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; 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;
The first three chapters of Revelation stand as a warning to prepare for the Lord's coming and to heed the signs of the end. Thyatira is symbolic of the Christian church in a period of the Christian era, and with the number seven indicating completeness the message extends to the end of time and is in force today, portraying the state of things existing in the churches of the religious world today. The verse belongs to the message of Revelation 2 that must be heeded to understand losing first love.
The speaker is the Son of God speaking personally to the suffering believer as the One who lived on earth, died, and now is alive forevermore, the same Jesus who ascended from the Mount of Olives in a cloud while His disciples watched, entered heaven in divine form, now lives to make intercession, and whom Stephen saw standing at the right hand of God. His eyes like a flame of fire see everywhere and penetrate everything, searching every church in the world and piercing every heart, beholding every person in all the actions of life as a witness to all works. That searching gaze means not only outward deeds but thoughts and the intents and purposes of the heart are laid bare to inspection, with nothing screened from view, and He knows works, every word and act, all about religious experience, and whom each loves and serves.
With full supervision He measures the temple and the worshipers therein and weighs characters and all actions in the golden scales of heaven, making an exact record registered in the books of record, noting and recording sin undetected by man and unsuspected by human minds, with characters fixed as plainly as features on a photographer's polished plate, which every life must meet. He is acquainted with sorrows, temptations, conflicts, and anguished weeping because He endured them Himself and wept Himself, still bearing a human heart of love, pity, and tender sympathy that carries all the woes of humanity, with His eyes above and around His people noting every difficulty and discerning every danger, so that no place cannot be penetrated and no sorrow or suffering is beyond His sympathy. Shortly before He comes again without delaying, those eyes penetrate fast-closed dungeons and hunt out His hidden, persecuted people whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, and what is done to the least of His brethren is done to Him, while every deed of darkness done by Satan united with wicked men is detected, noted, and registered.
Thyatira is pictured as full of zeal and activity and charities, yet her charities and zeal are endangered by false teachers, portraying wheat developing among tares with truth standing on its own eternal basis in contrast with error, which is the danger today. He tells the believer not to fear and will be a present help in time of trouble to those whose citizenship is in heaven with Him, and He keeps and waters His church every moment night and day, with the promise to those who work in faith and self-sacrifice that a little one shall become a thousand. The message requires close self-examination, and heeding it means seeking the Lord with all the heart, giving due respect to those who have borne the burden, loving God supremely and neighbor as self, and humbling the heart before God, so truth prospers and goes forth as a burning lamp and God can safely work with and for His people. He opens the message as the true Watchman and example for all workers, bidding them to comprehend His progressive work, come into line, and establish the work in many places and not let the work of the third angel's message languish while worldly schemes take their time and attention, calling for arousal and labors marked with far greater earnestness.