You Can’t Meet Halfway Series

Revelation 2: 18 - 29

You Can’t Meet Halfway

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.”’

I have come to realize that there are two things that can destroy our lives and they are tolerance and compromise. Here are a couple of great sounding comments relative to these problems.;

“All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is surrender. For it is all give and no take.”

“A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece”

“If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”

“Compromise is but the sacrifice of one right or good in the hope of retaining another--too often ending in the loss of both.”

Our Precious Holy Lord and Savior Jesus Christ directed His Apostle John to write to 7 churches. Thyatira is the fourth one on His list which is the middle one. Very interestingly this church not only deals with then the present church of Thyatira but also deals with church history. The time frame consists from 538 AD till around 1798 AD. For you history buffs this time period is known as the ‘Dark Ages’ or ‘The Middle Ages’. We will cover this in more detail shortly.

Thyatira was predominately known for two types of products – Purple color and the production of brass. In the book of Acts chapter 16 we first come upon the evangelization of this area.

“11 Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. 14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.”

Let’s take a look now at what the message our Lord wants to teach us as He has done in His letter to Thyatira.

‘And to the angel of the church in Thyatira, write, These things says the Son of God, who has his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished brass.’

In just one sentence our Master gives us great information. Some skeptics who deny the Divinity of our Great King say ‘Well, He never claimed Himself to be the Son of God.’ Look at the verse again. Here the true identity of the Son of Man is openly declared. He is ‘the Son of God’. This is mentioned to put extra stress on the warnings.