Jesus handed performance reviews to the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation! Most of the churches addressed by Jesus were a mixture of good and evil. They did some good things, but they also did things that were not pleasing to the Lord. Five of them were criticized and two were not. If the same holds true today, that means there is 5/7 ratio or 72% chance that a church could be a mixture of good and evil! We should take heed from these churches and stay alert!
I wrote this devotional at the beginning of the year, but the Lord didn’t allow me to release the message until this week.
And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. 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. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 2:18-21
Jesus looked with his fiery and penetrating eyes at His bride. He saw both the good and evil. He acknowledged a church that had offered their works, love, service, faith, and patience. The works of this church had even increased over time. This could have been because either the church had grown, or they had gained greater influence in the community. However, a woman named Jezebel or with a Jezebel spirit had dominated part of this congregation. She was given the power to call the shots and had become a self-appointed prophetess!
A prophet or prophetess is supposed to represent the Lord and deliver the Lord’s message. A self-appointed prophet will look/act like they are representing the Lord, but they are really representing their own desires and agenda. No one challenged this Jezebel, and so she continued in her teaching of what was evil as good.
The difference between this Jezebel and the Jezebel that Elijah dealt with was that the Old Testament Jezebel made no bones about being an idol worshipper. She spoke out against Elijah and his God! On the other hand, the Jezebel mentioned in the book of Revelation is someone who is in the church. She had a trusted position and got to teach “truth” to the people of God! While the Bible mentions this leader as a woman, this situation can hold true with a male or a female leader.
Why was this allowed in the church? Where were those who should have spoken up? Were the real prophets fearful of her like Elijah was of Jezebel? All we know, the leaders trusted her enough to do what she wanted to do, and she derailed the people of God into sexual immorality!
Jesus was merciful to Jezebel and gave her time to repent from her sexual immorality. However, she chose not to repent!
Why did she choose not to repent? Was she a true believer who became haughty and deceived in her own mind? Was she a wolf who entered the church with the intent of seducing and misleading the people of God?Why did the people of God follow her immoral views when God’s word has always been very clear about sexual immorality?Did people just follow her blindly? We don’t have many answers about her or the people, but there is much to learn from Jesus’ response to this situation.
I’ll continue with this subject in the next devotional.