats. She was that formidable.

That same spirit appeared in this woman in Thyatira—a self-proclaimed prophetess whose teaching seduced Jesus's servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. People who had love, faithfulness, service, and patience were also being led into vile and wicked practices in the pagan temples of the day, all because of her teaching.

Jesus Is Exceedingly Patient and Gracious

"And I gave her time to repent." That's point three: Jesus is exceedingly patient and gracious—and we should all be thankful that He is. He gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, but she refused.

Because she refused, Jesus says, "Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds." Then comes the most startling line: "And I will kill her children with death." The only way to interpret this is that He will judge her disciples—those who follow her teaching. You cannot be a Christian, perpetually practicing such sinful things, and think everything is fine. Paul warns the Corinthians, similarly seduced, that those involved in such sins will not inherit the kingdom of God. These things do not go together.

Two Heresies and Today's Compromise

Commentators suggest two heresies she may have taught. The first is the antinomian heresy—from anomos, "no law." The idea was: you're under grace now, so there's no moral law to observe, and whatever you do is fine. Paul confronts this in Romans 6: "Shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid." It takes advantage of the grace that is meant to lead us to repentance.

The second is connected to Gnosticism, a philosophical dualism teaching that humanity is two separate parts—a good spirit and a carnal, bad body. Since the body will die and the spirit belongs to God, whatever you do with the body supposedly doesn't matter.

What might this have looked like in Thyatira? To work at any trade, you had to belong to a guild, and every guild was connected to a patron deity. To be part of the guild meant being part of the temple, including its idolatry and immorality. Likely she taught that participating was acceptable—that to survive and thrive, you simply had to go along.

Sadly, this fast-forwards into our day. Some of you are being pressured by an employer or institution to do things you have a moral objection to. You say, "I can't, I'm a Christian," and you're told to find a way, look the other way, or lose your livelihood. I've talked with people in this church who have faced exactly that. I read recently of a woman whose resume was rejected because she attended a Christian university—the employer said plainly they don't like Christians. The pressure to compromise is real, and some of you are feeling it.

The Summons: Hold On and Stand Strong

To those facing this pressure, Jesus says, "But hold fast what you have until I come." That's point four: hold on and stand strong.

One day the Lord, with His penetrating gaze and His authority to judge thoroughly, will return. May He find us holding fast—holding fast to sound doctrine (2 Timothy 1:13), to the traditions of the apostles (2 Thessalonians 2:15), to our confession of faith (Hebrews 4:14), and to our hope (Hebrews 6:18).

How do we hold on? Ephesians 6 is a good place to start:

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Take up the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith to quench fiery darts, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God—and pray always. To the Christians not caught up in the seduction, Jesus says: hold on and stand strong.

The Promise: To the Overcomer

He who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron... I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.

To those who break free and keep His works—not Jezebel's—Jesus gives authority and jurisdiction over the nations. You will rule and reign with Him; many understand this to speak of the millennial reign of Christ. And He promises "the morning star." The only other reference to the morning star, Revelation 22:16, identifies it as Jesus Himself. He is saying, "I will give you Myself fully if you overcome."

So hold on to what you have. Stand strong in your integrity and self-control. Grow in knowledge and grace. Stand against those who teach wickedness, and know for certain—as Jesus, Paul, Peter, and Jude all warned—false teachers will come with lies from seducing spirits like Jezebel. But hold on and stand strong.

How We Overcome

How do we overcome? We finish where we finish every week, with 1 John 5:4:

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Jesus stands before Thyatira and says, "I am the Son of God." Believe, trust, and hold on. Add to your faith virtue, self-control, perseverance, and godliness—and stand strong.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I thank You for a word that is a challenging word. Lord, by Your Spirit You are challenging us, and maybe there are places in our lives today that we need to lay down, that we need to repent of and say, "God, would You forgive and cleanse us of unrighteousness." Help us to hold on and stand strong, to bring glory to Your name, and to abound in Your works in the days in which we live. For we know there will always be false teachers and false prophets. Whereas the church at Ephesus tested those who claimed to be apostles, this church in Thyatira did the opposite—they had love, but they were soft on doctrine. Lord, give us a balance: that we would be growing in love, service, faithfulness, and patience, yet also stand strong upon the surety of Your Word and who You are. Use our lives as a backdrop on which You display Your glory and Your grace this week, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.