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Revelation 2.19-end
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March 5th 2017
Okay we left off having read and covered the content of Revelation 2 verse 18.
We noted that his words to Thyatira were more extensive than to any other church, and included a stroke and a stab – the stab much longer than the stroke.
The passage we read says:
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;
At this point Jesus tells them – (as he tells all seven Churches)
19 I know thy works, (and then he adds) and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
Then He adds:
20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Alright, let’s go back to verse 19
I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
So after saying what He says to all the churches (i.e., I know thy works) He seems to address some of those works He knows specifically. The order is
Love (agape-called charity here).
Service (diakonian) the labors of a servant in the church.
Faith (pisteuo) which I believe means to trust in the Lord and His ways and
Patience ( hoop-on-mon-aye) cheerful endurance.
He then repeats, “and thy works.” I am of the opinion the first phrase, “I know thy works,” is a reference generally to all that they were about – good and perhaps bad (which He repeats to all seven churches) but the second mention of their words is speaking to these actual works of love, and faith and patience, and service.
Just my opinion.
In reference to these secondary, more specific works, we can’t help but notice that the length of the virtues that Jesus mentions of the believers in Thyatira is longer than those of Smyna who receives no criticism Him at all.
Makes me wonder if Abraham Lincoln’s comment, “Show me someone with no vices and I will show you someone with no virtue,” holds water.
The last line of this verse is “and the last to be more than the first” appears to be speaking of these specific works and suggests that those works that had been recently performed were more numerous, and more commendable, than those which had been done formerly.
In other words, the believers at Thyatira were making progress and were living more like Christians as time went on.
Verse 20 – the stab
20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Now, to this literal church in literal Asia Minor, we have to ask:
Was there a literal person named Jezebel, who called herself a prophetas, who was allowed to teach idolatry and then literal fornication to the believers in the faith?
Believe it or not these questions open us up to two weeks worth of investigation – which we are not going to undertake. Instead I am going to try and summarize the approaches we can take to Jezebel and we will have to decide which we want to take.
Let’s begin by admitting that either there was a woman named Jezebel there in Thyatira who Jesus was speaking about.
Most people do not believe this but believe that this is a symbolic name given to a women who has what we might call, the Spirit of Jezebel in her.
Now, when we think of the name Jezebal – in our day and age – Bible readers automatically think of a very very whorish woman.
The interesting thing about this is in the Old Testament never is Jezebel described as sexually promiscuous. She is an idolater and a woman who is known for some very manipulative traits, but sexual promiscuity is not one of them.
I tend to think that it is from this reading of Revelation 2 that Jezebel of the Old Testament is assigned this character.
Additionally, where we might wince at the very name of Jezebel (I mean it sounds whorish, right) the name actually means, “chaste, virtuous, good.”
So I wonder about her and the label of sexual promiscuity given.
Nevertheless, this Jezebel of Revelation – whether an actual person OR a symbol of the Spirit of Jezebel of the Old Testament, is charged by Jesus for four things:
Calling herself a prophetess
teaching
and to seduce my servants to commit fornication
and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
The story of Jezebel in the Old Testament says she was the Phoenician wife of Israel’s King Ahab. Descriptions of her are recounted only in several brief passages scattered throughout the Books of Kings.
As the Israelites settled into the Promised Land, established a monarchy and then split into a northern and a southern kingdom after the reign of Solomon, God’s chosen people would continually go astray.
They sin against Yahweh in a number of ways but the worst of which is by worshipping alien deities and idols.
Of course we know that the first commandments from Sinai demand monotheism, but the people are attracted to foreign gods and goddesses, probably because of their introduction to them in Egypt – and simple human nature – as we discussed last week.
Jezebel enters the scene in the ninth century B.C. as a “foreign idol worshiper” and she apparently possesses some real powers of persuasion over her husband, King Ahab, who was the son of Omri and when newly crowned King over the northern Kingdom married him.
Her father’s name is Ethbaal of Tyre, king of the Phoenicians, a group of Semites whose ancestors were Canaanites, and the Phoenicians worshiped a swarm of gods and goddesses, chief among them Baal, the general term for “lord” given to the head fertility and agricultural god of the Canaanites.
Because this pagan god is the god of fertility and agriculture, there is a very strong indication that worship of this god includes sexual interaction – which is perfectly and universally described by the Greek term pornea – the word translated to fornication here in Revelation.
So one, it is entirely possible that
Jezebel of the Old Testament, though not mentioned explicitly, was involved in fornication, or
That a person named Jezebel in Revelation chapter 2 was involved in the same, or
The term fornication could mean engagement with idolaters – as the terms adulterer in the Old Testament did not always mean an extramarital affair but rather a relationship with an idol instead of with the true and living God.
So all of these factors play into our understanding and comprehension of Jezebel.
In the case of the Old Testament Jezebel and her marriage to Ahab, this was the “first time that a king of Israel had allied himself by marriage with a heathen princess; and the alliance was disastrous.
Jezebel has stamped her name on history as the representative of all that is designing, crafty, malicious, revengeful, and cruel.
She is the first great instigator of persecution against the saints of God as she apparently was not restrained by any principle, did not fear God, and was passionate in her attachments to her pagan gods and goddesses.
As a result she strived ardently to maintain idolatry in the Northern Kingdom.
Her husband was the seventh king of Israel and as stated Jezebel exerted tremendous influence over him.
Calf-worship was introduced by Jeroboam and under Jezebel’s sway the worship of Baal was added.
Elijah the prophet severely admonished Ahab for his wickedness causing Ahab to seek Elijah’s life.
Elijah prophesied of his death which took place when he went to battle against the advice of Micaiah, who told him he would fail.
But he was swayed by the 400 false prophets to do evil.
He died as a result of this battle and an arrow.
Well it was Jezebel who oversaw not only the 400 false prophets of the grove (which ate at her table) but another four hundred and fifty that assisted her in her worship of Baal.
In the end Jezebel and her conduct was very bad for both of Israel and Judah 1Ki 21:1-29 and in time she came to an untimely death (again, as foretold of Elijah).
As Jehu rode into the gates of Jezreel, she looked out at the window of the palace, and said, “Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?”
Im not going to explain all this in detail but let me put it this way:
Jehu was a sword of the Lord and Jezebel, decking herself out to look really good, sat in a window and called out to him words that would have tantalized the heart of a bad man and repulsed the heart of a man of God.
Jehu was the latter, and he looked up at her, asked who was in the house at that time, three eunuchs said, “we are,” and he commanded them to push her out the window – which they did. And she not only died, but was first pulverized by passing horses before the dogs of the street came and consumed all of her but her skull and the palms of her hands.
Obviously her first name afterward came to be used as the synonym for a wicked woman – which brings us back to verse 20 of Revelation 2.
Whether this was a woman who was a type for the Old Testament Jezebel, or an actual person named Jezebel, she was not a woman of faith who sought to promote humbly encourage Godly living.
Instead she presumptuously called herself a
Prophetess,
And a teacher
Seduced Jesus servants to commit fornication
and to also eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Apparently – even obviously – she was not a true prophetess. But what about the teaching.
Many believers suggest that this was a direct indictment again ANY woman teaching in the faith – and insist that this remains the case today.
I would suggest that she was a false prophetess, perhaps and idolater, and the fact that she seduced His servants to commit adultery and eat of things sacrificed to idols THIS is what made her ineligible to teach.
Of course in that day and age there could have been a standard misogyny against all women teaching in the faith and I believe this was a matter of the times – enforced to keep peace – but this teachers problem was more the her heart than the fact that she is female.
We of course know that one of the things she taught was seducing things that lead the servants of the Lord “to commit fornication AND to eat things sacrificed unto idols.”
I think we have sufficiently explained the connection between all of this stuff and the term fornication. (verse 21)
21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
As a foreshadowing of this day I believe we have the Old Testament story where Elijah does the same with THAT Jezebel.
But here it is Jesus who has given the warning. And what was the warning:
“And I gave her SPACE to repent of her fornication, and she repented not!”
The more literal translation is, “I gave her time to repent.”
The word for repent means to change her mind. It does NOT mean to change her actions. This is implied once the mind changes but the point is to show that she was fine with her pornea and heart, and in no way changed her mind about things even after she was warned and they given time (Chronos) to do it.
This is the heart of it all – God is not trying to trap or catch Jezebel here. He, in love (and probably through another person – perhaps through the angel of the Church) has warned the woman, and told her to rethink her ways.
Nothing doing, says this Jezebel, like the Old Testament Jezebel. “I gave her time but she did not change her mind.” Verse 22
22 “Behold, (or now watch) I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.”
Now, many scholars believe that Jesus is saying that He will cause her to be sick – from the crimes of her sins – which will cause her to be bed ridden.
It is at this point that in my firm estimation that Jesus has been speaking of the ways and spirit of Jezebel – the ways of the Old Testament women – this whole time; that she is a personification of those who worship idols rather than the living God.
And I also contend that this is a warning to the believers in that day to avoid all intercourse with the heathen ideas of Jezebel.
As a symbol for all this I believe that Jesus is saying that He is going to lay her and her wiles and seductions in a bed – a place where sexual pleasure is often experienced.
She is not going to change her ways – though she has been warned – either literally and verbally or by the spirit with plenty of time to spare. But she is determined to continue to practice whoredoms through idolatry.
So Jesus tells John to tell the church at Thyatira:
“I will (note – I will, not I may but the definitive I am going to! Going to do what?) I am going to “cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.”
The ways and wiles of Jezebel, all decked out and adorned like her Old Testament predecessor, will now lie down in a bed.
Begging to be entered, and
“them that commit adultery with her,” the word of adultery here is the word for adultery, so those who “enter into a relationship or into the body of all that this seductress represents,” READY
Jesus says, “I will cast them into great tribulation.”
Those who are seduced by her doctrines into this sin; either they who commit it with her literally, or who are led into the same kind of life.
Now many believers read this as a warning against sexual liberty, that to engage with whores you enter into great suffering.
This is true.
But I have a hard time believing that this is what Jesus is talking about.
This is a warning to the believers in the churches to not enter into relationships with idolatry. That if they do and do not repent they will be cast into great tribulation which was going to continue to increase until the day of his arrival on the scene, and perhaps beyond.
The reason I tie the bed imagery to the images of sexual union rather than illness is in part due to the next verse where Jesus adds:
23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
In other words, Jezebel will not change her mind so I am casting her into a bed and many of you will be enticed to lay with her. If you do you will enter into great tribulation if you don’t repent.
Now, what is the natural result of sexual union in a bed? Pregnancy, right? So spiritually speaking Jesus warns the believers at Thyatira, if you lie with her you will produce children with her – pagans that could and should have been followers of God. So Jesus says:
“And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.”
I will strike the offspring of that relationship dead. What will this accomplish?
And “all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.”
“All of the assemblies shall witness, and therefore know (by seeing me work this work upon Jezebel and those who engage with her) that I am the one who searches the reins and the hearts, and I will give unto everyone according to their works.”
This expression could be taken literally (considering the age and time) or spiritually, as in I will strike them spiritually dead.
But let’s be clear – what Jesus says here is wholly obvious and applicable to our day and age as entire families are viewed by the assemblies they came from as broken up and wasted when the parents engage in intercourse with the heathen pagan world.
This is a VERY clear picture and a VERY real to life promise.
The idols of this world lay back on beds beckoning parents to leave the faith and engage with them. The product of such relationships is almost always a child (children/family) that winds up cast like chaff into the air and sifted.
I’ve watched these passages come to life in my own family and in the lives of many others.
To remain strong in the faith and void of idols does not ensure that our offspring will remain faithful. But I can almost guarantee you if the parents pursue intercourse with idols the children, in the end, will be killed with death.
Why? Jesus explains, saying
“I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts.”
A couple of very important things relative to this statement.
First, we can see that it is the change of MIND that is sought – and God knows if the mind has been changed in the fact that He searches “the reigns and the heart,” which is another way of saying “the innermost mind.”
People that are the product of idolatry often have minds and hearts, once tried and searched, that don’t give a rats whisker for God – and He, searching their inner-most mind, would know this, before they are “struck with death.”
But another thing that is really interesting is this phrase lays it out bare that Jesus is God – as He possesses the power to know the inner mind of others.
Of course this description is in harmony of how He is described in the first chapter of Revelation, isn’t it?
When Jesus was on earth He appeared to be able to know the thoughts of others but He also would not judge a soul. This is all different now that He has ascended and has been given all things from His Father.
Therefore, having possessing all that His father has, He would therefore assess the condition of each human heart – an activity bestowed only upon God.
We remember God saying unto Samuel (in 1st Samuel 16:7)
“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
How 1st Chronicles 28:9 says,
“for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts,”
Here in Revelation Jesus says:
“that I am the one who searches the reins and the hearts, and I will give unto everyone according to their works.”
Way back in 2nd Chronicles 6:30 we read a petition for God that says:
“ . . . hear thou from heaven (thy dwelling place), and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men”
Which again affirms both the fact that Jesus is God AND that He was going to reward all according the contents of their hearts – which He would know.
Contextually speaking, Jesus is taking to the Church at Thyatira about His coming and this is the chronology of the passage. I do not think we can get around this.
But, since the word of God endures forever to me it has application to us today.
Of course scripture is clear – especially to those in that day who were looking for His immediate coming – that He was going to bring with Him what they deserved – those who were evil judgment and those who were righteous reward – based on their works.
Reward and merit and mansions in the faith are all based on the works Christians do (which are works that extend from their hearts, as Jesus has made clear).
Psalm 62:12 says
“Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.”
Jeremiah 17:10 says,“I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
Speaking of His actual coming Jesus said in Matthew 16:27
“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”
Paul, in Romans 2:5-6 writes:
“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds:”
Romans 14:12 plainly says, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”
Of course 2nd Corinthians 5:10 says it well:
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
And finally this very book of Revelation, speaking to those at the end of THAT age, summarizes it all up for them with this description:
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
So what Jesus says here to believers in Thyatira is in harmony with the Old Testament, the Gospels, the Epistles, and the summary of Revelation!
Now, to those who have not gotten involved with Jezebel He says (verse 24)
4 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
The word, “and,” (as in And I say unto you and unto the rest in Thyatira) is missing in a number of mss.
With that particle missing, the passage will read,
“But I say unto you, the remainder in Thyatira, so many as hold not this doctrine – to all who have not believed the doctrine of Jezebel,” and He adds,
“and which have not known the depths of Satan,” presumably referring to the depths the Satan will go to lead people astray, and then ends with a difficult little line, “as they speak.”
To cut to the chase I think that the best way to read this is this:
“But I say unto you, the remainder in Thyatira, so many as hold not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan, “as they say.”
In other words the phrase, “Depths of Satan,” is a saying or colloquialism.
“I will put upon you none other burden.”
(verse 25)
25 But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come.”
To make it easier to understand, let me read these passages in one fell swoop
24 But unto you (the faithful) I say, along with to the rest in Thyatira:
“As many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they will say, I will put upon you none other burden but that which ye have already. (now) hold fast till I come.”
At verse 25 He adds what we have already covered AND which He says to all seven churches:
26 And he that overcometh,(then includes) and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Remember, if you weren’t here with us, we covered every wrap up of the Seven Churches in one fell swoop a few weeks back.
Next week, Sardis.
Questions? Comments?
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