Jesus or Jezebel?

“Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira: “The Son of God, the One whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like fine bronze, says: I know your works — your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. Your last works are greater than the first. But I have this against you: You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives My slaves to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. Look! I will throw her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her practices. I will kill her children with the plague., Then all the churches will know that I am the One who examines minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works. I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who haven’t known the deep things of Satan — as they say — I do not put any other burden on you. But hold on to what you have until I come. The one who is victorious and keeps My works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations — and he will shepherd, them with an iron scepter; he will shatter them like pottery, — just as I have received this from My Father. I will also give him the morning star. “Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation‬ ‭2‬:‭18‬-‭29‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

Have you ever been to your doctor for a checkup and been told that you need to make some life changes? Maybe it was high cholesterol and you needed to eat leaner meats. Maybe it was high blood pressure and you needed to reduce your sodium intake by using a lot less salt on your food. It could have been your blood glucose or A1C was high and you needed to reduce your carb or sugar intake. Whatever it is, you need to make a choice on how you’re going to live. Are you going to change or suffer the consequences of your life choices?

Today, we live in a culture of mitigating our poor health choices by just taking a pill. If we receive a diagnosis, like those listed above, we expect our doctor to prescribe a pill so we can continue to indulge in our poor life choices. It’s a bit like the captain of the Titanic ignoring the iceberg warnings and ordering the engine room to keep the ship going at full speed. We make excuses for our poor life choices and then find ways to justify our bad behavior. “It will be fine, don’t worry about it.”

The church at Thyatira faces a similar situation…

Thyatira is a trade center and is known for being home to several trade guilds. We know from Acts 16 that the Apostle Paul met a woman named Lydia from Thyatira while preaching in Philippi. She was a dealer in purple cloth and came to faith in Jesus due to Paul’s witness. Thyatira was not large, but was an important trade center that dealt in goods flowing from the far east into the Roman Empire. These trade guilds were generally aligned with local pagan gods or goddesses and involved the members in pagan worship practices to please the supposed deity and ensure the guild with economic success. It is this environment that the letter to the Thyatiran church was addressed.

The letter opens with Jesus’ self identification as “the Son of God, the One whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like fine bronze.” These references appear to be directly tied to 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 2, and Daniel 10 which describe the promised Messiah in the same way. It clearly identifies Him as having God’s authority, eyes that see and know our actions and the strength and purity to carry out God’s righteous judgment on mankind. It is also possible and perhaps likely that these references are to clearly distinguish Jesus as the true Son of God with true knowledge of their choices with power and authority over their lives and the local pagan gods and trade guilds.

What does the Son of God know about this church? He knows their works – their love, faithfulness, service and endurance. He also knows that these “works” are not just present in their lives but that these works are also growing among them or are “greater than the first.” He knows that their love is real, on display in their lives and is being actively demonstrated to their neighbors. He knows that their faithfulness is grounded on the bedrock of scripture and is giving them a stable foundation upon which to build their lives. He knows that they are being obedient servants in service to God’s kingdom. And He knows about their endurance, the struggle of being obedient to God and keeping their faith in a hostile culture.

The Son of God knows whether we are doing these things, too. He knows whether our love is real and without hypocrisy (see Rom. 12:9). He knows if we really do love God more than anyone or anything else. He knows whether our love is pointing people towards God or is pointing them towards the things this world loves. He knows whether we’re loving our neighbors like we love ourselves or if we’re just loving ourselves and ignoring our neighbors. He knows whether or not we’re being faithful to God and His Word. He knows if our claims of faith are mere words and if they are resulting in changed lives and choices. He knows whether or not we are being servants in God’s kingdom, like Jesus taught and demonstrated for us. He knows if we are enduring when things get hard or if we’re giving into the pressure to compromise. Finally, He knows whether our faith and obedience are growing, as it should. What He knows about Thyatira He knows about us, too. 

Next, Jesus tells the Thyatiran church where they’re failing in their faith; they tolerate “the woman Jezebel.” The reference to Jezebel is like the previous references to Balaam and Balak, it is referring us to an Old Testament story to illustrate the problem (see 1 Kings 18-19). King Ahab married a foreigner, Jezebel, who persuaded him to lead the people away from the worship of the One true God of Israel and into the worship of the pagan god, Baal. The way this is worded in our text, it could mean that “Jezebel” is the pastor’s wife or else she is a very prominent and influential woman in that church. Either way, the church is tolerant of her and her deceptive teaching as she “prophecies” and leads God’s “slaves” to practice sexual immorality and eat meat sacrifices to idols.

The real issue here is with the church’s tolerance of her false teaching and immoral lifestyle. Her sins have been brought to her attention and, it would appear, and addressed by the church leadership according to Biblical guidelines (see Matt. 18:15-20). She’s been given the opportunity to repent but she refuses. But the leadership seems to have failed to follow through on the last step of Jesus’ guidance, “let him be like an unbeliever and a tax collector to you.” Since she refuses to repent and turn away from her sin the church leaders must respond. Instead, they leave the issue unaddressed and her false teaching among them continues. The One whose eyes are like a fiery flame and sees everything, knows not only her sin but their tolerance and failure to confront her, remove her from their fellowship and treat her “like an unbeliever.”

As you’ve heard me say on many occasions, Jesus’ judgment of sin is first and foremost intended to draw us into repentance and redemption. If that fails and we reject His grace, then His judgment is intended to preserve and protect the Church and His kingdom. As He says, “I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality.” He offers her repentance but she chooses judgment. The judgment appears to draw a stark contrast between what she expects from her sinful actions and what she actually receives in judgment – physical pleasure and gratification in her bed versus disease and death from her sickbed.

Let me state this in very plain words: Sin is never able to deliver on what it promises.

She prophecies and promises things to these Thyatiran Christians that she can never deliver. I believe this is probably related to their businesses, trade or craft and is tied to the trade guilds we know existed in Thyatira. The problem they face is similar to the judgment she faces, “those who commit adultery with her” will be thrown into great tribulation, unless they repent. There is one last contrast in this section, the difference between those who commit adultery with her and repent and those who don’t and become her children. Jesus calls them to repentance and they will face “great tribulation” unless or until they repent. When they refuse to repent, as she does, they become her children and suffer the same judgment – the sickbed that brings death – the plague.

Yes, judgment is hard and can seem harsh. Especially, when you’re on the receiving end of it. But Biblical judgment always carries a purpose – repentance and redemption, as noted above. I also mentioned that when someone refuses repentance then Jesus also uses judgment as a means of protecting and preserving the Church and His kingdom. We see that here, “Then all the churches will know that I am the One who examines minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works.” What He knows about Thyatira, He knows about us. He not only knows the what, He also knows the why.

It is often enough for employees who work in financial institutions to be aware of the security cameras that are installed. The employees know their actions are being monitored and scrutinized by their organization.  The cameras are there to protect the company and curb any illegal activities. If a discrepancy in funds is found then the video recordings are reviewed to identify the source of the loss and, ultimately, the culpable party. But this information not only provides evidence of the guilty person but also evidence of the innocent person. The evidence condemns the guilty and protects the innocent. In this instance, Jesus has the evidence that condemns the guilty and He tries to draw them towards repentance while protecting and preserving the innocent in the church.

Now, He tells those “who do not hold this teaching, who haven’t known the deep things of Satan – as they say” that He doesn’t put any other burden on them – hold on to what you have until I come. Most scholars agree that the phrase, “known the deep things of Satan”, is a play on words. They believe that Jezebel claims to have been teaching the Thyatirans “the deep things of God” when she’s actually been teaching them the “deep things of Satan.” Instead of believing her lies, they are encouraged to “hold on to what you have until I come.” What they’ve been given is sufficient for their faith and nothing deeper is needed in order to be obedient and endure to the end.

“His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

God has already given us everything we need for the abundant and eternal life He promised and to be faithful and obedient to Him while we await its fulfillment in us. We have His Word and we have His Spirit, nothing else is needed. No hidden deeper knowledge or secrets of God are available when you have the very word of God in front of you and His Spirit living in you. Just hold on to what you have! He is sufficient.

Finally, the promise to the one who endures and who keeps [keeps doing or is obedient to] His works to the end is that we will reign with Him. This is a reference to Psalm 2, “I will declare the Lord’s decree: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son; today I have become Your Father. Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance and the ends of the earth Your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; You will shatter them like pottery.’” (Psalms‬ ‭2‬:‭7‬-‭9‬ ‭HCSB‬‬) The Apostle Paul puts it this way: “The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs — heirs of God and coheirs with Christ — seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

Not only will we reign with Christ, He will give us “the morning star.” The morning star is a promise that the night is almost over and the dawn is approaching, quickly. The morning star appears in the night sky in the hours just before dawn. When the night is at its darkest and everything is at its bleakest, we can rest assured that the sun (or Son, in this instance) is just about to break over the horizon. But this isn’t just a promise that Jesus is about to return, it is a promise that He gives us Himself for He IS the morning star. That, my friends, is an even greater promise than the promise of an approaching dawn. When life it at its bleakest and all hope seems to be lost, then we have the Morning Star – the LORD of life, Himself – with us.

Will you settle for Jesus or Jezebel? 

That’s one of those often fully unrecognized promises of God – IMMANUEL – God with us. If He is Immanuel then He is always “God with us.” The greatest gift He CAN give and HAS given is Himself. We could not ask for any better promise; God WITH us! To the one who endures and keeps doing His works then God gives us Himself. Whatever life threatens to take from you when you refuse to follow its expectations and demands is more than offset because God gives us Himself. And He’s more than sufficient for you… He’s all you could ever need or desire.

Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.