4th city -- Thyatira

Revelation’s diamond for Thyatira— “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s”

Thyatira, another prosperous commercial center, boasted its purple dye and its guilds -- clothiers, bakers, tanners, linen workers, slave traders, shoemakers, coppersmiths, and a prosperous merchant whom JP calls “Jezebel.”

Jezebel is probably not her name. For JP, she’s like the Biblical Jezebel, the Sidonian princess married to Israel’s 8th century king, Ahab. Early on, she persuaded her husband, Ahaz, to set up shrines to her gods and goddesses in Israel (I Kings 16:31-33). This outraged the great Israelite prophet, Elijah, who summoned Jezebel’s prophets to a prophet’s duel on MT. Carmel. Her prophets lost; then Elijah killed them all. (I Kings 18:20-40).

Jezebel, an unhappy camper, vowed to kill Elijah, who fled for his life and wanted to die (I Kings 19:1-3).

“Jezebel” converted to Christianity, but she continued to worship Roman gods and goddesses. Why? She sold their statues in the marketplace! Women merchants from Thyatira were not unknown in the Bible. Luke tells the story of Lydia, a dealer in purple dye (a high-end product), who was Paul’s first convert in Europe. She became an ardent, hospitable Christian (ACTS 16: 13-15).

Unlike Lydia, “Jezebel” worked both sides of the street. She ignored Jesus’ words, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Luke 20:25), meaning: “Caesar gets his taxes, but worship belongs to God alone.”

“No,” said Jezebel, “we can worship both.” JP confronted her every time he was in town. I believe she organized a revolt against him and drove him to Patmos.

From Patmos, John wrote, “she refuses to repent of her ‘fornication’” (Rev. 2:21).

Did she run a string of high-end brothels in Thyatira? No. JP here follows a revered tradition from the old Testament, where idolatry is called “fornication.”

Ezekiel is the Biblical champion for using sexual imagery to describe religious disloyalty and faith sellouts. Especially in chapter 16 of his prophecy, he says of the Israelites who worshiped both the Lord God, God of Israel and the gods of the Egyptians. “You played the harlot; you spread your legs to every passerby. you made yourself phallic images and fornicated with them … you played the whore with your neighbors, the lustful Egyptians” (Ezekiel 16:15-27)

Just as the original Jezebel encouraged “fornication “In Israel, so Revelation’s “Jezebel” encouraged the same thing in Thyatira. She didn’t repent and, by herself, she never would. JP would never force her to turn her life around, no matter how hard he tried. Only God will turn her around. We don’t know when He did this.

In God’s heart, though, “Jezebel” is like all the other villains in the Book of Revelation. Snagged in the brambles of their own ideas and devices, the Good Shepherd will rescue them one day when He leaves the ninety-nine in the wilderness and brings these “lost sheep” back to the flock (Matthew 18:10-14; Luke 15:3-7).

I’ve met 4 Jezebels in my 58-year pastoral career – two men and two women. Each one hated me with a vengeance, and each one tried to send me into exile. Three were successful.

But every exile I went through turned out to be the best thing for me!That’s just how God works. We all need the Elijah experience or the John of Patmos experience to get to where God wants us to be.Let’s not write off “lost” sheep; sometimes they are the ones we need the most.