Eyes like flame of fire

Rev.2:18-19, ‘And to the ^[h]angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: ¹⁹ “I know your works, love, ^[i]service, faith, and your ^[j]patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first..’

 Every message to  the seven churches begins with a sentence which speaks about the Lord Himself. To the church of Ephesus, the Lord introduced Himself as the one who holds the seven stars in the right hand, while to the church of  Smyrna, He introduced Himself as the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. In this church of Thyatira,  the Lord introduces Himself as the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet lie fine brass.

This introduction in fact has a very strong message behind it.  It presents a strong relation between eyes and feet. Our feet takes us to the place where our eyes are focused. In other words, our vision controls our walk. If our eyes are enlightened, our feet will walk on the path of light.  This introduction also includes the phrase of ‘Son of God’, which presents the role of the  Lord in connection with what He did on earth .  In all other churches, the eternal qualities of God has been presented. But here, the eternal qualites has been combined with what He did on earth while He abode on this earth as the Son of God. The eyes like flame has been combined with the feet like brass.

The eyes like flame of fire represents holiness in perfectness. Fire shows the devouring nature of holiness.  Nothing less than perfectness in holiness can stand before this flame of holiness.  Ex.33:20, ‘But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live’. Jesus, while on earth lived a holy life. Holiness is not just being free of sin but is also doing exactly what the Lord wants us to do. This includes doing nothing more and nothing less than what He wants us to do. Jesus did only what the heavenly Father asked Him to do. Not even a word was spoken by His mouth which was not given by the heavenly Father.  Hebr.5:8-9, ‘…. ⁸ though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. ⁹ And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,…’Jesus, being the Son of God, who lived in holiness too had to reach a stage of perfectness. This  was not attained by any kind of repentance, for He who is holy never needed any repentance from sins. But yet He had to attain perfectness by completing the work which was given to Him by the Father. This happened when the last drop of His blood fell on the face of this earth as the price for the redemption of the mankind from the bondage of sin and death, and the Lord said, ‘It’s finished’(Jn.19:30).  For this, He had to go through much suffering. Brass represents suffering. In the Old Testament, the altar of sacrifice was made of wood, overlaid by brass, (Ex.38:1-4) so that it could withstand the fire of altar on which the sacrificed animals were burnt. Christian life is a sacrifice on the altar of Christ . Every sin gives pleasure to our flesh and for holiness, we ought to sacrifice this pleasure. Hence, our lives ought to be like a living sacrifice, holy and accepted by heaven, treading on the path of suffering to do His perfect will and thus growing in the perfectness of holiness, on which our inner eyes have been focused.

In Rev.2:19, the Lord commended the church for its many attributes, including charity. This is in fact the only church who was appreciated for its charity. Being appreciated for many virtues is good but being appreciated for charity is something very unique and extra-ordinary, especially during these last days, for on this ground many are wounded. ‘Mt.24:12-13, ‘ And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ‘

In v 20, the Lord rebuked the church for allowing  Jezebel for teaching His servants. Prophetess Jezebel represents false prophets and doctrines. Here, more than bearing them, they were handed over the ministries of the church. Such characters have much influence over the people and they easily seduce and lure people to do things which are forbidden. They present sins in attractive packages of spirituality, thus deceiving them. Church being the body of Christ ought to be ruled completely by the head of the church, who is Christ Himself. Every ministry within the boundaries of a church aim at perfecting of the saints and edifying of the body of Christ (Eph.4:11-12). Hence every ministry should be handed over to the people sanctified and chosen by the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:1-3). No human influence should interfere in this selection.

Verses 21 to 23 speaks about the judgement pronounced on such acts when the time given for repentance is not used. Our Lord is merciful and just. His mercy always gives  a time for repentance, even to the most wicked lives. He gave time to repent to the hard hearted Pharaoh of Egypt during the days of Moses. He gave time to repent to Judas Iscariot who had planned secretly to betray the Lord. Yet how often we take this for granted and misinterpret His silence as  acceptance by heaven (Rom.2:4). But at the end of it, His judgement speaks about who the one is who has eyes like flame of fire. Rev.2:23, ‘ I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches^[p] the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.’ His judgement makes us realize about His zeal for holiness. May we fear His holiness and build up our lives accordingly.

V 24 addresses to the remnant in this church who did not stand for this doctrine of Jezebel. Every kindred, every people, every nation, every tongue has a remnant (Rev.5:9), whom the Lord is preparing to be the bride, adorned for her husband. This proves the verse of Mt.24:14, ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.’ The latest statistics shows that there are at least ten nations where its very dangerous to live a Christian life on account of severe persecution. May this burden of the Lord grasp the depth of our hearts and cause us to cry for nations to open their doors for the good news to be preached without fear.

 Rev.2:25, ‘But hold fast what you have till I come.’  Holding fast is clinging to the Word of God which alone has the power to sustain us in His grace till He returns in glory. Aspiring to obey the same in completeness without any compromises is the only way to hold on to His Word.

Verses 26 to 29 speaks about the rich rewards awaiting for the overcomers. But the greatest reward is to be with the Lord forever. His presence and love is over and above all the rewards and crowns. May His love  motivate us  more than the rewards to run this race of faith without being disqualified.

The message to the church of Thyatira ends with the note of invitation to the ones with ears to hear to the Spirit of the Lord. God speaks to all but only those who are willing to obey really hears what He speaks. Rest of the audience are like the  way side, stony places and the thorny places where the seeds fell and refused to give fruits (Mt.23:1-23). With every passing hour, the time for judgement is fast approaching us. Lets realize this truth. Yet another year is now soon coming to an end. Lets ponder over our vision about our life. Is it focused on the One who searches^[p] the minds and hearts, the One who has eyes like flaming fire? If not, our walk is not right. If not, our feet is trodding on the wide way instead of the narrow way. If not, we are fast approaching the eternal lake of fire instead of eternal life in Christ. Let’s use the time being given to us to repent. Jesus loves us. He is watching over us. He is waiting for us. He has paid the price for us.

God bless us all

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