Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 2:18

"And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like unto burnished brass:" — Revelation 2:18 (ASV)

The speaker of this fourth letter, the longest of the seven, identifies himself as “the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze” (cf. comments on 1:14–15). The expression “Son of God” appears only here in this book. It is a designation for the Messiah and is almost equivalent to the more frequently used title “Son of Man”; it probably anticipates the quotation from the messianic Ps 2 in v.27, which implies the term. But the name might also have captured the attention of those who were enticed by the emperor cult into calling Caesar “the son of God.” That Christ’s eyes are here described as blazing fire might be an allusion to the sun god, Apollo, worshiped at Thyatira. More likely, however, it refers to Christ’s penetrating discernment of the false prophetess Jezebel (v.23). His feet, which are like burnished bronze, would no doubt have special significance to the bronze-workers at Thyatira.