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December 8, 2004
Midweek Advent 2
Revelation 2:18-29
Pastor Joel Zank

Behold, Jesus is Coming!

(Revelation 2:18-29) "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.19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.22 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.23 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.24 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):25 Only hold on to what you have until I come.26 To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations-27 'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery' ?? just as I have received authority from my Father.28 I will also give him the morning star. 29He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

In Christ Jesus, our all-knowing and all-powerful Advent Lord, dear fellow redeemed,

Lots of warm, glowing lights, all kinds of bright, shinny decorations-these are signs that Christmas will soon be here. As we listen to the opening words of our text, it may seem as if Jesus himself has gotten into the Christmas spirit, for he says, "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" (Revelation 2:18). Red glowing eyes, bright, shinny feet - it may sound quite festive, but the Son of God isn't all decked out to celebrate his birthday. Those flaming eyes of his allow him to see what we're thinking and feeling; and those burnished bronze feet are just what he needs to crush his enemies as he makes them his footstool (Psalm 110:1). Can you picture the Lord in these terms - all-seeing and all-powerful? Good! It will prove helpful as we study his Word before us under this theme: Behold, Jesus is Coming 1) to search our hearts and 2) to share his glory.

In Acts 16 we're told that when the Apostle Paul did mission work in the city of Philippi, he met there a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira. God's Spirit opened her heart to receive the good news about her Savior and she became a believer in Christ. That very day, in a spirit of grateful love, she opened her home to the apostles, persuading them to make it their headquarters while in Philippi.

We have no idea if Lydia went on to play a part in starting a church in her hometown of Thyatira, but we certainly find a striking similarity between Lydia's reaction to the gospel and the way that some of her fellow Thyatirans received and, then, kept responding to the Bible's good news. For it is to the church in Thyatira that Jesus says, "I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first" (Revelation 2:19). Isn't it nice to know that while the world looks for and finds so much wrong with the church, that her Lord is able to see his people's faith and all the good that flows from it? The Christians of Thyatira were compelled by Christ's saving love to do wonderful things for their Lord, for each other and for their community. Not only did they persevere in the face of hardship and ridicule, their faith-born love was actually thriving, accomplishing more and more good things with each passing day.

In the same way our Lord Jesus sees the loving things that you are doing. He knows the love that prompts you to give generous offerings and to volunteer your time here at church. He sees the loving way you care for your family and the good work you do for your employer. He sees how his gospel in Word and sacrament is growing your love so that there is more of it now than ever before. How pleased he is by what sees! He wants you to know it so that you do not grow weary in doing good. What a loving Lord we have!

And because he is so loving, there's something else he must tell us: "Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols" (Revelation 2:20). Of course these words were first sent to a group of Christians who lived long ago in place far away from here. From what Jesus says of them, we learn, that while they were doing many good things, they were guilty of a sin that could literally destroy them - the sin of tolerance. But I thought tolerance was a good thing. It can be, but not when it is tolerance of sin.

There was a woman in the church at Thyatira, one that Jesus calls Jezebel. That probably wasn't her name, but rather a title that Jesus uses to describe her sinful ways. She must have had something in common with the queen by the same name who had lived centuries earlier in northern Israel. Queen Jezebel was a foreigner among God's people in the days of the Prophet Elijah. She insisted that her sensual worship of the fertility god Baal could and should become part of Israel's worship of Jehovah. The people followed her lead.

Apparently just as persuasive was the Jezebel of Thyatira. She did not call herself queen but prophetess. No matter, for like the one before her, this Jezebel led God's people into idolatry and adultery. From something Jesus says in v. 24, we gather that this woman had learned and was practicing "Satan's so-called deep secrets" - the same type of secrets with which the devil tempted Eve in Eden, suggesting that he knew things about God that she didn't. Satan had convinced Eve that what God called sin would really bring her great knowledge, power and pleasure - all the things that selfish God didn't want to share with the humans he had made. Now this Jezebel was doing the same thing, asking the Christians of Thyatira, "Did God really say consenting adults can't sleep together?" "Did God really say I have to love him more than everyone and everything else all of the time?"

By her questions and her actions, this woman had persuaded some within the church to join in her sin. And even those who didn't, were not of a mind to stop her. Either because of fear or apathy they tolerated her and in this way they also sinned against God. But Jesus had had enough of all of it. He told the church: "I have given [Jezebel] time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.22 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.23 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" (Revelation 2:21-23). Jesus doesn't want anyone to perish, so he gave Jezebel the time and the opportunity to repent of her sin. But she would not. Impenitent sinners deserve God's punishment here on earth and forever in hell. Jezebel and her children, that is, her followers were about to experience God's anger in their flesh. Their bed of sin would become their sickbed and ultimately their deathbed, unless they repented. Jesus still hoped to have them back into the family of believers. But even if they spurned his "tough love," others would benefit from it. It would be known throughout the churches that Jesus sees every sin and does not tolerate any of it. Time changes nothing - the wages of sin is still death.

So maybe you're wondering, "Who's our Jezebel?" You tell me. Jezebel represents all the church members who want the blessings they see in the church without renouncing the sins they enjoy outside of it. Jezebel is every sinner who has caved into sin's temptation while asking Satan's question, "Did God really say, I shouldn't do this? Did he really mean to deny me this pleasure?" Who's our Jezebel? I am. You are. And I am afraid that when, by the Spirit's power, we manage not to be Jezebel, we still often offend our Lord, by knowing of and tolerating the impenitence of fellow church members, leaving them to perish in sin's deathtrap because we are too timid to confront their sin, or too apathetic to care. In either case, whether we are Jezebel or the ones tolerating her, we have tried to comfort ourselves with the thought that no one has noticed. But behold, Jesus is coming, right here, right now to search our hearts. He sees our sin and he won't tolerate it. Be warned-he's not looking for excuses only repentance. He asking each of us, "Are you sorry for what you've done? Do you want my forgiveness? Do you want my help overcoming Satan and sin. Yes, Lord, I'm sorry. Please forgive me; please help me. Is that your answer too? Then listen, for to all who repent Jesus says, "Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to [Jezebel's] teaching and have not learned Satan's so?called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you):25 Only hold on to what you have until I come" (Revelation 2:24-25).

How easy it would be for Jesus to demand some sacrifice from us, some show of good faith by which we might earn his forgiveness and a second chance at his grace. But we sinners have nothing and can do nothing to merit God's pardon, so rather than burden us with such a requirement, Jesus simply says, "hold on to what you have until I come." The same Jesus once said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:30). Isn't that true, dear friends? How often we have despised the Savior's love, indulging ourselves with every kind of sin, and the only burden Jesus lays on us is the burden of faith, the burden of holding on to his promise of free and full forgiveness! Hold on to what you have, dear Christians, for you have a Savior who became Jezebel for us when he stood before God wearing the shame of our idolatry and adultery and every other sin. We have a Savior who suffered in his body the sickness of our apathy and selfishness. We have a Savior who paid our whole bill of sin with his death in hell to make us right with God. And so that is what we are - right with God. Gone is our sin. In its place is the holiness of Jesus who not only gives us credit for the righteous things he did as our substitute, but even gives us the desire and the power to try to imitate his righteous life so that in some small way our deeds might now reflect our faith in him and our gratefulness to him. Yes, hold on to what you have, for through faith in Jesus you have overcome sin, death and the devil.

This is what our dear Lord wants for us, and so knowing that our faith is born of and thrives on the power of his saving promises, Jesus says to us: "To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations-27 'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery' -- just as I have received authority from my Father" (Revelation 2:26-27). Friends, have you every heard anything like this? Behold, Jesus is coming to share his glory with us. As if he hasn't already done enough for us by rescuing us wretched sinners from the torments of hell and granting us a pain-free eternity we don't deserve, Jesus offers us still more, promising to treat us like royalty. We get to rule with him in heaven. As he crushes his enemies beneath those bronze feet of his, we'll be right next to him with him with iron scepters in hand to knock Satan and his followers into the depths of hell from where they will never bother us again. Can you picture it my friends? - You and I the kings and queens of heaven! And still there's more. Jesus says, "To him who overcomes...I will also give him the morning star" (Revelation 2:28). This is the greatest promise of them all, for in Revelation 22:16 we hear, "I, Jesus...am the bright Morning Star." In heaven, Jesus himself will be ours. He will fill us in every way with all his love and with all his glory. We can't even begin to imagine what that will be like, but then again, we don't have to. For now it is enough to hear and to cling to the Savior's promise and by its power remain his people till he returns. So by all means "he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Revelation 2:29). Amen.