The Church That Slept with Jezebel
Revelation 2:18-29 NIV
“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you: You TOLERATE that woman JEZEBEL, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’ To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
1 Kings 16:29-33 NIV
In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, & began to serve Baal & worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole & did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.
1 Kings 18:17-20 NIV
When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
1 Kings 18:21 NIV
But the people said NOTHING.
1 Kings 18:22-24 NIV
Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
1 Kings 18:26 NIV
…Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered...
1 Kings 18:36-39 NIV
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—He is God! The Lord—He is God!”
A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good just because it's accepted by a majority.
- Booker T. Washington
Jesus Speaks to 3 People in the Church:
1. Those Who Have Not Compromised with Jezebel
Revelation 2:24-25 NIV
Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
Jesus Speaks to 3 People in the Church:
1. Those Who Have Not Compromised with Jezebel
2. The Jezebels
Isaiah 5:20 NIV
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil…
Revelation 2:21-22 NIV
I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering...
Jesus Speaks to 3 People in the Church:
1. Those Who Have Not Compromised with Jezebel
2. The Jezebels
3. Those Who Have Slept with Jezebel
Every area of our lives where we are compromising sexually, it’s a form of Asherah worship.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 NIV
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.
"But my sin was this, that I looked for pleasure, beauty, and truth not in HIM but in myself and his other creatures, and the search led me instead to pain, confusion, and error."
- Augustine
Revelation 2:20 NIV
…I have this against you: You TOLERATE that woman Jezebel...
2 Kings 9:30-33 NIV
Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, "Have you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?" He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. "Throw her down!" Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
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