Letters of Revelation: Tolerating False Teaching, Thyatira
Along the banks of the Lycus River in the Roman province of Asia sat the city of Thyatira. It was a city of wealth and extravagance, acting as a commercial hub for a thriving dyeing and textile industry. It was most well-known for its purple cloth, which was highly sought after and desirable.
Some evidence in Scripture suggests that the church of Thyatira was likely founded by Paul. In Acts 16:13-15, Paul and his companions are outside the city of gates of Macedonia, near the river, sharing the gospel. While there, they encounter a woman named Lydia from Thyatira and she responds in faith to the gospel:
And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 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. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
So, Lydia has faith in Christ and is baptized, with her household following suit. Paul and his group then stay for a time with her and her family. It can be assumed that, during that time, Paul and the other would have taught the household of Lydia about the truths of the Christian faith. With such giants of the early church being involved in the founding of the church there, one would imagine that Thyatira would not merely be a strong church, but a doctrinally rich one.
Yet, by the time that Jesus has the Apostle John write his seven letters to the seven churches, we see that things within the church of Thyatira are spiraling. The letter starts off with a strong reminder of who Christ is and the authority with which He writes to the church: “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. 2:18). As wonderful and beautiful as the dyeing and textile industry of Thyatira may have been, none of it could compare with the glory of Christ’s fiery eyes and feet like burnished bronze. His eyes of fire represent His coming in judgment; as Isaiah 66:15 says, “For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.” His burnished bronze feet represent both the glory of His being resurrected (His foot was bruised at the Cross, but He did not stay down [Gen. 3:15]), and His suffering alongside His saints.
The letter starts strong, with Jesus praising the church of Thyatira because: “I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.” This is an incredibly strong compliment paid to these followers of Christ. They loved God and others, faithfully served the Body of Christ, and patiently endured suffering for Christ’s sake. In fact, these works only became greater as time went on.
But there was a major problem the church was facing, and it was the problem of false teaching. Evidently, the false teaching deceiving it came from one party specifically, here referred to as Jezebel:
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. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 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, 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. 2:20-23).
While it is possible that the woman who was leading Thyatira astray was actually named Jezebel, it seems likely that Jesus uses this title symbolically. In the Old Testament, Jezebel was one of the most wicked queens Israel ever had the displeasure of serving. The wife of King Ahab, she was the daughter of the king of Tyre who also served as a priest of Baal. She led not only her husband to worship Baal, but much of the nation of Israel as well. Ahab, for his part, abdicated his authority and permitted his wife to lead.
Jezebel, used in this context, would represent a woman who had attempted to usurp authority from the men who were supposed to lead. Weak men likely abdicated their own authority in the church to her. According to Jesus, the two false teaching most associated with her were related to sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols. Of course, both things are forbidden throughout Scripture. In fact, the Jerusalem council of Acts 15 had specifically determined these things were not to be permitted amongst Christians: “you [must] abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well” (Acts 15:29).
This “Jezebel” had led the Thyatirans into great sin by deceiving them with false doctrine. While they may have committed literal adultery with this woman (which appears to be indicated by the sick bed unto which Christ would throw her), she certainly led the people into idolatry. As Jesus looked to the coming tribulation of 70 AD, he warned the church that if they would not repent and seek the truth of God and His Word once more, they would be destroyed.
Those who were faithful to Christ and His Word, however, would be supremely blessed:
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. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 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. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (24-29).
Again, we are reminded that the false teachings that this “Jezebel” had brought into the church were literally satanic. Those who were faithful to Christ had no need to fear, however, since Christ Himself would lead them to conquer His and their enemies. The imagery here bears a striking resemblance to other texts, like Psalm 2 and 110, where Jesus is depicted as shattering his enemies like pottery beneath His feet. Here, the Thyatirans were promised they would share in that victory.
Christians today are promised much the same. If we will commit ourselves to Christ and the true doctrines of Scripture then we have no need to fear Satan, the world, “Jezebels,” or even our own flesh. Faithfulness to Christ will be rewarded with everlasting victory. Let us lay “Jezebel” spirits to rest, desecrate idols, and kill sin, while simultaneously embracing the truth of Christ and His Word.
