The Book of Revelation - Part 8

29 Mar 2026 · this lesson on the church site

Taught by Dr. Keith Palmer, Grace Bible Church, Granbury, Texas — from the church’s Sunday School series on Revelation. These are lightly edited transcripts of the audio, posted for personal study; the teaching and its content belong to Dr. Palmer and Grace Bible Church. Listen to the originals and find his notes on the church website. Transcribed from the audio by AI. Edited only where the audio was unclear (all edits marked with *). Errors are possible — the recording is the authority.

Introduction (00:00)

Back to Revelation, back to Revelation 2 if you want to grab your Bible and turn back there. If you are just joining us, welcome to the study of the book of Revelation. My name is Keith, and I will be your tour guide today.

Chapter 2 puts us in the middle of the letters to the seven churches. These are seven historic churches in the first century, actual churches. John is receiving the Revelation via the angel from Jesus. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which is communicated via his angel to the apostle John in the last few years of that first century, perhaps around 95 AD.

We're going to jump right in. We're looking at the fourth church today in the letters, and this is the longest letter of the seven. I'm going to show you why that is, and some structural things here. But before we get there, just remember the outline:

An introduction
The letters to seven churches in chapters 2 and 3
The things that come afterward: various images, visions, and other material we'll talk about as we go

The graphic illustration helps us think about it visually in terms of the chapters. If you're new to the study, or if it's been a little while, this helps with the vision divisions. There are different elements there: the scrolls, the bowls, the trumpets. It's helpful to me, at least visually, to see how that's laid out, especially that middle section. So hopefully if I show you every week, it'll stick in your mind.

Okay, so we're looking at the letter to the church at Thyatira. That's kind of hard to say. You want to say it with me, class? Thyatira. Thyatira. Okay, we're going to practice that. We've got three of the letters down: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum. Now the fourth.

The Letter to Thyatira (02:01)

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished bronze, says this: I know your deeds and your love and your faith and your service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than the first. 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 acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her 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 hold 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. 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.

Welcome to Sunday school. Alright, let's jump in here.

Location and Background (04:02)

So this is the seven churches. This is where they were located, on the west side of modern-day Turkey. You see we've started an emphasis on the corner here. I know you can't read that. So we're starting down here at Ephesus. We've gone up to Smyrna, Pergamum. Now we're coming down to Thyatira, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, so it makes this little half circle. We're at Thyatira, and you can see we're even further in from the coast than Pergamum.

First of all, some background. We're talking about 40 miles southeast of Pergamum. This city was established in the third century and came under Roman control in 190 BC. There's not a lot we know about Thyatira. I'll show you some artifacts and ruins here in a moment. It wasn't a particularly prominent city in the ways that Ephesus and some of the others were. But they were heavily involved in trade guilds, basically because they're not a port city. They had to have connections to trade that would bring people to and from the area, so there was a lot of trading that happened in Thyatira.

Lydia and Purple Cloth (05:07)

Probably you thought of this back in Acts 16. We're introduced to a woman named Lydia who was from Thyatira. Do you remember what Lydia is said to have been involved in? She wore purple. What was it? That's right. She was a seller of purple.

I'm going to show you some artifacts that have been found in excavations about the harvesting. Do you say harvesting wool? I'm a city boy. What do you say? Shearing wool? What's the process of turning it into garments? What do you call that? Spinning wool? Okay. They made wool... they didn't make the wool, I guess, anyway. Lydia's involved in this. We're going to see in excavations references to wool workers and the prominence of purple dye in the city of Thyatira.

Was it a rattler or a pirate? Probably a rattler, right? With the purple? Yeah. I've got to get the colors right here.

There is architectural evidence for the worship of:

Apollo
Artemis
Helios
Meter, the mother goddess
Hadrian as well

Inscriptions (07:08)

So let's look at this. You probably can't read this. Well, not because it's Greek, but I mean just... It's Greek to me. I know. Insert joke here. But you can read this, right? T-I-T-O-N, right? Tau, Iota, Tau, Omicron, Nu. So we'd say "Titon," right? So we borrow the word from Greek into English. That's the word Titus. You say, why does it have an N instead of an S? It's because the endings change based on how the noun is being used. So this is Titus. And then this is... you can't see that. It's Vespasian.

Vespasian. Who was Titus Vespasian? Do you remember? He was the emperor who served shortly before the time that John wrote this. Titus, 79 to 81 AD, he ruled. So this is a reference to his rule. Again, this is even harder to read, but this is where there's a reference to the wool workers. And then we find other evidence of the prominence of purple dye being manufactured here.

Unsealed Script (08:09)

This is just a nerdy sidebar. Those of you who are interested in this, you'll notice that unlike the Greek you probably learned in your science and math classes, these are all capital letters. Do you see that? Now, if you were involved in a fraternity or sorority, typically those use capital letters. This is called uncial script. Uncial script was the way they wrote Greek at the time, using all capital letters and no spaces in between. And that's significant because some of the earliest manuscripts we have of the New Testament are written in uncial script, all capital letters with no spaces in between. You've heard of Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. Those are codices, or books, written in this uncial script. So when you're in a museum and you can sort of make out that it's Greek, maybe it's a Bible manuscript, and it's capital letters with no spaces, just say to your friend, "Oh, that's uncial script," and they'll think you're really smart. So there you go.

Ruins and the Ancient Road (09:11)

Here are some ruins of the old city of Thyatira. There's quite a bit here. Again, props to my colleague and friend Todd Bolen, who teaches at The Master's University. His website is Bible Places, and he's photographed thousands of biblically significant sites. These are from his database. You can see some of the ruins there, some of the architecture. Very, very pretty.

And what does that look like? My teenager's bedroom. No, no, no, that's not... What does it look like? Yeah, it is a path, and it's actually a really... well, it's not that big, but that's an ancient road. You think some of the roads in Tolar are a little rough? Okay, so this is what the roads look like. This was the prominent road that went through the city. And there it is. You see some ruins off to the side there. And then you can see the modern architecture built. If you've been over there, they try to preserve as much of this where it is, and then they build around it, so you can see some modern buildings back in there.

Structure of the Letters (10:15)

Let's talk about the structure. You may have noticed, even me just reading it, that this is the longest letter of the seven. There are a couple of other features. Are you reading Revelation, by the way? Can we just remind you: if you want to participate in the study and get the fullest experience, read through the book of Revelation, at least a few chapters each week, particularly right now as we look at these first three chapters.

There are many scholars, and I think there are elements that warrant this, who believe these letters are arranged in what's called... what's the structure called? Chiastic structure. A chiastic structure. Speaking of Greek letters, the Greek letter we would say "chi" today looks like an X. They would pronounce it "chi" in the ancient day. Chiasm, chiastic structure. You can see it has that same X shape, arranged in an X fashion there.

Chiastic structure, you say, what is that for? That's just for you English majors. I'm just trying to please you guys. Now, what is the chiastic structure? It's a literary device, an artistic structure that writers use to emphasize certain parts of a literary work. This is really common in the Psalms, in Hebrew poetry, and occasionally you see it in Greek literature as well. The arrangement looks like an arrowhead, right? So that chiasm looks like an arrowhead. Just remember, the arrow is pointing to what's most important. What's most important? Thyatira.

Okay, now why would that be the highlighted letter? That's not to say the other letters aren't important. It's just saying there's something about that central letter that's interesting. Just in reading the letter, what's unique about Thyatira that is not represented in the other six letters?

What's that? There's a little bit of commendation. Not as much, you're right, it's not as much as the others. Okay, so Jezebel's in the middle. She could be a member of the church or an influence on the church. We'll get to her in a moment. Yeah, she refused repentance, though she was given time. All those things are true. This is the only letter that gives particular application to "all the churches." And you'll see that here, where at the moment, where is it? Yeah, so when Jezebel's doom is announced, he says there that she, where is it?

The Chiastic Structure of the Letters (13:39)

Revelation 2:23 says, "And all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts." That is a unique reference, in that the Lord intended parts of this letter to apply specifically to the churches. If we build out the chiastic structure, the idea is that there is a mirroring between Ephesus and Laodicea, between Smyrna and Philadelphia, and between Pergamum and Sardis, with Thyatira sitting in the middle. Think of it like a mirror image. This is not in your notes, so feel free to jot it down.

Ephesus lost its first love, mirrored by the lukewarmness of Laodicea.
Smyrna and Philadelphia both received pretty much positive messages. They are not given many things to repent of.
Smyrna and Philadelphia both mention the synagogue of Satan, so they mirror one another there.
Pergamum and Sardis receive the most severe admonitions. They are regressing and in need of repentance.
Thyatira is the longest letter. It refers to all the churches, and Jezebel is a unique feature.

So if there is an intended chiastic structure, it may be here, with some artistic elements. Jesus arranged these letters in a way that reflects the literary artistry of the day, and he puts the spotlight particularly on Thyatira. That is probably because Thyatira is not the most important in terms of its content, but it has application to all of the churches, not just to Thyatira.

Recognizing Chiasm in the Text (15:45)

Chiasm is discovered by looking at similarities in the language. In Hebrew poetry, an author will often arrange the word order so that it mirrors itself, and sometimes that word order would not be the normal order for noun, subject, and object. Here, we are looking at a chiastic structure of key terms and themes, with some key terms and themes mirroring each other.

I am sometimes suspicious of commentaries where people go nuts on chiasm and see it all over the Bible. I don't think we should recognize a chiastic structure unless there are overwhelming elements in the text itself, not just something imposed on it. I think there are enough here to warrant the case. The most clear chiastic structures are when the word order is actually rearranged and you can tell that is exactly what the author is doing. The indentation on the notes is my doing, just so you can see it a little easier.

The Greeting (16:49)

Look at Revelation 2:18, the letter to the angel of the church in Thyatira. Remember that the word angel could refer to an angelic messenger over the church, a human messenger who delivers the letter, or a pastor, elder, or representative of the church.

Here is something else that makes Thyatira unique: this is the only letter where Jesus is specifically called the Son of God. You are going to see more Christology here, with more references to qualities of the Messiah, of Jesus himself, that have a divine nature. We'll see a couple more elements later on. I believe this is the only reference to the Son of God in the seven letters. I'm going on memory there, so I'll check it. I don't think it is the only reference in the book of Revelation as a whole.

The greeting continues: "who has eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet like burnished bronze." Where have we seen that before? That is the description of the Son of Man in the vision John sees in Revelation 1, which we identified as Jesus. Many times as Jesus addresses each of these churches, he borrows one of those terms from John's vision. Last time, the emphasis was on the sword, the double-edged sword coming out of the mouth, perhaps in part because judgment is announced against Pergamum. So we have to ask why Jesus focuses on the eyes like a flame of fire and the feet like burnished bronze in this letter. Keep that question in mind as we keep reading.

The Commendation (19:56)

After the admonishment, the letter turns to commendation: "your deeds and your love and your faith and your service and your perseverance." These are normal words, not lexically unique, but they are an encouragement. For all the admonishment they will receive, Jesus commends them for:

Their deeds
Their love (agapē)
Their faith (pistis)
Their service (diakonia)
Their perseverance (hypomonē)

These are words you already know. Thyatira is loving, faithful, serving, and persevering.

Growth in Fruit (21:00)

Jesus goes on to say, "and that your deeds of late are greater than at first." What a great thing to say to somebody. The Bible predicts that true believers will grow not just in their faith but in their works. A little fruit turns into much fruit, and we see that in places like 2 Peter 1:8, Colossians 1:6, and John 15, which speaks of the vine and the branches bearing much fruit. This is not a stagnant church. It is a growing church, not numerically but by fruit. That is a good trajectory of spiritual maturity, and we can praise the Lord for it.

The Bible is not as interested in a church's numerical growth, although evangelism that adds disciples to the church is important. Most of the time, what the New Testament letters address is the spiritual maturity and growth of the congregations. Numbers are good, but maturity is better. That is a good reminder for us.

The Charge: Tolerating Jezebel (22:01)

Now the letter turns: "But I have this against you. That you tolerate the woman Jezebel." The word tolerate means to allow or permit. This gets to what Carl mentioned earlier. Apparently there is a woman perhaps in the church at Thyatira or closely associated with it. Maybe she has a blog. I don't know. Maybe she wrote a book.

Jezebel and the Historical Parallel (23:02)

Remember that with Balaam and Balak, we asked why Jesus would reach back into the Old Testament to an obscure story. The answer is that Jesus had a particular historical parallel he wanted to point out, as with Pergamum and Balaam. It is the same here. Obviously this is not the same Jezebel as in 1 Kings 16, but Jesus calls this woman Jezebel because there are similarities with the historic Jezebel. Look at 1 Kings 16:29-31:

Now Omri slept with his fathers, and Ahab his son became king in his place... Now Ahab the son of Omri became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him. It came about as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal the king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him.

Ahab is not one of the better kings of Israel. Look at what he did:

He married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians.
He went to serve Baal and worshiped him.
He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria.
He made the Asherah.
Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

Underline that last point. This is who we're talking about: Jezebel, a foreign lady married to Ahab, king of Israel. In 1 Kings 18:4 the Bible reminds us that she killed the prophets of God. Remember the showdown on Mount Carmel, with Elijah and the prophets of Baal? Part of the risk of that moment was that this lady was going around killing the prophets. Even after that great moment on Mount Carmel, when Elijah called fire down from heaven to consume the water-soaked sacrifice and demonstrate the superiority of Yahweh over the false gods, the threat from Jezebel remained.

The Historic Jezebel (27:06)

What happens in 1 Kings 19:1-2? Jezebel says, "I heard what you did to my prophets, and if it's up to me, you're going to be dead really soon." And what does Elijah do? He flees.

So historically, that's who we're talking about. We're talking about a woman who killed the prophets and married Ahab. And you say, what's the significance there? She led the people into idolatry. There's the parallel with what's going on in Thyatira in the book of Revelation.

The False Prophetess in Thyatira (28:09)

Back to Revelation 2. Jesus says, "I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and leads my bond-servants astray, "and to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols."

So there's the parallel with the historic Jezebel back in the time of Elijah and Ahab. That's what's going on, that's the significance, and that's what's happening here in this church. There is a woman who is a proclaimed prophetess. What is a prophet or a prophetess? They're claiming to speak for God. This woman is claiming to speak for God, is teaching, and is leading the believers astray, particularly leading them to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. These are the same sins we've seen in previous letters.

Now here's the question. I don't want you to think about this before we move on. Why would she teach those things? Perhaps to avoid persecution, right? If you act like everybody else in the culture, you might avoid some persecution.

What's that? Serving another god? Serving another god? Yeah, for sure.

Why Satan Would Choose These Sins (29:13)

Put yourself in the picture for a second. The god of this world, Satan, is out to destroy believers and upset, if possible, the plan of God. We know he doesn't have sovereignty, but with the freedom given to him, he is attempting to wreak havoc in the lives of believers. Why would Satan, and we'll see the reference here to Satan's work, why would Satan pick these issues to raise up his own false prophetess to deceive the people of God?

George is on the right track. It appeals to human nature, doesn't it? And it appeals not just to our fallen human nature, but to what else?

What's going on in the culture? That's it.

We talked about syncretism, the danger of syncretism, last time. Remember, syncretism just means I'm not abandoning Christianity. It's that I'm adding other religious pursuits, other false worships, other activities that would be sinful according to Scripture. I'm not saying Jesus isn't important. It's just that I'm adding worldliness, adding other religious pursuits.

So think about this. If you're the god of this world and you're trying to upset Christians, you're going to appeal to something that resonates with remaining sin in Christians, and also appeals to the culture. This prophetess is going around teaching, "God says you ought to engage in these things." She's not saying deny the Trinity or something like that. She's saying, "Oh yeah, Jesus is important, but God's commanding you to practice these other things."

Now why is that so important for today, do you think? It's the same thing, isn't it? Let me just ask: are the things that trip you up things that are popular in the culture? The world's way of thinking about:

Money and success
Entertainment
Eating and drinking and addictions
How we make decisions and what's important in life

Success. Philosophies. Ways of thinking. That's what I'm thinking about. This is me, this is you. This self-proclaimed prophetess is saying, "Yeah, God wants you to enjoy all these things, and Jesus is okay too." It's the same struggle that you and I face, that we would be enticed into the things of the world.

So George, do you want to add to that?

Yeah, I'd like to go back to Acts 21. I think it's because Jerusalem was asking, "Hey, all these Gentiles are doing this, they're repenting, what should I do?" And they were given three instructions: abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, and from sexual immorality. That's right. She's basically anti-what the disciples would tell them, the first generation.

If you go back to the book of Acts, and we looked at some of those references last time, the early Christians were told these are the things you need to abstain from. Why? Because that's what was popular in the culture. In a similar way, you're probably thinking none of you were tempted to go find the closest Hindu temple and offer meat sacrifice to their idol. Anybody struggle with that this week? Okay, I didn't think so. Sexual immorality? Absolutely. That's just a human problem that every generation struggles with. But I bet there are things in the culture right now that are popular in American society that are tripping you up and tripping me up.

And these are things that, believe it or not, there are Christian teachers promoting. Believe it or not. One of the first false prophets I came across, I was a brand new Christian, probably two months into my Christianity. It was a friend of a friend, and this was back before they had blogs and social media, back in the dark ages. We did have the internet. This guy was talking about some convoluted exegesis of obscure passages in Leviticus that justified sexual immorality in a dating relationship. He was saying God's saying this is okay. Come to find out, guess what he was doing with his girlfriend. It's convenient, but this is all over the place. And the danger, guys, is syncretism.

Speaking for God Today (34:31)

We talked about syncretism last time. Let's talk about another danger, and that other danger is this idea of speaking for God. I just want to wave my hands at this, and we'll come back and maybe talk more about it.

There are three categories of professed Christians, and I'm going to use the word Christian with a very small c, who claim to speak for God today. Just like this false prophetess Jezebel, they're claiming to speak for God, and as George noted, they're denying clear scriptural teaching in the process. Let me give you three categories of professed Christians who are doing this. They all start with C.

Cults. "The angel Moroni told me." Who's that? That's Joseph Smith, and later Brigham Young and others, who developed the religion known as Mormonism, or as they would call themselves, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You say, how do we know that's their church? Because they have a golden angel Moroni with the trumpet on top of the spire. You've seen those, the angel Moroni with his trumpet there. The angel Moroni supposedly met with Joseph Smith and gave him the secret location of the golden plates in upstate New York, which were supposedly translated into what you and I know today as the Book of Mormon. But it all started with "God told me" or "God said." That message was outside of Scripture, and if you know anything about the Book of Mormon and Mormon religion, it is very much against Scripture.
Charismatics. I want to be fair here. There are some people who would call themselves Charismatics who are more or less orthodox, who believe the gospel and trust Jesus. They're what I would call responsible Charismatics. They just happen to not be cessationists, basically, but they're responsible. I'm not talking about them. What I'm talking about are the more severe Charismatics, the more bizarre Charismatics. "The Holy Spirit told me," "I had a word from the Lord." In the most extreme cases, these are the televangelists, the health-and-wealth gospel preachers, the people you see on YouTube and social media promoting all sorts of things in the name of Christianity. They have one thing in common, and that is they're saying, "I heard this from God. I got this from God. God told me to tell you this. God told me to send your money in. God told me you're going to be healed." That sort of thing.

So we have to be careful about cults. We also have to be careful about Charismatics who would see the legitimacy of an active new revelation being given through modern-day supposed prophets.

Common Christians. I think more in the circles we run in, we look out for what I'm going to call a base level, in just common Christians. When we say things like "God impressed this on my heart" or "The Holy Spirit told me this," we should talk about mysticism and New Age theology and how we understand things like that. Many of you have heard me teach on that before. Suffice it to say that we have to be careful, even at that level, in claiming to speak for God.

As we understand the Scriptures, the Scriptures are complete. The canon of Scripture is closed, meaning this is all the sufficient revelation we have. We're not adding books to it like the Mormons do. So we have to be careful even in casual conversation about saying, "God told me this" or "God impressed this on me." What we might be saying is, "Hey, I was reading my Bible and all of a sudden I saw this, and I hadn't seen it before." That's called illumination. That's not God speaking to me. So we need to be careful with our language. Suffice it to say we do have to be careful about "God impressed upon me," "God told me," "God led me," or "the Spirit told me," because we can get into this realm of spiritual danger called speaking for God when he has not spoken in that way. So watch out for that.

This is what got this church into trouble: there was a self-proclaimed prophetess speaking for God, and her message was very clearly against the revealed will of God.

The Warning and the Call to Repent (39:40)

Back to the text. Jesus says, "I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality." This is interesting. The text tells us she's teaching in the name of God. She's prophesying about eating meat sacrificed to idols and engaging in acts of immorality in terms of what she's teaching. Here in this passage it says she's participating in the same immorality.

We're going to get to this in the latter chapters of the book, especially chapters 17, 18, and 19. We have similar language that will be used about Babylon, about the immorality Babylon is involved with, and the need to repent. So perhaps this is preparation, looking forward to that situation with Babylon down the road.

And she does not want to repent. What did we see last time with Pergamum? Are real Christians perfect? Do real Christians never struggle with sin? Real Christians struggle with sin, yes. But what do real Christians do when that sin comes to their attention? They repent. So the fact that she's refusing to repent is an indication of what?

This is not a gal in a good spiritual place. She's claiming to speak for God, she's teaching things clearly in denial of Scripture, and she's refusing to repent. So Jesus says, "I gave her time to repent. She did not. And so behold the consequence. I will throw her on a bed," and your Bible probably says in italics something like "a sickness." There's another way to render this. I think the ESV renders it this way. No, that's the next verse. Probably "a bed of sickness," a bed of illness is the idea there, "and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation. First she will be judged in this, but those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation."

Now here we have a bit of an exegetical question. Back in the previous verses, the immorality being referenced is clearly the physical act of immorality that was merged with the Greco-Roman religious system of the day, the meat sacrificed to idols and things like that.

Spiritual Adultery and Judgment (41:46)

Here we have to scratch your head and say, okay, are we still talking about physical adultery or are we talking about something different? There's no reason necessarily to take it in a non-physical way. But you know that in the book of Revelation and elsewhere in the Old Testament and the New Testament, sometimes the idea of faithfulness and adultery, or faithfulness and immorality, is used as a particularly graphic synonym or metaphor for spiritual unfaithfulness. So certainly that's going on. Certainly the people following this Jezebel are being spiritually unfaithful. Absolutely. The question is whether they were physically involved with her as well, and that makes sense, but it may be that this text is emphasizing more the spiritual unfaithfulness of her followers. Nonetheless, herself and those that follow her will be afflicted, a bed of sickness, great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.

Okay, so strong admonitions against this false teacher and those that were following her. Yes, Carl. Somebody has to have confronted her about what she's doing in order for him to say, "I gave her time to repent." So there's somebody faithful that is standing up. Yeah, so those in the back, Carl was just saying there must have been somebody faithful amongst the church who called her to repentance, because Jesus says, "I gave her time to repent." And when you go back to the previous verses, where it talks about "I know your deeds, your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance," perhaps that's encapsulated in that description here. Okay, deep breath, guys. "And I will kill her children with pestilence." Again, the verb "kill" and the word for "pestilence" are used in such a way...

Death of Her Children and Searching Minds and Hearts (43:54)

It literally says something like "I will kill them with death," and that word "death" is translated "pestilence" in the NASB. This is where the ESV renders those two in such a way, as I think the ESV says "strike her children dead." So it could be a hendiadys, that those two words are emphasizing they're going to die, or it could be, as the other translation takes it, the manner in which the children are going to die, with some sort of pestilence, which is another gloss of that second word being used there. But in either case, the children are going to die. Now, by context, who are these children? Probably her followers. Yeah, yeah. It could be her literal children, but more likely, based on the fact that we've been talking about those that follow her, children is being used here because of the close association with her, a common metaphor: children following their teacher, that kind of thing. And then here's the unique part, that all the churches will know.

All the churches will know. So Jesus says this is what's going to happen, and it's going to be obvious enough, severe enough, to remind all the churches, not just Thyatira, that "I am he who searches the minds and the hearts." That's a synonym for the inner man, for the spiritual part of you. Remember, the Bible says you have a physical part and a spiritual part, and the mind and heart is shorthand for the inner man there. We can see that language used in Jeremiah 31, in Hebrews 8, and in Hebrews 10. "And I will give to each one of you according to your deeds." This is interesting. If we go way, way back to the prophet Jeremiah, we read that Jeremiah prophesied of this very situation, that the minds and hearts would be judged according to deeds.

We're also going to see that happening in Revelation 20 at the great white throne judgment. Jesus in Matthew 16 says that people will be judged according to their deeds. So in a graphic, obvious, particular display of God's judgment, God says, "I'm going to take this woman, Jezebel, and I'm going to take all her followers, and they're going to be afflicted with a fatal pestilence, and they are going to die," to remind people of this one point: Jesus knows you. He knows your syncretism. He knows my syncretism. He knows the idol struggles of my heart. He knows that I can profess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, but I can struggle in my heart with other allegiances and other loves and other activities that are out of alignment with the things of God. And this is why it's for all the churches.

Keeping It Real Before the Lord (47:06)

This passage moves to a minor key and says don't think you're fooling anyone, because Jesus wants a heart that is sold out for him. Not a heart that is divided between Jesus and other gods, sinful activities, and worldly ways of acting, even if no one else knows. You come to church, you put on your Christian mask, you say your Christian things, you sing your Christian songs, you talk to your Christian friends, you've got your Christian Bible, your Christian apps. Even if no one else knows, Jesus knows our minds and hearts, doesn't he? And he exposes this false prophetess and all her followers to punctuate this warning that you're not fooling Jesus. And so this letter, friends, reminds us that we need to keep it real with him.

We need to not go through a Christian motion or game, when at the end of the day what really matters is who you are in your heart before the Lord. My little prayer journal, that I look at virtually every day, has one of the things I read to myself and remind myself of at the top of it, and it says this: who I am before the Lord is who I really am. And that's a good reminder. Maybe repentance is needed for you today. Maybe you're drifting and a course correction is needed. But let's not think that we're fooling Jesus, even though others may not see that battle. All right, put a comment in your notes. We'll finish this next week.

Father, thanks for your grace and kindness, the sobering. We need the sobriety of this warning. Would you give us, as the psalmist prays, an undivided heart, that we would fear your name? Would you cause us to purge and repent of any idols, any worldliness, any sin that needs to be turned away from today? Thank you for this warning that we benefit from, that you have given us grace and time to repent. Would you create us a clean heart, we pray. Father, will you work in our hearts that we would be singular in our devotion to you? In Christ's name, amen.

* = the audio was unclear here and the words were reconstructed from context. Scripture read aloud is in red.

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