Revelation 2:18

Rev_2:18-29

Thyatira.

Thyatira--the sentimental Church

One thing which Ephesus had Thyatira wanted, and it was a blessed want; nothing is said of Thyatiras toil. The temper which animated the Church made all its service joyous, Therefore the Lords commendation is so full and unreserved; He does not talk of removing the candlestick out of its place; instead He frankly recognises the growing efficiency of His servants: I know that thy latest works are more than the first. Nevertheless there is a great and grievous lack. As in Ephesus, the mention of this defect is unqualified; not, I have a few things against thee, nor, I have this against thee, but, I have against thee that thou are tolerating that woman Jezebel, etc. The name is a mystic one. Jezebel was the lady-wife of the half-barbarous king Ahab; the story of her reign is the story of the quick corruption and utter downfall of the kingdom of Israel. Idol-feasts were followed by chambering and wantonness, and corruption spread rapidly among the youth of Israel. So was this prophetess introducing the speculations of Asiatic freethinkers and the Asiatic habit of voluptuousness into the Church of Thyatira. A love of talk about forbidden things was setting in; regard for law was being weakened; audacity was taking the place of reserve; the teaching spread that self-indulgence was nobler than self-denial, and more in accordance with the freedom of the gospel. There was a double attraction in the teaching of the prophetess--the subtle charm of womanhood, and the seductiveness of the thoughts themselves she was disseminating. Thus she led her votaries on into what they loved to call the deeper aspects of life and morals. We must observe that the Church is not charged with complicity in this teaching. Nor is the minister accused of sharing in the doctrine; the implication is that he is pure. But it is charged against him that he tolerates it; and both he and the Church are warned of their neglect of duty. Why is he so tolerant of this modern Jezebel--a woman who is working in the Church mischiefs as subtle, and in their consequences as dire, as those which destroyed the manhood of Israel? First, doubtless, he bore with her because she was a woman. The gracious tolerance of a strong man often takes this form. It is very hard for such a one to assert himself at all; most hard where self-assertion seems most easy. Next, the woman called herself a prophetess. Here comes in regard for the freedom of prophecy; the very inspiration of the Church was a hindrance. Who knows whether God is not speaking by her, notwithstanding all that is suspicious in her teaching? The very spirit of service might help to mislead a gracious man. Underneath the easy temper of the pastor of Thyatira there was, however, a grave deficiency, one of the gravest in a Church ruler: he had an inadequate sense of the authority of law. Thyatira stands before us the type of a sentimental Church; the charm and the danger of the sentimental temperament are both set before us here. There is a sentimentalism of the strong as well as of the weak. In the weak sentiment takes the place which belongs to conviction; they try to make feeling do the work of moral qualities. And they miserably fail; their Christian character itself degenerates; like the Amy of Locksley Hall, they are doomed to perish in their self-contempt. The strong are not in danger of this: their personal character may seem to keep itself unstained. But if they have responsibilities for others laid upon them, their sentimentalism may mean unfaithfulness. If Ephesus may be looked upon as typifying the peril of the Puritan habit, Thyatira is a type of what we may call Neo-Puritanism. The Puritan was the guardian of the claims and rights of the individual. He trusted his own conscience to see the will of God, his own intelligence to interpret it. In strenuous years the man of such a temper, and with this lofty ambition, tends to be hard, self-confident, a dogmatist in his thinking, a precisian in his conduct. He is the man who can try the spirits; who can tear aside disguises; can see through them who call themselves apostles when they are not, and can find them false. Times have grown easier; there has swept over us a great impulse of tenderness, which has become the prevailing habit, and the characteristic individualism of the Puritan has changed its form. Out of regard for the sanctity of the individual conscience and judgment, varying interpretations of Gods law are to be received as binding on various persons; and where divers interpretations of law are admitted, the law itself ceases to be law. In the freedom which is to be allowed to self-development, the educative influence of positive enactments is gone; every man is to be his own schoolmaster as well as his own judge.

I. The appeal to reality. In contrast with their readiness to be deluded, He sets out His own clear vision, piercing through all plausibilities, and detecting the heart of the matter; His fervid indignation, too, that will not long be restrained. Nothing is more needed than occasional plain speech about the foulness which lurks in much that professes to be an enlarged spirituality. There is more than an etymological connection between sentimentalism and sensuality. They who encourage display of the peculiar charms of womanhood, and seek to advance public causes by constant speech of things which both nature and piety tell us should be held in strict reserve, degrade the woman they seek to emancipate and brutalise the man. More than once the world has been startled by the announcement of esoteric teachings and practices among some who have posed as heralds of a higher morality, which differ not at all from the words and deeds of others who are frankly vicious. And what is still more startling is the discovery that some who have not accepted all the doctrines of their circle have known of the prevalence of them, and suffered them to pass without rebuke. These are really the coarse.

II. The appeal to compassion. Behold, says the Lord, I cast them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation; and I will kill her children with death. There were simple souls in Thyatira saved from moral ruin by their ignorance. They knew not the deep things of Satan which the initiated talked of. There were other simple ones who fell by their curiosity. It was the place of the pastor to stand between these and the Lord of the flaming eyes and the glowing feet; to save them from, seeming judgment by instruction, warning, if need were by discipline, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted with the flesh. It is a cruel thing to be tolerant of those who are destroying the souls of the unwary.

III. The appeal to duty. I lay upon you the charge to be faithful to the law you have received. I impose no other obligation on you. But this you have; hold it fast until I come. It was the duty of all in Thyatira; it was the special duty of the angel of the Church. An unwelcome duty it might be, but not on that account less urgent. And it was enforced by the promise to him that overcometh. Gods rewards are of two classes. We are to have more of what we have; there is to be given us that which we have not. We think more habitually of the former class--to him that hath shall be given--but the Lord thinks also of the latter class, and this is well for us. For if we were only to go on enlarging and developing the graces most congenial to us, which we find it easiest to exercise, we might attain to excellence, but we should be ever one-sided men. God would make us perfect men. He will not let us keep the defects of our qualities. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)

Christs letter to the Church at Thyatira

I. The commendable in character. I know thy works, etc. Its progressive excellence is here commended. And the last to be more than the first. Several excellent things are here mentioned--Charity, which is love. The one genuine principle has various manifestations. Service, that is ministry. Faith. By this I understand not belief in propositions, but universal and living confidence in God, Christ, and eternal principles. Patience--that is calm endurance of those evils over which we have no control. Works--all the practical developments of holy principles.

II. The reprehensible in doctrine. Whatever was the particular doctrine that this prophetess taught, it was a great evil; it led to two things.

1. It led to great wickedness in conduct.

(1) Licentiousness--commit fornication.

(2) Idolatry--eat things sacrificed to idols. A corrupt doctrine will lead to a corrupt life. Creed and conduct have a vital connection with each other.

2. It incurred the displeasure of Christ. Behold I will cast her into a bed, etc., etc.

(1) A terrible retribution. The couch of indulgence would be changed into a bed of torture.

(2) An enlightened retribution. I am He which searcheth the reins and the hearts. There will be no ignorance in the dispensation of the punishment; the Judge knows all.

(3) A righteous retribution. I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

III. The indispensable in duty. What is to be done to correct these evils, and to avoid this threatened doom?

1. Repent of the wrong. Kind Heaven gives all sinners time for repentance, and unless repentance takes place punishment must come.

2. Hold fast to the right.

(1) You have something good. You have some right views, right feelings, right principles; hold them fast.

(2) This something you are in danger of losing. There are seductive influences around you in society. Error is a prophetess ever at work, seeking to rifle the soul of all good.

(3) This something will be safe after Christs advent. Till I come. He will perfect all, put all beyond the reach of the tempter. Meanwhile hold fast.

IV. The blessed in destiny. There are several glorious things here promised to the faithful and true.

1. Freedom from all future inconvenience. No other burden will be put on them. Freedom from evil, what a blessing!

2. Exaltation to authority. To him I will give power over the nations. The Christian victor shall share in the dominion of Christ (1Co_6:2).

3. The possession of Christ. I will give him the morning star, that is, I will give Myself to him, the light of life, the light that breaks upon the world after a night of darkness and tempest. (Caleb Morris.)

Thyatira

I. The Majesty And Judicial Aspects Of Its Divine Author.

1. His majesty--Son of God.

(1) Our Lords resurrection; its grand and unanswerable demonstration (Rom_1:4).

(2) The title proof of His glory and Divinity (Heb_1:2-8).

2. His judicial aspects.

(1) Nothing can escape His piercing glance.

(2) No one can escape His resistless power.

II. His loving recognition of every commendable quality (Rev_2:19).

III. His holy abhorrence of the evils permitted in the Church (Rev_2:20).

IV. His loving forbearance of this wicked party (Rev_2:21).

V. The terrible doom that awaits this party unless they repent (Rev_2:22-23).

VI. Our Lords inspiring words to the faithful (Rev_2:24).

1. The importance of not giving heed to false doctrine.

2. The connection between false doctrine and the knowing the depths of Satan.

VII. The importance of firmly holding the truth and grace of Christ (Rev_2:25).

VIII. The blessed reward of Christian heroism (verses 26-28).

IX. Our Lords earnest exhortation to the churches (Rev_2:29). (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)

The Church contaminated by doctrinal error

I. This Church had previously been of high moral character.

1. Fervent in its love.

2. Faithful in its service.

3. Constant in its faith.

4. Genuine in its patience.

5. Progressive in its excellences.

II. This church, notwithstanding its previous high moral character, was contaminated by doctrinal error through the seductive influence of a corrupt woman (Rev_2:20).

1. This Church was contaminated in doctrine by the teaching of a woman.

(1) Of wicked namesake.

(2) Of vain pretensions.

(3) Of corrupt morality.

(4) Of seductive influence.

2. This Church, through its doctrinal error, was led into sinful practices.

3. There is a contaminating influence in doctrinal error.

III. Those who are instrumental in leading a Church into doctrinal error, and its consequent evils, are threatened with severe retribution (Rev_2:22-23). Lessons:

1. To cultivate in Church life an increase of all Christian graces.

2. To avoid vain and impious teachers who profess the prophetic gift.

3. That women should keep silence in the Church.

4. That doctrinal heresy will lead to an awful destiny. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

I know thy works and charity … and the last to be more than the first.--

The first and last works

I. What every Christian life is meant to be. A life of continual progress in which each to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant, in reference to all that is good and noble. A continuous progress towards and in all good of every sort is the very law of the Christian life. Every metaphor about the life of the Christian soul carries the same lesson. Is it a building? Then course by course it rises. Is it a tree? Then year by year it spreads a broader shadow, and its leafy crown reaches nearer heaven. Is it a body? Then from childhood to youth, and youth to manhood, it grows. Christianity is growth, continual, all-embracing, and unending.

II. What a sadly large proportion of professedly Christian lives are not. Many professing Christians are cases of arrested development, like some of those monstrosities that you see about our pavements--a full grown man in the upper part with no under limbs at all to speak of, aged half a century, and only half the height of a ten years old child. They grow, if at all, by fits and starts, after the fashion, say, of a tree that every winter goes to sleep, and only makes wood for a little while in the summer time. Or they do not grow even as regularly as that, but there will come sometimes an hour or two of growth, and then long dreary tracks in which there is no progress at all, either in understanding of Christian doctrine or in the application of Christian precept; no increase of conformity to Jesus Christ, no increase of realising hold of His love, no clearer or more fixed and penetrating contemplation of the unseen realities, than there used to be long, long ago. Let us learn the lesson that either to-day is better than yesterday or it is worse. If a man on a bicycle stands still he tumbles. The condition of keeping upright is to go onwards. If a climber on an Alpine ice-slope does not put all his power into the effort to ascend, he cannot stick at the place, at an angle of forty-five degrees upon the ice, but down he is bound to go. Unless, by effort, he overcomes gravitation, he will be at the bottom very soon. And so if Christian people are not daily getting better, they are daily getting worse. There are two alternatives before us. Either we are getting more Christlike or we are daily getting less so.

III. How this commendation may become ours. Notice the context. Christ says, I know thy works and love and faith and service (for ministry), and patience and that thy last works are more than the first. That is to say, the great way by which we can secure this continual growth in the manifestations of Christian life is by making it a habit to cultivate what produces it, viz., these two things, charity (or love) and faith. These are the roots; they need cultivating. If they are not cultivated then their results of service (or ministry) and patience are sure to become less and less. These two, faith and rove, are the roots; their vitality determines the strength and abundance of the fruit that is borne. If we want our works to increase in number and to rise in quality, let us see to it that we make an honest habit of cultivating that which is their producing cause--love to Jesus Christ and faith in Him. And then the text still further suggests another thought. At the end of the letter I read: He that overcometh and keepeth My works to the end, to him will I give, etc. Now, mark what were called thy works in the beginning of the letter are called My works in its close. If we want that the Master shall see in us a continuous growth towards Himself, then, in addition to cultivating the habit of faith and love, we must cultivate the other habit of looking to Him as the source of all the work that we do for Him. And when we have passed from the contemplation of our deeds as ours, and come to look upon all that we do of right and truth and beauty as Christ working in us, then there is a certainty of our work increasing in nobility and in extent. There is still another thing to be remembered, and that is, that if we are to have this progressive godliness we must put forth continuous effort right away to the very close. We come to no point in our lives when we can slack off in the earnestness of our endeavour to make more and more of Christs fulness our own. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel.

An imperfect Church

I. A serious charge alleged against the church at thyatira. The most perfect Church upon earth is very imperfect. A seriously observant man will soon perceive an end of all perfection in the most excellent characters. All our Lords descriptions of character are faithful. He never drew a false likeness. By Him neither excellences or imperfection were ever exaggerated. The design of the Holy Ghost in exposing the sins and imperfections of the people of God is to warn Christians of their danger, and to excite them to constant watchfulness and fervent prayer. The faithful reproof marks the line of conduct we are bound conscientiously to pursue in dealing with professors of the religion of Christ.

II. Divine patience spares for a season the most abandoned and guilty characters. Justice might instantly inflict condign punishment upon licentious characters.

III. Tremendous judgments will succeed the exercise of patience upon those who continue impenitent.

IV. Our Lord asserts His omniscience and His prerogative to punish and reward mankind.

V. The epistle concludes with exhortation and encouragement addressed to those who had not approved of the doctrine of Jezebel. (J. Hyatt.)

Inconsistency

Alas for our many inconsistencies, our varied imperfections; alas for the mischief they do to our own souls and to the cause of Christ everywhere! Up to a certain point, by the grace of God and a steadfast will, we have done, let us suppose, pretty well. We have gained something. But the difficulty is to get on a little farther. Conscience has always a few things against us which we cannot quite conquer--very unimportant, perhaps, according to the worlds judgment, and yet, we know, very contrary to the Spirit of Christ. We ought to be humble, and we are proud. We ought to be grave, and we are frivolous. We ought to be exact in our times of prayer, and we suffer all manner of things to interrupt us. We ought to be overflowing with kindness; and we are reserved, impatient, and unsympathising. It is well for us if we can perceive our inconsistencies and try to amend them. The devil does his best to keep our attention fixed on what we have gained. Our inconsistencies, whatever they may appear to us, are spots and blemishes in the soul, disfiguring that image of Christ into which we desire to be transformed, holding us back from God only knows what higher degrees of perfection, spoiling the offering of our life, keeping back a part of the spoil. Moreover, it is by these inconsistencies that the devil gains power over us in other ways. These are his stations which he seizes and fortifies, establishing on them his engines of war, from which he hurls his fiery darts of temptation so as to overcome our defence in the matter of some kindred fault, and to throw in other forces of his own as soon as the breach is opened. And who shall tell the disheartening effect upon ourselves of these inconsistencies? So much for the effect of our inconsistency on ourselves. And what shall we say of its effect upon the world at large? There is nothing which does the devils work half so well as the unholy life combined with great profession. (W. Mitchell, M. A.)

The Jezebel of Thyatira

proceeded in the same way as all do who succeed in making havoc of the Church of Christ. She came under the semblance of religion; she pretended to be inspired of God; and she appears to have gained such credit with the bishop himself that he was beguiled by her enticing words, and suffered her to teach; this was his sin. Now it is evident when we read the character of this man that he had not lent himself knowingly to any wicked designs of the false prophetess. What does this show but our constant liability to error, even though we should be exalted to the highest station in the Church of Christ? We may be compromising our high and evangelical principles by unworthy and undignified concession to the errors of others, as effectually as did those deceived Christians of Thyatira; and there will never be wanting a Jezebel or a doctrine which that name will denote to assure us that it is right so to do, and that we thereby gain a universal esteem which will help us to extend our own particular views and influence. But, besides this practice, the false prophetess had a doctrine, and it is characterised by the depths of Satan. Our Lord pronounces the things whereof Jezebel and her followers made their boast to be deep, but they were not the deep things of God, but of Satan; there is a spirit which searcheth the mysteries of godliness; and there is a spirit which is busy in diving into the depths of evil under the pretension of seeking out causes, until it becomes what may be termed mysticism. The false prophetess, no doubt, led her votaries to believe that some other revelation than what was in Gods Word had been made to her, and professed to communicate some superior light on the deepest and most intricate points of faith. Generally speaking, when error is worked into a system, it must have an air of mystery thrown around it, and be supposed to conceal something which cannot meet the vulgar eye or be known to the uninitiated. Nothing but truth will bear an open investigation; truth is the only system that may be committed with safety to a whole community; not that it will be so safe as never to be perverted, but it will finally triumph, and requires neither secret machinery nor open violence to force it on mens minds. Beware of an inordinate love of speculation on the nature and counsels of the Most High; deep things, though most alluring, are not the best elements for the health of the soul, and very few who have exercised themselves much therein have been able to maintain a spirit of sobriety unto the end. Let us beware of a tendency to begin our inquiries where all wise men make an end. Let us seek to be wise up to the word, not beyond it; and thus keeping our hearts in all simplicity we shall soon learn to whom the Father reveals His mysteries, and we shall retain an unclouded judgment to approve things that are excellent, and to discuss with patience and candour.

2. The other lesson to be learnt from this history regards the discipline and ordinances of the Church. The deluded followers of the false prophetess had set at nought the discipline of the overseers of the Church for the time being, apparently esteeming it a burden not to be tolerated by them who pretended to such great gifts. God, however, is not a God of confusion but of order, and was careful to confirm that burden and thereby to give His sanction to discipline. (R. Burgess, B. D.)

Jezebel to be cast out of the Church

Why they did not insist upon having this Jezebel turned out of the Church appears exceedingly strange. Perhaps she was a woman of wealth and riches, of some note and rank in Thyatira. There are few Churches so exactly apostolic as to pursue a strict impartiality. The gold ring and the gay clothing goes a great way. A woman, whether she was a prophetess or not, provided she had some thousands a year, and knew how to apply it among her friends, might be guilty of a great many peccadillos and have them winked at, when one of low degree could not escape censure for the first trip. There is something bewitching in riches and worldly dignity--they make mankind do very absurd and inconsistent things, and even New Testament Churches have been fascinated therewith. Perhaps this prophetess would have been accounted a good Christian in these soft, good-natured times when divorces are so common. She would probably have endowed a church, entertained the clergy, like a good Christian and orthodox believer; and this would cover a multitude of sins. But Christ does not judge as men do, for He looks into the heart and sees that many specious actions are only intended as a cover to conceal other designs than those that are pretended publicly. There is no imposing upon Him that searches the hearts. It is a great mercy that the Church has such an Head, who knows all things, and discerns all characters, and will not suffer sin to pass without rebuke. (J. Murray.)

Sins of omission

It is a fault, then, not only to be active in evil, but to be passive of evil. (J. Trapp.)

Jezebel a type of worldliness

Jezebel was a heathen princess, the first heathen queen who had been married by a king of the northern kingdom of Israel. She was, therefore, peculiarly fitted to represent the influences of the world; and the charge against the first Church of the second group is that she tolerated the world with its heathen thoughts and practices. She knew it to be the world that it was, but notwithstanding this she was content to be at peace, perhaps even to ally herself with it. (W. Milligan, D. D.)

And I gave her space to repent.--

A timely period

God is the great giver; He gives life and food and happiness to all His creatures.

I. A definition of time. Some call time the measure of duration; others the succession of ideas, pearls strung upon a golden thread. But is not this as good as either--space to repent?

II. A limitation of mercy. Space, a definite period of time. Mans days are determined (Job_14:5).

1. How rash the calculations of the sinner.

2. How simple the reckoning of the saint (Gen_47:9; Job_14:14; 1Co_7:29).

III. A declaration of duty. Repent.

IV. A foreshadowing of destiny. Man is related to eternity. (Homilist.)

Time for repentance

I. Divinely allotted.

1. The wealth of Divine mercy.

2. Man will have no excuse if finally lost.

II. Certainly limited. Then use it well, prize it highly, see that the Divine purpose concerning your destiny is accomplished.

III. Wilfully neglected.

1. Because their minds are darkened.

2. Because their hearts are insensible.

3. Because their retributions are delayed.

IV. Eternally ruinous. Lessons:

1. We are Divinely called to repentance.

2. We should repent now, because now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Space to repent

In space comes grace proves not always a true proverb. They that defer the work, and say that men may repent hereafter, say truly, but not safely. The branch that bears not timely fruit is cut off (Joh_15:2). The ground that yields not a seasonable and suitable return is nigh unto cursing (Heb_6:8). (John Trapp.)

I will give unto every one of you according to your works.--

Self-prepared penalties

My children, if you saw a man prepare a great pile of wood, heaping up fagots one upon another, and when you asked him what he was doing, he were to answer you, I am preparing the fire that is to burn me, what would you think? And if you saw this same man set fire to the pile, and when it was lighted, throw himself upon it, what would you say? This is what we do when we commit sin. (G. Vianney.)

The depths of Satan

This is not the name which these persons gave to the doctrines they held, but the real character they deserved. Mankind have always been fond of depths and mysteries, and more disposed to adhere to things which they do not understand, than to simple and plain truths that are more plain and obvious. It would appear to have been one of the particular stratagems of the wicked one to persuade mankind that Divine revelation is beyond the understanding of the inferior ranks of Church members, and that whey must depend for their direction how to understand them, upon some select commissioners that are initiated in the secrets thereof. The depths of Satan differ from all things that may be called depths in the Word of God, in the following particulars.

1. Satan appoints trustees to keep the key of his secrets, and does not show an index to the mysteries which are in his system. But there are no mysteries in the Word of God, but what have a key to open them, and an index to point them out.

2. The interpretation of Scripture mysteries is always shorter, and expressed in fewer words, than the mysteries themselves. The vision of Nebuchadnezzars great image pointed out himself in a mystery; the interpretation was short, and yet exceedingly plain. The depths and mysteries of Satan are quite different; the mystery is short, but the interpretation long, and the opening of the mystery very tedious.

3. The depths of God are always opened up by the Spirit of God, in the course of Divine revelation, and without the interpretation of the Holy Ghost, who is the original author, all the art of men and angels could not develop one single emblem in either the Old or New Testament, with any degree of certainty. The depths of Satan are like Miltons Darkness Visible, incapable of any consistent interpretation, nor are they ever intended to be understood. They are believed because they are inscrutable, and on that account require a large measure of faith. But what God reveals, the nature and character thereof is plain, though the measure is unfathomable.

4. 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. (J. Murray.)

But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come.--

A little religion is worth retaining

I. Hold fast that which you have, because it is worth retaining.

1. Because of the means which God has employed to put you in the possession of it.

2. Because it is connected with the salvation of your soul.

3. Because the minutest portion of it is valuable, and is capable of unlimited increase. When the whole substance is composed of gold and silver and precious stones, intrinsic value belongs to every particle and to every grain, so that its very dust is carefully preserved. And so it is with all the impressions and feelings which belong to true religion, for they are fruits of the Spirit, and portions of the ways of the unsearchable God. The mariner does not throw away the little light which shines upon him from the polar star, but retains it in his eye till it has guided his vessel into port. And though in some periods of your religious experience, Jesus Christ may not appear to you in His full tide of glory, as the Sun of Righteousness, yet if He appears to you in the feebler beams of the morning star, ever remember that what you see, though but a glimmering, still is light, real heavenly light. Hold it, therefore, in your view. If you possessed but one single grain of wheat, its intrinsic value would be trifling; but how is its value enhanced, and with what care will it be preserved, when you know that if it be sown and reaped, and sown and reaped again, its production will soon be seen waving in the valleys, and crowning the mountain tops, till it has furnished food sufficient for a city, a continent, a world. And who can set limits to the increase of grace? Who can tell what advances he may make in knowledge, in holiness, and in joy, who is now for the first time sitting at the feet of Jesus?

II. Hold fast that which you have, because various efforts are made to deprive you of it.

1. Such efforts are made by our own evil propensities. As the guards and the cultivators of that which we have, there must be vigilance and resistance and persevering prayer; there must be a war continually waged against evil thoughts, evil propensities, and evil actions; and there must be an unceasing and determined effort to bring the whole soul under the supreme dominion of gospel principles and of gospel influences.

2. Such efforts are made by the world. The mere presence of material and worldly objects has a tendency to divert our attention and our affections from those objects which are spiritual and unseen. The quantity of time and thought and labour which worldly business receives, from both the master and the servant, is often unfavourable, and sometimes fatal to fervency of spirit.

3. Such efforts are made by Satan.

III. Hold fast that which you have, because the gospel furnishes you with the means of retaining it.

1. The gospel furnishes you with the examples of righteous men, who have retained their spiritual possessions even in the midst of multiplied difficulties and dangers.

2. The gospel promises the Holy Spirit to help your infirmities, and to make your strength equal to your day.

IV. Hold fast that which you have, because Jesus Christ is approaching.

1. This announcement, you perceive, prescribes the term of your endurance. It is to continue till the Lord comes. The oath which Christ requires from us, when we enter His service, is an oath of fidelity for life; and, in this respect, Christs requirements accord with the dispositions of all His faithful servants. They desire to persevere. They pray that they may persevere.

2. The announcement that Christ is coming affords great encouragement to sustain your endurance; for He is coming to receive His people to Himself, that where He is, there they may be also. And as the shipwrecked mariner is encouraged to hold fast the rope which he has grasped, when he hears that the lifeboat is coming to convey him to the shore, so be you strengthened and encouraged by the announced approaching of your Lord, who even now is walking on the waters to conduct you to the desired haven. (J. Alexander.)

Christian excellence

I. Christian excellence is an attainment.

1. Christian excellence is an attainment in contradistinction to a native growth. It does not spring up in the soul as an indigenous germ. It is a seed that has been taken in and cultivated.

2. Christian excellence is an attainment in contradistinction to an impartation. In a sense, it is the gift of God; not in the sense in which life and light and air and the seasons of the year are the gifts of God, blessings that come upon us irrespective of our own efforts, but rather in the sense in which the crops of the husbandman, the learning of the scholar, the triumphs of the artist, are the gifts of God--blessings that come as the result of appropriate labour. We shall grow neither good nor be made good; we must become good; we must struggle after it.

II. Christian excellence is an attainment that requires fast holding.

1. Because it is worth retaining. Its value will appear by considering three things.

(1) The priceless instrumentality employed to put man in possession of it: the mission of Christ.

(2) Its essential connection with mans spiritual well-being; there is no true happiness apart from it.

(3) Its capability of unlimited progress; it may be as a grain of mustard, but it can grow.

2. Because there is a danger of losing it.

(1) Men who have had it have lost it before now.

(2) Agencies are in constant operation here that threaten its destruction.

III. Christian excellence is an attainment that will be placed beyond danger at the advent of Christ.

1. He comes to every Christian at death.

2. When He thus comes--

(1) He crushes for ever our enemies. He bruises the head of Satan under our feet.

(2) He removes from us everything inimical to the growth of goodness.

(3) He introduces us into those heavenly scenes where there will be nothing but what ministers to the advancement of goodness. Take heart, Christian, the struggle is not for long. (Homilist.)

Hold fast the good obtained

I. There is something which we have already; let us inquire what it is. First, have we obtained pardoning mercy? Secondly, have we obtained justifying grace? Thirdly, there is sanctifying power. Fourthly, suppose freedom and comfort in the ways of God. Fifthly, suppose a sweet sense of the love of God in the soul. Lastly, have you obtained an interest in the promises?

II. Supposing, then, that we have something, hold fast. And this is opposed to those who turn round and go back, or who turn aside and go astray. Let there be an advancement and progress in holiness, in zeal, in love, in conformity to Christs image. When it is said, hold fast, it implies that there are certain fixed and determinate principles of truth, which we are on no account to let go. There is a form of sound words, which is not to be relinquished. The dignity of Christ, the efficacy of His sacrifice, the triumph of His mediation, the fact of His advent and coming again in glory, we are to give up only with our liven Hold it fast implies that there are certain means and instrumentalities to be employed. What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch. Consider what you will lose, if you hold not fast the things which you have already obtained. And, again, if you lose what is gained, the dishonour and shame are greater than before. (J. Stratten.)

Christian steadfastness

Hold fast. Here, as constantly, a material image is used to set forth a spiritual act, or rather a life-long series of spiritual acts, indicated by the continuous act hold fast. It implies, too, that there is something to lay hold of, and what that is is referred to beforehand, that which ye have already. By this we should probably understand all that is included in the faith once delivered to the saints; the sum total, as it has been expressed, of Christian doctrine, and hopes, and privileges. How much that is! The laws of Christ, they are to be held fast, not one forgotten or neglected; the promises of Christ, they are to be held fast, not one forgotten or neglected; the helps of Christ, they are all of them to be held fast, and used in the varied and continued necessities of this mortal life of temptation. To hold all these fast may be summed up as holding Him fast, as our Divine Lawgiver and Redeemer, our great Priest and Sacrifice, our in-dwelling Spirit and life. We do not need to ask for a Christ of higher endowments and larger resources; it is enough for us to hold fact the Christ we have already, who of God is made unto us, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Hold fast till I come. The thoughts suggested by the words hold fast are very different from those suggested by I come. Hold fast tells of the struggles of earth; I come tells of the serene and abiding peace which reigns where Jesus is. Hold fast till I come. The earthly effort till the heavenly reward. The strenuous life-effort, weary, protracted, often seeming doubtful in result, is to continue till Christ comes, up to the hour of that supreme disclosure, but not beyond it. Then the weary hands may relax their painful effort, the weary eyes their outlook for danger, the weary heart its patience of hope, for the security and rest of victory will have come. (T. M. Herbert, M. A.)

Hold fast

Tug for it with those that would take it from you. (J. Trapp.)

And he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him I will give power over the nations.--

The service of God--to be constant

Look at yon miller on the village hill. How does he grind his grist? Does he bargain that he will only grind in the west wind, because its gales are so full of health? No, but the east wind, which searches joints and marrows, makes the mill-stones revolve, and together with the north and the south it is yoked to his service. Even so should it be with you who are true workers for God; all your ups and your downs, your successes and your defeats, should be turned to the glory of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The promises to the victors

I. We have the victors authority. Now, the promise in my next text is moulded by a remembrance of the great words of the second psalm. The psalm in question deals with that Messianic hope under the symbols of an earthly conquering monarch, and sets forth His dominion as established throughout the whole earth. And our letter brings this marvellous thought, that the spirits of just men made perfect are, somehow or other, associated with Him in that campaign of conquest. And so, notice, that whatever may be the specific contents of such a promise as this, the general form of it is in full harmony with the words of the Master whilst He was on earth. Our Lord gave His trembling disciples this great promise: In the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things; and, linked along with the promise of authority, the assurance of union with the Master: Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. My text adds to that the image of a conquering campaign, of a sceptre of iron crushing down antagonism, of banded opposition broken into shivers, as a potters vessel dashed upon a pavement of marble. The New Testament teaching converges upon this one point, that the Christ that came to die shall come again to reign, and that He shall reign and His servants with Him. That is enough; and that is all. But all the other promises deal not with something in the remoter future, but with something that begins to take effect the moment the dust, and confusion, and garments rolled in blood, of the battle-field, are swept away. At one instant the victors are fighting, at the next they are partaking of the Tree of Life. There must be something in the present for blessed dead, as well as for them in the future. And this is, that they are united with Jesus Christ in His present activities, and through Him, and in Him, and with Him, are even now serving Him. The servant, when he dies, and has been fitted for it, enters at once on his government of the ten cities. Thus this promise of my text, in its deepest meaning, corresponds with the deepest needs of a mans nature. For we can never be at rest unless we are at work; and a heaven of doing nothing is a heaven of ennui and weariness. This promise of my text comes in to supplement the three preceding. They were addressed to the legitimate wearied longings for rest and fulness of satisfaction for oneself. This is addressed to the deeper and nobler longing for larger service. And the words of my text, whatever dim glory they may partially reveal, as accruing to the victor in the future, do declare that when he passes beyond the grave there will be waiting for him nobler work to do than any that he ever has done here. But let us not forget that all this access of power and enlargement of opportunity are a consequence of Christs royalty and Christs conquering rule. That is to say, whatever we have because we have knit to Him, and all our service there, as all our blessedness here, flows from our union with that Lord. Whatever there lies in the heavens, the germ of it all is this, that we are as Christ, so closely identified with Him that we are like Him, and share in all His possessions. He says to us, All Mine is thine.

II. Note the victors starry splendour. I will give him the morning star. Now, no doubt, throughout Scripture a star is a symbol of royal dominion; and many would propose so to interpret it in the present case. But it seems to me that whilst that explanation--which makes the second part of our promise simply identical with the former, though under a different garb-does justice to one part of the symbol, it entirely omits the other. But the emphasis is here laid on morning rather than on star. Then another false scent, as it were, on which interpretations have gone, seems to me to be that, taking into account the fact that in the last chapter of the Revelation our Lord is Himself described as the bright and morning star, they bring this promise down simply to mean I will give him Myself. Now, though it be quite true that, in the deepest of all views, Jesus Christ Himself is the gift as well as the giver of all these seven-fold promises, yet the propriety of representation seems to me to forbid that He should here say I will give them Myself! So that I think we are just to lay hold of the thought--the starry splendour, the beauty and the lustre that will be poured upon the victor is that which is expressed by this symbol here. What that lustre will consist in it becomes us not to say. That future keeps its secret well, but that it shall be the perfecting of human nature up to the most exquisite height of which it is capable, and the enlargement of it beyond all that human experience here can conceive, we may peaceably anticipate and quietly trust. Only note the advance here on the previous promises is as conspicuous as in the former part of this great promise. There the Christian mans influence and authority were set forth under the emblem of regal dominion. Here they are set forth under the emblem of lustrous splendour. It is the spectators that see the glory of the beam that comes from the star. And this promise, like the former, implies that in that future there will be a field in which perfected spirits may ray out their light, and where they may gladden and draw some eyes by their beams. Christian souls, in the future, as in the present, will stand forth as the visible embodiments of the glory and lustre of the unseen God. Further, remember that this image, like the former, traces up the royalty to communion with Christ, and to impartation from Him. I will give him the morning star. We are not suns, but planets, that move round the Sun of Righteousness, and flash with His beauty.

III. Lastly, mark the condition of the authority, and the lustre. Here I would say a word about the remarkable expansion of the designation of the victor, to which I have already referred: He that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end. We do not know why that expansion was put in, in reference to Thyatira only, but if you will glance over the letter you will see that there is more than usual about works; works to be repented of, or works which make the material of a final retribution and judgment. Bring your metaphor of a victor down to the plain, hard, prose fact of doing Christs work right away to the end of life. It is the explanation of the victory, and one that we all need to lay to heart. My works. That means the works that He enjoins. No doubt; but look at the verse before my text: I will give unto every one of you according to your works. That is, the works that you do, and Christs works are not only those which He enjoins, but those of which He Himself set the pattern. He will give according to works; He will give authority; give the morning star That is to say, the life which has been moulded according to Christs pattern, and shaped in obedience to Christs commandments is the life which is capable of being granted participation in His dominion, and invested with the morning star. It is for us to choose whether we shall share in Christs dominion or be crushed by His iron sceptre. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Power over the nations

I. Power is in many cases the result of conquest. Even in this life victory brings new strength. Physical force is attained by a long series of efforts. The blacksmiths brawny, sinewy arm is the natural consequence of years of vigorous strokes upon the anvil. Intellectual strength grows in the same way. It is in great measure acquired by mental application, and comes from painful, persevering endeavours to master some of the branches of art or science. This is a law of our being, the great principle, according to which the All-wise and Almighty Ruler of the world dispenses His gifts. It is, therefore, not surprising to find the same method applied to the highest and noblest kind of power, known as moral and spiritual. The ability to refuse the evil and choose the good, as well as to lead others to do the same, is indeed a special gift of Gods grace, and yet it is the result of constant, persevering effort. In short, this promise to Thyatira is being continually fulfilled in the present life.

II. At the same time, for its largest and truest accomplishment we must look on to the grand and glorious future. It is to him that shall have overcome, and kept Christs works to the end, that He here promises power over the nations. The royalties of Christ, remarks Archbishop Trench, shall by reflection and communication be the royalties also of His Church. They shall reign, but only because Christ reigns, and because He is pleased to share His dignity with them. (W. Burnet, M. A.)

I will give him the morning star.--

Christ, the Morning Star

(compared with Rev_22:16):--In seeking to interpret these words in the second chapter, some have supposed that the morning star is not directly connected with Christ; but that the promise is only a general one, setting forth the splendour of the reward of believers. Upon this principle there would be the same blessing promised to the Church of Thyatira under two forms: rule over the nations, and the splendour of such an inheritance here and hereafter. Had our Lord meant to display the splendour of the Christians reward, He would have spoken of making His people like the morning star, rather than of giving them the morning star; hence I agree with those who understand Christ to promise that lie will give Himself to His faithful ones as their portion and reward. But it is plain that Christ will not for the first time become the morning star to His people when He bestows Himself as their final reward, since He is so already in the present life; and hence we must understand Him as promising to give Himself in a higher measure as the reward of their fidelity.

I. I remark that Christ is to His people the morning star of time, and will be to them the morning star of eternity, because His light shines after darkness. It belongs to the day star to appear in the midst of gloom when the shades of night are still thick and heavy, and to announce their departure. It was in this sense that Christ came as the light of the world. There was a general sense in which the whole world sat in darkness, as it does still where Christ is not known. Darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people. Take the altar at Athens, to which Paul appealed. If we understand its inscription as to The Unknown God, did not this proclaim God at large as still unknown? When Christ came the world was in the darkness of guilt, with only light enough to read the sentence of conscience, but none to see how it could be reversed. There was the darkness of depravity, for in the night the beasts of the forest walked abroad, and foul and hideous lusts degraded every land. These causes produced a darkness of untold misery. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Similar to this first coming of Christ into the world is His first appearing in His saving character to individual sinners. Every sinner to whom Christ has not thus appeared walks in darkness. Let him at length be aroused by the Spirit of God, and how awful is the sense of darkness that overwhelms him! The experience of Christians, indeed, is various. Some have more memory of this darkness than others. Some wander in it longer and plunge into it more deeply. Such is the first grand deliverance from darkness which Christ works for all His people, and which during their earthly history He constantly renews when the clouds of ignorance, the shades of guilt, and the storms of afflictions might gather around them. And now in the second of our texts He promises, as the reward of their faith and loyalty, that He will give Himself to each of them as the morning star of eternity. Here too the emblem shall be fulfilled, for His light will shine after darkness. To every Christian, the brightest, the happiest, the most devoted, there is a sense in which life ends in darkness. The passage from time into eternity is a dark passage. The Christian must enter it alone, and pursue it, it may be, with failing eye and fainting step. There is no night so deep as that of the valley of the shadow of death. But here the last victory over darkness is achieved. Light is thus sown in the righteous when the departing spirit is gathered home. And when the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the mighty shadow of the judgment throne falls even upon the redeemed in awe and solemn dread, shall not this bright and morning star rest upon the head of Him who is at once their Judge and Advocate, so that they shall rise to meet Him, free of fear? Now has come a world of which it is written, And there shall be no night there, the Lord God giveth them light, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

II. I remark, that Christ is to His people the morning star of time, and will be to them the morning star of eternity, because His light transcends all comparison. No one can mistake the morning star in the firmament or confound it with any other orb. It shines pre-eminent and alone. In the words of Milton, it flames in the forehead of the morning sky. Thus it is with Christ.

1. Christ is preeminent in His titles. Some of these are shared with others; but what a stamp of peculiarity is set upon them as applied to Christ! Is He the Son of God? Then He is His only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father. is He the Angel of God? Then He is made so much better than the angels, as He hath obtained by inheritance a more excellent name than they. Is He the Mediator? Then He is the one Mediator between God and men. Is He the Saviour? Then there is salvation in no other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

2. Christ is pre-eminent in His offices. As a Prophet, He brings revelation from the highest heaven. As a Priest, He offers the alone and perfect sacrifice. As a King, He is without example.

3. Christ is pre-eminent in His history. To Him all history converges, and in His own it is summed up and transcended. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah; He is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley; He is the Pearl of Great Price; He is the Plant of Renown; He is the Bread of Life; He is the precious Corner-stone.

4. What Christ is to His people, He is alone. We have many friends, but only one Redeemer; many earthly helpers, but only One who delivers our souls from the lowest hell. The succour that we receive from others in the things of salvation, so far from disturbing Christs pre-eminence, only confirms it. The unity which the soul of man receives through Christ is as great a proof of adaptation and design as anything in the outer world. The heart of man needs something to engross it, an object on which it can concentrate all its affections without self-reproach, and which by its admitted sway brings unity into its existence, and concord into all its purposes and aspirations. Now as Christ has fulfilled this end in time, so shall He yet more by His gloriously asserted and devoutly recognised pre-eminence fulfil it to endless ages. His supremacy shall then be disclosed as on earth, in its brightest manifestation, it never yet has been. The morning star shall then shine forth unsullied by a cloud. What new displays of grace and glory Christ in these new circumstances shall make, it is not given to us to know. And while the morning star shall thus emit new and dazzling rays, oh, how different the impression of delight and rapture which His pre-eminence shall make then on His own people from what it made here! Then there shall be no darkness of ignorance or unbelief to hide His beams--no sin, or world, or self, to divide the heart with Him--no creature worship to impair His ascendency--no coldness and lukewarmness even in the Church to damp the rising flame of love and adoration! Love and adoration shall be spontaneous and irresistible.

III. I remark, that Christ is the morning star of time, and will be the morning star of eternity, because His light ushers in perpetual day. It is the property of the morning star to be the days harbinger. Other stars rise and shine and set, and leave the darkness still behind them. Hence Christ is not compared to the evening star, though it be in itself as bright as that of the morning, and indeed the same; because in that case the associations would be too gloomy, and the victory would seem to remain for a time on the side of darkness. True, the Christian may be in darkness even after Christ has risen upon him, but it is only the cloudy and dark day--it is no more the black and dark night. The dawn may be overcast, but the day still proceeds. Day still penetrates through the crevices of your unbelief into the dungeon of your despondency; and you are startled in your self-made gloom and solitude by rays that travel from beyond the icy atmosphere from a higher luminary, though you refuse to go forth to them. (J. Cairns, D. D.)

The morning star

He who speaks is Jesus Himself.

1. He speaks as a promiser. It is to something future that He points the eye of His Churches--the things not seen, the things hoped for.

2. He speaks as a giver. I will give. He has been a giver from the first.

3. He speaks to the overcomers. Though the gifts are not wages, yet they depend on our winning a battle. They are something beyond mere salvation.

4. He speaks of the morning star. This is His promised gift, and a very glorious one it is.

(1) What it is naturally. It is not any star that appears in the morning, but one--one bright particular star--a star which, above all others, is known for its splendour, and is connected with the departure of the night and the arrival of the day. It says, Night is done: day is coming; the sun is about to rise.

(2) What it is symbolically. Christ Jesus--He is the Star. He is the giver and the gift; as if He said, I will give him Myself as the morning star. Bright and fair to look upon; attractive and glorious; joy of the traveller, or the sailor, or the night-watch.

(3) What it is prophetically. We get Christ, in believing, just now, but we do not get Him as the morning star. That is yet to come. (H. Bonar, D. D.)

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.--

That the terms of salvation are offered to all men

These words are a strong and general appeal to the reason and understanding of all unprejudiced and impartial men.

1. The phrase, Let him hear, is an authoritative expression, becoming the majesty of God, and the weight and dignity of what is spoken by His command. And if they refuse or neglect to hear, and will be at no pains to examine into the true nature and end of religion, it is no hurt to Him, but to themselves only.

2. As these words express the authority of God, in requiring men to attend, so they do further denote His goodness likewise, in proposing to men, universally and plainly, the doctrine and the way of life.

3. The other phrase in the text, He that hath an ear, signifies he that hath understanding, that hath ability, that hath capacity to apprehend what is spoken (Mat_19:12). To have an ear, in the Scripture-sense, means to have an understanding free and unprejudiced, open to attend unto, and apt to receive the truth. And the want of it is not like the want of natural parts and abilities, pitiable and compassionable, but faulty and deserving of severe reproof (Mar_8:17-18).

4. The capacity men have, and the indispensable obligation they are under, to hearken to and obey what God delivers to them.

I. God, the great Creator and righteous Governor and merciful Judge of the whole earth, offers to all men the gracious terms and possibilities of salvation. God speaks to men originally, by the light of nature, by the order and proportions of things, by the voice of reason, by the dictates of conscience.

II. This offer, though graciously made to all, yet in event becomes effectual to those only who are qualified and capable to receive it. Light introduced upon any object supposes always that there be eyes to view and to discern it by that light. The sound of a voice, or the use of speech, supposes always that men have ears to hear what the speaker uttereth. And, in matters of religion, Gods offering to men certain terms or conditions of salvation supposes in like manner a certain moral disposition in the mind, which causes it to have a regard to things of that nature, to have a sense and relish of things relating to morality; otherwise men would, in their nature, be no more capable of religion than beasts.

1. That disposition of mind which qualifies men to receive the terms of salvation is somewhat which the Scripture always speaks of as a matter of singular excellency, and worthy of great commendation. It is an eminent gift, or grace, of God.

2. Wherein consists this excellent temper and disposition of mind.

(1) Attentiveness or consideration.

(2) A delight in examining into truth and light, a taking pleasure at all times in beholding the light and in hearing the voice of reason.

(3) Moral probity, sincerity, and integrity of mind.

(4) A readiness to hearken to the voice of revelation as well as of reason.

3. What are the opposite qualities, or chief hindrances, which generally prevent the offers of salvation from being effectually embraced?

(1) Carelessness and want of attention.

(2) Prejudice or prepossession.

(3) Perverseness and obstinacy.

(4) The greatest impediment is a love of vice.

III. That they who want an ear, they who want the dispositions necessary to their receiving this gracious offer of salvation, or are prevented by any of the hindrances which render it ineffectual, are always very severely reproved in Scripture, plainly denoting it to be entirely their own fault that they have not ears to hear. The reason is because these necessary dispositions are not natural but moral qualifications, and the contrary impediments are not natural but moral defects. And though, in Scripture-phrase, it is to the delusions of Satan that this moral incapacity of men is frequently ascribed, yet this is never spoken by way of excuse, but always, on the contrary, of high aggravation.

IV. That, since the scripture always expressly lays the blame upon mens selves, hence consequently all those passages wherein God is at any time represented as blinding mens eyes, or closing their ears, or hardening their hearts, or taking away their understanding from them, must of necessity be understood to be figurative expressions only, not denoting literally what God actually effects by His power, but what by His providence He justly and wisely permits.

1. Some of these sorts of expressions denote only the general analogy or fitness of the thing to be done.

2. Some other expressions of this kind are only figurative acknowledgments of the universal superintendency of Providence over all events, without whose permission nothing happens in the world.

3. Some other expressions of this kind are only applications of prophecies or declarations of certain prophecies being fulfilled (Jud_1:4 1Pe_2:8). Not appointed of God to be wicked, but foretold by the ancient prophets that such persons would arise. Of the like sense are the following (Dan_12:10; 2Ti_3:13; Rev_17:17).

4. To be denunciations or threatenings or Gods justly and in judicial manner leaving incorrigible men to themselves, after many repeated provocations (Eze_24:13). (S. Clarke, D. D.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rev 2:18. And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write — “Next to Pergamos is Thyatira situated, at the distance of about forty-eight miles to the south-east. At present the city is called by the Turks Akhisar, or The White Castle, from the great quantities of white marble there abounding. Only one ancient edifice is left standing: the rest, even the churches, are so destroyed, that no vestiges of them are to be found. The principal inhabitants are Turks, who have here eight mosques. So terribly have the divine judgments, denounced in this letter, been poured upon this church!” “Akhizar, the ancient Thyatira,” observes the Rev. H. Lindsay, “is said to contain about thirty thousand inhabitants; of whom three thousand are Christians, all Greeks, except about two hundred Armenians. There is, however, but one Greek church and one Armenian. The superior of the Greek church, to whom I presented the Romaic Testament, esteemed it so great a treasure that he earnestly pressed me, if possible, to spare another, that one might be secured to the church, and be free from accidents, while the other went round among the people for their private reading. I have, therefore, since my return hither, sent him four copies.” Write; These things saith the Son of God — See how great he is who appeared like a Son of man, Rev 1:13; who hath eyes bright and penetrating, like unto a flame of fire — Searching the reins and the heart, Rev 2:23; and his feet like fine brass — Denoting his immense strength. Job comprises both these particulars, namely, his wisdom to discern whatever is amiss, and his power to avenge it, in one sentence, (Job 42:2,) saying, No thought is hidden from him, and he can do all things. Or the latter emblem, his feet being like fine brass, may signify that all his ways are gloriously just and holy.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

IV. THYATIRA.—The working Church, yet too careless of Christian truth and purity, Rev_2:18-28.

18. Thyatira—From the renowned capital, Pergamos, to the still more renowned Sardis, our apostle would find a strait south-eastern Roman road: he would be obliged to turn a little aside to the east to the lesser town of Thyatira. When Alexander the Great drove the Persian power out of Ionia, he and his successors planted therein a number of cities, filling them with inhabitants from his own Macedonia. Of these cities one was Thyatira. This city was filled with a number of industrial classes or guilds, namely: bakers, potters, weavers, tanners, dyers, etc. Hence “Lydia of Thyatira” was found at Philippi, Macedonia, by Paul, and she became the first European Christian convert. She was “a seller of purple,” probably the cloth, the “imperial purple,” not the dye alone. She was, doubtless, a Macedonian by descent, a Lydian by birth, a Philippian by residence. She bore the name of her native province, for Lydia was no doubt her proper name. Altogether Luke’s narrative places her as a graceful figure in early Christian history. How vivid the contrast between Lydia of Thyatira and Jezebel of Thyatira! It is curious to note that the American missionary, Brewer, in 1831, found the guild of dyers still working at the occupation in Thyatira. It was never a great city, but a thrifty manufacturing town. The modern town is said by Svoboda (The Seven Churches of Asia, 1869) to contain 15,000 inhabitants, of whom two thirds are Turks, one third Greek Christians, with a few Armenians. He adds, “The whole trade is in the hands of the Christian population, as it generally is throughout the East, the Christians comprising the most industrious and intelligent part of the population.”

Son of God—St. John had identified him as son of man in remembrance of the human humiliation in which he once had known him, he here identifies himself as that same son in his glorification. The promises at close of this epistle are taken from the second psalm, in which that sonship is described in its power.

Eyes… feet—Quoted from St. John’s picture of him, Rev_1:14-15. The eyes are alluded to in searcheth, Rev_2:23.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Rev_2:18. Thyatira.—Situated between Pergamos and Sardis. Inscriptions show that it contained many corporate guilds, one being that of the dyers. Apollo was specially worshipped, as the sun-god, under the Macedonian name of Tyrinnas. Son of God.—This name solemnly affirms His Divine power, as well as right, and prepares for the promised bestowment of power, in Rev_2:26. Eyes.—A figure representing His omniscience, and especially the intensity of its searching. Feet.—Figure representing the firmness of His tread who comes in judgment. Feet of Chalcolibanus. An aspect of stern sovereignty marks this epistle.

Rev_2:19. Work.—Divided into two sets—active: charity and service; passive: faith and patience. Ephesus had failed in the second set? this Church was stronger in the second than in the first. It would seem that on the passive side they were even weak; permitting things that put them in peril.

Rev_2:20. Woman Jezebel.—More exactly, “thy wife Jezebel.” Probably a party in the Church is referred to which was led by an unscrupulous woman. It is necessary to remember that traditions had grown up around the person of Jezebel, and these, rather than the actual history, are referred to. Seduce my servants.—The teachings of St. Paul show how liberty in sensual indulgence, in its two forms, was a cause of constant anxiety in the Early Churches.

Rev_2:22. Bed.—Of sickness and suffering. The figure is in keeping with the sin, and suggests a fitting and answering punishment.

Rev_2:23. Children.—Her disciples; those who take up with her teachings, and follow her ways. Death.—In forms that would clearly indicate Divine judgment.

Rev_2:24. Deep things.—Probably these heretical teachers boasted of knowing the deep things of God, so they are satirised as the deep things of Satan. Other burden.—See Act_15:28, seqq.

Rev_2:26. My works.—Not the works of any self-willed teacher. There must be simple and supreme loyalty to Christ, and that involves loyalty to everything that is self restrained and pure. Christ gives power over self and sin. Over the nations.—This is a figure of speech. The individual triumph over all individual and all combined immoral forces and influences is pictured as a rule over riotous and violent nations (Compare Psalms 2). “Those who, like their Master, refused to win power by doing homage to wrong (Mat_4:3-10), would share the nobler sway which He now established.” Morning star.—Used of Christ Himself in Rev_22:16. “The symbol of sovereignty on its brighter and more benignant side, and therefore the fitting and necessary complement of the dread attributes that had gone before.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rev_2:18-29

Praise and Blame for Thyatira.—Lydia, the first Christian convert in Europe, was a purple-seller of this city of Thyatira, which was famous for its dyeing works, especially for purple or crimson. Inscriptions found on the spot bear witness to the existence of a guild, or corporation, of purple-sellers, with which Lydia may have been connected. The city stands on the river Lycus, and it is situated on the borders of Mysia and Ionia, a little to the left of the Roman road from Pergamos to Sardis. It was founded by Seleucus Nicator after the Persian Empire had been destroyed by Alexander the Great. From the names that appear on their monuments, the inhabitants seem to have presented a greater mingling of races than was commonly to be found, and included Macedonians, Italians, Asiatics (in the narrower sense of that word as including the inhabitants of the pro-consular province of Asia), and Chaldæans. The chief object of their cultus was Apollo, worshipped as the sun-god, under the Macedonian name of Tyrinnas. An interesting discovery, in connection with the religious rites of the city, materially helps in explaining the allusions made in the epistle. Outside the walls stood a small temple dedicated to a Sibyl, a woman who was supposed to have the gift of prophecy. This temple, or church, was in the midst of an enclosure, called the “Chaldæan’s Court,” and the Sibyl, who was called Sanbethe, is sometimes said to be Jewish, sometimes Chaldæan, and sometimes Persian. The inference to be drawn from this is, that some corrupted Jews of the dispersed tribes had introduced from Chaldæa or Persia a religion which was a mixture of Judaism and heathenism. It is not improbable that this Sanbethe, or her school, had at Thyatira a place dedicated to the promulgation of a religion which was an admixture of Orientalism and Judaism, with some importations from the Greek and Roman rites, and even with some kind of appropriation of Christian ideas, forming altogether a system similar to those which the various sects of Gnostics soon afterwards established. And, this supposition being correct, it is then easy to see how Jewish Christians of the Church of Thyatira might be affected with this heresy, and fail to offer to it the opposition which it ought to have received from a Christian community. Dr. Tristram describes the present city, and its surroundings, as seen when approaching it from Pergamos. “Diverging a little to the right, the broad valley of the Hyllus opens to view, and as we look down in spring or summer, we see before us a panorama resembling in kind, though not equal in extent and grandeur to, the traveller’s first glimpse of Damascus. The eye tracks across the plain the silver thread which marks the course of one of the effluents of the Hyllus; and in the centre are the crowded white roofs of a widespread Turkish city, with here and there a minaret towering in the midst, and many a clump of tall cypresses raising their funeral plumes on high; while the whole is girt with a fringe of orchards, and watered gardens, over which the silver mist, drawn down by the sun, hangs in a thick, quivering cloud. This is Akhissar, ‘the white castle,’ the ancient Thyatira.” That city, or rather the Christian Church in that city, was in the immediate Divine inspection. All about the rites of Apollo, and all about the seductions of Sanbethe, was known to Him who “walketh among the golden candlesticks.” We may see

(1) the form in which the Living Christ is presented in His relation to this Church;

(2) the things in the Church life which He could commend; and

(3) the things which caused Him grave anxiety, and called for His severe reproof.

I. The form in which the Living Christ presents Himself to this Church.—The general symbolical appearance of the Living Christ, as present in His Church, is given in the first chapter, and certain portions of the description are taken to indicate the special relation of the Living Christ to each particular Church. We Westerns speak so little in the language of symbols, that it is often difficult for us to understand them, or to get their precise adaptations. Two things in the figure of the Living White One are recalled to mind in presenting the message to Thyatira: “Who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass,” or burnished brass (R.V.). In the first chapter the symbol is given in a fuller form: “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and His feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace.” The eyes of flame seem to indicate a severity of inspection; and the feet like burnished brass may indicate the determination to tread down the evils which the searching eyes may discover. “The feet of Chalcolibanus”—that is the peculiar word used—“shall crush the enemies of God as though they were the vessels of a potter.” Dean Blakesley thinks that the special description was determined by the character of the worship of Apollo in this city. He thinks there was a statue of Apollo, of gold and ivory, or of wood or marble, richly gilt; that this shone with a dazzling brightness, and that the “eyes like a flame of fire, and the feet like fine brass” were meant to present the image of the Lord of the Churches as yet more glorious and terrible. There is certainly a tone of severity, as well as of searching, in the epistle. A purpose to burn up, and tread down, the moral evils which were so seriously imperilling the life of the Church. There are some evils in Church life which must be dealt with vigorously. No gentle hand will do. They are corrupting forces, and must be trampled down. If we may take the idea of this prophetess Sanbethe morally corrupting the people with her idolatrous and immoral system, we can well understand that Christ’s inspections of that Church must be as with a flame of fire, and His dealings with that Church as the treading of burnished feet. We should never hesitate to associate the holiest severities with the Lord Jesus Christ. The very perfection of love makes it stern and severe against all wrong-doing, and especially against all evil that is doing an actively corrupting work. Its activity must always be met by a more than answering activity of goodness, in resisting and rooting it out.

II. The things in the Church life at Thyatira which the Living Christ could commend.—It is interesting to notice that they were very much the things which St. Paul could commend in writing his letter to the Philippians. “Loving ministrations, patient endurance, warm-hearted faith, the more feminine graces of the perfect Christian character.” But when this is seen, the sternness of the closing portion of the epistle to Thyatira is explained. The Church needed to be aroused. The sterner, masculine graces were called into exercise by the Church’s peril. It is a serious mistake for a Church to develop “active” graces to the neglect of the “passive”; but it is as perilous a mistake for a Church to settle down into the enjoyment of Christian peace and Christian privileges, heedless of moral evils that may be making serious inroads upon it—as perilous a mistake to develop only “passive” graces, feminine graces, to the neglect of those that are manly, active, and strong. There is a righteous zeal against evil which Churches should exhibit; and Christ puts into His Church the power and the right to judge and condemn. These are the things in the Church at Thyatira upon which the Living Christ can look with complacency. “I know thy works, and thy love, and faith, and ministry, and patience, and that thy last works are more than the first.” Three things seem to be expressed in these terms:

1. Service;

2. Character;

3. Growth.

1. Service. The Living Christ saw this Church realising the ideal of a Christian Church in its “works” and “ministry.” The works may, indeed, suggest “good conduct” as the expression of sincere and active faith; but it seems better to take it as meaning works of charity, and works of witness for the truth in Christ. Then “ministry” would mean loving readiness to serve and help one another in all the various anxieties, distresses, sufferings, which constantly come into the human lot, and which even made a special experience in those early Christian days. That is always commendable in a Christian Church. Its members ought to “love one another” in the sense of being ever ready to minister to one another. And its members ought all to recognise that they are put in trust with the gospel, and are bound to witness to it by attractively holy living, and by all gracious persuasions. In the Church of Christ, the voice—the inspiring voice—of the Living Lord should ever be heard saying, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. This is praiseworthy. Thyatira was a working Church; it was found working in all-loving ministries, within its circle, and in all loving service beyond it.

2. Character. Three words are used to indicate their high level of Christian attainment, but all three belong to the feminine, or passive, graces: Love; Faith; Patience. If we find other names for them, we may call them Gentleness; Dependence; Submission;—the very things that are essential to all Christian character that can be called “beautiful.” Things that give the Christian professor a certain kind of strength—a very admirable kind of strength, but not precisely that kind of strength which is required in dealing with public evils, moral evils. Christ’s commendation ever rests upon gracious character. Of that we may be sure. It is, indeed, one supreme purpose of the communion of saints to cultivate saintliness of character, the “holiness without which no man shall see the Lord” or win the loving approval of Him who is ever walking amid the candlesticks. The Church’s concern is the character of its members. The Church’s safety lies in the character of its members. The Church’s power is the witness made by the character of its members.

3. Growth. This is indicated in the singular expression, “and that thy last works are more than the first.” This was a great thing to say. For a Church to stand still is for a Church to go back. Its only security lies in its keeping going forward. It is full of comforting for this Church at Thyatira that Christ could recognise advance and growth; because that is precisely what both Churches and individual Christians are usually altogether unable to recognise for themselves. They cannot institute befitting comparisons. To them the past of Christian life and feeling is apt to loom large, and the present can seldom be estimated fairly. It is full of good cheer for us, too, if Christ sees that our present is an improvement on the past; if the last is better than the first. Very encouraging is the Divine estimate of the loving, devout, ministering, and almost saintly, Christians at Thyatira. One almost wishes it had not been necessary to turn and deal so severely with evils which, if not actually in the Church, were closely and perilously related to it—did, indeed, affect some, and perhaps some of the principal, members of it.

III. The things which caused the Living Christ grave anxiety and called for His severe reproof.—We must satisfy ourselves with a general understanding of the mischievous influence that was at work, and not dwell too closely on the figures of speech that are employed to describe it. It is clear that there was some mischief-making Jewish Christian teacher in the town; and it seems to have been a woman professing occult powers. She is likened to Jezebel, and her influence is likened to that of the Phœnician priestess and princess, who brought the degrading rites of Astarte into the land of Israel, and wholly corrupted the people who should have been “holy unto the Lord.” Whatever this woman’s teachings may have been intellectually—and of that we can form no sufficient judgment—their influence was bad, very bad, morally. She evidently taught that the Christians were in bondage, and needed liberty. They were an isolated section of Society, and took no part in the so-called pleasures of Society. They had scruples about their eating, and scruples about their relationships, and they needed to have these scruples put away, and just to be men and women, with passions and pleasures like other men and women; they needed to be able to eat what they liked to eat, and to do what they liked to do. This was the practical result of Sanbethe’s licentious and idolatrous teachings, permissions, and example. How far this degrading influence had gone does not quite appear. The message seems to indicate that the elder or pastor of the Church, and a goodly number of the members, had kept themselves from the evil influence. The Living Lord says this: “To you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many as hare not known, this teaching.” Some, let us hope a great many, were “faithful among the faithless found.” Dean Plumptre suggests that the “Agapæ, or love-feasts, of the Church were stained, as the hints in 2Pe_2:13-14, and Jude Rev_2:12, not obscurely intimate, with the perpetration of fathomless impurities, in which this so-called prophetess was herself a sharer,” as well as the leader. What we need to see, is, that idolatry finds, and ever has found, its congenial atmosphere in self-indulgence and licentiousness; that even false and unworthy presentation of Christianity finds, and ever has found, its support in an intellectual and moral liberty, which has always tended to generate into licence, and that Christianity—the Christianity of Christ—can only live in a pure moral atmosphere, and may always be judged by “the fruits unto holiness,” which it produces wherever it is established. The religion which does not tend to make pure lives, pure homes, pure Churches, and pure Society, has no right to be called Christianity. But the point of impression for the Church at Thyatira, which has its practical application for us, is this. The evil in its midst must not be left alone. It must not be left to grow into ruinous power. It must be dealt with vigorously, and at once. It must be resisted manfully. The Living Christ lays “no other burden” upon them, but he does lay that burden. Relative to the moral evil in its midst, whatever form it may take, every Church of Christ must be manly. It must be Christly as the Christ who drove out the money-changers and dove-sellers when they defiled the holy Temple. And they who, striving against all moral evil in their midst, “overcome,” have this for their reward. The Christian life in them gains the full development; the strong things are harmoniously cultured with the gentle. They win authority as well as submission; are now nourished all round into the entire image of Christ, and become strong to resist evil, and to witness for purity, as Christ was strong. To him that overcometh is given the “morning star,” the sign of victory over all darkness, all night—everything evil.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

Rev_2:20. Jezebel.—The best editors decline to adopt the reading “thy wife.” The name of Ahab’s idolatrous wife is here plainly a symbolical name. Except in Jehu’s taunt (1Ki_9:22), which need not be meant literally, there is no evidence whatever of Jezebel’s unchastity. A great point of this is, however, made in Peter Bayne’s poem on Jezebel. It would seem to be the intimate relation which the woman adverted to sustains to the Church that appears to give occasion for the appellation τὴν γυναῖκά σου. The woman in question, whose proper name (probably from motives of delicacy) is withheld, was evidently one who assumed the office of a public teacher (καὶ διδάσκει), and gave herself out (for so it is said) as an authorised προφῆτις.

Rev_2:24. Depths of Satan.—The heretics condemned in the preceding verses were doubtless a sect of those who called themselves Gnostics, probably at this time, certainly in the next generation. They contrasted knowledge of the “depths,” or “deep things of God” (1Co_2:10), with the faith of the orthodox in the plain, simple doctrines that were openly preached to the world. The Lord answers that the depths of knowledge that they attained were depths, not of God, but of Satan.… It is to be remembered that the Gnostic systems of the second century, and probably those of the first also, included a strange mythology of half personified abstractions, and it may be that the Lord rather identifies one of these with Satan than substitutes the name of Satan for that of God. It appears from Irenœus that the Gnostics of his time talked of the “deep things of Depth,” as well as the “deep things of God.” It is curious that the phrase, “the depths of knowledge” is quoted from the great Epbesian philosopher, Heraclitus: possibly it was owing to his influence that such notions found a congenial home in Asia Minor.—W. H. Simcox, M.A.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2

Rev_2:18. Thyatira.—“The appearance of Thyatira, as we approached it,” says Arundell, “was that of a very long line of cypresses, poplars, and other trees, amidst which appeared the minarets of several mosques and the roofs of a few houses at the right. On the left, a view of distant hills, the line of which continued over the town; and at the right, adjoining the town, was a low hill, with two ruined windmills. Thyatira is a large place, and abounds with shops of every description. The population is estimated at three hundred Greek houses, … thirty Armenian, and one thousand Turkish; nine mosques, one Armenian, and one Greek church. We visited the latter; it was a wretchedly poor place, and so much under the level of the churchyard as to require five steps to descend into it.… We intended to give the priest a Testament, but he seemed so insensible of its worth that we reserved it, as it was our only remaining copy, and bestowed it afterwards much better. Very few of the ancient buildings remain here; one we saw, which seems to have been a market-place, having six pillars sunk very low in the ground. We could not find any ruins of churches; and, inquiring of the Greeks about it, they told us there were several great buildings of stone under ground (which we were very apt to believe, from what we had observed in other places), where, digging somewhat deep, they met with strong foundations that, without all question, have formerly supported great buildings. I find, by several inscriptions, that the inhabitants of this city, as well as those of Ephesus, were, in the times of heathenism, great votaries and worshippers of the goddess Diana. The city has a very great supply of water, which streams in every street, flowing from a neighbouring hill.… It is populous, inhabited mostly by Turks, … few Christians residing among them; those Armenians we found here being strangers who came hither to sell sashes, handkerchiefs, etc., which they bring out of Persia. They are maintained chiefly by the trade of cotton wool, which they send to Smyrna, for which commodity Thyatira is very considerable. “It is this trade,” says Rycaut, “the crystalline waters, cool and sweet to the taste and light on the stomach, the wholesome air, the rich and delightful country, which causes this city so to flourish in our days, and to be more happy than her other desolate and comfortless sisters.” Hartley remarks, “The buildings are in general mean, but the place in which we are at present residing is by far the best which I have yet seen.… The language addressed to Thyatira is rather different from that of the other epistles. The commendations are scarcely surpassed, even in the epistle to Philadelphia, while the conduct of some was impious and profligate. The Church thus exhibited a contrast of the most exalted piety with the very depths of Satan.”

CHAPTER 3

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:18-29 The letter to the church in Thyatira confronts Christians who mix Christianity with pagan practices and a worldly lifestyle.

2:18 Thyatira was an outpost city known for its many trade guilds, including weavers and dyers (Acts 16:14). • The flaming eyes of the Son of God indicate penetrating perception; the solid feet portray Christ’s stability, in vivid contrast to the famous Colossus of Rhodes, an enormous statue which had once been thought to be firmly planted until an earthquake destroyed it in 226 BC.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rev 2:18. Τῆς ἐν Θυατείροις ἐκκλησίας) The Alex. cod., and also Tertullian, read τῷ ἐν Θυατίροις, without the addition of the word ἐκκλησίας.[36] Where the angels of the seven churches are mentioned together, ch. Rev 1:20, the name of the church at Thyatira is not excepted. Now, where the series comes separately to the angel in Thyatira, the omission of the word church (for some in ancient times said that there was no church there at that time) certainly agrees with the small number of Christians in that town. An address is made to them separately in Rev 2:24. Among the Hebrews, ten persons at least were required to constitute a holy assembly: again, when there were seventeen Christians at Neocæsarea, Gregory was given to them as bishop. Therefore the flock at Thyatira might have been small and unknown, which could scarcely support the name of a church, and yet had an angel. St Carpus is reported to have been here.

[36] A omits ἐκκλησίας; but Ch Vulg. have it. A reads τῷ for τῆς; C omits it.—E.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rev_2:18. ὁ ὑιὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. The Lord, who in Rev_1:13 appears like a son of man, is, as the entire description (Rev_1:13 sqq.) shows, the Son of God, although he does not there receive that precise name. But in the present epistle he expressly designates himself as such, because, especially in Rev_2:27, this glory of his is asserted in accordance with Psalms 2. The two other designations, derived from Rev_1:14-15, have their significance in the fact that the Lord with his eyes of flame penetrates[1216] all, and with his feet like brass treads down every thing impure and malevolent.[1217]

[1216] Cf. Rev_2:23.

[1217] Cf. Rev_2:27.

Rev_2:18-29. The epistle to the church at Thyatira.

Thyatira, about nineteen hours from Pergamos, on the road thence to Sardis, not far from the river Lycus in Lydia,now Akhissar,was an inconsiderable city, belonging to the civil jurisdiction of Perg.[1211] A dealer in purple, Lydia of Thyatira, is mentioned in Act_16:14; but that she founded the Christian church there,a presumption according to which Hengstenb. immediately connects works of love with the female origin of the church,is just as little to be asserted as there is foundation for the unfavorable supposition that Lydia may have been meant by Jezebel, Rev_2:20.[1212] The church at Thyatira was, like the others in Asia, not purely Jewish-Christian, as Grot. thinks, in order to weaken an uncritical objection of the Alogi against the worth of the Apoc. But Rev_2:20 rather refers explicitly to heathen Christian elements.[1213]

That Irenaeus could not have been the bishop[1214] to whom John writes, is mentioned already by N. de Lyra. C. a Lap. and others name Carpus as bishop.[1215]

[1211] See on Rev_2:12 sqq.

[1212] Cf. Heinr.

[1213] What had the Jews at that time to do with sacrifices to idols?

[1214] Angel. Cf. Rev_1:20.

[1215] Cf. on Rev_2:12 sqq.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rev 2:18-29 . The longest message of the seven is to a church in the least important of the cities (judged from the historical standpoint) Thyatira, a township of Northern Lydia, the holy city of Apollo Tyrimnaios, adjacent to the high road between Perg. and Sardis. It soon became a centre of Montanism.

Rev 2:18 . χαλκολιβ . Some local allusion to the bronze-work for which Thyatira was famous. Son of God ( cf. Kattenbusch ii. 563 f.) is practically an equivalent for messiah (Luk 4:41 ), or for the superhuman personality of Jesus as divinely commissioned ( cf. Grill, pp. 76 77) to carry out God’s purpose for his people ( cf. Joh 10:36 ). But the expression has pagan as well as Jewish colouring; and there is undoubtedly an apologetic allusion to the similar terminology of the Imperial cultus ( cf. Introd. § 6).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The fourth place is unto the Pastors of Thyatira. The exordium is taken out of verses 14 and 15 of the first Chapter.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The form of each epistle is very much the same; and in this, as the rest, we have to consider the inscription, contents, and conclusion.

I. The inscription, telling us, 1. To whom it is directed: To the angel of the church of Thyatira, a city of the proconsular Asia, bordering upon Mysia on the north and Lydia on the south, a town of trade, whence came the woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who, being at Philippi in Macedonia, probably about the business of her calling, heard Paul preach there, and God opened her heart, that she attended to the things that were spoken, and believed, and was baptized, and entertained Paul and Silas there. Whether it was by her means that the gospel was brought into her own city, Thyatira, is not certain; but that it was there, and successful to the forming of a gospel church, this epistle assures us. 2. By whom it was sent: by the Son of God, who is here described as having eyes like a flame of fire, and feet like as fine brass. His general title is here, the Son of God, that is, the eternal and only-begotten Son of God, which denotes that he has the same nature with the Father, but with a distinct and subordinate manner of subsistence. The description we have here of him is in two characters: - (1.) That his eyes are like a flame of fire, signifying his piercing, penetrating, perfect knowledge, a thorough insight into all persons and all things, one who searches the hearts and tries the reins of the children of men (Rev 2:23), and will make all the churches to know he does so. (2.) That his feet are like fine brass, that the outgoings of his providence are steady, awful, and all pure and holy. As he judges with perfect wisdom, so he acts with perfect strength and steadiness.

II. The contents or subject-matter of this epistle, which, as the rest, includes,

1. The honourable character and commendation Christ gives of this church, ministry, and people; and this given by one who was no stranger to them, but well acquainted with them and with the principles from which they acted. Now in this church Christ makes honourable mention, (1.) Of their charity, either more general, a disposition to do good to all men, or more special, to the household of faith: there is no religion where there is no charity. (2.) Their service, their ministration; this respects chiefly the officers of the church, who had laboured in the word and doctrine. (3.) Their faith, which was the grace that actuated all the rest, both their charity and their service. (4.) Their patience; for those that are most charitable to others, most diligent in their places, and most faithful, must yet expect to meet with that which will exercise their patience. (5.) Their growing fruitfulness: their last works were better than the first. This is an excellent character; when others had left their first love, and lost their first zeal, these were growing wiser and better. It should be the ambition and earnest desire of all Christians that their last works may be their best works, that they may be better and better every day, and best at last.

2. A faithful reproof for what was amiss. This is not so directly charged upon the church itself as upon some wicked seducers who were among them; the church's fault was that she connived too much at them.

(1.) These wicked seducers were compared to Jezebel, and called by her name. Jezebel was a persecutor of the prophets of the Lord, and a great patroness of idolaters and false prophets. The sin of these seducers was that they attempted to draw the servants of God into fornication, and to offer sacrifices to idols; they called themselves prophets, and so would claim a superior authority and regard to the ministers of the church. Two things aggravated the sin of these seducers, who, being one in their spirit and design, are spoken of as one person: - [1.] They made use of the name of God to oppose the truth of his doctrine and worship; this very much aggravated their sin. [2.] They abused the patience of God to harden themselves in their wickedness. God gave them space for repentance, but they repented not. Observe, First, Repentance is necessary to prevent a sinner's ruin. Secondly, Repentance requires time, a course of time, and time convenient; it is a great work, and a work of time. Thirdly, Where God gives space for repentance, he expects fruits meet for repentance. Fourthly, Where the space for repentance is lost, the sinner perishes with a double destruction.

(2.) Now why should the wickedness of this Jezebel be charged upon the church of Thyatira? Because that church suffered her to seduce the people of that city. But how could the church help it? They had not, as a church, civil power to banish or imprison her; but they had ministerial power to censure and to excommunicate her: and it is probable that neglecting to use the power they had made them sharers in her sin.

3. The punishment of this seducer, this Jezebel, Rev 2:22, Rev 2:23, in which is couched a prediction of the fall of Babylon. (1.) I will cast her into a bed, into a bed of pain, not of pleasure, into a bed of flames; and those who have sinned with her shall suffer with her; but this may yet be prevented by their repentance. (2.) I will kill her children with death; that is, the second death, which does the work effectually, and leaves no hope of future life, no resurrection for those that are killed by the second death, but only to shame and everlasting contempt.

4. The design of Christ in the destruction of these wicked seducers, and this was the instruction of others, especially of his churches: All the churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and the hearts; and I will give to every one of you according to your works. God is known by the judgments that he executes; and, by this revenge taken upon seducers, he would make known, (1.) His infallible knowledge of the hearts of men, of their principles, designs, frame, and temper, their formality, their indifference, their secret inclinations to symbolize with idolaters. (2.) His impartial justice, in giving every one according to his work, that the name of Christians should be no protection, their churches should be no sanctuaries for sin and sinners.

5. The encouragement given to those who keep themselves pure and undefiled: But to you I say, and unto the rest, etc., Rev 2:24. Observe, (1.) What these seducers called their doctrines - depths, profound mysteries, amusing the people, and endeavouring to persuade them that they had a deeper insight into religion than their own ministers had attained to. (2.) What Christ called them - depths of Satan, Satanical delusions and devices, diabolical mysteries; for there is a mystery of iniquity, as well and the great mystery of godliness. It is a dangerous thing to despise the mystery of God, and it is as dangerous to receive the mysteries of Satan. (3.) How tender Christ is of his faithful servants: "I will lay upon you no other burden; but that which you have already hold fast till I come, Rev 2:24, Rev 2:25. I will not overburden your faith with any new mysteries, nor your consciences with any new laws. I only require your attention to what you have received. Hold that fast till I come, and I desire no more." Christ is coming to put an end to all the temptations of his people; and, if they hold fast faith and a good conscience till he come, all the difficulty and danger will be over.

III. We now come to the conclusion of this message, Rev 2:26-29. Here we have, 1. The promise of an ample reward to the persevering victorious believer, in two parts: - (1.) Very great power and dominion over the rest of the world: Power over the nations, which may refer either to the time when the empire should turn Christian, and the world be under the government of the Christian emperor, as in Constantine's time; or to the other world, when believers shall sit down with Christ on his throne of judgment, and join with him in trying, and condemning, and consigning over to punishment the enemies of Christ and the church. The upright shall have dominion in the morning. (2.) Knowledge and wisdom, suitable to such power and dominion: I will give him the morning-star. Christ is the morning-star. He brings day with him into the soul, the light of grace and of glory; and he will give his people that perfection of light and wisdom which is requisite to the state of dignity and dominion that they shall have in the morning of the resurrection. 2. This epistle ends with the usual demand of attention: He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. In the foregoing epistles, this demand of attention comes before the concluding promise; but in this, and all that follow, it comes after, and tells us that we should all attend to the promises as well as to the precepts that Christ delivers to the churches.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Thyatira--in Lydia, south of Pergamos. Lydia, the purple-seller of this city, having been converted at Philippi, a Macedonian city (with which Thyatira, as being a Macedonian colony, had naturally much intercourse), was probably the instrument of first carrying the Gospel to her native town. John follows the geographical order here, for Thyatira lay a little to the left of the road from Pergamos to Sardis [STRABO, 13:4].

Son of God . . . eyes like . . . fire . . . feet . . . like fine brass--or "glowing brass" (see on Rev 1:14-15, whence this description is resumed). Again His attributes accord with His address. The title "Son of God," is from Psa 2:7, Psa 2:9, which is referred to in Rev 2:27. The attribute, "eyes like a flame," &c., answers to Rev 2:23, "I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts." The attribute, "feet like . . . brass," answers to Rev 2:27, "as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers," He treading them to pieces with His strong feet.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Epistle to the Church at Thyatira.

Verse 18. These things saith the Son of God] See the notes on Rev 1:14; Rev 1:15.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(18) Thyatira was situated between Pergamos and Sardis, a little off the main road which connected these two cities. It was a Macedonian colony, founded by Alexander the Great after the overthrow of the Persian empire. The Macedonian colonists appear to have introduced the worship of Apollo, honoured as the Sun-god, under the name of Tyrimnas. It has been thought by some that the description here given of Christ—“the eyes of flame”—was selected in allusion to this worship of the Sun-god, under the form of some dazzlingly ornamented image. Certainly close commercial intercourse connected the daughter colony with its mother city. There seem to have been various mercantile guilds in the colony—bakers, potters, tanners, weavers, and dyers. The dye-trade was, perhaps, the most important. Lydia, the seller of purple, was in all likelihood connected with the guild of dyers; and her appearance in Philippi is an illustration of the trade relations of Macedonia and Thyatira. To her the Christian community at Thyatira may have owed its beginning. “She who had gone forth for a while, to buy and sell, and get gain, when she returned home may have brought home with her richer merchandise than any she had looked to obtain” (Trench). The population was of a mixed character, and included, besides Asiatics, Macedonians, Italians, and Chaldeans. The message which is sent to the Christians dwelling among them is from “the Son of God.” This is noteworthy, when we remember how persistently the other term, “Son of Man,” is used throughout the Book of Revelation, and that here only is the phrase “Son of God” used; but it suits, as does the whole description, the message which breathes the language of sovereignty and righteous sternness. The “eyes of flame” will search the reins and the hearts (Rev_2:23); the “feet of fine brass” will tread down the enemies, and smooth the path before them, who will have power over the nations.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Church in Thyatira. 18–29

18. the Son of God] So designated, perhaps, because it is the power which He received from His Father which is the subject of the concluding promise, Rev_2:27.

his eyes] Which search reins and heart, Rev_2:23.

his feet] Of strength to break the nations to shivers like a potter’s vessel.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write,.... Of the city of Thyatira; see Gill on Rev 1:11; a church was formed here very likely by the Apostle Paul; Lydia was a native of this place, who, and her household were converted and baptized by him at Philippi, Act 16:14; though Epiphanius (u) seems to grant, what some heretics objected to the authority of this book, that there was no church at Thyatira when this letter was written; however, it is certain, there was one in the "second" century, as the same writer observes, since, as he relates, it was overrun with the Cataphrygian heresy; and in the "fourth" century there was a bishop from Thyatira in the council of Nice; and even in the "eighth" century there was one Esaias a presbyter, who supplied the place of the bishop of Thyatira in another council at Nice (w): the Turks have now eight mosques in it, but there is not one Christian church or place of worship to be found in it (x). Who was the angel, or pastor of this church at the writing of this epistle, is not certain; however, it is designed for all the ministers and churches in the interval this church represents; and this period takes in the darkest and most superstitious times of Popery, until the Reformation. Thyatira is the same as Thygatira, which signifies a "daughter"; and it had its name, as Stephanus Byzantius says (y), from hence: Seleucus, the son of Nicanor, being at war with Lysimachus, and hearing that he had a daughter born, called this city Thygatira, which was before called Pelopia, and Semiramis; which is a very fit name for this church, and expresses the effeminacy of it, when the virgin Mary, whom the Romanists call the daughter of God, was more worshipped than her son; and was not only made a partner with him in the business of salvation, but even set above him; when there were such swarms of monks and friars, and religious orders of several sorts, as Franciscans and Dominicans, who claimed her as their patroness; when such numbers of them clad themselves in cowls and long garments, that they looked more like women in hoods and petticoats, than really men; hence also the corrupt part of this church is signified by the woman Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal the Zidonian; and it should not be forgot that there was once a she pope, a woman that sat in the papal chair, a whore in a literal sense; wherefore antichrist, or the popes of Rome, are filly called the great whore, the mother of harlots. Mr. Daubuz observes, that the first Christian of Thyatira was a woman, and that the false prophets which first enticed the Christians to apostasy in this church were women, as Maximilia, Quintilia, and Priscilla; to which I would add, that according to Epiphanius, that among those heretics, and which swallowed up this church, their bishops were women, and so were their presbyters, or elders; and Dr. Smith (z) is of opinion, that the inhabitants of this place, when Heathen, were worshippers of the goddess Diana; so that, upon all accounts, the church here was a fit symbol of the effeminate Church of Rome,

These things saith the Son of God; he who is truly, properly, naturally, and essentially the Son of God: this character Christ makes use of to assert his proper deity, as being of the same nature, and having the same perfections with his Father, as well as to command the greater regard to what he ordered to be written to the churches; and chiefly in opposition to the effeminate state of this church; it was time for him to take to him his highest name, as expressive of his highest nature, and to assert himself the Son of God, when Mary, his mother according to the flesh, and who was but a mere creature, was called the daughter of God, and set upon a level with him, and even preferred unto him:

who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire; quick and sharp, and penetrating through the darkness of this state; seeing into, discovering, and exposing the horrid actions and wickednesses of men done in the dark; expressing fury, wrath, and vengeance against the Romish antichrist and his followers; and may also design the light of Gospel doctrine, which broke out in those times at certain seasons, to the dispelling of Popish darkness in some measure; see Gill on Rev 1:14,

and his feet are like fine brass; in the description of Christ in Rev 1:14; it is added, as if they burned in a furnace; see Gill on Rev 1:14; and may denote the strength, stability, and support Christ gave his people while suffering for his sake, when in the furnace and burning for him, which kind of death was much used in those times: hence Dr. More, to whom I am much obliged for many hints in this exposition of the epistles to the churches, thinks that Thyatira is an allusion to which signify "altars" for the burning of sweet odours; and so may be expressive of the burning of the saints, those sweet odours, as they are to God and Christ, with fire and faggot; which was now practised, as in the other period killing with the sword was chiefly used; in the midst of which Christ was present, supporting his people,

(u) Contra Haeres. l. 2. Haeres. 51. (w) Eccl. Hist. Magdeburgh. cent. 4. c. 2. p. 3. cent. 8. c. 2. p. 4. (x) Smith. Notitia, p. 130. (y) De Urbibus. (z) Notitia, p. 126.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;

Ver. 18. Who hath his eyes, &c.] {See Trapp on "Rev 1:14"} {See Trapp on "Rev 1:15"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And unto the angel of the church - See the notes on Rev 1:20.

These things saith the Son of God - This is the first time, in these epistles, that the name of the speaker is referred to. In each other instance there is merely some attribute of the Saviour mentioned. Perhaps the severity of the rebuke contemplated here made it proper that there should be a more impressive reference to the authority of the speaker; and hence he is introduced as the “Son of God.” It is not a reference to him as the “Son of man “the common appellation which he gave to himself when on earth - for that might have suggested his humanity only, and would not have conveyed the same impression in regard to his authority; but it is to himself as sustaining the rank, and having the authority, of the Son of God - one who, therefore, has a right to speak, and a right to demand that what he says shall be heard.

Who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire - Compare the notes on Rev 1:14. Before the glance of his eye all is light, and nothing can be concealed from his view. Nothing would be better suited to inspire awe then, as nothing should be now, than such a reference to the Son of God as being able to penetrate the secret recesses of the heart.

And his feet are like fine brass - See the notes on Rev 1:15. Perhaps indicative of majesty and glory as he walked in the midst of the churches.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

To the Angel of the church of Thyatira. Here is first a commendation of their constancy in the faith, in good works, charity, patience, and ministry, which chiefly regards their bishop, whoever he was at that time. The heretics, called Alogians, who rejected the Apocalypse, (chiefly because of the clear proofs of the divinity of the Word, or Son of God) pretended that there was not church at Thyatria, when St. John is supposed to have written his Apocalypse. They have not proof of this. This same church was afterwards perverted by the Montanists. See St. Epiphanius, hær. li. p. 455. Here follows a reprehension that they permitted the woman, (here called by the name of Jezabel,[2] as was called the wife of Achaz, who persecuted the true prophets, and protected the false ones, 3 Kings xviii.) to seduce the servants of God, to commit fornication, and eat of things offered to idols. There is no probability that this Jezabel was wife to the bishop of that church. Had this been true, the bishop would have deserved a reprehension much more severe than is here given him. Alcazar thinks that by this woman was meant some heretical sect, or the corrupt synagogue of the Jews; but interpreters commonly understand some powerful woman thereabout among the infamous Nicolaites, who by her authority and artifices, brought many to embrace that sect. --- I give her time to do penance; and she will not, or would not repent. It is Christ who speaks as God, for who but God gives sinners time to repent? --- Behold, I will cast her into a bed, &c. Some understand a bed of sickness, others of corporal death, others eternal torments in hell, where she, and they that sin with her, shall be in very great tribulation, unless first they do penance. --- All the churches shall know that I am he, who searcheth the reins and hearts, which God alone can do. See Psalm vii. 10.; Jeremias xvii. 10.; &c. It is God also who will give to every one....according to his works. See Psalm lxi. 13.; Proverbs xxiv. 12.; Romans ii. 6. and in divers other places. --- I will not put upon you any other weight, &c. That is, not the insupportable burden of the Jewish ceremonies, to which teachers of false doctrines would have you subject. (Witham) --- Whoever does not give in to this new doctrine of the Nicolaites and Gnostics, and does not approve the deep and abstruse doctrines of Satan, which they teach, shall have no new weight or punishment. Let them keep the doctrine once delivered. (Calmet) --- Yet in the faith which you have already learnt, remain steadfast, till I come. --- To them who shall overcome, &c. I will give power over or above all nations. This shews that the saints, who are with Christ our Lord in heaven, receive power from him to preside over nations, and provinces, as patrons; and shall come with him at the end of the world to execute his will against those who have not kept his commandments. (Challoner) --- End. This alludes to the day of judgment, when the faithful shall sit on thrones with Christ. And he shall inherit the morning star of perpetual bliss, that shall never set. --- They shall triumph over all the wicked world, and under me shall rule them, as it were, with a rod of iron, being so much exalted above them. --- As the vessel of a potter, shall all their present greatness be broken. To every such faithful servant, I will give the morning star, another expression to signify eternal light, or eternal happiness. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thyatira was a city of Mysia or Lydia, not far from Philippi, the chief city of Macedonia; for Lydia, who traded in purple, and was of this city, went to Philippi to trade, as we read, Act 16:12,14.

Eyes like unto a flame of fire: see Rev 1:14,15; it signifies either angry eyes, or quick and piercing eyes. The comparing of

his feet to fine brass, seemeth to signify both the purity and holiness of his ways and methods of providence, and also his firmness and steadiness in them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 18-29. The epistle to the Church at Thyatira. The circuit now turns southwards. From Ephesus to Smyrna, and from Smyrna to Pergamum, was movement almost due north. Thyatira is on the Lycus, close to the Roman road between Pergamum and Sardis. It was refounded and named Thyatira by Seleucus Nicator, after the conquest of Persia by Alexander. It was strongly Macedonian in population; and it is worth noting that it is in Philippi, a city of Macedonia, that Lydia of Thyatira is found. (Act_16:14) An inscription in Greek and Latin shows that Vespasian restored the roads thereabouts. Three other inscriptions mention the dyers (oi bafeiv), for which Thyatira and the neighbourhood ("Iliad," 4:141) were so famous, to which guild Lydia belonged. (Act_16:14) There is no allusion to the trade here; and modern authorities differ as to whether it survives or not at the present day. But the statement that "large quantities of scarlet cloth are sent weekly to Smyrna" (Macdonald"s "Life and Writings of St. John," p. 187) seems to be decisive. Apollo, the sun god, was the chief deity at Thyatira, where he was worshipped under the Macedonian name of Tyrimnas. There is, perhaps, a reference by contrast to him in the epistle, in the opening description of the Son of God, and in "the morning star" to be given to "him that overcometh." A similar allusion to the worship of Dionysus was traced in the epistle to Smyrna. The modern name of the town is Ak-Hissar, "the white castle," so called from the rocky hill overhanging it, on which a fortress formerly stood. Of the nine thousand inhabitants, about three thousand are Christians, who have the trade of the place in their hands. The ancient Church of St. John the Divine has been turned into a mosque.

This fourth and therefore central epistle is the longest of the seven. In some respects it is the most solemn of all. Here only is the majestic title, "the Son of God," introduced. In the introductory vision the expression used is "Son of man". (Rev_1:13) "The Son of God," frequent in the Gospel and Epistles of St. John, occurs nowhere else in the Apocalypse. It may be suggested by Psa_2:7, "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee;" for Psa_2:9 is quoted in ver. 27. (comp. also ver. 26 with Psa_2:8)

Who hath his eyes like a flame. (see notes on Rev_1:14, Rev_1:15)

Vers. 18-29. Thyatira: victors for Christ reigning with him.

In some respects this letter is very similar to the last. In one respect it is unique. Its similarity arises from the fact that in Thyatira, as in Pergamos, there was much that was excellent clogged with much that was impure; that the Saviour stood before the Church as a heart-searching Saviour; that unless the evil were put away the Church would be severely judged, as a lesson and warning to the Churches round about; that the evil ones themselves would be visited with tribulation and with death; that the only burden which the Lord would put on the Church was that it should put away the evil and hold fast the good "until he come." The feature in this epistle which is absolutely unique is the remarkable promise which is given to "him that overcometh a promise, verbally at least, unlike any other in the New Testament, and one which has given rise to some interpretations which are totally repulsive to Christian feeling, and alien from the spirit of the Word. And we confess that it would not surprise us if some Christian should say, "Either I do not understand this promise, or else its fulfilment would be little joy to me; to promise me that I should "rule the nations with a rod of iron," is to promise me something from which I altogether shrink. I have no wish to break people into shivers." We are the more anxious, therefore, to clear up this part of the epistle (the only intricate one), since some, of coarser mould than others, have gathered therefrom that it would be the work of the righteous, in the millennium, to go about, sword in hand, slaying the wicked! One hopes it is not irreverent to say, we trust other work will be ours. We should lose the spirit of the promise in the letter if we were to put any such interpretation thereon; we should be guilty of neglecting to compare Scripture with Scripture. Undoubtedly, Christ promises to the victor power over the nations. Whether or no it would be a blessing for us to have it must depend on what the power, or authority, is. There is the power of the sword as wielded by the warrior; the power of the sceptre in the hands of a king; the power of the staff as borne by a shepherd; and the power of the truth in the mouth of a faithful witness. To ascertain which kind of power is here intended, we must advance slowly and thoughtfully, and in harmony with the whole Word of God. For to attempt to interpret the words as if they stood absolutely alone, and out of appropriate relation to the entire revealed plan of God, would be foolish and even reckless.

I THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HAS RECEIVED FROM HIS FATHER POWER (exousia) OVER THE NATIONS. Since the promise is "to him will I give... as I also have received of my Father," it is all important, for the elucidation of the promise, that we should see what this authority is which Christ has received. We are told in the following passages: Joh_17:2 Psa_2:7-10 Psa_132:11 2Sa_7:11, 12 Isa_9:6, 7 Jer_23:5 Act_2:29-36 Act_5:31 2Pe_3:2 1Co_15:25, etc. We must allow no such falsification of Scripture as is involved in the affirmation that the kingdom of Christ is not yet in being. For the word eilhfa (ver. 27) is decisive against that. The kingdom of Christ has, indeed, varied stages of development. There is the present state of things, during which our Lord is subduing evil by the Word of his grace and the Spirit of his power. The next stage of it will be reached when "he hath put all enemies under his feet." The final development of it (so far as revealed to us) will be in the heavenly state. There is, however, one special method of Christ"s ruling which is here specified. In ver. 27, poimanei autoubdw sidhra ; but in Psa_2:9 the same verb is used (LXX), and is translated "break poimaneiv autoubdw sidhra . Again, in Mic_7:14 it is also used, and is there translated "feed, poimaine laon son en rabdwsou . So Mic_5:4, kai poimanei to poimnion autouen iscui Kuriov . Thus the same word is rendered "break," "tend" "feed," "rule." The fact is that the Lord is regarded as a Shepherd of the flock. The shepherd"s care is to "tend" the flock; in doing this he feeds and leads the sheep, and breaks the power that would ravage among them. This is precisely the case with the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd and Bishop of souls. He feeds, leads, and rules his own, and breaks the opposers" power. He will rule in judgment; "he will not fail nor be discouraged till he hath brought forth judgment unto victory." His Word is the "rod of his strength;" his Spirit is the breath of his power.

II THE LORD JESUS AND HIS PEOPLE ARE UNITED IN A CLOSE FELLOWSHIP OF WAR AND OF VICTORY. Even now they are planted together, crucified together, dead, buried, risen, sitting, living together; and they are destined hereafter to be glorified together. They are one with him in heart, life, and suffering; they will be united with him in triumph and in glory. From this point of view, is not the puzzling and repelling aspect disappearing from this promise? and does it not begin to gleam with glory? Out of this present oneness with Christ, the fulfilment of the promise in the text must certainly come. Several steps of thought will show this.

1. Those who are contending with sin without and within are fighting for Christ. To them life"s great conflict is all for Christ. And to them the world and life seem to have naught in them that is worth all the responsibility and care of a battle, save as Christ is coming thereby to be enthroned in, and the evil one dethroned from, the hearts of men. The life of the individual Christian, and the collective life of Churches, are of value only as they help on this end.

2. Wherever souls are won for Christ believers share the joy of their Saviour"s victory. It is, in fact, a triumph for them when their Lord wins any trophies of honour. For them to live is Christ. Their joys are indissolubly bound up with that of their Saviour.

3. Believers are constituted by Christ as a great commonwealth of kings and priests unto God. Priests, to lead men to God; kings, to sway them for him. With the sceptre of a right royal dominion they are to sway the world for Jesus, and we hesitate not to say they are doing it.

(1) By the power of clear and strong argument they are breaking the false philosophies of the day to shivers.

(2) By the power of holy living the people of Christ are shaming the world. Men like Paul and John are not found save in the Christian comp.

(3) There is a growing yearning in believers to draw closer together, and to combine their forces against the foe. And they will do it! For:

1. Christians are an army of warriors as well as a powerful commonwealth. (Ephesians 6) Their weapons are not carnal; but they are mighty through God. Their watchwords are, "The Word of God only!" "The cross of Christ only! The might of the Spirit only!

2. Christians will win the day; and the day of Christ"s triumph will be the day of theirs. They will lift up their heads when the enemy has fled.

3. Their ultimate triumph will involve the "breaking to shivers" of all opposition. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him." Having been coworkers with him, we shall have taken part in crushing his enemies and ours. And we must not lose sight of the promise, "And I will give him the morning star." Christ says elsewhere," I am... the Morning Star." So that the promise is equivalent to, "I will give him myself." Yes. But as a morning star. When the long and weary struggle is over, and the dark night of sin has passed away, then will be seen, distinct and clear, ere break of day, the star heralding the approach of morn. From the obscurity of the conflict Christ shall shine forth in clear and cloudless splendour, blest presage of a heavenly day which no dimness shall obscure, no sin shall mar, no night shall close. And then then, where will they be who have raged against our Lord and against his Christ? "As the vessels of the potter they shall be broken to shivers!" Then the dominion shall belong to the saints of the Most High. They "which have followed" him, "in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, they also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." What may be the detail of all this none may venture to say. But the principles on which that share in Christ"s sway will be based, and the methods by which it is even now being wrought out, are perfectly clear, and are intended to have an inspiring influence upon Christian workers and warriors. For note:

(1) What an encouragement this is to cleave to Christ through evil and through good report! "For right is right, since God is God, And right the day must win; To doubt would be disloyalty, To falter would be sin.

(2) What an argument for those who are halting, to cleave forthwith to their Lord, and to take part with him in breaking evil to shivers! By stem loyalty to Christ in the struggles of this sinful world, we may prove our fitness for larger trusts in the world where the struggle shall be over.

(3) Let each one remember the dread alternative between which he stands either that of "reigning with Christ," or of being "broken to shivers.

Vers. 18-29. Epistle to the Church at Thyatira.

Careful readers of these letters will observe how in this and the foregoing ones St. John seems to be contemplating great historical events recorded in the Old Testament. In the first, the allusion to "the tree of life" and the "Paradise of God" carries us back to the story of the Fall and the expulsion from Eden. In the second, Noah and the Flood are apparently referred to in the promise of life as the reward of fidelity, and the not being "hurt of the second death;" for the Flood was the second death of humanity, and the waters of the Flood may point us to that awful lake by which the ungodly at the last shall be overwhelmed, and which St. John calls the second death. In the third, the wilderness life of Israel, the ruin wrought on them by Balaam, and "the manna" which was their food, these form the groundwork of the letter to Pergamos. Then in the fourth, that before us now, we come on to the times of the monarchy, and that dark period when Ahab ruled over the northern kingdom, and Jezebel led him and his people into all the vileness of idolatry. A thorough Jew as St. John was, and having complete knowledge of the ancient Scriptures, they being his one book, would be quick to find analogies and illustrations of the spiritual condition of the Churches in the checkered history of mankind, and especially of Israel, as recorded in those Scriptures. And the tragedy for it was no less associated with Jezebel (cf. "Macbeth," and see whence Shakespeare got his inspiration); and the flashing fire in the eyes of the fierce Jehu, and the burnished brass of his swift-revolving chariot wheels as he furiously drove along on his journey of vengeance to slay the proud, idolatrous queen who had led all Israel astray, this avenger might well come into the mind of St. John as he thought of the spiritual tragedy at Thyatira, and of an avenger more awful still, "the Son of God," whose eyes were "as a flame of fire and his feet like molten brass," and who was swiftly hastening to take vengeance on the guilty leader of whom Jezebel was the prototype, and that guilty Church. A fit name for this letter would be The wrath of the Lamb, for much concerning that wrath is shown in it.

I ITS REALITY. The letter is full of fearfulness to those whom it concerns, and was without doubt intended so to be. There is scarce a soft, gentle word in it, but all is stern from first to last. The inscription, the contents, the very promises at the end, are all marked by the same character. The Church had connived at, or at least had offered no strenuous opposition to, most awful and flagrant wrong, which had been taught and practised in her very midst; and in the wrath that this aroused all their righteousness and they had much is little more than named, and seems scarcely mentioned. The letter is hardly anything else than one vehement outpouring of the Lord"s wrath and threatenings of his sore displeasure. The symbols show this. The eyes like as a flame of fire, and the feet of incandescent, glowing, molten brass, suggest strongly the twin ideas of rage and ruthless resolve to execute it upon those against whom it is directed. They bring before us a truly terrible aspect of the character of our Lord, but one which is real and actual, though far too much ignored both in thought and teaching. We say and sing far too exclusively, "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild;" and this, notwithstanding the very Gospels themselves give not a few indications of a power of holy and awful anger which he who so graciously took up little children in his arms yet evidently had within him. Hearken how he speaks to the scribes and Pharisees; listen to his reiterated "woes" denounced upon hypocrites; and observe as a momentous fact that the most fearful utterances of the whole Bible fell from our Saviour"s lips. And this Book of the Revelation, is it not like the prophet"s scroll, written both within and without, and full of scarce anything but "lamentation and mourning and woe"? And all of it is the Lord"s doing, either directly or through his agents. The Bible, therefore, gives but little countenance to that far too general idea that the character of Christ is only gentleness and love. And there is, and there ought to be, no such character anywhere. That love which is said to go out to everybody generally goes to nobody in particular, except the man"s own self above all. It is a mere easiness and softness, utterly unreliable, and of little moral worth. But when there is real love, the obverse side will be a corresponding wrath against all that injures what is so much loved. What is tenderer, and at the same time fiercer, than a mother"s love? Even amid the beasts of the field it is so. A bear robbed of her whelps, woe betide the despoiler if the mother overtake him! And all that wrath which is told of in the Bible, and especially in this book, those eyes which, against the Jezebels that seduce his people, are "as a flame of fire," once wept over Jerusalem and by the grave of Lazarus. If he could not hate, he could not love; and because he does so love, therefore is the wrath of the Lamb so real and terrible a thing.

II ITS SEVERITY. (Vers. 22, 23) God does do even now what is meant by these expressions. Out of men"s own wickedness he makes whips to scourge them. How dreadful and irreparable is the ruin which even here and now often overtakes the ungodly! There is no need for laboured argument to prove that there is a hell hereafter: many men spend their lives in hell now. Their intense realization of their shame, their fall; the horror which good men have of them; the ruin they have brought upon themselves, and yet more upon those who trusted and loved and depended upon them; all this is hell, and is a fearful corroboration of the sure teaching of God as to the judgment he forewarns us of hereafter.

III ITS FORBEARANCE. "I gave her space to repent." Sentence upon an evil work is not executed speedily, and hence men too often, therefore, all the more set their hearts steadfastly to do evil.

IV ITS JUSTICE. The Lord denounces here, we think, not a person, but a party; some evil knot of persons in the Church, who were to the rest what the woman Jezebel, Ahab"s wile, was to Israel their seducer and leader in all abominable ways. Vers. 22 and 23 seem to imply that there was not one person merely, but a dominant party in the Church, who were guilty of the sins which had so roused the wrath of the Lord. True, we have the phrase, "thy wife Jezebel," and this has led some to suppose that the pastor of the Church was afflicted with a detestable woman as a wife such things do happen; but when we remember how "the harlot" is the continual name with which corrupt Churches are branded, we are permitted to regard the whole as symbolical. The phrase may therefore be regarded as telling of a pestilent and powerful set belonging to the Church, and therefore it could be said, "thy wife," who were as Jezebel. And we must regard the sins spoken of as being literally what they are said to be. And who that knows the power of these sins to waste the conscience, pollute the mind, ruin the body, paralyze the will, and every way turn man into worse than the very brutes, and so to make the Church in which they were practised a byword, a hissing, and a rebuke, can wonder that, as has ever been the case, the wrath of God arose against them until there was no remedy? Because of them the Flood came, the cities of the plain were overwhelmed with fire, the nations of Canaan were exterminated; and today, given the sin, there, not far off, is the judgment of God. Beware of them, for they "war against the soul," and against all the well being of mankind, so that, in mercy to the human race, God has branded them with his severe displeasure.

V ITS DISCRIMINATION. "The Lord knoweth them that are his" and his eye was upon them even in that corrupt Church. They had refused to be beguiled by the specious pretences of these ungodly teachers that their doctrines were profound, not for the uninitiated; that they were "deep" things deep things of the devil, the Lord in indignation adds though they pretended that they came from above. But this "rest of you in Thyatira" would have none of the doctrine; they spurned it as they should. And now the Lord tells them that no other burden should be put upon them. To have to endure such people amongst them, and to have the Name of Christ so dishonoured, this was burden enough. Therefore only let them abide in all those good and blessed qualities which characterized them, and which he commemorates in ver. 19, and then in that coming glory foretold in Ps 2 they shall share, and from being despised and borne down with the burden of the wicked, they shall with Christ rule over them, and restrain them effectually as with "a rod of iron," and as now they were powerless to do; and best of all, he who is "the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright and the Morning Star", (Rev_22:16) he will give himself to them; the day star should arise in their hearts, the joy of the Lord should be theirs forevermore. "Grant, Lord, that I may come To thy saints" happy home, Where a thousand years one day appears; Nor go Where a day appears As a thousand years, For woe!

Vers. 18-29. (4) The epistle to the Church in Thyatria: the growing Church exposed to corruption of doctrine.

With the highest title, "the Son of God," the Lord of the Church speaks the Lord who searches as with eyes of flame and with burning, consuming fire, and treads down his enemies beneath his feet. The vision is unusually impressive, as the state of the Church is unusually momentous. The letter is extended, and describes the commendable condition of the Church, the subtle danger that threatens its life, the terrible judgments pronounced upon the corrupters of the Church"s purity, the one word of demand, the watchword of the epistleHold fast fast that which ye have till I come;" with the abundant promise to him who, doing so, triumphantly "overcometh." Leaving ampler exposition, our eye rests upon the one word, Hold fast.

I This call to fidelity is RAISED ON THE COMMENDABLE STATE OF THE CHURCH. Happy they to whom the Lord can say, "Hold fast," keep that thou hast, persevere. Of this Church the Lord knows and knows to commend its "works, and love, and faith, and ministry, and patience," and growing usefulness.

II IT IS SIGNIFICANT OF THE LORD"S APPROBATION OF THE CHURCH"S STATE. Here is no word of exhortation to repent. The keen, searching glance of the flaming eyes does not detect any fault in the body of the Church. In the absence of condemnation is the Divine justification and approval. His smile is upon his faithful ones, against whom no accusation can be raised. If a few are faulty in one particular, the bulk of the Church is pure. A difference is drawn between her children and the rest that are in Thyatira: "as many as have not this teaching." The Lord delights in his Church characterized by zeal, by love, by triumphant faith, by unwearied patience, by abundant works.

III The call to fidelity is MADE NECESSARY BY THE PRESENCE OF GRIEVOUS AND SUBTLE DANGERS. False teachers are abroad or, at least, a false teacher against whom, as would seem, some one in power had not been sufficiently guarded. "Thou sufferest," etc. The holiest and most active Church has its dangers from the subtle breath of error even zeal and love may be drawn aside. The very fervour of spirit which is commended lays itself open, by its own honesty of purpose, to the deceits of the designing. "Hold fast" warns of danger near as truly as it approves of the possession held.

IV The exhortation is further enforced by A VIEW OF THE TERRIBLE JUDGMENT THREATENED AGAINST THE SEDUCTRESS. (Vers. 21-23)

V BY THE EVER-PRESENT THOUGH GRACIOUSLY VARIED PROMISE TO THE FAITHFUL. (Vers. 26-28) R.G.

Vers. 18-29. The words of Christ from eternity to the congregation at Thyatira.

"And unto the angel of the Church in Thyatira," etc. Thyatira was situated between Pergamos and Sardis, a little off the main road which connected these two cities. It was a Macedonian colony, founded by Alexander the Great (or whom I should rather designate "Alexander the Contemptible) after the overthrow of the Persian empire. The Macedonian colonists appear to have introduced the worship of Apollo, honoured as the sun god, under the name of Tyrumnas. It has been thought by some that the description here given of Christ eyes of flame was selected in allusion to this worship of the sun god, under the form of some dazzlingly ornamented image. Certainly close commercial intercourse connected the daughter colony with its mother city. There seem to have been various mercantile guilds in the colony bakers, potters, tanners, weavers, and dyers. The dye trade was, perhaps, the most important. Lydia, the seller of purple, was in all likelihood connected with the guild of dyers; and her appearance in Philippi is an illustration of the trade relations of Macedonia and Thyatira. To her the Christian community of Thyatira may have owed its beginning. "She who had gone forth for a while to buy and sell and get again, when she returned home may have brought home with her richer merchandise than any she had looked to obtain" (Trench). The population was of a mixed character, and included besides Asiatics, Macedonians, Italians, and Chaldaeans. Of all the homiletic sketches on this epistle, I know of no sketch so clear and comprehensive, so philosophic and suggestive, as that of the late Caleb Morris one of the greatest, if not the greatest preacher that has appeared in London during the century. Those whom the popular sentiment designates "princes of preachers" seem to me to shrink into contempt in his presence. "There are," he says, "four things in this epistle to which we shall call attentionthe commendable in character, the reprehensible in doctrine, the indispensable in duty, and the blessed in destiny. How forcibly every item in this epistle is brought out by these four general divisions! To attempt a plan equal to this in all points of excellence would be presumption. Albeit, as it would be supererogatory and useless to repeat what others have said, I shall endeavour to bring all the important elements of the chapter under one general headingthe moral character of mankind; and hero we have it in three aspects.

I AS THAT IN WHICH CHRIST FEELS THE PROFOUNDEST INTEREST. He who is here called the "Son of God," no doubt feels an interest in every part of the great universe. But material worlds and systems, methinks, concern him not so much as the moral character of God"s spiritual offspring. In souls his interest is profound, practical, and permanent. Two remarks are suggested.

1. His interest springs from an absolute knowledge of the primary elements of character. "I know thy works;" and again he says, "I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts." He peers into those spheres of mind into which the vulture"s eye cannot pierce, no, nor the keenest eye of angelic intelligence; the sphere where character is generated, where its elements float in invisible germs; the arena where the moral battles are fought, where victories are won and defeats endured. Our interest in objects is often blind, and so it often happens that we are entranced with admiration for objects which we learn from sad experience to be worthless, base, and abhorrent. Not so with Christ. He knows what character really is, its elements whether good or bad.

2. His interest fills him with the deepest concern for the progress of the good. "I know thy works, and charity thy love, and service, and faith and ministry, and thy patience." "Charity" and "service love and its administrations; "faith" and "patience faith in its practical endurance; and all these in their progressive development, and "the last to be more than the first." Moral goodness wherever it exists is progressive. Unlike all other life, the more it grows the more the craving and the more the capability for growth. From glory to glory," etc.

II AS THAT WHICH IS TRANSMITTED FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION. In the long black roll of human infamy there is not a blacker name than that of Jezebel, the wife of Ahab. She was "the great seducer to idolatry in the later history of Israel, and as the worship of the Phoenician Astarte, or Venus, was accompanied with the grossest impurity, her name became the synonym of all that was debasing and profligate." Some suppose that this Jezebel in Thyatira, who embodied the character of the old Israelitish, fiendish idolatress, was the wife of the bishop of the congregation at Thyatira. It might be so, for many a worthy bishop has been matrimonially linked to a Jezebelitish woman. Ay, what is worse, many a Jezebelitish woman, married, has entrapped young unmarried bishops to their disgrace and ruin. But I am disposed to regard the name here as symbolical of some proud, persecuting, self-constituted authority on religion, haughtily vaunting claims of superior religious piety and theological intelligence. Now, centuries had passed away since Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, ended her execrable history and passed into the retributive future; yet her character appears in Thyatira, breathing the same passions and repeating the same conduct as of yore. Thus moral character is transmitted. I inquire not into the philosophy of this patent and awful fact in human history, nor into its moral propriety; certain it is that in the present generation the same characters appear as in the generation that lived before the Flood. We offer three remarks on the transmission of moral character, as suggested by the letter before us.

1. The transmitted character does not free the possessor from its responsibility. The party here addressed, whether an individual, a faction, or a community, is spoken of as responsible; ay, and it would seem that even the bishop of the Church had not a little responsibility for the existence of this Jezebelitish character a character that used its influence on the side of ungodliness, licentiousness, and adultery. The grand mission of Christly men is to expel evil from the community, to crush the wrong, not by force and persecution, but by Divine moral suasion and high Christian example. The work of a Christly man is to slay with the sword of the Spirit all the moral Jezebels within his reach. But whilst the disciples of Christ are held to some extent responsible for the existence of bad characters in their midst, the characters themselves are conscious of their responsibility. The fact that they inherit the bad temper and principles of their ancestors, however near or distant, does not relieve them from the remorseful consciousness that they are the authors of their own character. Every pang of remorse, every tear of compunction, every sigh of moral regret, demonstrate to the greatest sinner that he is the author of his own vile character, and no other.

2. The transmitted character might be got rid of by its possessor. "I gave her space time that she should to repent of her fornication; and she repented not willeth not to repent of her fornication." Even the wickedest person, man or woman, has time given him for repentance. God hates nothing that he has made. He wills not the death of any sinner, but rather that he should turn and he saved should repent and live. It was so even with the immoral person here spoken of; time was given her; but she would not use it. There was no will to repent. Therefore, for the sake of others, the time must now be shortened, and after one more trial judgment must follow. Repentance is the method of ridding one"s self of a bad character, and this repentance every man can and ought to accomplish. Men are not machines or automatons, but free agents. The will is the rudder of the soul; it either steers the ship into the wished for haven, or drives it on to shoals and quicksands.

3. The transmitted character might entail enormous evils on others. In truth all evil characters must do so. "And I will kill her children with death." All have their moral offspring, children like unto themselves. The evil propagates the evil, as the good the good. "No man liveth unto himself." Our moral children do our work, and that work is like that of Jezebel. Who knows the injury that the moral children of Jezebel did to the bishop and the Christian community of Thyatira? They encouraged licentiousness and idolatry, and committed fornication, and ate things "sacrificed unto idols.

III AS THAT WHICH DETERMINES THE DESTINY OF MANKIND. Here mark two things.

1. The outcome of the bad. "Behold, I will do cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds her works." The chamber of voluptuousness shall become the chamber of torture. "And I will kill her children with death." Those in whom she has propagated her foul character, under the cover of higher piety and deeper intelligence, shall meet with destruction. Death shall be their fate the death of all that makes life worth having. "The wages of sin is death." "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." "I will give unto every one of you according to your works;" your works shall determine your doom.

2. The outcome of the good. Three great blessings are here stated as coming to such.

(1) Freedom from future suffering. "But unto to you I say, and unto to the rest in that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine teaching, and which have not known know not the depths deep things of Satan, as they speak say. ; ! will put cast upon you none other burden." Whilst those whose impious Gnosticism, intolerant spirit and gross sensuality would meet with anguish and death, all who were free from these abominations would be secure from future evil. "I will put cast upon you none other burden." You need not apprehend any future evil. Elsewhere we are told that "he will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him." Another blessing is:

(2) Elevation to true royalty. "But howbeit that which ye have already hold fast till I come." Those who hold fast with an unrelaxing grasp all the good they had, triumphed over evil, and held on loyally to the end, shall have "power over the nations." What power? Moral power power over the minds and hearts of nations. lie only is the true sovereign who governs minds and hearts. All other sovereignties are shams. The morally right has in it the highest elements of might. Right is might, and there is none other. "He shall rule them with a rod of iron." Right is a rod of iron unbreakable and all crushing, dashing to pieces, shivering into atoms all the kingdoms of error and wrong. He is the greatest king of his age who has the most truth and goodness in his soul; hence the "saints one day shall judge the world." Hail the period! merciful Heaven, hasten it! Another blessing is:

(3) Inheritance of the highest possession. "I will give him the morning star." "Morning star bright harbinger of a day whose skies shall have no cloud, whose atmosphere no storm, whose sun shall rise and set no more. Christ himself is the "Morning Star." This is the title he gives himself: "I Jesus am the Root and Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star." The good man shall have Christ, and, possessing him, shall have more than the universe itself. "All things are yours," etc. So that out of the moral character of mankind will bloom their Paradise or flame their hell. Therefore what we have good in us let us not only "hold fast," but nourish into higher developments. Let us so cultivate the" Divine tree" that its roots shall deepen, its fibres strengthen, its branches multiply, its foliage become more magnificent, and its fruits more abundant every day. D.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And to the angel of the church at Thyatira - Where the faithful were but a little flock. These things saith the Son of God - See how great he is, who appeared "like a son of man!" chap. i, 13. Who hath eyes as a flame of fire - "Searching the reins and the heart," verse 23. And feet like fine brass - Denoting his immense strength. Job comprises both these, his wisdom to discern whatever is amiss, and his power to avenge it, in one sentence, Job xlii, 2, "No thought is hidden from him, and he can do all things."

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

angel

(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Praise and reprimand for the congregation at Thyatira:

v. 18. And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass:

v. 19. I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

v. 20. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

v. 21. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

v. 22. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

v. 23. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

This is the longest of the seven pastoral letters, and it shows peculiar conditions in the little city of Thyatira, the home of the pious Lydia, Act 16:14-15. This letter also opens with a characteristic description of the author: And to the angel of the congregation in Thyatira write: These things says the Son of God, He that has His eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like burnished bronze. See Rev 1:15. It is as a judge full of holy wrath, as a consuming fire, that Jesus, the Son of God, is here introduced, as one from whom His enemies may expect certain and terrible punishment.

As in the case of the other congregations the Lord opens with a commendation: I know thy works and thy love and thy faith and thy service and thy patient endurance, and thy last works more than the first. That is high praise for a Christian congregation and speaks well for the Christian zeal of Lydia, who is generally supposed to have founded this church. The congregation of Thyatira as such was noted for its diligence in works and service of love, of brotherly love. These were the natural fruits of the faith which was still held by the great majority of the brethren. Another fruit of this faith was patient endurance amidst the persecutions which were instigated on the part of the enemies. They are even given the testimony that they had made steady progress in the works of Christianity, that their profiting had been apparent to all, Gal 6:9; 1Th 4:1; 1Ti 4:15.

At the same time, however, conditions were existing that caused the Lord more than apprehension: But I have against thee that thou permit that woman Jezebel, who alleges herself to be a prophetess and teaches and seduces My servants to commit fornication and to eat meats sacrificed to idols: and I have given her time that she should repent, and she will not repent from her fornication. Apparently the conditions of Pergamum were here intensified. In the Old Testament there had been a Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, who had seduced the children of Israel to idolatry, to the service of Baal with its obscene cult, to many abominations and lewd deeds. The name Jezebel, therefore, was a fitting name for the false prophetess in Thyatira, whose chief allurement seems to have consisted in the doctrine that Christians should overcome carnal desires by yielding to the lusts of the flesh to satiety and weariness, and that they should join in all the abominations of the heathen in order to pain influence over them. The result was that many servants of the Lord, many true Christians, had been seduced to a life of idolatry, of dissipation, of immorality and sexual vices. They had been plunged into a veritable abyss of wickedness, where the most abominable works of darkness were committed with the plea that this was Christianity in an advanced state. The Lord had already sent a warning to this immoral prophetess and had given her time to repent, but she obstinately persisted in her lewd course and despised the forbearance of God. And all this the congregation permitted; knowing the pool of unspeakable filth which was in their midst, the members had done nothing to remove the stain, the blot, from the congregation.

Therefore the Lord rebukes the congregation, incidentally adding the threat: Behold, I shall cast her upon a couch (of sickness), and the adulterers with her into great misery, if they do not repent of her works; and her children I shall utterly slay, and all congregations shall know that I am He who searches reins and hearts, and I shall give to you, to everyone, according to your works. Almost the Lord’s patient forbearance is exhausted, and He will then show Himself the terrible Judge. The false prophetess herself He intended to visit with sickness, with pestilence, and all those that followed her immoral teaching and became guilty of lewdness in any form He would plunge into such an abyss of misery as to make them feel the power of His wrath. Note: In the very midst of this terrible threat the Lord holds out full amnesty to the sinners if they but repent. Physical distress and illness were not to come upon the men and women only that imitated the prophetess in her licentiousness, but her sin was to be visited also upon her children, whom the Lord threatened to exterminate. Thus by this one example of righteous wrath and punishment the Lord wanted to issue an emphatic and solemn warning to all the congregations in the entire district or province, to all congregations to the end of time, in fact, to show that He searches the inmost mind and heart, that no transgression is hidden before His eyes, and that He will punish the evil-doers according to their works. He may not always strike so openly, but it is true, nevertheless, that no man can escape His avenging justice.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The next epistle is directed by Christ, and written by St. John, to the church of Thyatira; in which epistle

observe, 1. The name given to Christ, he is styled the Son of God; that is, by eternal generation, being the only-begotten of the Father, as well as begotten of the Father only; and partaker of the Father’s essence, as well as of his likeness: he is here called the Son of God, as being a distinct person from the Father; yet is he the first and the last, which denotes his eternity; and who is, and who was, and is to come, the Almighty, which are essential attributes of the Godhead.

Observe, 2. The description here given of Christ, His eyes like flaming fire, and his feet like burning brass: denoting thereby his piercing and discerning sight to see and observe his enemies, his fiery indignation, and fierce wrath, ready to take hold of them, and his irresistible power and strength to vanquish and tread them under his feet.

Observe, 3. The great and special commendation which Christ gives to this church: greatly she is commended for her charity to Christians in distress; for her service in ministering to them, and in comforting of them; for her faith and constant adherence to the profession of Christianity; and for her patience under persecutions for the gospel’s sake; but her special and peculiar commendation was this, that her last works were more than her first; that is, her last works were better, did exceed and excel the first. Ephesus was best at first, and worst at last; but Thyatira’s last works were best. It is a blessed thing when Christians grow in goodness, increase in faith and holiness, when their last days are their best days; their last works, and their last fruit, their best, their fairest fruit.

Observe, 4. The reprehension follows the commendation; as good as Thyatira was, she needed to be better. She was remiss and negligent in her duty of reproving, censuring, excommunicating vile seducers, the Gnostics, and Nicolaitans, the disciples of Simon Magus, and his lewd Helena, as some think; compared to Jezebel, because she enticed Ahab to worship Baal, as this woman, (whosoever she was,) calling herself a prophetess, and teaching the lawfulness of fornication, and eating things offered to idols.

Some observe, That there was scarce any heresy broached, but it had some woman or other for the propagator and promoter of it, who took upon them the name of prophetesses. Simon Magus had his Helena; Montanus had his Priscilla and Maximilla; Carpocrates his Marcellina. Concerning this person it is affirmed, that God gave her space to repent, but she repented not.

Learn thence, That great is the sin, folly, and danger, of deferring and putting off the duty of repentance, when God gives time and space sufficient to perform it.

1. Great is the sin, because it is a mocking of God’s patience, and undervaluing of his service, a contempt of his authority, a presuming on his goodness, a defiance of his displeasure.

2. Great is the folly, as well as the sin of it, because we put it off to the most improper and unfitting season, and because we hereby make the work more hard and difficult, in what season soever we set about it; and the longer we delay our repentance, the more work shall we make for repentance.

3. As great is the danger as either the sin or folly, because it puts a person upon a mighty hazard; he runs a desperate venture, not knowing whether he shall live an hour longer; and because we forfeit by our delays that special grace, without the assistance whereof we can never repent.

Observe, 5. How severely God threatens Jezebel here, and in her all sinners, to whom he gives space for repentance, but it is not improved for that end: I will cast her into a bed of tribulation and torment, instead of her bed of lust and uncleanness, unless she repent. Behold here how great and immeasurable the patience of God is towards the greatest, the vilest, and the worst sinner; they have space for repentance, they have invitations to repent, they have judgments threatened to prevent their final impenitence: but if they prove incorrigible and unreclaimable, nothing is to be expected but approaching ruin: I will kill her children with death; that is, such as are seduced by her suffer with her, if judgments threatened be not by repentance prevented.

Observe lastly, The end and design of Christ in bringing upon vile sinners these exemplary punishments, namely, to declare his omniciency, power, and justice: All the churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts: that is, all the churches in and about Thyatira, says Christ, shall know that I not only observe outward acts, but take notice of the secret counsels, motions, and designs, of men’s hearts, and will judge every man according to his works: a full and clear text to prove the divinity of Christ: he that searcheth men’s hearts, and renders to all men according to their works, is God; but Christ doth both, and therefore is essentially and truly God.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18–23. In Thyatira. This is the first of the second group of four epistles. Thyatira has been mentioned in Acts, chapter 16 as the home of Lydia, who was converted at Philippi. It is likely that the church began when she and her household returned. The three churches before named were on or near the coast; the others were in the interior. Thyatira was southeast of Pergamos, and northeast of Smyrna. It is still a place of about 17,000 population, of whom nearly 3,000 profess to be Christians. Like unto a flame of fire. See 1:14, 15.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

This is the beginning of the Son of Man's message to the angel of the church in Thyatira.

Thyatira

This is the name of a city in a part of western Asia that today is modern Turkey. See how you translated this in Revelation 1:11. (See: How to Translate Names)

Son of God

This is an important title for Jesus. (See: Translating Son and Father)

who has eyes like a flame of fire

His eyes are describes as being full of light like a flame of fire. See how you translated this in Revelation 1:14. AT: "whose eyes glow like a flame of fire" (See: Simile)

feet like polished bronze

Bronze is polished to make it shine and reflect light. See how you translated this in Revelation 1:15. AT: "whose feet are very shiny like polished bronze" (See: Simile)

your love and faith and service and your patient endurance

The abstract nouns "love," "faith," "service," and "endurance" can be translated with verbs. AT: "How you have loved, trusted, served, and endured patiently" (See: Abstract Nouns)

your love and faith and service and your patient endurance

The implied objects of these verbs can be stated clearly. AT: "How you have loved me and others, trusted me, served me and others, and endured troubles patiently" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

angel

church

Son of God

fire

bronze

love

faith

patient

endure

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

18–29. THE CHURCH IN THYATIRA

18. ὡς φλόγα. Tisch[101] read ὡς φλόξ with א; Primas[102] ut flamma.

[101] Tischendorf: eighth edition; where the text aud notes differ the latter are cited.

[102] Primasius, edited by Haussleiter.

18. ὁ υἱὸς τοὺ θεοῦ. Here only in the Apocalypse. So designated, perhaps, because it is the power which He received from the Father which is the subject of the concluding promise, Rev 2:28. Cf. Psalms 2 for ὁ υἱός μου and quotation in promise.

ὁ ἔχων = ὅς ἔχει: and so can be continued by the categorical clause καὶ οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ ὅμοιοι χαλκ., cf. also τῷ λούσαντι … καὶ ἐποίησεν Rev 1:5-6 n.

τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ. Which search reins and hearts, Rev 2:23.

οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ. Of strength to break the nations to shivers like a potter’s vessel, Rev 2:26.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18-29.] The Epistle to the church at Thyatira. See Prolegg. § iii. 9. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These things saith the Son of God (our Lord thus names himself here, in accordance with the spirit of that which is to follow; ver. 27 being from Psa_2, in which it is written, κύριος εἶπεν πρός με Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε), who hath his eyes as a flame of fire (connected with ver. 23, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐρευνῶν νεφροὺς καὶ καρδίας) and his feet are like to chalcolibanus (for χαλκολ., see on ch. 1:15. There is here probably a connexion with ver. 27, ὡς τὰ σκεύη τὰ κεραμικὰ συντρίβεται, the work of the strongly shod feet): I know thy works, and (the four which follow are subordinated to the ἔργα preceding, as is shown by σου placed after the four, not after each one. The καί then is the subordinating or epexegetic copula, as in καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος, Joh 1:16. See Winer, edn. 6, § 53. 3, c) the love (ἀγάπη, standing first, is probably quite general, to God and man) and the faith (general again: not = faithfulness, but in its ordinary sense) and the ministration (viz., to the sick and poor, and all that need it: the natural proof of ἀγάπη and πίστις—πίστις διʼ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη, Gal 5:6) and the endurance (in tribulation: or perhaps the ὑπομονὴ ἔργου ἀγαθοῦ of Rom 2:7) of thee, and (that) thy last works (are) more (in number, or importance, or both) than the first (this praise is the opposite of the blame conveyed by ver. 5 to the Ephesian church).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.