Thyatira: The Thorny Church

The Church at Thyatira: Revelation 2:18-29

Introduction

Christ's shortest letter to the Seven Churches of Asia addresses the suffering Church of Smyrna, for whom He has nothing but words of commendation, comfort, and courage. His longest letter, however, goes to the Church at Thyatira, the worst case of spiritual adultery thus far. One of five churches whose false teaching Christ condemns, Thyatira is also one of three who receive words of praise and affirmation. The thorns appear to accompany a rose.

But thorns in Scripture carry massive spikes of connotation--like the iron spikes studding the prison door in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter from which the ignominious Hester Prynne emerges. Denounced as a "hussy" suggestive of either Bathsheba or Jezebel, Hester is nothing like either one. Her quiet grace amid her adulterous shame defies logic. Her good works also soon befit the town in her expert handiwork of elaborate--and Puritanically taboo--embroidery. More like Eve in Eden, Hester beholds the Puritan utopia as superior to her frame--thus taking up residence among thornier paths in her seaside cottage.

The Injury of the Curse

Perhaps before Eve left Eden, she plucked a rose growing beside the Garden's massive gate. Drops of blood pricked her conscience as she felt nature's first piercing thorn. Withering before sunset, perhaps this rose needled her thoughts with fields of barrenness and death . . . so tranquil, so sinless, had been the vesper walks with God among the trees. The Lord had redeemed her soul and Adam's and had lengthened the shadow of their lives, but had He not also weighted joy with sorrow and work with worry? He had cursed nature itself--the source of their not-so-secret sin: "Cursed is the ground for thy sake . . . Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee . . . In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:17-19). No longer would beauty thrive apart from pain.

Those same thorns that punctured Eve's tender skin would also interfere with the soil of the heart. Choking out the Sower's precious Seed, those cursed thorns would crowd out Truth itself--the very truth of Creation's redemption (Matthew 13:3,7). Too busy embroidering upon the cares of this life to gaze upon the next; too besotted with deceitful riches to behold the one great Pearl! Unfruitfulness would ever plague the heart that made no room for truth but only for thorns (Matthew 13:22). But wait. Hadn't there also been a rose? "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" (Revelation 2:19). Embellishments of beauty to hide the pain. Thyatira's rose of faithful service buds and blooms with petal after petal unfolding with peace and grace.

"Notwithstanding--!!" Ouch, yes. The thorn: "I have a few things against thee" (Revelation 2:20). And all of those "things"--those thorns--from living in Thyatira where money was so tight if you wanted to live above the norm. Trade guilds, mandatory membership, financial hardship, swearing allegiance to pagan deities--all this, only to survive. And Jezebel--she had found a way--like Hester in Boston? No, like Ahab's queen in Thyatira.

The Identity of the Incognito "Christs"

This thorn lands as a spike--more like a spear impaling tender faith. Jezebel--"that woman . . . who calleth herself a prophetess" has been allowed to teach Thyatira survival tricks of the trade. But the blame is on the hearers, not the teacher merely: "I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman, Jezebel . . . to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols" (Revelation 2:20). Eve is back in Eden before the Fall, reaching for forbidden fruit and teaching Adam to do the same. Worse still is Jezebel's insubordination to Christ's first warning: "And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not" (Revelation 2:21). She still taught her followers that paganism isn't bad, after all. We can have our cake and eat it, too. No, this rose has more than a thorn. A Cross.

A Crown of thorns--jammed upon Christ's head--as spikes nailed Him to the Cross. This Christ, the great Pearl, cannot be sold (so Judas learned), only purchased. "Buy the truth, and sell it not" (Proverbs 23:23). And He routs with authority all false prophets who pretend to speak His Name:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them (Matthew 7:15-17, 20).

Men of profit hide their thorns under the rose of many good works: "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?" (Matthew 7:21-22). But the thorny sin that pierced Christ's sinless brow cannot be hidden. Hester's needlework may embellish the stigmatic "A," but it is still an "A."

The thorns of false prophets cannot be mistaken for figs; nor can roses be eaten as fruit. Christ the Lord exposes all incognito "christs," calling them exactly what they are: imposters. "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:23). And unto Thyatira's resident Jezebel--neither an Eve, a Bathsheba, nor a Hester--to this woman who calculates to destroy (always with a smile) Christ announces: "Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds" (Revelation 2:22). Oh, we know of no such woman infecting the church today. No? The Great Harlot of Babylon will unite with the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and the Beast during the Tribulation to teach the doomed to worship. But she is here now, seducing Christ's church even as we speak. Have we not seen her prancing across the worship stage--open marriages winked at, bold lies told as truth?

The One with "eyes like a flame of fire" is "he who searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will give unto every one of you according to your works" (Revelation 2:18, 23)--unlike the pagan trade guilds that pay only if you party. Christ will not be fooled--and His omniscient phrase, "I know thy works" greets every church alike. No one can pull the wolf's wool over the Chief Shepherd's eyes.

The Inferiority of the Crop

Thorns cannot pretend--although hide, they will. And a field of brambles is cast into the fire at harvesttime. Any branch that does not bear fruit in Christ--because the cursed soil was crowded with cares and riches, choking out the Seed of Truth--will be discarded as rubbish in the end. No matter how the rose of good works disguises the thorns, the blood speaks for itself. But some of those even in Thyatira will be spared: "But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak, I will put upon you no other burden. But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come" (Revelation 2:24).

And what compares to a thorn? Paul's thorn in the flesh--a messenger of Satan to buffet him--met with Christ's overcoming strength in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). And to Thyatira tired of Jezebel's farce, Christ speaks: "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star" (Revelation 2:26-28). Christ turns thorns into thrones.

Conclusion

Christ's parting words to Thyatira echo His words to every church to this day: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches" (Revelation 2:29). Every flawed church has an ultimatum to repent and an invitation to overcome. To overcome is to enter Utopia on earth, Eden free of thorns.