Revelation Part 11
This counterfeit spirituality had the outward appearance of godliness but lacked true obedience. Hebrews 6:4–6 reminds us of the danger of falling away after having once tasted God’s goodness.
Next, Christ shifts his attention to the Church of Thyatira. Thyatira was a “blue collar” city known for its trade guilds and unions and was the smallest of the seven cities. Much like Detroit or the manufacturing hubs of the Midwest where production was the base of the economy, this city thrived in industries such as wool, linen, leather and bronze.
When Christ is addressing this Church, He is presented in His majesty, with eyes that see and perceive all things. His discerning gaze exposes hidden corruption within the congregation.
The most serious issue was that the Church tolerated a woman symbolically called “Jezebel,” who misled Christ’s servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. Outwardly, she appeared charming, spiritual and attractive, but in reality, she was deceptive, manipulative and self-serving.
“You allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent” (Revelation 2:20-21).
She claimed to love God, but her devotion was ultimately to herself. Her influence reflected a spirit completely out of alignment with the biblical call to purity and submission in Ephesians 5. Instead of the inward beauty of a gentle spirit, as Peter urges in 1 Peter 3:3–4, she emphasized external appearances and worldly allure.
“Do not let your adornment be merely outward... rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”
Her teaching led believers into what Scripture calls “the depths of Satan” (Revelation 2:24), much like the temptation in Eden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This counterfeit spirituality had the outward appearance of godliness but lacked true obedience, echoing Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7:21–23. Hebrews 6:4–6 reminds us of the danger of falling away after having once tasted God’s goodness. Proverbs 25:26–28 says, “A righteous man who falters before the wicked is like a murky spring and a polluted well,” describing exactly what happened in Thyatira. Instead of following the example of Daniel, who purposed in his heart not to defile himself, or Joseph who fled from Potiphar’s wife, the Church had compromised. This Jezebel might not have been an individual as much as a way of life in the town. There may have been sexual immorality in many ways. A parallel today might be access to images and videos that display acts of immorality and lead to sin.
The central lesson is that the Church cannot tolerate evil at all. Repentance is essential. The Church is not meant to be a place where unbelievers feel comfortable in their sin. There should be a healthy tension, where truth is proclaimed, sin is exposed, and the need for repentance becomes clear. Sexual immorality was a particular danger. Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 6 that while all things may seem permissible, sins of the body have deep spiritual consequences. Sexual sin damages one’s own body, brings disease and robs believers of the joy God designed. Yet the reminder is that we were purchased by Christ’s blood, and therefore our bodies are not our own.
Part of the problem in Thyatira was tolerance of false teaching rooted in Gnostic ideas—that the physical and spiritual realms are separate. This worldview suggested that sins of the flesh did not affect the spirit, and therefore one could be spiritually “pure” while physically indulgent. This laid the foundation for false teachings of cheap grace. Jude warns that ungodly men had crept into the Church, twisting grace into a license for immorality. This distortion led to licentious living, antinomianism (the rejection of God’s moral law), and even the notion that “once saved, always saved” regardless of ongoing rebellion.
Christ’s call to His true followers was to overcome, to hold fast to His deeds until the end. To such believers He promised authority over the nations. True Christians are marked by obedience—not out of drudgery, but from a heart that desires to please God and become more like Christ. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:13–15, our goal is to “come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” The closing exhortation is repeated as in all the letters, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
UYA Team | uya@ucg.org
United Young Adults (UYA) primarily serves the 18–32-year age group for the United Church of God. There are three main areas of contribution to the lives of the young adults: Promoting Spiritual Growth, Developing Meaningful Relationships and Making the Most of Your Talents. The Know Your Sword series is a daily expository message introducing God’s Word from a trusted perspective.
