I am not proud to say this but for so long, up until my early 20s, I was greatly affected by peer pressure. I was always the one to follow the crowd. If my friends said we go left, then left is where Victor went. I still remember the comments my teachers told to my parents during Parent-Teacher meetings. “Victor is very smart but he is always being led astray” or “Victor wants to do the right thing but when he sees others doing the wrong thing he just follows them.’ Now with the benefit of hindsight, the Holy Spirit and therapy, I realise that it was always an identity problem. I didn’t know who I was in Christ and what I was created for. Insecurities had crept in that made me doubt myself and the decisions I would make, so when my friend made a choice, I just followed it without question. Unfortunately, peer pressure led me into very dark pathways of my life, things that I regret doing to this day.

I have noticed a particular pattern in the letters written to the churches. There are those in the churches who are remaining steadfast and faithful to Jesus. However, there are some in the church who are following false doctrines. The church in Thyatira is no different. It is considered the corrupt church. The Christians there have a different kind of peer pressure, I would call it spiritual peer pressure. The pressure to confirm to doctrine that is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Before Jesus corrects and convicts them, He commends them:

“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

Revelation 2: 18 – 19 NIV

Jesus first establishes His identity – the words are to be taken seriously because of who they are coming from. These are the words that were spoken from Jesus, who has all authority as the son of God, and whose eyes burn like fire with righteous judgement. When Jesus says He knows their deeds, He is not just saying He is aware of what they are doing. The word ‘know’ in this passage can also mean ‘to pay attention to, inspect or examine.’ He really knows their deeds. If we were to stop at these two verses, we would say the church in Thyatira is doing great. They have love and faith, service and perseverance. In fact, they are making progress since their latter deeds are more than their first. Unlike the church in Ephesus who had forsaken the deeds they had done at first, the church in Thyatira is constantly improving in their deeds.

I grew up in church but it is not until a few years ago when I truly started living a life devoted to Christ. Salvation is an instant decision you make (Romans 10:9). Sanctification, however is a process that we go through for as long as we will walk with God here on earth. We should strive everyday to be more like Jesus and yearn for Jesus to say about our salvation, that we are doing more than we did at first.

Jesus doesn’t stop there. He has a reprimand for the church in Thyatira:

Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.

Revelation 2:20.

Every word from Jesus carries authority and is to be taken with extreme seriousness. When Jesus says ‘Nevertheless’, He is communicating that even though the church in Thyatira has very commendable works, they are still failing in other areas. Jesus rebukes them for tolerating a woman called Jezebel. This was a woman who has tendencies that mimic Jezebel from the Old Testament and calls herself a prophet but she is not. Jezebel was married to King Ahab and was a very evil woman who encouraged the worship of Baal , who orchestrated the murder of Naboth and who even threatened Elijah, a true prophet of God (1 Kings 16 to 21). The woman referred to as Jezebel in Revelation 2 is one who misled the Christians in Thyatira into sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols.

Thyatira was known as city of business and trade. As a result, there were many trade guilds that had been formed. Membership of the trade guilds was connected to success in trade. However, these trade guilds were also connected to worship of other gods. (Enduring Word commentary). The pressure for Christians therefore was to still conduct trade without conforming to the worship of idols. The teachings of Jezebel were meant to mislead the Christians and make them succumb to the pressure to fall into sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols.

Jesus rebukes the Church for allowing or tolerating Jezebel, a false prophet. Not all the Christians may have followed her teachings but they allowed her to do as she wished. In Matthew 24:11, Jesus said that in the end times, many prophets would appear and deceive many. Jesus is using the same words to the church in Thyatira to rebuke the modern church today. The modern church has tolerated many false prophets. We are living in an age where Christians are not only tolerating, but in fact running to false prophets. Many are so desperate to get a prophetic word that they don’t take time to pause and check whether the words are coming from true prophets. There are psychics in the church who are claiming to be prophets. People who use the spirit of divination to prophesy to the people. Those who ask for money in exchange for miracles and prophecies. Those leaders who don’t rebuke their congregations about sexual immorality because they are practising sexual immorality themselves. Witchcraft is being practised in churches.

Many are using scripture to deceive people. We know from Matthew 4:6 that when the devil tried to tempt Jesus, He twisted scripture to try and make Jesus fall into the temptation. The enemy was trying to use the Word of God to trick Jesus, who is the Word of God. Jesus was able to detect the lie and resisted the temptation. In court proceedings, a witness is always asked to ‘give the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’ If a prophecy, a word of knowledge, an instruction is 99% true but 1% lie then it is a lie. New age practices (which is witchcraft) have seeped into the church and we have allowed it. We casually use words like ‘manifesting, the universe, karma and positive vibrations’ not realising what they represent. We consult horoscopes and listen to music and watch TV Shows, movies and musicals that advance the kingdom of darkness.

Jesus gives the consequences that would follow Jezebel and all who follow her teachings:

I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

Revelation 2:21-23

As Christians, sometimes we forget that God is a God of mercy and judgement. In His mercy, Jesus says that He has given Jezebel time to repent but she was unwilling. For us, this may look like the consistent conviction from the Holy Spirit to turn away, to change direction and to turn back to Him. However, for those who refuse to repent, Jesus says that they will be suffer intensely. The reference to adultery is not only sexual adultery but spiritual adultery. Anytime we choose to worship Jesus and other things, we are committing spiritual adultery. Persistent disobedience, sexual immorality, ignoring the conviction of the Holy Spirit, being lukewarm Christians and many more are signs of spiritual adultery. Not only those who refuse to repent but the judgement would fall on their offspring.

All this would happen to be an example to the churches, of the holiness and righteous standards. That above our deeds, Jesus examines our innermost feelings, intentions and purposes, where our deeds emanate from. This is a very important reminder to the modern day church that can easily focus on an outward appearance of Christianity and neglect the internal total surrender to Jesus. We have seen in the Bible how God severely punishes people for idolatry (for example 1 Kings 18). We should never assume that God has lowered His holiness and righteous standard in the 21st century.

Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’

Revelation 2:24-25

The teachings of Jezebel are connected to Satan’s so-called deep secrets. We can easily read this and think, “Of course I am not following the teachings of Jezebel or learning Satan’s secrets.” In 2 Corinthians 11:14-15, Paul warns that Satan masquerades as an angel of light and his servants do as well. I would like to submit to you that these teachings of Jezebel and Satan’s deep secrets are not advertised as such. They are hidden ever so slightly in our day to day lives that we are unable to discern them and fall right into the trap. We are sometimes quick to brush things off as not being ‘that deep’ or ‘that serious’ and we forget that life is spiritual. There are no greys in the spiritual realm, it is either black or white. Our lives are either promoting the kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. I would urge you to ask the Holy Spirit, “What areas of my life are advancing the kingdom of darkness?” Your favorite artist, book, TV Show? Your friends or the person you are dating? That concert you bought tickets for? Allow the Holy Spirit to shine His light on every area of your life and convict you. Now more than ever, we need the Holy Spirit to make us super sensitive to His voice and to be able to discern His Spirit from other spirits.

Jesus urges those in Thyatira who have remained faithful to Him to keep holding on to the faith they have. In a world where there is so much pressure to compromise, in and outside the Church, Jesus says to the Christians today – Hold fast. Stay Strong. Remain faithful. Don’t succumb to the pressure.

There is a beautiful promise for the one who remains faithful to the end:

 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star.

Revelation 2:26-28

I heard a quote that says, ‘When the world gets darker, the light of Jesus shines brighter. To the church in Thyatira and the church today, Jesus says that our faithfulness to Him is not in vain. When we hold on to Jesus until the end, we will get to experience eternity with Him. The promise at the end is worth the faithfulness in the present.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says!

With love,

Victor