He who has an ear, let him hear...

Revelation 2:18-3:6 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

 “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.’

Again today as we look at the messages to the churches in Revelation, let us not look in a way that is judgmental or critical of those in these churches. But rather, recognizing that we today have still not seen the fullness of the Revelation of Christ given in the vision, may we look in a way to apply the applicable lessons, exhortations and warnings to our own lives.

Today’s text begins:   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:  ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater 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 astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. 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. 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.’   There have been many books written regarding the Jezebel spirit and how to eliminate it from the church. Often it is misidentified as being present in strong and attractive female personalities. It isn’t that may not be partly true. But, we need to recognize that the adultery with her that the Lord speaks of is not a sexual act, but rather it is spiritual adultery. As it says in James 4:4-5:  You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?  Exodus 20:3-5 says:  You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.   So, putting anything before God is spiritual adultery. In the case of the church in Thyatira, what He had against them is that they: 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.  The Jezebel spirit, which teaches and leads believers astray so that they commit acts of immorality is certainly prevalent in our culture and society today. There are also many in the church who have allowed the immoral standards of the world to be tolerated, accepted and embraced in the church.  The Lord says:  I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. 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. 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.   We see today that many are unwilling to repent. Instead they say that it is God who should change. They say God’s word, His standards and His commandments need to adjust to those of the culture in our day. In Isaiah 5:20 God says:  Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!    If we choose any other standard of morality than what God has clearly set forth in His word, we are spiritual adulterers. The Jezebel spirit will never repent. It is a spirit of evil and darkness. But, the Lord says:  repent of her deeds…  I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.   We are reconciled to God through Christ, redeemed from sin by grace. We must repent of the deeds of Jezebel if they are present in our lives.

The next letter says: “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. 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. 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.”   We in the church often call for those in the world to repent and it is good and right that we do. We though need to acknowledge that even though we are saved by grace, we are still responsible to repent of our improper thoughts and actions as they are revealed to us by God’s word or His Spirit. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God says:  If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. If we want God to heal our land, it is the people of God, those who are called by His name who must repent. Surely the church today should heed the call to wake up, remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. The Lord says:  I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.   Many churches, ministries and indivuals do the right things but not necessarily for the right reasons. The end of all that we do in loving and serving others should be that they would come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Any other result is not complete in the sight of God. If we provide for them in this temporal world, but allow them to be without God for eternity, we are not completing what God and Christ call us to.

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

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; You alone are my God. Thank You for the continuing revelation of Your will through Your Word and Your Spirit. May I be found worthy to walk with You, by Your grace and in Your righteousness. Amen.