Dark Depths, Part 1

Jesus judges His church.

No?

Well, chapters two and three of the book of Revelation contain messages the Lord dictated to the apostle John for seven churches in the province of Asia Minor (part of modern Turkey). Since these letters report the spiritual condition of the assemblies, they’re judgments.

But this shouldn’t make us nervous because Christ aims for the wellbeing of His followers. He warns against anything that inhibits our spiritual growth, so He’ll tell us how to correct our problems.

These letters aren’t all negative. Jesus encourages and honors every praiseworthy action believers take. He rewards those who, by overcoming the trials they encounter, remain loyal to Him.

Preachers like the letters of Revelation because they form a ready-made seven-sermon series! I’d like to focus on the fourth letter, written to the Christians in Thyatira, because it contains an unusual statement that’s easy to misread.

Digging into this topic will take some time, so I’ll write at least a couple of posts to cover everything.

First, let’s quote the message. (Bible verses are in the NASB.)

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and feet like burnished bronze, says this: ¹⁹“I know your deeds, and your love and faith, and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. ²⁰But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ²¹I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. ²²Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. ²³And I will kill her children with plague, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. ²⁴But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them–I place no other burden on you. ²⁵Nevertheless what you have, hold firmly until I come. ²⁶The one who overcomes, and the one who keeps My deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations; ²⁷AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE SHATTERED, as I also have received authority from My Father; ²⁸and I will give him the morning star. ²⁹The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” – Revelation 2:18-29

I noticed that this letter takes the form of a chiasmus (a literary pattern of inversion). After John lists a few ideas, he repeats them in reverse order. The sequence goes like this: ABCDE, then EDCBA. Here’s the breakdown:

A – Vs. 18a – Communication

B – Vs. 18b – Judge

C – Vs. 19 – Works

D – Vs. 20 – Jezebel

E – Vs. 21 – Repent or

E – Vss. 22-23a – Else

D – Vs. 23b – Justice

C – Vss. 24-25 – Works

B – Vss. 26-28 – Judges

A – Vs. 29 – Communication

The repeated subjects aren’t identical, but they’re pretty close. Often writers use a chiasmus to steer the reader’s attention to the center of the pattern. And I believe that’s what John is doing here.

The letter begins and ends by addressing specific persons: the angel overseeing the church, the members of the church (by implication), and those who triumph over the world. It then presents judges–first, Jesus (the fiery Son of God), and then the overcomers who will exercise authority over the world after Christ’s return.

After these, John describes the behavior of the church. Jesus has no problem with those who serve Him from a true heart; He’s pleased with them.

The apostle then gets closer to the heart of the matter by juxtaposing Jezebel and justice. Jezebel was an idolatrous queen, married to King Ahab of Israel (1 Kings 16:31), who promoted idol worship and persecuted God’s prophets (1 Kings 18:4, 13). Her blend of idolatry and unrighteousness were so offensive that it cost her her life (2 Kings 9:7, 10). A lousy spiritual role model who deserved her punishment, she serves as a warning to Christians who might be tempted to follow her example.

Finally, in the center of the message to Thyatira lies a call to repent or face the consequences. Jesus doesn’t judge His people because He’s hyper-sensitive. He loves the wayward and wants to restore them while there’s still time.

Again, the heart of this letter is a call to repentance to escape judgment. And while Christians can nod their heads in agreement, the admonition feels routine. Obey Jesus and don’t sin. Easy to understand, if not always easy to practice. Nothing surprising here.

But the phrase that hit me isn’t in vss. 21-23; it’s in vs. 24: “the deep things of Satan, as they call them.” Somehow, this Jezebel figure and her acolytes were informing the church about devilish stuff.

Strange.

The self-identified prophetess had some type of teaching ministry amongst the saints of Thyatira. Jesus describes her content as “the deep things of Satan” which He opposes. So shouldn’t the verse read differently? Jesus could have said, “what they call ‘the deep things of God’ are actually from Satan.” If He did that, He’d be exposing the demonic core of what appeared to be solid Bible teaching. He’d be warning His faithful ones to be on their guard and not get fooled.

Reminds me of wolves in sheep’s clothing!

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” – Matthew 7:15

But the phrase doesn’t say, “as I call them,” as though Jesus was identifying the evil nature of these doctrines. Christ explains that “they call” their teaching “the deep things of Satan.” 

And that’s odd.

Why would false teachers do that? What hope would they have of acceptance if they announced, “I have a message from the devil for you”? No church I know (sadly, there’s probably a few) would tolerate that nonsense for a minute. They’d shut things down in a hurry!

The church at Thyatira had dedicated Christians; Jesus mentions and encourages them. So how could a Jezebel-like character (or characters, if Jezebel symbolizes a group) get away with teaching “the deep things of Satan” in their church?

What was she promulgating?

Like I said, it’s going to take me a couple of posts to work through all this. But for now, let’s wrap up this introduction by reminding ourselves that deception is a reality. Jesus calls the devil a liar, and with good cause; it’s what the enemy does.

“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” – John 8:44

We Christians have to look out for each other so that none of us falls prey to spiritual deception.

“See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than in accordance with Christ.” – Colossians 2:8

“But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called ‘today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” – Hebrews 3:13

We are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; ¹⁵but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. – Ephesians 4:14-16

No matter what the devil throws at us, through Christ we can stand our ground. Deceptive reasoning is no match for the Holy Spirit. We’re in a spiritual battle, but the Father intends for us to win and by His grace, we will.