Reading for April 17th

Read Revelation 2.18-29 In 2.18-29: The letter from the Son of God to Thyatira: Holdfast. Thyatira was an inland commercial and manufacturing center with many trade guilds. It was also the home of an important temple of Apollo that was famous for its prophetic oracles given through a priestess known as the Sibyl. In verse 20: Jezebel, the ancient queen' who sponsored the prophets of Baal against Elijah (1 Kings 18-22), is symbolic of John's opponent here; Jezebel is not her real name. On fornication and food sacrificed to idols, see 2.14. Paul's regulations were less strick that John's; see 1 Cor 8-10. In verse 22: Adultery is probably symbolic of worshipping other gods. In verse 23: Her children are her disicples. Minds is literally kidneys, the seat of emotions and feelings. The heart was the center of the will. In verse 24: The address to the rest reveals a divison in the community. The deep things of Satan is clearly a local phrase at whose meaning we can only guess. Laying on them no other burden might echo the teaching older than Paul demanding absention from sacrificed meat (Acts 15.28). In verse 27: The iron rod is a reference to the powers of Israel's king (Psalm 2.9). In verse 28: The morning star is Venus, but for John it is a symbol of Christ (22.16). Comments or Questions..