Thyatira
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Revelation 2:18-29 New King James Version
Revelation 2:18
1. “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,
a. Thyatira was a medium-sized city located further inland in a wide valley on the main road going southeast from Pergamum to Sardis. Its location made it an important commercial center with a thriving textile industry (wool trade, weaving, dyeing). Lydia as mentioned in Acts 16:14 was a merchant from Thyatira who sold purple cloth.[1]
2. ‘These things says the Son of God,
a. The Asian churches may well hear in Jesus’ biblical title “Son of God” (2:18) a direct challenge to the imperial cult. Emperors claimed to be deities and saviors in Asia; some commentators have further suggested a specific contrast with Zeus’s son Apollo, a patron deity of Thyatira, with whom the deified emperors were linked.[2]
3. who has eyes like a flame of fire,
a. Revelation 1:14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;
b. Daniel 10:6 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.
4. and His feet like fine brass:
a. Although the matter is uncertain, it may be more than coincidence that Jesus reminds hearers of his feet like bronze (1:15) specifically in a city where metal-working was a prominent industry.[3]
Revelation 2:19
1. “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.
a. Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
Revelation 2:20
1. Nevertheless I have a few things against you,
a. Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
2. because you allow that woman Jezebel,
a. 1 Kings 16:29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.
b. 1 Kings 16:30 Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.
c. 1 Kings 16:31 And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.
d. 1 Kings 21:7 Then Jezebel his wife said to him, “You now exercise authority over Israel! Arise, eat food, and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
e. 1 Kings 21:8 And she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling in the city with Naboth.
f. 1 Kings 21:25 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.
g. 2 Kings 9:22 Now it happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” So he answered, “What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many?”
h. Revelation 2:20 … you allow that woman Jezebel, …. – your wife Jezebel
3. who calls herself a prophetess,
a. c.f. Acts 2:17–18; Acts 21:9; 1 Corinthians 11:5
4. to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
a. Babylon the prostitute later in this book is probably modeled partly on “Jezebel,” Thyatira’s local embodiment of the larger system of “Babylon,” because she advocated participation in local civic and commercial life even where they demanded compromise with paganism.[4]
b. Leading God’s people astray (πλανάω) is the work of the devil, the beast, and the false prophet in Revelation (cf. 12:9; 13:14; 18:23; 19:20; 20:3, 8, 10), especially in influencing them to offer worship to false gods.[5]
c. …it is likely that “Jezebel” and others were advocating not abandonment of Christianity altogether but compromise or syncretism, that is, idolatrous emperor worship along with the worship of Jesus.[6]
d. Allow - to let v. — to make it possible through a specific action or lack of action for something to happen
Revelation 2:21
1. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality,
2. and she did not repent.
Revelation 2:22
1. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed,
2. and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation,
a. Being “thrown into a sickbed” (v. 22a) is an idiom for falling sick (a passive or intransitive),25 but it is phrased here as an action Christ will do to her (to “strike her” with an illness).26 Likewise those who share in her violations (“who commit adultery with her”)27Christ will “throw … into great tribulation” (the main verb “I will throw” carries over to both objects: “her” and “those … with her”).[7]
b. Unlike the reference in v. 22b (“great tribulation”), the phrases “great tribulation” (Matt 24:21) or “the great tribulation” (Rev 7:14) have a technical, eschatological sense drawn from Daniel 12:2 (a “time of trouble such as has never been” that will occur in the final days; cf. Rev 3:10: “Time of testing that will come upon the whole world”). “Great tribulation” in Acts 7:11 and here in Revelation 2:22 (as well as “tribulation” in Rev 1:9; 2:9–10) are related but not identical. They prefigure a pattern or typology of serious but lesser difficulties that will be replicated in the ultimate expression of the pattern in the final days.[8]
3. unless they repent of their deeds.
Revelation 2:23
1. I will kill her children with death,
a. A better suggestion is that the mention of children who are put to death is added as an allusion from the Old Testament to the fate of Ahab’s (and Jezebel’s) sons who were slain as part of God’s judgment on their parents (2 Kgs 9:7; 10:7), while still symbolizing this woman’s spiritual followers (cf. 2 John 1; 4). The two metaphors (co-adulterers and children) then would simply be two ways to picture the same group of Christians who were influenced by this “Jezebel” to engage in her idolatrous practices and, if unrepentant, will be caught up in her punishment as well.[9]
b. The killing of Jezebel’s children may reflect the bloody occasion when the rulers of Samaria murdered the seventy sons of Ahab and sent their heads to Jezreel in baskets (2 Kgs 10:1–11).[10]
2. and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts.
3. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.
a. Jeremiah 17:10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.
Revelation 2:24
1. “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira,
2. as many as do not have this doctrine,
3. who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say,
a. But as the true searcher of hearts, Jesus notes the source of their revelations: Satan (2:24), who has also authored opposition from the synagogue community (2:9; 3:9).[11]
i. Revelation 2:9 “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
ii. Revelation 3:9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
4. I will put on you no other burden.
Revelation 2:25
1. But hold fast what you have till I come.
Revelation 2:26-27
1. (v.26) And he who overcomes,
a. Order reversed from previous letters: He who overcomes…He who has ears to hear.
2. and keeps My works until the end,
a. An additional condition is required.
3. to him I will give power over the nations—
4. (v.27)‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’— as I also have received from My Father;
a. Psalm 2:8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
b. Psalm 2:9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”
i. Psalm 2:7 “I will declare the decree: The Lordhas said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
ii. Revelation 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:
Revelation 2:28
1. and I will give him the morning star.
a. Ancients emphasized the glory of the planet Venus, the “morning star” (Sir. 50:6–7), and could apply the image to magnificent rulers (Isa. 14:12).15Romans associated Venus with triumph and reign, hence praised this goddess for their conquests.[12]
b. Jesus is himself the morning star (Rev. 22:16)[13]
i. Revelation 22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”
ii. Numbers 24:17 “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.
1. 2 Peter 1:19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
2. 2 Peter 1:20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
3. 2 Peter 1:21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Revelation 2:29
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’
[1] Fanning, B. M. (2020). Revelation (C. E. Arnold, Ed.; p. 148). Zondervan Academic.
[2] Keener, C. S. (1999). Revelation(pp. 132–133). Zondervan Publishing House.
[3] Keener, C. S. (1999). Revelation(p. 133). Zondervan Publishing House.
[4] Keener, C. S. (1999). Revelation(p. 134). Zondervan Publishing House.
[5] Fanning, B. M. (2020). Revelation (C. E. Arnold, Ed.; p. 150). Zondervan Academic.
[6] Fanning, B. M. (2020). Revelation (C. E. Arnold, Ed.; p. 151). Zondervan Academic.
25 The phrase occurs several times with a perfect passive of the verb denoting someone’s current condition: “laid/lying on a (sick)bed” (Matt 9:2; Mark 7:30; cf. Matt 8:6, 14); but also with the verb “fall on a (sick)bed” (Jdt 8:3; 1 Macc 1:5) or an implied verb “be on a (sick)bed” (Ps 41:3 [40:4 LXX]).
26 BDAG 549. The word translated “sickbed” (κλίνη) is more commonly rendered “bed,” and it could refer to a “reclining couch” used in the ancient world around a low dinner table for a formal meal (Esth 7:8; Ezek 23:41; Mark 7:4 [variant reading]) or it could be a metaphor for sexual relations (Prov 7:16; Song 1:16; Sir 23:18; similar to Heb 13:4 “let the [marriage-]bed be kept pure,” but a different word for bed, κοίτη occurs there). Neither of these fits as the primary reference in v. 22a, but because of the sexual imagery in vv. 20–22 there could be a play on “bed” in the latter sense: she will take to her sickbed because she defiled her spiritual bed (the principle of associative punishment: the penalty is exacted in close relation to how the violation was committed; cf. 16:2, 6; also Roloff, Revelation, 188).
27 See the next verse for how this group differs from “her children” in v. 23.
[7] Fanning, B. M. (2020). Revelation (C. E. Arnold, Ed.; p. 152). Zondervan Academic.
[8] Fanning, B. M. (2020). Revelation (C. E. Arnold, Ed.; p. 152). Zondervan Academic.
[9] Fanning, B. M. (2020). Revelation (C. E. Arnold, Ed.; p. 153). Zondervan Academic.
[10] Mounce, R. H. (1997). The Book of Revelation (p. 88). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
[11] Keener, C. S. (1999). ReveRevelation 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:
lation (p. 135). Zondervan Publishing House.
15 Some identified morning and evening stars (Diogenes Laertius, 8.1.14), but a “star” in general could symbolize conquest (Sophocles, Electra 66); it probably functions eschatologically in 2 Peter 1:19.
[12] Keener, C. S. (1999). Revelation(p. 136). Zondervan Publishing House.
[13] Keener, C. S. (1999). Revelation(p. 136). Zondervan Publishing House.