letter to the church at thyatirapsalmstudy.org/testamentnew/27revelation/church04-thyatira.pdf ·...

Letter to the Church at Thyatira

Jim MacGregor AMDG

Table of Contents

LettertotheChurchatThyatira...................................................................................................1TheLetter.......................................................................................................................................................................3TheSetting.....................................................................................................................................................................3ChurchHistory..............................................................................................................................................................4Jesus’Title......................................................................................................................................................................5Jesus,theSonofGod........................................................................................................................................................................................5JesusandFire......................................................................................................................................................................................................7JesusandBronze...............................................................................................................................................................................................9

Jesus’Commendation...............................................................................................................................................11LoveofGodandNeighbor.........................................................................................................................................................................12Self-SacrificingCommitmenttoObey..........................................................................................................................13PassionatelyAffectionateAdorationandWorship.................................................................................................13DyingtoOurselvesThatWeMightLivetoHim.......................................................................................................14

FaithintheGospel........................................................................................................................................................................................16Service(“Ministry”)thatReflectsFaith..............................................................................................................................................17PatientEndurance........................................................................................................................................................................................19ZealinProclaimingtheGospel...............................................................................................................................................................21EarlyExamplesofProclaimingtheGospel.......................................................................................................................................22

Jesus’Complaint........................................................................................................................................................26ToleranceandJezebel.................................................................................................................................................................................27

Jesus’Counsel.............................................................................................................................................................29The“DeepThingsofSatan”......................................................................................................................................................................29TheAuthorityofScripture........................................................................................................................................................................31Jesus’Burden....................................................................................................................................................................................................35PerseveranceinFaithinJesus.................................................................................................................................................................36Jesus’Promise-RuleofIron.....................................................................................................................................................................37Jesus’Promise-AuthorityfromHisFather......................................................................................................................................41Jesus’Promise-TheMorningStar........................................................................................................................................................41Jesus’Warning................................................................................................................................................................................................46

Summary.....................................................................................................................................................................46

David Flusser

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1 Composite image “Seven Churches of Asia” with caption from http://www.jeffangiegoh.com/wp-

content/uploads/2011/08/SevenChurches.jpeg, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Seven_churches_of_asia.svg/2000px-Seven_churches_of_asia.svg.png, and http://www.eastbrookchurch.org/content.aspx?content_id=378164&site_id=10809. Image of Thyatira from https://returnofbenjamin.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/thyatira.jpg.


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The Letter “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. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 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. 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.’” (Revelation 2:18-29/ESV)

The Setting Thyatira, modern Akhisar, was about twenty miles southeast of Pergamum. It was in the northern part of the Roman province of Asia, on the river Lycus. Its early history is not well known. Originally it was a small, insignificant town that did not stand on any of the Greek trade routes. It was a frontier outpost. It was on the lesser road between Pergamum and Sardis, and it derived its wealth from the Lycus valley in which it rapidly became a commercial center, but never a metropolis. Thyatira

had no special religious significance in that it was not a center either of Caesar-worship or of Greek worship. 2 At the time of John, the city enjoyed power and wealth as a nodal point of communications. 3

Thyatira was a colony of Macedonians with constant contact (e.g., trade) with Macedonia. The city was racially mixed with people from tribes of antiquity, Persians, and Egyptians. It may have been a bilingual community - Greek and Latin. Syncretism of religion was the natural way to unite such different peoples. 4

2 William Barclay, The Revelation of John Volume I (Louisvile, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004) p. 112. 3 E. W. Hengstenberg, Revelation of St. John, Volume One, Rev. Patrick Fairbairn, trans. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and

Stock, 2005) p. 154. William M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1985) pp. 329-330. Image of Thyatira from https://returnofbenjamin.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/thyatira.jpg.

4 Colin J. Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in their Local Setting (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001) pp. 110-111.


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Trade guilds were probably more organized there, and more of them, than in other ancient cities. It was noted for its exceptional number and diversity of them. The guilds were closely connected with the religion of the place. There were guilds for wool workers, linen workers, garment manufacturers, dyers, leather workers, tanners, potters, bakers, slave dealers, and bronze smiths. The dyers were probably the most numerous, because the manufacture and dying of woolen goods was a specialty in Roman Asia in which Thyatira exceled. Pagan feasts, with which immoral practices and the guilds were associated, were held. Therefore the nature of the guilds was such that they were opposed to Christianity. There was no famous pagan cult there. 5

Church History There is no biblical information about the history of the church at Thyatira. We are confined for our knowledge of the church to what appears of it in Revelation 2:18-29. However, Scripture gives us some hints about the church at Thyatira. 6 Acts 16:14 contains the only other mention of Thyatira in the Bible. Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke visited Philippi in Macedonia. One person who heard them preach 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. (Acts 16:14/ESV) As “ a worshiper of God” she may have learned of God in her native city, Thyatira. There was no synagogue at Philippi. 7 Lydia, who was a native of Thyatira, may have been a member of the Thyatira guild of dyers. Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth, a luxury commodity that was sold mainly on the international market. The term “seller” here designates someone who bought and

5 Colin J. Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in their Local Setting (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,

2001) pp. 107-108. Henry Barclay Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John (New York, NY: The MacMillan Company, 1907) p. lxiii. Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1-7, an Exegetical Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1992) pp. 207-208. Image “Pergamum and Thyatira” from https://www.cngcoins.com/photos/big/680767.jpg. Coin shows a magistrate (of Pergamum?) on the obverse and on the reverse: Asclepius of Pergamum standing right holding serpent-entwined staff, and Apollo Tyrimnaeus of Thyatira standing left. Apollo Tyrimnaeus was the local god of Thyatira, and there was no particular cult.

6 G. Campbell Morgan, A First-Century Message to Twentieth-Century Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1902) p. 111.

7 Colin J. Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in their Local Setting (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001) pp. 109-110. A “worshiper of God” denoted a God-fearer. God-fearers were a class of persons mentioned in the Acts as religious, probably adherents of the synagogue but not yet proselytes who had been admitted to full membership by circumcision.


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sold (not manufactured) goods. 8 She may have been a Thyatira trade representative in Philippi. Or, perhaps she traveled between Thyatira and Philippi of Macedonia, and may have had an alternate residence there. In the Greco-Roman world, women maintained businesses, made independent choices and managed their own finances in ways that would grant them - and their children - economic independence. By some estimates, women owned as much as one-half of the property in certain regions. These women acted as lenders as well as borrowers. They used their own property as collateral to secure loans, bought and sold goods commercially and advocated on their own behalf in the legal system. In effect, women were involved in commercial trade of all kinds, especially within the textile industry. Numerous examples come from Pompeii, which acted as a bustling trade center in Greco-Roman times. 9 Lydia converted. Paul baptized her and her household, and she invited Paul and his group to stay at her house. Paul and his companions were arrested and visited Lydia upon their release (Acts 16:14-15, 40). 10 It is possible that Lydia or her acquaintances brought the Gospel to Thyatira. Others may have carried the Gospel there. We read that Paul preached at Ephesus for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. (Acts 19:10/ESV) This letter to Thyatira, the smallest and least important, in worldly terms, of the seven cities is the longest and most complex of the seven letters. It addresses matters of everyday life that are not documented elsewhere in the Bible nor in other historical documents. 11 It instructs the church to deal confrontationally with sin. 12

Jesus’ Title “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.’ (Revelation 2:18/ESV)

Jesus, the Son of God “... ‘The words of the Son of God …’ (Revelation 2:18/ESV)

Jesus identifies Himself with the title of supreme authority, “the Son of God.” That title is used in Revelation only in this passage. A psalmist sang about God’s “Son” as the King in

8 Teresa Calpino, “Tabitha and Lydia - Models of Early Christian Women Leaders,” Biblical Archaeology Society

Library (BAS), Accessed July 2018, https://members.bib-arch.org/biblical-archaeology-review/42/4/9. 9 Teresa Calpino, “Tabitha and Lydia - Models of Early Christian Women Leaders,” Biblical Archaeology Society

Library (BAS), Accessed July 2018, https://members.bib-arch.org/biblical-archaeology-review/42/4/9. It is not clear to me if this status relates to the status of the women who helped evict Paul and Barnabas from Antioch in Pisidia as recorded in Acts 13: But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. (Acts 13:50/ESV)

10 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 they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed. (Acts 16:14-15, 40/ESV)

11 Colin J. Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in their Local Setting (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001) p. 106.

12 John MacArthur, “Thyatira: The Church That Tolerates Sin, Part 1,” Accessed July 2018. https://www.gty.org/Resources/PDF/Sermons/66-9.


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Zion: Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:12/ESV) Although the psalmist also may have been referring to the earthly King of Israel and his descendants, his writing clearly points to his descendant, the Messiah, whom we know to be Jesus, the true and only Son of God. We read in the Gospel narratives of Jesus’ baptism and of His Transfiguration in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that God the Father declared Jesus to be His beloved Son - in effect His “King in Zion” - with Whom He is well pleased, His “chosen one” and that we should listen to Him. The relevant passages are quoted below.

God promised His Son the rule over everything. I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. … Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:7-8, 12/ESV) The angel Gabriel announced the forthcoming birth of the Son of God to Mary. And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy - the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35/ESV) John the Baptist testified that Jesus is the Son of God who will baptize with “the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11-12; Mark 1:7-8; Luke 3:15-16; John 1:29-34) At Jesus’ baptism, God said that He is His Son. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17/ESV; c.f., Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22) 13 God told the three Apostles at the Transfiguration that Jesus is His Son. He [Peter] was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5/ESV; c.f., Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35) 14 The apostle John told us about the Son of God, salvation, and the faith we are to have in Him this way: Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31/ESV) … and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church … (Ephesians 1:19-22/ESV)

Jesus’ description of Himself reminds us of Daniel’s vision of “a man clothed in linen” who addressed Daniel as “son of man.” He then described that man’s body: His face was “like

13 Mark 1:9-11 and Luke 3:21-22 tell the same story with varying level of detail. They all emphasize the voice

from Heaven that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” 14 Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22 tell the same story with varying level of detail. They all emphasize the voice from

Heaven that said Jesus is His only Son and that we should listen to Him. Luke emphasizes God’s identifying His only Son as “my Son, my Chosen One.”


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the appearance of lightning.” His eyes were like “flaming torches.” His arms and legs had “the gleam of burnished bronze.”

So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.” And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. (Daniel 8:17-18/ESV) I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. (Daniel 10:5-6/ESV)

Jesus tells us that He is the master of all Creation including the oppressive earthly powers that make His church suffer.

In the “Son of God” the church had her true champion, irresistibly arrayed in armor flashing like the refined metal from the furnaces of the city. He was the true patron of their work. His keen eyes discerned the good from the bad. He rejected the badness of Jezebel’s teaching. 15

Jesus and Fire “’... the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire …’” (Revelation 2:18/ESV)

Jesus selects two facts concerning Himself: “eyes like a flame of fire” and feet “like burnished bronze.” Those two descriptors convey the special meaning and value of the message He is about to deliver. They

suggest that His intimate knowledge and penetrating vision concerning the church cannot be mistaken. His understanding of everything is perfect. The “eyes like a flame of fire” see all the secrets of His creation and everything that transpires in it - including in His Church. The feet “like burnished bronze” suggest purity - the holiness of God. He marches to judgment as the ruler among His seven golden lampstands. The path of Jesus’ coming to the Church is one of judgment that is righteous, pure, and final. His judgment cannot be corrected. He will destroy the evil spirit that permeated the whole fellowship at Thyatira. He will personally deal with evil. 16

Jesus’ “eyes like a flame of fire” has been interpreted as Jesus having infinite, penetrating, infallible knowledge. We see an example of this in God’s appearance to Moses as fire.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning; yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Exodus 2:3-5/ESV)


2001) p. 117. 16 G. Campbell Morgan, A First-Century Message to Twentieth-Century Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book

House, 1902) pp. 111-112. Image “Jesus’ Eyes Like a Flame of fire” from https://godshotspot.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/eyes2.jpg.


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God’s fire can also be a destructive weapon that destroys everything that opposes it such as the sea of fire into which He will cast Satan and his followers. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:14/ESV) However, He also uses fire to bring life. The words fire, flame, and lightning have many uses and purposes in Scripture. They often represent the powerful presence of the God. Although fire may be destructive and painful, as Christians we may see the fire of the Holy Spirit as life-giving and nurturing. Instead of fearing the fires of hell, we can welcome God’s all-consuming fire that purifies us, cleanses us, and brings us into a new relationship with Him. Here are examples of the mention of God’s fire in Scripture.

God used fire to punish His enemies. Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. (Exodus 9:23-24/ESV) The Lord protected his people with a pillar of fire. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. (Exodus 13:21-22/ESV) God appeared in a frightening manner as a fire that consumes (i.e., evil). Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. (Exodus 24:17/ESV)

When reminding the new generation of Israelites what God had commanded, Moses told them that God was jealous like a consuming fire. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24/ESV; c.f., Hebrews 12:29) 17 The Lord used fire as a demonstration

of His power over false gods. Elijah and the priests of Baal witnessed this. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” (1 Kings 18:38-39/ESV) King David sang of God’s delivering him from Saul. He described God poetically as fiery. Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. … Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings and routed them. (Psalm 18:8, 12-14/ESV) God characterized His own Word as fire. “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29/ESV) Daniel saw fire around God’s Throne. “As I looked, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was

17 … for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29/ESV) Image “God Is a Consuming Fire” from

https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/fire-of-god.jpg.


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white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.” (Daniel 7:9/ESV) Daniel saw God’s eyes like flaming torches. I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. (Daniel 10:5-6/ESV) God sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples in tongues of fire at Pentecost to prepare them for their mission. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4/ESV) 18 Paul taught us that God’s fire will reveal and test what we have done. … each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. (1 Corinthians 3:13/ESV) Paul referred to Jesus as “a consuming fire.” Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29/ESV)

Jesus and Bronze “... ‘The words of the Son of God, … whose feet are like burnished bronze.’” (Revelation 2:18/ESV)

The exact meaning of the term “burnished bronze” (Greek chalcolibanus), used only in Revelation 1:15, is not certain. 19 Some authors incline to take it as a hybrid word, half Greek, half Hebrew and understand it to signify brass that has attained a white heat in the furnace. 20 It may have been an alloy of copper and metallic zinc, stronger than the copper of coins. Such technical words were probably current in a population like that of Ephesus and Thyatira where there were workers in metal. John used it as a term that

18 Note the parallel between God giving Moses the Law in the midst of fire (Exodus 19:16 and 24:17) and God

sending the Holy Spirit to the disciples at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. (Exodus 19:16/ESV)

19 James Strong, “chalkolibanon: chalcolibanus (fine copper, bronze or brass),” Strong’s Greek Dictionary. English Standard Version Bible, Accessed March 29, 2016, http://biblehub.com/greek/5474.htm. Compare Anything, “Brass vs. Bronze,” Accessed July 2018, http://www.diffen.com/difference/Brass_vs_Bronze.

20 Charles Ellicott, “Revelation 1:15,” Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, Accessed July 2018, http://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/revelation/1.htm.


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would be familiar and intelligible to his readers, particularly since there was a guild of bronze workers. 21 Paul wrote, for example, of metal workers in Ephesus.

For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. (Acts 19:24/ESV) Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. (Timothy 4:14/ESV)

John’s reference to Jesus’ feet being “like burnished bronze” had the context of Thyatira being renowned for its artistic brass work. The image, feet “like burnished bronze,” may indicate that Jesus will trample on His enemies, and smooth His path before them. In antiquity bronze was an alloy of copper and tin and was used extensively. While brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, bronze is an alloy consisting mainly of copper, combined most often with tin, but at times also with other metals. Owing to their properties, bronze and brass have various usess. … Bronze is used in Scripture as the symbol of what is firm, stubborn, strong and enduring, thus we see “doors of bronze,” and “hoofs of bronze.” 22

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron. (Psalm 107:15-16/ESV) Daniel saw a man in his vision. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. (Daniel 10:6/ESV) Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples; and shall devote their gain to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth. (Micah 4:13/ESV)

The feet “like burnished bronze” convey strength and purity - the strength of bronze and the purity of it when refined by fire. Isaiah wrote to the house of Jacob that they would be cleansed through affliction. Although that is not a “servant psalm” in Isaiah, perhaps we may see it as referring not only to Isaiah’s contemporary house of Jacob, but also to Jacob’s descendant through whom we are all cleansed of our sin by His suffering atonement. Jesus is able to tread in the midst of evil and not be contaminated by it. Later, Peter wrote of how God tests us as he also had tested His Son. Further, He will reward us with salvation for holding onto Him in the trials that we face.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. (Isaiah 48:10-11/ESV) In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9/ESV)


2001) p. 111. Image “Jesus’ Feet of Bronze” from http://www.chipbrogden.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/january19.jpg.

22 Bible History. “Ancient Brass or Bronze.” Accessed July 2018. http://www.bible-history.com/backd2/bronze.html. Compare Anything, “Brass vs. Bronze,” Accessed March 29, 2016, http://www.diffen.com/difference/Brass_vs_Bronze. See “Supplementary Reading - Brass and Bronze”


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Jesus’ Commendation “I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.” (Revelation 2:19/ESV)

Jesus does not list the church’s works of which He approves. Rather, He approves the principles upon which the church’s works and its growth are based. What works of the church at Thyatira can Jesus have referred to? First, He may have referred to the works of the church that are visible. Second, He may have referred to the hidden spiritual forces behind the works - “love and faith and service and patient endurance.” He implied that the works of the church at the time of writing were of greater value than when the church was founded. One way of understanding Jesus’ words about the church’s works is this. Love is dominant, and together with faith produces the service and patient endurance so that our later works exceed our first ones when we first became Christians. 23

John’s words “your works, your love and faith and service” may be interpreted in three ways. First, many may have exercised the ministry of the Word with great zeal, diligence, and faithfulness, as we should today. Second, Jesus may have referred to ministering to the necessities of the poor saints, as an evidence of their charity or love as we should today. Third, it may have meant the service of God, as is due Him, performed to Him only, and performed with fear, fervency, in faith, and with a pure conscience, with humility, without mercenary motives, and in righteousness and true holiness. It is the service of love which the saints perform by praying for one another, bearing each other’s burdens, admonishing and reproving for sin, forgiving and restoring those who have gone astray, comforting the distressed, building up one another in our faith, and exhorting each other to the duties of religion. The “faith” may be seen as the grace of faith, the profession of faith, both the grace and profession, and the faithfulness of both pastors and members of our congregations. 24 Scripture tells us that we are to be mutually supportive, encouraging, build each other up, and reprove when necessary.

So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. (Romans 14:19/ESV) We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. (Romans 15:1-2/ESV) What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. (1 Corinthians 14:26/ESV) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ … Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11-12, 15-16/ESV)

23 E. W. Hengstenberg, Revelation of St. John, Volume One, Rev. Patrick Fairbairn, trans. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and

Stock, 2005) pp. 155-156. 24 John Gill, Revelation 2, John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, The Bible Study Tools Staff, ed. Accessed February

20, 2016, http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/revelation-2-1.html.


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Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16/ESV) Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11/ESV) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17/ESV) And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25/ESV) … if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:3-5/ESV)

We may also read Jesus’ words as complimenting the church for its love of God and neighbor, its loyalty to the true Gospel, its ministry (i.e., “service”) that reflected its faith, and its patience in continuing the mission of spreading the Gospel in words and actions. Let us first read about each of these four virtues: love of God and neighbor; faith in the Gospel; ministry (“service”) that reflects faith; and, patient endurance. After discussing these four virtues we shall discuss zeal in proclaiming the Gospel, early examples of proclaiming the Gospel, and a summary of these four virtues in a way to help us understand the nature of a church like that at Thyatira.

Love of God and Neighbor “I know your works, your love …” (Revelation 2:19/ESV)

Jesus teaches us to love both God and neighbor, and that that every person is our neighbor. We are Jesus’ disciples if we love one another, and we will be rewarded greatly if we are merciful to one another.

“Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 19:19/ESV; c.f., Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; James 2:8; Leviticus 19:18) 25 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as

25 “The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than

these.” (Mark 12:31/ESV) And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27/ESV) If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. (James 2:8/ESV) “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18/ESV) Image “Love God, Love Others” from http://blog.salemchapel.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Love-God-Love-Others-720-e1340940523238.jpeg.


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yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40/ESV; c.f., Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18) 26 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35/ESV) “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12/ESV) “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:35-36/ESV)

Scripture teaches us that the love of God involves both a self-sacrificing commitment to obeying Him and a passionately affectionate adoration and worship of Him. We are to die to ourselves that we might live to Him.

Self-Sacrificing Commitment to Obey “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13/ESV) “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14/ESV) “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15/ESV) I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2/ESV)

Passionately Affectionate Adoration and Worship Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” (Exodus 15:1-2/ESV) And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like the Lord; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.” (1 Samuel 2:1-2/ESV) And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” (Luke 1:46-49/ESV) And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old … (Luke 1:67-70/ESV)

26 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

(Deuteronomy 6:5/ESV) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:18/ESV)


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Dying to Ourselves That We Might Live to Him And he [Jesus] said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23/ESV) Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:8-11/ESV) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20/ESV)

We have the parable of the Good Samaritan as an example of the love of neighbor that Jesus teaches us. We are to treat every other person as our neighbor. 27

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ...

Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25-29, 36-37/ESV)

The love that Jesus teaches extends to caring for our own families. We learn about this as far back as Genesis and Ruth. Paul wrote about this, and we also get the sense of it in other stories.

God told us this about Adam and Eve: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:4/ESV; c.f. Ephesians 5:31-33) 28 The entire Book of Ruth relates the importance of faithful love in human relationships among God’s people. We read of Ruth’s unswerving and selfless devotion to desolate Naomi and of Boaz’s kindness to those two widows. Those are “striking examples of lives that embody in their daily affairs the self-giving love that fulfills God’s Law. Such love also reflects God’s love, in a marvelous joining of human and divine actions. In God’s benevolence such lives are blessed and are made a blessing.” 29

27 Image “Good Samaritan” from http://sermons4kids.com/GoodSamaritan-coloring.gif. Image “1 Corinthians

3:13” from http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/01/21/635889314596531475679218412_1corinthians13_13.jpg. 28 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (Ephesians 5:31-33/ESV)

29 Bible Study Tools Staff, Ed. “Summary of the Book of Ruth,” Accessed July 2018, http://www.biblestudytools.com/esv/ruth/.


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Jesse sent David., as if he wwere a servant, to bring food to his brothers in Saul’s camp. And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these

ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.” (1 Samuel 17:17-18/ESV) 30 Paul wrote to Timothy of our obligation to do all to serve our family: “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Timothy 5:8/ESV) Paul’s nephew (his sister lived in Jerusalem) went to the Roman garrison to warn Paul about a plot to kill him. He risked hios safety in doing so. Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune,

for he has something to tell him.” (Acts 23:16-17/ESV)

The Gospel is God’s love for us. The Gospel declares what God graciously does to forgive us. It is a completely unmerited gift. He alone offers righteousness, salvation, and peace on His merciful terms. The Gospel is welcome “good news” of God’s salvation for us brought about by the person and work of Jesus. The Gospel reveals the actions of God alone to save those who are dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2).

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins. … For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1, 8-10/ESV) But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6/ESV)

Paul wrote about the nature of love. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know

30 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters. Image “1 Corinthians 3:13” from

http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/01/21/635889314596531475679218412_1corinthians13_13.jpg.


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fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13/ESV; c.f., Proverbs 10:12; Proverbs 17:9) 31

Faith in the Gospel “I know your works, your …. faith …” (Revelation 2:19/ESV; c.f., Revelation 2:3) 32

“The Gospel is the good news that the everlasting and ever-increasing joy of the never-boring, ever-satisfying Christ is ours freely and eternally by faith in the sin-forgiving death and hope-giving resurrection of Jesus Christ.” 33

The Gospel reveals the meaning and the achievements of Jesus’ life and death. It reveals that universal grace and pardon are accomplished facts and are not affected by what we do. The Gospel reveals God’s love for us by sending His only Son to save us. It tells us of Jesus’ atoning for our sins and reconciling us to God. The Gospel reveals to us the righteousness that we now have before God, and that the righteousness is a “done

deal” - no longer a promise but a promise kept, an accomplished fact. We learn this from Jesus, the apostle Paul, and the writer of Hebrews.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16/ESV) … but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8/ESV) … he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:12/ESV)

The Gospel promulgates the fact of universal grace and pardon and offers - promises - them to people unconditionally whether or not people accept them. It is God’s absolution, His free and unconditional promise of grace. We learn this from Jesus and the apostle Paul (as recorded by Luke).

And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9:2/ESV) … but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:37-39/ESV)

31 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. (Proverbs 10:12/ESV) Whoever covers an offense seeks

love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. (Proverbs 17:9/ESV) 32 “I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.”

(Revelation 2:3/ESV) 33 John Piper, “What Is the Christian Gospel?” Desiring God (Articles), Accessed July 2018,

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-the-christian-Gospel. Image “Faith and Patience” from http://www.godswordimages.com/uploads/categories/patience/large/revelation-2_3.jpg. The image reads: I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. (Revelation 2:3/ESV)


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We have Jesus’ teaching of our loyalty to God and of God’s loyalty to us. We have the psalmist’s song of thanksgiving for God’s steadfast loyalty and love for us. The entire Psalm 136 repeats the theme of God’s steadfast love. One verse is quoted below. Jesus teaches us about the nature of love, and John taught us that loyalty is a “two-way street” (1 John 1:9).

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. (Psalm 136:1/ESV) “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21/ESV) “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13/ESV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9/ESV) Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10/ESV)

We have other examples of loyalty to one another in Jesus’ teaching and the examples of both Ruth and King David. We are to show this same kind of loyalty to God.

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. (Matthew 18:25/ESV) But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” (Ruth 1:16-17/ESV) He [David] said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way. (1 Samuel 24:6-10/ESV)

Service (“Ministry”) that Reflects Faith “I know your works, your … service …” (Revelation 2:19/ESV)

“Service” here refers to ministry. Jesus spoke of works and ministry apparently making a distinction between the two. The ministry (“service”) is more specific than works in general. They are the peculiar and special activities of the Church of Jesus Christ. The ministry referred to here includes “unofficial” acts of kindness of the church members both among themselves, and toward others as well. We have to ask ourselves if it is possible to have a congregation characterized by their members’ many good works, and yet not particularly friendly to each other and to others (e.g., not welcoming visitors). 34

34 G. Campbell Morgan, A First-Century Message to Twentieth-Century Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book

House, 1902) p. 115. Image “Mother Teresa” from http://girolamoaloe.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/MotherTeresa.jpg.


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Jesus commands us to proclaim and teach His Word to the world and to each other. We are to tell others about the Gospel. The Gospel should be proclaimed to everyone and should

not be withheld from anyone. He teaches us that the Gentiles (i.e., non-Christians) are to be welcomed into the Kingdom. As early as the prophets, we learned that we have spiritual authorities (e.g., Levite priests then and Pastors now) who are charged with teaching us the truth of God’s Holy Word and not for monetary profit or career enhancement. Jesus and His apostles, as Jews, knew this ethic all their lives as illustrated by this quote from a famous sage before Jesus’ time. “Here you have learned that everyone who makes profit from the words of Torah removes his life from the world.” 35 Paul taught the same.

Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.” (Ezekiel 34:10/ESV) “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20/ESV) “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:16/ESV) For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:17/ESV) We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-14/ESV) … shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness … (1 Peter 5:2/ESV)

Jesus sends us into the world just as His Father sent Him. Hence, He sends us to proclaim Him and His Gospel.

“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:16-21/ESV)

We are to persist in the proclamation of God’s word. Remember how the High Priest had charged Peter and the disciples to refrain from proclaiming Jesus’ Word, and Peter refused.

35 George E. Howard, quoting Hillel in “Christ the End of the Law: The Meaning of Romans 10:4 ff.,” Journal of

Biblical Literature, Vol. 88, No. 3, September 1969, Accessed July 2018, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3263725. Hillel was a famous Jewish religious leader, one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He was the grandfather of Gamaliel under whom Paul studied (Acts 22:3).


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The apostles Peter and Paul told us that we are to be faithful to God and not conformed to this world. We are to be engaged with the world. He did not tell us to withdraw from society. We are to proclaim the Gospel boldly trusting in God’s protection.

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29/ESV) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2/ESV) … and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:17-20/ESV)

Patient Endurance “I know your … patient endurance …” (Revelation 2:19:19/ESV)

Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble or suffering without getting angry or upset. 36 We read about patience very early in our history.

So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. (Genesis 29:20/ESV)

We spoke of faith in the Gospel. Now we see patience as a characteristic resulting from faith. It is a spirit of peace in the face of any situation. Some examples are discussed below.

The scene of Jesus before Pilate provides us a role model example of faith, patience, and peace. Jesus faced that terrifying situation confidently with His purpose in mind and without expressions of the emotions that He certainly had. He not only peacefully stated who He is but also used the situation to preach to and witness to Pilate. Here is the scene.

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. (Matthew 27:11-13/ESV) Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:36-37/ESV)

In the parable of the sower, Jesus teaches us that we must hold on to our faith in His Word patiently in order to bear spiritual fruit. Paul taught us that God gives us eternal life for our patient endurance in His Word just as he gives a farmer rain after his patience in growing his crops. The writer of Hebrews reminded us of the need for endurance.

36 Oxford Dictionaries, “patience,” Accessed July 2018.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/patience.


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“As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” (Luke 8:15/ESV) He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life … (Romans 2:6-7/ESV) For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. (Hebrews 10:36/ESV)

The psalmists, Peter and Jesus’ brother taught us about steadfast and patient love and endurance. James wrote to a Jewish Christian audience to bear with adversity and trust faithfully in the steadfast love and goodness of God. His words echo Psalms 100, 118 and 136. 37

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100/ESV) Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” … Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 118:1-2, 26-29/ESV) Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. (Psalm 136:1-7/ESV) For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:19-23/ESV) Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. (James 5:7/ESV) Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:2-6/ESV)

37 James Strong, “mercy,” Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary, English Standard Version Bible, Accessed July 2018,

http://biblehub.com/str/hebrew/2617.htm. The Latin Vulgate and the King James Version of Psalms 100, 118 and 136 do not read “steadfast love.” Rather they translate according to the Hebrew word for “mercy.” Image “Jesus before Pilate” from http://www.thecollectionshop.com/Image_Resize_Detail_Image.asp?MiscImage=17188UF.


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Zeal in Proclaiming the Gospel “I know … that your latter works exceed the first.” (Revelation 2:19/ESV)

The congregation at Thyatira grew wiser and stronger. Jesus’ words to the church at Thyatira give us the example that all Christians should earnestly desire that their last works may be their best works. 38 God’s Gospel proclaims justification-reconciliation, and sanctification. We proclaim the Gospel by our works of

witnessing, teaching, and preaching. We are sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit in moving us to faith and trust in that proclamation and to works that exhibit our faith to others. We preach and teach the Gospel, we proclaim it in different ways, and we choose different words and actions. But, we tell of only one Gospel. It may be a shorter or longer account. It may be presented briefly or more extensively. But if we proclaim that Jesus is our Savior, that we are justified by faith in him without works, then it is the same Word. There is only one Gospel, just as there is only one faith and one baptism. It is this one Gospel that we proclaim.

There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6/ESV; c.f., Zechariah 14:9) 39

Although we proclaim the Gospel, we do not produce its result. God does. The Gospel works in people, through the Holy Spirit, to have the faith by which the promises of God are received. Note that grace is not dependent upon faith. The grace - the promise - is already there. It is the faith that the Holy Spirit works in us that enables us to receive the grace. God told us through Isaiah that His Word always accomplished something that He wants. Jesus teaches us that His Word needs workers to sow and reap it; that God grows it in His people. Paul taught us about God’s lead role and the supporting roles of humans in the telling of the Word. The author of Hebrews reminded us that we cannot produce conversions to faith in Jesus if the Holy Spirit does not move our listeners.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11/ESV) Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38/ESV)

38 Matthew Henry, Revelation 2, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), The Bible Study Tools Staff, ed.

Accessed July 2018, http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-concise/revelation/2.html. Image “Discussing God’s Holy Word” from http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bNkb9Rz4aG4/UcA11yAYcPI/AAAAAAAAACo/55wQK-BbLJM/s1600/P1010542.JPG.

39 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9/ESV).


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“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:17-18/ESV) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17/ESV) What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. (1 Corinthians 3:5-8/ESV) Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Hebrews 4:1-3/ESV; c.f., Psalm 95:11) 40

How did the works of the church at Thyatira spread God’s Word to those who were not Christians? We have to believe that they - as we should today - simply believed and told what they knew from their Christian leaders and from Scripture. To confess to non-Christians we should follow the examples set for us by Jesus’ ministry and the early ministries of His followers as we have them recorded in Acts. What do we learn from Acts?

Early Examples of Proclaiming the Gospel

The early Christian missionaries understood Jews and Gentiles in the contexts of their religions and cultures. They had an enormous challenge to preach the Gospel to one group without needlessly offending other groups and thus lose the latter’s willingness to accept the Gospel. Different audiences had different levels of understanding. However, a lack of understanding did not deter many in their audience from accepting and telling others what they had learned and believed. We shall look at God’s commission to Ezekiel, Jesus’ directions to His apostles for their first missionary journey, and Paul’s writing as illustrations of God’s instructions to us to proclaim His message without being deterred, regardless of how the audience may respond.

And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” (Ezekiel 2:3-8/ESV) “As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to

40 Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.” (Psalm 95:11/ESV)


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your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.” (Matthew 10:12-15/ESV; c.f., Luke 10:5-12) 41 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23/ESV)

We see examples in Acts of how early Christian missionaries proclaimed the Word. Some Jewish audiences took Paul’s preaching seriously and studied to ensure the veracity of what he said. Some Gentiles, some of whom may have been Jewish proselytes, heard his preaching and rejoiced at the Gospel message. Luke wrote in Acts about the diligence with which the Jews in Berea studied the Scriptures to understand the Gospel. They clearly knew that they could verify the Gospel message of Jesus by reading the Old Testament - by comparing Scripture with Scripture and with Paul’s teaching - and not just taking the word of Paul and Silas at face value. We learn from Luke about the experience we should have in studying Scripture by constantly asking questions, looking for answers, and finding practical applications in our lives.

“For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:47-48/ESV) So when they [Paul and Barnabas] were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter

[from the Jerusalem Council accepting Gentiles as Christians]. And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. (Acts 15:30-31/ESV) Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11/ESV)

Luke wrote in Acts about the reception that Paul and Barnabas got in Antioch of Pisidia. Paul had to preach the Gospel to Jewish audiences who might have misunderstood His message of salvation by faith in Jesus’ - God’s only begotten Son’s - atonement for our sins as contrary to the monotheistic belief stated in the shema. 42 They may also have had difficulty understanding how to have faith in the Person of Jesus rather than in the acceptance and faith in God’s love and mercy as contained in Torah. Some of them became

41 Luke 10:5:12 records Jesus’ similar directions to the seventy-two disciples on their first mission journey. 42 The shema is a prayer that is the centerpiece of Jewish morning and evening prayers. It is a declaration of faith

in God. We might loosely refer to it as a “creed.” Image “Early Christian Missionaries to Jews” from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Acts_of_the_Apostles_Chapter_13-16_(Bible_Illustrations_by_Sweet_Media).jpg.


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hostile immediately, rejected Paul, and caused him harm. Some Jews in Antioch of Pisidia violently rejected the preaching of Paul and Barnabas.

The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” … But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. (Acts 13:44-47, 50-51/ESV; c.f., Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6) 43 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. (Acts 14:19/ESV)

The first Christian missionaries met challenges in their encounters with non-Christians that resemble those that we can meet today. Paul had to preach the Gospel to Gentile audiences not all of whom were Greek. We still have to witness the Gospel to people not all of whom are believers or from our own cultural backgrounds. The Greeks of Paul’s day were more interested in understanding by philosophy and adherence to traditional, cultural beliefs. Many of our audience today are more interested in understanding life by pop culture and adherence to “politically correct” beliefs that are counter to the Word of God. Paul’s education helped him to relate to cultural features as metaphors for the elements of the Gospel message. Probably the best known of these is recorded in Acts when Paul relates to the altar “To the unknown god” and preached the One True God, Jesus His Son, redemption, and resurrection relying both on his Jewish theology and on metaphors from Gentile culture. Some were willing to hear more, some mocked him, and some believed him. Our education may help us to relate to non-Christian cultural features such as metaphors for the elements of the Gospel message. However, as with Paul then, some may be willing to hear more, many will mock or ignore us, and a few may believe us. 44

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’

43 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a

covenant for the people, a light for the nations …” (Isaiah 42:6/ESV) … he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6/ESV)

44 The first Christian missionaries preached to some who were not of the Jewish or Greek cultures. Those who were not Greek may have been a very different kind of challenge. See “Supplemental Reading - Shema (Hear O Israel).”


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45 as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 46 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:22-32/ESV) Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite 47 and a woman named Damaris and others with them. (Acts 17:32-34/ESV)

Paul and the writer of Hebrews emphasized those parts of the Gospel message that suited the audience and the circumstances.

Paul told his conversion story slightly differently to Felix (Acts 24) and Festus and King Agrippa (Acts 25). He emphasized details that would be most understandable to his audience. 48 Paul taught personal values (e.g., work ethic) such as in 2 Thessalonians 3. The writer of Hebrews preached about spiritual concerns as key factors in lives such as in Hebrews 6. Paul preached against the lack of spiritual concerns as key factors in lives such as in Galatians 1:6-10.

Those early Christian missionaries had a missional attitude toward people of other faiths that was modeled on Jesus’ ministry and was rooted in Scripture. They valued non-Christians as persons who are made in the image and likeness of God and who, to some degree, may sense a need to know the true nature of their relationship with a Supreme Being. The apostle Paul emphasized having a correct Christian attitude toward Gentiles and Jews alike.

45 Probably from Epimenides of Crete. Epimenides who stated in his work entitled Cretica the following: “They

fashioned a tomb for thee. O holy and high one … But thou art not dead, thou livest and abidest forever. For in thee we live and move and have our being.” See: Bible History, “To the Unknown God,” Accessed July 2018, http://www.biblehistory.net/newsletter/the_unknown_God.htm.

46 Aratus, whose words these are, was an Athenian, who lived almost three hundred years before this time. They are likewise to be found, with the alteration of one letter only, in the hymn of Cleanthes to Jupiter or the Supreme Being, seen by classicists as one of the purest and finest pieces of natural religion in the whole world of Pagan antiquity. See: John Wesley, “Acts 17,” Wesley’s Explanatory Notes, http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/wesleys-explanatory-notes/acts/acts-17.html, Accessed July 2018.

47 Dionysius the Areopagite was a judge of the Areopagus. According to Dionysius of Corinth (ca. Late 1st or early-mid 2nd century - 171 AD), quoted by Eusebius (ca. 265-ca. 340), this Dionysius then became the first Bishop of Athens.

48 Bible Hub. “Paul before Festus and Agrippa,” Bible Hub Staff, ed. Accessed July 2018. http://biblehub.com/library/dick/lectures_on_the_acts_of_the_apostles/lecture_xxviii_paul_before_festus.htm. Bible Study Tools Staff, Ed. “Paul before Felix,” Accessed July 2018. http://www.biblestudytools.com/classics/barnes-scenes-in-life/paul-before-felix.html. Before Felix, who has some knowledge of the Way, Paul presented his case in terms appealing to Felix’s skill as a judge. Felix subsequently brought his Jewish wife to interview Paul further, and Paul testified to his belief in Jesus (Acts 25). Before Festus, Paul stated that he had committed no crime, and appealed to Caesar. Festus invited Agrippa to interview him (Acts 24). Before Agrippa, who was well versed in Jewish history and beliefs, and his Jewish wife, Paul told his history and conversion story in the context of Jewish beliefs (Acts 25-26). Bible Study Tools Staff, Ed. “Paul before Festus.” Accessed July 2018. http://www.biblestudytools.com/classics/barnes-scenes-in-life/paul-before-festus.html.


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To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:20-23/ESV)

Hostility toward Christians from without the Church leaves us basically where the Church has always been - at odds with the world. However, that does not mean retreat. We should not be surprised when we are persecuted. Jesus tells us we will be persecuted (as quoted below).

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” (Matthew 5:11/ESV) “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.” (Matthew 24:9/ESV)

Some people say, “I’m hostile to Christianity” rather than “I’m hostile to Jesus.” Most people have a good impression of Jesus even though they think his followers have been in error and done horrible things in His name. But we cannot “trash” Jesus because of what other people do supposedly in the name of Christianity. We need to cut through the emotion and identify the real issues.

Many attacks on the faith today come from the area of secular science, which can leave Christians confused about what parts of the Bible to believe. The debate over creation could be characterized as the “issue of all issues” facing the Church if it is to correctly communicate the reliability of God’s Word. If the first book of the Bible cannot be trusted then naturally one cannot be confident where the truth actually begins in Scripture. 49

Jesus’ Complaint “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.” (Revelation 2:20-23/ESV)

Jesus addressed the church at Thyatira about one woman, perhaps a Nicolaitan leader, in the strongest language that conjured up the reminiscence of Jezebel of Israel. Particularly disgusting to many - even non-Christians - were licentious rituals led by women. Respectable women of the day did not participate in feasts with men, and those who did were looked upon as prostitutes. Men and women were segregated at such events. 50

49 Gary Bates and Lita Cosner, “Pew survey reveals basic ignorance of Christian belief,” Creation.com, Accessed

July 2018, http://creation.com/religion-survey-reveals-ignorance-of-bible. 50 Edward Musgrave Blaiklock, “Thyatira” in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume Five Q-

Z. Merrill C. Tenney, ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976) pp. 743-744. Bible Gateway, “The Message to Thyatira,” Accessed July 2018, https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Rev/Message-Thyatira.


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The Jezebel of earlier Scripture was one of the two most notorious seducers of God’s people: Balaam being the first and King Ahab’s Jezebel the second. 51

The main criticism of the angel of Thyatira is that his church has tolerated something - and someone - that should not be tolerated. It was difficult to abstain from the pagan, guild festivities without losing one’s business and social acceptance. The guilds held common meals, often in a temple, and they would begin and end with a formal sacrifice to the gods. The meat would have already been offered to idols. Rituals were social events requiring people to participate or be left out and lose their business - their livelihood. 52 The rituals involved morally licentious behavior. Members of the church at Thyatira sought to compromise regarding participation in pagan rituals. Many people at Thyatira - and people everywhere today - lived by a “Gospel” of “tolerance” as the only real virtue and “intolerance” as the only vice. Jesus’ letter to the Church at Thyatira is counter to popular thought - also in modern times - because it sets limits to tolerance.

Tolerance and 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. 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.” (Revelation 2:21-23/ESV)

Was Jezebel a specific woman who subverted Christian teaching in the church? Was it a figurative way of referring to an influence in the congregation, perhaps by more than one person. We do not know for sure. However, it seems that the use of a specific name with specific threats of punishment for children may refer to a specific woman. She may have been guilty of sexual immorality. John refers to sexual immorality elsewhere in Revelation (Revelation 9:21; 21:8; 22:15). Such behavior could have been participation in pagan cult practices. However, there was no famous pagan cult in Thyatira. 53 We may believe that Jesus gave her that name to relate the enormity of her sinful influence (e.g., spiritual fornication) to King Ahab’s queen, Jezebel, who introduced Baal worship and its pagan practices into Israel (1 Kings 16 - 2 Kings 9). 54


Stock, 2005) p. 157. 52 William Barclay, The Revelation of John Volume I (Louisvile, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004) p. 113.

William M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1985) pp. 352-353 According to Ramsay: “The guilds were corporate bodies, taking active measures to protect the common interests, owning property, passing decrees, and exercising considerable powers; they also, undoubtedly, were benefit societies, and in many respects healthy and praiseworthy associations. In no other city are they so conspicuous. It was therefore a serious thing for a Thyatiran.”

53 Colin J. Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in their Local Setting (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001) pp. 107-108. Henry Barclay Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John (New York, NY: The MacMillan Company, 1907) p. lxiii. Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1-7, an Exegetical Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1992) pp. 207-208.

54 Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, G.K Beale and D.A. Carson, ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007) p. 1095. E. W. Hengstenberg, Revelation of St. John, Volume One, Rev. Patrick Fairbairn, trans. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2005) p. 158. G. Campbell Morgan, A First-Century Message to Twentieth-Century Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1902) pp. 118-119.


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The sin of the church at Thyatira was in tolerating and not protesting against the woman whom John named “Jezebel.” Jezebel may have been either a member of the congregation or an outsider who did not belong to the church. Her activities suggest that she may have been an outsider whom the church tolerated to be “open-minded” and socially all-inclusive. Apparently the church permitted her to voice her un-Christian beliefs to the congregation in assembly, individually, and probably both. Perhaps Jezebel, like Lydia, was a guild member who had a business interest to protect and went about it differently from Lydia. 55 Perhaps that was like some church groups do today when they want to have attitudes about, support, and

even engage in, practices that are promoted by society at large in order to not appear “bigoted.” Jesus referred to the woman Jezebel as a self-styled prophetess. She probably claimed to be inspired by some new revelation. That is, she may have claimed that she had some vision or enlightenment that had been denied to the apostles. 56 Note that Jesus did not condemn whatever Jezebel’s specific teaching may have been. His condemnation was for the church’s tolerance of her godless values and immoral activities. In tolerating her, the church gave occasion to sin to members of the congregation who may have begun to believe that they could think and act as she did, because the church put forward no objection to her. 57 The Lord’s admonition against tolerance of evil, and the judgment it will lead to, may remind us of Isaiah’s words about the Messiah’s judgment. Jesus teaches us about those who bring temptation to others. Paul taught us about sensitivity to the conscience of another.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. (Isaiah 11:1-4/ESV) “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into


2001) pp. 117, 121. G. Campbell Morgan, A First-Century Message to Twentieth-Century Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1902) pp. 117-118. Image “Jezebel of Thyatira” from https://alexistran.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/thyatira.jpg.

56 G. Campbell Morgan, A First-Century Message to Twentieth-Century Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1902) p. 119.

57 G. Campbell Morgan, A First-Century Message to Twentieth-Century Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1902) pp. 117-118.


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the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.” (Matthew 18:5-9/ESV; c.f., Mark 9:42; Luke 17:1-2) 58 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. (1 Corinthians 8:10-13/ESV)

Jesus threat to “strike her children dead” may be seen as pertaining to all, then and now, who follow her by adhering to false doctrine. 59 We read of God’s wrath against evil in several places in Scripture. Here are a few:

Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward. (Psalm 28:4/ESV) But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause. (Jeremiah 11:10/ESV) “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jereimah 17:10/ESV) O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause. (Jeremiah 20:12/ESV) “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” (Matthew 16:27/ESV)

Jesus’ Counsel “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.” (Revelation 2:24-29/ESV)

The “Deep Things of Satan” “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.” (Revelation 2:24/ESV)

What are the “deep things of Satan?” The word, “deep things” is the Greek word for the apparent intellectual depth of satanic beliefs. It contrasts with and comes from the same root as the word for “burden” used in Jesus’ words, “I do not lay on you any other burden.”

58 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone

were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” (Mark 9:42/ESV) And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.” (Luke 17:1-2/ESV)

59 Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, G.K Beale and D.A. Carson, ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007) p. 1095. E. W. Hengstenberg, Revelation of St. John, Volume One, Rev. Patrick Fairbairn, trans. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2005) p. 150.


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Perhaps John meant the arrogant and self-centered beliefs that we adopt or create based on human knowledge (i.e., Satan’s and the World’s burden). Such beliefs reject the authority of Scripture and look for the truth elsewhere. Such beliefs reject the spiritual depth of believing in our redemption through Jesus’ work and joyfully, prayerfully, trying to follow Him in obedience (i.e., Jesus’ burden which is light; c.f., Matthew 11:28-30). 60 We may see the “deep things of Satan” in Revelation as an ironic contrast to Paul’s words to the Ephesians about what the Latin Vulgate and King James Versions call the “deep things of God.” 61

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” - these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10/ESV; c.f., Isaiah 64:4; ) 62

We may understand Jesus as wanting the church members to reject the World’s false beliefs and replacing them with prayerful study of God’s Holy Word in Scripture testing all that we understand by comparing Scripture with Scripture, as did the Jewish congregation at Berea. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11/ESV) Paul taught further about what to believe. Peter taught us that Jesus helps us to learn “things into which angels long to look” (i.e., “deep things of God”). Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so

walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. (Colossians 2:6-190/ESV) As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. (1 Timothy 1:3-4/ESV) Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness … (1 Timothy 4:7/ESV)

60 G. Campbell Morgan, A First-Century Message to Twentieth-Century Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book

House, 1902) p. 127. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30/ESV)

61 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10/KJV) The Greek texts of both Revelation 2:24 and 1 Corinthians 2:10 use similar constructs for both the “the depths of Satan” (Revelation 2:24), and the “deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). Image “Pentagram - Deep Things of Satan” from http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/replicate/EXID51301/images/pentagrm1.jpg.

62 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:4/ESV)


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As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven - things into which angels long to look. (1 Peter 1:10-12/ESV) For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16/ESV)

The Authority of Scripture “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.” (Revelation 2:24/ESV)

Members of a congregation can avoid becoming a church which follows a “the deep things of Satan” by studying the Bible privately and in groups under knowledgeable leadership, and with the guidance of their Pastors. They must prayerfully compare Scripture with Scripture, study what recognized authorities in Scripture 63 have said, and be guided by the Spirit. What one Reformer wrote about valid, scripturally based doctrine applies especially to beliefs that are not found in or supported by Scripture.

We are not to indulge in curiosity, or in studying things that have no use. The Lord has been pleased to instruct us, not in frivolous questions, but in solid piety, in the fear of his name, in true faith, and the duties of holiness. So, let us rest satisfied with such knowledge. To be truly wise, we must renounce all vain babblings of idle people, concerning the nature, ranks, and number of angels, without any authority from the Word of God. Unfortunately, many people fixate on those topics more eagerly, and take greater pleasure in them than in those relating to daily religious practice. 64

We want the help and guidance in learning the truth that Jesus promised us. Jesus promises us a helper, the Holy Spirit, who teaches and guides us.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26/ESV) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:13-14/ESV)

Jesus addressed members of the church who” not learned what some call the deep things of Satan.” That refers to beliefs that are not found in or supported by Scripture. John wrote elsewhere in Revelation about corrupting the Word of God. At the end of the Book of Revelation, he warns about adding to or deleting from “the words of the prophecy of this

63 We must be careful about who our authorities are. Warnings about false teachers may be found in Deuteronomy

13:1-3; Ezekiel 34:2, 10; Matthew 7:15-20; Matthew 23:2-4, 5-6, 13-15, 16-22, 23-28, and 29-36; Matthew 24:11; John 7:14-18; John 18:19-24; 2 Peter 2:1-2, 17-89. These verses should be studied for their meaning to help discern not only “Gospel” from “Law” but also truth from fantasy.

64 John Calvin, Chapter 14, “In the Creation of the World, and All Things in It, the True God Distinguished by Certain Marks from Fictitious Gods.,” Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book I, Henry Beveridge, trans. (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1845) p. 144. Paraphrase by Jim MacGregor. This pertains to what one might term “junk theology” and fables. It does not pertain to science.


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book.” He warned that any tampering with the “this book” would result in God’s wrath being brought down on those who do.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19/ESV)

Why did John give this warning? How should we understand John’s warning? Can we understand John’s warning to apply to Revelation and to Scripture as a whole? What does the Bible teach us about adding anything to or omitting anything from the Word of God? We have Jesus’ words about the inviolable nature of the Law and of His teaching (i.e., Law and Gospel) and Peter’s testimony to that. We also have words in Scripture before Jesus that warn about altering the Word of God.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35/ESV) “… since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God … but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:23, 25/ESV) Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. (Psalm 119:89/ESV) The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:8/ESV)

Old Testament Scripture pointed forward to Jesus and His teaching. They tell the story of God’s redemptive work among his people prior to His arrival. Jesus teaches us that Scripture is God’s truthful, eternal Word that continues unchanged to witness to Him and His redemptive work among His people (Psalm 19; Psalm 119; Romans 7). We know that we observe the Law after Jesus’ atonement for our sins differently from how His people tried to observe it earlier. We believe in Jesus’ having kept the Law on our behalf so that trusting Him saves us. Jesus’ teaching picked up the prophetic

message and completed it. 65 He tells us that all Scripture witnesses to Him as the embodiment of the Gospel. He gives explicit warnings about adhering to Scripture and to His teaching fulfilling Scripture without changing them. Jesus teaches us that he “fulfilled” the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5). Paul taught that Scripture is divinely inspired.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:7-11/ESV)

65 ESV Gospel Transformation Bible. Bryan Chapell, ed. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013) p. 1275. Also Accessed

Accessed July 2018, http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+5/. Image “No Change to God’s Word” from http://www.jarofquotes.com/img/quotes/2d36217f985d0e382e2513ae9eb67e4c.jpg. The image quotes: “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:32/ESV)


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Psalm 119 praises God’s Word, exhorts us to reading God’s Word and revering it. It has prayers for belief in God’s Word and complaints of the wicked for despising it. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-20/ESV; c.f., Luke 16:17) 66 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35/ESV) “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39/ESV) So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. (Romans 7:12/ESV) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17/ESV)

Some explicit warnings about adding anything to or omitting anything from the Word of God are found in these verses.

“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:1-2/ESV) “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:32/ESV) “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-8/ESV) Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. (Proverbs 30:5-6/ESV)

66 “But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.” (Luke

16:17/ESV)


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Some implicit warnings about adding anything to or omitting anything from the Word of God are found in these verses.

The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever. (Psalm 12:6-7/ESV) The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. (Psalm 119:160/ESV) “Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who use their tongues and declare,” declares the Lord. “Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” declares the Lord, “and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:31-32/ESV) He [Jesus] answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:13-14/ESV) “And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.” (Matthew 24:11/ESV) I [Paul] know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. (Acts 20:29-30/ESV) For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:21-25/ESV) I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. (1 Corinthians 4:6/ESV) I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different Gospel - not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the Gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a Gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a Gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:6-10/ESV) But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:1-3/ESV)


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Jesus’ Burden “But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, … to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.” (Revelation 2:24/ESV)

Jesus invites us to bring our burdens to Him and promises that He will lighten our load. We are to have a daily walk with Him and to love others as He first loved us. For animals an easy yoke is one that does not injure the back of the animal on which it is fitted. Jesus once referred to the “yoke” He Himself wore - the yoke of a perfect surrender and absolute submission to the will of God. Any burden is light when we force ourselves to bear it, but forcing ourselves may be difficult or impossible. Some things are easy to do, once we make up our minds to do them. It is making up the mind that is the burdensome thing. Jesus expects us to give up stubbornness and pride and trust Him for our needs. 67 It is in that context that Jesus promises His Church, “I do not lay on you any other burden.” “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30/ESV)

Perhaps the light burden is obeying His “new commandment” and all that it implies: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35/ESV) Early in Bible history, God promised Moses His Spirit to take some of His burden from Moses and share it with seventy other leaders of Israel. King David sang of the burden of sin and advised us to turn our burdens over to God.

“And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.” (Numbers 11:17/ESV) For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. (Psalm 38:4/ESV) Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. (Psalm 55:22/ESV)

The Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) gave instructions to the Gentile Church at Antioch that reflected one aspect of what Jesus later told the church at Thyatira “I do not lay on you any other burden.”

“For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you 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. Farewell.” (Acts 15:28-29/ESV)

67 Charles Ellicott, “Matthew 11,” Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, Accessed April 13, 2016,

https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ebc/matthew-11.html. See the earlier item “Love of God and Neighbor.” Image “Burden” from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/61/54/92/6154922bef2a724a62bc4355bbe751a2.jpg.


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Perseverance in Faith in Jesus “Only hold fast what you have until I come.” (Revelation 2:25/ESV)

We, like the church at Thyatira, are to “hold fast” to what we have - Jesus’ burden - until He comes to eliminate the burdens that the World would load onto us. Jesus promised His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit to help us and teach us all that we need to know with the authority of the Father.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will beg in you.”(John 14:15-17/ESV) “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:26-27/ESV) “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:12-15/ESV)

Very early in history, God taught us about not looking back with nostalgic sentiment for where we had been before He saved us. Jesus teaches us to have faith and not waver by looking back to what we used to be. 68 Jesus’ teaching was echoed by the writer of Hebrews.

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:24-26/ESV) Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:61-62/ESV) “… but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:38-39/ESV)

Isaiah and Habakkuk wrote about persevering in a life of faith. Paul wrote about perseverance, relating suffering to hope in Jesus’ promises. He taught that we should hold on to our faith and not return to where we had been. Peter taught about patient perseverance. James and the writer of Hebrews wrote about perseverance in the face of temptation.

I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. (Isaiah 8:17/ESV) Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. (Isaiah 30:18/ESV)

68 We had a saying once in our pop-culture about confidence in staying true to our own chosen life path and not

allowing the outside world to get us down or force us to change who we wanted to be: “Keep on truckin’.”


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For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end - it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. (Habakkuk 2:3/ESV) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoiced in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces

character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5/ESV) Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. (Philippians 3:12-16/ESV) Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:12-15/ESV) For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:36-39/ESV; c.f., Habakkuk 2:3) The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9/ESV) 69

Jesus’ Promise - Rule of Iron “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.” (Revelation 2:26-27/ESV)

We are to understand His promise “To the one who conquers” to the church at Thyatira, and to the other churches, and to us in this way. Jesus is the one who conquers, and He will give to those who believe in Him a share with Him in the victory that the Father promised Him. Jesus told the church at Thyatira - and us - that we should adhere firmly to our Christian

69 Image “Perseverance” from http://www.hopecenterjackson.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/perseverance.jpg.

“By perseverance the snail reached the ark” is a quote from Charles Spurgeon, Christian Quotes. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “Perseverance,” Accessed July 2018, http://www.christianquotes.info/images/charles-spurgeon-quote-perseverance/.


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faith and its confession, to our love, service, and patience, to our refusal to join the World in its ways. “To the one who conquers” also refers to Christians who prayerfully, with God’s help, resist the subtle temptation to adhere to non-scriptural societal values and ethics. The promise is both individually for us who will have “conquered” at our deaths, and also for the Entire Church that will have “conquered” when Jesus comes in Final Judgment. 70 John wrote to this thought in one of his epistles:

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5/ESV)

We, who like Jesus, refuse to win power by doing homage to wrong (Matthew 4:8-10), 71 share in His life. He says that His visit, His coming, may be expected soon, and that He wants us to be faithful and true, to overcome wickedness and evil in every form. 72 Jesus’ rule with “with a rod of iron” is repeated later in Revelation in the context of Jesus’ birth and Ascension:

She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne … (Revelation 12:5/ESV)

Jesus promises a rule of divine authority as our Shepherd-King who sets and keeps everything right. He rules with “the might of right, not the right of might.” 73 Jesus’ response to Satan’s temptation reflected God’s rule over everything. Jesus taught His disciples and teaches us about the universal scope of His authority.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” (Matthew 4:8-9/ESV; c.f., Deuteronomy 6:13) 74 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20/ESV)

King David sang of the rule of God, his Shepherd, and the Son of God. King David sang of his Great Judge and Eternal Priest. “God conferred upon Jesus supreme dominion, combined with invincible power, with which he either conquers all his enemies, or compels


Stock, 2005) p. 164. 71 Matthew 4:8-10 tells the story of Jesus’ refusing Satan’s tempting offer of earthly rule. 72 Louis A. Brighton, Revelation (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1999) p. 84. Thomas Constable,

“Revelation 2,” Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable, Accessed June 7, 2016, http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc/view.cgi?bk=65&ch=2. Paul E. Kretzmann, Revelation Chapter 2, Popular Commentary of the Bible, Accessed July 2018, http://www.kretzmannproject.org/. John Wesley, “Revelation 2,” Wesley’s Explanatory Notes, Accessed July 2018, http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/wesleys-explanatory-notes/revelation/revelation-2.html.

73 Charles Ellicott, “Revelation 2,” Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, Accessed July 2018, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ebc/revelation-2.html.

74 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you … (Deuteronomy 6:13-14/ESV)


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them to submit to him.” 75 King Solomon implicitly compared God with a good father who disciplines his son.

I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” (Psalm 2:7-9/ESV) The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind; “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head. (Psalm 110/ESV;c.f., Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-43) 76 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4/ESV) Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. (Proverbs 13:24/ESV)

The Kings of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar (in a moment of awe), Job, the psalmist, and Daniel spoke about the totality and universal scope of God’s authority.

And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.” (2 Chronicles 20:5-6/ESV) “But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does.” (Job 23:13/ESV) Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”(Job 42:1-2/ESV) Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:2-3/ESV) At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”(Daniel 4:34-35/ESV)

God rules over His Church and over all creation “with a rod of iron.” His rule over the Church is often termed His “Kingdom of the Right,” and His rule over all creation is often

75 John Calvin, “Psalm 110,” Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible, Internet Sacred Text Archive (ISTA), Accessed

July 2018, http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/calvin/cc11/cc11018.htm. 76 But he [Jesus] said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David’s son? For David himself says in the

Book of Psalms, ‘he Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” (Luke 20:41-43/ESV) The story is related also in Matthew 22:41-46 and Mark 12:35-37.


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called His “Kingdom of the Left.” So, as Christians, we live in both Kingdoms. 77 Whenever the Church has striven for political or other worldly power, she has ceased being “God’s Kingdom of the Right” and merely another component of God’s “Kingdom of the Left” trying to “fit in” with a society that does not ascribe to Christian values. When the Church does that, it both exalts herself and falls like Satan. If she trusts her Lord, He gives her the “morning star” (Revelation 2:28) that she might be His light to the world. Our Church Fathers taught us abut the nature of God’s Kingdom as opposed to the kingdom of the World.

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20-21/ESV) 78 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36/ESV) For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17/ESV) I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (1 Corinthians 15:50/ESV) From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. (Revelation 19:15/ESV) The kingdom of God consists chiefly in internal acts: but as a consequence all things that are essential to internal acts belong also to the kingdom of God. Thus if the kingdom of God is internal righteousness, peace, and spiritual joy, all external acts that are incompatible with righteousness, peace, and spiritual joy, are in opposition to the kingdom of God; and consequently should be forbidden in the Gospel of the kingdom. On the other hand, those things that are indifferent as regards the aforesaid, for instance, to eat of this or that food, are not part of the kingdom of God. 79 The kingdom of God comes indeed without our prayer, of itself; but we pray in this petition that it may come unto us also. … [The Kingdom comes] when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead a godly life here in time and yonder in eternity. 80

77 Stephen P. Mueller, Editor, Called to Believe, Teach, and Confess (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2005) pp. 427-

454. Augustine of Hippo, Summa Theologiae, Fathers of the English Dominican Province, trans. Fathers of the Church, (Cincinnati, OH: Benziger Brothers, 1920) Online Edition Copyright 2008 by Kevin Knight, Accessed July 2018, http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2108.htm. The concepts of the “Kingdom of the Right” and Kingdom of the Left” influence our Lutheran view on vocation and marriage as divine tasks to be accomplished in the civil world.

78 The expression “in the midst of you” has the sense of “ within you” or “within your grasp.” 79 Augustine of Hippo, Summa Theologiae, Fathers of the English Dominican Province, trans. Fathers of the

Church, (Cincinnati, OH: Benziger Brothers, 1920) Online Edition Copyright 2008 by Kevin Knight, Accessed July 2018, http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2108.htm.

80 Martin Luther, “The Lord’s Prayer ,” The Small Catechism. Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church: German-Latin-English (The Book of Concord) (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1921) Accessed May 25, 2016, http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php#lordsprayer.


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Jesus’ Promise - Authority from His Father “… even as I myself have received authority from my Father.” (Revelation 2:26-27/ESV)

Jesus spoke again of His Father as He did later to the churches at Sardis and Laodicea. This relates to His earlier identification as the “Son of God” (Revelation 2:18). This hearkens back to prophetic statements and words of Jesus in Scripture some of which are listed here:

I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” (Psalm 2:7/ESV) So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:24-30/ESV) And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (1 John 4:14-15/ESV)

Jesus’ Promise - The Morning Star “And I will give him the morning star.” (Revelation 2:28/ESV)

”And I will give him the morning star” pertains to the glory of Jesus’ dominion over all creation, and to His beautiful appearance now and how we shall see Him when He comes again. 81 Later in Revelation, Jesus told John again that He is the “morning star,” and He elaborated on it this way: “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say,

‘Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” (Revelation 22:16-17/ESV).

Jesus Himself, the “morning star,” is the ultimate gift to the believer. “Among the stars of the spiritual firmament, He is the brightest in the whole galaxy, the Light that enlightens everyone by its coming into the world.” 82 At His resurrection and ascension, Jesus received the honor of being the “bright star” in all Creation. He promises to give us Himself with


Stock, 2005) p. 166. 82 Henry Barclay Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John (New York, NY: The MacMillan Company, 1907) p. 310.

Image “Morning Star” from https://churchofsaintpaul.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/star.jpg.


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every blessing to be found in Him. He promises to share His glory with those “who conquer” and remain faithful to Him as promised in Revelation 22:16-17/ESV). 83

God told Daniel that the saved, at their resurrection, 84 will shine “like the stars forever and ever.” Peter wrote that the “morning star” - Jesus - and the Holy Spirit will fill us with the meaning of Scripture. Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew and John come to mind in the last regard. These references quoted below may remind us that we are to pray for the Lord to open our hearts and minds when we read and study His Holy Word, so that we do so intelligently, joyfully, and with understanding; and, that He give us the understanding that He wants us to have and teach us how to apply His Word in our daily lives.

“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people - everyone whose name is found written in the book - will be delivered. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” (Daniel 12:1-3/ESV) 85 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19-21/ESV) “When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:19-20/ESV) Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12/ESV) “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26/ESV)

Balaam prophesied about a “star,” a powerful ruler who would rule Israel’s enemies with a crushing scepter. Jacob blessed his sons with a prophecy of Judah’s scepter and rule. Malachi referred to God as the “sun of righteousness” compared to the sun, being the fountain of light showing mercy to his people and giving them their joy. 86

83 The hymn “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright” is a wonderful rendering of much of we believe about Jesus as

the “morning star.” Its composer, Philipp Nicolai, was a pastor ion a small German town when the plague took as many as thirty people in a single day. It was a difficult time to be a pastor. He wrote his song as a contemplation of the doctrine of eternal life obtained through the Blood of Christ. See Philipp Nicolai, “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright,” Accessed January 2019, https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/174.

84 Victorinus. “Commentary on the Apocalypse.” Translated by Robert Ernest Publishing Co., 1886.) Revised and edited Wallis, From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7, Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, ed. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature for New Advent by Kevin Knight, Accessed July 2018, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0712.htm. The Church Father Victorinus (late third century - ca. 303) saw the “morning star” as also referring to the first resurrection.

85 Michael is mentioned only three times in Scripture: as a great prince in Daniel 12:1; as the archangel in Jude 1:9; and, as a leader (assumed) of angels in Revelation 12:7.

86 John Wesley, “Malachi 4,” Wesley’s Explanatory Notes, Accessed July 2018, http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/wesleys-explanatory-notes/malachi/malachi-4.html.


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“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.” (Numbers 24:17/ESV) “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” (Genesis 49:8-10/ESV) 87 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. (Malachi 4:2/ESV)

Returning briefly to Psalm 110, 88 we see the verse below and remember that the dew forms most strongly at dawn, when the morning star arises. In that way, we may see the members of Jesus’ Church arising to conversion and work when Jesus’ light from the “morning star,” as Peter called Him, shines upon them. 89

Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. (Psalm 110:2/ESV) And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts … (2 Peter 1:19/ESV)

Jesus words about being the “light of the world” 90 in the Gospel of John remind us, that God created light and separated it from darkness as recorded in Genesis: And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:3-4/ESV) He gives us the light and keeps us from darkness. Remember the Gospel of John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 14/ESV)

87 The verses from Jacob’s blessing to Judah promising the rule over Israel are difficult to understand without

comparing English translations and their accompanying commentaries explaining the original Hebrew text. The phrase “until tribute comes to him” is not a true reflection of the original Hebrew. The King James Version reflects the Hebrew, “until Shiloh comes.” The precise Hebrew meaning is now obscure, but the term “Shiloh” has in Jewish tradition referred to the Messiah. When we think about it more, we realize that the scepter did not remain with Judah since the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70, and Israel no longer had a civil or theocratic Government. That is, they had no government during their continued wait for the Messiah. As Christians, we could see the statement as pertaining to Jesus’ heavenly reign until the last days. However, the term “Shiloh” seems more reasonably to refer to the Messiah, Jesus, at His second coming when He will reign totally over all His creation.

88 Discussed earlier under “Jesus’ Rule of Iron.” 89 Paul E. Kretzmann, Psalm 110, Popular Commentary of the Bible, Accessed July 2018,

http://www.kretzmannproject.org. 90 Old Testament passages that speak of God as the Light and providing light are: Exodus 13:22; Numbers 9:15-16;

2 Samuel 22:1 and 29; Nehemiah 9:12; Job 33:28; Psalm 4:6; Psalm 18:27-28; Psalm 19:8; Psalm 27:1; Psalm 36:9; Psalm 43:3; Psalm 56:13; Psalm 89:15; Psalm 97:10-11; Psalm 104:1-2; Psalm 119:105, 130; Psalm 132:17; Psalm 139:11-12; Isaiah 9:1-2; Isaiah 42:6-7, 16; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 50:10-11; Isaiah 60:19; Micah 7:9; and Malachi 4:2.


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Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12/ESV)

We understand God’s promise recorded in the Gospel of John - that the word was the light, became human, and lived with us - to be repeated in Revelation when Jesus promises to give His repentant and obedient Church “the morning star.” Paul taught us about this promise of God this way: For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6/ESV) We just read that John wrote of Jesus’ light as life this way: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John wrote further about the light as life. Perhaps we could interpret the testimony that God gave us eternal life in 1 John to be the light of “the morning star” given to believers in Him forever.

… the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us … (1 John 1:2/ESV) Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (1 John 5:10-11/ESV)

We understand Jesus as “the morning star” in light of His statement that He is the “light of the world. That would put “the morning star” in the context of the light of the Lord to the nations, recorded in many Old Testament passages (e.g., Isaiah 9:2; 49:6), which will dispel the darkness. Perhaps by giving us “the morning star” He is giving us not only Himself to be among us spiritually as promised (Matthew 28:20). 91 but also giving us the life that He brings and giving it to us in His visible presence eternally. We may read the following verses that pertain to “the light of the world”:

Jesus is the light of prophecy, the Messiah. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. (Isaiah 9:2/ESV) … he [God] says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6/ESV) 92 Zechariah prophesied of the light - from the “sunrise” - at the birth of John the Baptist. “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:76-79/ESV) Simeon prophesied of the light at Jesus’ circumcision.. “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32/ESV) Jesus taught us that He was the “light of the world” as long as he was in the World. Now, the Holy Spirit moves us to convey His light as he commissioned us to do: “As long as I am in

91 “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20/ESV) 92 God spoke to His people through Isaiah. The light to the nations will be from His people - from Jesus.


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the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5/ESV) … “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20/ESV) Jesus tells us that we, His followers, convey His light to the world. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16/ESV) Peter taught that Jesus called us out of darkness into the light. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9/ESV) Paul taught us that we are the light of the Lord. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. (Ephesians 5:8/ESV)

Jesus tells us that those of us who join Him as disciples will not be ignorant of spiritual matters, but rather will have understanding of the spiritual truth that brings eternal life. By proclaiming Himself “I am the light of the world” and promising us “the morning star” Jesus tells us that He is the image of the invisible God; that without Him we live in ignorance, wickedness, and misery; but that with Him we have the light of life. He declares that when we closely, humbly, and steadily follow Him, we shall have God’s light, “the morning star,” continually shining upon us, gifting us with knowledge, holiness, and joy, and guiding us to life everlasting - and being with us forever. He continues to cast His light upon us by the doctrine of the Gospel and by the secret power of the Holy Spirit. This means that we have no true definition of this light unless the Spirit of Christ illuminates us by the Gospel to know that the fountain of all knowledge and wisdom is hidden in Him.

We could wonder at the meaning of Jesus “the morning star” and the “light of the world in still another sense. In this life we cannot see the Father on our own; we cannot see God’s Heavenly Kingdom on our own. However, as he may be telling the church at Thyatira, we do have light to see the Father and God’s Heavenly Kingdom through our “seeing” Jesus - as His words are recorded in the Gospel of John - believing in Him and living with Him. Jesus tells us that He and the Father dwell in each other, and when we see Him we see the Father. Paul wrote that we can see the Heavenly Kingdom only dimly during our earthly lives

And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. (John 12:45/ESV) Jesus said to him [Philip], “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” (John 14:9-11/ESV) For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then [in the end time] face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12/ESV) 93

93 The word “mirror” has been used in this verse over the centuries. It would appear to have the context of a

“glass”; that is a glass through which could observe something. That interpretation is reflected in the Douay-Rheims Version and the Geneva Bible and by association with a Hebrew word that is used in rabbinic commentaries in a similar


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A lesson for the church at Thyatira and for us today is this. Our fallen nature causes our human reason, wisdom, and morality to be hazy and dim compared to God’s Word which is a light that shines in our darkness. The brightness of God’s light grows through teaching, preaching, and the sacraments. When we use this light God no longer remains hidden from us. We should reach for the Bible when we are confronted by disaster, when we are overwhelmed by darkness, when things seem so dark that we can even doubt that we are part of the Church or pleasing to God at all. Without the Bible we cannot understand ourselves, other people, or our surroundings. We are not to let people who fall away from the faith distract us. Instead, we must remember that we live in a dark world and that we can see only when the light of God’s Word shines brightly in our lives.

Jesus’ Warning “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 2:29/ESV)

The letter to the church at Thyatira and each church ends with a similar statement admonishing them and us: “‘ … He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. …’” The letter to the church at Thyatira ends on the note of a warning to all seven churches - and his universal Church - to heed Jesus’ words. Most of the letter is an indictment of the church for living by a “Gospel of tolerance” as the only real virtue and “intolerance” as the only vice.

Summary The letter to the church at Thyatira is the longest of the seven letters. Many people at Thyatira - and people everywhere today - lived by a “Gospel of tolerance” as the only real virtue and “intolerance” as the only vice. Jesus’ letter to the Church at Thyatira is counter to popular thought - also in modern times - because it sets limits to tolerance. His title conveys the special meaning and value of the message He is about to deliver. His intimate knowledge and penetrating vision concerning His Church cannot be mistaken. His understanding of everything is perfect. The path of Jesus coming to the Church is one of judgment that is righteous, pure, and final. His judgment cannot be corrected. He will destroy any evil spirit that permeates the whole fellowship of His Church. He will personally deal with evil. Jesus approves the principles upon which the Church’s works and growth are based, emphasizing the hidden spiritual forces behind the works - love, faith, and patience. The Church grows wiser and stronger by proclaiming the Gospel through witnessing, teaching, and preaching. We are sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit in moving us to faith and trust in that proclamation and to works that exhibit our faith to others. Jesus’ words give us the example that we all should earnestly desire that our last works may be our best works. His church then and today has tolerated something - and someone - that should not be tolerated. Some churches may seek to compromise regarding participation in activities that are the modern equivalent of pagan rituals. There are social events that require people to participate or be left out and lose their jobs, their business, and their livelihood. Such events may involve morally licentious behavior. We are to reject beliefs that are not found in or supported by Scripture. We can avoid becoming a church that follows “the deep

context to mean a glass to look through. The Latin Vulgate translation speculum can mean both a mirror and a device used in antiquity in medical examinations.


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things of Satan” by studying the Bible privately, in groups under knowledgeable leadership, and with the guidance of our Pastors. We must prayerfully compare Scripture with Scripture, study what recognized authorities in Scripture have said, and be guided by the Spirit.

These are the virtues that we believe Jesus saw in His church at Thyatira: love of God and neighbor; faith in the Gospel; ministry (“service”) that reflects faith; patient endurance; and, zeal in proclaiming the Gospel. We read early examples of proclaiming the Gospel. All in all, we can understand the positive nature of a Christian community in the following ways.

Passionately affectionate adoration and worship of God; Self-sacrificing commitment to believing God’s Word, obeying Him, and caring for each other; Self-sacrificing commitment to proclaiming the Gospel within our congregations, in our neighborhoods, and elsewhere (e.g., print media and Web sites); Continual prayer for God’s help in obeying Him and remaining loyal to Him so that we may live with Him in our lives as our Lord, Master, and Savior; Continual prayer for confidence in our salvation by Jesus’ atoning work as bestowed on us in our baptism; Continual prayer for our confidence in our salvation to be as natural to us as breathing so that it affects every thought, word, and action; Continual prayer for Him to guide our every thought word, and action that all may be joyful courageous, selfless, compassionate, and give Him glory; and, Continual prayer for His help to die to ourselves that we may live to Him.

letter to the church at thyatirapsalmstudy.org/testamentnew/27revelation/church04-thyatira.pdf ·...

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