Thyatira: Careful Of Your Bedfellow - Revelation 2:18-29
The phrase originates during the 1600’s in William Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, as court jester, Trinculo, is among the members of the royal household who find themselves shipwrecked on a remote island when their ship falters during a massive storm. Trinculo, looking for shelter as the storm intensifies, comes upon a native islander, and seeks shelter from the storm under the native’s cloak. Trinculo then says, “misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”[i]
We are probably more familiar with the 1850 version of the saying which Charles Dudley Warner made popular, “Politics makes strange bedfellows.”[ii] A saying which Groucho Marx took even further in saying, “Politics doesn’t make strange bedfellows, marriage does.”[iii]
What are bedfellows? Easily enough, rising from Trinculo’s lying down under the shelter of the native’s cloak, bedfellows are those we choose to lie down with, those we choose to bed down with. It has grown to include those we associate with, those we hang out with, and those we align, or partner, ourselves with.
Had the phrase been around in the time of John’s writing, John might have warned Thyatira to be careful of their bedfellow.
We have moved from Ephesus to Smyrna to Pergamum , continuously travelling north to northeast along the Roman roads leaving Ephesus Turkey
As we have grown to understand, this letter to the angel of Thyatira begins with an acknowledgement of who the letter is from. We find an image taken from Revelation 1:12-19. In each of the previous letters, that image plays a significant role with the letter to the church; we will find that it is no different with Thyatira. Jesus says, “These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and hose feet are like burnished bronze.”
Next we come to the commendation, the recognition by Jesus of what the church is doing right. Jesus says, “I know your works—your love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first.”
Thyatira is commended for their patient endurance…like the churches before them, they are undergoing persecution, and rather than through their hands up and quit, rather than give up, they have continued on…they are still seeking to follow Christ. They are commended for their love, which Ephesus had grown to lack, they are commended for their faith, like their sister churches in Smyrna and Pergamum, and a commendation that comes only to them, they are commended for their service. Think of the significance of that, my brothers and sisters, when we are suffering and when we are struggling, how many of us seek to live as servants. I mean, let’s suppose your body is being persecuted by the flu—not too hard to imagine these days. Most of us, if it comes on terribly with the high fever, chills, vomiting, head and body aches, and so on, are going to want to stay in bed and be waited on. We are going to want folks to bring us our medicines, bring us something to drink, maybe bring us some crackers to try and keep down…you get the idea. When we are feeling that bad, most of us have no desire to get up and do for others, even if they would let us. Here we have the church in Thyatira that is undergoing all of this persecution, the members are struggling to feed their families, there may be, like Smyrna the threat of imprisonment or like Pergamum, death…and yet rather than expect others to care for them, they are out serving, they are looking out for others, and not for themselves.
I can remember examples of this in my lifetime. It was not too long ago that Hurricane Floyd devastated Eastern North Carolina . Many churches and the homes and lives of their members in the northeast part of our state were heavily damaged or completely destroyed by the storm and its flood waters. And yet, while others were coming in to help, and funds were pouring into the area from around the country, the people who were hurting were out working to help others recover…and when the end of the year came, and the reports about each church and district and the paying of their mission giving through the apportionments, there were many, many churches in the devastated area that gave to those missions in full…despite their own needs.
Jesus’ commendation through John goes even further...Jesus says, “I know your last works are greater than your first.” How often does that happen? How often is it that when we grow tired and have been going at it day in and day out, that our later work is better than our first work?
Usually, when we start out, we are fresh, full of energy, and we go at it hard and strong. We pay attention to detail, we make sure each thing is where it is supposed to be, and done precisely as it is…but then as time goes on, and we labor on, our bodies growing tired, difficulties rising, maybe not only running out of energy, but running out of resources…our efforts become half-hearted, we look for ways to speed up the process so we can be done, we look for corners to cut. Yet that was not true for Thyatira…their later works, despite the persecution, were considered greater than the ones they had done when they were a young, healthy, vibrant church. Unlike Ephesus
However, just when we think there is nothing but praise for this hard-working church, Jesus says, “but this I have against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refused to repent of her fornication. Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings; and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.” With very graphic imagery, Jesus condemns some in Thyatira for their choice of bed partner…Jesus is saying, “be careful of your bed partner, watch out for who you choose to lay with.”
We have this image of a woman named Jezebel, a name that from Biblical times, has had such negative connotations. Evidently this Jezebel has come into the church and set herself up as a prophet and is using that to offer false teachings and beguile the servants of Christ to engage in practices that are out of line with worshipping the One, True God. She is one who deceives the people into turning away from God. This beguiling, or deceiving, throughout Revelation is described as the work of Satan and the beast, in which they lead people astray.
The people of the early church would have heard the name Jezebel and immediately thought back to earlier times among the Hebrew people and the horror that was Queen Jezebel. King Ahab, during the time of the prophet Elijah, chose to marry Jezebel. Jezebel, if we read through 1st and 2nd Kings is not called a prophet or prophetess, but her actions alongside her husband on the throne, led many of God’s people to worship the false god Ba’al and find themselves committing idolatry. We remember that it was so bad we have this scene in which God’s true prophet, Elijah, challenges all the priests of Ba’al into the this contest of making a sacrifice to Ba’al and to God, to see which would respond. Elijah mocked the priests of Ba’al when there was no response from him, and when the God of Israel responded, not only was the sacrifice and even altar consumed, but it followed that all the priests of Ba’al were killed, sending Jezebel on a rampage to destroy Elijah.
The Jezebel of Thyatira was condemned for leading the people to practice fornication and eating food sacrificed to idols. One thing to remember as we hear again the sin of fornication, as we did in the correction of the church in Pergamum Pergamum
How could this happen? How could the people be so easily led astray? Sometimes, it is the misery that folks are going through…their suffering, some type of persecution, or other trouble…and the shelter looks good. On the other hand, it is possible that it happens because sometimes the ways in which we compromise our faith, look good, or even look like true ways of worshiping God. Maybe it is when our kindness and compassion, or just a desire to get along with those who are outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ turns into saying, “well, they just have another way of worshipping the One True God,” and we begin to endorse things like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam as valid paths to salvation. Maybe it is something even more subtle, such as when we begin worshiping the stuff in our church, our financial resources, our buildings, our history, to the point that our devotion to those things hampers the ministry that we are supposed to be doing for God. How does that happen? One example I can think of was a church, not one that I served, but one in a nearby town, who had, for years, had a successful scouting ministry going on, but because some folks began worshiping the building, rather than considering the way that Scouting was an opportunity to reach these kids, they became so worried about the wear and tear on the building, that they asked the Scouts to leave. Maybe sometimes it happens when the church begins acting less like a church and more like a corporation that seeks to build up as much money as it can, and refuses to spend it on trying new ministries, because “they might need it someday.” Maybe it is when it becomes more about the numbers than the people…when again, like a business model, we are more concerned about the amount in the collection plate and the number of people in the pews, to the point that all of our focus revolves around keeping those numbers up, rather than in leading people into a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. All of these seem innocent enough, but when carried out, they lead us away from the worship of God and the carrying out of His mission to make disciples, and more along the lines of worshipping something that is not God…buildings, history, money, numbers, and reports.
Jesus warns the people of Thyatira, Jesus warns those of us who can hear, that we are to be
careful, because those who choose to commit adultery with Jezebel, those who choose to follow her misleading ways, those who choose to compromise their faith and adopt the practices of the culture, will find themselves in a terrible way…in great distress. Jesus says, “I will strike her children dead.” Those who follow Jezebel will meet their end. While the true church will continue on, those who have chosen to compromise their faith will cease to exist, they will not make it.
What is Jesus going to do? Jesus, the one whose eyes are like a flame of fire, can burn through our cover-ups and see into our minds and hearts and search them out. Jesus is able to see those who have stayed true to God, and those who have compromised and slept with the enemy of God. Jesus says that as He searches us, each will receive what their work deserves. In other words, Jesus is saying, “you are going to get exactly what you deserve,” and for those who have compromised their faith, who have sought the false gods of the culture, it will be their end. Is it going to be that He is simply going to come down and wipe them all off the face of the earth? Could be. But this image of throwing Jezebel onto the bed and letting those who sleep with her, sleep with her, it sounds more like God is going to let people do what they will, and their choices will lead to their own destruction…much like real sexual promiscuity can lead to disease, abusing our bodies with substances can lead to organ failure or cancer, or refusing to care for our bodies can lead to major health concerns…and all three of these run the risk of complete death…it may be that God leaves those who choose to compromise with the culture to simply suffer the consequences of their own decision…and none of those consequences involves eternal life with Him.
Eternal life is not a consequence, but a reward. Here comes the promise: “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; only hold fast to what you have until I come. To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end, I will give authority over the nations; to rule them with an iron rod, as when clay pots are shattered—even as I received authority from my Father. To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star.”
Jesus is saying, for those of you who refuse to follow Jezebel, to those of you who stay faithful to me, I am not going to pile on you another burden, I am not going to put more on you, I simply ask that you persevere until the end…keep on keeping strong and holding fast…and if you do, I will share with you the opportunity to shepherd the people with me…to guide and protect the people…for the rod is one of the tools of the shepherd…remember the Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd…I will fear no evil, for thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” The rod of the shepherd is what was used to defend the sheep, to protect them from that which would seek to harm them (it was not used to beat the sheep over the head)…Jesus is saying that I am going to let you join me, and if you remain true, if you refuse to bow down to the idols, I am going to give you the authority to protect my people. What a great honor, to be seen as so faithful, that we are chosen by God to be guardians of His Truth, and tasked with the responsibility of keeping the enemy away from His people.
Even more so than this, “To the one who conquers, I will also give the morning star.” What is this “morning star”? It is mentioned one other time in Revelation: “It is I, Jesus who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.” Jesus is the morning star…Jesus promises to the faithful in Thyatira and to all, “if you will stay true, if you will conquer, then I will give you myself…when the end comes…you will have Me.”
Let those with an ear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
[iii] Groucho Marx. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved Febuary 6, 2011, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/grouchomar106674.html
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