“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write the following:
“This is the solemn pronouncement of the Son of God, the one who has eyes like a fiery flame and whose feet are like polished bronze: ‘I know your deeds: your love, faith, service, and steadfast endurance. In fact, your more recent deeds are greater than your earlier ones. But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality. Look! I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, and those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds. Furthermore, I will strike her followers with a deadly disease, and then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will repay each one of you what your deeds deserve. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, all who do not hold to this teaching (who have not learned the so-called “deep secrets of Satan”), to you I say: I do not put any additional burden on you. However, hold on to what you have until I come. And to the one who conquers and who continues in my deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations—
he will rule them with an iron rod
and like clay jars he will break them to pieces,just as I have received the right to rule from my Father—and I will give him the morning star. The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ Revelation 2:18-29
New English Translation
Here again we have a church who looks alright on the outside, but inside there are secrets and sinful habits tearing them apart. This time, we see a church great at showing faith and serving, yet they tolerate adultery. When Jesus said that Thyatira was tolerating Jezebels, He was making no small or casual statement. Do you remember Queen Jezebel from the Old Testament? She was the one who introduced Israel to Baal worship, leading to sexual immorality within the people. Jezebel persecuted those who worshipped God. Being a Jezebel is not a compliment. So, it’s interesting to think that a church that seemingly has great qualities would allow someone so destructive within their presence.
With Jezebel comes deception, destruction, and devastation. In the Old Testament, when the people followed Baal, God brought a famine to punish them. Now, before you go thinking God’s being mean or anything, let’s be realistic. When kids do something wrong, how do they learn not to do it again? Punishment…also known as discipline. God wasn’t trying to be a bully; He had their best interests at heart. God was helping them come out of the destructive path they were on. Sometimes that takes a little hard love. For the church of Thyatira, it wasn’t a famine, but sickness. So, before you go blaming Satan for all your problems, take a step back and look around to see whether you’re actually experiencing a little bit of hard love.
Now, we realize the outcome from this, but how did it all start? Well, I think one of the craziest things about this letter to Thyatira is that their Jezebel was acting as a prophetess. She was disguising herself as the person with the answers, someone you can turn to and get help from. Do you know someone like that? They pretend to be a safe place and then get you where they gain the most. I’ve experienced this a time or two, and let me tell you, beware, because Jezebels aren’t always women.
The question is, how do we protect ourselves from Jezebels when apparently they’re so easy to fall prey to? Well, here’s one thing, fact check. There are so many different fact checks we should do. For one, is what they say consistent? Or do they constantly sway from side-to-side on what they believe and say to be true. Second, is what they are saying true to Scripture and what is already known about God? Anything that contradicts what God has given us is not God inspired. God is a God of order and unity, He’s not going to confuse His people by inconsistencies. Third, is what they are doing self-serving in any way or is it useful for the body of Christ? See, sometimes things initially look or sound good, but if you actually think about what’s happening, you begin to realize that their actions are “me” focused or unhelpful to the body of Christ. All of these are great ways to start checking whether you should be trusting someone.
One thing will always be true, if someone is tempting you to act in immoral ways or distracts you from worshipping God, then they’re not a great person to let have influence in your life or the church. The church has one goal, and that goal is to worship God. Anything other than that is unnecessary. That’s why we need to be careful about who we listen to.
Sometimes this problem goes beyond just your in-person relationships. You would be surprised how many people put their faith in YouTube “prophets.” When you hear them talk about what these people share, the “prophets” never have anything useful to the body of Christ. As one example, there was one who literally prophesied that Heaven is made of Jell-O! What about that is edifying to the body of Christ? Nothing! It’s just nonsense. Once this kind of behavior is acceptable in the body of Christ, more nonsense is welcomed and embraced. Where do we draw the line?
From this, we realize that the main problem is this: dissatisfaction with what God has given us. Instead of being secure in Scripture and listening to God, people look to those around them for the answers. This could be friends, family, movie stars, random people on the internet, and more! Then, we get ourselves in a sticky situation like Thyatira. When you listen to the wrong people, you give into so many things that compromise your faith.
My question is this: who or what is the authority in your life? Every moment you get to choose between God and something else. For Thyatira, they chose the Jezebels and gave into sexual sin. For us, it could be something completely different. Maybe you’re turning to influencers on TikTok and are in major debt because you listen to them rather than God’s wisdom on spending. Possibly you listen to someone on YouTube who promotes views that conflict with Scripture and have begun to walk away from God. Really, I don’t know where you stand with God. However, I do know that you’re faced with a choice: you can listen to God or others. Who do you choose?