Letters To the 7 Churches in Revelation - Letter to Thyatira

 

Letters To the 7 Churches in Revelation

Letter to Thyatira

 

Review:
The Book of Revelation was written by John while imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos.  He was placed on the Isle for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus instructed John to write letters unto the 7 Churches of Asia. 

The first letter was written to THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. 

He commended them saying….

In Rev 2:2 - I KNOW THY WORKS, and thy LABOUR, and thy PATIENCE, and how thou CANST NOT BEAR THEM WHICH ARE EVIL:

He commended them for hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans (the spirit of compromise) which God said He hated as well.

The only reprimand they received was because they had left their first love.  They had everything else right but despite all that, they had put Jesus on the backburner in their lives without even realizing it.  

They were so busy doing things FOR Jesus that they were not spending quality time in prayer WITH Jesus like they once did.

They were told to REPENT and DO THE FIRST WORKS.

 

The second letter was to THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA….

Christians in Smyrna were persecuted for their faith. Laws in Smyrna required people to worship the Emperor.  When Christ followers refused to worship a man, they were in danger of being executed if found out.

In addition, the Church members were also persecuted by non-Christian Jews because of their belief and following of Jesus. The Christians in Smyrna were fearful, stressed, and poor.                        

Jesus saw everything the Christians in Smyrna were going through and instructed John to write them a letter to encourage and strengthen them.

He warned they would face intense persecution, torture, and be put to death.  He comforted them saying there was a reward waiting for those who remain faithful unto death….they will never have to worry about dying or facing such pain again.  They would not have to fear being cast into hell which is the second death (Rev 2:11).   What a comfort! 

Notice this Church did not receive any rebuke from the Lord. 

The 3^rd letter was to THE CHURCH IN PERGAMOS

The city of Pergamos was an evil, wicked place and Jesus said they were dwelling where satan’s seat was.  He commended them that despite being surrounded by such wickedness, they had not denied His Name. They continued to stand for Jesus despite intense persecution and the death of their friend, Antipas.

Jesus was pleased with that! YET, He said He had a few things against them. 

They allowed those with false doctrines and doctrines of devils to intermingle in the Church, masquerading as ‘Christians’ who ‘just saw things a little differently’. 

He reprimanded them for tolerating these false Christians within the Church in the name of ‘love’ and ‘tolerance’ but these false Christians were spreading the abominable doctrine that ‘it’s ok to fornicate’, ‘Jesus knows you’re human and won’t hold that against you.’ Or whatever other excuse they used to condone and excuse away sin just as Balaam taught to Balac to cause the Children of Israel to sin.

Their conscious is seared!

They also had those within their midst that held and spread the doctrine of the Nicolaitans (the spirit of compromise) WHICH THING GOD HATES.

They tried to blend the ways of the world in to the Church. They taught and encouraged people to sin while excusing away sinful things that are blatantly warned against in the Word of God. Jesus said He hates these things!

H warned them to REPENT!!! OR ELSE I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the Sword of My Mouth.

*Scary and fearful thing to have Jesus come and fight against you. 
Compromising and encouraging of others to sin will bring God’s wrath upon a person.

 

The 4^th letter was written to the CHURCH OF THYATIRA

History of the city: (source:Wikipedia)

Thyatira was the name of an ancient Greek city in Asia Minor, which is now the modern Turkish city of Akhisar (“white castle”).  It lies in the far west of Turkey, south of Istanbul and due east of Athens.

It was formerly known as the Greek city called Pelopia and Semiramos before being renamed to Thyatira (meaning “daughter”) in 290BC.

During the Roman era, it was famous for its dyeing facilities and was the center of the purple cloth trade.   (End Wikipedia info)

 

We find the Church in this city addressed in Rev 2:18-29

Vs 19 – I know THY WORKS, and CHARITY (love), and SERVICE, and FAITH, and thy PATIENCE, and THY WORKS; and the last to be more than the first.

These were all commendable things they were doing….being loving, working for the Lord, serving others, full of faith, and having patience.  And He commends their works twice, the last being more than the first.  Yet, He warned…

Vs 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.

Vs 21 – And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

The woman’s name was most likely not Jezebel but is used to reveal what spirit this so called prophetess in their church was of.  This Church was rebuked because they were tolerating and allowing this woman to teach and influence others to commit fornication and other sinful practices because she called herself a prophetess and claimed to hear from God. 

This woman claimed superior wisdom and authority over the ministers of the Church.  She used her influence to seduce and draw others into committing fornication and partaking in idolatrous ways.  And no one withstood her.  They were tolerating it within the Church and souls were being deceived which would cause them to be lost eternally.

 

SIGNS OF A JEZEBEL SPIRIT:

We are dealing with a culture of Jezebel….
          It began in the 1920’s with the Flapper era where women began to wear
                   short short dresses and short short hair.
           They became brazen and began to wear swimwear and other skimpy outfits
                   in public, discarding the former modest clothing for ‘freedom’. 
           It continued to grow as women donned pants to work in the factories while
                   the men were at war…something they didn’t do before.
           Some women began to wear men’s suitpant outfits, socks, ties, and manly
                   shoes.  There was a spirit at work to blur the distinction between men
                   and women.   And look where we are today!
          That rebellious Jezebel spirit is still at work today and is taught, trained,   
                  and cultivated to our young impressionable children/teens/young
                  adults through:  Music, dolls, clothing, makeup, movies, etc

You can see this spirit is either beginning to be at work or in complete control of a person when they exhibit these behaviors….
*In love with self
*Rebellious – insubordinate – dominant – unsubmissive
         *Warning: Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft
*This spirit wants to be in control without anyone telling them what they can or
  can not do.
*The spirit of Jezebel is an unmarried spirit (even if married) that will not allow
   anyone, especially a man, to tell them what to do.
          ****Men haters club – I’ve been approached by that spirit which tried to
                  lure me in but I would not take the bait. 
          ***Guard your hearts, Ladies***
          *That’s not saying women are to be washwomen and treated as a slave
          *We were taken out of man’s ribs and are by his side.  There is a beauty in
            Godly order if followed by both men and women as God ordained.
          *The discord and division between men and women first began in the
            Garden of Eden and was sown by the devil.  “Did God REALLY say?”  “Did
            your husband REALLY hear God correctly?  You know he sometimes get
            things confused and mixed up.” That sly subtle seed of discord was sown.
          *I’ve seen too many homes where the woman ruled the house and ruled the
            husband.  It’s not God’s order, no matter how we try to justify it.

*Looks for loopholes to twist Scripture
         *Whether it is concerning makeup, immodest clothes, jewelry, drinking,
            lying, etc…even attacking a man of God (which we’ll discuss in a minute)
         *Will commit fornication and excuse it away by twisting Scripture
            I’ve heard someone twist to excuse fornication:
            1 Cor 7:36 – if a man behave uncomely toward his virgin if she’s past the
                  flower of her age…
            THE BIBLE NEVER CONTRADICTS ITSELF! 
            That is NOT excusing fornication!  Paul is not going to tell the Corinthian
            church it’s ok in one chapter 7 after telling them in Chapter 6 verse 9 not
            to be deceived – fornicators, amongst others, will NOT inherit the
            Kingdom of God. 

*This spirit fosters carnality in a Church
*Shameless – act innocent and as if they’ve done nothing wrong
     

The woman with the Jezebel spirit in the Church of Thyatira made use of the Name of God to oppose the Truth of the Doctrine.  This woman had a lying, deceiving spirit that was convincing the people that there was nothing wrong or sinful about what they were doing all under the guise of “grace” and “mercy”. (same thing is happening today) They were not discerning what spirit she was of! 

That same spirit is working even now within the Churches as a whole to excuse and condone away sexual sins.  You love them, but you don’t condone it.  This Church was reprimanded because they TOLERATED the sexual immorality and other sinful practices that were happening, being condoned and even excused as ok within the Church by this false prophetess.

These are the excuses I have heard used to excuse sexual sins…..
“She’s/He’s not happy with him/her”
“He/She doesn’t treat her/him right”
“He/She is happier now than when they were married to so-and-so before”
“Every baby is to be celebrated” (even if wife left hubby to be with another man who left his wife to be with her and she ended up pregnant so they divorced their spouses to marry each other – true story unfortunately)
“God wants you to be happy.” 

No, God wants you to be HOLY. Human excuses and reasons do not override God’s Word….ever.

I’m not being harsh. I’m trying to warn what God’s Word says. Hosea 4:6 warned “My people perish for lack of knowledge…” There is a dire deficit of the full knowledge of God’s Word today because the main focus is ‘grace’ and ‘mercy’ which we desperately pray for yet we can not ignore God’s Word and deliberately disobey.

“The sin of the Church in Thyatira was the tolerance of sin,
and it is the greatest sin among pastors today. 
There is so much pressure today to tolerate sin in our churches.”
- Missionary Eugene Dominguez

Pastors who stand a little stronger and try to lead as they see in God’s Word are accused of being ‘too strict’, ‘not loving enough’, and the list goes on.  When really, they are trying to walk reverently in the fear of the Lord and actually love a person so much that they’re willing to risk losing them as a member in order to warn them where their sin will lead.

The spirit of Jezebel is a dominating spirit….she does not want anyone telling her what to do.  (This spirit can also be on a man).   

*This spirit is the most cunning, deceptive, and manipulative spirit when full grown within a person.

***This spirit is a PREACHER KILLER***

The Jezebel spirit’s goal is to bring a Man of God under subjection to her will, wants, and desires or she’ll go after his ministry to destroy it and destroy him.

This spirit will work through a person subtly at first, exerting pressure little by little on the pastor to allow a little sin here and then a little more sin there until the Pastor loosens up and begins to excuse and allow make-up and hair dye (it starts out as just a little here or there to ‘cover up’ blemishes and then progresses little by little until it is evident and no longer ‘hidden’).

The clothing becomes more immodest and excused.  Blouses get lower, exposing what ‘God gave us’ and excused away with ‘well, God gave it to us. Why should we have to hide it?’ and skirts get tighter and higher (and if pastor says anything then he is accused of battling lust in order to get the pastor to back away from the subject).  That’s a spirit of Jezebel.

With men, it’s now the pressure to allow skinny jeans, knee shorts, and facial hair.

Pray for Pastors. 
They really are under a lot of pressure to tolerate and allow sin.

When you see these things allowed on the platform and in other ministries,
it is a sign Jezebel has conquered the pastor and his team.

Jesus said He tried to deal with this woman in the Thyatira Church and bring her to repentance but she hardened her heart, excused away her sin, and would not repent (vs 21).  Her conscious was seared!  Jesus is still giving space to repent to anyone battling with the lust of the flesh and committing fornication or adultery.  But the key is to repent and not make excuses for the sin.   

 

Jesus issued a dire warning of what would happen to her and anyone who followed these abominable teachings…

Vs 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. 

Vs 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 everyone of you according to your works.

Judgment is coming to those who will not repent.

 

Vs 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 non other burden.

*For those who were not practicing this wickedness; those who were not following and tolerating and making excuses for these false teachings, then this judgment did not apply to them.

“The pastors of the Church must take the responsibility to defend
and rid the Church of Jezebel’s pressure and force.”
- Missionary Eugene Dominguez

When Pastors are attacked, we must rise up like Jehu, not rebuttal or argue with that spirit, but call for others who refuse to bow to that spirit and cast it down.  (That’s those who operate in spiritual warfare… through prayer and fasting!)  That spirit can cripple a pastor (as its fierceness did Elijah) but we can stand in the gap!

Jesus admonished them…

Vs 25 – But that which ye have already HOLD FAST till I come.

Don’t let down or give into that deceptive, preacher killing spirit despite the pressure, despite how someone will try to reason and excuse the behavior away.  HOLD FAST until Jesus comes!  There’s a reward for those who do…

Vs 26 – And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:  (in the millennial reign)

Vs 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.

Vs 28 – And I will give him the morning star.

Vs 29 – He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.

 

Every letter written to these 7 churches was not just written to them back then.  They are applicable to us today…that’s why we’re studying them.  We need to pay attention to the things Jesus compliments them concerning, and, most of all, take heed to the admonitions and dire warnings He issued. 

We are getting closer and closer to the coming of Jesus.  He’s warning us to repent. Our robes need to be white without spot or wrinkle.  Jesus is trying to get His Bride ready. 

Vs 29 – He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.