Letters of Revelation: Tolerating False Teaching, Thyatira
By Jacob Tanner - Posted at Place for Truth:
Along the banks of the Lycus River in the Roman province of Asia sat the city of Thyatira. It was a city of wealth and extravagance, acting as a commercial hub for a thriving dyeing and textile industry. It was most well-known for its purple cloth, which was highly sought after and desirable.Some evidence in Scripture suggests that the church of Thyatira was likely founded by Paul. In Acts 16:13-15, Paul and his companions are outside the city of gates of Macedonia, near the river, sharing the gospel. While there, they encounter a woman named Lydia from Thyatira and she responds in faith to the gospel:
And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
So, Lydia has faith in Christ and is baptized, with her household following suit. Paul and his group then stay for a time with her and her family. It can be assumed that, during that time, Paul and the other would have taught the household of Lydia about the truths of the Christian faith. With such giants of the early church being involved in the founding of the church there, one would imagine that Thyatira would not merely be a strong church, but a doctrinally rich one.
Yet, by the time that Jesus has the Apostle John write his seven letters to the seven churches, we see that things within the church of Thyatira are spiraling. The letter starts off with a strong reminder of who Christ is and the authority with which He writes to the church: “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze’” (Rev. 2:18). As wonderful and beautiful as the dyeing and textile industry of Thyatira may have been, none of it could compare with the glory of Christ’s fiery eyes and feet like burnished bronze. His eyes of fire represent His coming in judgment; as Isaiah 66:15 says, “For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.” His burnished bronze feet represent both the glory of His being resurrected (His foot was bruised at the Cross, but He did not stay down [Gen. 3:15]), and His suffering alongside His saints.
