Revelation 2:18: And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass.

John's fourth letter was addressed to the angel (servant) of the church in Thyatira (Thigh-uh-TIE-rah).¹ This small but thriving town² was located about 30 to 40 miles southeast of Pergamos³ on the road to Sardis.⁴ Today, the town is called Ak-Hissar (White Castle) in modern Turkey⁵ because white marble is abundant in this location.⁶ There is no trace of past Christianity in the modern town.⁷

In the first century AD, Thyatira's primary industry was dyeing expensive cloth.⁸ This industry and others like it were controlled by pagan-dominated trade unions and workers guilds.⁹ Their immoral practices made them naturally opposed to Christianity.¹⁰ Thyatira's pagan-based trade guilds foreshadow latter-day conditions¹¹ in modern Babylon,¹² which stands opposite latter-day Zion.¹³

Acts 16:14 mentions Lydia, a wealthy businesswoman from Thyatira,¹⁴ who was "a seller of purple."¹⁵ This indicates that Lydia was probably a member of the dyer's guild.¹⁶ Even though she was from Thyatira, Lydia became Paul's first convert of Christ's ancient church in Philippi.¹⁷ When Lydia joined the church, she probably gave up or lost her prosperous business because she could no longer be associated with the immoral practices and pagan worship of her dyer's guild.¹⁸

Thyatira was a center for worship of the sun, one of the oldest¹⁹ and most pervasive forms of idolatry.²⁰ Before Thyatira was rebuilt by Seleucus Nicator (r. 301-281 BC), it was the location for the temple of the Lydian sun-god, Tyrimnos.²¹ By the first century AD, the city had a temple to Apollo, the Roman sun-god or god of light.²² Apollo was the primary god of the pagans in Thyatira at the time John wrote his letter.²³ His letter directly confronts the worship of this pagan god of the sun by declaring: These things saith the Son of God.²⁴ A similar play on the two words Sun and Son is found in the Book of Malachi, which refers to Christ as the Sun (S-u-n) of Righteousness instead of the Son (S-o-n) of Righteousness.²⁵

After Christ declared his divine sonship²⁶ to the Thyatirans, he described his sun-like features that include eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass.²⁷ The flaming eyes identify Jesus Christ as the one true God of light²⁸ from whom the sun derives its physical light.²⁹ Christ's highly polished feet of brass³⁰ symbolize his power, strength, and dominion to tread upon and destroy the wicked,³¹ including Thyatira's imitation antichristian sun god.³²

Revelation 2:19: I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

The phrase I know thy works appears in all seven letters to the seven churches. The phrase describes Christ's omniscience.³³ Here, thy works appears twice in the same verse. The second reference to thy works describes the specific acts of charity³⁴ (love),³⁵ service,³⁶ faith,³⁷ and patience³⁸ mentioned in the same verse.³⁹ Christ compliments the Thyatiran saints because their most recent works (collectively) have increased or improved more than [at] the first.⁴⁰