When Are We Now?
The first of three studies of The Revelation of Jesus Christ by Paige Ramsey
The Church of Thyatira – the False Church – Lesson 8
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Revelation 2:18-29 – "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,
‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.
[24]“Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations--
‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’ — as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.
[29]“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’
There is a noticeable digression of the churches:
Rev. 2:2,6 – Ephesians hate the Nicolaitans
Rev. 2:13-15 – Pergamos – some hold the doctrine of Balaam & Nicolaitans
Rev. 2:20-23 – Thyatira – allowing Jezabel to promote idolatry.
The churches get further away from the truth, and the church as a whole got further away from the truth with each time period.
Notice that there was only one church in each city. At that time, there were no church buildings. Christians had services in their homes. They had many small congregations, but one church.
Thyatira
There are conflicting definitions for the word “thyatira.” Some say it means “hill graveyard”[i] while others say it means “castle of Thya,”[vi] “daughter,”[i] and “continual sacrificing.”[ii] Of the last possible meaning: the Bible says there is only one sacrifice – once for all! (Hebrews 9:28; 10:14) No longer are we required to make a sacrifice for sin – He is our sacrifice! “It is finished!”
The city of Thyatira was destroyed & rebuilt over and over again, finally being re-established in 301-281 BC. Before it was named Thyatira, it bore the names Pelopia and Semiramis.ii Pelopia is the name of a girl in mythology who was victimized with rape by her father and later committed suicide. Semiramis is a well-known name in ancient history.
Any effort to trace the origins of the myth, legend, and lore of goddess-worship will eventually lead one back to a single
historical figure---Semiramis, wife of Nimrod and queen of Babylon, and this is especially true when considering the goddess/
planet Venus.[iii]
Bruce Self’s article on Semiramis is a good read. You can find it at: http://www.ldolphin.org/semir.html. I was surprised to find that Thyatira had
a link, albeit remote, to Semiramis. The religious system that Semiramis constructed in the ancient world and the very wide-spread worship of her son,
Tammuz, was very similar to the Roman Catholic religious system and resulted in the Tower of Babel and thus, the confounding of languages.
Thyatira was known for its dyes and fabrics. Lydia, a seller of purple came from the city of Thyatira (Acts 16:14). Apparantly, they discovered a sea
creature, the madder root, that provided a more permanent and deeper color of red, which was called “purple” in that day. Today the color is known as
“Turkish-red.”
Today, Thyatira is named Ak-Hissar. It has a population of about 20,000 and is well known for rug making.ii
The Letter
These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass – God’s eyes will see all the sin in the church. Nothing escapes His fiery eyes of judgment. His feet will be swift to judge what He finds. The fact that The Glorified Lord began His letter to Thyatira in this manner shows He is not happy with this church. He doesn’t say from “He who holds the seven stars” or “He who walks in the midst of the churches.” He is up front that He is their Judge.
Commendations
I know your works, and charity, and service, and faith, and your patience, and your works; and the last to be more than the first.
Works mentioned twice, the latter works are greater than the former works. Obviously, not all the church in Thyatira were involved with the false-church methodology. Some remained pure. They had love for each other and for the Lord, they served the Lord, expressed their faith, and had patience. In fact, looking at this list, they were a pretty good lot! But… they were allowing the false-church to continue and grow.
Indictments
…because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Jezebel is not the name of the woman who was the perpetrator in the church at Thyatira. Jezebel is term used so that the pastor (angel) of the church would recognize where this teaching was coming from, and also makes it much easier for us, 2,000 years later to pin point the offense. Jezebel was a queen who wanted to unite the Israelite worship of Yahweh with Baal worship. She came from Baal worship and did not wish to abolish her former beliefs. She distributed idols for the Israelites to worship and spread that idolatry throughout Israel. After Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal, making a mockery of them, and the onlookers executed them, Ahab told Jezebel and Jezebel threatened to murder Elijah the next day (1 Kings 19:1-2).
God has always been strict about the purity of worship. The first commandment given to Moses was, “Thou shalt not have any other gods before me.” However, this is the very commandment the church continues to break over and over again. We continue to try to blend different beliefs into our worship of God Almighty. In fact, the modern ecumenical movement says, “doctrine doesn’t matter… we all just need to love one another… we need to express tolerance…” “The antichrist will successfully use this method (modern ecumenicalism) to its fullest extent, and the false prophet will lead it!”[ii]
I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.
God is longsuffering, patient, with us. He gives us ample time to repent and obey Him. We are stubborn. We do not like to admit we are wrong. We want to justify our sin in any way we can.
Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.
We need to be careful not to harbor Jezebel in our churches today. Idolatry is condemned on every level. We do not need statues, pictures, crosses, symbols, etc. to pray to or for “charms” of protection, good luck, etc. All of this is idolatry. When we make anything more important than our worship and service to God, it becomes an idol. Television has been a modern idol for many. Today it might be facebook, games, anything that gets in the way of our worship and service to God. Let’s be very careful not to become idolatrous.
I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts.
What is born from idolatry? More idolatry! Whatever comes from idolatry must be destroyed! Allow God to search your heart to see if there is anything that hinders your worship and your service to Him. Ask Him to reveal it to you. Sometimes it isn’t easy to see our own idolatry, but if you are willing, God
will show you.
What do you find easy to become idols in your life? _______________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
I will give to each one of you according to your works.
This is just and fair – but we don’t want justice from God – especially for our works! All our works – our righteousness – are like filthy rags!! I do not want
God to give me anything according to my works! I want to repent of my works and for Christ to put His work upon me!!
Are you sure that Christ has robed you in His righteousness? __________
Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come.
He is not, like the angel at Pergamum, told to "repent," but simply to hold on to what you have until I come (v. 25). Consequently, the "coming" of the risen one is not a threat (as in 2:16), but a hope. This suggests that Jezebel and her clan may not have been an actual part of the congregation, but a separate community trying to entice away its members. As for the angel, the words of praise at the beginning of the message (I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, v. 19) are still in effect.[iv]
And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels—as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. God will one day rule with a rod of iron. This is a quote from Psalm 2:9. It hasn’t happened yet. We will rule with Him and have power over the nations!! I cannot even fathom this!
There were two false doctrines that began to crop up in the church of Pergamos (and in the Church Age just before the Church Age of Thyatira): the doctrine of Balaam & the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. These two teachings began to grow and spread throughout the churches.
More learning on the “Doctrine of Balaam”
– In further research, I came upon a teaching I had not seen before, and felt it would be lackadaisical not to share it in this study. “Notes from the
Wilderness” (the teacher does not reveal his/her name) teaches that the “error of Balaam” was in not accurately obeying the Lord, to which I believe is obvious and whole-heartedly agree.
The writer goes in length to explain the first commandment given to Balaam when he asked the Lord about Balak’s request, the Lord said, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” (Numbers 22:12) But, when Balak sent for him again, the Lord gave another response and said, “‘If the men come to call you, rise and go with them, but only the word which I speak to you – that you shall do.’ So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.” (Numbers 22:20-21)
Obviously, Balaam did not wait for the men to come and call, because the next verse says God’s anger was aroused because Balaam went. They conclude from this that because the second command differed from the first, that Balaam should have listened to the first command over the second, and not gone at all. They further conclude that the “Doctrine of Balaam” is the teaching that the earlier commands of God are abolished by the newer commands, and that those who teach the Old Testament (Old Convenant) is no longer viable because of the New Testament (New Covenant) are teaching the Doctrines of Balaam. Note the following quote from this site:
To summarise, we might say that what Balaam did was to simply reject the Earlier Word of Yahuweh, with the hope that
the Later Word of Yahuweh would be more favourable to his purposes, and more agreeable to his motive. His motive was
greed, but his action was to reject, and deny the earlier Word, in thinking the earlier word had been somehow ‘nullified.’ …
The Error of Balaam is seen today in most Believers’ rejection of the Torah (Law) of the “Old Testament,” in exchange for
the teachings of the Doctrines of Men! For it is the Doctrine of men — and not Scripture — that states the “Old Testament”
(the Law or Torah) has been nullified by the “New Testament.”[v]
Looking through this site, it is clearly teaching that Christians, born-again believers, should adhere to the original Jewish holidays (especially the Passover) as laid out in the Torah (Law of Moses), keep the Sabbaths (Saturday and other Sabbaths), and reject the newer idolatrous holidays of Christmas, Easter, and the Lord’s Supper as a replacement of the Passover. If not, they are committing idolatry and fornication, and will not be included as part of the Bride of Christ, but will be like the foolish virgins who did not keep their wicks trimmed or their oil replenished.
Personally, I agree that the Old Testament is viable, but I also agree that the Law was meant to be a schoolmaster – to teach mankind that we cannot obey the Law, so we must rely upon the Grace of God. This does not abolish the Law. God’s Law will remain forever. It is His decree, and we should strive to live as closely to it as we can possibly do on this earth. But we should never be bound by it (in fear of our eternal security), because the blood of Christ has covered us!! The Passover celebration was given to help the Jews to see the correlation of the blood of the lambs and the blood of the Messiah. It served its purpose as a beautiful picture of what Christ did for us and that when God pours out His judgments and sees the blood of Christ upon the door of our hearts, He will pass over us! We will not be judged for our sins because Christ was already judged for our sins!! He fulfilled the Law! PRAISE THE
LORD!! We continue the Lord’s Supper not as the Passover or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but in obedience and in remembrance of our Lord’s death in
place of our own punishment, as He requested for us to do.
Balaam went even further after he realized he could not do what Balak wanted – whether to save himself from Balak or what, he decides to reveal a plan to destroy the Israelites. He gives Balak the idea of enticing the Israelite men with the Moabite women, so that they would commit fornication with them and then God would no longer bless them. Numbers 25:9 gives us the death results of God’s plague that came upon the Israelites because of Balaam’s
compromise.
The Nicolaitans started a system of priestly confessions and hierarchy. This system caught on and grew into what is now known as the Roman Catholic Church. The church of Thyatira represents the Church Age in the years 500 AD–1500 AD – the Church of the Dark Ages. It is dark because of many reasons:
1. The scarcity of the Word of God. Only the pope and papacy had copies.
2. The oppression of the papacy upon the people. The people could only depend upon the papacy for guidance, and the papacy took
huge advantages of their power.
3. Superstition prevailed.
4. A religious system prevailed in the Roman Church that solidified the two false doctrines of Balaam and the papacy system of the
Nicolaitans, and then added the idolatry (statue worship) of Jezebel. It provided a license to sin with a way of absolving those sins
by the clergy – this became known as indulgencies. The rich could pay off the church so that they could do something
underhanded and not be held accountable. Roman Catholic priests were making continual sacrifices for forgiveness of sins.
(Remember Hebrews 9:28; 10:14? – only ONE SACRIFICE!)
5. Popery was introduced during this time. The pope of Rome still today wears a sash that reads (in Latin) “In place of the Son of God.”
Roman Catholics are taught that the pope is Jesus on this earth and has the power to introduce new doctrines, new truths, new
practices, etc. in Jesus’ place.
6. Last rites (words said by a priest to ensure the eternality of the soul), indulgencies, idolatry, transubstantiation (the belief that the
bread of communion actually becomes the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ when it is eaten and the wine actually becomes the blood
of the Lord Jesus when it is drunk)… were all introduced during this time period.
This religious system is the Jezebel spoken of in this letter to the church at Thyatira.
Matt. 16:5-12 – Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”
But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and
Sadducees.
It only takes a little yeast to permeate the whole loaf of bread. A little false doctrine will permeate the whole truth!
Behold I will cast her (this Jezebel – this religious system) into a bed… - And when he does, there will be many who want to commit adultery with her.
God will one day rule with a rod of iron.
In Rev. 12:5 – And she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne… Israel gave birth to the Messiah and He was “caught up” when Jesus ascended back into the heavens – and has been there for the last 2,000 years.
Rev. 19:15 – …and He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron… This hasn’t happened yet!
[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyatira
[ii] Cozart, Dan W. DDS, Sermon: The Church at Thyatira, 6/21/09
[iii] Self, Bruce, Semiramis, The Queen of Babylon, 4/28/84, http://www.ldolphin.org/semir.html.
[iv] From: InterVarsity Press, http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Rev/Message-Thyatira, 7/1/13.
[v] Notes from the Wilderness, http://notesfromthewilderness.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/the-doctrine-of-balaam-a-warning-to-the-bride/.
[vi] Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Definition for 'THYATIRA'". "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia". bible-history.com - ISBE; 1915. http://www.bible-history.com/isbe/T/THYATIRA/