Jezebel's Repentance Possible?

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Jezebel's Repentance Possible?

Question: I was reading your article on Jezebel. Do you feel Revelation 2:20-23 shows God gave Jezebel space to repent within her false teaching in the Church. Or, was it simply immorality in her life beforehand leading up to being a false teacher? (J.H.)

Answer:

Thanks for the question!

Jesus Makes Five Points

By rebuking and warning the believers in Thyatira, Jesus makes the following points:

1. The Church is tolerating a known false teacher who is causing the believers to act immorally.

2. She is also teaching Christians to worship and pay homage to false gods. This dilutes the Gospel.

3. God graciously gave the teacher time to repent, but she refuses. This is open defiance of God and Christ.

4. God will punish her and all those who follow her teachings.

5. Those who do not follow her teachings are told to hold on and given promises of victory and authority over nations in the future Kingdom.

False Teacher's Intentions

It appears that while in the Church, the false teacher was given a chance to repent. We would hold that she never intended to repent. Her intent from the beginning was to wreck the Church.

Note that this model of a deliberate, false and destructive teacher is also stated in II Peter 2:1-3.

"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality; and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep" (NASB).

Tolerating Worldly Things Destroys Church

Not only that, but it is also similar to the doctrine of Balaam. In other words, the Church did not discipline her as it should have, but tolerated her. This is a warning to keep the things of God and not take on the things of the World. This kind of teaching is a deliberate and secretive attack on the people. This is not just making wrong choices of immoral acts that need to be corrected. Satan and his teachers are in the business to destroy the Church.

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