Revelation Study Series 5 - God's Mysterious Plan Fulfilled Series

Revelation Study Series 5 - God's Mysterious Plan Fulfilled

11.07.21

Message…

Thyatira had a temple to the pagan god, Apollo. Apollo was the sun god. In mythology and pagan worship he was the son of Zeus. Therefore people saw Apollo as the son of their god.

Our Lord had something to say about that...

Revelation 2:18-29

18 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Thyatira. This is the message from the Son of God, whose eyes are like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze:

19 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things.

20 “But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman—that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet—to lead My servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols.

21 I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality.

22 “Therefore, I will throw her on a bed of suffering, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly unless they repent and turn away from her evil deeds.

23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the One who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve.

We began with Ephesus, a church the Lord praised, yet also rebuked for leaving their first love, their love for Him and others. They were just going through the motions.

The church in Smyrna was a persecuted church. Their faith was strong and many of them were martyred for it.

The Lord had only praise for them and the promise of a crown of life. They truly loved the Lord and the way in which they lived and died proved it.

We talked last week about the church in Pergamum. It was a church that lived in a place where satan had a strong grip. Many who claimed to worship God, worshipped other false gods as well.

They were all about religion, ceremony, rituals, tradition, and legalism. They had religion but they didn’t have a relationship with the Lord.

And, now we come to Thyatira.

It was situated 35-40 miles from Pergamum. They often found themselves in war and captivity due to their close proximity to Pergamum. If you wanted to attack Pergamum, you went through Thyatira.

Thyatira was not a large city. In fact, it was the smallest of the cities/churches to which these letters went out to.

It was a “blue collar” town with many trade guilds/unions.

Thyatira was known as a textile industry area. There were pottery makers, clothing makers, blacksmiths, leather makers, metal workers, glass workers.

*pottery pics (They made a lot of pottery. Most of what has been unearthed is their pottery.)

Another thing Thyatira was noted for was its color dye for clothing. They would get this dye from certain roots and from certain snails.

Although Thyatira was small, it was an important place. Its industry and strategic trade route location made it important.

The church in Thyatira was a working, busy church.

Revelation 2:19

19 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things.

The Lord was well aware of all that they were doing. And they were good things. They are the things any church should be doing: serving, loving, faithful, and patient for God’s working.

Revelation 2:20

20 “But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman—that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet—to lead My servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols.

You should remember Jezebel from OT scripture. She was married to Ahab. The Bible says that there was no one more wicked than Ahab. It even goes further to say that it was Jezebel who stirred up the wickedness in Ahab. (1 Kings 21:25)

She worshipped the false god, baal. And, it was Jezebel that had many prophets of God killed, and also sought to kill the prophet Elijah.

In vs. 20...this woman’s name was probably not actually, “Jezebel”...but, more than likely the Lord is comparing her to that of the OT Jezebel.

(It would be like us calling someone Benedict Arnold...that isn’t their real name, but they did something for us to call them that.)

She was, according to our text...teaching the people to eat meat that had been sacrificed to false idols and commit sexual sin…

Idol Meat Offering…

This meat offered to idols might be difficult for us in our culture to grasp. But, in many places pagan worship/sacrifice still goes on.