Thyatira – The Sin of Jezebel

Revelation 2:18-29

¹⁸“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

¹⁹“ ‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.

²⁰But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

²¹I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

²²Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,

²³and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

²⁴But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.

²⁵Only hold fast what you have until I come.

²⁶The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,

²⁷and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.

²⁸And I will give him the morning star.

²⁹He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

As Jesus speaks to the church in Thyatira He addresses something we struggle with mightily in the Church in 2015 – the sin of Jezebel. Having been a part of the church for almost 6 decades now, I have heard this phrase used on many occasions – most of them incorrectly if you want to stick to the understanding we gain from our passage for today. [I have heard this sin applied in several situations where someone doesn’t like or appreciate another’s leadership in the church – that other usually being female. “The sin of Jezebel” has been used as a blanket name for a myriad of problems and that isn’t fair or proper.] In order to gain a clear idea of what this sin entails we probably need to know just exactly who Jezebel was and how she impacted God’s people.

In 1 Kings 16 we are introduced to King Ahab and his wife, Queen Jezebel. They are notable because they are part of the story of Elijah, one of God’s vocal prophets during a very difficult time in the history of Israel. Ahab was one of many of the evil kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Part of his downfall was to choose as his wife, Jezebel. She was a priestess in the temple of Baal and she brought the worship of her “god” to Israel where she attempted to mix worship of Baal with the worship of the Living God.

1 Kings 16:29-33

²⁹In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.

³⁰And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.

³¹And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.

³²He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria.

³³And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

 

When it comes to bad ideas, this one tops the chart. I cannot overstate the negative impact that Jezebel had on the nation of Israel. She does indeed embody evil and a hatred for God. She is judged quite severely by God which can be seen in her death. She is thrown out of a high window and eaten by dogs. All that is left of her are her hands. The big theological word for this practice of mixing anything with the worship of God is called “syncretism”. We do well to understand this concept because it dogs the faith even today.

“Syncretism, in the ancient world and in the modern world, does not necessarily consider all religions to be of equal value. It may, under the umbrella of tolerance, allow for different peoples to adhere to different religions as might be best for each. But the mark of syncretism is that it feels free to borrow and incorporate various elements from different religions into one’s own belief system, thinking that all religions have validity and that perhaps taking the best from each may result in a better religion. Syncretism, at its core, denies the uniqueness and absolute claims of Christianity and that Christ is the only way to God the Father.”

Brighton, L. A. ©1999. Revelation. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House.

As Jesus warns Thyatira He speaks directly to this practice. It damages the individual and it damages the church. We see it impacting the church today in big ways. We are daily being asked to accept a seriously watered down version of Christianity that does not hold up Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Instead we are told to mold Christianity into what feels comfortable to our flesh and assuages modern sensibilities. The needs and desire of the individual outweigh the Word and God's instructions to us. When that happens we are casting God aside for He will not share the throne of our hearts with another or with ideas born in our flesh. We do well to take this warning seriously. It wasn’t just meant for Thyatira. It is meant for us.