What We Can Lean From the Church at Thyatira

From the moment he married her he began a downward spiral.

Here’s how history records it: “He took as his wife Jezebel daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him.” (See 1 Kings 16:31-33.) Once King Ahab married Jezebel and chose to worship Baal instead of the Lord, the God of Israel, the downward spiral began. Let’s turn to the historian’s assessment: “Ahab did more to provoke the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than had all the kings of Israel who were before him.”

Jezebel was a woman who loved power, and knew how to use it. She was responsible for the killing of the prophets of the Lord. (See 1 Kings 17:3-4) It was Jezebel who threatened the life of the prophet Elijah after he was responsible for killing four hundred prophets of the fertility god Baal: Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’” (1 Kings 19:2)

She was a force in her own right, and she knew how to use the power of the queen to get things done. When Ahab wanted the vineyard and property of Nabal, she set it up by using the power of the throne to have Nabal falsely charged and executed. She had no morals and no scruples when it came to having things her way. She would have made a good politician in the modern era. Oops…I digress.

But even for the most powerful there is an end to power. A lifetime of lying and cheating and deceiving and living with no moral scruples always ends—there is always a pay day someday. Elijah warned both Ahab and Jezebel, but people with power tend not to listen to those who seemingly have no power. Instead of listening to the prophet, they mocked him. They couldn’t say they weren’t told about their “pay day.” “The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the bounds of Jezreel.” (1 Kings 21:23) We can only imagine how this power couple must have mocked and laughed at the prophet’s words. The powerful often hold the powerless in contempt. But I say again, there is always a pay day someday.

After her husband Ahab’s death, Jezebel lived in Jezreel. When she heard the new king, Jehu, was coming she “painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out the window.” Did she think she could deceive Jehu as she had deceived so many before, including some of the most powerful people in the world at the time? Jehu knew Jezebel, and he knew well her use of lies, deception, and whatever else was necessary to get her way. He wanted nothing to do with her. “He looked up to the window (where she was standing) and said, ‘Who is on my side? Who? Two or three eunuchs looked out at him (apparently, they had had enough of her as well). He said, ‘Throw her down.’ So they threw her down; some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, which trampled on her.” (See 2 Kings 9:30-37.)

What did King Jehu do then? “He went in and ate and drank.” But at some point, during the meal some sense of common decency came over the king, and he told some of his people “See to that cursed woman and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter.” When they went to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands; for while Jehu was eating and drinking, the dogs had eaten the flesh of Jezebel.

We now fast forward from about 840BC to the first century AD and read what John was instructed to write to the church in Thyatira. (See Revelation 2:18-29)

Thyatira was one of the seven churches to whom John was instructed to write. The city was a center of industry and commerce. (While in the city of Philippi the apostle Paul met a woman named Lydia, who was conducting a prayer meeting of sorts. It was Lydia, a cloth merchant from Thyatira who helped Paul start the church in Philippi. [See Acts 16.] But I digress.)

The message to the Christians in Thyatira began with an affirmation, “I know your works—your love, faith, service, and patient endurance.” Christ recognized and affirmed the church in Thyatira for the work they were doing in his name. They were sharing his love, living out their faith, doing the work of the kingdom of God, and enduring whatever hardships necessary to continue the work. There’s more. “I know that your last works are greater than the first.” The church in Thyatira was a growing, thriving, ministering, church that increased the works they were doing. But…everything is not always what it seems. We humans are limited in seeing the bigger picture; the risen Christ is not.

“But I have this against you…” Something, or someone, was causing a problem and limiting the influence of the church in Thyatira, despite the great works they were doing.

“You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols.” Well, John, tell it like it is. Whatever was going on with this woman that is called Jezebel, it was compromising the people, and compromising the message of the gospel. Apparently, she was mixing the gospel with the practices of the pagan religions. In Corinth, where the temple of the goddess Aphrodite was located, women practiced “sacred” prostitution, and sex acts were done in Aphrodite’s temple as part of their worship of the goddess. Is this what was going on with Jezebel in Thyatira? Was she mixing this kind of behavior with the love message in the gospel? Whatever it was, the risen Christ had a warning for her and those who chose to believe her and follow her.

We always have to be careful that we don’t get caught in the trap of listening to false prophets. If we think about it, we can imagine the kind of appeal this woman called Jezebel could have. Preachers and teachers who mix the messages of the world with the message of the gospel become popular quickly; for they offer the “best” of both worlds. But we should let the warning to Jezebel be a warning to us—the gospel must not be compromised, and no rationalization will change that message. We can’t put one foot in the ways of the world, and one foot in the word of God, and do what God has called us to do.

“I gave her time to repent,” the risen Christ said, “but she refuses to repent of her fornication. Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her (those who follow her false teachings) I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings; and I will strike her children dead.” (Meaning they will face judgment for following what they knew or should have known were false teachings.)

And then there’s this sobering warning, “And all the churches (note this is a message to churches, churches, churches) will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.”

There was, within the church at Thyatira, those who had learned “the deep things of Satan.” Those who, using their discernment, had rejected these “deep things of Satan,” were promised no other burden.

We must not miss the importance of the warnings to the church in Thyatira—the “deep things of Satan” were within the church, and this smooth talking Jezebel had deceived many with her false teachings. The mixture of the ways of the world with the word of God sounded so appealing, until…

“Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”