The Church of Thyatira in Revelation

Thyatira was a small, obscure town in a valley, located about 40 miles southeast of Pergamum. The church there was likely established during Paul’s third missionary journey, when he was ministering in Ephesus for almost three years (Acts 19:10). It was a fortress protecting the cities to the south and was historically used to defend against enemies coming from the north. Thyatira was also an important trade route with thriving local industries, especially coppersmithing. Perhaps because of this, the vision of the Son of God in the text is described as having “feet like burnished bronze.”

Thyatira had more trade guilds than any other city in the province of Asia. Inscriptions found there mention the following professions: wool workers, linen workers, outer garment makers, dyers, leather workers, potters, bakers, slave traders, and coppersmiths. Thyatira was especially famous for its purple dye, and Lydia, who sold purple cloth in Philippi, was from Thyatira (Acts 16:14).

In Thyatira, while there was a church of God, each trade guild had its own idol and worshipped false gods. Furthermore, the people of Thyatira were loyal to the Roman Emperor and burned incense to his statue. Workers in each guild were required to participate in idolatrous celebrations, eat food sacrificed to idols, and take part in lewd rituals that followed the feasts. Anyone who refused to do so would be unable to work within the guild’s jurisdiction and would face shame and persecution.

Thyatira had a guild of coppersmiths, so the Lord’s self-description as having “eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished bronze” signifies that He is constantly watching our intentions and actions. His gaze can strip away all human pretense and artifice, and He will judge and trample all sin within the church. The patron deity of Thyatira was Apollo, the son of Zeus, and the locals worshipped the Roman Emperor as the earthly manifestation of Apollo. Therefore, the Lord’s declaration to the church in Thyatira was that He is the true “Son of God.”

The church in Ephesus held firm to doctrinal purity but had lost its first love. The church in Thyatira was the opposite. They held fast to their first love and their good deeds were greater than at the beginning, showing a rare quality of patient endurance in faith. The Lord Jesus praised them for this in His later words in Revelation. Unfortunately, they wavered on doctrinal purity. The church in Thyatira had a lot of “love,” but “love” cannot replace truth, nor is it the same as spiritual life. If “love” is not built on the foundation of truth, no matter how many “good deeds” people perform, they are just “evil deeds” in God’s eyes (2 John 11).