Revelation2:23-25
This letter is unusual: it is the central letter and the longest, but the historical city of Thyatira is not nearly as noteworthy or influential as the others. The most notable feature was that it was on a prominent trade-route and there were a number of trade-guilds that dealt in purple-dyed woven linen.
(Lydia, dealer in purple cloth, converted in Acts16:14, came from Thyatira.)
Jesus commends the congregation for their service and perseverance which came from their love and faith, but he is concerned about a "Jezebel" who leads the congregation into idolatry and immorality. Even more concerning was a notion that in order to defeat Satan one had to enter his stronghold, i.e., experience evil deeply.
In all likelihood, the scenario was that the various trade-guilds would hold banquets in the temples where food would be dedicated to idols and as the wine flowed the immorality started. Not attending these meals would take Christians out of the business "loop."
There are many parallels today: think of the businessman who is tempted to go for drinks with the guys in the office after work and the trouble that often comes from that.
So, there may have been prominent women who were in the linen business, like Lydia was, but who said "It's not so bad, you can go, after all, you don't know whether your faith is firm unless you have tested it!
It's kind of like the teenager who, when caught, said "Yes I am smoking, but I'm not inhaling it into my lungs..."
If you read the whole letter, it portrays a fierce picture of Christ and delivers an urgent message: You can't play on the Devil's Playground and think you won't get hurt.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
