The seven churches of Asia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

We know a little bit about each one of them.

Ephesus was the cultural capital of Asia. It was home to the Temple of Artemis. They had been honored by the Caesars with two shrines to the Imperial Cult.

The church in Smyrna grew significantly in the second century and was very strong.

Pergamum was the historic and political capital of Asia, home to a great library. The city was well educated and prominent.

But then we get to Thyatira. We know almost nothing. The only major information we have is that they were primarily a manufacturing city and their artisanal guilds were very large and powerful. This may give us a brief insight, but it’s not much.

We don’t know anything about the church there either, except that a merchant-lady from Thyatira named Lydia was the first Christian baptized in Macedonia. Perhaps she returned and helped establish the congregation there.

Yet this small, otherwise unknown congregation received by far the longest letter in Revelation 2–3. It’s a rather scathing rebuke.

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

This is what the Son of God, the One who has eyes like a flame of fire and His feet are like burnished bronze, says:

I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your last deeds are greater than at first.

But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and deceives My slaves so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent, and she does not wish to repent of her sexual immorality.

Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not have this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you. Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.

And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, 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, as I also 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.” (Rev 2:18–29)

The chief problem this congregation has is found in verse 20: They are a “tolerant” congregation. I tried to come up with a good opposite-word, and all I had was “intolerant.”

“Intolerant” has a really horrible ring to it, but perhaps that’s just the best word to use. When it comes to sin and false teaching, we should be intolerant! What should that look like, though?

An intolerant church remembers Jesus’s authority.

“This is what the Son of God, the One who has eyes like a flame of fire and His feet are like burnished bronze, says: …” (Rev 2:18)

The impact of this imagery, as is the case with many of these introductory descriptions, is to emphasize Jesus’s authority and power. Jesus is the All-seeing Eye, who knows what we’re doing and saying and thinking. He is the Judge, ready to execute His enemies.

“There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have an account to give.” (Heb 4:13)

Respecting the Lord’s authority is the first step in honoring and holding to the truth. Perhaps the church in Thyatira forgot that only Jesus’s instructions are relevant when it comes to morality, life and worship. If we want to avoid falling into their sin, we must heed His reminder.

An intolerant church matures in love.

“I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your last deeds are greater than at first.” (Rev 2:19)

One of the fascinating aspects of this particular letter is its relationship to the Ephesian letter. Jesus complimented the Ephesian church, saying:

“I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance…” (Rev 2:2)

The Thyatirans have not slacked in those areas at all. They are hard-working, devoted Christians, just like the Ephesians. Not only that, it seems like they had the Ephesians beat in some aspects.

Jesus chastised the congregation in Ephesus:

“I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen repent and do the deeds you did at first.” (Rev 2:4–5)

The Thyatirans don’t have the Ephesian struggle with love and good works. I’m sure everyone who visits the church in Thyatira is overwhelmed with love and care. They pride themselves on how loving they are—and Jesus completely endorses that aspect of their culture.

The problem comes about when love is confused for what is not really love.

While the Ephesian church resisted the strong pulls of doctrinal change and false teaching, the Thyatiran church gave way. I believe the two congregations represent opposite problems we see in the church, both then and now.

An intolerant church defends the truth.

“But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and deceives My slaves so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” (Rev 2:20)

We’re going to spend a little extra time on this point, because it requires some explanation and it contains the heart of the issue.

The wording of the letter to Thyatira echoes the letter sent by the Apostles to the Gentile churches in Acts 15:

“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials:

That you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, you will do well.

Farewell.” (Acts 15:28–29)

The Jewish Christians were trying to force the Gentile Christians to observe all sorts of Jewish practices, and the Apostles wanted to stop this. They warn the Gentiles to avoid four specific practices, all associated with pagan worship. The Apostles explained that becoming a Christian doesn’t mean you have to worship like a Jew, but it does mean you can’t worship like a Gentile!

Chances are, this woman Jezebel is connected to the powerful guilds in Thyatira. These guilds brought together all kinds of people who all lived and worshiped in pagan ways—as well as faithful Christians.

The bonds of community were stronger than their love for truth.

The sins Jezebel advocates acquiesce to the trends in popular worship. Her followers in the Thyatira church worshiped the same God we do here, but in ways they learned from their friends in the community. Jesus calls these unauthorized worship practices “the deep things of Satan”.

This woman whispers in the ears of all who will listen: “They’re not such bad people, really. They’re so nice. I’m sure they mean well. Why can’t we all get along? We’re all basically the same!”

These lies have set in the ears of unsuspecting Christians, who are fooled by her claims to prophethood.

We’ve got plenty such figures in our modern world, alleging to speak God’s truth, yet performing intellectual acrobatics around the teachings of Scripture.

An intolerant church teaches sinners.

“And I gave her time to repent, and she does not wish to repent of her sexual immorality.” (Rev 2:21)

This is where the church in Thyatira got confused. Love does not mean ignoring sin, but correcting it.

Jesus did not want to come in judgment upon Jezebel and her followers. He did not want to make an example of the congregation—He wanted them to just repent and change.

The love they had should have prompted correction, but they didn’t understand it properly. Like the church in Corinth four decades earlier, they confused brotherly love for acceptance.

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and sexual immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. And you have become puffed up and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.” (1 Cor 5:1–2)

The Corinthians also prided themselves on their loving attitude. Their love and patience was absolutely right, but they ought to have been correcting the error, not just letting it happen.

Refusing to tolerate sin should never mean you are impatient. God is patient with every one of us and we must pass that on as well.

An intolerant church corrects error.

“Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.” (Rev 2:22–23)

The time for patience is exhausted. Now, the time for judgment is imminent. This concept recurs throughout Revelation: Jesus the slain Lamb is loving and patient—for a season. God always grants generous time for repentance. This applies to the wicked Roman government, the pernicious Jews, this woman Jezebel, and the church throughout America today.

Because the woman Jezebel refused to change, patience is no longer the solution. If sinners in the church refuse to change, patience is no longer the solution, either.

Jesus uses uncharacteristically violent and aggressive language here to show just how seriously he takes sin and false teachings. Arguably, his short letter includes the harshest words written to any congregation in the entire New Testament. Even when writing to Laodicea, Jesus only threatens, “I will spit you out of My mouth” (Rev 3:16). Jesus warns the church in Thyatira that He will kill them and make an example of them to the other churches!

Jesus expected them to have already done all this, yet He was having to.

An intolerant church persists in obedience.

“But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not have this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you. Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.” (Rev 2:24–25)

As I see it, there are basically three categories of people in the Thyatira church:

• followers of this “Jezebel” woman,
• otherwise faithful Christians who ignore her,
• and truly faithful Christians.

This is really interesting to me. Jesus doesn’t threaten to throw the baby out with the proverbial bathwater. God always recognizes faithful servants in the midst of unfaithful people. God didn’t spare Sodom for their sake, but He did save Lot and his family from destruction.

Jesus calls taking doctrinal cues from someone other than Him “the deep things of Satan”. In other words, worshiping like the world is satanic.

In the twenty-first century, that includes not only pagan culture and secular values, but also denominational traditions. Here in America, the church is easily influenced by the innumerable churches that lie around us.

It’s wrong to let moral and doctrinal compromise into the church like Jezebel and her followers. But it’s also wrong to sit back and let it happen.

An intolerant church will stand with Jesus.

“And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, 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, as I also 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.” (Rev 2:26–29)

The NASB and NKJV indicate Old Testament quotations, although the NASB is a little better about it. This particular verse quotes Psalm 2:8–9, which describes Jesus.

Here we see the return of aggressive language. In the United States, we would say “ruling with an iron fist,” but in British English, the preferred term is “ruling with a rod of iron”. Both statements indicate a dictator who rules in a cruel way.

Is Jesus a cruel dictator? Of course not. But He does vanquish His enemies—which is a key theme in the book of Revelation. If you choose to be an enemy of the truth, then you are an object of the Lord’s wrath and justice.

What makes this verse so interesting to me is that Jesus promises to share in His role as ruler with those who are faithful.

How do you feel about the truth? Probably most of you will say you feel pretty good about it and you want to promote the truth. But how do you feel about lies? Are you willing to fight against them? Aggressively? If you genuinely love the truth, that’s precisely what Jesus expects of you.

What will you do?

Perhaps you occasionally give ear to Jezebel. Has a false gospel has seduced your heart away from the truth? Jesus wants you to come back. If you refuse, He’s coming for you—and He knows where you live!

I know that many of you have family who have left Christ’s truth for Jezebel’s lies. But the Lord tells you that you aren’t helping them by pretending everything’s OK. Make a stand for truth. Lots of you have done that, and it’s been extremely hard…but some of you tolerate the sin and error in your children’s lives.

The church in Thyatira was a mixed bag of members. Jesus approved of some, but not of others. I believe most congregations are like that, including this one. Your physical presence today doesn’t automatically cause Jesus to approve of you—your faithfulness does.

I may not know which category of member you are, but I know which category you need to be. Make changes while you can.