He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 2:18-3:6New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:

¹⁹ ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. ²⁰ 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 astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. ²² Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. ²³ And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. ²⁴ But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you. ²⁵ Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. ²⁶ He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; ²⁷ 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; ²⁸ and I will give him the morning star. ²⁹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

3 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. ² Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. ³ So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. ⁴ But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. ⁶ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

The reference to tolerating the woman Jezebel speaks not of a singular person, but rather of an evil spiritual force. The spirit of Jezebel derives its name from Jezebel who was the wife of king Ahab in the time of Elijah the profit. The spirit of Jezebel is a complex spirit, far too complex to understand in this format. Many books and many chapters of books have been written regarding the Jezebel spirit and its influence in the church today. Two of the primary elements of the Jezebel spirit are that it is a spirit of false authority and it uses sexual seductions and perversions to gain and obtain it false authority. It is the immoral actions which are addressed in the letter to Thyatira. Certainly immorality and perversions are rampant in today’s culture. Again though these letters are to the church, where there should not be such activity.   Jesus says: ”I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. ²² Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. ²³ And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. It says: “she does not want to repent of her immorality”. It’s a heart issue, these letters to the church are for the purpose of leading those who have gone astray to repentance.

John 3:17-21 says:  For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”     Being a member of the church does not save anyone. God desires that all would repent, that all would choose light over darkness. There is however judgment for those who choose immorality and darkness. Jesus says: “I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

To Sardis He says: “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. ² Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.”  Dead works are works that are done in the flesh, for any motive other than love and obedience to God.       James 2:15-17 says: If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? ¹⁷ Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.         This speaks to the importance of not only declaring our faith, but actually demonstrating it through acts of love and service to others. It is possible though that we can go too far toward just doing good for people and neglecting their greater spiritual need. There are many organizations throughout the world which do good things for people. The church though should set herself apart, sharing both works and faith.     For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?(Matthew 16:26) Much of the church today has become more of just a charitable organization, doing good things for people. Jesus commission to the church is that we should: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20)  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15)

God’s desire is that none should perish, that all should come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. To His church He says: “ Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.  So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent.”

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit thank You for Your patience with me. Thank You for calling me into the truth of Your word. Help me to walk in the fullness of the life You have given me, an abundant life of love, works, faith and righteousness.     Amen