Jesus’ Message to His Idolatrous Church

Revelation 2:18-29

In a recent sermon in early July, a pastor in the Presbyterian Church USA said, “Abortion is a moral good, an act of love, an act of grace, and a blessing.” She preached this to get Christians to support abortions without restrictions. After all, the modern psyche says it’s unloving to force people with unwanted pregnancies to have children. In her sermon she said aborting an unborn child because she’s a girl is a “moral good;” an unborn boy because he has Down syndrome is “an act of love;” and an unborn baby because you forgot to use birth control and don’t wanna be a parent yet “is an act of grace.” Listen to her testimony - “I, too, feel that I am known by God in these ways, as a woman who has borne two children. I can affirm that I felt something sacred happening in my gestating body during those pregnancies. I can also attest that I felt God’s presence with me as I made the decision to end two pregnancies and I felt no guilt, no shame, no sin.” Abortion is an act of love. No, it’s not - it’s idolatry. But how could a pastor say this? Yes, the church of Ephesus was so doctrinaire, she lacked love. But what’s scarier is downplaying truth in favor of love. 1 Corinthians 13:6 says that love rejoices not in iniquity but in the truth. But the problem with Thyatira was she rejoiced in iniquity and not in the truth. And it led to idolatry.

Last week we saw Pergamos. She was rebuked for her toleration of false doctrine. If she didn’t repent, she’d become the church of Thyatira. Pergamos was on shaky ground, but Thyatira was on sinking ground. And we see Christ’s words to her in 4 parts: firstly, he assured her of his violent destruction, secondly, he evaluated her charity and idolatry; thirdly, he exhorted her to stand firmly on the gospel; fourthly, he promised to reward every one of them.

Firstly, he assured her of his violent destruction. Why? She was idolatrous. The majority in Pergamos hadn’t succumbed to idolatry; she only tolerated it. But the majority in Thyatira was seduced by it - so much so that the minority was described in verse 24 as the remnant. So Christ assured them that he’s the one who’d destroy. Verse 18 says, “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.” There are 3 descriptions here. He’s the Son of God. Now, this certainly refers to his incarnation as God’s Son. But it also describes his kingly authority. Kings of Israel were called the Sons of God. We see this in Psalm 2 - God’s anointed king who fought the wicked was called Son. Isaiah 9:6 - “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder.” So Christ is the promised king who has absolute authority and power. And how would he manifest his power? By his burning eyes - his piercing judgment. Isaiah 9:6 says he’s wonderful counselor, and Isaiah 28:29 - he’s wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom. He sees everything. But he also has red hot burning feet. He destroys his enemies. Psalm 2 - he’ll make his enemies a footstool. He’ll subjugate them.

Now, why does Christ give this scary assurance to them? Because of their unique context. Thyatira was an industrial town. Archaeologists discovered inscriptions describing many trade guilds. But 2 trades stand out. The first was metal works. She was well known for her burnished bronze. A protected secret - and she sold it for military armament. That’s why Christ described himself as coming with fine bronze feet. Their bronze was good, but his was better and stronger! It was the Son of God’s bronze. Another trade she was famous for was the color purple. If you recall, Lydia sold purple. She was from Thyatira and brought purple dye to sell in Philippi. The color was so hard to extract from sea snails, that it was costly. By 301 AD, 500 grams of purple dye cost 150,000 denarii or 1 1/2 kilograms of gold. Today’s equivalent is S$125,000. This is why only kings could wear it. But who’s Christ? The ultimate king and wearer of purple.

But why this imagery? We’ve that trade guilds dominated life and business. It’s like the huiguan (Chinese clan associations) - they helped immigrants settle in overseas and got them jobs. But they had their own patron gods. Settling down and getting a job required worship. So if Christians wanted to buy and sell, they had to worship. Some compromised. But while they sacrificed to gods of the purple and bronze, who was the God who personified ultimate royalty and power? Christ.

And here, we see secondly, he evaluated her charity and idolatry. Verse 19 says, “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.” Here, he acknowledged her progress in her works. What were her works? He commended her progress in loving service. Her love led to service, and her faith led to patient endurance; not 4 separate things, but 2 parallels which showed they loved man and God. Ephesus had lost this love. Initially in Ephesians 1:15, Paul said - “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints.” They faithfully loved Christ and loved all the saints. But by Revelation 2, they lost that first love. But Christ commended Thyatira for her faith toward God and love to others. So where Ephesus regressed, Thyatira progressed. Christ even acknowledged that it grew - her latest works were more than her first works. But the unimaginable happened. All her love couldn’t compensate her sin of idolatry.

Despite her progress in love, she had also progressed in her wicked idolatry. Verses 20-21-“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.” We see she tolerated a prophetess who taught and seduced Christians to commit fornication and idolatry. Now, this was the same as Pergamos, but worse. They were probably taught - “Christ is the only savior! These huiguan gods aren’t real! Holding joss stick, bowing, and gambling is only cultural and economic.” But the difference was this - while Pergamos tolerated such immorality, most were still faithful. But in Thyatira, the majority was seduced by this way of life. It’s bad enough for a church to tolerate sin; it’s another for her to celebrate it. And the majority did, because in verse 24, Christ addressed the unaffected remnant - the minority who were not affected. And verse 21 says this wasn’t the first warning. He’d addressed this Jezebel before and gave her time and space to repent. But she hadn’t.

Now, we don’t know much about her. Jezebel was probably not her real name for no one would call themselves this name. If you remember the prototype Jezebel in 1 and 2 Kings was the wife of King Ahab. She stirred him to worship Baal and to do evil. She killed the true prophets and supported 850 false prophets. 2 Kings 9:22 says she was famous for her idolatry, whoredoms, and witchcraft. She was so domineering that Ahab, who was a weak leader, listened to her. And the prophetess of Revelation was channeling her inner Jezebel. Now, the issue wasn’t that she was a woman. The early church had prophetesses - like the daughters of Philip. But she called herself a prophetess - meaning, she wasn’t sent by God. But she gained followers through her talent. Her messages weren’t from God, even though she spoke in his name. But we know she wasn’t from God because Christ called her Jezebel! It’s because she misled and deceived God’s people into the idolatry of the trade guilds. “Thus saith the Lord, you can serve God and mammon. Don’t hurt your career. Don’t impoverish your family.” One scholar suggested she spoke like this, “Let’s mingle with these people during the week; let’s go to their religious services, and participate in their feasts. Then they will realize that we too know how to have fun, and are not judgmental of them.” Now, one wonders how they could be increasing in loving service toward God and man, and still increase in idolatry. It baffles the mind. How could this happen? You see, the switch is very subtle. Ephesus was doctrinaire and polemical, and lost their first love; but Thyatira was so focussed on love she lost all doctrinal discernment. Perhaps the members, wanting to be relevant or show Christian generosity, said - “we must be loving” and were seduced by Jezebel. Many churches today dilute their theological heritage in their desire to be reasonable. Yes, Ephesian lovelessness is bad, but Thyatiran apostasy and idolatry is far worse. Just as Ahab failed to resist Jezebel prototype, the angels of Thyatira didn’t eject the ultimate Jezebel. After all, God is love! I remember to my horror a Christian friend who liked to listen to death metal; when I pointed out its Satanic imagery and themes, he said - “Jesus said we must love our enemies and Satan is our enemy.” We value relevance, generosity, and “love” more than God. But this love is not of God. This love rejoices in iniquity.

Yes, we’ve seen the Ephesian tendency in our midst - as a Reformed church, we fight sourly over every minute difference without love. This is carnal - and some Christians defend such carnality. But may we never swing to the other side by erasing every difference. Why? The end result is idolatry and there’s no more serious sin in the Bible. The first two commandments concern idolatry. It’s also the last - covetousness is called idolatry by James. Before entering the Promised Land, the Israelites were warned against idolatry. In fact, they were to kill all inhabitants because of their idolatry. Kings of Israel were evaluated based on their idolatry. And while we may not have literal idols, we excuse culturally acceptable idols of pop icons (Taylor Swift), a lifestyle of leisure, a successful career, etc. I sound like a broken record. But all things apart from God is idolatry; and we’re all prone to it. But what’s yours? What idols is this church prone to? And in the name of love, what are we not dealing with? Have we been too tepid and weak to resist? We may not like this kind of sermon, but God constantly rebuked Israel’s idolatry. He was married to her. Their idolatry was adultery. And he condemned it by his prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea. Similarly, Jesus called his generation an adulterous one. James called his readers an adulterous people, citing friendship with the world as hatred towards God. While Pergamos tolerated idolatry, Thyatira promoted it, in full-blown “love.” Again, it wasn’t the first time Christ addressed it. He’d given time to Jezebel to repent, but she didn’t. So what would happen? We learn there’d be destruction. But not everyone. The faithful remnant is spared. We see Christ’s exhortation to them.

Thirdly, he exhorted her to stand firmly on the gospel. Verses 24-25 - “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.” Christ here was exhorting the remaining faithful ones. He said, unto you even unto the remnant in Thyatira. These were the pure ones. The majority had been seduced by the “deep things” - may be that’s how she sold it. But in actual fact, it was from the depths of Satan. Doctrine divides, love unites - that’s a satanic idea. Why? Because love rejoices in the truth. But sadly, people think this sounds more loving. Now, I get that many here may have seen a very divisive Ephesian-like sour loveless Christianity. But to swing to the other extreme is not Christian. It’s satanic. It leads eventually to idolatry. So how did Christ exhort these pure ones?

He gave her no other burden but to hold firmly to the gospel - it was already a very heavy burden. Until he came to deal with the idolaters, he required her to press on in what she was already doing - to hold fast her purity and faithfulness. The word “hold fast” means to grip so tightly without releasing. Now, why was this the only burden? Why didn’t Christ add more? Why only this? Do you know how hard it is to maintain a Bible-believing, conservative, non-Charismatic (or anti-Charismatic), confessional, and Psalm singing Christianity in the midst of a broad evangelicalism that seeks to blur the lines? Some of you here know how hard it is. You were trying to be faithful in your churches bent on idolatry. That’s why you came here. You’ve been called bigots, intolerant, unloving, against the unity of the church. That’s why some of you are tempted to react against the spirit of Ephesus by moving toward the spirit of Thyatira. But neither of them are right. We must grow in love; and deepen in the defense of the truth. The majority in Thyatira was deceived because they were not deep enough into the Word. They were tricked. And God marks out every deceiver. Christ said he’d deal with that prophetess and her children. But Christ marks out every faithful. This poor remnant was truly suffering - they were the 7000 who had not bowed their knees to Baal. And it was not easy.

Lastly, he promised to reward everyone of them. How would he deal with Jezebel and her followers? Verses 22-23 - “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.” On my, this is Christ our Savior speaking. But remember, he’s the king with burning eyes and feet, who’d make his enemies a footstool. And his promise to Jezebel and her followers was he’d reward every one of them with destruction. He’d already given them time to repent. And since she didn’t, he’d cast her away and strike her children dead. He’d subjugate and destroy them. Bronze feet show a heavy unstoppable judgment of suffering and death. Jezebel will be cast on a bed of tribulation. And this was a fitting punishment. She seduced people to commit idolatry - to be in bed with idols. Why shouldn’t she chained to a bed of suffering? And her children - those who followed the deep teachings of Satan - will be struck dead with a plague - that’s what kill with death means. Only repentance can prevent this. They were still at fault, even though she seduced them. And such destruction was meant to warn others - “and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts.” When God destroyed Egypt with plagues, all surrounding nations feared. With this chastisement, all the churches will know who the conquering Christ was. You’re very loving ah? Sweetly tolerant? Your love overlooks in iniquity? These virtues of yours can’t cover idolatry - in fact, they prove it.

After addressing Jezebel, he addressed the faithful remnant. He promised that they’d have a role in the destruction. Verses 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.” To the minority, the remnant who gripped truth tenaciously, those who were mocked by others - Christ would give her power over the nations. But all power is given to Christ in heaven and in earth. Ah! This means he’ll share power with us. To do what? We shall rule over the nations with a rod of iron. How? By breaking and shattering them like a potter’s vessel. But Christ the anointed Son in Psalm 2:9 is the one who will break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Ah! This means he makes us judges - we’ll hold his scepter to destroy Jezebel and all her unfaithful children. “Wow! That’s so unloving!” - a phrase used by those who are seduced by Satan. By those not deeply immersed in the truths of God. But beloved, Christ’s kingdom can’t fully come - the New Covenant can’t be fully realized if there are still idolaters and enemies. So Christ comes to destroy. And the faithful have a part. 1 Corinthians 6:2 - “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” What will they do? Psalm 91:13 - “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.” How will they feel? Psalm 58:10 - “The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.” Why? Because Satan will be destroyed. Romans 16:20 - “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.”

Dearly beloved, how should we feel about this? While Christ is merciful and long-suffering, the time comes when he delights in judgment. Some may cry - we can never do that - it’s not nice, loving, or Christian! We’ll never win people like that! The reason we don’t rejoice at this prospect is because we’re not sufficiently Christian. We’ve been seduced from the depths of hell. Doctrine divides but love unites is satanic. And to those who won’t compromise on the gospel truths, sanctity of life, and human sexuality - Christ says - “And I will give him the morning star.” What’s that? Revelation 22:16 - “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” To the 7000 who’d not bowed their knees to Baal, to the remnant who hold onto the truth, Jesus promised to give himself to them.

What are some applications for us? For many, we don’t have trade guilds and huiguan now to force us into idolatry. Our livelihoods are not at risk per se. But there’s always the tendency to downplay the radicalness of sin, its consequence, and its terrible hellish nature. Why? Because rebuke and condemnation don’t sound nice. It’s not loving. It’s too much like the Ephesian church, too much like the old FERC - some might say. Joel Beeke wrote recently that “Jesus spoke a total of 1870 verses in the Bible, and he spoke on judgment and hell more than any other topic. Jesus Christ hates sin. It caused his death. But too many people today think that Jesus Christ is soft on sin, because of his mercy, his love, and his gospel of grace.” Dearly beloved, we’re to be a remnant - the 7000 that has not bowed the knee to the Antichrist and false prophet. Yes, we must love demonstrating and talking about love and grace - but in the context of the gospel. Let’s not soften the gospel. Rather, let’s hold fast to it. Jesus called us to be the salt, not the sugar of the earth. Many people want to sacrifice their saltiness to be sweet. And one of the reasons why? Because some people who try to be salty are actually sour and bitter.

I think it’s important to hold forth our witness as a gospel centered Reformed church. To emphasize again the Bible, our historical confessions, our worship, our understanding and practice of male leadership and officers, our understanding on the complimentarian role of sisters and their honorable gifts, our separation from the world and worldliness, our protection of life in the womb, a biblical sexuality, etc. And we can pursue these things, rejecting woke sweetness but also without the Ephesian lovelessness and sourness. But even if we do, you know what this will mean? As loving as we are, we’ll still be called bigoted, intolerant, unloving, and old-fashioned. But who cares? We have the morning star. And that’s all that matters.

1. He Assured Her of His Violent Destruction

A. Christ will destroy

B. Her unique context

2. He Evaluated Her Charity and Idolatry

A. Her progress in loving service

B. Her progress in wicked idolatry

3. He Exhorted Her to Hold Firmly to the Gospel

A. You who are pure

B. The already heavy burden of the gospel

4. He Promised to Reward Every One of Them

A. With destruction

B. With a role in destruction

Conversation for Change:

1. Some churches are like Ephesus - doctrinaire but loveless; and other churches like Thyatira - sacrificing doctrine in the name of unbiblical love leading to worldliness and idolatry. But how and why might doctrinaire churches also cultivate worldliness and idolatry in their midst?

2. In wanting to be more relevant, some churches may water down their biblical heritage and worship. How can the idolatry seen in many broad churches be a warning to them?

3. How do you feel, knowing that one day the faithful are given the role of judging the unfaithful?