REVELATION SIMPLIFIED

 

CHAPTER 2.18a

Gleanings from the Book of Revelation:

A Weekly Verse-by-Verse Bible Study Series

 

The

REVELATION TO JOHN

(The Apocalypse)

 

LETTERS TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES

 

CHAPTER 2

 

The Letter to the Church at Thyatira

 

Outline

1.  The Addressee – To whom the letter is addressed (2:18)

2.  The Address – To where the letter is addressed (2:18)

3.   The Addresser – From whom the letter is addressed (2;18)

4. The Approval – The acclamation of good qualities (2:19)

5.  The Accusation – The presentation of bad qualities (2:20-23)

6.  The Appeal – The application to change (2:24-25)

7.  The Advice – The recommendation to change (2:26-29)

 

Preface

The Book of Revelation is about Jesus Christ and His Second Coming. Everyone who reads and hears this book is promised and receives a special blessing from God (see Revelation 1:3).

 

Chapters two and three contain seven letters to seven different types of Christian churches and believers. They are not only for edification purposes but also reminders and warnings to change before God's final judgments are placed upon the earth – showing His grace. 

 

Review

Steps to Decline

A. The Church of Ephesus  

They lost their first love and entrusted the clergy to preach the Gospel.

 

B. The Church of Smyrna

The doctrine of grace was diluted with legalism until the synagogue of Satan was established in their midst. Christians were persecuted for their faith in Christ.

 

C. The Church of Pergamum 

Exalted clericalism into doctrine thus initiating base levels of morals and conduct to become commonplace as Constantine merged Christianity with paganism.

 

D. The Church of Thyatira

The deeds of the Nicolaitans evolved into doctrine, the clergy caused the church to wed the world, exalted over it in power, and pretended to speak for God.

 

E.  The Church of Sardis

Sardis was known as the dead apostate church.

 

F.  The Church of Philadelphia  

Philadelphia was the Church of revival and brotherly love.

 

G. The Church of Laodicea

The lukewarm church Christ spits out of His mouth is labeled the Church of Laodicea.

 

Thyatira

Thyatira is the fourth epistle in a series of seven disseminated throughout the major churches in Asia Minor. Even though it is the most insignificant of the seven churches, Thyatira has the longest letter delivered to the pastor and its congregation.

 

Thyatira [Greek: Θυάτειρα, Thuateira (G6236)] is of unknown derivation. Many believe it is a mixture of two words meaning continual sacrifice. The church system existed during the Dark Ages, a term representing the bulk of the Middle Ages between approximately the fifth and sixteenth centuries.

 

When the Huns, Vandals, and Goths overran Europe, their form of pagan idolatry also entered the church culminating in the assimilation of Christianity, Judaism, and polytheism. Not only the local church but also the Thyatira era was labeled the worst system to ever disgrace the earth. Overall, this church reached the climax of ecclesiasticism.

 

 

1. The Addressee – To whom the letter is addressed

(Verse 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.

 

The Church

It is widely believed and accepted that a woman by the name of Lydia started a core group of believers at Thyatira. While Paul was in Philippi, Lydia from Thyatira, who sold purple dye in all parts of the world, was his first European convert.

Acts 16:14 - And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. 

 

Acts 16:15 - When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us. (NIV)

Lydia, a wealthy and industrious businesswoman, had a second home in Philippi and was hospitable to evangelists after receiving Christ.

 

Character

Existing as a result of the union between Church and State, Thyatira was characterized by:

1.  A religion of works and not by grace*

2.  Ceremonies, rituals, form, and liturgy

3.  Idolatry

4.   Corruption, deception, adultery, and wickedness

5. The Age of Popery

6.  Denial of Christ’s finished work on the Cross

7.  Apostasy

 

*Note: Grace is an unearned gift of God and not through accomplishments.

Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

 

Most likely Thyatira maintained a small congregation during John’s writing. Since the Turkish invasion in 1922, no church exists today.

 

 

2. The Address – To where the letter is addressed

(Verse 18)

 

And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira.

 

Thyatira

 

Geography

Built on a hill and situated on a road halfway between Sardis and Pergamos, Thyatira was the smallest of the seven cities. It was located in the Lycus River Valley about thirty to thirty-five miles southwest of the capital city of Pergamos, and between twenty-five to thirty miles northeast of Sardis, forty-two miles from the Aegean Sea. An Acropolis was on a hill and walls encompassed the entire city.

 

History

The city of Thyatira was originally occupied by the Hittites, then the Persians until it was captured and destroyed by Alexander the Great and rebuilt by Seleucus I Nicator of the Seleucid Dynasty. It once flourished under the Roman Emperor Vespasian.

 

Military

Militarily, the town was significant because it served as an interceptor to any invading armies approaching the capital Pergamos from inland. The city was strictly used for defense. Rome manned this outpost with elite Macedonian troops; however, it was not capable of any prolonged defense. It merely acted as a delay until the army from Pergamos arrived. Consequently, no other city in history spent most of its time being destroyed and rebuilt.

 

Agriculture

Outside the town, Thyatira was noted for its abundant crops.

 

Commerce

Thyatira had a commercial significance under Emperor Vespasian. During this period in history, no one could create the color purple. They prospered through the development of a rare and expensive dye, making it the center of the dying industry.

 

The Color Purple

1.  Purple was used by the ancient Phoenicians as early as 1570 B.C.

2.  Purple was the color of Imperial Rome

3.  Purple was worn by Caesar

4.  Purple was used for pagan rituals and to drape many pagan deities

5.  Purple was a color reserved for popes and cardinals

6.  Purple is worn by the woman who sits on a beast in Revelation 17

7.  Jesus was clothed mockingly with a royal robe

 

Purple Dye

Purple, scarlet red, and Turkey red are all colors associated with the dye industry in Thyatira. The dye itself was extracted from two sources:

A. Rubia (or madder) is a common plant native to this area and a red pigment would be extracted from its root.

 

B. Murex was procured meticulously from a family of predatory shellfish sea snails, in particular, the tiny rock snail. One drop at a time was extracted from the throat of each snail making it extremely costly.  

 

Pliny the Elder of Rome recorded the cost of a pound of dye being three years' wages.

 

Trade Guilds

As a result of the dye industry, Thyatira became the birthplace and the rise of a well-organized system of trade guilds (labor unions). More guilds operated here than in any other Roman city.

A list of common guilds included:

1. The dying guild

2. The wool guild

3. The linen guild

4. The weaver’s guild

5. The garment maker’s guild

6. The robe maker’s guild

7. The leather guild

8. The tanner’s guild

9. The potter’s guild

10.     The baker’s guild

11.     The brass and bronze smith’s guild

12.     The slave trader’s guild

 

Conversely, the main problem with guilds, concerning the church, was each trade guild had an individual idol relative to the trade that was worshipped. And, along with different trade idols were connected festivals consisting of drunken feasts where continued sexual involvement was observed.

 

It was considered an offense if one was a member and did not participate in the worship of their particular idol, thus causing unemployment. This put Christians in a precarious situation.

 

Religion

Apart from the idols associated with the trade guilds, religiously Thyatira was insignificant. There were no centers for any particular kind of religion. There were no temples to pagan deities in its acropolis. However, Apollo, known in this culture as Tyrimnos, was worshipped as a sun god along with his female associate Boreatene.

 

Another smaller female priestess was the oracle Sambethe who presided over the lucrative business of fortune-telling. She was a precursor to Jezebel whom we will soon meet.

 

Polytheistic worship permeated and was similarly immoral and orgiastic with their pagan festivals as any other culture. Very few Jews were part of this population. And the city was inconsequential to Rome or emperor worship.

 

Constantine: The Continuing Story

The Roman Emperor Constantine played a substantial role in not only changing the course of history but also Christianity itself. Perceiving the Roman Empire was declining, during one of his conquests in battle, Constantine announced he saw a vision of a giant cross in the sky, and over it were the words, "In this sign, thou shalt conquer." So, he thought to himself, “If I follow the Cross and become converted, I will be victorious.” And he did.

 

This was the driving force that enabled the Roman Empire to survive. They planned to move the capital of Rome east to a Greek trading town called Byzantium. The emperor then commissioned the greatest engineers, architects, and builders known to construct this new city - modeled after Rome - larger and richer than any built prior.

 

Art treasures from every corner of the Empire were transported to embellish its buildings, adding to its magnificence. Intending to call the city the New Rome, it quickly came to be known as Constantinople – The City of Constantine.

 

Along with polytheism and emperor worship, Roman law and the Latin tongue survived this transition. By making himself a god on earth, Constantine incorporated Christianity as the Empire’s primary religion. He achieved this by combining the concepts of Christian theology with Greek philosophy, which justified the faith, thus making it an intellectual and respectable religion – the merging of Church and State.

 

Theology and Philosophy

The ideology of the Greeks could not allow God to become a man. Constantine leaned toward the Platonic View, something above and beyond what one could see. That is, God is a perfect idea and man is only a poor copy, narrowly coinciding with Scripture.

 

Epicureanism then entered stating that everything that happens is by pure chance and luck, and everything else will dissolve into nothing. Pleasures were of the utmost importance, a philosophy of escape.

 

As a consequence of this newly formed state religion, two classes within the Church evolved - the clergy and the laity. Popery emerged with a hierarchy of Cardinals and Bishops cementing the arrangement.

 

This compromise was an outcome of Constantine preparing his tomb in a church dedicated to the Holy Apostles. He positioned monuments to the Twelve Apostles, having two rows of six, and displaying his tomb in the middle. Doing so suggested he was the first and would be referred to as protoAapostolos (in front of), whereas the emperor would be designated as God’s representative on earth.

 

The Age of Thyatira

The Thyatira Church slowly developed and became representative of Romanism. The doctrines and practices did not happen overnight but over a lengthy period. With an edict of the Roman government, the mass of the Roman Empire’s population for centuries followed pagan religions out of necessity.

 

Christian tenets became absorbed, thus setting the stage for the marriage of these two convictions. This entire period existed between 600-1500 A.D. It was a dark era when the Church was completely engrossed in the world. Everything existed liturgically and the doctrines of Christ barely survived.

 

The Thyatira Church Age presents a glimpse of the church that will continue during the Great Tribulation Period.

 

In the following lessons: We will survey Christ commending a small group of believers and indicting the rest.

 

 

QUESTIONS:

1.  What makes the letter to Thyatira distinct?

2.  How did this church most likely form?

3.   Describe Thyatira’s character.

4. Why was the city of Thyatira militarily significant?

5.  Name its most important industry and why.

6.  What was the nature of the trade guilds?

7.  Trace the development of the Church under Constantine.

 

 

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