Exposing the Jezebel Spirit
The 7 Churches of Revelation- Thyatira
CCCAG 9-8-24
-Scripture- Rev 2:18-29
Introduction
Growing up, my family didn’t have a lot of traditions. A lot of it was because we lived in the Southeast corner of Wisconsin, and the family was from the northwest. Before they improved the interstates and local highways, it took over 8 hours to travel from Kenosha to Hayward or Spooner, so we didn’t get to “go home” a lot, except for one time a year-
Gun deer hunting season, which also coincided with Thanksgiving. We’d all pack the car, and then they’d find room for us kids in between the luggage, and we headed out.
The men would hunt during the day, and we’d watch TV at night.
One of the traditions we had was to watch the yearly broadcast of a very old movie, “The Wizard of Oz”.
It turned 85 years old this year- they shot that in 1939.
Has anyone not seen that movie? If so, spoiler alert coming.
It’s a movie about a young woman named Dorothy who is caught up in a Kansas tornado and carried to the magical land of Oz. She meets three people along the way, and a wicked witch, and she has to find the Wizard that rules over Oz to see if he can help her get home.
After a series of adventures and defeating the wicked witch, they finally come upon the Wizard.
They enter the room and there is a great amount of noise and smoke, and a image of the Wizard appears talking in a very loud deep voice. Suddenly, Dorothy’s dog Toto pulls aside a curtain, revealing a man operating a bunch of special effects to make himself look powerful, but in reality, his so-called powers are nothing but smoke and mirrors to intimidate everyone and make them believe he is all-powerful.
We will discover that like the Wizard of Oz, there is a being that wants to deceive us into thinking he is also all-powerful, and that his way is the right way as we talk about the church at Thyatira.
Scripture for today-
Rev 2:18-29 (CSB) “Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira: Thus says the Son of God, the one whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like fine bronze: (19) I know your works?—?your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first. (20) But I have this against you: You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols. (21) I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. (22) Look, I will throw her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into great affliction. Unless they repent of her works, (23) I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who examines minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works. (24) I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who haven’t known “the so-called secrets of Satan” —?as they say?—?I am not putting any other burden on you. (25) Only hold on to what you have until I come. (26) The one who conquers and who keeps my works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations?— (27) and he will rule them with an iron scepter; he will shatter them like pottery — (28) just as I have received this from my Father. I will also give him the morning star. (29) “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
Prayer
The letter to the church of Thyatira marks the 4th church in Revelation that we have looked at in this series, and it has a few very deep and very profound truths for us to discover.
Let’s start with a very quick background on the city of Thyatira
Thyatira was a city known for it’s fashion and clothing, kind of like the Paris or Milan of the ancient world. Most of its trade came from its various shops that sold some of the finest clothing ever made at that time. It was also one of the few places in the ancient world that was able to pull off making purple dye.
Some bible commentators say that the purple outer robe Jesus wore during his last days on earth could have been made in Thyatira and was so valuable that the soldiers cast lots at the foot of the cross to see who would win such a treasure.
Lydia was an early convert to Christianity that Paul stayed with near Thyatira during his second missionary journey, and she was a creator of purple clothing.
And of course, there was a church there as Jesus had John dictate this letter to the leadership of that church.
Let’s get into the scripture-
Jesus starts off describing who HE is, and then compliments the church for their love, faithfulness, service, and endurance.
But they had a glaring problem- a woman who assumed a position of false spiritual authority within that church, and used that position to teach heresy and the worship of the local deities in addition to the worship of Jesus.
Jesus refers to this woman as Jezebel.
I don’t think that was her actual name, but a description of who she was like. I say this because that name is not one you would not use.
It would be like a pastor named Lucifer, or Judas.
A politician named Adolf Hitler.
It would have been a name that anyone would have avoided, so I contend that it’s descriptive of the type of person versus the name.
So who was Jezebel in the bible?
Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab, one of the most wicked kings in Israel’s history.
She is first spoken of in
1 Kings 16:30-32
(King) Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. 31 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, and began to serve Baal and worship him.
From we see from this scripture, Jezebel had several things against her from the Hebrew perspective.
First, she was not a person of Jewish descent- she was a Sidonian which means she came from outside Israel from an area that is now modern Lebanon.
This scripture also indicates that before Ahab married Jezebel, he was not heavily involved with Ba’al worship, but afterward, she dominated her husband and led him into that idolatry.
If you are sensitive, plug your ears for a moment or forward the podcast about 1 minute because I’m going to describe what Ba’al worship involves.
Ba’al worship included animal sacrifice and ritual sex with priests and priestesses in that religion. It also was strongly attached to the worship of the demons Asherah and Molech. In fact, in that belief system, Asherah was the mistress of Ba’al.
Because these pagan deities attached sex to their worship, children would eventually be born.
But these children would not have a very long life.
The priests of Asthrah and Molech would take those children and sacrifice them by throwing them into the fire during their worship times, using loud music and drums to drown out the screams of the children.
Obviously, God absolutely abhors this.
This is the one place in the bible where God is seemingly caught by surprise at how wicked humanity could become-
Jeremiah 19:4-5 (God speaking Jeremiah) Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind—
That’s what Jezebel brought to Israel.
If that was not enough- she made it her mission to wipe out the worship of God by killing every single prophet or religious leader in Israel that would not bow to Ba’al.
The one last point about Jezebel alluded to earlier- she totally dominated her husband Ahab, assuming much of his authority.
That’s the historical Jezebel, but now lets look at how this applies to the church of Thyatira, and to us today.
A couple of points I need to make before we go further-
A lot of preachers have used this term to describe females in the church they don’t agree with. If that has happened- that’s clergy abuse in my opinion.
The bible is very clear- Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
The second point-
I don’t teach a lot about the kingdom of darkness. We are Christians, and our focus is to be on Christ.
Jesus doesn’t want us overly focused on that stuff. As he said in Verse 24
“the so-called secrets of Satan” —?as they say?—?I am not putting any other burden on you.
Jesus is telling us I don’t want you overly focused on darkness and their tactics. Aware of them- yes. Afraid and looking for them- no.
Keeping those two things in mind, let’s look at this spirit.
We have to remember that our enemy is not a physical person, but spiritual enemies called demons which are lead by satan.
Remember that satan copies and counterfeits everything that God has created. This includes a kingdom that has a structure that like the KINGDOM of God contains ranks and authority.
For example, just like God has archangels, satan has archdemons in positions of authority.
Although it is not specifically named this way in the bible, we see the results of one of these demons’ influence, and that is what the church at Thyatira was dealing with- a demonic being influencing a woman within that church. This spirit is known as a Jezebel Spirit.
This is what is being referred to in the scripture as satan’s so called deep secrets- Jesus is mocking satan’s obvious tactics that are being used by the Jezebel Spirit to attack God’s Kingdom and HIS church and pronounces judgement upon that spirit and those who follow it.
There are three primary tactics the Jezebel Spirit uses.
The Destruction of God’s Created Order
The first thing attacked by this spirit is the family unit
This happens through the feminization of men so that they become passive followers instead of assertive leaders in their homes and world.
This causes the wives to have to do both jobs in the home if the home even stays together. Most men like this will not have the backbone or character to lead, and the woman will be forced into that duel role.
And that causes a lot of resentment, and usually will eventually end the marriage.
I know this isn’t a popular truth, it’s the biblical truth- in God’s kingdom and church, the men are supposed to be the primary leaders while loving their wives as Christ loved the church.
God ordained and created differences between men and women.
In almost all cases, Men are stronger and the protector and providers for their families.
Woman although physically weaker are more emotionally mature and nurturers to their families.
In God’s created order, men and women are meant to complement each other. If you think about a puzzle with only two pieces- the husband and the wife connect together to show a complete picture of God’s plan for the family.
This truth is what the Jezebel spirit attacks.
Remember the Garden of Eden- satan went after Eve to cast doubt into Adam’s instruction from God to her. That’s exactly what biblical Jezebel did to Ahab- she refused his leadership and instead dominated him.
This does not mean woman need to be weak, or not have dreams or professions that they pursue. It doesn’t mean they can’t be leaders in their own rights.
This is not a misogynistic rant about woman staying quiet, barefoot and in the kitchen.
Again, this is about the roles in the home, and through that the church.
The second way the Jezebel spirit will operate is-
The assumption of false spiritual authority.
A Jezebel spirit will do several things in a church.
1. Isolate people- draw them away from the pastor or church leadership.
They will question everything, subtly casting doubt, they will try to put themselves out front as much as possible to wiggle into a leadership role, meanwhile spreading poison about the legitimate leadership. It’s slow, it’s usually very subtle, but you can see it happening.
2. They will claim special gifts and revelations to gather a crowd to them. This begins in a very subtle way- just an offhand comment about what the pastor is teaching, and how they would have done that sermon differently. Or mocking it, saying “that was a very basic understanding but there is a lot more to that scripture”
They will also abuse a prophetic gift, in giving supernatural revelations, and use that to slowly guide people away from the truth and into their web of lies and deceit.
If left unchecked and not confronted by the leadership-
3. They will overemphasize grace and use that to undermine truth and obedience to the Word of God. They may start off looking spiritual- a hyper-charismatic focus- allowing the “Holy Spirit” to move in questionable ways, and once they have their hooks into your spirit, they lead people into idolatry and even sexual sin.
In every example I have shared this morning, I have personally witnessed this destructive spirit at work…and it got bad.
And that is where are today in the American church.
The Jezebel Spirit has mostly destroyed the church in our nation.
WE have fallen off the moral cliff described in Romans 1:18-32.
And as the church goes, so goes the country.
Because of this lack of caring about what is true, coupled with a complete lack biblical knowledge in our citizens they have NO discernment at all.
We have people standing for things that are complete lies.
The most aggressive example in the last few weeks-
At a recent protest in NYC People stood screaming support for a terrorist organization…only a few miles away from where the WTC once stood.
That is why we should never, ever tolerate a Jezebel spirit in our homes or in our churches.
How do we fight it?
We go back to Jesus’ description of HIMself at the beginning of today’s lesson.
Landing Strip-
Jesus describes Himself in the beginning of this section of scripture as having eyes like a fiery flame.
Two meanings behind that-
One, Jesus sees everything. His eyes bring light into the darkness where we think we can hide our sins.
I once heard a preacher say, “Next time you decide to commit willful sin, you might as well ask Jesus to come with you because in fact, and in reality, He is already there watching”
That’s sobering when you think about it. Think about the last major sin you committed, and realize Jesus was right there with you.
The Jezebel spirit can only thrive in darkness and secrecy, so when you feel its influence beginning to take root in your homes or church-
Drag it into the light and expose it. You will strip it of its power, and it will flee.
The second way to fight this is again revealed in Jesus’ description of His eyes being flames of fire.
Fire purifies, cleanses, and prepares people to serve God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength. It’s why the Holy Spirit came as tongues of fire- burning away our old selves so that we could be born again.
And finally,
Remember that everything we do in life will be judged in the fire of Christ’s holiness.
As 1 Cor 3 instructs us-
1Co 3:11-15 For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. (12) If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, (13) each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. (14) If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. (15) If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved — but only as through fire.
Let’s all stand
Communion/ Altar call
