7 Churches: Thyatira, the leavened assembly: the Judge and His faithfulness — A.J. Higgins

Now shall we just speak to God in prayer for a moment. Our Father, we thank Thee that in the singing of these hymns we have been reminded our hearts lifted to a heaven that is filled with a Savior's love and a home that is our home.

We thank Thee for these tremendous prospects. We not only look back to Calvary to remember a Savior's love, we look upward to the throne and we thank Thee the very same love He bore for us upon the tree He carries in His bosom now upon the throne.

And what is more amazing is that for all eternity that love will never change. It will never have a condition attached to it. It will never know ebbing and flowing and days of less love than the day before.

But we bless Thee that eternity shall be one continual unfolding of that heart to us. We would long to live in the good of it now and know Thee better and be able to appreciate and reciprocate in some small measure that love.

We would come to Thee now as we would open the Word of God and would pray for help from Thee and help for Thy people, not just help to speak it but help to hear it and help to apply it. There are things perhaps that would have little relevance to some and yet might have great relevance to others and as we would deal with them we pray to grant help to all as we now look to Thee in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ’s Letter to the Church at Thyatira

Amen. Revelation chapter 2 once again, this time the church at Thyatira. I'm sorry, chapter 2 and verse number 18. Unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write, These things sayeth the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brass.

I know Thy works in charity and service and faith and my patience and Thy works. I'm the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding, I have a few things against Thee because Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel who called it herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

That sounds very similar to what we just had at Pergamos but we'll see a difference. I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds and I will kill her children with death and all the church shall know that I am he which searches the reins and hearts.

I will give unto every one of you according to your works but unto you I say and unto the rest of Thyatira as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak, I will put upon you none other burden but that which ye have already hold fast till I arrive, till I come.

He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the ends, to him will I give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of a potter shall be broken to shivers even as I received of my father and I will give him the morning star.

Two Women Who Define Thyatira

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. Now we trust that God will add his blessing to what we have read in keeping with what we have already looked at. When we come to Thyatira, the first thing that we're impressed with is the the prominence of two women in Thyatira.

There is a woman here called Jezebel and she occupies a great deal of what we will be looking at today but your mind cannot help but go back, can it, to Acts chapter 16 and a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira.

So Thyatira has been put on the map of the word of God by two women. One woman who furthered the work of God, opening her home, opening her heart, seeking to support the work of God in every way that she possibly could, and now a second woman in Thyatira who was frustrating the work of God, who was hindering the work of God, who was undermining it by her teaching and by her behavior.

So the prominence of two women, interesting to see how the Spirit of God has brought these two together in such a remarkable contrast to examine their lives. Then we have not only that but we have this peculiar name that we have to look at, Jezebel.

Was this a real woman? Is this just a picture of something? But we'll look at that. We will have to notice the progress of evil, that things have taken a little step further from Ephesus to Pergamos and now to Thyatira.

Things are a little worse and we'll look at that and consider how that has happened and why. Another small thing is looking at pronouns. Yeah, pronouns. Remember those things from English class? Pronouns.

For example, if you look at verse number 19, Thy works. Once again, Thy works. Look at the end of verse 22. Our authorized version says their deeds or their works but really it is her works. So we have Thy works, we have her works.

Look at verse number 23. The last two words, your works. And look finally at verse number 26, keepeth my works. Okay, Thy works, her works, your works, my works. Pronouns and their significance. We will see the principle of faithfulness before reigning with Christ.

Suffering before reigning. Faithfulness before reigning. We will see that worked out here. We will see the preservation of remnant testimony. We will see the first and clearest promise of his coming that is given to these churches, what we call the rapture.

And we will look very especially at the place that sisters have in a local testimony for God. Having said that, then let's look in more detail at some of the things before us in this letter to the church at Thyatira.

Maybe I should just mention, just leave it. This is, to those who look at this as a dispensational picture, of course, this is the beginning of what has been called the Roman system, the elevation of a woman called Mary, the emphasis upon works, the wrong doctrine and all that goes with it.

And many, many other things could be culled from this letter that would correspond with some of the things that are true of the history of the church of Rome. But we are going to look at it, not in its dispensational as the rise of Romanism, but look at it as it really was a local assembly and look at it from the standpoint not only historically and literally, but look at it from the lessons it will teach us of problems that assemblies can face even today in our seeking to bear testimony for God.

The Son of God’s Dignity, Scrutiny, and Consistency

So, first thing is the Lord and his perception. Three things are mentioned here. His personal dignity, thus saith the Son of God, his personal dignity, his penetrating scrutiny, his eyes like flame of fire, and then finally his perfect consistency, his feet like unto fine or shining brass.

His personal dignity, his penetrating scrutiny, and his perfect consistency. Now let me just go over those quickly with you if I can. Thus saith, it begins with, these things saith the Son of God. Strange that he would introduce himself in that way.

Strange that he would introduce himself. He's been doing the same thing in every letter. He's been speaking to the messenger of the churches. Why is it that he now introduces himself with this title, the Son of God?

Well, perhaps it was because in Thyatira, the wrong voice was being listened to. The wrong message was being obeyed. There was a woman who was teaching. Her voice was being heard, and in contrast to that, these things saith the Son of God.

This is the voice that should be heard. This is what should control the assembly. This is what should be guiding the assembly, not the voice of men or of women, but the voice of the Son of God. And so he introduces himself, first of all, in this manner, in his perfect dignity.

But then we are introduced to him with his penetrating scrutiny, having his eyes like unto a flame of fire. We mentioned already, let me just underline again without going into it in great detail, nothing misses his scrutiny.

Every problem, every difficulty, every shortcoming, every failure, it's all known to him, all known to him now, not something that's going to be discovered in the coming day, known to him now. But you see, linked with that penetrating scrutiny are feet like unto fine grass.

Not only does he see problems, but in perfect consistency, he is able to move and deal with the problems he sees. Now that spoke to me. I'll just tell you personally, honestly, that spoke to me. Because, you know, so often we have great ability to see the problem, but we do nothing about it.

We either feel helpless. We don't want to offend. We don't want to ruffle feathers. We think that love is this sentimental, weak kind of thing that wants to make everybody feel warm and fuzzy. And so we see problems, but we fail to move.

His eyes and his feet move together. Where he sees problems, he moves to deal with the problem. And every leader, all leadership should take character from him that where we see problems, we begin to address them.

Now, I don't mean necessarily that we come in with a hammer and no, no, it takes wisdom to deal with problems. And no, no two problems are identical. So there's no cookbook recipe for how we deal with problems in the assembly or how we deal with problems that believers are having.

No cookbooks. But there is this about the Lord and his dealings with the assembly. There was perfect consistency, his eyes and his feet moving together, not just seeing the problem, but being able to address it and do something about it.

I would suggest that that seemed to be one of the failures that began in Pergamos, but was seen in its fullness in Thyatira. Thou sufferest. You're letting it happen. You can tell it's wrong, but you're letting it happen.

You can discern that this is not according to the mind of God, but you're letting it happen. And so the Lord Jesus presents himself in that character because the leadership needed to be aware that this is what he is like.

This is what the chief shepherd is like. And that's what every under shepherd should be like, should be willing to move on and deal with problems, not to suffer them, not to allow them to exist and to allow them to continue.

Thyatira’s Works and the Leaven of Jezebel

So it begins then with the Lord and his his perception of the problem. We are reminded as well of the labor that was prominent. We have already drawn attention to the fact that five times over we have works mentioned in this letter, the labor that was prominent here in the assembly.

And also there was a measure of prosperity among the believers spiritually. They were marked by charity and by ministry and by faith and by patience. And not only that, but they were not resting on their laurels.

The last greater than the first. They kept going. They weren't content that they had worked and had manifested love and service, but the last were greater than the first. They had continued in their devotion, continued in their exercise, continued as they sought to serve God.

There was a faithful remnant even at Thyatira that was seeking to serve and putting all they had into it for God. And he commends them for it. He recognizes what they had done. And so he draws attention to the labor that was that was prominent here at the church.

You could link together some of the things that the love that was lacking at Ephesus and the faith that was prominent at Smyrna, the ministry and the endurance which was seen at Pergamos. It's all seen together at Thyatira.

But he says in verse 20, not only do we see the Lord in his perception and the labor that was prominent, but we see the leaven that was permeating, the leaven that was permeating through the assembly.

And of course, your mind will go on it to the corresponding parable in Matthew 13, that fourth parable of the woman, three measures of meal, and she hid the leaven till the whole was leavened. That's the corresponding the fourth parable, the fourth letter.

Those things go together, of course, and you can work those out in detail. A woman was responsible as well there. And so you can see how well all of these things would correspond if you wish to take the time to to consider it.

So let me then just talk to you about the the leaven that was permeating here and affecting the entire assembly. Does it strike you as surprising? How long ago was it from what we are reading here? How many years earlier was it that the Apostle Paul picked up his pen and penned his letters to the assembly of Corinth, the epistle of first Timothy to the church at Ephesus?

Maybe 30, maybe 35 years. So within 35 years of Paul's letters, a mere 35 years of time, and all of us can think back. Not all of you. Some of you aren't 35 yet. Most of us can think back to 35 years ago, and it doesn't seem that long ago.

I want to tell you. But just 35 years and everything Paul taught was being put aside. Everything that Paul wrote to Corinth, everything that Paul wrote to Ephesus. There were some of Thyatira just putting it aside.

And how long ago was it that Acts 15 transpired? The council that had talked about eating meats offered to idols and fornication and blood. Acts 15 teaching all being rejected by this prophetess. Just a few short years, just a few short years in the span of time.

Everything that the Apostle Paul had held dear was being contested by this wicked woman in this assembly. So we talked about the progress. Balaam was an external foe, wasn't he? Balaam was an external foe.

He counseled Balak how to infiltrate and how to affect the people of God. But Jezebel is an internal foe. She is right in there. And no longer is it that there are some who hold this doctrine and it's just kind of tolerated.

They hold it, but now she's teaching it. So you will see then how that evil is progressing. Notice this teacher, first of all, she calleth herself a prophetess. So she was moving in rebellion to divine order.

She was opposing divine truth. She was teaching them to commit fornication, eat things sacrificed unto idols, and she was in rebellion against divine patience. I gave her space to repent and she repented not.

So you get a little flavor, don't you, of this woman. I take it this was a real woman. And whether her real name was Jezebel or she took character from Jezebel of the Old Testament is hard to say because if you look at what Jezebel in the Old Testament did, that woman who stirred Ahab to sin more than any other king in Israel, remember some of the things she did.

She was Jezebel of the Zidonians and the first thing she did was she introduced idolatry into Israel. What does Jezebel do here? Introduces idolatry. Then she introduced immorality into Israel. What does Jezebel do here?

She incites to immorality. Jezebel in the Old Testament, we are told that she instigated iniquity in her husband, in Ahab, none like him whom his wife stirred up. I forget the exact word. I'm not quoting it exactly right, but the idea is she stirred, instigated him to iniquity.

That's what Jezebel is doing here. And we see as well, here is a woman who actually claims inspiration for herself. She calls herself a prophetess. Now, just understand here. Get the import. She is saying, I am giving you the word of God.

I am telling you what God says. That's the flavor of this woman. She is standing up. She is claiming, I have the message of God. Here is what you ought to do. You ought to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

You ought to go in with all of the immorality that's going on. You ought to be part of the world. She is teaching this liberally and literally in the assembly in rebellion against divine teaching, rebellion against divine order, rebellion against divine patience.

The Place and Ministry of Sisters in the Assembly

And God says, I gave her space to repent. So we have the teacher and what she was teaching. Let me just use that if I can, because I think it's vital that we touch on this while we are here. What is the place for our sisters in a New Testament assembly?

What is the place that God has assigned for sisters? And in what way do they serve in a New Testament assembly? The first thing we need to see is they are not secondary. They are not less important than the brethren.

They are not somehow less valuable for the testimony than the brethren are. In fact, I don't want to say if you were having a meeting, that's not what I mean, but if you were starting an assembly, if you were beginning an assembly and you had no sisters, I would wonder if you would really have an assembly as God intends it to be.

Because I think sisters express something that is invaluable for assembly testimony. So let me quickly give you the four different places in the Word of God in the New Testament where the value of sisters is seen.

When I come to 1 Corinthians 11 and that first portion of the chapter, it is the symbol and its significance. The symbol and its significance. When you come to chapter 14, it's her silence and her spirituality.

Her silence and her spirituality. When you come to 1 Timothy chapter 2, it is her subjection and her salvation. And when you come to Titus chapter 2, it is her sphere of usefulness and her service. Now just quickly just look at those and we'll just make a comment or two about each and then leave it there.

1 Corinthians 11, the symbol and its significance. That to our sisters has been committed the tremendous privilege of displaying the headship of Christ here in the scene of his rejection. Now just think of it for a moment.

I know that in the home the leadership of the male expresses headship, expresses his headship though. Where upon earth where upon earth is the headship of Christ expressed? Where upon earth is the truth that God intends for Christ to be head over all things?

Where is that expressed? Not expressed in our homes. It's the headship of the man. I say this carefully and I say this reverently, I hope. Christ is not head of the home. He's Lord in my home. I'm head of the home.

I've got that responsibility. He's Lord, but I'm the head. So the headship of Christ, as far as I can see, it's expressed one place on earth. Only one. It's expressed in a group of people who gather together to his name and where sisters willingly and intelligently veil their heads.

That is the only place on earth that that teaching is expressed. Little wonder that Paul says for which cause angels desire to, or for this cause ought a woman to have the sign of authority on her head because of the angels.

Angels are looking on in wonder. God is teaching through local companies, angels this great truth of the headship of Christ. So you see women preach. Every time the company is together women are preaching, preaching to angels.

Yeah. No small thing. No small thing that you're allowed to preach to angels. You might say they must be awfully slow learners. They haven't learned the lesson after all these years. Well, just leave that with God.

He intends for you to keep teaching angels. Angels have an interest in the great subject of submission because the first place you find an angel in the Bible, it's an angel coming to Hagar saying, return and submit.

And before that angels learned that there were those that kept not their first estate, but they rebelled. They weren't willing to submit to the authority of God. And as a result, they were cast down. So submission is a tremendous topic theme for angels.

They remember angels who wouldn't submit. They remember a day when they told a woman to return and submit. And now with amazement, they look upon women who intelligently and willingly voluntarily submit by the symbol of submission upon their heads.

So women do teach silent teachers of tremendous truth. We have then the symbol and its significance. When I come to first Corinthians chapter 14, it's her silence and her spirituality. Her silence is not a mark of inferiority, but a willingness to take the place that God has given.

That leadership is invested in a man and her place is one of subjection and one of silence in the assembly. Now, just so you don't get the wrong idea, because sometimes wrong ideas have been fostered by a misunderstanding of 1st Timothy chapter 2.

Why don't we just take a moment? I know it's kind of almost heretical to leave revelation, but let's turn for a moment to 1st Timothy chapter 2, just so I get this correct and I can impress this upon our young sisters especially.

Verse number 11, let the women learn in silence with all subjection. I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. Now, you've got to ask yourself, why does he say that?

Why is verse 13 there? Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved and so on. Some have taught that a woman's place of silence is like a punishment.

You were deceived and not Adam and somehow you are so easily... Listen, I find that men are more gullible than women. Men are more easily deceived than women as a general rule. So this is not a... 1st Timothy chapter 2 is not saying women are being punished because they were deceived and Adam wasn't.

No, no. That's why that verse intervenes. For Adam was first formed and then Eve. What 1st Timothy 2 is teaching is this. God instituted an order at creation. Leadership in the man and following in the woman.

When that order was reversed, when Eve took the lead, when she was deceived and Adam followed suit with opened eyes, disaster occurred. So that when God's order of leadership was reversed, problems came in.

Now he says a woman should be willing to take her place that God intended. Following, not leading. She should take a place of silence and subjection, not out of punishment, but that is the order that God has intended for preservation.

When the order was reversed, problems arose. When order is maintained, that will be her salvation. And so it is not a matter that in some way a woman is inferior, a woman is weaker, a woman is somehow subject to deception and subject to error.

You know, people parade out that cults are more the result of women. Forget that. Cults are the result of men for the most part. I know there's Mary, Baker, Eddie, and a few others, but they're just a drop in the bucket with all the myriads of cults all around us that men have devised.

Women are by no means less valuable, less important, less significant, less intelligent, more easily deceived. It is rather that this is order God has instituted. And in the preservation of that order is the preservation of testimony for God, her silence, and her spirituality.

You recall how Paul ends that section at the end of 1 Corinthians 14, that if any man be spiritual, and that includes women, let him acknowledge the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

But if any man wants to be ignorant, let him be ignorant still. So spirituality means I order things according to the word of God, and the woman takes her place of silence as an expression of her spirituality.

1 Timothy 2 is her subjection and her salvation that we have already touched upon. But 1 Timothy 2 reminds us, he says that, I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.

Okay? Men pray in every assembly, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting in like manner. In like manner what? In like manner to women. What about the women? Do they pray? No. They adorn themselves, and they are consistent with women who profess godliness, so that the character of the sisters is what adds value to the prayers of the brethren.

Now you might say, can you show me that in the passage? Yes, I think I can. What do you think heaven would think of us to be praying for ungodly men to bow to the word of God in salvation, if the sisters don't bow to the word of God in obedience?

If a sister won't subject herself to the divine order of leadership in the male, and divine pattern as far as leadership, and won't yield to the authority of the word of God, how can the men rise and pray that God will save unsaved men?

You know, why should they subject themselves to the word of God if we won't? And likewise he says, not with gold and pearls and costly array, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works.

How can we as brethren rise and pray that men will value the eternal if all we value is the material? How can we be praying for the internal if all we put emphasis upon is the external? So you will see how what he is getting at in that section of 1st Timothy when he's talking about prayer is the weight, the tremendous weight that the character of sisters adds to a prayer meeting, to every meeting of the assembly.

So yours is not an incidental, insignificant role to play. The men may mouth the words, the sisters manifest the worth of what they are saying. So it is her symbol with its significance, it is her silence and her spirituality, it is her subjection and her salvation, and Titus chapter 2, it is her sphere of usefulness and her service that she does have a place for audible teaching and that is with the younger sisters privately in the home and seeking to instruct them in issues relating to family life and to marital life.

Sisters’ Meetings and Oversight in the Assembly

Sometimes the question comes up, well what about sisters meetings? Now I don't want to sound like I'm preaching to the gallery, just preaching because this is what you agree with and everyone says amen, wonderful, hallelujah, so but maybe for the sake of a younger generation it will be helpful just to touch on this issue because there are places where the idea of sisters meetings is a big thing, you know, it says to be silent, to let the brethren speak and not to usurp authority, but supposing we just get together as sisters and we have a sisters meeting and it's okay then, isn't it, for sisters to teach and preach and so on.

Well I guess I have a bit of a difficulty with that and my difficulty is this, that as I look at the seven different meetings of an assembly and you can look at them yourself, you can either take time to read through the book of the acts or you could for convenience just get Mr. Crawford's book and look at them.

Of the seven different meetings of an assembly, the only assembly where the only meeting where the entire assembly is not together is an oversight meeting. Every other gathering of the assembly is open to everyone in the assembly.

So where do we find a meeting just for sisters? Don't find it in the New Testament. Well maybe we can just fit it in somewhere. Well you see the problem with that is this, what is being said today from this platform I will have to answer for at the judgment seat of Christ, but so will the overseers of this assembly.

They are responsible for this platform. They are responsible for all that is taught. That doesn't mean they've got to agree with every little nuance that I have, every way I see something. They may think Jezebel wasn't a real woman.

That's not the issue. What I mean is they are responsible for the principles I am teaching and the truth I am giving to the people of God. So obviously they've got to be here. I mean they can't be responsible for it if they're not here.

The moment you begin to segregate a group of the assembly off to the without the oversight, it may go well for a while. And there may be godly women who could teach and could teach better than we teach.

That's not the issue. But you have established a venue, you have established a foundation where someone could begin teaching something that the oversight has no knowledge of and could begin undermining truth that the oversight would hold dear.

Someone says well what about young people's meetings? Well young people's meetings as long as the old people are invited are perfectly fine. Nothing wrong with the oversight being exercised that there be ministry especially for young people and whether it's a Saturday night or after a conference to say we're going to have a meeting tonight especially for the young people.

But that meeting is open to all and the oversight is there. They're controlling what is being taught. Any meeting outside the control of the oversight is opening a door for difficulty and for divisiveness and for teaching contrary to the word of God that the oversight does not know about and able to correct and to control.

So just suffer that word of exhortation, that explanation for for what we are looking at here because I think it's vital to see then that what he is coming to in this section as he is dealing with this woman Jezebel is a woman who was out of place teaching not only teaching herself but what she was teaching and how she was teaching it and so on.

The Judgment of Jezebel and the Responsibility of Those Taught

Now the time is almost gone let me hurry just by mentioning the not just the teacher but those who were taught she teaches my servants. You notice what it says in verse number 20 to teach and to seduce my servants.

I would think that what is being touched upon here and maybe in an oblique way is that here were those who were of service to God and as a result of wrong doctrine as the result of what they were being taught usefulness for God was being sacrificed and being lost.

There was laxity that was being permitted verse 20 the tolerance of evil now suffers that woman Jezebel and there was the testimony to their weakness. It's interesting to me that Jezebel was married to a weak inept leader called Ahab.

Remember when he couldn't get in Naboth's vineyard he turned his head to the wall and wept like a little baby and she says aren't you the king of Israel come on get with it you're acting like a little just so weak and vacillating and that's what the leadership apparently was like here weak not willing to deal with an issue not willing to address problems as they occurred but marked by weakness just like an Ahab manipulated controlled by Jezebel in all of his dealings.

I'm going to have to skip over a few things let me just touch on the the loss that was promised on the woman herself on her companions on her children I would take it the idea of her children is that the fruit of all her teaching would be judged by God and would come to naught.

The fruit of her teaching would be would be judged by God and the woman herself would be put into a place of absolute uselessness limited in all of her movements and in all of her teaching and so the loss that was promised as a result of this wickedness that was being permitted in the assembly there at Thyatira.

The Faithful Remnant and the Call to Hold Fast

Let me pass over the lesson that was being proclaimed and let me just touch on the loyalty that he he prizes so the loyalty that the Lord prizes amidst all of this amidst what we would think we would hardly call an assembly and we won't go into that the Lord calls in an assembly he will come in chastening upon it.

If there is no change he will deal with it he will take care of it. But amidst all of that there were those that he he prized. But to you I say and to the remnant those who are not holding that doctrine those who did not know the the depths of satan's treachery and satan's wickedness.

Those who are being faithful to divine truth those who are standing for God in adverse circumstances so that God never expects us to sit back and to complain and to grumble and to use that as an excuse to do nothing.

Now I know there are none of the assemblies represented here that even in a faint way resemble what we are looking at in Thyatira. But there still is a possibility that some of us who have a negative bent can see difficulties inconsistencies.

We can find faults in leaders. We can find faults in their wives. We can find faults in the preachers. We can find faults in the Sunday school teachers. And so we use that as a reason to sit back and do nothing.

Why should I do something if they're going to do that. And why should I do this if they don't do that. Now he says to you I say into the remnant as many as don't have this doctrine as many as have not known that the depths of satan I will place upon you no other yolks no other burdens.

But he says what you have. Hold fast till I come upon the scene hold it fast. Continue faithfully to serve continue faithfully to labor continue faithfully to uphold divine truth. And so he the recognition of their limitations he recognized what they could and could not do.

He gave encouragement to them and he gave a direction for their look till I come now it may well be that the till I come of verse 25 is his coming and chastening on the assembly. But certainly when we come to verse number 28 we have the clearest reference to his coming as the bright and morning star.