hearts and minds,” he will repay each of you according to your deeds. One should not miss the sudden change of personal pronouns at this point in the letter. What began as “unless they repent of her ways” is then followed with “all the churches will know,” which in turn is followed by “I will repay each of you according to your deeds.” Thus, whether intended so by John or not, lying at the center of the letters to the seven churches is this word of both comfort and warning to them all. Now the appellation at the beginning of the letter, “the words of the Son of God,” also makes good sense. The one speaking these words to the believers in Thyatira is at the same time speaking them to all the churches, and thus through John to all the subsequent readers of this document. So also while it is true that this clause comes at the end of the section of admonition, it further serves as the appropriate lead-in to the words of encouragement that follow.
To this point John’s concern has been with the influence of “Jezebel” on this community as a whole, and the description has been all about her, both her false teaching and the Lord’s judgment on her; and all of this for the sake of “all the churches.” But with verse 24 the living Christ addresses the rest of you in Thyatira by way of admonition; and quite in keeping with the concerns of the letter, “the rest” are described in terms over against Jezebel herself. Thus you do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets. This latter phrase comes unexpectedly to the reader, since nothing that has preceded would indicate that her teaching is either related to Satan or is full of “deep secrets.” In fact, the NIV has simply tried to make good sense in English of a phrase in Greek that literally says, “who have not known the depths of Satan, as they call it.” A straightforward reading of this clause suggests that Jezebel and her followers are themselves responsible for calling their “deep secrets” the “depths of Satan,” whatever that might mean. Scholarly guesses, of course, have been long forthcoming; but in fact no one from this distance can be sure of either the what or the why of this teaching, or of the intent that lay behind calling it by this name. Very likely she was promoting her own teaching as “the deep things of God,” whereas reality is that she was teaching the deep things of Satan. Another credible option is that, very much like the church in Corinth, she had argued that since an idol has no reality as such, one can enter the deep places of Satan himself without fearing harm. In any case, what is certain is that John, through revelation from Christ, recognizes her teaching as an abomination, while many of the believers in Thyatira seem obviously not to have done so.
It is of interest that the preceding appellation regarding “Satan’s so-called deep secrets” actually lies at the heart of Christ’s commendation “to the rest of you in Thyatira,” which basically says to them, first, that they are doing well, and second, urges them to persist in so doing “until I come.” What they receive, therefore, is an admonition preceded by a promise: I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come. To readers at a later time in history this seems to be a most unusual way of putting it, where the concern is simply that they remain faithful to Christ until the end. The implication of the language on its own would seem to be that following Christ already has a dimension of “burden” to it, to which nothing further will be added. More likely, however, what is expressed in this somewhat negative way is ultimately intended quite positively. There is no “burden” to be seen in their not being able to indulge in eating idol food and engaging in sexually irresponsible behavior in the context of pagan deities. Rather, even though this prohibition might be understood as burdensome by some in that cultural setting, the Lord’s real concern lies with what they are to do rather than to flirt with Jezebel and her teaching. They are simply “to hold on to what [they] have,” and to do so until the coming of Christ himself. Simple obedience is not burdensome, whereas trying to finesse Christian teaching so as to make it fit with one’s own desires can be thoroughly so.15
In the concluding paragraph, and for reasons that are not at all clear, a subtle change in the order of things takes place, which is also maintained in the following three letters. Thus the admonition, Whoever has ears, let them hear, which occurs at this point in the first three letters, now appears at the end. What these believers receive, rather, is a lavish promise, made to those who—in keeping with what is said to the other churches—are victorious, which in this case is elaborated with the addition of do my will to the end. That is, being “victorious” in John’s understanding lies with doing Christ’s will on a continuing basis. The promise is expressed altogether in biblical terms: I will give the “victorious” authority over the nations, which is then elaborated, they will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery. This language is taken directly from the Septuagint of Psalm 2:8–9. The first promise echoes 2:8, where David is told by Yahweh to “ask of me” and “I will give you the nations for your inheritance.” Although on its own one might question whether John had this passage in mind, what is said next makes it certain, since it is a nearly direct citation of verse 2:9.
The significance of this citation lies with the fact that this psalm, placed at the beginning of the Davidic psalter, was understood by early Christians to find its fulfillment in Christ (see, e.g., Acts 13:33 and Matt 3:17). Thus the implication of the promise is that these believers would be participating with Christ in the final judgment of the nations (see Luke 22:28–30 and 1 Corinthians 6:2; cf. also Rev. 12:5). It is this reality that lies behind the addition, just as I have received authority from my Father, which again in its own way reflects a Christian understanding of Psalm 2.
But that is not all. Christ will also give them the morning star. Here is yet another obscure image for those of us reading the document at a much later time. The term first occurs in an especially obscure passage in Isaiah 14:12, where it most likely refers to the fallen king of Babylon, and thus has a negative referent. But the present usage is altogether positive, and in 22:16 below Christ himself is called “the bright Morning Star.” Thus perhaps what John understood this to mean was that the victors will be given eschatological glory, which they will share with Christ himself. Or perhaps this is a somewhat obtuse way of indicating that they will receive Christ himself (= be eternally in his presence) as the ultimate prize of their victory.
To the Church in Sardis (3:1–6)
1“To the angel16 of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits17 of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
4Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5Those who are victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out their names from the book of life, but will acknowledge their names before my Father and his angels. 6Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Of the seven cities to whose churches these letters are written, Sardis easily outstrips the others in terms of its antiquity and well-known history. Its most famous king, the sixth-century Croesus, became legendary for his wealth. Indeed, in some ways the city of John’s time had everything: choice location, climate, economy, wealth, and culture. But the city also presents us with an interesting paradox, since its history and significance were both real and illusory.
On the one hand, its history went way back, as far as—or further than—ancient Troy to the north. Its location determined everything. It was situated fifty miles east-northeast of Ephesus, positioned on a huge promontory that jutted out from a mountain range at the south end of a large and very fertile valley. There it sat 1500 feet above the floor of the valley, barely connected to the mountain range, and with sheer
