Revelation 2:18-29 (Reconsidered)
Have ears to hear what the Spirit says…….
Jesus Christ

An angel calling out in Thyatira, speaks to me the things that I write. The Son of God, whose eyes are like flaming fire, and whose feet are like brilliant brass says, “I see your deeds, charity* and service*. I see your faith*, your hopeful endurance, and your toil. And I have seen that the needy are more important to you than those who are the most prominent*.”
“Nevertheless, you lack somewhat, particularly for permitting a woman named Jezebel*, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and deceive my servants into engaging in harlotry.* And she deceives my servants into eating food offered in heathen (idolatrous) worship. * I gave her time to repent of her harlotry, but she did not repent* (reconsider). Observe closely, I’m letting go of her, not caring what happens to her, as she perishes in a bed of sickness.* And the adulterers, who commit adultery with her, will go into great tribulation*, unless they repent of their own evil deeds. Also, her children, produced through harlotry, will be condemned and destroyed in eternal death*.”
“All the called-out* will know it is me, that I am He, who searches the innermost mind and heart* and who gives to every one of you according to your deeds.” * And to the called-out in Thyatira, even the destitute, “whoever holds not to this teaching (the teaching of Jezebel) and who has not known the extent of Satan as spoken; I will put upon you no other burden but to hold fast tightly, whosoever will, until I come (arrive).” Again, I say “hold fast tightly, whosoever will, until He whom you wish for arrives. “
“Subdue* and keep doing my work until the end. To him who does, I will give privileged authority over the Gentile nations, (who like vessels made of clay are completely crushed*), to tend them as a shepherd with a staff of iron. My Father offered this to me as well, in the same way, and I gave Him the Morning Star.” *
Have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the called-out.
Dig Deeper- Click on the words below!
Charity
The word used for charity here is “agape” in Greek. This word means brotherly love, but the early church used the word “agape” as the name of their weekly Lord’s Supper meal shared (Sunday) with their congregations and the community. They would teach the doctrines of Jesus, take communion and eat a meal together. http://earlychurch.com/love-feast/
Service
(diakonos); attendance as a servant; especially of the Christian teacher, or of the deacon :- (ad-) minister (-ing, -tration, -try), office, relief, service.
Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
Faith
(peitho); persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; by extensive the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself :- assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity. Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
Needy vs. Most Prominent
Exodus 30:14 (KJV)
Every one over the number twenty years old and above, give a tribute (offering; gift) to the LORD (Yeh-ho-vah). A rich man shall not give more, and a poor man shall not give less than half a shekel of silver. Give a tribute (offering; gift) to the LORD (Yeh-ho-vah), to cover (seeking mercy for) your soul. Take the expiation (reconciliation) silver, the children of Israel give, and use it for ministry in the tabernacle during the Feast (Moed; Appointed times) memorials. Children of Israel, face the LORD (Yeh-ho-vah) to cover (seek mercy for) your souls.
Psalm 82:3-4 (KJV)
Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
James 2:1 (KJV)
My brethren, hold not to faith in our Glorious Lord Jesus Christ along with favoritism.
James 2:8-11 (KJV)
But, if you show favoritism to the rich, you labor (toil, minister) sinfully, and are exposed by the law as transgressors.
Luke 14:12-14 (KJV)
Then Jesus said, “When thou make a meal or a Feast, call not your friend, nor your brethren; neither your relatives nor your rich neighbors lest at any time they likewise invite you in return, and a recompense (a reward) is made to you. Therefore, when you make a feast or banquet, call the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind and you will be blessed because they cannot recompense you. You will be recompensed at the resurrection of the righteous*.
*dikaios Phonetic Pronunciation: dik’-ah-yos Root: from <G1349> Part of Speech: adj Vine’s Words: Just, Justly, Right, Rightly, Righteous, Righteously
Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
In the Old Testament, dikaios signifies a person who is living in accordance with God’s laws and standards. In the New Testament, it retains this meaning, emphasizing a relationship with God (through Jesus) and adherence to his laws and righteous standards. (Matt. 27:19, Luke 23:47, Mark 6:20, PS. 19:7-11, Rev. 12:17)
Jezebel
1 Kings 18:4-5 (KJV)
When Jezebel cut a covenant* using the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah hid away a hundred prophets of the Lord secretly, fifty men to a cave, and he nourished them with food, bread and water. *(Cutting a covenant using the prophets of the Lord means Jezebal cut the men in half, laid them on the ground and walked through the two halves of their bodies, while making an vow to serve and worship Baal. She patterned this ritual after God’s covenant with Abraham.)
1 Kings 21:23 (KJV)
The Lord spoke (through Elijah the prophet) to Jezebel saying, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.”
2 Kings 9:10 (KJV)
“And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in a part of Jezreel, and no one will bury her.”
2 Kings 9:36-37 (KJV)
“This is the word of the LORD, spoken by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, “In a part of Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel. And the dead body of Jezebel shall be manure upon the fields in that part of Jezreel. Jezebel was warned.”
2 Kings 9:22 (KJV)
And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said,” Is it peaceful, Jehu?” And he answered, “What peace, so long as the adultery of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft abounds?”
2 Kings 9:30-37 (KJV)
When Jehu was on his way to Jezreel, Jezebel heard, so she painted her eyes, and made her hair beautiful, and leaned out the window. As Jehu entered the gates, she said, “Peace, Zimri. Will you put to death your sovereign?” He looked up at the window, and said, “Lean out of the window!” to two or three eunuchs, “And throw her down!” So, they threw her down and her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and under foot. Once Jehu entered into the house to eat and drink, he said, “Go, oversee the burial of this cursed king’s daughter.” So, they went to bury her but found only her skull, feet, and the palms of her hands.
They told Jehu and he said, “Return and announce Jehovah’s judgement, as spoken by his servant Elijah the Tishbite. “In a part of Jezreel, dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel and the dead body of Jezebel shall be dung upon the fields in that part of Jezreel. Jezebel was warned.”
Harlotry
(porne); to act the harlot, i.e. (literal) indulge in unlawful lust (of either sex), or (figurative) practise idolatry :- commit (fornication); pornography, adultery, incest. Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
Heathen (Idolatrous) Worship
2 Kings 16:1-4 (KJV)
Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign. He reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father did. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel and made his son to pass through the fire (child sacrifice), according to the disgusting morals of the heathen. And he sacrificed (animals) and burnt incense in the high places of pagan worship (not in Jerusalem as instructed by God), and in Geba (a Levitical town), and in evergreen trees.
Psalm 135:15 (KJV)
The Heathen (Gentile) nations idolize silver and gold, and the work of human hands.
Jeremiah 10:1 -5 (KJV)
Listen to the words Yeh-ho-vah speaks, house (household) of Israel. Yeh-ho-vah says, “Goad the way of the heathen (Gentiles). Confound (break down) the evidence of the astrologers because the heathens (Gentiles) are amazed at them. The customs of the heathen people are vain (empty). For one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Jeremiah 10:8-12 (KJV)
The gentile nations are united in the grave and foolishly silly: the tree doctrine (instruction) is vanity. The silver spread abroad comes from Tarshish, and the gold from Uphaz, the product of a workman, from the hands of the goldsmith. The colors blue and purple in their clothing is the product, the work, of skillful men. Jehovah is the stable, truthful God. He is the living God and the eternal king.
Jeremiah 10:14-16 (KJV)
Human beings are brutish and cunning. In confusion and disappointment, they cast molten images; graven idols. His libation (gentile wine offering to the idol) is an untruth; a sham (deceitful) because there is no life (spirit, breath, mind) in them (the idols). A vain, fraudulent action and a continual visitation of destruction.
Ezekiel 20:30-32 (KJV)
Say to the house of Israel(Jacob), “The Lord Jehovah says; Have you defiled the way of your Fathers and committed idolatry going after their (heathen) idols?” Lifting the sacrificial offerings of your sons and making them pass through the fire (child sacrifice), you utterly defile yourselves with all of it to this day. One question for you, O house of Israel? Is the oracle alive? “Rise up! Follow and worship the Lord God. ” the Spirit says “or exist as a foreign (gentile, heathen) nation, as a tribe (family) of the nations who worship and serve trees and stones.
Ezekiel 23:37-41 (KJV)
Declare to them their disgusting abominations!
They have committed adultery and blood is on their hands!
With their carved idols, they commit adultery (idolatry and apostocy), and cause their sons who are born to me, to pass through the fire which consumes (devours) them. (child sacrifice)
They perform unclean sacrifices in my holy sanctuary at appointed times, and have broken and profaned my sabbaths.
Furthermore, they send for men to come from afar (the messengers (angels) of God are sent away) and, lo, they come from afar to my sanctuary; to wash themselves, paint their eyes, and adorn themselves with jewels and ornamentation and to sit upon my glorious bed (reclining sofa), with my table prepared before it, where you place my sweet incense and my holy oil. (incense=prayers; Holy oil=Holy Spirit)
Repent
Greek; from <G3326> (meta) and <G3539> (noieo); to think differently or to afterwards, reconsider (morally feel compunction) :- repent.
Bed of Sickness
from <G2827>meaning to recline on a bed or (klino); a couch for the purpose of intimacy, sleep, sickness, sitting or eating and drinking. Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
Great Tribulation
Greek from <G2346> (thlibo); pressure (literal), afflicted (-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble. Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
Matthew 24:21-22 (KJV)
So, pray to God in order that your escape (fleeing) is not in a storm or during the rainy season or winter or on the Sabbath because then, there will be great tribulation, such has not arisen since the beginning of the world until end times, nor in any way shall it arise anymore. So, unless* that one day is shortened, nothing whatsoever, no human beings to save, deliver, heal: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
Eternal Death
Matthew 10:27-30 (KJV)
What I describe to you in dimness* (obscurity/ difficult to understand), manifest (illuminate) when you speak. And that which you hear with ears continually from me, “Preach that from upon the rooftops”. And fear not the separation (death) which kills the body, but does not have the power to to kill the soul. But rather, fear the One who has the power to destroy both soul and body in everlasting punishment. (Eternal Death)
*1 Corinthians 13:12
For now, we perceive love by looking into a mirror (glass), dimly (obscured); but in the future, we will look at love face forward. Even now, I understand love by division (piece by piece); but in the future, I will understand love, just as also, I am understood (loved).
The Called-Out
ekklēsia- a compound of <G1537> (ek) and a derivative of <G2564> (kaleo); a calling out, i.e. (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both) :- assembly, church.
Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
Mind and Heart
means thoughts and feelings
Deeds
means doing work, doing deeds, laboring
Subdue
from <H3533> a primitive root; to tread down; hence negative to disregard; positive to conquer, subjugate, violate :- bring into bondage, force, keep under, subdue, bring into subjection.
Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
Genesis 1:26-28 (KJV)
26 And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth”.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth”.
from <G3529> (the means of success); to subdue (literal or figurative) :- conquer, overcome, prevail, bring under control (often by force), quieten. Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
Romans 12:21 (KJV) Subdue not to subdue evil with evil, but subdue evil with good.
Crushed
means broken-hearted
Morning Star
Revelation 22:16 (KJV)
16 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
