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· 7 viewsJesus sees and knows all about us and has the power to judge.
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What Does He Know and What Will He Do?
What Does He Know and What Will He Do?
Revelation 2:18-29
How many of you remember Watergate? Some of you know what it is but there are a few of us who remember it. That was the most over powering news story in my sophomore through my senior years of High School. I tried to keep up with everything that was going on because I was interested in politics even back then but it became so convoluted that I lost track; but I tried. The one phrase or question that I remember from the whole ordeal was asked by Senator Howard Baker during the Senate investigation: “What did the president know and when did he know it?” I am not going to get into the whole Watergate crime and investigation, you can look that up when you get home if you really need to know, but I want to focus on what Jesus Christ knows, what He is going to do about it and what that means to us. What we are going to see is that He knows the good and the bad about His church and His people and He is going to deal with both. We are going to be looking at Revelation 2:18-29 the church at Thyatira also known as the corrupt church. Let’s pray then we will look at the city where the church is and we will look at Revelation 2:18-29.
This letter is the longest of the seven letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor. And it is also to the smallest town. We have been working our way up the coast of the Aegean Sea; Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamos and now we will turn southeast to Thyatira. The city really had no military or governmental significance at the time except to be the first line of defense for Pergamos the capitol of the province. The city is only mentioned 4 times in all of the New Testament, three of them here in our passage this morning and once in Acts 16:14 as the hometown of the first European convert to Christianity, Lydia the seller of purple when Paul was in Philippi. The city of Thyatira had a booming metal working industry and had perfected in their guilds a very fine brass or bronze. It was a copper-zinc alloy that was known for its beauty and durability. Even though iron was used in weapons bronze was still the metal of choice for many militaries because of its durability and Thyatira was the place to get it. It was in Thyatira that metal coins were first used. They did have altars to Apollo and Hermes and a few other gods but it was not nearly as important religiously as was Pergamos or Ephesus. I mentioned guilds a moment ago and there were several in Thyatira: wool-workers, linen-workers, makers of outer garments, dyers, leather-workers, tanners, potters, bakers, slave-dealers, and bronze-smiths. These guilds were sort of like trade unions but they also had some religious significance. When the guild would meet there would be sacrifices and offerings made to whatever god was their patron and there would also be, as part of the sacrifice, sexual immorality. There has been very little excavation of the ancient city because the Turkish city of Akisar is built right on top of it. Now you have a little background into the city and what the church was living in so let’s go ahead and read Jesus’ letter to the church in Thyatira. Revelation 2:18-29 18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: 19 “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. 20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.24 “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. 25 But hold fast what you have till I come. 26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star.29 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’[1] Let just remind you of what we have been and what we are looking at. We have been looking at letters written from Jesus Christ to His churches and this one just happens to be to the church at Thyatira, but it is a personal letter. Just like the other letters Jesus starts out with a description of Himself. This is the only time in all of the Revelation that Jesus or anyone else refers to Him as the Son of God. He is the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and His feet like fine brass. When Jesus makes these statements about Himself I believe He is revealing; His deity and in that deity His omniscience and His omnipotence. As God He sees all the needs and all the works (good and bad) of His church and He has all power to reward and bring judgment. As we move through this passage we will see this borne out. It is interesting that He uses the words “fine brass” “burnished brass” or “fine bronze”. That is one of the products Thyatira was known for and the people would have immediately understood the strength and power associated with that product. It is just another way He lets His church know that He sees them and knows them.
In verse 19 Jesus gives His church a compliment and it is not a small compliment. 19 “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. In the Koine Greek, that John wrote in there are no punctuation marks, no commas or colons or semi-colons, not even spaces between words as we see in our English translations. So let me say that I think that these works that the church is commended for; love, service, faith and patience or perseverance should most likely be written, love and service (comma) and faith and perseverance. We know from our studies of the letters of John that love produces service. When we love others we serve others. We also know from our study of Romans, especially chapter 5, that faith produces perseverance. When our faith is strong we endure the challenges of life and we exhibit patient endurance. Love and service go hand in hand as does faith and perseverance. On top of that Jesus tells them that what they are doing now is even better than what they did when they first started loving and serving, having faith and persevering. This church was not content to sit back and just do what they had always done. Their love increased their service and their faith increased their perseverance and Jesus the Son of God with His eyes like flames of fire saw it was so. There are a lot of church growth gurus out there that ought to read that formula.
But not everything is as it should be. Verses 20-25 20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.24 “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden.25 But hold fast what you have till I come.[2] This part is a little more difficult because we all remember that Jezebel died back in 2 Kings 9 and the dogs ate her. I do not believe that Jezebel was resurrected. But just like Jesus drew from Old Testament evil in His letter to the Pergamos church in citing Balaam as leading the church to eat food sacrificed to idols and to perform immoral acts of worship He is now drawing from one of the most evil people in the Old Testament. Jezebel kept prophet of Baal and Asherah on her payroll and led the people of Israel to worship those false gods and killed the prophets of God. We all remember the battle of the bulls on Mt. Carmel. But this is not the same woman but she is doing the same thing Jezebel did so she is fulfilling the evil of Jezebel in Thyatira. And there are people in the congregation who are allowing it to continue. Not holding her or her followers to account.
This Jezebel proclaimed herself to be a prophetess and just like those who claimed to be apostles in Ephesus and those who claimed to be Jews in Smyrna she is not what she claimed to be and Jesus is exposing her. She is claiming to speak for God and seducing believers that they can go ahead and partake of all of the guild activities, including sacrificing to false gods and immoral sexual activities in that worship. Because Jesus says in verse 25 to hold fast to what they have and comments that some have not known the depth of Satan it appears that this false prophetess is enticing believer to go for “more”. It’s as if she is saying; “What John taught you to begin with was great but trust me, I got a word from the Lord that there is so much more if you really want it.”
Jesus makes it very clear that He offered her an opportunity to repent. We do not get specifics and we do not need them. His judgment is forthcoming because she did not repent. And look at the judgment. She is going to be cast on to a bed of affliction or tribulation. The KJV just says a bed but the word used for “bed” is the word used for the bed they would carry a sick individual on, like the one the four men carried their friend on to see Jesus in Mark 2. The truth is the Son of God who has eyes like flames of fire and feet like fine brass sees what this false prophet is doing to His church and has all the power and authority of God to judge her. His judgment is sure. But we see three other categories of people in the church at Thyatira that Jesus sees and knows what’s going on. First there are those who commit adultery with her will receive the same judgment as Jezebel unless they repent of their deeds. I would suggest that these are the people who are allowing Jezebel to continue with her false teaching and by allowing it they are partaking in her sin. Jesus who sees and judges is still willing for those who have been seduced by her to repent. Second there are those who are her children; those who are sold out to her false teachings and the acts of immorality: I will kill her children with death. There is no more room for repentance for those who have given their hearts to sin. You may be thinking to yourself “that’s not fair, they have done the same things that those who get a chance to repent has done and they don’t get a chance to repent. How can that be fair? I’ll agree from a human perspective. However I don’t have God’s perspective but the Son of God who has eyes like flames of fire does. This is what He says about “fair”: all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. Basically what Jesus is saying is; “I don’t have to look at what people do to determine judgment, I know what is on the inside.” Let me be as plain as possible; you can hide what you think from me, and from everyone else for that matter. You can hide what you feel in your heart from me and everyone else, and to some degree you can hide what you do. But Jesus the Son of God who has eyes like flames of fire knows what is there and He has the power (feet of fine brass) to judge what is in the heart and mind and He wants the church to know that. Those who repent receive forgiveness, those who have devoted themselves to sin He gives death.
But then there is that third group; 24 “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden.25 But hold fast what you have till I come.[3] To those who have not fallen to the seduction of Jezebel, who are not willing to let her false teachings continue, who have not sold themselves fully to sin, Jesus has no other commands just keep doing what you are doing. You have been loving and serving, keep on loving and serving. Your faith has grown your perseverance keep on growing and persevering. You are not content to just sit back and be content with yourself. Hold on to what you have, you don’t have to look for more, I am all you need.
Remember the format of these letters goes something like this, with a few exceptions, Jesus reveals something about Himself, He compliments the church, He criticizes some things about the church, then He makes a promise to the church. To Ephesus He said He they would eat from the tree of life. To Smyrna He said they would wear the crown of life. To Pergamos they would eat some of the hidden manna and receive a stone with a special name on it. Now to the church at Thyatira He is telling them some of what they will be doing for eternity. Verses 26-29 26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star.29 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ Those who overcome, who eat of the tree of life, and wear the crown of life and are satisfied with Jesus (eat the hidden manna) and have the white stone declaring their innocence before God will share in Christ’s authority, we will share in His triumph. In Revelation 1:6 believers had been called a “kingdom and priests” Now this is expanded by the quotation from Psalm 2:9 in verse 27. They are not just priests but they will share in Christ’s authority over the nations. Christ will rule with an iron scepter (to maintain control, as a shepherd keeps control over his flock). Believers will share this rule, even going so far as to dash them in pieces like pottery. The full establishment of the kingdom of God, after Christ returns to earth, will require all forces of evil, all hostile powers to be completely subdued. The Father granted Christ the authority to rule the nations because of his willing death every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Christ, you can read that in Phil. 2:6–11. in turn, He wills to share that ruling authority with those who overcome. (Matt. 19:28 and 1 Cor. 6:2 also teach the role of saints as judges.) The overcomers will rule and reign with Christ.
A further reward of the overcomer is to receive the morning star. Morning stars appear only when night is over and a new day has arrived. The key for interpreting this is Revelation 22:16, where Christ calls Himself the Bright and Morning Star. 16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”[4] The reward is Christ himself, who will end the long night of sin’s rule in the universe. If you have an ear, then you need to listen and heed what the Spirit says.
So, what does Jesus Christ know what is He is going to do about it and what does that mean to us? He knows everything, specifically about His church, His bride. He sees our works. He knows our love for one another and for others that promotes our service to one another and others. He knows our faith that produces perseverance. But He also knows if we have grown complacent. Have we become comfortable with our “due service to Him” by showing up for church or doing what we have always done or are our works more now that when we first came to Him? He does know your heart and mind. He knows where Jezebel has crept into our midst. He knows if we have compromised on the truth or have listened to those who would lead us to “more”. Is our faith such that when we hear someone say they have a “word from the Lord” we refuse to be seduced. Or do we allow those things to creep into our lives. Only you know if you are being called to repentance from the Holy Spirit but we know that there comes a time when there is no more call to repentance. Are you holding fast to what Christ has given you? Are you ready to rule and reign with Christ? There is a judgment coming, are you prepared? Let’s pray.
[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 2:18–29). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[2] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 2:25). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[3] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 2:25). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[4] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 22:16). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.