We continue to study the “Seven letters to the seven church” as in Revelation 2-3. This week we take a close look at the Letter to the church in Thyatira in Revelation 2:18-19.

It is hard to picture Jesus as an angry person—and yet Jesus often was furious. The difference between Jesus’ anger and my anger is that Jesus never got angry over personal offenses or insults. We are not like Jesus in this respect. Jesus got made when the Father was insulted, or when powerless people were oppressed, or when pious religious people harbored hatred in their hearts. What things in our world today make Jesus angry? How do we as Christians respond to those same things? In today’s letter to the church at Thyatira, Jesus comes with a rod of judgment.