Wednesday Bible Study: The Seven Churches Part Four

 

Rev 2:18  "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 'The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 

Rev 2:19  "'I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 

Rev 2:20  But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 

Rev 2:21  I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 

Rev 2:22  Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, 

Rev 2:23  and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. 

Rev 2:24  But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. 

Rev 2:25  Only hold fast what you have until I come. 

Rev 2:26  The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 

Rev 2:27  and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 

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

Rev 2:29  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' 

This is a real 'us and them' story, but you need first to understand the nature of that story.  The big controversy in this fourth church is, "Who is 'that woman Jezebel'?"  To say that this has been a source of discussion is to put it mildly.  A perusal of the commentators on my e-Sword program reveals:

-3 believe this was an actual physical woman, known to this church at that time.

-2 believe it was a faction within that church.

-Because the word 'woman' is usually translated 'wife', 2 believe it is the pastor's wife.

- 2 call her the Roman church.  I think this is a low-hanging fruit, and I'll explain in a bit.

- One, honestly, basically says, "Who knows?"  But we need to.

While the Roman Catholic Church meets many of the requirements, and the hierarchy of it is certainly PART of the equation, they are NOT in my opinion the final answer.  To figure this out, let's look at a couple of passages my paper Bible linked me to.  First, the only other mention of Thyatira:

Act 16:14  One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 

See, Thyatira sold purple dye, but not THE purple dye- the expensive stuff made by the murels.  No, this was a plant based, less expensive dye- later known as Turkey Red.  Thyatira was producing a cheap, knock off dye- THAT is what is going on in this passage.  This is the Church Protestant- which the Catholics deride as divided, but Jesus says, "your latter works exceed the first. "  But, that church is married to a litany of false churches- the Catholic hierarchy with its Pope, the Orthodox with their icons, the UMC with their Civil War over LGBTQ- the list goes on.  But wait, there's more!  That second verse- about the deep things of Satan- linked led me to 2 Timothy:

2Ti 3:6  For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 

2Ti 3:7  always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 

2Ti 3:8  Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 

2Ti 3:9  But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. 

"Always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth".  That is one side of the coin; but the other is this "Jannes and Jambres".  Did we miss a page?  No, this is the only place they are mentioned by name.  But we DO know them:

Exo 7:10  So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 

Exo 7:11  Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 

Exo 7:12  For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. 

That was Jannes and Jambres, charlatans who did tricks to prove they had a god with them- till God overwhelmed them. This is what Christ means when he mentions 'the deep things of Satan'.  You see, Jezebel is ANY church that is not staying to the Word and Preaching the Gospel.

Part of our problem in understanding this is most of us try to combine Jezebel with Delilah, and get some sort of sexy seductress- and part of that comes from translators focusing on the sexual immorality and not on the spiritual harlotry that really makes God mad.  If you follow Jezebel's career, what you actually find is:  She had a lust for power, dominating her husband Ahab, who at some level knew better.  She was totally dedicated to a false set of beliefs.  She was vengeful, and uncaring of who got hurt in her way.  And the last thing she did before she died- she 'tarted herself up', putting on makeup and jewelry just before servants supporting Jehu threw her from the window.  We see examples of this behavior in the New Testament- John himself talks about one in his church- Diotrephes- in 3 John.

And the evil Christ speaks to John of is that we are 'married' to these false churches by the name "Christian".  This is a call for discernment- test everything with the Bible.  Some are just looking for power.  No coincidence that the biggest church in this country is one that espouses ignoring the Old Testament in the name of drawing younger, more open, members.  More members equal more money.  Which is why Jack Hibbs constantly prays, "Lord, make this church SMALLER, remove those you don't want here!"

Three quick final things I want to look at.  First, "No other burden."  But, this means you DO have the burden of being discerning, and checking everything.  If you do nothing else for Christ, He demands you know the REAL Christ.  Keep in mind the curses Christ proclaimed for those who, failing to understand, follow the Jezebel churches.

Second, "The one who conquers AND who keeps my works until the end".  All the other churches so far do not have that add-on to "he who conquers."  What works?  

Joh 6:28  Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" 

Joh 6:29  Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." 

This indicates that the battle for this church is to stay faithful to the Christ preached by the Apostles.

Third, "The morning star."  Christ IS the Morning Star- he will give Himself to them.