“But 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.” Revelation 2:20
The Lord has defined the issue in the church – tolerance to sin. Now He identifies the person so the church can understand what they are doing that is an affront to a holy God. To show Thyatira the dangerous evil they are embracing in the Lord goes back to an Old Testament character (so we will understand as well). That woman Jezebel Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, an idolatrous king of Sidon. Ethbaal, the priest-king of Tyre who murdered his own brother to take
over the throne, was hardly a good father figure. Before becoming king, Ethbaal was a priest of Astarte, the Greek name of the moon goddess Ashtoreth. This idol was associated with Baal, the sun-god. Furthermore Jezebel was the wife of Ahab, the king of Israel who did and allowed more evil in God’s nation than other king to that point. Jezebel had an evil agenda which was facilitated by the fact she was married to a weak willed man who allowed her to have her way. (This is what was happening at Thyatira also.) Jezebel came to Israel intending to turn the nation of God into a nation that followed Baal. (Exactly what Satan has been doing to divert the worship of God to him.) To achieve her agenda Jezebel brough false prophets into
the land of Israel and into the very seat of authority, the king’s palace. Jezebel ordered the systematic annihilation of the priests of God. She destroyed the truth and replaced it with error. (Exactly as was
happening in Thyatira.)
The Lord now defines the specifics that Jezebel is doing that deceive the church at Thyatira – things we need to be alert to in this day of deception in which we live.
Who calls herself a prophetess First, the woman (it is unlikely her real name was Jezebel) claimed to speak for God. She publicly flaunted her authority to speak for God. When she was challenged, she claimed God called her to speak for Him. This is an important lesson for us in the age we live. A person claiming they are God’s messenger does not means they are “cutting it straight” – teaching the word of God truthfully. Test what you hear against the whole counsel of God. Be suspicious of self-proclaimed “messengers”.
And is teaching and seducing my servants Second, the Lord tells us this woman’s intent is to seduce through teaching. Note the word is in the continuous tense. She is actively engaged in doing this even as the Lord speaks to His church. (It is happening now even ss the read these words from the Lord.) The word for teaching was frequently used of the Lord’s instructing the crowds and His disciples about the Kingdom of God, and the Scriptures. Rather than use her gift to teach God’s glory the woman in the church at Thyatira used it to seduce and led astray her listeners from the truth of God’s word. Third, we see her targets. The word servants is doulous. It is the lowest form of servant, a bondservant. It refers to someone who is legally owned by another and whose entire livelihood and purpose are determined by their master. As the lowest level servant the bondservant had no privileges. He lived only to obey his master. Thus this evil woman deceives him from fulfilling his sole responsibility. Note these servants are God’s and his woman is out to steal the Lord’s followers and she is doing it in the very midst of His church – exactly as Jezebel did with God’s children inside the nation of Israel. But it’s even worse. Her activity is condoned by the authority in the church (just as Jezebel’s seductions were approved by her weak-willed husband, King Ahab).
What can we learn? It is easy to read of these Old Testament examples and shake our heads in amazement. How could these
people be so foolish. Then, in pride, we think we would never have fallen victim to that heresy. What we forget is that this is
Satan’s main attack – to cause the people of God to doubt God. This started in heaven when he convinced 1/3 of the angels to follow him in rebellion to God. Those angels, who saw God on His throne and in all His perfection, were deceived. If they can be deceived we must never think we are immune from the doctrines of false prophets. Satan will
use this same attack during the Tribulation to deceive the whole world. But he is not just waiting until then, he is actively using it against us now.