Reading Sermon by Rev. Richard
Smit
WHAT THE SPIRIT SAITH UNTO
THE CHURCHES
THYATIRA: THE CHURCH TOSSED TO
AND FRO
Text: Revelation 2:18-29
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4
Psalter Numbers: 375, 337,
366, 276
Preached in Doon PRC on June
9, 2002
Introduction
At first glance, Thyatira seemed to be in the
same condition as Pergamos. There were
positive things about both congregations so that the Lord commended both for
their positive features. They both faced the threat of the false doctrine of
the Nicolaitans. In warning both
congregations about this error, the Lord alludes to Old Testament figures which
were both evil and immoral in their lives.
In light of threatening false doctrine, the Lord spoke sharp words of
judgment, and He called them to repentance.
He spoke His precious promises of victory to the faithful and to those
that would overcome the threatening errors.
Further, the Lord underscored the rich blessedness of hearing His Word
and doing His Word in a life of daily repentance and godly fear.
Nevertheless, the Son of Man, Who walks in the
midst of the seven candlesticks, noticed a significant difference about
Thyatira in comparison to the other 6 churches. Thyatira failed to apply church discipline as Ephesus
consistently did. She had not even an
excuse really. Thyatira was not under
persecution, nor the aftermath of some wearying tribulation so that she merely
fell into and tolerated the error of the Nicolaitans because of spiritual fatigue. Rather, Thyatira had fallen into a very
shameful condition. She was not merely
passively tolerant, but she openly had embraced a false prophet and her error. For this congregation, the Lord has a sharp
Word to speak.
The Word which the Lord speaks to Thyatira
applies to the church of all ages. We
are taught that the church institute at one time may be doctrinally sound. She may know the truth very well and
understand the principles of Gods Word.
She may even faithfully discipline on the basis of the truth for the
welfare of Gods Church. She may be
well-balanced spiritually so that doctrine and life are in beautiful
harmony.
Yet, the church is also prone to behave as the
angel (minister) and the congregation of Thyatira did. Their error was not the extreme error of
dead orthodoxy in which ones confession is impeccable, but the life of that
confession is dead. Rather, Thyatiras
grievous weakness was of another opposite extreme. Though she was very fruitful in her communion of the saints, yet,
she was tossed about, to and fro, by the false wind of doctrine from the safe
and sure moorings of Holy Scripture.
THE CHURCH TOSSED TO AND FRO
I. The Lords Evaluation.
II. The Resulting Judgment.
III. The Promise to the Faithful
The Lords Evaluation
What had the Lord found in His examination of
the minister and congregation of Thyatira?
First, the Lord found that the congregation
enjoyed the blessing of a spiritually fruitful life. She was fruitful in her charity, service, faith, patience, &
works.
By charity,
the Lord means that they were filled many outward expressions of the
love of Christ in their hearts, filled with a zeal in their labours for the
Lord, and could freely speak of their salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. The motive of all their labours was this
love in Christ.
The Lord commends them for this love which
became evident in their service.
They ministered to one another in this charity. What is meant here is not the ministering of
the office of deacon, although that certainly would have flourished in this
congregation. What the Lord has in mind
applied to all the members of the congregation. The congregation served together in the consciousness that they
were servants in the Kingdom of God and called to labour for its cause. Whether they served the needs of their
fellow saints or laboured in their specific vocations from day to day, all
consciously laboured in the spiritual posture of being faithful servants of
Jehovah.
In that service, they demonstrated a living faith. The emphasis of this word faith is its
living, spiritual aspect. The word
faith here does not emphasize the doctrinal knowledge aspect of true faith. We understand the word faith here to refer
to faith which is manifest in its fruits. The congregation knew very well that faith without works is
dead. In resisting a dead faith and
dead orthodoxy, the congregation not only heard the commandments of the Word of
God, but did them. They visited the
sick, the widows, and the widowers in their distress with the Word of God and
prayer. They comforted those who
mourned with the Word of mercy. They
helped those in trials and afflictions.
The fruits of their faith were very evident.
Besides that, the Lord noted that in all those
labours they were patient. They
did not grow weary in well-doing, nor did they become discouraged in their
work. With sweat and tears they endured
in their labour of love within the congregation. No matter the type of need and no matter how long the need
lasted, they served patiently.
As a result of this, the congregation was full
of good and outward works. The
list of good features here in the text makes clear that the congregation did
not perform their works to make a name for themselves or to earn the praise of
men. They served patiently and
selflessly in the desire for the spiritual welfare of their brethren.
Notice, beloved, that this condition was not
diminishing, but rather increasing in strength. The Lord says that he knows the last to be more than the
first. They were growing in the
spiritual gifts and abilities they possessed by the grace of God.
Abundant they were. Spiritually attractive they were.
With this commendation from the Lord, the Lord
reminds us, beloved, of that which is good also for us. Remember that Thyatiras error was not
her spiritual warmth and patient ministering of one to another. This was her unique strength and gift from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, since
the Lord commends the congregation for her labour of love, this gift is
something which we ought to desire, covet, and nurture in our life together as
fellow saints of our Lord.
Nevertheless, as spiritually attractive as the
congregation at Thyatira was, there was another side to her that is spiritually
ugly and chilling. The Lord points out
that the congregation had openly permitted the error of the Nicolaitans to be
taught in their midst. They failed to
discipline and protect the congregation from this evil. The angel (the minister) of the church did
not preach against the error, but, instead, even allowed, it seems, the woman,
named Jezebel in the text, to teach her heresy openly.
What was her doctrine? Her name, Jezebel, at
the very least indicates her spiritual orientation and gives some understanding
of her evil doctrine.
Do you remember children in the Old Testament
who the wife of Ahab was? Jezebel. She was the wife of Ahab, and she was the
one who taught Israel to worship Baal and Asherah, the male and female idol
gods of fertility, and to participate in the sexually immoral feasts of these
idol gods. Similarly, the Jezebel in
the congregation of Thyatira taught and persuaded many to participate in the
pagan feasts in Thyatira and to engage in illicit sexual relationships as
though that was spiritually good. She
persuaded many to join company with the heathen and befriend the world in their
fornication.
Jezebel justified her teaching with the
argument: let us sin that grace may
abound. She rejected the rule of gratitude for the
redeemed the child of God. She denied
that the redeemed and regenerated child of God must always and constantly
strive to live in gratitude to God in daily conversion according to the
Bible. Instead, she taught that one
must sin greatly in order for the forgiving grace of God to be revealed even
more in ones life.
Jezebel promoted this heresy on the very basis
of what is mentioned in verse 24. She taught
that one could really know the depths of Satan in adultery, fornication, and in
the worship of idols. In knowing the
depths of sin and Satan, one then could really appreciate the greatness of the
salvation which God has given us. She
taught that one can only really appreciate that salvation until first one has
plumbed the depths of iniquity and guilt in great sin.
The implication of Jezebels error is that the
knowledge and assurance of our salvation can be gained outside and apart from
Scripture. She rejected the authority
of Scripture as the only rule of knowing not only salvation but also our sin
and misery. She denied that the Bible
says it all, and she promoted the idea that one can only really know sin by
willfully living in sin to the fullest.
That is nothing less than a perverse attack
upon the truth of Gods Word and a devilish denial of the all-sufficiency
Scripture.
What did the congregation do to this Jezebel
and her pernicious doctrine? They
sinned by allowing this Jezebel to preach and teach her evil doctrine in their
midst. Their first sin was allowing
her, a woman, to usurp the authority of instruction in the church, which Christ
has only ordained for men. Then, they
added to that sin by giving her the place and opportunity to promote her evil
doctrine and its life without putting her under Christian discipline.
By doing that, the congregation of Thyatira was
cutting herself loose from Scripture as the only rule of her life and
confession. Because the congregation
was cutting herself loose from the moorings of the Word of God, she was being
tossed to and fro by Jezebels wind of evil doctrine.
You may well wonder, how could it ever happen
that the congregation of Thyatira, so spiritually vibrant, could at the time be
tossed to and fro by Jezebels icy wind of heresy?
The answer is, in the first place, the
congregation was being destroyed for lack of knowledge. Had they truly known the Scriptures, they
would have tested the doctrine of Jezebel.
According to the standard of the infallible Scriptures, they would have
found her doctrine to be evil. Had they
known the Scriptures, they would have rejected her teaching, put her under
discipline, and warned the congregation to have no company with her in her
sin. Had they known the Scriptures,
they would not have fallen for a doctrine so contrary to work of the Spirit in
conversion, justification, and sanctification.
But, beware, beloved, the church today is prone
to do the same. The church world today
suffers from an acute lack of the knowledge of Scripture. There is a terrible lack of knowledge, even
in Reformed Churches, of the essentials of the Reformed doctrines of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Sound doctrine is no
longer a priority.
For that lack of knowledge, the church today is
destroyed. Having no knowledge, the church is prey for all those lying wait to
deceive. As a result, the church opens
its doors to the false teachers either willingly or by deception, and the
church soon follows in the same evils of false doctrine, and even in the sins
of immorality which Jezebel taught the Thyatirans to enjoy. The spiritual Jezebels of today are teaching
the church to worship not Jehovah, but the modern Baals; and, the church today
is being tossed to and fro and being shipwrecked.
Secondly, the congregation was tossed to and
fro not because that lack of knowledge simply just happens. It is the direct result of a rejection of
Scripture as the sole authority, rule, and foundation of the life and
confession of the church. Gone was the objective
standard of the Truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. No longer was the apostolic doctrine the foundation of her life
and confession.
Is that not true in the church world
today? The doctrines of the Reformed
Faith, the Three Forms of Unity, and the principles of the Word of God are
rejected. Then, in the place of
Scripture, as in Thyatira, experience is revered as the supreme authority.
For example, how the church worships, how the
church lives, how the church works and is governed, is all now being determined
by experience and emotion in place of Gods Word.
Worship is not determined
as God has commanded, but worship is determined by experience. What makes up the liturgy, the songs, the
music, and the content of worship is what appeals to mans experience and
emotions. Worship is not what God says
it ought to be in His Word, but worship is now governed by how man feels when
he is in Gods house and when he leaves.
The standard and authority of true worship is not the Word, but how good
the experience is.
Along with that, of course, is the fact that doctrine
is determined by mans experience, emotion, and wisdom. Predestination, Gods grace and goodness,
and all doctrine is determined not by pouring over the Scriptures to learn what
God says His truths are, but it is all defined by our daily experience and
emotions with people whom we meet. What
is taught is based on what feels good and seems most pleasing to man. Thus, to know sin, as Jezebel taught, one
must not study Scripture, but revel in sin with the unbelievers to the fullest
in order to understand completely what our misery and depravity are, as well as
who our Saviour should be.
These serious departures happen in the church
because discipline is determined also by experience. Whether the sinner is disciplined or not is
determined by what is nice. The result
of this is that even the sins of Sodom are embraced in the church and are not
condemned in light of Gods Word.
In that light, one can understand then why Thyatira
was falling into the error of sinning that grace may abound. Having cut herself loose from Scripture and
being governed by her experience, what else could they say to this wicked
Jezebel? What she said sounded so
appealling and nice. What better way, many thought, to glorify God and have His
grace magnified in their communion than to know the depths of Satan that
forgiving grace may abound!
The Resulting Judgment
However, that was not at all Christs
evaluation. In response to the
congregations grievous weakness, Christ announces to this church, tossed to
and fro, that He is coming in judgment personally.
The way that the Lord comes itself will be a
great lesson for the congregation in the fundmentals of the truth, which they
had forgotten. They were spiritually
babes in the doctrines of the truth.
Hence, the Lord must teach them by their own experience what is the
truth in the clearest terms. They, of
course, learn that they must return to the Scriptures. The effect of the Lords judgment is to call
the congregation back to the Scriptures.
Only on that foundation of Scripture would there be prosperity for them.
What was the judgment?
First, the Lord comes in righteous judgment
against that wicked Jezebel. The Lord
gave her occasion to repent. The Lord
says that He had given her the time to repent of her fornciation. Many faithful of the Lord had rebuked her
for her evil. She had apparently been
called to repentance. Yet, she repented not in her unbelief and pride. But, now for that wicked Jezebel, there was
no more word of repentance. The Lord
had given her entirely over unto her sin and and guilt wherein to perish. The Lord openly judges her as unrighteous
and worthy of death. Yes, unto this
evil woman, the Lords eyes are full of consuming fire and His feet like fine
brass.
By this judgment, the Lord prepares her for her
eternal death by a severe judgment in this life. She will be cast into bed, not to continue her adultery, but she
would be cast into her death bed. There
she would toil in pain and suffering in those diseases which were the direct
fruit of her fornication. In so doing,
the righteous Lord declares His hatred for all her immorality and for the open
rejection of the seventh and all the commandments of God. In that judgment, the Lord gave wicked
Jezebel to know the depths of where Satan will live. She would learn by experience the depths of
hell, the place of Gods everlasting wrath.
Secondly, the Lord pronounced judgment upon
Jezebels children. By her children,
the Lord means not her physical children, but Jezebels spiritual
children. These are the children who
followed her instruction. Those who
followed her instruction may have included her own physical children, but the
text is referring particularly to those who had learned the antinomianism of
their spiritual mother, Jezebel.
The Lord commands those children to repent of
the fornication which they had learned from their spiritual mother,
Jezebel. They are called and warned to
reject her evil way. They are warned to
return to the old paths in full repentance.
In fact, the Lord threatens them that if they refuse to repent of their
rejection of the Scriptures and their immoral life, that He will kill them also
by casting them into a death bed of great suffering both physclly and
spiritually unto their eternal destruction.
By this judgment, the Lord warns the church
today. The Lord sharply warns the
church not to walk in the way of the Nicolaitans.
Yes!
Let us not go the way of being careless with the way of gratitude. Let us not be willingly ungodly, abusing in
unbelief the doctrine of free justification by faith alone in Christ
Jesus. Nor, let us reject the absolute
authority of Scripture and the rule of Christ in His Church.
To reject the all-sufficient Scriptures is to
cut ourselves loose from the foundation of the apostolic doctrine of Christ
crucified.
To reject that is to become a congregation
which will be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.
To reject that is to go the way of letting
experience and what feels good, become the standard and basis for our doctrine,
worship, preaching, and daily life.
To the church that continues to do that
impenitently, the Lord is coming in judgment personally.
What is the basis for His judgment? The basis for His judgment is found in what
the Lord says about Himself in vs 18.
First, He says that He is the Son of God. That reminds us of what the book of John
teaches. Throughout the book of John,
Christ reveals Himself as the I AM, who is the only begotten Son of God. He is the Word. He is the Bread and Water of Life. He is the Sovereign One.
He is the resurrection and the life.
He is the truth, the way, and the life.
All of this together points out clearly who
alone is the King and Chief Prophet of the Church: the Christ, the Son of the
Living God. His rule is by His Word and
Spirit, and that is the absolute and supreme authority in the Church. The life of the church is governed entirely
by the Son of God.
What does all of this have to do with the
congregation of Thyatira? When the Lord
reveals Himself here as the Son of God, the Lord is declaring that He will not
tolerate for a moment the congregations rejection of Christ as the King of the
Church. The Lord makes plain that the
rejection of His Word and His truth is the rejection of Him! The rejection of the Word of Christ is also
in the end the rejection of His cross.
And, Jezebels teaching rejected the cross of
Christ. The idea that we should sin
that grace may abound rejected the truth of Christ crucified. The Lord did not die for us so that we might
continue in sin. Christ died for you
and me to free us from sin and to deliver us from the bondage of sin. Now, our life in Christ is to bear forth
fruits of righteousness and repentance.
Further, the Lord by showing He is the Son of
God sharply condemns the idea that there is truth to be learned apart from Him
and His Word. Christ is the Truth, the
Way and the Life! He is revealed fully
in the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures
as infallibly inspired by the Spirit of Christ! His truth is summed in the
Reformed confessions. Therein alone is
the knowledge of our only comfort in life and death in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Upon those who refuse to bow to the yoke of
Christ and his Word, the Son of God comes in judgment!
What ability does Christ have to judge when He
comes? The Lord tells us that His
eyes are like unto a flame of fire.
This shows that indeed He is capable as judge. His eyes penetrate the heart and the mind. His eyes search like a fire which heats up
a metal to reveal its purity or impurity.
When the Lord searches, the Lord finds one either righteous or
unrighteous in His sight.
The Lord proves His ability in the text. He penetrated past the appealing aspects of
the congregation to expose its weakness.
He penetrated past the smile, the attractive appearance, and the
appealing teaching of the wicked Jezebel to expose her depravity and the evil
of her doctrine. Many today think that
they can get away with their sin, and the Lord will not see. Yet, the truth is that the Lord sees right
into the heart. Indeed, He judges
righteously.
When Christ announces His verdict, is He also
capable to carry out His sentence? The
Lord shows in the text that He can give the reward, too. The Lord reveals that He has feet like
unto fine brass. This description
reveals that Christ is not only judge, but the one who will reward the
righteous and the unrighteous. The Lord
does not merely proclaim hollow threats upon Jezebel and those who follow in
her wicked ways. The Lord does not
merely thunder from heaven in His Word, but there surely follow the
thunderbolts of His wrath upon the unrighteous who refuse to repent and reject
Him as the Christ. His judgment is
sure. His reward is established and
firm like the firmness and stability of fine brass.
Notice also that fine, polished brass glistens
in the light. This means that the
Lords judgment will shine forth publicly.
This the Lord did with Jezebel.
Her evil doctrine was exposed under the mighty judgments of Christ. What Christ did to her would not be done in
a corner, but was seen by all in the congregation. By this the congregation knew by experience that the Lord is the
one who searches the reigns and the heart.
He will reward us according to our works.
Does that not make you to tremble? When you consider your works, do you tremble
in terror before the judge whose eyes are like a flame of fire and whose feet
are like fine brass? Does this make you
fearful, beloved?
The Promise to the Faithful
To such, who know in faith their sin and
unworthiness according to the Scriptures, the Lord exhorts such to hold fast
till I come!
Hold fast to what? Hold fast to the Gospel! Hold fast to the truth of the righteousness
of Christ! Hold fast to the truth of
the blood of Golgotha which covers our sin and unbelief in the sight of
God! Hold fast to the glorious wonder
of grace in the cross and resurrection of Christ! Hold fast to the Word of God!
Therein is your hope and assurance!
Take careful notice, beloved, that the Lord
shows us the sole anti-dote to antinomianism and to those who teach that we
should sin that grace may abound. The anti-dote to antinomianism is not the
other extreme of legalism. Legalism was
what the Pharisees and the Judaizers taught as the antidote to
antinomianism. The Lord teaches that
the antidote is not legalism. The Lord
does not command the minister of the congregation in Thyatira to preach the law,
which the people had broken, for salvation and righteousness before God. Christ does not command the church to work
harder and harder in their good works in order to establish their forgiveness
for their grievous error and to get it right again with the Lord. No.
The Lord does not say that. He
lays upon us no burden of legalism and no burden that denies or covers up to
the slightest our justification by faith alone.
The Lord says, I will put upon you none
other burden!
The only burden He lays upon the Church is the
one that is easy and light! The Lord
puts on the congregation the burden of that weight to preach and hold fast to
the truths of sovereign grace. She has the solemn burden to preach the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ and all the truths of the Reformed Faith. She must preach the cross as her only
deliverance from sin and the power unto that life of necessary gratitude to
God.
That truth is the rock-solid
foundation of the Church! Upon that
the churchs prosperity and peace is anchored and in that is the sole fountain
of her riches and glory. To that safe
mooring she must hold fast by a true and living faith, evident in her life of
good works.
Notice, too, that the Lord does not tell her to
stop her works of faith. Rather, the Lord
commands the congregation to do them now in the growing knowledge of the cross
of Christ! Walk in those good works in
the understanding and knowledge of the truth!
Do them in the growing understanding of Christ as the Son of God, the
Way, the Truth, the Life, the Righteous and Holy Judge, and the Redeemer of His
Church. Do those things anchored firmly
to the Holy Scriptures.
To such that overcome Jezebels heresy and heed
His commands, the Lord gives two beautiful promises. In the first place, the Lord promises them that they shall rule. We read, To him will I give power over the
nations. That power means that those
who overcome will have the power to rule the nations with a rod of iron. The Lord promises the righteous that they
will break the nations, the enemies of Christ, as a potter breaks a clay pot
into shivers. The righteous are
promised to have full victory over the unrighteous enemies of Jesus Christ.
The goal of the nations is to break the
dominion of Christ. The goal of the
enemies of Christ is to break His rule.
That was the goal of the wicked Jezebel who by her heresy was leading
the church to reject the rule of Christ in His Word. Over all those enemies in the world and also in the church world,
the righteous have the full victory of kings with Christ. Though in this world the righteous are
reproached and persecuted by the enemies of Christ, yet we are promised by
Christ the blessed reward of sharing in His glory and victory. To those that stand for the truth and
steadfastly fight for obedience to the Word of Christ and His truth, the Lord
promises victory.
Secondly, in order to confirm that even more,
the Lord promises: I will give him the morning star. What does Christ mean here? The morning star is the same as the day
star, the sun. Here the Lord alludes to
the truth that He is the Sun of Righteousness.
To those that overcome and remain anchored by faith to the truth, the
Lord promises to the righteous the day star.
That means, they shall shine forth in all their life gloriously with the
light of the Sun of Righteousness. They
shine in the full righteousness of Christ.
No more sin, no more distress, no more battles with the old man of sin. Only the perfection and life of our Lord
Jesus Christ shall shine forth!
What a contrast to the evil doctrine of that
wicked Jezebel! What a glorious
incentive to the faithful who overcome by faith the winds of false doctrine and
by faith cling to Christ as the only way, the truth, & the life, looking in
confident expectation for the coming of Christ. Yes, He will certainly come
again on the clouds of heaven with eyes like unto a flame of fire, and with
feet like unto fine brass!
Will you be fearful of the coming day of the
Son of God, the glorious Judge?
Beloved, stand firmly by faith upon the truth
of Christ crucified!
Your Redeemer shall come! Because of Him, you shall shine gloriously and eternally in His perfect righteousness and holiness unto the glory of His Name! AMEN.