Just the name Jezebel is enough to signal that which is evil. She was
the pagan wife of King Arab of the northern ten tribes and her influence
was anything but good (1 Kings 16:31). We find this name also in Revelation
2:22, "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest
that woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to
seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed
unto idols." These were the words of Jesus to the congregation at Thyatira
who was allowing this woman to
remain in that congregation. Notice what Jesus said He would do to
her, "And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented
not. Behold; I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery
with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And
I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that
I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every
one of you according to
your works. Great tribulation seems to be a fitting symbol of consequences
people bring on themselves because of sexual license and promiscuity. The
Holy Spirit warned in 1 Cor 6:18 against all manner of sexual sins, "Flee
fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that
commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body." This woman was allowed
to remain in the church even though she had done, and was doing, many things
contrary to the plain teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Why is fornication a sin? The answer is found in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20,
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you, which ye have of God and ye are not your own? For ye are bought
with a price: therefore glorifying God in your body, and in your spirit,
which are God's." A Christian's body is supposed to be the temple of the
Holy Ghost because Christians have been bought with the blood of Jesus
Christl We no
longer belong to ourselves, but we belong to God as Paul stated in
Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God; who loved me, and gave himself for
me." Does your life mirror this verse? This is what all Christians should
be working toward with their spiritual lives, that Christ would live in
our lives. Pure living
before God and the world is our goal not living the life of Jezebel
or one of her lovers. Remember Jezebel of old's death, she was cast
down from a tower, run over by horses and eaten by dogs. Just think how
much worse death will be for a spiritual Jezebel or one of her lovers,
an eternity in hell.