In this lesson we will continue to see the prophecies in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 concerning the stages of the church.
The fourth epistle in Revelation, to the church in Thyatira, prophetically describes the apostate Roman Catholic Church, from the establishment of the papal system in the latter part of the sixth century to Christ’s coming at the end of this age (2:18-29). Thyatira in Greek means “sacrifice of perfume,” or “unceasing sacrifice.” This apostate church is full of sacrifices, as demonstrated in her unceasing mass.
To the church in Thyatira the Lord said, “I know your works and love and faith and service and your endurance and that your last works are more than the first” (v. 19). This prophesies that the apostate church has many works and services, and her works in the last days are even more than those in the past. According to church history, in the Middle Ages the majority in the Roman Catholic Church were apostate and disapproved by the Lord, but there were still many faithful ones among them. They were “the rest in Thyatira” (v. 24), who rejected heresies to the uttermost, faithfully loved the Lord, and were willing to suffer for the Lord. They did not have the evil teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, nor did they know the deep things of Satan. Their works, love, faith, service, and endurance were acknowledged and approved by the Lord. Thus, the Lord reminded them, “Nevertheless what you have hold fast until I come” (v. 25).
The Lord rebuked the church in Thyatira for tolerating Jezebel, the woman who called herself a prophetess and taught the Lord’s slaves to commit fornication and to eat idol sacrifices (v. 20). The prophetess Jezebel referred to in this prophecy was the pagan wife of Ahab, the king of Israel (1 Kings 16:31). She urged Ahab to worship and to serve Baal, promoted idolatry among the children of Israel, and sought to kill the prophets of the children of Israel (21:25-26; 18:19; 19:2). Jezebel is also the woman prophesied by the Lord in Matthew 13:33, the woman 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. She is also the great harlot in Revelation 17 who mixes abominations with the divine things.
According to church history Jezebel the prophetess, as prophesied in Revelation 2, is undoubtedly the apostate church, the Roman Catholic Church. On the one hand, the apostate church mixes heathen, pagan things with the worship of God by His people. She helps God’s people to worship God, but she does not do it in God’s way; rather, she does it in a heathen, pagan way. The Roman Catholic Church has leavened everything related to Christ. The Roman Catholic Church does have Christ, the fine flour, but she has put leaven into the fine flour, thereby fulfilling the prophecy of Matthew 13:33, “the whole was leavened.” On the other hand, the apostate Roman Catholic Church is also a self-appointed prophetess, a person who presumes to be authorized by God to speak for God. She demands people to listen to her more than to God. Her adherents are drugged by her heretical, religious teachings and thus do not care for Christ as their life and life supply (Rev. 2:7, 17).