Jezebel and the CRC

by Rev. Rob Golding

I know most people think sermons need to start with a catchy intro or a relevant story but I promise if you stick with this introduction from the Bible, you will see how painfully relevant Revelation 2:18-28 is for the Christian Reformed Church, and the Church in America. Our text refers to “Jezebel” who “is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20, ESV). Who is this?

Jezebel was a foreigner who married Ahab, the king of Israel. The Israelites were not supposed to marry foreigners but Ahab did it anyway (1 King 16:29-34). I don’t need to tell you what happened next—Ahab went the way of Jezebel rather than the other way around (1 King 16:31-32). Any time God’s people flirt with idolatry they end up marrying it. The result was not only that Israel gave into idolatry but that Jezebel killed the prophets: “Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord” (1 Kings 18:4). When Elijah responded by killing Jezebel’s prophets of Baal, “Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow’” (1 Kings 19:2).

Jesus says to the church in Thyatira that they have “tolerated” (2:20) this same spirit of Jezebel. This word is important to understand. “Tolerate” (afiemi, ἀφίημι) usually means something like “send away,” or “divorce.”[1] It has nothing to do with “liking,” or “appreciating,” something. Rather, it just means you “put up with” something but you don’t really enjoy it. Of course, the problem in Thyatira is not that they haven’t been receptive enough to Jezebel as if Ahab’s fault was that he didn’t marry her sooner. The problem Jesus has with this church—our church—is that it has not banished Jezebel. To merely tolerate sin is to condone it. Perhaps some Christians in Thyatira said, “I don’t really follow her, Jesus! I just let her teach her thing and I teach mine. We are better together even though we disagree.” But this is to “tolerate” her. Jesus says that is not enough.

Let’s look more closely at what was going on. Jezebel is teaching God’s people “to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols” (Rev 2:20). Let’s look at each of these things. If you’re really familiar with your New Testament, it might be a little strange to hear that eating things sacrificed to idols was a sin because the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8 that eating things sacrificed to idols is in fact not a sin in and of itself. Paul says, “Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ‘an idol has no real existence,’ and that ‘there is no God but one’” (1 Corinthians 8:4). Skipping down to verse 8 we read, “But food will not commend us to God. We neither lack if we do not eat, nor abound if we do eat.”

Paul is saying, “Listen, these idols are not real. If you eat something sacrificed to an idol, God is not going to look at you and condemn you because you’ve done something sinful. This is all a figment of the idolater’s imagination.” However, look at chapter 10, starting in verse 27. “If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience’ sake, but if anyone says to you, ‘This meat is consecrated to idols,’ do not eat it for the sake of the one who informed you and for conscience’ sake.” So how do we reconcile Paul’s “eat” with “don’t eat”?

Paul is saying, “It’s not a sin to eat food sacrificed to idols, but there are some people who do believe that idols are real even though they’re wrong. They think that eating food sacrificed to an idol is a sin because they think these idols are real. Therefore, even though it’s not a sin in and of itself,” Paul says, “when you’re around them, don’t do it.” Why? Because conscience is so important in Christianity. So when we look at the letter to Thyatira and what Jezebel is doing, we see sexual immorality. We know what that is. We say, “That’s a big deal.” But food sacrificed to idols? If there was anything that wasn’t a big deal, that would be it. It’s not a sin to eat the food. It’s just about other people’s consciences. But look at what he’s saying to Thyatira. He’s saying Jezebel is teaching you to sin. And this sin is eating food sacrificed to idols. So what do we notice about that? We notice that Jesus, as he’s speaking to his church, he has a very high standard.

Jesus does not say, “This is not that big of a deal. It’s not really a sin to eat food sacrificed to idols. That’s their problem over there. They think it’s a sin, but it’s not. So just do whatever you want and they’ll deal with it.” No, what does Jesus say? Essentially He says, “Even though it’s not a sin per se, sin is so important that I want you to avoid even the appearance of it (1 Thess 5:22). And if you don’t, there are consequences.” So we need to ask ourselves, does this approach to sin map with our experience of the church? Do we experience the church this way? Do we approach the church this way? Do we hear preaching that preaches this way, that says sin is serious and we need to avoid it at all costs? Or do we hear, “Well, that’s fine. As long as you think it’s okay, you do that. I’m going to extend some grace. I’m going to turn a blind eye. You’re a sinner, I’m a sinner, just do whatever you need to do.” Does that map with what Jesus, our Lord, says to the church?

Now let’s look at sexual immorality. We’ve already seen that if anything “wasn’t a big deal,” it would be food sacrificed to idols. However, no one in the Bible was giving any leeway to sexuality, least of all Jesus. Sexuality was and is a big deal. Again, 1 Corinthians will help us understand this. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:18. Let’s see if this sin is a big deal. “Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.”

The Apostle Paul was a devout Jew, and the pinnacle of Jewish life is the temple. You make pilgrimage to the temple. You pray toward the temple. Your hope was in the temple. When the invading armies came in, they wanted to destroy the temple. God dwelled in the temple. You love the temple. And in Paul’s mind, for a devout Jewish man, going up to the temple with a sledgehammer and damaging it would be absolutely unthinkable. Yet he says this is what sexual immorality is. Our bodies are temples. Sexual sin is just like going up to the glorious temple of God and taking a jackhammer to it followed by spraying it with graffiti. This is a very big deal.

Now, this is not to say that God looks at sexual sin and says, “Well, people who have sexual sins, they’re in this special camp over here, and people who have greediness or covetousness, they’re in a different camp.” All sin is damnable before God. But the Bible says that sexual sin has a heightened potency since it is “against … the body” (1 Cor 6:18). It’s like poison. Greediness has the ability to kill you slowly. It’s a slow burn that gradually steals your contentment, then your joy, then your life. But sexual sin can kill you quickly. It’s a stronger poison. It’s very important.

How does Jezebel tempt Christians toward this sexual immorality? We see in verse 24 that Jezebel, whether she is a literal person or a movement, was teaching something that Jesus calls “the deep things of Satan.” He says, “But 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…” (2:4). What are the deep things of Satan?

Jezebel was teaching what she claimed to be not the deep things of Satan, but the deep things of God. Jesus is saying in effect, “Though Jezebel says, ‘Here’s the deep things of God,’ I say these are actually the deep things of Satan.” We see Him do that exact thing in an earlier letter. He says, “These people say they are Jews, and they are not, but they are a synagogue of Satan” (2:9). Jesus turns around their title and says rather than being a Jews they’re no names who worship in a synagogue of Satan. Jesus does this in His incarnate ministry when speaking to the Jews who rejected Him, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44).

Jezebel says, “I’m going to teach you the deep things of God.” That’s exactly what Paul calls them in 1 Corinthians 2:10. He says these are “the deep things of God” (NIV). The Gnostic people around this time, they would write books to each other and say, “These are the deep things of God.”[2] That’s a phrase that people would use. But Jesus is saying, though she’s trying to teach you what she claims are the deep things of Me, they’re actually the deep things of my enemy.

Today, the spirit of Jezebel is alive and well teaching similar “deep things of Satan.” We hear many people say that the deep things of God teach us that though the Bible on the surface may claim or seem to claim that homosexuality is a sin, if you go deeper below those texts to the deep things of God, you will discern that God actually says homosexuality is a beautiful thing when done in the right way. This is the argument of a man named Matthew Vines. He wrote a book called God and the Gay Christian. This book describes Matthew Vines as “The founder of the Reformation Project, which is a Bible-based nonprofit organization that seeks to reform the church.” What is his Reformation? Well, the title of the book is “God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships.” So what is he doing? He’s saying, “I’m a Reformer. I have the Bible. Let me show you the deep things of Scripture.” What does he say on page 12? He says, “As I became more aware of same-sex relationships, I couldn’t understand why they were supposed to be sinful or why the Bible apparently condemned them. Same-sex relationships were not harmful to anyone. They were characterized by positive motives and traits instead, like faithfulness, commitment, mutual love, and self-sacrifice.”[3]

So what’s he saying here? He’s saying that the Bible might appear to say that these things are sin, but we need to look deeper. What are the deep things of God? The deep things compel us to look at the fruit. Jesus says, “You’ll know them by their fruit” (Matt 7:20). Are they producing fruit? Are these people loving? Are they faithful to one another? Are they joyful? If the answer to these questions is “yes,” then the deep things of God would indicate to us that this is good. That’s the argument.

Look at the 19th verse, “I know your deeds.” The word “deeds” (ergon, ἔργον) could loosely be translated “fruit” since it often means something like, “product,” or “accomplishment.”[4] In the Bible, “fruit” is often a synonym for the product of one’s faith. A less literal translation that nevertheless gets the point across would be: “I know your fruits and your love and faith and service and perseverance and that your last fruits are greater than at first.” This church had the greatest works of any of the churches that John is writing to. This is the full package, right? You remember Ephesus, they were doing pretty good. They had really good doctrine; they were rejecting the heretical Nicolaitans. But they lost their first love. But not so with Thyatira. Thyatira, has love, faith, and service. Not only that, but they persevere in these things. It wasn’t a fit and start; they didn’t do it for a little bit and then quit. But they’re persevering. And then most amazingly of all, not only are they persevering, but “your last deeds are greater than at first.” They’re growing in their fruits. They’ve got it all. Their fruits are not only there, but their fruits are growing. Judge them by their fruits. That should be enough, according to Matthew Vines. Jesus should leave Thyatira alone. They’ve got fruit. But that’s not what Christ does.

Rather, He says, “But I have this against you” (2:20). What does that mean? It means that though you have the fruit, it’s not enough. Well, what were they failing to do? “You tolerate the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess.” This is what is happening in the CRC. We have this spirit of Jezebel in the denomination. People like teaching us, “Look at the fruit. Just look at the fruit.” When in reality, Jesus looks at that and says, “Watch out. This is extremely dangerous.”

Who is this talking to Thyatira? Is it this nice Jesus with flowing blonde hair and blue eyes, with high cheekbones and blush put on, and a little bit of makeup, and a flowing purple robe? Is that who’s speaking? Well, let’s look at who’s speaking. Verse 18: “This is what the Son of God, the one who has eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished bronze, says.” First of all, this is an allusion to Daniel. He’s saying, “I’m the one prophesied in Daniel.” That’s the first thing. But the second thing is this is the God who has eyes of flames of fire.

For John’s context, and for in-between John’s context and today, and for our context today, and for any other context or nation anywhere you go, anytime you ask somebody, “What does it mean when somebody has fire in their eyes?” everybody understands the answer. Whether you’re Chinese or American or African or Ancient Near Eastern, everybody knows it means you’re angry. Christ is not flippant about this. He’s not saying it’s not a big deal. He’s not saying, “Let’s have a conversation and tell me how you feel about it.” He’s not saying, “I want to hear your story of your experience of this sin and tell me how good it makes you feel, and maybe I’ll change my mind.” He’s got fire in his eyes. And not only that, but his feet are burnished bronze. Not like the clay feet of the nations surrounding Daniel when this was first written, but his feet are burnished bronze. He’s not going to fall. You can’t throw a stone and get him to fall down. He’s not moving. He’s steadfast and immovable. His feet are burnished bronze. He’s not going anywhere. You’re not going to change his mind. He’s not going to turn around. This is the Christ who’s speaking.

Today is not a time for conversation. This is not a time to just give grace. This is not a time to wait. But this is a time to stand with Christ and to call those who are in the Christian Reformed Church to repentance. If we want to be faithful to Jesus Christ as his servants, we must do like our Master does. We can’t say, “Let’s sit down and talk about this.” We can’t say, “I want to hear your story.” We can’t say, “Let me go back and study the Bible some more.” We can’t say, “We’re going to make a study committee that’s going to go study this for a year.” But we need to stand with feet immovable and with fire in our eyes, yet with love in our hearts, and say, “This sin must be repented of.”

And what does Christ’s voice say, this authenticated voice, the one who stands with feet like bronze, with eyes like flames of fire, who says, “This is my voice; listen to me”? What does he have to say to this church that’s tolerating this food sacrifice to idols and the sexual immorality? What does he say to them? Look at verse 21: “And I gave her time to repent, and she does not wish to repent of her sexual 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 that I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

These are sobering words from the Lord of glory, from the King of kings. This is the result of this sin, whether it’s people in the Christian Reformed Church or people in different churches. If we do not repent of these sins, this is God’s promise for us: we will be thrown on a bed of sickness, there will be great tribulation, our children will be killed with pestilence. This verse means that Christ is going to cut off the progeny of those who teach these false doctrines. Right now, these false doctrines grow. Right now, if you teach things like this, you get a book deal, and you get to go on TV. But Jesus is saying, though it looks like they’re having a lot of children now, there’s a lot of converts going to this false teaching if they do not repent their children will be killed. There will be a day when all this false teaching will be eviscerated. It will end. It will cease forever.

Now, you might remember when we were looking at the letter to the church in Pergamum, in the 16th verse, Jesus says, “Repent or I’m coming with the sword of my mouth.” Remember that? We said that’s not talking about the second coming. We won’t rehash why that is. What does that mean? It means that Jesus has the capacity to return to punish those who do not abide by His Word. Those who practice these things aren’t safe from the wrath of Christ if the Second Coming is delayed. Christ has conditional comings through His Church that will stop evil. For example, if the Christian Reformed Church does not repent of this sexual sin, Christ will return through his Word, and his Word will make war with people in the Christian Reformed Church.

And the application we made for that last week was, if you’re a member of the Christian Reformed Church and you have a problem with this, I think you’re disobeying God if you leave and just go start another denomination. You need to make war with those who are committing these sins with the sword of Christ’s mouth. Just leaving is like being a Pharisee who sees the injured man in the road and just walks around, “Oh, I’m going to be clean.” We need to make war. And it’s the same thing we see here in the letter to the church in Thyatira. He says, “I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts, and will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

Well, if we care about the Church of Christ, how could we possibly just walk away when we have this letter from Jesus himself who’s saying, “I’m going to kill this church”? How could we possibly walk away and say, “Well, go ahead, Jesus, kill them. I’m going to go join another one”? The only logical response in a situation like this, if we truly care about Christ’s church, if we truly care about people, if we’re not going to make the sin of Ephesus and have good doctrine but no love, the only rational response to such a situation is to open our mouths and to speak to people who are eating food sacrificed to idols, who are committing sexual immorality, and tolerating the teaching of Jezebel, and telling them, “Repent, because Christ hates this sin.” We must do this.

Look at 2 Kings 9:33, and we’ll see the result of Jezebel’s sin. “He said, ‘Throw her down.’ So they threw her down. And some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her. Then he went in and ate and drank. And he said, ‘See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.’ But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. When they came back and told him, he said, ‘This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite: “In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.”’” (2 Kings 9:33–37, ESV)

“This is Jezebel.” Dear God, let this not be the CRC. 

This is a very serious matter. The spirit of Jezebel is not only blowing through the Christian Reformed Church; it’s in many other denominations. And it’s not just in the church, but it’s outside the church. This spirit is present. And this is the end of that spirit. And we cannot simply hunker down in our bomb shelters and just wait. We have to tell people about the result of their sin. We have to tell them where they’re headed, that’s their end—ultimate and utter destruction. We have to warn people about this, not just go start other churches, not just talk about it with people who agree with us, but we need to talk to them and we need to tell them, ‘This is the result of your sin,’ because this is what Christ commands us to do.

He tells us that if we do this, here’s the result: “He who overcomes and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 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” (Rev 2:26) This is a quotation from Psalm chapter 2. What is Psalm chapter 2 about? Jesus. Psalm chapter 2 is a Messianic prophecy about Christ. And Christ says, ‘If you will do this, if you will speak these words to Jezebel instead of giving into her sin, but if you will be bold and speak to her,” then Jesus says, “the prophecy that was concerning me will also apply to you.” Not only has Christ been given authority over the nations, He will give you authority over the nations. Not only does Christ have a rod of iron that He rules with, but He will give you a rod of iron to rule with under Him as His prince. As the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, you will rule.

He also says, ‘As I have received authority from My Father,’ He will grant that authority to us. This is extremely serious. Not just in the height of the sin, but in the potential that we have for greater degrees of glory. Christ’s Church will reign; it will rule the Earth. He rules the Earth through His church. In so far as the church plays with Jezebel and commits harlotry with her, the church will be eroded and one day be completely eviscerated so that all that you can see left are the hands and feet until it’s like dung spread across the field. But if the church follows Christ, the church will rule the Earth like Christ does.

Then he goes on to say in verse 28, ‘And I will give him the morning star.’ The morning star here is a reference to Himself. Look at Revelation 22:16. What is this morning star that Christ will give? Revelation 22:16: ‘I, Jesus, have sent My angel to bear witness to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.’ Make no mistake that on this doctrine, on this command of Christ, the church stands or falls. And not only does the church stand or fall, but so does your reception of Christ himself. If you give in to Jezebel, you do not have the morning star, you do not have Christ. But if you will stand firm on God’s word and speak God’s truth, Christ says, ‘I’ll give you Myself.’

So how could we possibly even contemplate playing with Jezebel, knowing that in so doing, we are liable to give up Christ Himself? Could there be anything more foolish, more horrendous for somebody who claims to be saved by the precious blood of Christ to say, ‘I am willing to forsake the morning star to go commit harlotry with Jezebel’? There is nothing more abominable than that. And we, those of us who understand the stakes, must speak out and spread this message. This message is not just for Thyatira, it’s for the Christian Reformed Church.

Many of us stand by and we don’t play with Jezebel. And Jesus says in verse 24, ‘I place no other burden on you.’ He says, that they’re doing good, but they need to hold fast. Verse 25, ‘Hold fast nevertheless what you have. Hold fast until I come.’ Will you hold fast to that truth? Holding fast doesn’t mean holding it and hiding it. Holding fast means publicly proclaiming, ‘This is the truth, and I will hold fast to it.’ What did Martin Luther do when he held fast to the truth? Did he just stay in his little cloistered monastery, huddled together with a bunch of little monks and never tell anybody that the Roman Catholic Church was teaching heresy? How did Martin Luther hold fast to the truth? He stood in front of the Emperor of the whole empire, and the Emperor said, ‘Recant or you’re dead.’ And what did Luther say? How did he hold fast to the truth? ‘Here I stand; I can do no other.’

Will we stand in that line of faith? Will we be the Christian Reformed Church? Will we stand firm in our biblical heritage to stand behind the word of God in the midst of people who are listening to the siren song of Jezebel whispering in their ears? Will we go hide with our doctrine like the Ephesians without love and hold it in our bunkers? Or, will we follow Christ and his emissaries like Paul and Luther and go out and say, “This is the truth! We must repent for forsaking it!”

If we do, the reward could not be greater. What is giving up a life of sexual satisfaction compared to inheriting the Morning Star, Jesus Christ Himself? This is not even a question; it’s not even up for debate. There is no comparison between the two. A few years of momentary satisfaction versus eternity in His courts, in His presence, beholding His face, looking at the one who died on the cross, knowing each one of my sins intimately—each one—suffering the punishment for those sins because of His love, seeing Him and seeing Him look at me and love me. What is giving up my life compared to that?

Will we share this message? Let’s pray and ask God that we would.

Lord, our hearts are burdened for Your church. You died for Your people, yet Jezebel is whoring around with Your children, enticing them to follow after her. Her plan is not just for a few minutes of fun, but it’s to kill Your prophets. Oh, Christ, would You enable Your prophets to stand up and to speak out? Would You enable us who have weak knees and spines like jellyfish? Would You enable us to be strong and to stand on Your Word and to speak out, not with anger, not with pride, not because even for a moment we think that we’re better than even the most wretched sinner on the face of the Earth, but only because we love Christ, only because we know that without Christ the church will fall, no matter what the book writers say, no matter what Jezebel says. Would You encourage us and strengthen us to do this for the sake of Your precious bride, the one that You love, the one that You’re washing? Would You wash her in the water of Your Word and make her pure so that one day she might be united to You in great glory? We pray this, Lord, not because we are worthy, not because we are able to avoid sinning, not because we even deserve for You to speak to us, but only because You are the bright morning star, the one who stands with hair white like wool, with eyes like flames of fire, with a golden sash around His waist, with feet and arms like burnished bronze, who holds a rod that rules all the nations, and that out of Your mouth comes the pure and perfect word, sharper than any two-edged sword. We worship You, Jesus Christ. Would You strengthen us to do so more? We pray this in Your name. Amen.

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[1]Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and William Arndt, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 156.

[2] David E. Aune, Revelation 1–5, vol. 52A of Word Biblical Commentary (Word, Incorporated, 1997), 150. Cf. Irenaeus Adv. Haer. 2.28.9; Hippolytus Rev. 5.6.

[3] Matthew Vines, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships, First trade paperback edition. (New York: Convergent Books, 2015), 12.

[4] Danker, Bauer, and Arndt, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 390.