The Church of Thyatira
The Church of Thyatira was full of works, love, faith, service, and endurance, and was praised for its growing devotion, doing more than they did at first. However, the Lord, with eyes like blazing fire, examined their intentions and hearts and rebuked them because their zeal was not truly for God but for themselves.
Thyatira was a church led by a corrupt figure like Jezebel, who claimed to be a prophet of God. She misled the people not with the true gospel of the cross, but through false theology and distorted doctrine, using religious authority to control and confuse. She defiled the church with sexual immorality and people-centered idolatry, not true worship. Though the Lord gave them time to repent, they refused to turn from their immorality.
Now, the Son of God, whose feet are like burnished bronze, declares judgment not only on them but also on their followers, according to each person’s deeds, because they refused to repent.
Yet even in Thyatira, there were a few believers who did not follow those teachings or align themselves with Satan’s schemes. Like Lydia, whom Paul met in Philippi, they stayed apart from corruption. Though they were few, the Lord promised them the fullness of His Word and authority to rule the nations, encouraging them to hold firmly until the day He returns.
1) Christ as Head of the Church of Thyatira
Let us focus on the words revealed to the Church of Thyatira about Christ, the head of the Church.
18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of GOD, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.”(Revelation 2:18,NIV)
》Prayer Point
1. Let us praise the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze, for He examines all churches and builds them to be holy and blameless. The church that God establishes does not compromise with sin or lies but stands firmly in the truth, avoiding immorality and idolatry. The victorious church, which overcomes Satan and sin, continually worships before the One who holds all power, glory, victory, and majesty. Let us proclaim that it is united with Jesus Christ, the head of the church, through the grace of the gospel.
11 Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.(1 Chronicles 29:11,NIV)
2) The Church of Christ is a Victorious Church
Let us proclaim by faith that the church, as the body of Christ, is victorious and cannot be overcome by the gates of hell.
》Scripture Prayer
Revelation 2:19–29(NIV)
19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.
22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.
23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you,
25 except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
26 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—
27 that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’— just as I have received authority from my Father.
28 I will also give that one the morning star.
29 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
》Pray that the Word may become the Conclusion.
1. We have seen many passionate leaders and ministers in the church who love God, serve in faith, endure, and work diligently. Yet if their true pursuit had been God, Jesus Christ, and the gospel of the cross, they would not have tolerated Jezebel, the false prophet. The truth is that their corruption began by having their focus on themselves as sinners,so over time, their fruits revealed something entirely different than initially intended. Still, God continued to offer them opportunities for repentance through the very Scriptures they studied and taught daily. Just as Jesus called the Jews who possessed the Scriptures to repent first, He now calls the leaders and ministers of the church who rely on theology, doctrines, traditions, and religious forms to do the same. Though church history has always declared repentance as the moment God begins His work, many leaders have never truly come to the cross with a whole heart. Let us pray that we too may recognize our own hard ened hearts and sin, and truly repent.
2. Let us pray that the gospel becomes real in us, so that obedience, love, faith, service, perseverance, and devotion grow stronger each day, and that we may be built into a church the LORD delights in and commends. Let us also pray for those who, within the church, do not follow worldly teachings or false doctrines, but remain faithful as witnesses of the cross. Holding firmly to the Lord’s words, “Hold on to what you have until I come,” let us pray that the church will stand firm in the gospel of the cross, embrace the nations in prayer, and be a victorious church until the end.
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