Jump Start # 1633

Revelation 2:21 “I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.”

  Our verse today comes from the message written to the church at Thyatira. There were some things amiss in that congregation. Specifically, they were tolerating Jezebel who was leading God’s people into idolatry. Now, a few thoughts about this. This isn’t the same Jezebel from the book of Kings. That Jezebel, wife of Ahab, was the queen who was killed a long time ago. The original Jezebel was dead. Here, hundreds of years later, a similarly wicked, evil and godless person was working through the church. This person must have been a Christian, but they certainly were not acting very Christ-like.

Not only was this current Jezebel evil, she was having an impact with the people of God. The church was being torn up because of her. The reaction of the church was to “tolerate” Jezebel. Maybe she had been there a long time. Maybe they were afraid of her. Maybe they didn’t want to deal with a messy confrontation. Maybe she was part of a prominent family. Maybe…maybe…maybe. Whatever, she was wrong. She was doing wrong. And she was influencing God’s people in the wrong way. The church was torn up because of her. Toleration was not the answer. Problems do not fix themselves. Problems do not just go away.

Our verse is God’s response to Jezebel. God’s people wouldn’t deal with her, so God was. God’s punishment was upon Jezebel and all those who went along with her. Included in these plain words are, “I will kill her children with pestilence…” God was not in the tolerating business. He was through with this Jezebel. Change your ways or face the consequences. The wrath of God is severe.

It is here that our verse today is found. There are several thoughts that come out of this.

First, there was a time of warning, teaching, explaining and patience. A person cannot stop doing what they are doing until they first know that it is wrong. Inherit in these words is the idea of appealing to someone to change their ways. God’s word must be used. This is the reason for change. It is not to avoid a public scandal. It is not to escape the long arm of the law. It is not to keep peace at home. It is not to get the elders off your back. None of those are Biblical reasons for change. Repentance is born in the heart. It comes from the inside. It is based upon the understanding that one is not right with God. The choices made have disappointed and hurt God. One changes because of God. One changes to be right with God.

This is missing too often today. A teenager gets pregnant. A mistake was made. Poor choices resulted in a consequence to that sin that now everyone will know about. A shallow apology is made and everything is expected to return to normal. Had that teenager not become pregnant, would there have been any repentance? Did this come about only because of the consequences? If no one knew, would she had changed her ways? Was she sorry for breaking the heart and commands of God or was she sorry that now everyone will know? The same is true of a man who drinks. He doesn’t see anything wrong with it and keeps it hidden until one day he is arrested for drunk driving. Now it’s in the papers. Everyone knows. Now he feels compelled to “go forward” in church and say that he is sorry. Is he? Did the arrest wake him up or is he feeling ashamed for getting caught? Had there been no police would he had gone forward? Would he had stopped his drinking ways? Would he had changed?

A person changes, whether they are caught or not. A person changes whether there are consequences or not. A person changes because of God. Repentance is born out of a heart that understands that it is not right with God and that alone drives the person to change. The drinking stops. The fornication stops. The loose living stops. It stops because of God. The prodigal came to his senses and got up and came home. His father didn’t find him in the pigs. He came home. The penitent heart will stop wrong and come back home to God. It will put distance between wrong friends that influence. It will worship regularly. It will embrace God and His goodness. No excuses. No finger pointing. I have sinned.

Second, our verse tells us that God gave Jezebel time to repent. This is hard on righteous people. How long should be given? How much time? There is a period of time in which Jezebel is thinking and contemplating. During that time period, Jezebel may still be doing wrong. Patience with people doing wrong is hard. We want justice is be swift. God gave her time. God’s people can be a bit thin on this. We may not be giving folks enough time to consider what they did. We may not give truth enough time to sink in. I suppose a church could err on both sides of this. They may give too much time and patience then is viewed as tolerance. Then, it is possible to give not enough time. Maybe some one was coming around. Maybe they were beginning to see sense and what is right. But punishment came too soon. How much time is hard to know. There is no formula. It will vary with each person and each situation.

Third, Jezebel did not want to repent. How was this known? Simply after some time was given, there was no change. Jezebel kept doing wrong. They was no movement in the right direction. And, here lies a lesson that is hard for us to understand. There are some who do not want to change. There are some Christians who do wrong, and they will not stop. Could it be that they love sin more than they love the Lord? Their faith is weak and influenced by the world. They do not have the conviction to resist and flee from Satan, as the Scriptures teach us. They have continued to surround themselves with people of the world who are bad influences upon them. They will not repent. They will not stop doing what they are doing. In this context, Jezebel will not stop teaching false things. She will not stop leading the people of God astray. She is destructive to the unity and the sound teaching of God’s  word. She has made her choices and she must be dealt with.

Proverbs tells us that a child that gets us way is grief to his mother. Likewise, a member who gets his way, is trouble for a church. It is not our way, but God’s way. Bringing shame upon God and His people is not right. Refusing to acknowledge wrong is not right. Digging the heels in and refusing to repent is not right. It’s hard to discipline. It’s hard at home. It’s hard among God’s people. Without discipline, the child or the Christian, heading the wrong way, will never come back. Discipline is a form of punishment. It is intended to grab one’s attention and stop wrong behavior. It is intended to bring a person back where they ought to be. It is not intended to destroy a person.

Jezebel didn’t want to change. Some are like that. Given the choice, they will stand with sin rather than God’s way. Given the choice, they will continue to do wrong.

Our call, as God’s people, is to help those who are doing wrong to see what is right. Reprove and rebuke with gentleness. Save a soul is what we are after. Snatch one from the fires, is what we are trying to do. For some it works. For others, they will choose to stand with Jezebel.

I gave her time…she did not want to.

Roger