The Letter to the Church in Thyatira

 

[Jesus said] “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).

 

To the church in Thyatira, Jesus reveals himself as “the Son of God.” This is the first time we find this name for Jesus in the book of Revelation. Jesus also connects this name to the one “whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze” (cf. Revelation 1:14-15).

 

In many cities like Thyatira in the Roman Empire, emperor worship and idol worship were impossible to miss. But if you worshiped the true Son of God, Jesus Christ, you could walk and move about with confidence amid the idol temples and altars. You could do that even if it meant you would be ostracized from the business world, rejected in your neighborhood, and perhaps beaten and put into jail or even put to death.

 

John had been an eyewitness at the transfiguration of Jesus, and he had heard the voice from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him” (Luke 9:35). John knew Jesus, and now Jesus presents himself as that same Son of God to the church in Thyatira. Jesus comes today and simply asks who He is to you? Is He merely a good teacher, a miracle worker from storybooks? Or do you know him as the only Son of God who came to this world to provide salvation and to rule as King over all earthly kings and rulers? Jesus is the living and reigning Son of God whose eyes penetrate to the heart and whose feet stomp out injustice. The call is clear… shall we join in the great chorus of all true believers to worship him, or will we be deceived by the Jezebel Spirit at work among us?