June 20, 2020, Psalms 100, Revelation 2

Psalms 100

It has been 100 days reading                 

The Psalms. 

It has been 

a total of five

months of daily bible 

reading for 2020. 

Psalms 100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you Lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness! Come before his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord is God!

It is He who has made us and not we ourselves!

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering

and into his courts with praise! 

Be thankful and say so to him, bless him affectionately praise his name!

For the Lord is good: his mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting, 

His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations.

Revelations 2

The Message to Ephesus 

 

"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 

The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, 

the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands say this: I know your deeds and your toil of perseverance, 

and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have persevered and have endured for my names sake, and have not grown weary. 

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 

Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place-unless you repent. Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God. 

Message to Smyrna

And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: 

The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life says this: I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you in prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until  death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. 

Message to Pergamum

And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The one who has the sharp two-edge sword says this: I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is: and you hold fast to my name, and did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you have some who in the same way hold the teachings of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it. 

Message to Thyatira

And to the Angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet and like burnished bronze says this: 

I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads my bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 

• Jezebel in the old testament was a dangerous woman. Her teachings are not from God. The word tolerate suggest she has manipulation skills and something is wrong but people tend to overlook it.
• Where does she come from?  Jezebel was the daughter of Ithobaal I of Tyre and the wife of Ahab, King of Israel, according to (1 Kings 16:31).
• According to the Biblical narrative, Jezebel, along with her husband, instituted the worship of Baal and Asherah on a national scale. In addition, she violently purged the prophets of Yahweh from Israel, damaging the reputation of the Omride dynasty.For these offences, the Omride Dynasty was annihilated, with Jezebel herself suffering the gruesome death of defenestration.
• In later Christian tradition, Jezebel was associated with false prophets.

I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. 

And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them--I place no other burden on you. 

Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. He who overcomes, and he who keeps my deeds  until the end, to  him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule over them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from my Father. 

and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. 

 

The Church in Ephesus:

Christ revealed: the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden Lamp stands.

Faithful promise: To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God. 

The Church in Smyrna:

Christ Revealed:The First and last, who was dead, and has come to life.

Faithful Promise: He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.

The Church in Pergamum

 Christ Revealed: The one who has the sharp two-edge sword.

Faithful promise: I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which on one knows but he who receives it. 

Thyatira

Christ revealed:The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished bronze.

Faithful promise: He who overcomes, and he who keeps my deeds  until the end, to  him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule over them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from my Father. and I will give him the morning star.

Other readers have commented and share a similar view;  Jezebel is not a real prophetess. I agree. I wanted to add more commentary because some women can be categorized as being Jezebel as if being assertive and smart means you have a Jezebel spirit.  I do not think that was what God was talking about.  Jezebel leads people astray; cause them to do immoral things God does not like what she does so much so he promises to throw her on a bed of sickness and her children will have plagues. God has spoken to her but he says she will not repent but the men have the opportunity to repent. 

OTHER NIV COMMENTARIES...

"Clearly, Jezebel is not a true prophetess in the eyes of the risen Jesus. There is no reason to think that the book of Revelation has anything against "prophetesses," any more than against "apostles" or "Jews." But as with those who claimed to be apostles at Ephesus (2:2) or Jews at Smyrna (2:9), the implication is that Jezebel is a liar. Like the Nicolaitans at Pergamum, she was urging sexual immorality and the eating of foods sacrificed to idols (v. 20; compare 2:14), in other words, the violation of the decree of the Jerusalem Council. A possible further reference to that decree appears in words directed to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching, when Jesus says, I will not impose any other burden on you (v. 24; compare Acts 15:28, "not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements").

The risen Jesus makes no distinction between prophets who condone idolatry and immorality and those who practice such things. He compares Jezebel to a prostitute, like the prostitute "Babylon" in chapters 17-18. She has had time to repent, but has not done so. Her punishment is to be put to bed (v. 22), "a bed of sickness in contrast with the bed of adultery" (Beckwith 1922:467). Her followers at Thyatira (those who commit adultery with her) still have time to repent, but are similarly in danger of intense, though unspecified, sufferings (v. 22). As for her children, that is, anyone who perpetuates her teaching, they will be struck dead by a plague (v. 23). Like Jezebel of old, her name and her influence will disappear from the earth (compare 2 Kings 10:1-28)."

Works cited

 REVELATION 2 - IVP NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARIES

https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Rev/Message-Thyatira

 

Have a great day.