The glory of doing right
Opening Prayer
God, as You look at me with eyes blazing like fire, burn away complacency and set a fire in my soul for You alone.
Read REVELATION 2:18–29
[18] “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 prophet. 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] except to hold on to what you have until I come.’ [26] To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations- [27] that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’-just as I have received authority from my Father. [28] I will also give that one the morning star. [29] Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What is causing the Lord’s passions to burn?This passage is not primarily about the bad deeds of a person called Jezebel. The searing power of the Son of God is the principal feature of the letter to Thyatira. This is Jesus, whom it is our duty to imitate (Eph. 5:1). When was the last time your eyes were “like blazing fire” (18) on hearing that someone has been unfaithful to their partner or has been dabbling in dubious company? Perhaps part of our problem as Christians is that it is possible, in this life, to grow numbed to the nature and effect of the immorality around us. Murder and gross depravity are, in one sense, easy to spot. What about teachers who advise young people that ungodly standards are acceptable (20)? Can we be sure that the most obviously wicked acts are those which most incur God’s wrath? The misdeeds of Jezebel would not even disturb polite modern society. In fact, we might well be criticized for censuring her! Yet the response of the Son of God to this activity is extreme. Intense suffering and death will be the outcome. And now look, in verses 25–28, at the reward for those who are faithful.
Apply
Meditate on the name given to Jesus in Revelation 22:16: “The bright Morning Star.”
Closing prayer
Father, it is so easy for me to go through this life as though my choices do not matter. Awaken me to the eternal.
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