Dear friends in Christ,
I checked the list of the top 100 names new parents gave their baby girls last year. There are not as many Biblical names near the top as their used to be. Hannah, Grace, and Sarah are among the 100 as are some others.
One name that did not appear is Jezebel. Even people who do not know about King Ahab’s wife, generally associate Jezebel with less than desirable qualities. This certainly was true of the Jezebel in the congregation at Thyatira. This may not have been her real name but Jesus’ characterization of her.
Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, introduced Baal worship with its sexual immorality into the northern kingdom of Israel about 900 years before Christ. Since this woman in Thyatira advocated similar practices, she deserved that infamous name. Even though most of the congregation was progressing in their faith, they tolerated Jezebel and her disciples. The glorified Christ commended them for the first, and criticized them for the second as John followed Christ’s command, To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
Thyatira was about 20 miles northeast of Pergamum. Just to keep a picture in our minds, from Ephesus to Smyrna to Pergamum to Thyatira would be roughly from Carmel to Lafayette to Merrillville to Michigan City. Thyatira was the hometown of Lydia, the dealer in purple cloth, who met the Apostle Paul in Philippi on his second missionary journey. Luke tells us in Acts 16:4, “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.”
Jesus reminded the believers that the author of this letter is “the Son of God,” the only time he used that name in his Revelation to John. The author described his omniscience; he knows all things, as having “eyes like blazing fire.” His feet “like burnished bronze” generally signified his attribute of almighty power of his enemies.
The all-knowing and all-powerful God first commended his church: “I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance and that you are now are doing more than you did at first.” The believers were not stunted. They were growing. Their faith trees were bearing abundant fruit, and more and more of it as time passed. They combined love and faith. This indicated their faith was genuine. They served the Lord with their gifts and persevered in that ministry. They had not grown weary in well doing. They were doing more in their in faith than they had done when they first became Christians.
The Holy Spirit had been working hard in the church at Thyatira. His work was not in vain. They were doing what Paul exhorted the Thessalonians in his first letter, “Brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are now living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.” [4:1]
Are we doing this “more and more?” As a church, are we growing in our good deeds? Are we combining love with our faith more today than when we first became Christians? Do we consider service to the Lord and ministry to one another privileges to keep up?
At times, the temptations are there to grow weary, frustrated, and negative. Jesus is looking at us with eyes of fiery flames. They reveal to him every nook and cranny of our minds and hearts. Our Old Adam takes that as a warning. As Christians, we rejoice in those opportunities for our Savior to see the good fruits that our faith trees are bearing to his glory.
All was not well in the congregation at Thyatira, however. “You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess.” This woman in the congregation claimed to speak God’s Word yet wedded this Word with idolatry that included sexual sins. Here is where she earned the name, Jezebel, after Ahab’s wife. Not only was she following this sin herself but was leading others into “sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.”
I used the word “wedded” on purpose. The Bible often compares idolatry, which often includes sexual immorality with adultery-one spouse being unfaithful to the other. Faith in Christ is our marriage to Christ. He is the heavenly Bridegroom and we are his holy Bride, washed clean from our sins through Holy Baptism. If we turn away from faithfulness in our marriage to Christ, we are guilty of idolatry; or, spiritual adultery.
This is what was going on in Thyatira. Jezebel was leading many believers into idolatry by trying, we might say, to marry faith in Christ to false gods. This is not a marriage, of course, but sin. Rather than cast her out of the congregation, the believers tolerated her. They were suffering the consequences that she was leading more and more away into her sin.
The Lord had called her to repentance, but she was not willing to listen. As a result, the risen Christ who knew her heart and with his power, would bring the judgment of suffering into her life and into the lives of others. Hopefully, this severe chastening would lead them to see the error of their ways. Then, through the gospel, the Spirit’s forgiveness would strengthen them against falling back into their idolatry/adultery. If they did not repent, Christ would strike them with eternal death.
Jesus teaches them and us two clear doctrines here. A man reaps what he sows. Often sin brings its own suffering and judgment. And, if a Christian does not take the opportunity to repent the Lord presents, the Lord finally brings the judgment of eternal death. The Lord will repay us according to our deeds because those deeds are the visible evidence of repentance or impenitence.
This letter like the others also includes Christ’s promise. For those who repent and who cast out false teachers and error, Jesus promises that we will rule over our enemies with him. We will share his authority, which he gives us for that rule. Christ promises this authority and rule “to him who overcomes and does my will to the end.” These are not good deeds that earn salvation. It is the power of the living Christ, the beating heart of our faith that is the power to overcome sin, and obey his will as the fruit of faith.
We have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches; here to the church in Thyatira. Continue to grow in good deeds through Christ, and do not harbor those who want to lure us into spiritual adultery. Amen. <SDG>