Ed Urzi

“I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds” (Revelation 2:23 NIV).

This reference to “her children” speaks of those in Thyatira who appeared to be church-going followers of Christ, but actually followed a morally compromised spiritual leader. That served to alienate those individuals from God’s family, for they were not His children, but her children. It also invited Jesus to exercise His prerogative to terminate their earthly lives as a result.

This presents an object lesson regarding those who seek to bring false teachings into Jesus’ church: “Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds” (NIV).

Now before we conclude our look at this passage, some may wonder what became of Jezebel’s Old Testament counterpart. Her demise is recorded in the Biblical books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings. But be forewarned- her downfall is exceedingly gruesome.

“Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come” (Revelation 2:24-25).

There are some secrets that are better left unknown. Consider this portion of Jesus’ message to the church at Thyatira, for example. Judging from what we read here in Revelation 2:24-25, it appears that some within the church were drawn by the attraction of “deeper spiritual truths” that had nothing to do with genuine Biblical truth. Then, as now, there are many who feel that the road to spiritual enlightenment involves a path that deviates from a study of God and His Word.

But those who seek to know Christ as He is revealed to us in the Biblical Scriptures have no need to pursue these “deeper truths.” The following excerpt from the New Testament book of 2 Peter brings an important perspective to this idea…

“God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and for godliness. This power was given to us through knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and integrity” (2 Peter 1:3 GW  emphasis added).

The epistle to the Colossians adds the following regarding Christ…

“Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth, everything seen and unseen, including all forces and powers, and all rulers and authorities. All things were created by God’s Son, and everything was made for him” (Colossians 1:16 CEV).

This means that every human quest for truth will find its consummation in Christ. Apart from Him, any search for “deeper spiritual truths” will ultimately lead to a dead end.

Image Credit: Photo by Ben_White from Freerange Stock

“I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality” (Revelation 2:21 ESV).

When God demonstrates patience towards those who engage in various forms of immoral conduct (as we see in our text from Revelation 2:21), those individuals may believe they have successfully evaded the consequences of their actions. However, God may be providing them with a gracious opportunity to repent from those behaviors and change their ways.

The Biblical book of Romans expands on this concept with a heartfelt expression of concern…

“Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:4-5 NLT).

You see, no one ever completely “gets away” with sinful activity. In this instance, Jesus provided Jezebel of Thyatira with an opportunity to repent of her behavior, but she declined to accept it. That unfortunate decision will lead to serious consequences…

“Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds” (Revelation 2:22).

The idea is that this person will continue to spend time in bed, but there will be no further immoral activity taking place there. Instead, it would become a bed of illness and suffering. We should also note the broader impact of this statement. Much like a stone that produces a ripple effect upon the surface of the water, those repercussions would eventually reach anyone who was involved with her as well.

This underscores the need to identify and reject those who promote false doctrines today. Nevertheless, we should notice that Jesus also allowed for reconciliation, provided those individuals were willing to repent, or change their attitude and behavior. That brings us to the next portion of this letter, and a message that surely ranks among the most shocking things Jesus ever said…

“and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works” (Revelation 2:23 ESV).

When people align with those who promote immoral behaviors behind a façade of spirituality, that decision will inevitably lead to grave consequences. We’ll consider Jesus’ pledge to “strike her children dead” at greater length next.

“But I still have something against you because of that woman Jezebel. She calls herself a prophet, and you let her teach and mislead my servants to do immoral things and to eat food offered to idols” (Revelation 2:20 CEV).

Unlike the false teaching that was being peddled in Thyatira, a genuine message from God will never lead people away from the truth as found within the Biblical Scriptures. Of course, this requires us to know what the Bible teaches in order to distinguish between those who are promoting Biblical truth and those who are not. Therefore, we would do well to familiarize ourselves with God’s Word by reading a portion of it each day. This will enable us to measure the truth and accuracy of those ideas, beliefs, and opinions we encounter from others.

This passage also references the sin of idolatry. We can define an idol as anything that takes the place of God in someone’s life. Once something becomes more important than God in our lives, that thing (whatever it is) effectively becomes our “god.” For instance, the person for whom money is the most important thing in life is just as guilty of idolatry as the person who worshipped before a human-crafted statue in the Old Testament era.

Since idolatry violates God’s first commandment, those who spread such teachings in His name cannot be true prophets of God, no matter what they may assert for themselves. Taken together, these things lead us to conclude that the message promoted by Jezebel of Thyatira was wrong, for her “prophetic” doctrine conflicted with the established Word of God.

However, Jesus was now about to deal with this so-called prophet…

“And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent” (Revelation 2:21).

When God exercises patience with people who engage in Biblically inappropriate behaviors (such as we see here), those who are involved in such things may think, “There must be nothing wrong with my conduct. God must not be concerned with this area of my life because nothing bad has happened to me.” Others may believe that just because God hasn’t acted in a situation, it means that He is incapable of doing so.

Then there are those who freely indulge their sinful inclinations because they’ve convinced themselves that God doesn’t really exist. In fact, the Bible speaks about these attitudes when it says, “Because God does not punish sinners instantly, people feel it is safe to do wrong” (Ecclesiastes 8:11 TLB). That is a dangerous presumption, as we’ll learn next.

Image Credits: Free Clip Art, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, and the Providence Lithograph Company, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“But I have this against you: You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20 CSB).

It’s interesting to note the construction of this portion of Jesus’ letter to the ancient church of Thyatira. Notice that Jesus refers to this woman as someone “who calls herself a prophetess.” This indicates that she wasn’t a true prophet, but chose to call herself one anyway. This provides us with an opportunity to discuss the ministry of a genuine prophet.

A “prophet” is loosely defined as someone who possesses the unerring ability to offer God’s direction, or convey divinely inspired information regarding a specific situation or future event. This is a legitimate spiritual office, as evidenced by the many prophets who appear within the Old Testament Scriptures (like Isaiah and Ezekiel) and those who appear within the New Testament as well.

In the words of one source, “The ability to prophesy may involve predicting future events, but its main purpose is to communicate God’s message to people, providing insight, warning, correction, and encouragement.” ₍₁₎ Today, we might best associate the use of a prophetic gift with the ability to bring a fresh application of Biblical truth as prompted by the Holy Spirit.

With these definitions in mind, we can say that Jezebel of Thyatira was not who she claimed to be. Since her teachings conflicted with the established Word of God, we know with certainty that she was not a genuine prophet. To illustrate this, let’s take the doctrines of this so-called “prophet” and test them to see how they measure up.

First, we’re told that this person misled others into the practice of immorality. This reference to “immorality” is derived from the ancient Greek word porneia. If “porneia” seems familiar, it may be due to the fact that it serves as the source word for our modern-day term “pornography.” This pertains to any type of physical relationship that occurs outside of a Biblically sanctioned marriage partnership. Since God’s Word repeatedly condemns immoral conduct, ₍₂₎ we know with certainty that anyone who advocates for such behavior cannot speak for God.

So, this “prophet” failed the test because her message did not align with the Biblical Scriptures. While there may be many who claim to have “messages from God” today, God’s Word encourages us to put those individuals to the test as well: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

Image Credit: Roman Ziomka, A Bible Standing on a Wooden Floor

(1) Life Application Study Bible Copyright © 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2004 by Tyndale House Publishers Inc., all rights reserved. [1Corinthians 14:1]

(2) See Hebrews 13:4, Leviticus 18:20, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Ephesians 5:3, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, and Revelation 21:8 for some examples

“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols ” (Revelation 2:20 ESV).

Whenever Jezebel is mentioned in the Bible, it usually means something bad is about to follow. Here is one example from the Old Testament book of 1 Kings…

“Naboth, a man from Jezreel, had a vineyard on the outskirts of the city near King Ahab’s palace. One day the king talked to him about selling him this land. ‘I want it for a garden,’ the king explained, ‘because it’s so convenient to the palace.’ He offered cash or, if Naboth preferred, a piece of better land in trade.  But Naboth replied, ‘Not on your life! That land has been in my family for generations.’

So Ahab went back to the palace angry and sullen. He refused to eat and went to bed with his face to the wall!” ‘ What in the world is the matter?’ his wife, Jezebel, asked him. ‘Why aren’t you eating? What has made you so upset and angry?’

‘I asked Naboth to sell me his vineyard or to trade it, and he refused’ Ahab told her. ‘Are you the king of Israel or not?’ Jezebel demanded. ‘Get up and eat and don’t worry about it. I’ll get you Naboth’s vineyard!’ So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and addressed them to the civic leaders of Jezreel, where Naboth lived.

In her letter she commanded: ‘Call the citizens together for fasting and prayer. Then summon Naboth, and find two scoundrels who will accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then take him out and execute him.’ The city fathers followed the queen’s instructions. They called the meeting and put Naboth on trial. Then two men who had no conscience accused him of cursing God and the king; and he was dragged outside the city and stoned to death.

The city officials then sent word to Jezebel that Naboth was dead. When Jezebel heard the news, she said to Ahab, ‘You know the vineyard Naboth wouldn’t sell you? Well, you can have it now! He’s dead!’ So Ahab went down to the vineyard to claim it” (1 Kings 21:1-16 TLB).

This incident undoubtedly ranks among the most ruthless and cold-blooded acts ever recorded in Scripture. This woman framed an innocent individual and then had him murdered- for a garden.

So here we have someone in the New Testament church at Thyatira who replicated the attitude of her Old Testament counterpart. She encouraged others to engage in acts of immorality and idolatry while claiming to be a spokesperson for God. But Jesus will deal with this so-called “prophet” as we’ll see in due course.

Image Credit: Harold Copping, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20 ESV).

In the passage quoted above, Jesus uses the word “tolerate” or “allow” (NKJV) to identify a situation that required correction in the ancient church at Thyatira. In the original language of this verse, those words convey the following idea: “to allow one to do as he wishes, not to restrain, to let alone.” ₍₁₎ With this in mind, we can say that the Christians in Thyatira were not misled by what was taking place within their fellowship. Instead, they knowingly permitted these inappropriate actions to continue within the church.

Before we continue with our look at this subject, we should first be clear that “tolerance” is very important when speaking of things like freedom from bigotry or the ability to be patient and fair with others. The Bible supports this concept of tolerance in verses such as Titus 3:2 where we are told that Christians “…must not speak evil of anyone, nor quarrel, but be gentle and truly courteous to all” (TLB). We also find support for this idea in the following passage from the New Testament book of Ephesians: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2 NIV).

The problem arises when we equate “tolerance” with a mandate to affirm or endorse any attitude, belief, or opinion that others may hold. That perspective fails to recognize the fact that genuine love necessitates an attitude of intolerance towards things that may bring harm to others. So even though the church in Thyatira had been commended for their love, that did not permit them to allow someone who claimed to speak for God to advocate for these unbiblical behaviors.

In this instance, it would have been far more appropriate to speak the truth with an attitude of love (Ephesians 4:15) by correcting the person who promoted these views instead of tolerating them and permitting them to continue.

At the core of this issue was an individual identified by Jesus as “Jezebel” in Revelation 2:20. That name may be familiar to readers of the Old Testament, for a dangerous woman bearing that name is referenced several times there. Whenever Jezebel is mentioned in the Scriptures, it seems that something bad inevitably follows- and we’ll look at one such example next.

Image Credit: Tolerance by Nick YoungsonCC BY-SA 3.0Pix4free.org

(1) G1439 – eao – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (kjv). (n.d.). Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1439/kjv/tr/0-1/