Tagged: Apocalypse of John

To the church at Thyatira

Read an introduction to the seven churches of Revelation 2-3

This is the fourth in a series of commentaries on Christ’s letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor. Read about Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum.

Revelation 22:18-29 (HCSB)

To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: “The Son of God, the One whose eyes are like a fiery flame, and whose feet are like fine bronze says:  I know your works—your love, faithfulness,  service, and endurance. Your last works are greater than the first.  But I have this against you: you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and teaches and deceives My slaves to commit sexual immorality  and to eat meat sacrificed to idols.  I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality.  Look! I will throw her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her  practices.  I will kill her children with the plague.   Then all the churches will know that I am the One who examines minds  and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works.  I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who haven’t known the deep things  of Satan—as they say—I do not put any other burden on you.  But hold on to what you have until I come.   The victor and the one who keeps My works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations — and He will shepherd  them with an iron scepter; He will shatter them like pottery  — just as I have received ⌊this⌋ from My Father.  I will also give him the morning star. Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”

The letter to the church at Thyatira

Lydia, a seller of purple goods, whose heart God opened to the message of Christ, is from this commercial center steeped in paganism (Acts 16:14). Having heard Paul’s proclamation of the gospel in Philippi, she may have taken the good news back to Thyatira and been among the first to evangelize her city. Thyatira was a military town that also boasted guilds dealing in metals and fabric. Guild members celebrated their patron deities in festivals that no doubt tempted Christians. Some even may have given in to the message of a “prophetess” who promoted illicit sex and food sacrificed to idols. The city is known for its temple to Apollo, the sun god. Thyatira is the smallest of the seven cities yet receives the longest letter, and one of the sternest rebukes, from Christ.

Christ’s self-description

Jesus identifies Himself as “The Son of God,” the only time in Revelation this name is used. The title “Son of God” is from Ps. 2:7 and expresses the unique relationship He has with the Father, just as Jesus’ favorite name for Himself, “Son of Man,” identifies Him as the Messiah and as deity (see Dan. 7:13; Matt. 26:64). Matthew Henry comments: “His general title is here, the Son of God, that is, the eternal and only-begotten Son of God, which denotes that he has the same nature with the Father, but with a distinct and subordinate manner of subsistence” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible : Complete and Unabridged in One Volume, Re 2:18–29). Borrowing from John’s description in Rev. 1:14-15, Jesus calls Himself “the One whose eyes are like a fiery flame, and whose feet are like fine bronze” (v. 18). He sees all with his piercing, penetrating eyes and knows the hearts of men and women. Nothing escapes His attention. And though some may seek to hide themselves beneath rocks and in caves, they will be found and made to stand before Him one day without excuse. His feet of fine bronze move swiftly and surely to judge; He will not stumble, fall, or delay.

Christ’s evaluation of the church’s condition

Jesus commends the church, saying, “I know your works – your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. Your last works are greater than the first” (v. 19). In contrast to the church at Ephesus, which has abandoned the love it had at first, the believers in Thyatira are growing stronger in heartfelt Christian service. They are not merely busy in religious activity; they are motivated by a love for the Lord and for one another.

Nevertheless, Jesus rebukes the church for tolerating a false prophetess named Jezebel, who leads many into the same sins practiced in Pergamum – sexual immorality and eating meat sacrificed to idols. While it’s possible that a woman, Lydia, helped evangelize the city, it is now clear that a different woman, Jezebel, is leading many into grievous sins. The name Jezebel may or may not be the woman’s real name, but it suggests that she has the same influence on the church that King Ahab’s wife Jezebel had on the Israelites in Old Testament times. Jezebel’s evil is so pervasive that the Bible says her husband Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God than all the kings of Israel before him (1 Kings 16:33). Just as Ahab is responsible for the actions of those under his authority, including his wife, the leaders of the church at Thyatira are responsible for allowing the New Testament Jezebel to corrupt their congregants.

The apostle Paul makes is clear that there is nothing inherently wrong with eating meat sacrificed to idols (“We are not inferior if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat” – 1 Cor. 8:8), but mature believers are to abstain from such practices if they are a stumbling block to weaker brothers and sisters; no doubt, the dietary and religious aspects of eating these meats could not be separated at Thyatira. Rather that abstain, the people indulged and the church leaders did little or  nothing to stop it. Apparently this has been going on for quite some time because Jesus says He gave Jezebel time to repent. She refused. Therefore, judgment is imminent.

“Look! I will throw her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her practices,” Jesus declares (v. 22). Note that the time of God’s grace has ended for Jezebel but not for the church. It’s not too late for those deceived into sexual immorality and spiritual adultery. They still have an opportunity to repent. It is not God’s judgment but His kindness that leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4).

Christ goes on with a dramatic statement: “I will kill her children with the plague” (v. 23). This most likely is a reference to Jezebel’s followers, not to any innocent children she may have. Disciples, whether of Christ or of those who oppose Him, often are depicted as children and may suffer the same fate as their masters. Jesus warns His followers they will be hated, persecuted, and even killed because of their devotion to Him (Matt. 24:9; John 15:18-25), and we know from church tradition that most of the apostles suffer martyr’s deaths. At the same time, those who ally themselves with Satan and his stewards should expect to suffer the wrath of a holy and righteous God (2 Cor. 11:15b). We don’t know what the “sickbed” is in verse 22 – perhaps a pestilence of some kind, a public humiliation that exposes her wickedness, or an abandonment of her false teachings. As for the death of her “children,” this could be a reference to the second death, the lake of fire. In any case, while the church tolerated Jezebel and her evil, the Lord would not.

Finally, notice the distinction between Jesus’ reference to “My slaves” (v.20) and “her children” ( v. 23). Even though believers may be deceived and led into grievous sins, they are secure in their relationship with Christ; He loses none of those given to Him. Who suffers death in “the plague?” The children of Jezebel, who are by extension children of Satan. The result of Christ’s judgment is dramatic: “Then all the churches will know that I am the One who examines minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works” (v. 23).

Christ’s comfort and/or commands

Jesus has a word for those who have remained faithful: “I do not put any other burden on you. But hold on to what you have until I come” (vv. 24-25). The burden of the faithful in resisting Jezebel’s tempting doctrines and protesting the church’s weak defense against them is sufficient in the eyes of the Lord. He asks them simply to “hold on” to their steadfast faith in Him and their confidence that one day soon He will make things right.

Note the commendation in other passages of Scripture to those who hold on:

  • In the parable of the sower: “But the seed in the good ground – these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, bear fruit” (Luke 8:15).
  • In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians: “But test all things. Hold on to what is good” (5:21).
  • In Paul’s second letter to Timothy: “Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1:13).
  • In the letter to the Hebrews: “But Christ was faithful as a Son over His household, whose household we are if we hold on to the courage and the confidence of our hope” (3:6) … “Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (10:23) … “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe” (12:28-29).

Christ’s urge to listen

Jesus says in verse 29, “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.” The church today is, in many respects, as corrupt as the one in Thyatira. While there are faithful believers who “hold on” to sound doctrine, there are many that tolerate false prophets and embrace their teachings, while some church leaders do little or nothing about it. Just as a little yeast leavens the whole lump of dough (Gal. 5:9), a little tolerance of false teachings in the interest of political correctness or for the sake of expediency will result in a church that can barely be distinguished from the world.

Christ’s promises to the victor

Jesus says, “The victor and the one who keeps My works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations … just as I have received [this] from My Father” (v. 26-27). In the middle of these words Jesus inserts a Messianic Old Testament passage, Ps. 2:9: “[A]nd He will shepherd them with an iron scepter; He will shatter them like pottery …” Jesus not only reaffirms His Messianic claims; He confirms the authority the Father gave Him to rule the nations and promises His followers a place in His coming administration. “Though Psalm 2:9 refers to Christ’s rule, John’s quotation of it here relates the ruling (shepherding) to the believer who overcomes. Believers will have authority just as Christ does (1 Cor. 6:2-3; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 3:21; 20:4, 6)” (J.F. Walvoord, R.B. Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures).

In addition, Jesus tells the faithful He will give them “the morning star.” While the Scriptures do not elaborate on this term, Jesus uses it to identify Himself in Rev. 22:6: “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright Morning Star.” As the morning star appears just before dawn, Jesus one day will step into the clouds of heaven and return in power and great glory (Matt. 24:30). Every eye will see Him, for His coming will be like lightning (Matt. 24:27). Believers have an added promise: “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).

 

How should we understand Revelation?

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The four major views of the end times – postmillennialism, amillennialism, historic premillennialism, and dispensational premillennialism – are based on biblical interpretation and may be found on a scale that ranges from a strict, literal interpretation of scripture to a figurative understanding of biblical passages concerning the Day of the Lord. So how do proponents of these views understand the Book of Revelation?

There are five major interpretations of the so-called Apocalypse of John, but one cannot say, for example, that all postmillennialists hold to a certain interpretation and all premillennialists to another. Nevertheless, in general terms, premillennialists tend to view Revelation through a literal lens, while post- and amillennialists see the text more figuratively.

The five major views of Revelation are: preterist, historicist, futurist, idealist, and eclectic:

  • Preterists see the events of Revelation, for the most part, to have been fulfilled in the first centuries of the church age, either at the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. or at both the fall of Jerusalem and later at the fall of Rome in the fifth century. The book was written, preterists say, to comfort Christians who suffered persecution at the hands of the Romans and the Jews. Many biblical scholars favor the preterist view.
  • Historicists view the events of Revelation as unfolding throughout the course of history. This view meshed with the thinking of the Protestant Reformers, who equated the papal system of their day with the Apostle John’s vision of the Antichrist. This view largely has fallen out of favor due to the difficulties of matching historical events to biblical prophecy, requiring constant revision.
  • Futurists argue that the events of Revelation are largely unfulfilled, especially chapters 4-22. Premillennialists tend to embrace a futurist interpretation of the Apocalypse. And while many scholars favor the preterist view, it may be said that the masses prefer the futurist interpretation.
  • Idealists see Revelation as setting forth timeless truths concerning the battle between good and evil – a battle that continues throughout the church age. Instead of predicting future events, Revelation inspires and encourages believers of all times as they endure persecution at the hands of God’s enemies.
  • Eclectics glean the strengths of the other four views while avoiding their pitfalls. Many leading evangelical scholars today have embraced the eclectic approach, arguing that it provides a balanced approach to scripture.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these interpretations.

The preterist view

Those who hold a preterist (past) perspective of Revelation relate the book to the Apostle John and his immediate audience. In other words, they emphasize that John addresses his writings to  real churches that face real challenges in the first century A.D. John uses symbolic language to tell his readers how God will intervene on their behalf to deliver them from persecution by the Jews and the Romans.

There are two main schools of thought in the preterist camp. The first prefers an earlier date for Revelation and sees the book as a prophecy of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The beast is Rome and Babylon is unbelieving Israel, which cooperates with Rome in persecuting the church. Armageddon is the siege of Jerusalem. This view, however, is at odds with a multitude of scholars who date John’s apocalyptic writing to the last decade of the first century during the reign of Domitian (81-96 A.D.) rather than the reign of Nero (54-68 A.D.).

The second school of thought holds that Revelation predicts the fall of the Roman Empire (Babylon the Great) in 476 A.D. and allows for late-first-century authorship. The Roman system comes under judgment for oppressing Christians, who worship God alone, not the emperor. John urges his readers to stay faithful to the Lord and assures them that He will deal harshly with their enemies.

Two historical challenges provided the impetus for Revelation, according to Ken Gentry Jr.:

In the first place, it was designed to steel the first century Church against the gathering storm of persecution, which was reaching an unnerving crescendo of theretofore unknown proportions and intensity. A new and major feature of that persecution was the entrance of imperial Rome onto the scene. The first historical persecution of the Church by imperial Rome was by Nero Caesar from A.D. 64 to A.D. 68. In the second place, it was to brace the Church for a major and fundamental re-orientation in the course of redemptive history, a re-orientation necessitating the destruction of Jerusalem (the center not only of Old Covenant Israel, but of Apostolic Christianity [cp. Ac. 1:8; 2:1ff; 15:2] and the Temple [cp. Mt. 24:1-34 with Rev. 11])” (Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation, pp. 15-16).

The preterist view may be traced to the rise of postmillennialism, which teaches that Jesus Christ will return after the Millennium, a period of peace and blessing brought about by the conversion of the nations as they respond positively to the gospel message. Daniel Whitby (1638-1726), a Unitarian minister in England, generally is credited with developing the postmillennial view.

The historicist view

The historicist approach argues that Revelation provides a prophetic overview of church history from the first century until the return of Christ. This view was especially popular during the Protestant Reformation and was embraced by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other prominent Christian leaders of their day. Reformers identified the Antichrist and Babylon with the pope and Catholicism. More recently, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney and Charles Spurgeon advocated a historicist approach to Revelation. Over the years, the so-called “newspaper approach” to apocalyptic literature has led historicist interpreters to identify the Antichrist with figures like Charlemagne, Napolean and Hitler.

Classical or historic dispensationalists generally interpret the letters of Revelation 2-3 using a modified historicist approach. In addition to the immediate and local applications of the letters, many expositors believe the messages to the seven churches picture the chronological development of church history. The letter to Ephesus, for example, seems to describe conditions in the church during apostolic times, while the progression of evil climaxing in Laodicea seems to foreshadow the final state of apostasy that signals the return of Christ.

While the historicist approach helps the interpreter make sense of Revelation, its weaknesses outweigh its singular strength. For example, the historicist approach sees fulfillment of Revelation’s prophecies mostly in light of the Western church. In addition, because characters like the beast of Revelation 13 are usually seen as fulfilled in people contemporary to the interpreter, the historicist approach is constantly being modified as new world leaders emerge and new political, economic, social and religious realities come to pass. One final weakness of this view is that it would have held little relevance to the first readers of Revelation. For these reasons, the historicist view has largely fallen out of favor with biblical scholars today.

The futurist view

The futurist approach to Revelation argues that Revelation 4-22 relates primarily to a future time before and after the return of Christ. Rev. 1:19 is seen as a key to the rest of the book: “Therefore write what you have seen [Rev. 1], what is [Rev. 2-3], and what will take place after this [Rev. 4-22].”

Many early church leaders held to some form of the futurist view, but it gave way to the allegorical method of interpreting scripture and the amillennialism of Augustine. But by the Protestant Reformation, and especially by the 19th century, the futurist view made a comeback, and today many evangelical leaders hold to some version of it. Two forms are prominent:

  • Dispensational futurism holds to a very literal interpretation of Revelation and argues that God’s plan of salvation unfolds in stages or dispensations. God elected Israel as His covenant people and has not abandoned them; in fact, there will be national revival in the last days as multitudes of Jews receive Jesus as Messiah. Meanwhile, the church holds a parenthetic place in the plan of God as Gentiles pour into God’s kingdom. At the end of the church age, Christians will be raptured, or removed from the earth, and a seven-year tribulation will follow, during which the Antichrist will rise to power and wage war against believing Jews. Christ will then return, defeat the Antichrist and his armies, and bind Satan for 1,000 years, during which time Jesus will sit on the throne of David and preside over a period of unprecedented – but not perfect – peace. Satan will be loosed for a short time after the Millennium, but Christ will defeat him, cast him into hell, resurrect all unbelievers and summon them before the great white throne. After they are given final judgment and cast into hell, Jesus will create new heavens and a new earth.
  • Historic futurism reads Revelation as prophetic-apocalyptic literature, where the images often represent other realities. Revelation does not unfold in a chronological sequence. This view does not see the church as a parenthesis in God’s work through Israel; rather, the church is the true Israel and the fulfillment of God’s plan. The church will enter the

tribulation before Christ returns to rescue His people and establish His millennial kingdom. Following the defeat of Satan and the final judgment, believers will enjoy eternal life in the new heavens and earth.

Those who challenge the futurist view say it removes Revelation from its original setting so that the book has little meaning for its initial audience. Futurists respond that the second coming of Christ has always been imminent and is therefore relevant at all times throughout the church age.

The idealist view

The idealist view sees Revelation as a symbolic description of the ongoing battle between God and the forces of evil. Instead of predicting future events, Revelation inspires and encourages believers of all times as they endure persecution at the hands of God’s enemies.

This view gained a foothold through the allegorical method of interpretation promoted by church fathers such as Origen and Clement. Along with Augustine’s amellennial view, the idealist view became the dominant interpretation of Revelation for a period stretching from several hundred years after the ascension of Christ until the Reformation. The view is popular today as well among scholars who see Revelation’s meaning neither in church history nor future events, but in the ongoing struggle between God’s people and God’s enemies.

The idealist view points to the symbolic language of Revelation, arguing that the seals, trumpets and bowls are judgments that fall on unbelievers of every age, and anti-Christian leaders of all times are depicted in the beast, false prophet, and Babylon. Meanwhile, the millennium describes the present church age and the prophecies underscore the biblical truth that ultimately God will conquer evil.

This approach to Revelation appreciates the prophetic teachings of John, embraces the theological importance of the book, and highlights the spiritual importance of its message for all Christians throughout the present age. However, it has been criticized for failing to pin any of Revelation’s symbols with historical events. “If there is no particular historical fulfillment of the prophecies of Revelation, in what sense are its ideals really relevant?” (Dictionary of Biblical Prophecy and End Times, J. Daniel Hays, J. Scott Duvall, C. Marvin Pate, p. 206).

The Eclectic View

This approach tries to combine the strengths of the other views while dodging their weaknesses. It agrees, for example, with preterists that Revelation must have meant something to its first readers; therefore, we should study the historical context carefully. It agrees with futurists that some portions of Revelation await fulfillment; therefore we may wait expectantly for the Lord to defeat evil at a future time. It agrees with idealists that Revelation has a relevant spiritual message for the church of every age; therefore we should seek to mine its depths for insights that have practical application today.

Many leading evangelical scholars today have embraced the eclectic approach, arguing that it provides a balanced approach to scripture and avoids the dangerous tendency to carry any view to extremes.

Much of the information for this article came from the Dictionary of Biblical Prophecy and End Times by J. Daniel Hays, J. Scott Duvall, C. Marvin.