The vision and experience of christ in his resurrection and ascension
Message Five
The Church in Thyatira
Scripture Reading: Rev. 2:18-29; 22:16; 2 Pet. 1:19
I. As a sign, the church in Thyatira prefigures the Roman Catholic Church, which was fully formed as the apostate church by the establishing of the universal papal system in the latter part of the sixth century—Rev. 2:18.
II. The church in Thyatira tolerates the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess—v. 20:
A. Jezebel, the pagan wife of Ahab, is a type of the apostate church; the Roman Catholic Church became the same as this woman, bringing many heathen practices into the church—1 Kings 16:31; 19:1-2; 21:23, 25-26; 2 Kings 9:7.
B. The three women in Matthew 13, Revelation 2, and Revelation 17 are the same person:
1. In Matthew 13:33 a woman takes leaven (signifying evil, heretical, and pagan things) and hides it in three measures of meal (signifying Christ as the meal offering for the satisfaction of God and man).
2. This woman is the great harlot of Revelation 17, who mixes abominations with the divine things; in 2:20-23 the same woman is called Jezebel.
3. These three women all refer to the Roman Catholic Church, which adds leaven to the fine flour, which is the harlot riding on the beast, and which is Jezebel corrupting Christianity.
C. In Revelation 2:20 the Lord indicates that the apostate church is a self-appointed prophetess and teaches and leads the Lord's slaves astray:
1. The apostate church presumes to be authorized by God to speak for God; she demands that people listen to her rather than to God.
2. According to the principle in the New Testament, the Lord never allows a woman to teach with authority—1 Tim. 2:12:
a. In the same way, the church itself must not teach, because in the eyes of the Lord the church is in the position of a woman; only the Lord Himself is the man, the One who has the right to teach and the right to say yes or no, right or wrong.
b. The Roman Catholic Church is a teaching woman; the apostate church herself teaches, causing her people to listen to her rather than to the holy Word of God, and her adherents are drugged by her heretical, religious teaching.
III. According to Revelation 2:24, the apostate church teaches "the deep things of Satan":
A. Deep things mean "depths," as in Ephesians 3:18, and it figuratively denotes mysterious things.
B. The apostate church has many mysteries or deep doctrines; these are the deep things of Satan, the mysterious teachings of Satan, the satanic philosophy:
1. The apostate church teaches the satanic mysteries; the deep thought of Satan, Satan's concept, has saturated the apostate church.
2. The apostate church has become the embodiment of Satan:
a. The proper church is the Body of Christ (1:22-23), but the apostate church is the embodiment of Satan.
b. Christ indwells the church, but Satan indwells the apostate church in a subtle way through the teaching of the deep things of Satan.
c. The apostate church teaches mysteries but not the mysteries revealed in the New Testament concerning God's economy—Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:3-5, 9; 5:32.
d. The religion of the synagogue, the world under Satan's throne, and the philosophy of the satanic mysteries are all used by Satan to damage and corrupt the church—Rev. 2:9, 13, 24.
C. "Anyone who has a heart for the Lord and for His recovery must thoroughly know this apostate church" (Life-study of Revelation, p. 165).
IV. "These things says the Son of God, He who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like shining bronze"—v. 18:
A. The apostate Roman Catholic Church strongly emphasizes Christ as the son of Mary; thus, here the Lord, protesting against the apostate heresy, says that He is the Son of God:
1. Christ's being the Son of God implies the expression of God, the issue, or the coming out, of God—John 1:18:
a. Concerning God's existence, Christ is the complete God as God's embodiment; concerning God's issue, His coming out, Christ is the Son of God.
b. Christ as the embodiment of God is related to His existence, whereas Christ as the Son of God is related to the expression of God.
2. The purpose of the Gospel of John is to testify that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God—20:31:
a. Christ is the title of the Lord according to His office, His mission, and the Son of God is His title according to His person—Matt. 16:16.
b. His person is a matter of God's life, and His mission is a matter of God's work; He is the Son of God to be the Christ of God.
B. In dealing with the apostate church, the church in Thyatira, the Lord refers to Himself as the One who has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like shining bronze:
1. The apostate church needs the judging of His searching eyes and treading feet.
2. "All the churches will know that I am He who searches the inward parts and the hearts"—Rev. 2:23.
V. In Revelation 2:26-28 we have the Lord's promise to the one who overcomes:
A. "To him I will give authority over the nations; and he will shepherd them with an iron rod"—vv. 26b-27a:
1. To reign with Christ over the nations in the millennial kingdom is a prize to the overcomers—20:4, 6.
2. This promise of the Lord strongly implies that those who do not answer His call to overcome degraded Christianity will not participate in the reign of the millennial kingdom.
3. In the millennial kingdom, the ruler is a shepherd—2:27.
4. In Psalm 2:9 God gave Christ authority to rule over the nations; in Revelation 2:26 Christ gives the same authority to His overcomers.
B. "To him I will give the morning star"—v. 28:
1. Concerning the types of Christ, the Bible begins with Him as light and ends with Him as the bright morning star—Gen. 1:3; Rev. 22:16:
a. The morning star appears in the darkest hour, after midnight and prior to dawn.
b. This indicates that Christ will appear as the bright morning star in the darkest time, prior to the close of this age.
2. As the bright morning star, Christ will appear privately to the overcomers, who are watching, preparing, and waiting for Him:
a. He will secretly give Himself as the morning star to those who love Him and who watch and wait for Him so that they may have the priority to taste the freshness of His presence at His coming back after a long absence.
b. This will encourage them to earnestly seek the Lord's presence and be watchful so that they will be able to stand before Him in the secret part of His coming—Luke 21:36; Matt. 24:43.
c. We must make ourselves ready for the secret appearing of the Lord as the morning star.
3. According to 2 Peter 1:19, if we take heed to the word of prophecy, the day will dawn within us, and the morning star will rise in our hearts:
a. To take heed to the prophetic word is to pay attention to the living Word and enter into the Word until the morning star rises within us and something from the heavens shines over us.
b. We need to come to the sure Word and open up our whole being to the Word until Christ as the morning star rises up in us and shines over us.