Knowing the Church Series Part 19
When Adam fell into sin in the Garden, his conscience became deficient because of pride and the human race with him. God gave the law to Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Everyone is responsible for the light of conscience; furthermore, with the increased light of the law and God's grace, the Apostle Paul says, "Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent." (Acts 17:30)
The Church should be the most positive influence for repentance worldwide and in every age—however, five of the seven churches to whom Jesus sent a message needed to repent themselves. Only those in Smyrna and Philadelphia facing death as Martyrs did not need repentance.
Thyatira, the Unrepentant Church of Jezebel's Prophesies
"I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater (In Greek more in number) than at first. But I have [this] against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants (slaves) astray so that they commit [acts of] immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols." (2:19 & 20) An abundance of activities in no way alters the effects of living an unholy life before the God of our righteousness.
Jezebel is the most wicked woman in the Bible. Elijah prophesied her death in 2 Kings 9:36 & 37," 'In the property of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, and the corpse of Jezebel will be as dung on the face of the field..." Christian people do not use her name for their children because of her reputation. The second indictment against her is in verse 20 of Revelation 2, "who calls herself a prophetess...". She spoke, but God did not send her. She called herself a prophetess, but God never does.
Through the liberal Church of the 19th Century, women have asserted themselves as spokeswomen for God, but taking authority that only belongs to men as designated in His Holy Word is abhorrent in His sight. Not until the middle of the 20th Century did women rise to a prominent voice in the "Church." Coincidentally, at the same time, world culture is losing its ability to reason that men are men and women are women. Do you see satanic influneces here?
Thyatira, the Unrepentant Church of Jezebel's Deeds
Tolerate in Greek in verse 20 holds the idea of permitting one to stay. This Church is steeped in immorality and idolatry, two sins that make man's rejecting God clear like no others. Immorality is a sin against a covenant between a man and a woman in a marriage relationship.
The behavior that sent the Church of Thyatira into great tribulation was not giving a prophetess her walking papers. In verse 21, we are told, "I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality." This so-called prophetess is corrupt, like Balaam from Numbers 22-24, who led Israel to intermarry with foreign nations. However, his prophecies sounded good but brought great evil upon a generation of Israelites.
What exactly is the horrendous evil into which Jezabel led the people? When I write what I do, your first reaction will probably be, that can't be correct. Paul told the Church he founded, in 2 Corinthians 6:17, "Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate," says the Lord. "And do not touch what is unclean." The sanctification of God's chosen saints is their being set apart for His holy purpose. Nothing strikes God's heart like a refusal to separate oneself from the world. I once heard a Christian woman tell the story of her captivity in Nazi Germany, at the end of which she said her divorce that happened years later was much worse. The idolatry of men toward false gods runs parallel to the sin of adultery, as a spouse betrays the covenant of marriage.
He Who Overcomes the Deeds of the Unrepentant Church
There are people in the Church of which Jesus says, "...But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold (Greek to hold onto) this teaching..." The words often used in a marriage ceremony are "To have and to hold" or be faithful as long as you both shall live. To the people who do not hold onto her teachings but instead "...hold fast until I come." that is, to follow Jesus wholeheartedly and without deviating to the right or the left, Jesus Promises the following.
"He who overcomes, ..to him I will give authority over the nations; and He shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received [authority] from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'" (2:26-29)
It is no coincidence that those in the Church who overcome a sinful association with the world, its philosophies, and practices will one day participate in the first resurrection. In bodies fitted to live for a thousand years, they will judge the world righteously, always seeking to lead the lost to Jesus Christ.
No one in the Church is indeed perfect, or can they be? Nevertheless, God sent Thyatira a stiff rebuke and coming condemnation because Thyatira the unrepentant Church refused to repent of her beliefs and practices.
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