Thyatira - The Compromised Church / Revelation 2:18-29
Introduction: A Review of the Journey
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Let’s pray together and dive into the Word. I’m going to stay in this chair as long as I can. I made it through the first service, but I get pretty fired up about this stuff, so if I start standing up, just bear with me. I’ve got my coffee, and I’ll try to keep it mellow, but we’ll see what happens.
Lord, thanks for Your Bible. Thanks for this time together and for this church. It’s fun to see the lives that are changing. As we move through the book of Revelation and You lay out the things You love and the things You hate, I pray we would have the courage to engage in a way that honors You. Be with us, I pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
We’ve been cruising through Revelation chapters two and three, looking at the letters Christ wrote to the seven churches. We saw the church at Ephesus—a church with sound doctrine that lost its first love. In their desire to be right, they punted their passion for Christ. Then we saw Smyrna, the persecuted church, where families stood in the fires of persecution rather than recant. Last week, we covered Pergamum, the worldly church. They yoked themselves to the world, laundered their sin under grace, and decided they could indulge the passions of the flesh without impacting their spirit.
Now, we’re looking at the church at Thyatira.
The City of Thyatira: Small Town, Big Message
Thyatira was a relatively insignificant town on the road between Pergamum and Sardis. It sat on flat land, making it militarily vulnerable, and it changed political hands constantly. Yet, this is the longest epistle given to any of these seven churches. Christ had more to say to Thyatira than any other church.
Thyatira is what we would call the “compromised church.” Where Pergamum snuggled up with the sin of their day, Thyatira had a complete departure from truth. They joined themselves to a heresy promoted by a woman referred to as Jezebel.
Revelation 2:18-29 (NASB)
’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: ’I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. ’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 and eat things sacrificed to idols. ’I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. ’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. ’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. ’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. ’Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. ’He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; 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; and I will give him the morning star. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
The Purity of the Bride
Throughout the New Testament, God refers to the church as the “bride.” There is something about a bride that is meant to be pure and holy. Yesterday, I had the chance to do the wedding for Dave Sather and Liz Hand. I stood right here, the doors opened, and in walked the bride. There is nothing like it. It’s the best picture of purity—a godly guy and a godly girl who did the relationship right, met in this church, and served Christ together. To look at a bride in a white dress, pure and undefiled, is a glorious thing.
Paul writes in Ephesians that Christ desires to present His church holy, blameless, and undefiled.
Ephesians 5:25-27 (NASB)
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
But at the church of Thyatira, they allowed the bride to be defiled. They allowed immorality and the worship of Baal to creep in. They became a people who—pardon the expression—pimped the gospel for profit. They created opportunities to make money from the gospel of Christ, and in doing so, the church lost her honor, dignity, and character.
Proverbs 11 says that a beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a swine’s snout. A gold ring is a thing of beauty; the snout of a pig is nasty. When a church that should be pure is defiled by immorality, it is completely out of place.
Proverbs 11:22 (NASB)
[As] a ring of gold in a swine’s snout [So is] a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.
Historical Parallels: The Age of Papacy
As we’ve seen, each of these churches parallels a certain age of church history. Pergamum represented the imperial age of Constantine, where Christianity moved from catacombs to palaces. This led to the corruption that Thyatira models: the age of the papacy in the Middle Ages.
In the early 1500s, a young monk named Martin Luther was sent to Rome. His journals recall his initial delight at seeing the relics, but by the end of the week, he was despondent. He saw corruption and immorality. He saw priests rushing through mass just to collect money from the next group of people, like a Disney World photo op—“Click, next, give us your money.” The sacredness was gone.
He saw halls full of “relics”—bones of apostles or pieces of the cross—that you had to pay admission to see. It nearly destroyed his sanity. But in his angst, Luther did something unheard of: he actually grabbed a Bible and started to read. He came to a verse that plagued him: “The righteous man shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:17 (NASB)
For in it [the] righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS [man] SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’
This flew in the face of everything he had been taught. He had been raised in a works-based, guilt-oriented system. Luther placed his faith in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ and began the Reformation, crying out: “Grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone.”
In that Middle Age church, people were no longer approaching God through Christ, but through the merits of saints, angels, or the exaltation of the priesthood. This created a massive gap between the “clergy” and the “common folk.” Because the Bible was only in Greek, Hebrew, or Latin, the common people couldn’t read it. They had no frame of reference.
How many of you have a Bible in your hand or at home? Raise your hand. You know what that’s called? Accountability. When I talk up here, you don’t have to take it at face value—you test it against the Word. But back then, if you wanted to know about God, you had to ask a priest. This led to extra-biblical doctrines like purgatory and indulgences, where you could literally buy a ticket out of judgment for a dead loved one. Luther called this what it was: heresy.
Commendation: A Church That Was Growing
Let’s look at how Christ addresses this church. He comes with eyes like a flame of fire—intentionality and purpose—and feet like burnished bronze, tested by fire.
Revelation 2:18 (NASB)
’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:
He starts with a commendation. He says, “I know your deeds, your love, your faith, your service, and your perseverance.” That’s not bad gossip to have about you! There was a core group in Thyatira that was holding fast.
Revelation 2:19 (NASB)
’I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.
He even says their “deeds of late are greater than at first.” They were growing. I hope the word on the street for me as the years pass is that I know my Bible better, love my wife more, and walk more intimately with God than I do today. These believers were living that out.
The Accusation: Tolerating Jezebel
But despite the commendation, there was a significant problem.
Revelation 2:20 (NASB)
’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 and eat things sacrificed to idols.
He says, “You tolerate the woman Jezebel.” If you’ve read 1 Kings, you know Jezebel. She is perhaps the most wicked figure in the Bible. She married Ahab, a man so spiritually weak that following the idols of Jeroboam became a “trivial thing” compared to the mess she brought in.
1 Kings 16:30-31 (NASB)
Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him. It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him.
Jezebel introduced Baal worship, which involved three things: a feast, bowing to an idol, and sexual intercourse with temple prostitutes. She murdered prophets and stole land. She was so evil that when she finally died, the dogs ate her body—except for her hands, feet, and skull. Even the dogs didn’t want to eat the parts of her that thought the evil thoughts and did the evil deeds. Ladies, if someone calls you a “Jezebel,” those are fighting words.
In Thyatira, they were tolerating a woman who was acting just like her. They were “marrying” Christianity with Baal worship. They’d worship Jesus on Sunday and then go commit immorality at a pagan feast on Monday.
God gave her time to repent, but she wouldn’t.
Revelation 2:21 (NASB)
’I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.
Forgiveness is immediate when we confess, but consequences are often unavoidable. Because she would not repent, judgment was coming.
Revelation 2:22-23 (NASB)
’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. ’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.
God says, “I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.” People ask me, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” First, the Bible says there are no “good” people. Second, do you really want “fair”? Fair means you get exactly what you deserve. I don’t want fair; I want grace.
My two-year-old daughter is in a phase where she says “no” in very creative ways. If she goes to touch a hot stove, I tell her, “Sweetie, don’t touch that, it’ll light you up.” If she touches it anyway, she learns that her decision to disobey brought a consequence. God does the same with us. He says, “Here is a chapter and verse; don’t go down that road.” When we say, “Thanks for the two cents, Lord, but I’m going to do it my way,” He eventually gives us over to our own desires, and the train of consequence runs us over.
The “Deeper Things” and the Simple Gospel
But notice verse 24. There were some who did not hold to this teaching.
Revelation 2:24 (NASB)
’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.
He mentions the “deep things of Satan.” Have you ever had someone “philosophically big-time” you? You tell them you’re a Christian and they say, “Oh, that’s cute. But eventually, you’ll need to get to the deeper things.”
One thing I love about Christianity is that there is no hidden curtain. There are no secret rituals you have to “graduate” into. You have the same 66 books I have. I remember in college, a guy from a different background asked me, “Have you received the Spirit?” I said, “I think so?” He said, “No, you’re not ready. Keep praying.”
He kept “punking” me like this until one day he and a buddy showed up in my garage while I was working out. I was a young zealot with a T-shirt of Jesus bench-pressing the cross. They started praying and speaking in tongues, and they put a hand on my belly and said, “Release it!” I was scared to death, so I just started babbling—“Bow-go-go-go”—just to get them out of my garage! They told me I had found the “deeper things.”
Friends, there are no “deeper things” beyond a relationship by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (NASB)
’Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ’Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. ‘For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.’
If you are on a treadmill of deeds-based spirituality, you will never find rest. But to those who hold fast to the simple gospel, Jesus says, “I place no greater burden on you.”
Revelation 2:25 (NASB)
’Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.
Closing Challenge: Faith, Growth, and Grace
To the overcomers, He promises authority and the “Morning Star.” He promises we will be with Him forever.
Revelation 2:26-28 (NASB)
’He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; 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; and I will give him the morning star.
I want to close with two questions. First, have you ever placed your faith in Jesus? If not, why not? I used to have all kinds of arguments against Christ until someone challenged me to write them down. I realized my arguments were “weak sauce.” I was just scared. But the more I read about Jesus, the more I realized I didn’t have to become “one of those religious people”—I just had to become like Him.
Second, are you growing? Could people say your deeds now are greater than before? You might not have a statue of Baal in your house, but what are you tolerating? What would it look like to clean house and set yourself to grow?
I don’t ever want us to be a people who just “play church,” check the box, and tolerate sin. Let’s spend some time in worship and then I’ll come back up.
Father, Your Bible sets a high standard, and I’m glad, because a follower of Christ ought to be different. But I’m also glad You call us with grace. I pray for those here who are sitting in the ashes of their lives. Instead of trying to pick up the pieces themselves, may they just hand them to You. Take our broken lives and make them whole. May this church be known as a place where people truly know Christ. Amen.