In this message we come to the fourth church, the church in Thyatira (Rev. 2:18-29), the church in apostasy. Thyatira in Greek means “sacrifice of perfume,” or, “unceasing sacrifice.” As a sign, the church in Thyatira prefigures the Roman Catholic Church, which was fully formed as the apostate church by the establishment of the universal papal system in the latter part of the sixth century. This apostate church is full of sacrifices, as demonstrated in her unceasing mass.
Verse 18 says, “These things says the Son of God, who has eyes as a flame of fire, and His feet like shining brass.” The apostate Catholic Church strongly emphasizes Christ as the Son of Mary. Thus, here, the Lord, protesting against the apostasy of the Catholic Church, says that He is the Son of God.
In dealing with the worldly church, the church in Pergamos, the Lord referred to Himself as the One who has the sharp two-edged sword. In dealing with this apostate church, the church in Thyatira, He refers to Himself as the One who has “eyes as a flame of fire, and feet like shining brass.” The worldly church requires the dealing of His smiting and killing word, whereas the apostate church needs the judging of His searching eyes and treading feet. The Lord’s eyes search the inward parts and the heart, and His feet judge and give to everyone according to his works (Rev. 2:23).
In verse 19 the Lord says, “I know your works and love and faith and service and your endurance, and that your last works are more than the first.” The apostate Catholic Church has many works and services. Her works in the last days are more than in the past.
One of the crucial points in the epistle to the church in Thyatira concerns the woman Jezebel. The Lord refers to her in verse 20, where He says, “But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My slaves astray to commit fornication and to eat idol sacrifices.” As we shall see, the woman here is the very woman prophesied by the Lord in Matt. 13:33, who added leaven (signifying evil, heretical, and pagan things) into the fine flour (signifying Christ as the meal offering for the satisfaction of God and man). This woman is also the great prostitute of Rev. 17, who mixes abominations with the divine things. The pagan wife of Ahab, Jezebel, was a type of this apostate church. The apostate church is filled with all manner of fornication and idolatry, both spiritual and physical.
Here the Lord indicates that the apostate church is a self-appointed prophetess. A prophet is one who speaks for God with God’s authorization. The apostate Catholic Church presumes to be authorized by God to speak for God. She demands that people listen to her rather than to God.
The church in Pergamos had the teachings of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans, and these are continued in this apostate church. Furthermore, the Catholic Church herself teaches, causing her people to listen to her rather than to the holy Word of God. Her adherents are all drugged by her heretical, religious teaching, not caring for Christ as their life and life supply, as indicated by the tree of life and hidden manna promised by the Lord to the churches in Ephesus and Pergamos (Rev. 2:7, 17).
Matthew 13:33 says, “Another parable He spoke to them: The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.” The sound teachers of the Bible agree that the Jezebel in Rev. 2 is undoubtedly the woman prophesied by the Lord in Matthew 13:33. These two women actually are one. The great harlot in Rev. 17 is also the same woman. Thus, the woman in Matt. 13 is the Jezebel in Revelation 2, and Jezebel becomes the great harlot who is called the great Babylon in Revelation 17. If she is not the harlot, then who is? The Jezebel in the Old Testament was a prefigure of “the woman Jezebel” in Revelation 2. When the Lord spoke to the church in Thyatira, He said that there was a present-day Jezebel. According to history, this present-day Jezebel undoubtedly is the apostate church, the Roman Catholic Church. In using the name Jezebel, the Lord was reminding us of what Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, did: she came from a heathen background and brought pagan things into the worship of God by His people. This is the crucial and most central point in the epistle to Thyatira. The principle of the deeds of the apostate church is to mix the heathen, pagan things with the worship of God by His people. She helps God’s people to worship Him, but she does not do so in God’s way; she does it in her own pagan, heathen way. Ever since the apostate church began, she has been absorbing paganism. Wherever she goes, she assimilates things related to the worship of idols.
One of the most striking examples of the deeds of this apostate church is the so-called Christmas. We want Christ, but we do not need a mass. Originally, December 25, the so-called Christmas Day, was the day the ancient Europeans worshipped the sun. They said that December 25 was the birthday of the sun. When the apostate church spread to Europe, she assimilated this ancient custom because she had taken in thousands of unbelievers into the church. These unbelievers still wanted to celebrate the birthday of their god. Therefore, to accommodate them, the apostate church declared December 25 to be the birthday of Christ. This is the source of Christmas. The book, The Two Babylons, exposes the origin of the evil, demonic, pagan things that were brought into the apostate church. If we see this picture on the negative side, then we shall know what we must be on the positive side.
From the very beginning of the Bible, God’s intention has been to feed His people with the life supply. Thus, in the garden there was the tree of life as the life supply. After man’s fall, God, in His redemption, did not give up this thought of feeding His people. When He instituted the Passover, God commanded His people to strike the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and, under the covering of the blood, to eat the meat of the lamb. After the children of Israel had been delivered from Egypt and were traveling through the wilderness, God gave them heavenly manna as their life supply (Exo. 16:14-15). Eventually, the children of Israel entered into the good land of Canaan. On the day they entered into the land, the manna ceased, and they began to eat the rich produce of the land (Josh. 5:12). The New Testament confirms that all these are types of Christ, not only as our Redeemer but also as our life supply. As the Lamb, Christ has two elements — the blood for redeeming and the meat for feeding. In John 6 the Lord Jesus revealed that He is the heavenly manna on whom God’s people may feed. We know that the rich produce of the land signifies the riches of Christ. Christ is not only our Lamb and our manna; He is also our good land. As the Lamb, He has the meat, and as the good land, He has all the riches for our life supply. In the Old Testament there were also the offerings which came from the produce of the good land. Among the five main offerings, the second was the meal offering which was for the feeding of God’s people. All the serving priests fed upon the meal offering. This signifies that Christ is the life supply for God’s priests. All God’s serving ones should feed on Christ.
Although this is clear in the Holy Word, most Christians have missed it. When I was in Christianity, I never heard a message telling me how to eat Christ. Nevertheless, the crucial point in the Holy Word is that Christ is our life supply and that we must eat Him (John 6:57). In Matthew 13:33 the Lord indicated that He was the fine flour. His word regarding the meal, or fine flour, in this verse refers to the meal offering which was primarily composed of fine flour. Hence, the fine flour is a full and complete type of the Lord Jesus as our life supply. As the meal offering, Christ in His humanity is the fine flour for our food. In Matthew 13 the Lord Jesus predicted that an evil woman would add leaven to this fine flour. This is exactly what the apostate church does, taking in the pagan leaven and adding it to the fine flour of Christ to form an evil mixture. In this, the apostate church is very evil and subtle.
Some in the apostate church would say, “Don’t you think we have something real? Don’t you think we have God, Christ, and the Bible?” Yes, they do, but it is not pure; it is a mixture. The apostate church has the fine flour, but within the flour there is leaven. When I was in Manila, I visited a Catholic cathedral. At the entrance of this cathedral was a statue of Mary. Noticing that one of the hands of the statue was almost completely worn out, I asked the people what had happened. They said that everyone who entered the cathedral firstly touched the hand of the statue and that, through the years, this had worn out the hand. When I asked them about the need for such a statue, they said, “If people do not have statues, they cannot understand what you are saying when you talk about the Bible. They need something solid to grasp.” This is their justification for having statues of Jesus and Mary. What subtlety! That is not Jesus or Mary — that is an idol. Apparently, they worship Jesus; actually, they worship an image of stone. This is the subtlety of the enemy. Now we can see the evil of the apostate church — it absorbs pagan things and adds them to the fine flour. How wicked this is!
Due to this evil mixture, there is much idol worship in the apostate church. The Lord said that Jezebel teaches people to commit fornication and to eat idol sacrifices. Jezebel teaches her people to worship idols. In the Roman Catholic Church the worship of idols is taught. In Manila, I saw many people purchasing candles at the candle counter and placing them before the images and idols on the walls. Wherever there is idolatry, there is also fornication. Jezebel not only brought in paganism and idolatry; she also brought in fornication. This is abominable, and we cannot tolerate it. It is not a matter of doctrinal debate — it is a matter of idolatry and fornication.
In 1937, when I was traveling in North China, a case of demon possession was brought to my attention. A certain Christian sister had become possessed. When I was asked the reason for this, I said that, in principle, either sin or some idols or images in that sister’s home would give ground for the demon to possess her. I was told that there were no idols or images in her home. Nevertheless, the demon came again and again to trouble her. I told her that since she was not involved in anything sinful, there must be some sort of idol or image in her home and that she should search thoroughly for it. Eventually, I learned that on her wall was a picture of the so-called Jesus, and I told her to burn it. From the moment she burned that picture, the demon departed. In this, we see the subtlety of the enemy.
In verse 21 the Lord Jesus said, “I gave her time that she might repent, and she is not willing to repent of her fornication.” History proves that this is true of the apostate Catholic Church. Even up to this day, she will not repent of her evil deeds.
The Lord also said, “Behold, I will cast her into a bed.” A bed is normally used for sleep and rest, and abnormally for sickness. The Lord indicates here that the apostate church is incurably sick and will remain so until her final judgment. Jezebel’s evils have made her sick; she is not at all healthy. The entire apostate church is in a sick condition. Look at her situation: some things are heavenly and others are earthly; some things are of God and more things are of Satan; some things are holy and other things are secular, common, and worldly. This leaven is not only in that apostate church, but has spread into the so-called reformed church. Jezebel is demonic, satanic, devilish, and even hellish. It is not a small thing for us to have our eyes opened to see the devilish and demonic things in the Catholic Church. We simply cannot imagine how deplorable this apostate church is.
In verse 22 the Lord not only said that He would cast Jezebel into a bed but also “those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works.” The great tribulation here is different from that in Rev. 7:14 and from the great tribulation in Matthew 24:21. The great tribulation in 7:14 is the tribulation which the church suffers throughout the centuries of persecution. The one in Matt. 24:21 is the great tribulation in the last three and a half years of the age which will fall upon all the dwellers of the earth. But the great tribulation here is the affliction which the Lord will cause the apostate church to suffer, probably through the attacks of the Antichrist on her at the end of this age.
In verse 23 the Lord said, “And I will kill her children with death.” This may refer to God’s destroying the Roman Catholic Church through the Antichrist and his followers at the end of this age. If we read Revelation carefully, we shall see that at the end of this age the Antichrist will damage the Catholic Church. The Antichrist will rebel against every religion, set himself up as God (2 Thes. 2:4), forbid the Jews and the Catholics to worship their God, and compel people to worship him. At that time, he will persecute the Jews and kill many of those in the Catholic Church.
Verse 24 says, “But I say to you, the rest in Thyatira, (as many as do not have this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they say) I place no other burden upon you.” “Deep things” means depths as in Ephesians 3:18. It figuratively denotes mysterious things. The Roman Catholic Church has many mysteries or deep doctrines. Against the suffering church there was the synagogue of Satan (2:9); with the worldly church there was the throne of Satan (2:13); and within the apostate church there are “the deep things of Satan.” The religion of the synagogue, the world under Satan’s throne, and the philosophy of the satanic mysteries are all used by Satan to damage and corrupt the church.
We have seen that the church suffered persecution from the synagogue of Satan and that she eventually became worldly, dwelling in the place where Satan dwells and where his throne is. All this is the subtlety of the enemy. It all originates with Satan. But here in the fourth church there is something more serious than this. It is not merely a matter of the synagogue of Satan, the place where Satan dwells, or where Satan’s throne is. Now Satan has come into the church and has saturated the church with himself. In the apostate church are the deep things of Satan, the mysterious teachings of Satan. This is the satanic philosophy. The apostate church does teach the satanic mysteries. This indicates that the deep thought of Satan, Satan’s concept, has saturated the apostate church. Eventually, this church becomes the embodiment of Satan. The proper church is the Body of Christ, but the apostate church is the embodiment of Satan. Christ indwells the church, but Satan indwells the apostate church in a subtle way. Satan always acts in a subtle way. When he first came to man, he came in the form of a beautiful serpent. Yet that was not merely a serpent — it was Satan. Satan always takes on a good form. No one would imagine that Satan could put on the “church” as his form. But in the epistle to the church in Thyatira we see that this is the real situation of today’s Christendom. Christendom has become an organ of Satan. Although it has the name Christ in it, actually within it there is Satan himself. We all must see this.
The deep things of Satan, being the satanic philosophy, are subtle. In the apostate church there are many so-called mysteries. All the mysteries taught by this evil church are satanic philosophies. One of their philosophies is that if you do not add things to the truths of the Bible, it will be difficult for people to accept them. The Lord, being wise, likened this to the leaven put into the fine flour that makes the bread easy to eat. The apostate church says that if people do not have a Christmas, it will be difficult for them to accept the truth regarding the birth of Christ. The mass is the leaven added to the fine flour. This is subtle and evil.
If you think that it is too strong to say that this evil woman is the embodiment of Satan, I would ask you to consider Rev. 17:4-5. Verse 4 says, “And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication.” This evil woman does have a good appearance: she is gilded with gold, precious stones, and pearls, the very materials with which the New Jerusalem is built. While the New Jerusalem is solidly built with these three precious materials, this evil woman is merely gilded with them. To be gilded means to wear a facade, to be superficially attractive, to have a pleasing or showy appearance that conceals something evil. Her appearance is attractive outwardly, but she is detestable inwardly. This woman also has a golden cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication. In typology, gold signifies the divine nature. Apparently, this evil woman holds something of God, but actually she is inwardly full of abominations. In the Bible abomination mainly denotes two things — idolatry and fornication. These two things are abominations in the eyes of God. Apparently, this woman is very attractive, being gilded with gold, pearls, and precious stones and holding a golden cup. If you have no insight, you will be cheated by her. But we must have the insight to see through her. When we see what this woman is inwardly, we realize that she is filled with abominations and filthiness.
Verse 5 says, “And upon her forehead a name was written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of the Prostitutes and the Abominations of the Earth.” The Lord searches the hearts of people and knows what is within them. He has insight and sees inside this evil woman. The Lord calls her, “The Mother of the Prostitutes,” meaning that she is the source of all spiritual fornication. Therefore, it is fair to say that she is the embodiment of Satan. We need the insight to see through her outward appearance. This is why we have the two-edged sharp sword, the word of the Holy Bible.
We thank the Lord for His sovereign grace. Because His grace is sovereign, He can save us in any environment. Many have been saved even in the evil environment of the apostate Catholic Church. No one can say that the Catholic Church does not preach the Bible. In China, many heathen Chinese learned the name of God, the name of Jesus, and a few verses from the Bible through the teaching of the Catholic Church. The evil thing, however, is this: after people are helped by this apostate church, they are frustrated from going on to know the Lord in a genuine way. Some who, through the Lord’s sovereign grace, were saved when they were in the apostate church spontaneously loved that evil thing. Many of them would say, “If this is evil, then how could I have been saved through it?” Therefore, although many former Catholics have come into the church life, deep within, some of them may still sympathize with this evil woman. They do not hate her as the Lord does. Read the epistle to Thyatira once again. The Lord has no sympathy with Jezebel because that evil woman has been thoroughly saturated with Satan, the evil one. Satan is in every fiber of that wicked woman.
We should have nothing to do with this apostate church. It is not the Body of Christ. It is not the church of God — it is the embodiment of Satan. It is subtle and evil. If you would see even more about the apostate church, read Brother Nee’s book, The Orthodoxy of the Church. Anyone who has a heart for the Lord and for His recovery must thoroughly know this apostate church. Once we know her, we would not appreciate anything related to her. Rather, we must declare that she is the great harlot, the great Babylon, and that we must desert her.
As we shall see, the book of Revelation indicates that this great harlot has some daughters. We must be thoroughly enlightened about the apostate church. Once we are enlightened, we shall know where we must be as far as the church is concerned. We are in the Lord’s recovery. We are in the Body of Christ, the church of God, and we have nothing to do with Jezebel, the evil woman, the harlot, the great Babylon. And we have nothing to do with her daughters.
In this epistle the Lord indicates that He will judge Jezebel. In 17:16 we are told that during the great tribulation the Lord will allow the Antichrist to kill and to damage this apostate church. At that time, religious Babylon will be torn down. But before that time, this apostate church will go on according to prophecy. Verse 25 indicates that the apostate Catholic Church will remain until the Lord comes back.
In verse 26 the Lord says, “And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.” To overcome here means to overcome Catholicism. The overcomers, the rest in Thyatira, do not have Jezebel’s teaching (v. 24), have not known the deep things of Satan, hold fast the Lord’s testimony until He comes (v. 25), and keep the Lord’s works until the end (v. 26). “My works” in verse 26 refers to the things the Lord has accomplished and is doing, such as His crucifixion, resurrection, intercession, etc., in contrast to the works of the apostate church under the influence of Satan.
In verse 26 the Lord says that to the one who overcomes He will give authority over the nations. This is a prize to the overcomers of reigning with Christ over the nations in the millennial kingdom (Rev. 20:4, 6). This promise of the Lord strongly implies that those who do not answer His call to overcome degraded Christianity will not participate in the reign of the millennial kingdom.
In verse 27 the Lord says, speaking of the overcomer, “And he will shepherd them with an iron rod, as vessels of pottery are broken in pieces, as I also have received from My Father.” In the millennial kingdom, the ruler is a shepherd. In Psa. 2:9, God gave Christ authority to rule over the nations. Here, Christ gives the same authority to His overcomers.
Finally, in verse 28 the Lord gives a promise to the overcomer, saying, “I will give him the morning star.” At Christ’s first appearing, the wise men, not the Jewish religionists, saw His star (Matt. 2:2, 9-10). At His second appearing, He will be the morning star to His overcomers who watch for His coming. To all the others, He will appear only as the sun (Mal. 4:2).
Once again, in verse 29, the Lord says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” All those in the apostate church, which demands that people listen to her rather than to God, need more of the speaking of the Spirit. If anyone listens to the speaking of the Spirit, he will hear the living word of the Lord to deny all the apostate items taught by the apostate church and become an overcomer for the satisfaction of the Lord.
At the end of each of the first three epistles, the ear for hearing is mentioned first, and then the call for overcoming. At the end of each of the last four epistles, the order is reversed. This proves that the first three of the seven churches are one group and the last four are another. The number seven in the Bible is composed either of six plus one, such as six days plus one day equaling one week; or three plus four, as in these two chapters where the seven churches are divided into one group of three and another group of four. Six plus one is in God’s creation, whereas three plus four is in God’s new creation, the church. Since all things were created in six days, the number six signifies the creation, especially man, who was created on the sixth day; and since the seventh day was the conclusion of the six days as the one day of God’s rest, the number one signifies the unique Creator. Hence, six plus one means that all things were created unto God for the accomplishment of His purpose. The unique Creator, God, is triune, as signified by the number three. Since the creation is represented before God by four living creatures (Rev. 4:6-9), the number four signifies creatures, especially man. Hence, three plus four means that God is added to His creature, man, and thus His purpose is being accomplished. The church is not only the creature, but the creature with the Creator, the Triune God, dispensed into her. She is the real number seven; the real three, the Triune God, added to the real four, the created man. Therefore, the number seven denotes the completion in God’s move, firstly in the old creation, and then in the new creation, the church.
