Coming Soon Part 5 The challenge of the gods!
Revelation 2:18-29
“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:
19 ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality (fornication) and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality (fornication). 22 Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. 24 But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you. 25 Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. 26 He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; 27 and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also 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.’
Wow! What does all this mean? What is this Jezebel stuff and the deep things of Satan?
I’m glad you asked! Let’s get to it.
Thyatira means daughter but prior to a Roman general renaming the city it’s roots go back to Babylon when Babylonian priest left their came to Thyatira first established worship there then moved to Smyrna…but the named the city Semiramis who legend tells us is the foundation of all the God legends. Semiramis is at the root of Greek (Hera), Roman (Juno), Egyptians (Hathor) and even Norse mythology (Frigga) as the mother/God…the foundation of the worship of Astarte, which is also the Phoenician worship Jezebel brought to Israel.
Thyatira was a city of commerce. The trade guilds were based here, dying of cloth was big as Lydia from the book of Acts was a trade rep to Philippi from Thyatira. Each trade guild had a god and you had to honor that god or you were not allowed in the trade union…we need to understand that background to understand this letter.
Revelation 2:18
“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:
We saw this in chapter one the significance (as Jesus told us, through John, he signified, gave us signs) of the way things are and will be.
The signs here are Jesus eyes a flame representing judgment and purification and bronze being the material used in the implements in the temple for judgment to deal with sin….but also notice he uses the title Son of God…he is coming as the rightful heir to judge the sin of the world and proclaim judgment over all the churches…judgment begins in the house of God (1 Peter 4:17)…but judgment is both for our good and our correction.
Revelation 2:19
19 ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.
The people in Thyatira were growing in their faith, their serving the Lord and serving others, they kept at it even when struggles came their way…they were growing and the Lord was proud of them as they were doing even greater things than when they first came to the Lord as opposed to Ephesus who had lost their first love….I want the Lord to say that about me, what about you? He was proud of most of them, but…
Revelation 2:20
20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality (fornication) and eat things sacrificed to idols.
It is believed that there was a powerful woman teacher originally a prophetess of the goddess Diana who came to some level of faith and because of here influence began to teach a mix of things in the church. It wasn’t so much her sin but that the church tolerated it. The phrase “acts of immorality” really means fornication and in the majority of the places where the particular Greek word is used it means idolatry, intimacy with a god that is not God. The people of Thyatira were caught in a compromising situation, coming to Christ they had to choose either to serve God wholeheartedly or to serve money, industry, their business. Jezebel was teaching them to serve both equally. 1 Kings 18 we see the battle lines drawn. Jezebel had brought the worship of Baals and Asherah to Israel. She married the King of Israel to create a trade deal between the Phoenicians and the northern Kingdom. She totally influenced and overran King Ahab getting all of Israel to compromise and follow the worship of her dead gods….into this God brings judgment
1 Kings 18:19-21
Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.” 20 So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. 21 Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.
God lays out this challenge…if he is God, follow him, but if Baal is god follow him
Well They cried out all day all 850 of them, cut themselves nothing…Elijah teased them and their God (what will your God do for you is the challenge before us if we are not choosing to completely trust God)
Finally when evening came Elijah prays, fire from heaven comes and consumes everything. Israel repents, Elijah kills all 850 priests.
When we compromise and put other things, our businesses, jobs, homes, children, (all good things btw) we don’t realize what happens to us….we think we are helping our children become the stars of their hearts desire, but if Christ is not first, you may have helped send them to hell. You spend your life to build a business, or get that right job, neglecting the Lord only to find you have no control and your life has been about temporal things. You work like crazy to get the perfect house, car, only to realize it has cost you way more…worshipping at the feet of these other gods can cost you everything when if we put God first he can give us all of that and so much more..
Matthew 6:33,34
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Jezebel was teaching them to gain intimacy with the god’s of this world to gain favor and intimacy with them.
Revelation 2:21 – 23
21 I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality (fornication). 22 Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
Jesus spoke through righteous men and women of God to bring correction to her and those that would compromise with her but they refused to repent and it seemed like they were getting away with it. But God won’t allow compromised teaching to stand for very long. The Lord took her out not for the sake of hurting her but to bring her to repentance, that is what this letter is about giving us time to look and say God have we compromised and made other things more important than you?….notice something very important
…who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds
Those who commit spiritual adultery, putting other gods before God if they do not repent will go through the great tribulation….in other words those who keep God first will be his sons and daughters and not go through the great tribulation…..If we keep God first, always, we will not stray from Him, we will grow in Him and become more like Him, blessed in every way.
Revelation 2:24
But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you.
The rest of the church recognized this and stayed true to putting God first…”the deep things of Satan”…what did Lucifer want? Worship to be like the most high Ezekiel tells us, putting himself above God and the people who followed Jezebels teaching were doing just that!
Revelation 2:25-29
25 Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. 26 He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; 27 and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also 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.’
Jesus is reaffirming here, keep God first, don’t compromise or think you can dabble in this or that, teach your children through deed and word that God is the priority and we will see the fulfillment of Psalm 2:8 “Ask of me and I will give the nations as your inheritance” more of Psalm 2 is reflected here but God is saying if you fight to keep me first, I will give you all the blessings you are looking for and so much more.
How do we do that? We need to understand what that means in our situation right now…we can only do that by three things…
– be in the Word
– be in prayer
– be in church, the fellowship of believer’s
Satan before he fell was called the morning star, a reflection of his Lord and King, Jesus. Because he, as worship leader, heralded in the King of Kings. The planet Venus is the morning star, in nature, it is seen just before dawn breaks and those of us who fight to keep God first, always will herald the King…people will always see Him in us and we will always be reflecting His light!