The Letter From Jesus to The Local Church at Thyatira Part Two

Rev 2:18  And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;

Fire and brass both speak of judgment.  Eyes like unto a flame of fire points to the fact that Jesus sees all and judges what He sees.  Feet are a person’s foundation that holds them up and feet is what moves you around.  You could say that feet is what carries you, they move you.  Feet speak of action, of carrying out.  So feet like fine brass speaks of the carrying out of judgment.

Now Jesus judges both the good and the bad.  And His judgment on the good will give rewards.  When Jesus sees good, it is noticed, and acknowledged.  He is going to start by mentioning to them that He knows the good they do.

Rev 2:19  I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

The areas that they mess up on do not take away the good they do.  Jesus is happy with their works for Him and their charity and service and faith and patience.

These letters to the 7 churches teach us a lot of what our Lord is pleased with.  And pleasing our Saviour should be our primary goal.  And many times in these letters we see that charity pleases Him.  Helping kids that are less fortunate than us pleases Jesus.

Faith pleases Jesus.  And service and patience.  So when we just keep putting out the Gospel even when we do not see immediate results.  That faith and service and patience, Jesus is pleased with.

After giving them a list of what they are doing right it is time to deal with their problem that they need to fix.

Rev 2:20  Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Jesus uses Jezebel as an illustration of what their problem is.  He does not go into depth about Jezebel.  Jesus expected them to know all about Jezebel.  She is recorded in His word.

If any of them did not know the Bible record of Jezebel they could have done what we did last week.  Stop and take time to go back and read about her.

We did and learned some things about her.  Our modern culture will use her name in connection with sex and taking other ladies men.  That was not what Jezebel was about.  Last week I said that almost no one uses her name.

What we learned about the Jezebel of the Bible is that her seduction was not about sex.  She called herself a prophetess and taught and seduced the people to worship Baal.  The Israelites were supposed to be in a covenant relationship with God.

He was their God and they were His people.  She taught them to go have fornication with Baal.  She seduced them to forsake God.

And we saw how effective she was at it.  She kept 450 prophets of Baal on the payroll and another 400 prophets of the grove.

She killed every man of God that she could.  And when faced with overwhelming proof that our God is the true and only God, she just brushed it aside and kept going on her evil ways and threatened to kill Elijah.

And that was no empty threat.  She meant it.  And yes her 450 prophets of Baal were gone but she still had power and the means to get someone killed.  For example she had Naboth killed so Ahab could have his vineyard.

Jezebel could not be reasoned with.  Jezebel would not listen to facts or evidence about God.

She had no morality, and would stop at nothing to promote her false teaching and her false god.  Wicked and rotten to the core.

We needed to get ahold of just how forceful Jezebel was and just how great her wickedness was.  And in this letter Jesus points back to Jezebel and says that same spirit and method is still alive and well today and is in your local church.

Jezebel lived centuries before Jesus dictated this letter.  Jezebel was long dead, the spirit of her evil heart and the way she worked was alive and well when John wrote revelation and it is still alive and well 2000 years later.

The spirit that seduces and teaches error to get people to believe lies and worship false gods is alive and well in 2022.

Rev 2:21  And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

This shows us something about the forgiveness and longsuffering of God.  Jezebel was really wicked and was really pushing her agenda against God.  And God still gave her space to repent.

He gave her a chance and then the next day He have her a chance again.  And the next week He is still giving her a chance, and then next month, and 6 months later.

This is a foundational truth and it explains a lot of what we see in the world around us.

Someone does not shake their fist at God and say terrible things about Him and then He just zaps them with lightning.  He does not work that way.

Some false teacher does not get on T.V. and teach error and seducing people into believing lies about God and then God just takes that person out.

No.  Some Jehovah witness does not seduce someone into worshipping a god of their own imagination and because of that their house explodes.

God does not burn down the Mormon temple because of what goes on in there.

And notice it is not because He does not care about what they are doing.  He is not indifferent to it.  The real reason that those things are allowed to happen is given to us here.

Rev 2:21  And I gave her space to repent

He is giving all of the false teachers space to repent.

I did a one minute video on faith and posted it this last week.  Some guy commented that it is hard to have faith given the state of the clergy in America and then stated how they do not obey scripture for whatever reason.

That man does not understand the principals of free will, or of God giving people space to repent.

God is longsuffering and patient.  It is a part of His nature; of His character.  So much so that He even gives time and space for the Jezebels of this world to repent.

He is longsuffering but He is not forever suffering.  He is patient, but He is also Just.  He does see it all, He does care about it, and in His time He will judge it.

Rev 2:22  Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

Even when He is proclaiming what the judgment will be, He still offers them a chance to repent.

Someone once said, yes the wheels of His justice sometimes turn slow, but they never slip.

This is a truth that helps us understand our world.  And it should help us understand our own lives and walk with God.  He gives us space to repent when we mess up.  He is longsuffering and patient with us.

Rev 2:23  And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Several things here.  If you think the punishment is harsh, remember He is talking about those who have this spirit of Jezebel.

Two Jesus wants all His churches to know that He is the one who searches the reins and the hearts.  He knows everything you think and everything you feel.

Three a person will reap what they sow.  This is a fact.  It is a promise.  Jesus says “I will give unto every one of you according to your works”

And that works both ways.  If your works are good, He will give you good.  And if you do evil like Jezebel He will give you judgment accordingly.

And the judgment is according to your works.  Not someone else’s and it is according to your works as in your specific works.  Each reaping and sowing is given out individually appropriately for that individual case.

His judgment is fair and perfectly executed.

Rev 2:24  But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.

The doctrine that Jezebel was teaching and seducing people into, Jesus calls here the depths of Satan.  It was really bad.  We are not talking about someone’s personal preference here.  Some have a preference to pass an offering plate, and I do not.  I prefer the Giving Box instead. That is a personal preference.

What was going on here was not in the realm of personal preferences.  What was being taught was the errors of Satan.  Corruption of doctrine under the wicked one’s direction.  And many times the Jezebels of this world have no idea who is really behind what they teach.

And Jesus declares here that as many of the church in Thyatira that have not this doctrine that He will put upon them none other burden.

Jesus is not a hard taskmaster.  He is not driving His people with a whip.  He is not nit picking every single thing you do and then being harsh about the little things.

We see that here and this is what Jesus taught in Matthew.

Mat 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Mat 11:30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The yoke and burden that Jesus puts upon His followers is easy and light.  It is not a hard and burdensome thing to follow Jesus.

In this letter Jesus tells them and us that He knows of the good things you do and then lists them.

thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience

He is very pleased with all who do these things.  Then He deals with the evil in their midst.  Jesus hates false teaching and He calls it what it is.  The depths of Satan.  He gives space for people involved in that to repent, but He will judge it in His time.

And then He encourages them to keep doing those things that please Him.

Rev 2:25  But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.

Good works, charity, service, faith, and patience.  Keep doing those until I come.

Don’t stop, don’t get wearing in doing them.  Keep up the good things year after year.  Do not ever stop.

And now as in the other letters He stops speaking to that individual church specifically and talks to all of them as a whole and gives some details about the 1000 year reign that will come one day.

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Rev 2:28  And I will give him the morning star.

Rev 2:29  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Jesus will come back one day.  He will stop all the evil that is going on in the world.  The lost mock His goodness today because He allows their sin.  They say if God is good then why does (and they list something bad that happens) and then say, if God was good then He would stop that.

In this age God allows man to exercise his free will.  He will judge it all and no one gets away with anything.  Everyone will reap what he sows.  Either in this life or in hell.  But right now He allows the free exercise of the will of man.

When He comes back, He will not allow the free exercise of sin.  That will be a good thing.  There will be no crime, no murders, no drug overdoses, and on and on the list goes.

But instead of thanking Him for it, they will hate Him for it and in the end follow Satan in rising up in rebellion against Jesus.

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

And during this 1,000 years He will give positions of authority to His children. There will be a lot of jobs to do and for 1,000 years.  We will be busy.  And we will get to see it all.

The implication is that the type of job that you have is a reward for how you live for Him now.  He is once again encouraging His children that one day it will be worth it all.

Just keep on doing the good things and while you are doing that do not tolerate evil beliefs in your midst.  And in the end there are rewards waiting for you.

See more posts on the 7 letters from Jesus