Today is the first day of “pride month” in which people are supposed to feel proud of their sexual immorality, and the rest of us are supposed to tolerate that. In modern minds, tolerant is the best thing you can be, and intolerant is the worst – except, of course, you are allowed to be intolerant of those people who aren’t tolerant of exactly the same things you are tolerant of. We have today an ironic dogmatic tolerance.
Jesus holds it against a church if it tolerates sexual sin. Indeed, He says He will “kill” tempters to sexual immorality and idolatry. Jesus does not tolerate those who try to allure His people into sin by white-washing it. People who teach Christians to affirm sin — they are “affirming” — are Jezebels. Jesus says He will kill those who follow them if they don’t repent.
The Lord Jesus says, “I gave” — past, completed — Jezebel “time to repent.” She had an opportunity. “But, she does not want — literally — to repent of her sexual immorality.” So, judgment on her has already passed. Jesus says He will throw her onto a bed (2:22). “Those who commit adultery with her I am casting — present tense — into great affliction — mega “crushing.” Jesus says He is currently bringing them into suffering, “unless they repent of her ways.” They still have an opportunity if they will repent. The tempter is doomed
Jezebel’s children, those especially close followers of hers, Jesus says He will kill. Literally, He says, “Her children I will kill with death” (2:23). Do we see that sin is not to be tolerated, even under the rainbow colored banner of “diversity”? Do you understand why the Lord Jesus, earlier in the gospels, said it would be better to cut off your hand rather than allow it to drag you into hell? Do you see that the modern etiquette that instills in us the idea that tolerance and diversity are the greatest virtues is simply wrong?
For Jezebel and her children, time has run out. People can be, like “Jezebel,” alive but doomed, the time for repentance having passed. No more tolerance for them. Certainly, God is slow to anger, long-suffering, and patient, and yet, as we see here, some have time-after-time turned away from God, who have refused to repent, who don’t want to repent because they like the sin better than being right with God. There are those on whom God passes sentence already; those for whom the window of opportunity to change and be saved has closed.
Some teachers will tell us that old-fashioned ideas of separation and holiness are not necessary for the truly mature, that we know we are saved by grace, and once saved, always saved, so we need not worry about a thing. Grace is confused with tolerance. They can take many truths and weave them all together to form a lie.
We are facing the same teaching of Jezebel today, put across as if it were the gospel. They have the secret, they say, to be a Christian, love Jesus, and go to that party where I know there will be drunkenness and drugs. Sex will be easily available, or carry on that relationship that drags them into immorality. I know the “deep things” that keep me from falling even while I’m surrounded by sin. And then they wake up, perhaps with a hang-over; perhaps in a crashed car or a jail cell charged with DUI; or perhaps pregnant or with a disease; or perhaps, worst of all, they get by with it and after spurning offer after offer of repentance, they never wake up, in this life, to the fact that they’re doomed.
Jezebel — the doomed tempter — is trying to seduce Jesus’ servants into idolatry and immorality. To keep them from it, Jesus warns them. If you become children of Jezebel, following her teaching that allows for sexual immorality, Jesus will strike you dead. He’ll kill you with death. Then the churches will know — when they see denominations that were once large and lively but then decided to affirm sin, whither away — they will know that Jesus searches minds (or affections, literally kidneys, guts) and hearts with those laser eyes. He sees what you want. Jezebel did not want to repent. So, she’s doomed. What you want will show in what you do, in your works. So, Jesus says, “I will give to each of you according to your works.” He warns that if your works are sinful, immoral, and you teach others, that is fine then He’ll punish you. You’ve been warned.
Do Not be Deceived
A good tree bears good fruit. Jesus makes clear that sexual immorality is not tolerated among His people. Sure, Christians can stumble into sin, but they can’t live in that kind of sin; they can fall, but they can’t stay down in that. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:9, “Do not be deceived,” there are lots of people who are trying to deceive us, Jezebels trying to seduce us, appeal to us with what we think are the most alluring ideas, often because they’re looking to justify their sexual immorality or to be popular, so they can be rich. “Do not be deceived because, [among others] the sexually immoral [using the same word used in Rev. 2:20-21] will not enter the Kingdom of God.” Those who live in sexual immorality will go to hell. Anyone who tells you differently is a deceiver, a Jezebel, like this woman here whom Jesus threatens to put on her sick bed. She’s been leading others to bed, now she’ll be going to bed but sick and doomed.
Jesus will hold it against the church that allows anyone to teach that sexual immorality is acceptable. But the good news is, as Paul said, in the same passage as before, “Such were [past tense] some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified.” Or, as Jesus Himself says later in Revelation, “Behold, I make all things – even a life broken by sexual immorality -- new” (Revelation 21:5).
For the entire exposition of Revelation 2:18-28, click and listen:
Covenant Reformed Baptist Church is Danville’s & Caswell County’s Reformed church.