The Seven Churches of the 21st
Century
Chapter
5
Thyatira: Clinging To Paganism
Revelation 2:18-29
And unto the angel of the
church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of
God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and
his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and
charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and
thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee,
because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth
herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants
to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto
idols. And I gave her space to repent of her
fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast
her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her
into great tribulation, except they repent of their
deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all
the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the
reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you
according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto
the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine,
and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they
speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that
which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that
overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him
will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule
them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter
shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of
my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches.
At this point we should
recognize that there is a progression in these seven
churches, a progression downward. The progression began
with Ephesus, was briefly interrupted by Smyrna, and
continued with Pergamum. We now see the progression
going still further with Thyatira, and as we’ll see in
our next chapter, Sardis. As the letter to the church at
Smyrna was the shortest of the seven letters, the letter
to Thyatira was the longest. The Lord had much to say to
this church, a church that was carrying on the tendency
started in Pergamum. While the believers in Pergamum
were “tolerating” the world, those in Thyatira were
quite literally clinging to paganism, passionately
embracing pagan practices.
The Root of the Letter (v.
18)
And unto the angel of the
church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of
God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and
his feet are like fine brass;
Concerning
Christ
The picture of Christ in
this verse comes from Revelation 1:14-15:
His head and his hairs
were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes
were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine
brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as
the sound of many waters.
It’s extremely
significance that this is the most frightening
picture of Christ in all the seven letters. The Lord
presents Himself as One Who is bringing terrible
judgment upon those at Thyatira because they had not
only allowed paganism into
their midst, they were embracing it. As we’ll see later
in this study, God will not tolerate paganism.
Verse 14 declares
that His eyes were as a flame of fire. Ponder a
few characteristics of fire: (1) It burns away any mask,
pretense, or facade; (2) It penetrates any obstacle; (3)
It consumes anything in its path and utterly devastates;
(4) It reproduces itself. Our Lord then uses the term
feet of bronze to show His
intention to crush sin and rebellion under foot.
Concerning
The Church
The literal meaning
of “Thyatira” is continual sacrifice. This fact cannot be over-emphasized, and the
significance of it will become clear in the two sections
on the “Prophetic History” of this
church.
Prophetic
History
The church at
Thyatira is extremely significant in viewing Church
History for it pictures the period of Church History
called “The Middle Ages” (590-1517), the latter of which
was “The Dark Ages.” As we’ll see in much more detail
later, this was the period in which the rise of
“Romanism” (Roman Catholicism) took place. The Catholic
“mass” is, as the name “Thyatira” shows, a continual
sacrifice for the sins of the
living and dead. We’ll come back to this under “The
Rebuke.”
Concerning
The City
The city of Thyatira was
located about thirty-five miles southeast of Pergamum.
It was especially known for its wool and dyeing
industry. The waters there were so well adapted to
dyeing that nowhere else could scarlet cloth be so
brilliantly and permanently dyed. We recall that Lydia,
Paul’s first convert in Philippi, was a “seller of
purple from Thyatira” (Acts 16:14). Thyatira was also a
military city, standing between any invading army from
the east and Pergamum (the capitol of Asia Minor).
Because it stood in an open valley, however, and had no
natural defenses, it could not be fortified; the best
its garrison of Macedonian troops could hope to do was
fight a delaying action that would give Pergamum time to
prepare.
The Regard of the Letter (v.
19)
I know thy works, and
charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and
thy works; and the last to be more than the
first.
Amazingly, our Lord
actually did have a great regard for this church. This
seems peculiar in light of His scorching rebuke, but it
demonstrates once again that we can be doing many things
right but still have serious problems. It is for that
reason that Scripture commands us to constantly be
“[examining ourselves], whether [we] be in the faith”
(II Cor. 13:5). Christ’s regard, then, was
threefold.
Their
Actions
Like those in
Ephesus, their works were exemplary. The Greek is
again ergon (2:2), which speaks of their
systematic labor. Likewise, their service was
noteworthy. The Greek here is diakonia,
which speaks of labor and service and originally
spoke of serving tables. It is similar, of course, to
diakonos from which is
derived the word “deacon.” Each member of that body,
then, was ministering to and serving the
others.
Their Attitudes
They had the
attitudes of charity (love) and faith.
There was indeed a love for others and a certain piety
and devoutness to God. The question that comes to mind
at this point is, “If there was so much love and faith
in this church, why then was there such a great sin
problem?” The answer is found in an interesting contrast
between this church and the church at Ephesus. In
Ephesus there was doctrine but no love,
while in Thyatira there was love but no
doctrine. We have the same
extremes today. There are those who just want to speak
of love but have no in-depth teaching. There are others
who have the teaching but do not emphasize the need for
believers to minister to one another. There must be a
balance. Doctrine is the foundation while love is the
decoration.
Another attitude
present in Thyatira was patience, as we also saw among the Ephesians (2:2). While
there was no direct persecution, those believers
patiently endured the hardships of daily life and
ministry.
Their
Additions
The words, Thy
works and the last to be more than the
first, show that the church was
increasing. To the casual observer, this church was
increasing in works, service, and numbers, just like
many churches today. But, once again, there was
something drastically wrong.
The Rebuke of the Letter (vs.
20-23)
Notwithstanding I have a
few things against thee, because thou sufferest that
woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to
teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication,
and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her
space to repent of her fornication; and she repented
not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that
commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except
they repent of their deeds. And I will kill
her children with death; and all the churches shall know
that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I
will give unto every one of you according to your
works.
Those are grave words,
indeed. Even in view of the regard, this church had been
completely absorbed into the world and was even clinging
to pagan practices. This section of our study is
lengthy, so let us again present it in a threefold
fashion.
The Scene In
Thyatira
The thoughts of this
letter closely resemble those in the letter to Pergamum,
but this letter goes further in its rebuke
because this church had gone further in its
rebellion. The contrast can be put this way:
Pergamum was entangled with the world,
while Thyatira was absorbed into the
world. Or we can put the matter another way: Pergamum
was tolerant of paganism, while Thyatira was
clinging to paganism,
embracing it as though it were true. As did Israel many
times in her history, this church allowed pagan
practices into its midst and then even adopted those
practices into its worship as though they were totally
acceptable unto God.
It is in verse 20,
in fact, that we read that the believers in this church
had actually allowed pagan teachings into the church.
These teachings centered in a woman who is referred to
as Jezebel. Now, as most
commentators agree, this undoubtedly was not this
woman’s real name, rather this name was used by the Lord
Jesus in order to show the parallel between the scene
here and that of the Old Testament Jezebel (I Kings 16).
Jezebel
married Israel’s wicked king Ahab and instituted Baal
worship in Israel. Baal (also called Belus) was the
Babylonian god of rain and fertility. Beltis (also
called Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Astarte, Venus, Aphrodite,
etc. by various pagan civilizations) was the female
deity of sensual love and fertility. Worship included
animal sacrifice, male and female prostitution,
sacrifice of virginity, and at times even infant
sacrifice. The Jezebel in
Thyatira, therefore, who called herself a “prophetess,”
taught pagan doctrine and lured many into it. The church
was indeed, according to verse 21, clinging to paganism
with no intention of change. How many cults have we seen
begin in modern times, some of which were started by
women, in exactly the same way described here?
We then come to
verses 22-23 where we find the judgment that would come
upon this Jezebel and her followers. The statement
cast her into bed is especially significant since
the heart of pagan worship was sexual immorality
(symbolized by the bed). So, we could put the matter it
this way: The judgment to come would be “the bed of
tribulation and death.” The same would be true of her
children (i.e. her
followers). Even more tragic is the fact that unlike any
of the other churches, the corruption in this church was
being taught to others. Think of it! As if it was not
bad enough that pagan practices were allowed to go on,
these practices were being taught within the church! And
as we are going to see, such things are still being
taught today.
The Scene In
Church History
We are about to outline
one of the most dramatic and unbelievable things to
occur in the history of the Church. As mentioned back in
Chapter 1, there are some expositors who question that
the seven churches represent seven periods of Church
History. But how they can ignore this in light of the
following is beyond our understanding.
Prophetic
History
The church at
Thyatira is, without any shadow of a doubt, a picture of
Papal Rome (i.e. Roman Catholicism). Catholics quite
boldly say: “The first and ONLY church was the Roman
Catholic Church.” All the different branches of the
Protestant Church, they argue, have simply broken away
from Rome, the true church. It is insisted that here was
no Protestant Church until Martin Luther. What a lie
that is easily proven to be a lie! Historically, there
was no Roman Church (or Papacy) until the seventh
century. For six centuries before that the one true
Church, the body of Christ, was continually growing more
corrupt as it drifted away from the Word of God. Between
313 and 590 the bishop at Rome was considered “first
among equals,” but in 590 the Roman bishop was given
supremacy over all other bishops. In the strict sense of
the word, this bishop (who in 590 was Gregory I) became
the first “Pope.” The Papacy then had to go back through
history and arbitrarily choose certain men through whom
they could trace “apostolic succession” back to Peter.
When one honestly
and biblically analyzes Catholicism, he finds that
virtually every doctrine, holy day, rite, dogma,
ceremony, vestment, and title in the Roman Church has
its roots in ancient pagan religion. Earlier we
mentioned the “continual sacrifice” (the meaning of
“Thyatira”) of the Catholic “mass.” During every
mass Christ is again offered up in sacrifice for the
sins of the living and the dead. The priest supposedly
calls Christ down from Heaven and sacrifices Him again.
It is that “power,” in fact, that is supposedly given to
the priest at his ordination. This parallels the pagans
as they made “continual sacrifice” to their gods. Such
teaching is unimaginable, and it is equally appalling
that any true Christian today can tolerate such teaching
and even encourage “unity” with the Roman Catholic
Church. The Word of God clearly declares that Christ’s
sacrifice was once-for-all
(Heb. 9:28; 10:10-14), never to be repeated. To do so is
to “crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put
him to an open shame” (6:6). Think of it! Tens of
millions of times our Lord has been blasphemed by the
Roman Catholic mass.
I am absolutely
compelled here to interject how grievous a thing it is
to hear the word Christmas” come out of the mouth of
Christians in a positive way. The word means
Christ-Mass and is utter
blasphemy. Can we not stop for even a millisecond and
think about what we are saying? Can we not stop and
realize what we are identifying with and sanctioning?
Are Christian leaders simply ignorant of such a fact or
just too afraid of offending someone by taking a stand
against such blasphemy?
Another graphic
illustration is the statues of “The Madonna and Child,”
which are so characteristic of Catholicism. Mary is
elevated to deity and is worshiped. She is considered to
be the “Co-Redemptrix” with Christ, that is, she
cooperates with Christ in the work of saving sinners.
Further, Mary is also considered “Mediatrix,” that is,
she now dispenses God’s grace and blessings to the
spiritually needy. These doctrines have always been a
part of Catholicism and were reaffirmed in Vatican II
(1963-65).
This has direct roots in
Babylon! Beltis is equivalent to “Baalti,” which
translated into English is “My Lady.” In Latin this is
“Mea Dominia,” which was corrupted into “Madonna” in
Italian. When one traces this back to Babylon, he finds
there the “Goddess Mother and Her Son.” That image
literally spread all over the world. In Egypt the statue
was Isis and Osiris; in Roman mythology it was Venus and
Cupid; in Asia it was Cybele and Deoius; even in the
Orient, China for example, we find the mother Shing Moo
with a child in her arms and “glory” shining around her
as if a Catholic artist had painted it.
I am again compelled to
interject that Christians who would never dream of
allowing a statue of Mary or one of the “Madonna and
Child” into their church do precisely that every single
Christmas by erecting a “Nativity Scene.” It is no less
an image of “Madonna and Child” than any
other.
Nothing is more
characteristic of the Roman system, however, and more
typical of paganism, than the veneration of relics and
statues of the martyrs. Relics include supposed pieces
of the cross, bones of martyrs, pieces of the silver
coins Judas took for betraying Christ, pieces of cloth
woven by the Virgin Mary, and even vials of milk from
her breasts. By visiting and venerating such relics
worshipers are promised less time in purgatory. There is
also the veneration of statues of the saints by kissing
them, bowing down to them, and burning candles and
incense before them. And what do we do in churches
today? We have “candlelight services.” All of this is
without argument pagan in origin. Among the Egyptians,
for example, the God Osiris was venerated by relics.
There were sepulchers of that martyred god all over
Egypt, all containing an arm, a leg, or even a skull,
all of which were claimed to be genuine.
There are numerous other
things in Catholicism that have their roots in ancient
paganism. We could examine baptismal regeneration,
justification by works, purgatory, prayers for the dead,
the rosary, the sign of the cross, the “stations” of the
cross, the “Sovereign Pontiff” (the Pope), as well as
priests, monks, and nuns. All of this stuff and much
more came right out of Babylon and into the Roman
system. In His commentary on Revelation, Harry Ironside
provides us with one of the best descriptions of Roman
Catholicism ever written:
Romanism is Christianity,
Judaism, and Heathenism joined together; and the Lord
abhors the vile combination. God gave Rome space to
repent, and she repented not. Go back to the days of
Savanarola (Italy), Wickliffe and Cranmer (England),
John Knox (Scotland), Martin Luther (Germany), Zwingle
(Switzerland), Calvin (France)—all those mighty
reformers whom God raised up throughout the world to
call Rome to repent of her iniquity, but she repented
not. If she had any desire to get right with Him, she
would have repented in the sixteenth century.
No truer words have ever
been written. Since the 16th Century, there
has been the Council of Trent, Vatican I, and Vatican
II, and the Roman system remains unchanged and
unrepentant. It is no less than a monstrous evil.
May we also add, as the
Old Testament Jezebel killed Godly Naboth, the Roman
Catholic Church instituted the inquisition during this
period of history and killed many true Christians who
stood against pagan Rome. There is no denying that Roman
Catholicism is as far from true Christianity as one can
get. In spite of that fact, however, many supposedly
evangelical leaders today continue to call for unity
among Catholics and evangelicals, calling the
Reformation the biggest mistake in Church History. Oh,
how God is going to judge!
Does that mean we
hate Catholics? ABSOLUTELY NOT! We pity them and make them an object of our
passionate witness, for they have been deluded by
countless lies. But we do, indeed, hate the pagan Roman
system, for there is no greater blasphemy in the annals
of religion. It is a perversion of the true Gospel that
has spewed out of Hell itself.
The Scene
Today
How does all this relate
and apply to Christians today? We see here two strong
applications.
First, an
application that practically jumps off the page is that
a woman was being allowed to teach within the Church, a
practice that permeates the Church today. Never in
Church History do we find as many women in Church
leadership than today, in spite of the fact of how
plainly Scripture says that they should not; there is a
whole
horde of women leaders and teachers in churches,
seminars, ladies retreats, private Bible studies, and
the like. Try as I might, I do not understand how
a principle that is so clear, so unambiguous, so beyond
any doubt, can be so ignored. Paul could not have
been clearer when he wrote these three separate
clauses to Timothy: “But I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in
silence” (1 Tim. 2:2). In the meeting and ministry of
the Church, a woman is neither to teach
nor have a position of
leadership. Men are to lead, and women are to follow.
This fact bears out
throughout the New Testament. Not once do we see a women
pastor-teacher, evangelist, bishop, or elder. As in the
Old Testament, no New Testament author was a woman, nor
do we find a record of a sermon or teaching by a woman.
Yes, Acts 21:9 records that the daughters of Philip
“prophesied,” but neither the occasion nor the message
is included, so there is no justification in assuming
that they taught during the public worship, much less
that they had an ongoing preaching ministry. The book of
Acts, in fact, nowhere records a women teaching in
public, much less teaching men. While 1 Corinthians 11:5
permits women to pray and speak the Word, Paul makes it
clear in 14:34 and I Timothy 2:11-12 that it is not to
be in the assembly of the church.
In addition to all
that evidence, presbuteros
(“elder”) is masculine. If women could be elders, the
Bible would somewhere say so by using the Greek presbutera, but we never find
that term in the Bible as speaking of a female elder.
The word presbuteras does appear in I
Timothy 5:2, but it is used only to refer to older women
not women elders. Likewise, the requirements for
leadership in I Timothy 3:1-7 speak specifically of “a
man” desiring the
office (v. 1) and the necessity of him being “the
husband of one wife” (v. 2); with no sarcasm intended, I
know of no way that a woman can be the husband of one
wife.
It is a sad commentary on
the Church today that a principle so crystal clear, an
issue so beyond any doubt whatsoever, can still be
totally ignored or readjusted for the express purpose of
conforming to modern thought.
Second,
another application that is even clearer than the first
is: Stay away from any hint of paganism. A truth
that Christians today simply do not realize is that with
the exception of hypocrisy, there is nothing that God
hates more or judges more harshly than false worship and
paganism (please read that statement
again). At the very foundation
of God’s Law were the commands:
Thou shalt have no other
gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in
the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down
thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God
am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me (Ex. 20:3-5).
Lest we read it
quickly, we need to emphasize that God said, in the
context of religion purpose, we are not to make
any image or any
likeness of any thing. Could
God have been clearer? God’s people were not (and
are not today) to make anything a religious
symbol. Period! To do so was
(and is) to invite God’s wrath not only upon those do
so, but also to their descendents for up to four
generations. God is holy and righteous, and He will not
tolerate false worship.
What I have always
found so significant of the incident above is that that
within hours of God giving those commands, the
children of Israel defiled themselves with a pagan idol.
We should carefully note in Exodus 32:15 that as Moses
came down from the mountain, with God’s Law still in
his hands, he found the people
worshipping the principle god of Egypt, a Bull, and saw
thousands of naked people in the throes of a pagan orgy.
Could anything be
more appalling? The answer is YES! Even more significant
is verse 5, where upon seeing the newly constructed
idol, Aaron “built an altar before it; and Aaron made
proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the
LORD.” Here is something unimaginable. Just like
millions of people do today, they blended paganism in
with what God created and actually tried to honor God
with it; they tried to
“sanctify” the filth of paganism and dedicate it to God.
What was the result? At first God intend to consume the
entire nation (v. 10) and simply start over again!
Because of Moses’ intercession, however, God relented,
but Moses himself still ordered that 3,000 of the worst
offenders be killed (v. 28).
Equal to that incident was
another in Numbers 25. Balaam lured many of the men of
Israel into the worship of the Moabite farm and
fertility god Baal-peor, which involved immoral sexual
rites and ritualistic feasting. What was the result? One
thousand worship leaders were beheaded and their heads
displayed for all to see (v. 4). An additional 24,000
were killed in a plague (v. 9).
One would think that those
judgments would have been enough. Not so. The Balaam
incident, in fact, actually started a trend among the
Israelites that lasted for over 1,000 years! In Judges
2:10-15, a new generation of Israelites forsook the Lord
and worshipped Baal and Ashteroth. As a result God sold
them into the hands of their enemies. The same thing
happened again in Judges 3:7-8. Even Solomon, in his old
age, tolerated and eventually openly practiced the
worship of Ashtoreth, and God severely chastised him
using his enemies Hadad, Rezon, and Heroboam (I Kings
11).
Again, this
continued for centuries until God finally allowed the
Babylonians, the very originators of pagan
worship, to carry His chosen
people into captivity for 70 years. It’s significant,
thankfully, that in those 70 years the Israelites
finally got “a belly full” of paganism; after their
release never again did they fall into pagan worship,
even to this very day.
In spite of those
sobering warnings, however, one of the saddest facts in
Christianity today is that countless believers cling to
pagan practices in their homes and churches. They put up
(and even venerate) symbols and images in direct
contradiction to the very foundation of the God’s Word.
At the end of this book there is an Appendix containing
an in-depth study of the so-called “holidays” (which is
derived from “Holy Days”) that we observe today,
holidays that are in every respect and every tradition
(without exception) pagan in origin. For our
present purposes, however, we’ll touch briefly on the
subject. My purpose is not to offend or upset anyone,
rather to plead with God’s
people to rid our homes and churches of things cannot
possible please Him, no matter how we try to “sanctify”
them.
For example, the
things we observe during “Easter” (right along with
Catholicism) came right out of Babylon. Did you get
that? The forty days of abstinence during “Lent” was
borrowed directly from the
worshippers of Ishtar. The “hot cross buns” of Good
Friday were eaten in worship of Ishtar (Jer. 7:18). The
“Easter Egg” was a symbol of Astarte (fertility) and
supposedly possessed mystic powers. “The egg” is also
found among the Hindus, Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese, and
Japanese. The word “Easter” is itself Babylonian and is
merely a transliteration of the word “Ishtar.” I am not
making this up; this is historical
fact.
Additionally, and
even more dramatic, without a single exception,
every custom observed at “Christmas” is also
totally pagan in origin, as even secular
resources make very clear. The Christmas tree, yule log,
mistletoe, holly, ivy, and even the greeting “Merry
Christmas” are throw backs to ancient pagan practices.
Even the date, December 25, was intentionally
chosen by the Roman Catholic Church to try to blend it
with two pagan festivals: the Saturnalia, which honored
Saturnius, the god of agriculture, and Dies Natalis
Solis Invictus, the Day of the Birth of the
Undefeated Sun. Even worse, the very term
“Christ-mas” glorifies the
blasphemous Roman Catholic doctrine of the mass, and how
true Christians can continue to revere this is beyond
comprehension.
As if all that were not
enough, most Christians think nothing of observing
Valentine’s Day, which is nothing but the worship of
Venus and Cupid, and many think Halloween is a cute and
fun time, when in reality it is a day that belongs to
Satan.
Even seemingly
harmless days have pagan origins. Consider, for example,
Saint Patrick’s Day on March 17. Yes, it’s celebrated to
commemorate the death of the great Celtic missionary to
Ireland in the 5th Century. But in reality,
the Irish have observed that day as a religious holiday
for thousands of years. It is, in fact, the national day
of Ireland, which celebrates the Trefuilnid
Treochair, “triple bearer of the triple key,” the
trident-carrying Celtic deity who was later assimilated
into Saint Patrick. His sacred symbol is the shamrock,
and worshipers are to wear green to symbolize the return
of spring and the return of growth and fertility to the
land. Even Patrick himself chose to incorporate
traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity. He
used bonfires, for example, to celebrate Easter since
the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He
also superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto
the Christian cross to create what is now called a
Celtic cross, so that worship of the symbol would seem
more natural to the Irish. Mark it down: The blending
of paganism with Christianity, something God could not
judge harshly enough, has consistently occurred
throughout the history of the Church.
We should make one
point here. Regarding what we examined earlier about
relics and statues, there is no better summary than the
following from the well known and mammoth work,
McClintock and Strong’s Encyclopedia. It starts
by recording the fact, “Images were unknown in the
worship of primitive Christians, who abstained from
worship of images because they thought it unlawful in
itself to make any images of deity.” Did you get that?
The Primitive Church, that is, the Church of the New
Testament and the days shortly thereafter, did not
use images of any kind. Why?
Because God forbid it! But something happened.
By the steady
pressure of the heathen ideas and habits upon
Christianity, emblems such as the dove, the fish, the
anchor, vine, lamb, etc., formed the first step; then,
paintings representing great Biblical events, saints,
martyrs, which were placed in the vestibule of the
church. Yet this practice was unfavorably regarded by
the synods of the fourth century. When, however, in the
same century, Christianity was proclaimed (by
Constantine) the religion of the state, the use of
painting, sculpture and jewelry became general for the
decoration of the churches resulting in the adoption of
a regular system of symbolic religious images.
The teachers of the church became gradually more
accommodating in their relations with the heathen,
allowing them to retain their old usages, while
conforming to the outward forms of Christianity. Thus
the worship of images became so general that it had to
be repeatedly checked by laws. In the sixth century, it
had grown into a great abuse, especially in the East,
where images were made the object of a special
adoration: they were kissed, lamps were burned before
them, incense was offered to them—in short, they were
treated in every respect as the heathen were wont to
treat the images of their gods. The same arguments now
used by the Romanists to defend image worship were
rejected by Christians of the first three centuries when
used in defense of image worship. The heathen said, We
do not worship the images themselves, hut those whom
they represent. To this Lactantius (third century A.D.)
answers, “You worship them; for, if you believe
them to be in heaven, why do you not raise your eyes up
to heaven? Why do you look at the images, and not up
where you believe them to be?” Thomas Aquinas, a Roman
Catholic (13th century), declared, “A picture,
considered in itself, is worthy of no veneration, but if
we consider it as an image of Christ, it may be
allowable to make an internal distinction between the
image and its subject, and adoration and service are as
well due to it as to Christ.” Bonaventura the
Franciscan, said, “Since all veneration shown to the
image of Christ is shown to Christ himself, then the
image of Christ is also entitled to be prayed to.”
Bellarmine, Rome’s principal authority in dogmatic
theology (1542-1621), writes, “The images of Christ and
the saints are to be adored, not only in a figurative
manner, but quite positively, so that the prayers are
directly addressed to them, and not merely as
representatives of the original.” De
Imaginibus.
Again, in direct
contradiction to God’s command to make no religious
images, the Church slowly, step by step, did exactly
that. And appallingly, we see very much the same
veneration of images even among evangelicals. I know,
some folks get upset with such strong statements, but I
again appeal to the hearts of God’s people. We hang
pictures of Jesus on the wall, plaster Christian symbols
on our cars, and wear jewelry with religious symbols. We
are simply compelled to say, on the authority of the
Word of God, such practices are unbiblical and pagan in
origin. Such things do not please God. Further, they
cannot please Him because He
forbids them. Again, we should not try to justify such
things, or try to “sanctify” such practices by trying to
find some “spiritual application.” Rather we should
grieve over such habits and burn the offending
articles.
The reader is urged to
read the Appendix before going on to the next chapter.
From the depths of my heart I submit that we should
mourn over these things. Why do Christians want to cling
to paganism? Is it for sentimental reasons? Is it just
out of tradition? Is it just because it’s fun? Whatever
the reason, and if God’s Word is true, such things
blaspheme God. As we noted in our study of the Church at
Smyrna, those believers were killed for standing against
such pagan worship. But in Thyatira, and in Christianity
today, there are many who cling to such practices as if
they were pivotal to Christian living.
Let us take special
note of the latter part of verse 23: all the churches
shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and
hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according
to your works. The word reins translates the
Greek nephros, which literally means “kidney.”
It’s used metaphorically to refer to the innermost mind,
desires, and passions, much like we use the word “heart”
in our day. Hearts, then, is kardia, which
originally referred to the seat of emotions and
spirituality but eventually came to mean spiritual and
intellectual life. Our Lord is, therefore, telling us
that He looks into our very being and sees our thoughts,
feelings, desires, motives, and intentions. There is no
pretense before Him and we can hide nothing
from Him. What a challenge
that is, then, to get our thoughts, feelings, desires,
motives, and intentions right before God in the area of
paganism.
The Requirement of the Letter
(vs. 22b, 24-25)
. . . except they
repent of their deeds. . . . But unto you I say, and
unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this
doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan,
as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
But that which ye have already hold fast till I
come.
We find here a twofold
requirement.
Repent (v.
22b)
We have dealt with
this already. “Jezebel” and her followers in Thyatira
refused to repent, and so did
the Roman Church, and it remains unrepentant in our day.
The question that remains is, “Will we
repent?”
Be Reminded
(vs. 24-25)
Not everyone in the
church at Thyatira was corrupt. The same is true
historically; not everyone was corrupt during the Dark
Ages of Church History. Our Lord addresses these using
the words as many as have not this doctrine, and
which have not known the depths of Satan. The ancient Gnostics were always speaking of
“deeper knowledge” that only they could discover, which
is the same teaching of countless groups through the
ages: the Christian Scientist, the Spiritist, the
Scientologist, the New Ager, and a plethora of others.
So there were those who stayed pure, a remnant who
remained faithful, upon whom no judgment would fall.
Still Christ
challenged these believers as well as those who were not
faithful. He told them to hold fast till I come.
Hold fast is the Greek (krateo), which means “lay hold of, seize, adhere to.”
What is it that we seize? To what do we adhere? THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST. We are to cling to Him until He comes to
take us home. This is the first mention of Christ coming
for the Church in the book of Revelation. We should also
point out that the verb tense here is the Aorist Tense
(the tense which shows punctiliar action). The
significance of this is that these believers had “let
go” of certain truths and needed to grab hold of them
again. Oh, how we need to grab onto the Truth! Oh, how
we need to cling to the Savior, not paganism!
The Reassurance of the Letter
(vs. 26-29)
And he that overcometh,
and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give
power over the nations: And he shall
rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter
shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of
my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches.
For their obedience, the
believers in Thyatira were promised two
things.
Authority
Over The Nations (vs. 26-27)
This is the first
definite statement concerning the coming Millennial
Kingdom in the book of Revelation (see 19:15; 20:4-6).
The Roman Papacy wants to rule now; throughout Church
History, it has been behind the scenes of many
governments, pulling the strings of many a ruler. The
book of Revelation, however, tells us that when Christ
comes He will show that the Roman Church is
not the Church but is the
Harlot, Religious Babylon.
The words My
works (speaking of Jesus’ works)
are in contrast to the works of Jezebel. So, those who
hold to Christ’s works will actually aid Him in His
reign on earth during the Millennium. What a thought!
The Morning
Star (v. 28-29)
The words The
Morning Star are yet another reference to Christ
(see also 22:16 and II Pet. 1:19). Think of it! When we
go to heaven, Christ will be ours. In other words, if we
have clung only to Him, we are going to know a special
kind of communion with Him. Of course, all believers
will have communion with Christ, but the declaration
here is that those who have clung only to Him, those
who have rid their lives of pagan distraction, will have
a special communion. Did you get
that? We’re not told what this communion is, but we can
only imagine how sweet it will be.
Verse 29 closes the
letter to Thyatira, but we should take special note of
it uniqueness. In the first three letters the “call to
hear” was given before the “Reassurance.” In this
letter, however, and the last three, the “call to hear”
is given after the
“Reassurance.” That fact dramatically shows that only
true believers will listen and heed Christ’s words.
There are many today (those in the Roman system, for
example) who profess to know Christ but will not listen
to and heed the message of this letter. Even some
professing evangelicals refuse to listen and heed. How
many of those rebellious ones are not true believers at
all?
In closing, I admit that
what has been said has been strong, but may I point out
that the letter itself is strong. We examined a church
that was destroying itself, not by all the good things
it was doing, but by putting itself under the wrath of
God by clinging to some things that didn’t seem to make
all that much difference, but were in actuality
blaspheming God. Oh, my Dear Christian Friend, cling
only to your Dear Savior. Uplift Him only in all that
you say and do.
