Thyatira was the manufacturing and trade center of the region of western Asia. It was located approximately 50 miles northeast of Smyrna in a valley which was a branch of the Hermus River. The city had no natural fortification and had been conquered by numerous different kings and armies throughout its history.

   The people of Thyatira were just hard-working people making a living by the work of their hands. There were tradesmen, craftsmen, and artists. There were leather-workers, bronze-smiths, potters and bakers. A particularly active trade in Thyatira was that of garment-making from wool and linen. A "Turkish red" dye made from the madder root was distinctive to the region, and used to dye fabrics for garments.

   When Paul first went into the region of Macedonia on his second missionary journey, his first convert in Europe was a woman name Lydia. Acts 16:14 records that "a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoke by Paul." Lydia may have been an importer of "purple fabrics" from her home-town of Thyatira back in Asia, which she then marketed in Philippi; a first-century female entrepreneur.

   As with all the other communities where Jesus addresses a local church in the region, religion was rampant in Thyatira. A unique form of local religion prospered in this trade-center. The tradesmen and craftsmen in each particular type of trade formed guilds or unions. Each trade-cooperative identified with a particular pagan deity, trusting that deity to preserve their prosperity. The unions became a tight social structure with political and religious connotations. Banquets were held at which they ate the meat of animals which had been sacrificed to their idolatrous protective gods.

   The Christians of the church in Thyatira were faced with a difficult social, political, and vocational problem. How could they continue to practice their trade and make a living if they excluded themselves from these tight idolatrous associations? It was very plain that the leaders of the early church had decreed that all Christians should "abstain from things sacrificed to idols" (Acts 15:29). The Thyatiran Christians were tempted to compromise their exclusive faith in Jesus Christ. Their pragmatic motto might have been: "A man has to make a living!" This is certainly representative of Christians in every age who have allowed illicit religious and business associations to draw them away from unadulterated faith in Jesus Christ.

   Jesus identifies Himself to the Christians in Thyatira as "the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze" (2:18). John may have remembered back to when he first heard Peter utter that great confession of Jesus, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God" (Matt. 16:16). Jesus now declares Himself the "Son of God" with "eyes like a flame of fire." Such was His self-description to John in 1:14 and is repeated as a description of Christ in 19:12. The penetrating vision of Jesus cannot be hidden from. "All things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Heb. 4:13), for He is "able to judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart" (Heb. 4:12). Perhaps those who were succumbing to religion in Thyatira needed to remember the omniscient awareness of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. He knew what they were doing! So often religious leaders think that they "know it all," that they have the methodologies all figured out, and that they can engage in illicit activities that God is not aware of. Not so! Jesus has "eyes like a flame of fire" that penetrate with an all-knowing insight even unto the motivations of our actions.

   Jesus continues to explain that "His feet are like burnished bronze," apparently indicating His strength and stability. He cannot be shoved around and manipulated. Did He thus identify Himself to the Thyatiran Christians because some of the religionists thought they could "use" Jesus for their own ends? Religionists often think that strength and stability are to be found in their procedures and programs, and the natural results thereof. Jesus indicates that the strength and stability of the church are in Him alone.

   Making His observation of the church at Thyatira, Jesus says, "I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first" (2:19). This is quite an affirmation of their faithfulness. Their deeds were apparently "manifested as having been wrought in God" (John 3:21). The "love of God" had apparently been poured out to others by the Holy Spirit given to them (Rom. 5:5). They had been receptive to God's activity in a faith that was worked out in the tangible work of ministry and service to the building up of the body of Christ (Eph. 4:12). They were abiding under the situations of life in perseverance that demonstrates proven character (Rom. 5:4). In so doing they were progressing unto maturity and their "deeds of late were greater than at first." It is always a sign of healthy Christianity when people understand that Christian living is progressive, that it is a lifetime growth process. Religion often tempts us with some form of "instant spirituality," or some spectacular emotional experience whereby we are allegedly sanctified entirely and think that we have arrived at the pinnacle of Christian experience. Beware of the religious "get spiritual quick" schemes and scams! Paul explained that he had not "already obtained it" or "already become perfect" or "laid hold of it," but he "pressed on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:12-14). Thus we continue to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18), as the Thyatiran Christians seem to have been doing.

   "But," Jesus charges them in verse 20, "I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess,..." Who was this woman, Jezebel, who was allowed to operate in the context of the church at Thyatira? In the old covenant King Ahab married a woman named Jezebel who was the daughter of the king of Sidon. She was an evil woman who encouraged idolatry and immorality, and "killed the prophets of the Lord" (I Kings 18:4). Her name became a proverbial name for feminine wickedness. A domineering, evil woman is often referred to as "a Jezebel" to this very day. Whether there was actually a woman with the name Jezebel living there in Thyatira, or whether this is the name by which she is designated because of her actions, we cannot be certain. Not many families have named their daughters Jezebel since the time of the Old Testament. What we can be sure of is that a particular woman there in Thyatira claimed to be a "prophetess" and was teaching and leading Christians astray unto immorality and idolatry, just like the Jezebel of old.

   There is a variation in one of the older manuscripts of the Revelation which reads, "I have this against you, that you tolerate your wife Jezebel..." In that case it might have been the preacher's wife who was the wicked woman leading others astray. History is certainly replete with other examples of pastor's wives who have become "Jezebellian" in character and usurped authority that was not theirs, but we must admit that this is not the reading of the majority of the best manuscripts.

   Whoever this Jezebel woman was she was outside of God's order for the church. Scripture is quite clear that the leadership of the church of Jesus Christ is to be comprised of faithful men who serve as elders of the church (I Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6). It is not that women are not as competent as men in positions of leadership, or that women are "second class citizens" of the kingdom of God, for Paul clearly indicates that "male and female, all are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). It is merely a practical matter that retains the order that God intends. In contradiction to this church order, religion has often tolerated and encouraged strong-willed and assertive women to take control and "call the shots" in the church. Even within the early church of the first-century, there were feminist movements which attempted to usurp the leadership responsibility in the church. When some of the early Christian women began to understand the emancipation that was theirs in Jesus Christ, they began to take it too far. That seems to be the issue Paul was dealing with in I Corinthians chapter seven. Likewise, he addresses similar problems in the first and second epistles to Timothy. Such problems have resulted throughout the history of the church when women have claimed to be prophetesses, when they assumed ecclesiastical positions of elders and pastors, and have even proceeded to found new denominations. The contemporary trend where an increasing number, even a majority, of students in the Bible schools and theological seminaries are women is a perpetuation of this religious phenomena that does not bode well for the Church of Jesus Christ.

   The Jezebel of Thyatira encouraged immorality and idolatry just like the Jezebel of the Old Testament. These characteristics have been indicative of some types of religion throughout the centuries of mankind. Natural man gravitates toward religion that has a pleasure-orientation, and which tolerates or encourages sexual permissiveness, promiscuity and immorality. There are many religious groups today wherein the "deeds of the flesh" are evidenced in "immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, etc." (Gal. 5:19,21). The Greek word used in verses 20 and 21 and translated "immorality" is porneia, from which we derive the English word "pornography." It refers to any sexual activity outside of the marriage relationship that God intended between husband and wife. The word for "commit adultery" in verse 22 is the Greek word moicheuo which also refers to sexual relations outside of marriage. Most likely there was sexual promiscuity taking place in the church at Thyatira, but some would interpret these words only of spiritual adultery and unfaithfulness.

   Jesus threatens to "cast her (Jezebel) upon a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds" (2:22). This may be a play on words. If it is a bed that Jezebel wants, then she will get a bed. The punishment will fit the crime. The bed of lust (Greek koite; from which we get the English word "coitus"; cf. Rom. 13:13; Heb. 13:4) will be replaced with a bed of sickness (Greek kline, from which we get the English word "clinic"). If Jezebel is intent on going to bed, God will send her to a hospital bed.

   Does God do that sort of thing? Are there really personal punitive consequences for sin? Yes, Scripture indicates that God can and does take physical action to chastise and control sinful action. Paul explains to the Corinthians that because of their actions at the Lord's Supper, "for this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep" (I Cor. 11:30), meaning some have died. God is in control and there are punitive and disciplinary consequences for sinful activity. Some regard the A.I.D.S. epidemic to be such a divine response.

   Jesus continues to explain that "those who commit adultery with Jezebel will be cast into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds, and He will kill her children with pestilence..." (2:22,23). This is not referring to the "great tribulation" that some eschatological speculators expect. It refers to God's disciplinary and punitive action toward sin. God hates religion, and those who participate in it as "children" and adherents will receive the consequences thereof. The prophet Isaiah similarly warned the people of Israel of being "offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute" (Isa. 57:3) who had "made their bed" (Isa. 57:7) and would suffer the consequences thereof, for "there is no peace for the wicked" (Isa. 57:21).

   The Lord Jesus Christ knows what is going on. No one is pulling the wool over His eyes. His "eyes are like a flame of fire" (2:18); He "searches the minds and the hearts" (2:23) of His people. Jeremiah the prophet spoke for God previously saying, "I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds" (Jere. 17:10). Jesus' words here in verse 23 echo what He had spoken through Jeremiah long ago. God in Christ knows what we are doing, and there are consequences "according to our deeds." This is the plain teaching of Scripture: Christ has taken the judgment for our sinfulness, but we will still be judged according to our deeds. The "Son of Man will recompense every man according to his deeds" (Matt. 16:27). "God will render to every man according to his deeds" (Rom. 2:6). "Each man's work will become evident" and he will "receive a reward" or "suffer loss" (I Cor. 3:13-15). "Each one will be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (II Cor. 5:10). All will be "judged...according to their deeds" (Rev. 20:13). To the extent that we have faithfully allowed our deeds to have been "wrought in God" (John 3:21) activated by the grace of God (II Cor. 9:8) in accord with what "God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10), allowing for the outworking of the life of Jesus Christ in our behavior by our receptivity of His activity, we need not have any concern over God's evaluation of our behavioral deeds. Only when we have pursued our own selfish ways and participated in the activism of religion do we need to be fearfully concerned about the consequences of God's judgment of our deeds.

   Thus it is that Jesus continues in verse 24, "But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching (of Jezebel), who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them ­ I place no other burden on you." "If you have not succumbed to Jezebellian religion, then do not worry about My threats, just continue to allow My life and character to be manifested in your behavior," Jesus seems to say.

   Whatever the religion of Jezebel included in Thyatira, it apparently had been labeled as "the deep things of Satan" by those involved therein. Why is it that men always want to consider "deep things" which pander to their natural quest for knowledge? Deep musings of the human mind are often not of God, but of Satan. God has made His "good news" for man gloriously simple in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. It is religion that seduces men with "deep things" of Gnostic knowledge, promising esoteric understanding of spiritual secrets. Even the subjective seeking of a "deeper life" in Christ can be a satanically inspired selfish pursuit for "deep things" that are in addition to Jesus Christ Himself.

   The command of Jesus to those in Thyatira who were engaged in Jezebellian religion was that "they repent of her deeds" (2:22). They needed a change of mind that recognized their inability to please God by their religious efforts, and a change of action that was based on their receptivity of Christ's activity in their behavior.

   To those who had resisted the false teaching and behavior of Jezebel, Jesus commands, "Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come" (2:25). To all Christians in the enigma of the interim between Christ's first and second coming the command is to hold fast to that which we have in Jesus Christ. All things belong to us in Christ (I Cor. 3:21,22), "everything pertaining to life and godliness" (II Peter 1:3), "every spiritual blessing in heavenly places" (Eph. 1:3). Despite the appearances of the demise of Christianity, we must "hold fast our confession" (Heb. 4:14), by holding fast to Him and all that we have in Him (3:11). This we must do "until He comes" in His physical return to earth at the second advent.

   Religion realizes that to encourage people to "hold fast" and persevere in the midst of all circumstances is not a message that people want to hear. They gain far more followers by offering people an "easy way out." It is the false-teaching of religion that promises deliverance from all problems and escape from all suffering, and the avoidance of all inconvenience. Jesus says, "Hold fast to what you have in Me!"

   The promises to those who overcome the temptation to revert to religion by "holding fast" to the Overcomer (John 16:33) and "keep His deeds until the end" by allowing Him to work out His life and deeds in them are explained in verses 26 through 28:

   First, Jesus promises what was promised by the Psalmist long ago in the Messianic Psalm: "To Him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces" (2:26,27 from Psalm 2:8,9). The Christians in Thyatira and throughout Asia were being oppressed by the Roman authorities, and it might not have appeared that Christ had much authority, much less that they had any authority. Jesus reminds them that He "has received authority from His Father" (2:27); "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18). The promise is that those who are identified with and united "in Christ" shall exercise authority with Him over the nations of mankind, "reigning with Christ" (20:4). As "kings and priests they will reign upon the earth" (5:10), even "judging angels" (I Cor. 6:3).

   Not content to understand spiritual authority in Christ, religion has historically asserted its own ecclesiastical and governmental authority. Indeed, religion has gained "authority over the nations" as it developed church/state liaisons and established state churches. Powerful authority structures have been formed in the institutional churches. The authority of priests, pastors and shepherds has been asserted in the local churches. Such ecclesiastical authority with its power to manipulate others is not the kind of authority that Jesus promises to Christians in these verses.

   Secondly, Jesus promises the faithful Christians of Thyatira, and of every location in every age, that He will "give them the morning star" (2:28). What is this "morning star?" At the very end of the Old Testament, Malachi prophesies that "the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings" (Malachi 4:2). Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, prophesied that "the Sunrise from on high shall visit us" (Luke 1:78), referring to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The second epistle of Peter indicates that "we have the prophetic word...until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts" (II Peter 1:19). Then, at the conclusion of the Revelation, Jesus says, "I am...the bright morning star" (Rev. 22:16). Shedding light over a world of death and darkness, Jesus did come as the Sunrise of the "Sun of righteousness." "The life was the light of men" (John 1:4). After the dark night of religious domination and worldly degradation, Jesus will come again as the "morning star" to remind us that all light and all life is in Him, and that He will reign forever in the eternal and heavenly "daytime, where there is no night" (Rev. 21:25), and we with Him. This is a promise that the Thyatiran Christians and Christians in every age expect to see fulfilled. We look forward in expectant anticipation of hope to the dawning of that eternal day of heavenly glory when Christ shall reign unhindered, and we shall reign with Him forever.

   Meanwhile Jesus calls us to discernment by saying, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (2:29). The message of Jesus to each church is applicable to us all.