IN THE MARKETPLACE
Revelation 2:18-29
The Adulterous Church – 600AD to 1500AD

The other parts of this series are in The Bride folder.

I argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. . .  that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write his title in Hebrew and Latin and in Greek; at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where he died. And that is what he died about. . . that is where churchmen should be and what churchmen should be about. George MacLeod 

The church in this period portrayed the medieval papacy, which was the move to establish and enforce the Roman church. And this, the longest message of the seven, went to the smallest church of them all. Located a day’s journey south from Pergamos this former military outpost that protected the road from Pergamos to Sardis was a marketplace and commercial center with many trade guilds; leather-workers, weavers, potters and bronze workers. It was here in the modern city of Akhisar that Lydia plied her trade of dyeing purple cloth; the same Lydia who met Paul and forever changed her life in Philippi (Acts 16:14-15). However, for all of its commercial success the city enjoyed from its guilds, the church suffered the loss. These guilds each had common meals that were dedicated to their patron deities and Christians who refused to participate in the life of the guilds would find themselves isolated both economically and socially. Where there were guilds there was idolatry and immorality, two of the great enemies of the early church.  

The citizens of this important military city were just beginning to achieve prosperity during this period and they valued wealth highly. Guild membership was compulsory, join or you were not allowed to work and the Christians in Thyatira were caught in the crosshairs of compromise. 

Rev 2:18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass:   

The importance of this letter is evident in the opening words identifying the source of the message; the Son of God. This is the only place it appears in the book of Revelation; a clear reference to Jesus’ deity as the Messiah:  

Ps 2:7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.  

Perhaps this title is used in no small way in direct response to one of the key gods worshiped in Thyatira; Apollo the “sun” god. Unlike the pagan gods, it is the “Son of God” who will ultimately have the last word. His eyes are described as like a flame of fire (floga puros; flash of lighting). They are blazing anger against sin and they have the penetration that looks into man’s heart like a laser to reveal that sin. His feet are like fine brass. The word used here is a rare one in Greek — chalkolibano — which speaks of an alloy of a number of metals that when polished was brilliant. The reference was to His purity and holiness; His steadfastness to them and His immovable power. Together His eyes and feet reflect discernment and righteous judgment. It truly is the Son of God who knows all and will judge all; not the sun god Apollo. 

Dan 10:5-6 I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz! 6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude.  

Rev 2:19 “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.

We’ve seen these words of praise before: works (ergon; toil or labor), love (agapeen; the love of God) and faith (pistin; moral conviction – reliance on Christ for salvation). Their inward “works” resulted in outward acts; their love manifested itself in service (diakonia; ministry). 

The church at Thyatira was fervent in its love, faithful in its service and constant in its patience. Jesus even noted that in all these things they had grown; the last are more than the first. What they had was the very thing lacking in Ephesus; love. On the other hand what Ephesus had was absent in Thyatira, and as we shall shortly see it was a major problem for the church.   

Rev 2:20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.   

Jezebel was a strong evil influence that seduced and took advantage of the weakness of Ahab, corrupting him in the process of gaining power.  

1Kings 16:31(b)-34 … he (Ahab) took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. 32 Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

1 Kings 18:13 Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?

In reality she would not have banished the worship of Jehovah if the prophets of Jehovah would have accepted Baal “in addition” to Jehovah. That is what she wanted in Thyatira – a marriage of beliefs for power. She did not want to destroy the church, she brought her ways into the church; the ways of the world.  

The phrase that woman Jezebel brings up an interesting thought. The word used for woman is gunaika, which means “wife.” In all practicality here was Jezebel becoming the wife of the church; taking advantage of its tolerance just as the original Jezebel did with Ahab. It was all about power. She was no doubt a woman who through her influence and money bought her way into the church. She was a devotee of Diana and was gifted for leadership, which she used under the guise of being a “prophetess” to teach and seduce (plana; roam from the truth) the servants of God. It is important to note that the word servants here is our old friend dulos (bond slave); a slave who is free to go but out of love for his master he decides to stay. 

The problem, of course, was that the church was “allowing” (afeis; sufferest or forgive; let alone) that teaching in the church. It was allowing a person representing the “world’s system” — a type of “worldliness” — free reign in the church. What would not work for Satan in Ephesus found a home in Thyatira. What she was teaching (eating meat sacrificed to guild idols and practicing sexual immorality) led directly to evil conduct on the part of the church, which incurred the ire of Christ. The English evangelist John Stott put it this way: If the devil cannot conquer the church by the application of political pressure of the propagation of intellectual heresy, he will try the insinuation of moral evil. This was the dragon’s strategy in Thyatira.  

The Christians in Thyatira found themselves in a moral dilemma; compromise themselves in order to get and retain a job and food or stand firm for what was true. These trade guilds were well organized businesses that each had its own pagan deity and all of their feasts paid homage to their god or goddess. In many respects it isn’t all that different today in companies that require their employees to engage in feeding the world’s fleshly appetites, forcing them to compromise their beliefs… Hollywood?  

What eventually happened in Thyatira was that “tolerance” ultimately led to “participation” on the part of many. And it was all being justified by Jezebel by perversion of the scripture by her “deeper” knowledge. Consider perhaps Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. One can only surmise the twisted way this was used to support her doctrine.  

1Cor 8:4-6 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. 

The spirit of Jezebel is the “world” and she is embodied in the “world’s system.” Her doctrine is the same today as it was in the beginning and the results have always been the same:  

1Kings 21:25-26 But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. 26 And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

We only need to reflect back on Ahab’s lust for Naboth’s vineyard (1Kings 21) and how Jezebel took the opportunity to arrange an inquisition and false witnesses to testify that Naboth had blasphemed God and the king; resulting in Naboth being stoned. Jezebel is controlling spirit and sadly, history does repeat itself. In the early 13^th century Pope Innocent III proclaimed himself the Vicar of Christ, the supreme sovereign over the church and the world. He ordered crusades, proclaimed transubstantiation (the transformation of the bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Christ), instituted the inquisition, forbade reading of the Bible in the native language and declared the papacy infallible.  

So if it is so obvious to us then “why didn’t they just throw her out?” Perhaps not all of the pastors in Thyatira accepted her teaching but in an effort to be “liberal” and thinking that she might be able to help them they accepted her as a fellow pastor. After all, she was a “prophetess” and who was to question her. An appropriate question might be: “why not the church?”  

Sadly we see this happening in churches in America today. There is something mysterious and beguiling in riches and power that makes people do things that are totally inconsistent with the Christian life. We only need to consider the issues of materialism, fornication, divorce, abortion and homosexuality; it all goes downhill from there. Unfortunately in today’s world many a worldly Christian has been allowed into leadership, bringing with them a false and evil doctrine as the direct result of money and/or charisma. There were those in Thyatira that were enchanted by Jezebel’s “deep” understanding and were led astray. More than once throughout history the church — and the world — have been awed by someone’s mysteriously deep teachings.  

The good news is that there is still time to repent — thank God we have Saviour who is longsuffering and patient.  

Rev 2: 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.   

I noticed something in this verse that says a great deal of how God looks at things as opposed to how we mere mortals do. Our response to Jezebel is to attack her false doctrine and the evil it contains and judge her for the lives she has corrupted and destroyed; but not Jesus. His first concern is with the fact that she has “not” repented. He has given her time (chromos; an uncertain space of time – not a fixed time) and she did not heed His warnings and continued in her evil ways. Repentance was and still remains Jesus’ strongest challenge to the church. Dare I say that Jesus wanted to see Jezebel saved “even” after all she had done? I think there is a message for us in there.  

Rev 2:22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.   

But God will not violate His Word. He is morally pure and anything that violates His morality does not go unpunished. Immorality destroys human relationships because it first destroys man’s relationship with God. Some commentators understand that those who commit adultery with her is a reference to those who were influenced by her and compromised their Christianity. Unless they repented they were to be cast into the great seven year tribulation period (thlispin megaleen; prolonged anquish and persecution); called Jacob’s Trouble. This is the first mention of the “great tribulation” in the Bible. Their treatment, should they not repent, is in contrast to the end of those who totally embraced her doctrine; verse 23.    

Rev 2:23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. 

The death Jesus speaks of is not physical death (the first death) but spiritual death (the second death); eternal death. That alone should be enough to get one’s attention but Jesus goes on to make it clear that by this action all the churches will know (gnoosontai; knows absolutely – understand fully) that nothing slips by His “flaming eyes.” He is the one who searches the minds (nefrous; kidneys – inmost thoughts – the moral center) and the hearts (kardias; total of all feelings, thoughts and desires traced back to one’s deepest inner life) and will judge accordingly.  

Rev 2:24 “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden.

The doctrine Jesus refers to goes all the way back to its beginnings in Babylon. Then it migrated to Rome where it combined with the Christian church and the result was priestly ceremonies, rites and vestments, the worship of the crucifix, Mary and the saints, etc. In light of this to all those in the church and in the city that had not known (egnoosan; not allowed, perceived or understood) Jezebel’s doctrine — the deep things of Satan — Jesus said He would add no other burden. First let’s look at the issue of “deep things.”  

Jezebel’s follower’s prided themselves in the “deep things,” which they had mastered. They believed that they possessed mysterious information that the average Christian didn’t know; as contrasted with the deep things of God. They were Gnostics and their claim was that they exclusively knew the deep things of God; contrary to the Word of God:  

1Cor 2:10-11 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  

Her message may very well have been that the only effective way to confront Satan was to enter into his strongholds. The only way to fully understand the true nature of sin is to experience it. In doing so then one could truly appreciate and understand grace. Again a perversion of Paul’s teaching:  

1Cor 8:9-11 But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? 11 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?  

Jesus brought this whole issue down to the only thing that should have mattered. The one command that, had it been obeyed, would have eliminated the problem. Remember when there arose a dispute among the church leaders concerning the Gentiles? What was the result? The Jerusalem Decree:  

Acts 15:24-29 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law” — to whom we gave no such commandment — 25 it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. 

 Here was the “original burden” placed on the Gentiles by the Church and Jesus reminds them that it was all they needed to follow. He will put no added burden (baros; weight, load or authority) upon them. If they will follow the original commandment and trust in Him there would be no issue of Jezebel. Now, not to pass this off lightly, it certainly wasn’t an easy thing for them to do when their economic livelihood and the food that they ate came with the “conditions” Jesus said they must shun.  

This is a challenge the church and every believer faces here in America in the 21^st century. The spirit of Jezebel has not gone away and has only become more powerful down through the ages. It has always been about and will always be about compromising our Christianity for the riches, comfort, pleasures and “you fill in the blank.” One commentator at the turn of the century put it this way — little did he know it could have been written yesterday:  

These doctrines, which John calls the depths of Satan, appear to have been the dogmas of men, and the conceits of sophisters in religion, which were intended to render godliness more fashionable and agreeable to the taste of corrupt professors; and they differed from the simplicity of the gospel in the ease they promised to those who embraced them.  

Can there be a better definition of compromise: the doctrines of man that are designed to pervert the simplicity of the gospel to make it more “fashionable” and “agreeable.” Oh, how many times I have seen the power in these simple verses of scripture:  

Gal 3:1-4 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain?  

2Cor 11:3-4 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted — you may well put up with it! 

Note that last phrase… you may well put up with it; the very thing which Jesus said the church at Thyatira was guilty of.  

So here we are today and the same things affecting the church at Thyatira are affecting us. The spirit of Jezebel is alive and is a force to be reckoned with. What are we to do? We’ll let Jesus tell us next time.