Revelation 2:18-29
Truth or consequences. How many here
remember that game show? Here’s a sample.
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/6592579
Did you notice how carefully Bob explained the circumstances and the consequences? Did you see the consequences that resulted from taking bad advice? Both a loser and maybe a fight outside (Ok, that part was just a joke. So the joke was the consequence!)
How about parenting? You have to issue warnings to the kids sometimes and instructions for good behavior often come with descriptions of consequences for bad behavior. The best consequences are the natural consequences that are the actual result of the bad behavior. That’s not arbitrary. It’s like, don’t touch the stove or you will burn your hand and that will hurt. That’s a description of natural consequences. It’s different from, “Don’t touch the stove or I will send you to your room.” That’s a different kind of consequence. It can sound arbitrary and unrelated to the offense. But it is just as real, if the parents keep their word.
Now let’s talk about spiritual consequences. In the world where we live, some of the temptations to break God’s law do not have natural physical consequences. At least we don’t think so because sin is fun! The spiritual consequences however, are very real, just not always obvious to us. Hence we need Jesus’ help and guidance and sometimes his judgement, as in the case of Thyatira today.
First though, Jesus gave a list of the good things going on there. He said, “These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.” That’s four good things.
First he mentions deeds. Two of the ten healthy missional markers we will be looking at have to do with deeds. One of them is “Sacrificial and generous living and giving.” The other is active compassion, mercy, and justice ministries that result in transforming communities. This means their good deeds have a positive impact on the community transforming it from a society of self-centered and greedy people with no regard for the poor and needy, into a community that does care about justice and actively, generously and even sacrificially gives of itself to make a difference, right the wrongs and aid the poor. That’s faith in action, or good deeds.
Second he commends them for their love and faith. That would relate to another of our ten healthy missional markers, Compelling Christian Community. Love will keep them together in good fellowship and faith will define that fellowship along the lines of the gospel.
Third Jesus tells them he knows their service and perseverance. It seems to me they must be well organized so this is where I see a connection to the healthy missional markers of a Culture of Godly Leadership with Fruitful organizational structures.
And finally, the fourth thing Jesus commended them for was their growth and progress. They are now doing more than they did at first. I think that kind of development happens as Christians experience a Life Transforming Walk with Jesus, Heartfelt Worship and Intentional Evangelism. Those are three more healthy missional markers. So this is a great church that really has a lot going for it. But then Jesus has to give them the bad news.
In verses 20 – 23 he says, “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 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.”
Please take note of the strong words Jesus uses in warning the Christians in Thyatira about the dangers of the Jezebel compromise. Those are some pretty serious consequences. They are the focus of this review, placed in the center of the message to Thyatira, which in Middle Easter writing is the main point, the most important space in the paragraph. It is as if to say, in spite of the good things going on around this issue, the problem of Jezebel is Jesus’ central focus because it can undo all the good. This Jezebel is the target of Jesus’ angry sounding judgment.
Jezebel is probably not the actual name of the person causing all this trouble. Jezebel is a famous name among the Jews. She was an evil queen in the nation of Israel hundreds of years earlier. She would have been very well known to at least the Jewish members of the church. Therefore the name of Jezebel is a symbolic name for a woman of authority who is doing evil. There must have been such a woman in the church, an actual member of the community of faith. She would not have been an outsider but an actual member of the community and in a position of respect as a teacher or even a prophetess.
Jesus says that this authority figure in the church is doing a very dangerous thing among them. “By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.” Once again this in reference to the pagan cultic practices in the trade guilds of their society. It is one thing for individual Christians to be tempted to participate in the trade guilds in order to find work and avoid persecution. But it is quite another thing to have a teacher in a church actually telling and teaching people that such behavior is exactly what they ought to do and that it is a perfectly fine way for Christians to behave!
Jezebel is misleading the Christians. She should have heeded Jesus’ warning in Matthew 18:6 says, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea Woe to those who lead them astray.” But if she will not change, then she must not be tolerated.
The Ephesus church was commended because they did not tolerate false teachers. But here in Thyatira the problem is that they do. Ephesus was told to remember their first love. Perhaps in Thyatira the people loved too much and in the wrong way! It would mean that they loved with a soft love that tolerated false teaching instead of a tough love that correctly discerned and resisted false ways of looking at matters of importance.
The reason for the false teaching had to do with the effort to fit in with the culture so as to make a living and avoid persecution. Remember, the trade guilds that controlled the local economy demanded pagan worship practices and anybody who didn’t comply was thought of as both an atheist and also unemployable. So there was pressure to go along with the culture and one person who succumbed to that temptation was this Jezebel who added to her sins by teaching that God will understand if you have to eat a little food sacrificed to idols, etc. Thus she lead others astray with her.
In contrast, Pastor Jerry Lange shared on Facebook recently that Bobbie Lange looked up from reading the Bible and exclaimed "It is all through the Bible, God wants his people to be different." That is profoundly true. If all we're doing is fitting in with the world around us, something is wrong. This does not mean self-righteousness, thinking we're better than others; but self-sacrifice, living the difficult life of swimming against the current,” said Pastor Jerry, and I agree.
That is something that we have to be careful about today. We are to be in the world, but not of it. That is similar to the way we like it that a boat is designed to be in the water, while at the same time we want to be sure that there is no water in the boat. What good would it be for a fishing boat or a rescue boat to be all rigged and equipped for the job it is supposed to do, but it can’t get anything done except because there are so many leaks that the crew has to spend its time continuously bailing water back out!
As has been said before, our modern culture preaches tolerance of everything, everything except intolerance! We are told over and over again, “Do not judge.” We are told to assume that everyone is trying their best to do what is right and we are not to have any ideas about right and wrong that we could apply to someone else. I am afraid a lot of that water may be getting into our fellow”ship.” We can be infected with a relativistic world view that has very little respect for authority because of the belief that there is no such thing as absolute truth. Everyone has been told, “Just follow your heart.” As if the inner workings of one’s own consciousness are a reliable source of direction.
The Bible says though that the human heart is desperately wicked and deceitful. Way back in Genesis 6:5 the Word says, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” And Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” And the Bible offers itself as the antidote to the deceitfulness of the human heart.
The Bible presents itself as the font of wisdom and the source of truth that everyone could and should rely upon and trust. The Bible presents itself as if it were like a ruler or a straight edge against which any other thought or philosophy could be compared to see it if it true. The Bible IS true. We trust that and anything out of line with what the Bible says would be untrue. This is why a healthy missional church insists upon the marker we call the centrality of the word of God. The Bible can seal the leaks that otherwise let the world’s way of thinking seep back into our fellowship. That’s the factor that seems to be missing in Thyatira.
Now as to the severity of the warnings. First of all they look like as close to natural or logical consequences as you can get. For those who are either figuratively or literally practicing sexual immorality, which often happens in a bed, Jesus says, “So I will cast her on a bed of suffering.” And this only after he has patiently given her time to repent.
He also warned her followers, “I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 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.” The adultery Jesus is talking about is probably really in reference to the impure faith of being involved with pagan worship. Adultery is really a word that means impure. That is why some products used to be advertised for their purity using the word, unadulterated.
But far from merely being angry, we should realize that the warnings of Jesus are expressions of his love. For example, a child might be told, “Don’t go near that stove or I will grab your hand and yank you away.” That would require a parent who is always watching and ready to act, always present in the moment so that if the child approaches the stove the parent can act immediately and prevent the burn from happening. Jesus is always with us in just such a way.
Think of the child who has received such a warning. The little one approaches the stove anyway. Suddenly a larger, stronger hand grabs the wrist of the little child and yanks it away from the hot stove. What an unpleasant experience it could be for the child, to be forcibly swung around and dragged away from the intended goal. There may be some slight physical pain, but there is even the greater pain of indignation at being frustrated and not allowed to do what one wants. Poor child! But think how much more unpleasant and long lasting the consequences would have been if the child had touched the hot stove. Better a sore arm and hurt feelings than a burned palm! The yank away from the stove was an act of love that prevented greater harm.
Jesus’ warnings in his letters to the churches are just like that. They are expressions of his love. And if he comes to make someone suffer for their sins, his desire is to produce repentance unto salvation. He wants to save his children and not let them get burned. If he didn’t punish and give a chance to repent, they might burn forever in the lake of fire.
The hope of the gospel lies in this. Heaven is not filled with people who never made mistakes! Repentance is a genuine opportunity to re-experience the power of the gospel to save our souls and set us back on the path of righteousness. So Jesus ends again on a positive note. “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.’
And this, “To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—“ There are some positively glorious consequences. “that one will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—“ That refers to the ultimate triumph of good over evil, where one day every tear will be wiped away and there will be no more sin and sorrow. “Just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
And so I pray that we hear the warnings of Jesus about consequences for compromise as expression of his great love that will keep us from greater harm.
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/6592579
Did you notice how carefully Bob explained the circumstances and the consequences? Did you see the consequences that resulted from taking bad advice? Both a loser and maybe a fight outside (Ok, that part was just a joke. So the joke was the consequence!)
How about parenting? You have to issue warnings to the kids sometimes and instructions for good behavior often come with descriptions of consequences for bad behavior. The best consequences are the natural consequences that are the actual result of the bad behavior. That’s not arbitrary. It’s like, don’t touch the stove or you will burn your hand and that will hurt. That’s a description of natural consequences. It’s different from, “Don’t touch the stove or I will send you to your room.” That’s a different kind of consequence. It can sound arbitrary and unrelated to the offense. But it is just as real, if the parents keep their word.
Now let’s talk about spiritual consequences. In the world where we live, some of the temptations to break God’s law do not have natural physical consequences. At least we don’t think so because sin is fun! The spiritual consequences however, are very real, just not always obvious to us. Hence we need Jesus’ help and guidance and sometimes his judgement, as in the case of Thyatira today.
First though, Jesus gave a list of the good things going on there. He said, “These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.” That’s four good things.
First he mentions deeds. Two of the ten healthy missional markers we will be looking at have to do with deeds. One of them is “Sacrificial and generous living and giving.” The other is active compassion, mercy, and justice ministries that result in transforming communities. This means their good deeds have a positive impact on the community transforming it from a society of self-centered and greedy people with no regard for the poor and needy, into a community that does care about justice and actively, generously and even sacrificially gives of itself to make a difference, right the wrongs and aid the poor. That’s faith in action, or good deeds.
Second he commends them for their love and faith. That would relate to another of our ten healthy missional markers, Compelling Christian Community. Love will keep them together in good fellowship and faith will define that fellowship along the lines of the gospel.
Third Jesus tells them he knows their service and perseverance. It seems to me they must be well organized so this is where I see a connection to the healthy missional markers of a Culture of Godly Leadership with Fruitful organizational structures.
And finally, the fourth thing Jesus commended them for was their growth and progress. They are now doing more than they did at first. I think that kind of development happens as Christians experience a Life Transforming Walk with Jesus, Heartfelt Worship and Intentional Evangelism. Those are three more healthy missional markers. So this is a great church that really has a lot going for it. But then Jesus has to give them the bad news.
In verses 20 – 23 he says, “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 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.”
Please take note of the strong words Jesus uses in warning the Christians in Thyatira about the dangers of the Jezebel compromise. Those are some pretty serious consequences. They are the focus of this review, placed in the center of the message to Thyatira, which in Middle Easter writing is the main point, the most important space in the paragraph. It is as if to say, in spite of the good things going on around this issue, the problem of Jezebel is Jesus’ central focus because it can undo all the good. This Jezebel is the target of Jesus’ angry sounding judgment.
Jezebel is probably not the actual name of the person causing all this trouble. Jezebel is a famous name among the Jews. She was an evil queen in the nation of Israel hundreds of years earlier. She would have been very well known to at least the Jewish members of the church. Therefore the name of Jezebel is a symbolic name for a woman of authority who is doing evil. There must have been such a woman in the church, an actual member of the community of faith. She would not have been an outsider but an actual member of the community and in a position of respect as a teacher or even a prophetess.
Jesus says that this authority figure in the church is doing a very dangerous thing among them. “By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.” Once again this in reference to the pagan cultic practices in the trade guilds of their society. It is one thing for individual Christians to be tempted to participate in the trade guilds in order to find work and avoid persecution. But it is quite another thing to have a teacher in a church actually telling and teaching people that such behavior is exactly what they ought to do and that it is a perfectly fine way for Christians to behave!
Jezebel is misleading the Christians. She should have heeded Jesus’ warning in Matthew 18:6 says, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea Woe to those who lead them astray.” But if she will not change, then she must not be tolerated.
The Ephesus church was commended because they did not tolerate false teachers. But here in Thyatira the problem is that they do. Ephesus was told to remember their first love. Perhaps in Thyatira the people loved too much and in the wrong way! It would mean that they loved with a soft love that tolerated false teaching instead of a tough love that correctly discerned and resisted false ways of looking at matters of importance.
The reason for the false teaching had to do with the effort to fit in with the culture so as to make a living and avoid persecution. Remember, the trade guilds that controlled the local economy demanded pagan worship practices and anybody who didn’t comply was thought of as both an atheist and also unemployable. So there was pressure to go along with the culture and one person who succumbed to that temptation was this Jezebel who added to her sins by teaching that God will understand if you have to eat a little food sacrificed to idols, etc. Thus she lead others astray with her.
In contrast, Pastor Jerry Lange shared on Facebook recently that Bobbie Lange looked up from reading the Bible and exclaimed "It is all through the Bible, God wants his people to be different." That is profoundly true. If all we're doing is fitting in with the world around us, something is wrong. This does not mean self-righteousness, thinking we're better than others; but self-sacrifice, living the difficult life of swimming against the current,” said Pastor Jerry, and I agree.
That is something that we have to be careful about today. We are to be in the world, but not of it. That is similar to the way we like it that a boat is designed to be in the water, while at the same time we want to be sure that there is no water in the boat. What good would it be for a fishing boat or a rescue boat to be all rigged and equipped for the job it is supposed to do, but it can’t get anything done except because there are so many leaks that the crew has to spend its time continuously bailing water back out!
As has been said before, our modern culture preaches tolerance of everything, everything except intolerance! We are told over and over again, “Do not judge.” We are told to assume that everyone is trying their best to do what is right and we are not to have any ideas about right and wrong that we could apply to someone else. I am afraid a lot of that water may be getting into our fellow”ship.” We can be infected with a relativistic world view that has very little respect for authority because of the belief that there is no such thing as absolute truth. Everyone has been told, “Just follow your heart.” As if the inner workings of one’s own consciousness are a reliable source of direction.
The Bible says though that the human heart is desperately wicked and deceitful. Way back in Genesis 6:5 the Word says, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” And Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” And the Bible offers itself as the antidote to the deceitfulness of the human heart.
The Bible presents itself as the font of wisdom and the source of truth that everyone could and should rely upon and trust. The Bible presents itself as if it were like a ruler or a straight edge against which any other thought or philosophy could be compared to see it if it true. The Bible IS true. We trust that and anything out of line with what the Bible says would be untrue. This is why a healthy missional church insists upon the marker we call the centrality of the word of God. The Bible can seal the leaks that otherwise let the world’s way of thinking seep back into our fellowship. That’s the factor that seems to be missing in Thyatira.
Now as to the severity of the warnings. First of all they look like as close to natural or logical consequences as you can get. For those who are either figuratively or literally practicing sexual immorality, which often happens in a bed, Jesus says, “So I will cast her on a bed of suffering.” And this only after he has patiently given her time to repent.
He also warned her followers, “I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 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.” The adultery Jesus is talking about is probably really in reference to the impure faith of being involved with pagan worship. Adultery is really a word that means impure. That is why some products used to be advertised for their purity using the word, unadulterated.
But far from merely being angry, we should realize that the warnings of Jesus are expressions of his love. For example, a child might be told, “Don’t go near that stove or I will grab your hand and yank you away.” That would require a parent who is always watching and ready to act, always present in the moment so that if the child approaches the stove the parent can act immediately and prevent the burn from happening. Jesus is always with us in just such a way.
Think of the child who has received such a warning. The little one approaches the stove anyway. Suddenly a larger, stronger hand grabs the wrist of the little child and yanks it away from the hot stove. What an unpleasant experience it could be for the child, to be forcibly swung around and dragged away from the intended goal. There may be some slight physical pain, but there is even the greater pain of indignation at being frustrated and not allowed to do what one wants. Poor child! But think how much more unpleasant and long lasting the consequences would have been if the child had touched the hot stove. Better a sore arm and hurt feelings than a burned palm! The yank away from the stove was an act of love that prevented greater harm.
Jesus’ warnings in his letters to the churches are just like that. They are expressions of his love. And if he comes to make someone suffer for their sins, his desire is to produce repentance unto salvation. He wants to save his children and not let them get burned. If he didn’t punish and give a chance to repent, they might burn forever in the lake of fire.
The hope of the gospel lies in this. Heaven is not filled with people who never made mistakes! Repentance is a genuine opportunity to re-experience the power of the gospel to save our souls and set us back on the path of righteousness. So Jesus ends again on a positive note. “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.’
And this, “To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—“ There are some positively glorious consequences. “that one will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—“ That refers to the ultimate triumph of good over evil, where one day every tear will be wiped away and there will be no more sin and sorrow. “Just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
And so I pray that we hear the warnings of Jesus about consequences for compromise as expression of his great love that will keep us from greater harm.
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