Revelation 2:18-29

The Reward of Giving All to Jesus

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on February 25, 2018 at Beacon Church

There’s a man living in Vancouver, Dr. J.I. Packer, who is 91 years old, around the same age probably as John when he saw this Apocalypse of Jesus. And like John, Packer has watched for many years as good churches became unhealthy and died. He is an Anglican and has grieved over the slow death of his denomination from the inside out. He wrote a book recently titled, Taking God Seriously: Vital Things We Need to Know. In the promo for the book he says, “Faith is the basis of Christian life. But the problem nowadays is that people don’t know what faith is. The church is in trouble… the trouble is that we are not taking our God seriously enough.”[i] I shared that with you, because Jesus has fire flaming out of His eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I believe the church should be a community of hospitality, and safety, and tolerance where people who don’t yet believe can come and hear what God has said in the Scriptures, and learn why the message of Christ is really Good News—the Gospel. But when the church is only tolerance and hospitality, and neglects teaching the Bible, training in righteousness, holding believers accountable with love and truth, then, as Packer has seen, and as John saw in these seven churches in Asia, well-meaning churches can find themselves in trouble.

In this passage I have come to see two bracketed sections, two inclusios, like two rows of books, enclosed by bookends, one row inside the other: the larger row from verse 18 to 27 beginning with the words, “the Son of God” and ending with “my father”. The other row, the smaller one, from verse 22-24 beginning with “I have this against you” and ending with “I lay no other burden.” These are the two containers that hold the message of this letter. Like Tupperware bowls stacked, the smaller one inside the bigger one, we need to open up the larger container before we can properly understand the smaller one. In other words, the strong and even shocking wording in this passage about “Jezebel” and her adulterous behaviour, is so graphic that if we aren’t careful to understand the bigger bracket first, we could end up focusing on the Jezebel warning and miss the more important point. The bigger inclusion/bracket is a warning not to rebel against the authority of Christ. The second one is a solemn duty to guard the church's testimony of the Gospel. A person called Jezebel failed to listen to the warning. The minister of the church had so far failed in his duty. And the consequences of both failures proved fatal for people in Thyatira.

Christ’s authority comes from His Father

The main bracket of though in this letter can be seen from comparing verse 18 and verse 27: the letter begins with the description of Jesus as “the Son of God”—the only time this title is used in the book of Revelation: “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 'The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze,” (Rev. 2:18 ESV). But just before the end of the letter, Jesus quotes from Psalm 2 and adds, “I myself have received authority from my Father” (v27). The Son of God and God the Father are the bookends. He calls Himself the Son of God here to emphasize the authority His Father gave Him as the One King who will rule over all the nations of the Earth. That’s Psalm 2. Psa 2:6 envisions God the Father setting His Son up as King over the whole world, and the psalm ends with a warning: everybody’s future, to perish or live, in judgement or blessing, entirely depends on whether or not we submit to Jesus and trust Him. God has given Jesus total authority, total sovereignty over this world, and over all people: “and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father,” (Rev. 2:27 ESV). That strange part about breaking earthen pots in pieces is a direct quote from Psalm 2, which is explained by the verses that follow it in that psalm:

9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."  10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.  11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.  12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Ps. 2:9-12 ESV)

People are like ceramic dishes. And Christ alone is the divinely appointed Sovereign Ruler and Judge of all the nations. If we come against Him, we will be smashed to pieces. But if come to Him for protecting, He will shelter us and save us. There is no middle ground. So when we stop taking Jesus seriously, we are in trouble.

According to Dr. Packer, and he’s right, “Christian faith is shaped, and its nature is determined, entirely by its object…”[ii] He gives an example from a wax seal. It’s just a shapeless puddle of hot wax until you press a seal into it and hold it there. Then that wax takes the shape of the stamp, just as Christian faith must be shaped and defined by taking Christ seriously, otherwise it’s not Christian.  In a similar way, this letter is more than a call to love Jesus, or believe in Him, to serve others in His name or endure to the end; it is a call to hold the lines that He has given us, to be shaped by His definitions, to stand on His orders. This isn’t less than love and faith, serving and patiently enduring: it’s that and more. If God has indeed given all authority to Jesus, then we don’t have the right to allow anyone in our church to start telling people, “Don’t take Jesus so seriously.” I mean, look: eyes of fire and feet of polished metal!  “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 'The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze,’” (Rev. 2:18 ESV). It’s a frightening picture that means, “He can see right through us”. “Eyes like a flame of fire” (v18) is a symbol that is explained in verse 23, “He who is searching [lit] mind and heart”. While the Son of God is standing among His churches, He sees what our motives and thoughts really are. You know that word “earthen” for pottery in verse 27? It’s literally the word “ceramica”. But His bronze feet symbolize purified, holy strength and justice. As the appointed Judge of humankind, anyone who tries to go against Jesus will be smashed like ceramic against bronze.

Christ is searching our minds and hearts

On the positive side, Jesus says to the “angel”, or minister of this church responsible for teaching the Word to the congregation, that he is doing well, that the church’s ministry is in many ways among the healthiest of all the seven churches: “I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first,” (Rev. 2:19 ESV). Christ who is “searching mind and heart” can see the kinds of good works this pastor and church are doing—and that the good works have grown over time. They are serving one another more, and serving the needy in their city more; they are growing in their patient endurance even during hardship and persecution. And Jesus sees that underneath that service is genuine love for God, and underneath that endurance is authentic faith in Christ.

On the negative side, however, this church, like so many churches since, as Dr. Packer said, “…is in trouble.” This brings us to the second bracketed inclusion: verses 20-24.

20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.  21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.  22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,  23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.  24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.  (Rev. 2:20-24 ESV)

The short story here is that someone in this church was challenging the authority of Christ’s teaching (verse 20, claiming to be a prophet), and resisting Christ’s command to repent (verse 21). So Jesus announces His verdict and sentence, that He is going to punish the one challenging His authority, along with others who join along, and those being influenced by this false teaching (verses 22-23). When Jesus says in verse 23, He will give each of “you according to your works”, that’s a really scary thing to say. That’s smashing pottery. That’s exactly what Psalm 2 says happens to people who don’t “take refuge in Him” (Psa 2:12).  So first, let me explain why this person is called “Jezebel”, and then I’ll show you how the end of this bracketed section helps us make sense of why “Jezebel” was so dangerous.

“But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols,” (Rev. 2:20 ESV). Who is this Jezebel? Let me remind you that each of these letters uses symbols to convey a message. In the previous letters, lampstands, Satan’s throne, and Balaam, were all symbols that needed to be interpreted to be understood. The same with Jezebel. Jezebel was the wife of Israel’s King, Ahab, in 1 Kings 16-22, whose manipulating, usurping of authority, plotting, mass murder of God’s prophets, and wicked efforts to seduce the people of Israel into worshiping pagan idols, has made even the name “Jezebel” a synonym for evil and treachery. A number of scholars suspect this symbol, “Jezebel”, referred to either the wife of the pastor of this church in Thyatira,[iii] or else a symbol for some other person, not necessarily even a woman, who had taken authority that didn’t rightly belong to him or her and had become a dangerous influence to many of the people in the church in Thyatira.[iv] If this person was the pastor’s wife, you can understand his reluctance to make her stop. The same if it was another elder, or prominent person, maybe even a close friend of his. Because the real Jezebel was the queen, it probably means this person was prominent in the church for some reason, and influenced many.

Queen Jezebel, in Israel, was the daughter of the King of Phoenicia, a highly sophisticated and cultured Kingdom.[v] Israel would have seemed like a country of farmers to her. We don’t know much about Thyatira and how this letter would have specifically connected with their situation, but we do know that the Christians there were more likely tempted by wanting to belong to the many commercial trade guilds, than by fear of persecution from the government or powerful cults. To do business in the city, meant joining a guild, which meant pressure to participate in the dinners held in pagan temples, like in Pergamum. Sometime later a Gnostic idea became popular, that a Christian could experiment with all kinds of sin in their body as long as they kept their mind aloof and unaffected. So the body might be involved in sin, even “the deep things of Satan”(v24),[vi] but the person’s spirit could remain above it. One source argues the Thyatirans “prided themselves on their enlightened liberalism.”[vii] That might be what this Jezebel was teaching: the seductive idea that we can experiment with Satan while following Jesus.

“I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality,” (Rev. 2:21 ESV). Jesus can see why they still did not listen to his warning: [lit in Greek], “she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality” (v21). However Christ had warned her to repent (maybe by a sermon from John himself when he visited?), the minister of the church had “tolerated” her, literally, “left her alone” or “permitted her to continue”.[viii] But it was spiritual adultery; unfaithfulness that betrayed Jesus in the same way that an affair betrays one’s spouse. These people in the church of Thyatira didn’t take Jesus very seriously, but Jesus took their betrayal seriously:

22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,  23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.  (Rev. 2:22-23 ESV)

The result of Jesus’ decisive punishment of this “Jezebel”, her fellow-compromisers, and those who follow their example, is a solemn warning to all churches, that Jesus even right now is searching our hearts and minds and that He sees right through us. The penalty for betraying Jesus, or ignoring Him, or refusing to trust Him, as John 3:18 warns, is already condemnation; the penalty for all sin is already “death” according to Romans 6:23. When Jesus says He will “strike her children dead”, the original wording is something like, “kill to death”. And the meaning has to do with the “second death” mentioned in verse 11, the letter to Smyrna. Not just the death of this body, but the forever punishment of Hell in the next life (Rev 20:14-15). Also, the “children” are certainly not literal kids, but those who are deceived by this person’s false teaching so that they are prevented from every really being saved through faith in Jesus.

Jesus will not settle for less than ALL your heart, soul, and mind

That brings us to the end of this bracketed section: “But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden,” (Rev. 2:24 ESV). “Any other burden” is familiar language to anyone who remembered the famous decision Jesus’ apostles made together when Gentiles started believing the Gospel. It was a bit of a controversy, because many assumed that converts should learn about the laws of Moses that all Jews were taught to obey. But the Apostles of Christ, along with the guidance of the Holy Spirit of Christ, decided that the only “burden” they would lay on Gentile converts was to make sure their lives didn’t undermine the Gospel they said they believed. "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these..." (Acts 15:28)…Basically, don't eat food sacrificed to idols, and abstain from sexual immorality. Sound familiar? The apostles of Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, told Gentile Christians to avoid just two things. Exactly the two things this “Jezebel” person encouraged. Eating “food sacrificed to idols”, as I explained a couple of weeks ago, was about taking part in eating out at banquet halls and feasts located in pagan temples. If Christians were seen celebrating in pagan temples, which was one way pagans worshipped their false gods, their example would suggest it was okay to believe in Jesus and still worship Artemis, or Zeus, or Asklepios, or Caesar. If the food they bought in marketplace was surplus from a pagan temple, that was okay as long as it didn’t cause another believer to stumble, but, as Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, just across the water from Thyatira, if someone saw them eating in a temple, that could prevent someone from believing the Gospel, and so destroy their soul (1 Cor 8:9-12). The way this bracketed section ends, with the quote from Acts 15, sheds light on what made Jezebel so dangerous.

I wonder what you think about this Jezebel now? Is it really an act of love to persuade someone they don’t need to take Jesus seriously; they can disregard what He and His apostles taught; they can play with fire and not get burned? Is that love? Or is it loving, instead, to tell them the truth, that anyone who challenges Jesus’ authority will be broken into pieces like a Ming vase smashed against a pillar of bronze, but anyone who humbles themselves under Christ’s authority, who seeks mercy and forgiveness, will be given refuge, blessing, and eternal life? Salvation is not some magic spell to use in case of emergency. It is about uniting ourselves in faith and love to the Sovereign Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Messiah. That’s why Jesus encourages those who still believe in Him, in the church in Thyatira, with these gracious words:

25 Only hold fast what you have until I come.  26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,  27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.  (Rev. 2:25-27 ESV)

Hold fast what you have; “keep my works”—the Gospel news that Jesus already died so that anyone who believes in Him will live. This pastor was afraid to stand on the authority of Christ and stand up for the Gospel. But surely this letter was what he needed to hear. Notice the personal invitation of Jesus in these verses to hold closely to Christ, to put Him first: (25) hold fast until “I come”; (26) keep “my works” until the end; (27) rule in my Kingdom with me; (v28) “I will give [you] the morning star”—whoever gives me everything, whoever overcomes and follows me. Rev 22:16 explains that Jesus Himself is our Morning Star:

And I will give him the morning star. (Rev. 2:28 ESV; emphasis added)

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. (Rev. 22:16 ESV; emphasis added)

Jesus deserves your complete loving adoration and He demands your loyal obedience—your heart, soul, and mind. But in return, He pledges to give you Himself. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches,” (Rev. 2:29 ESV). If He is the Son of God, the happiness of knowing Him is the most serious subject in the Universe.