Reflections on Revelation #52

Day 52

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and feet like burnished bronze, says this: 19 ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith, and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.21 I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. Rev 2:18-21 NASB

The message to Thyatira is different. As mentioned earlier, the churches of Revelation, as a whole, exhibit spiritual decline. That decline is evident in the messages to the previous three churches. But the message to Thyatira goes against the established structural pattern of the previous messages. First of all, the message to Thyatira is twice as long as the other six messages. This length is fitting to its role at the centre of the Chiasm and the long period of persecution that it represents during Christian history. Secondly, within the church of Thyatira and the reference to Jezebel, there is a faithful remnant, (see 1Kings 19:18 during the Elijah story).

Thirdly, Thyatira is the only church about which Jesus says “That their latter works exceed their first” (2:19). Placed at the centre of the history of the seven churches, this positive message means that Jesus is bringing His people out of apostasy and through the subsequent messages of justification by faith from the Reformation, preparing the church for His second coming. While satan accuses God’s followers in order to discourage and distract, Jesus and the Holy Spirit rebuke in order to encourage and to heal.

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