Jump Start # 1301

Revelation 2:21 “I have her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.”

  This somber passage from Revelation is devoted to Jezebel. We know it’s not the actual Jezebel. She lived back in the Old Testament period, married to the weak king Ahab, she was a murderous, evil person who died a violent death. A type of Jezebel was working through the church family at Thyatira. Who ever this person was, she considered herself a prophetess, and she was busy leading God’s people astray, especially into idolatry. Worse, the context tells us that the church was tolerating her. She was busy doing bad and the good folks were doing nothing. That is all it takes for evil to survive and multiply.

The church was tolerating but God was not. The church accepted and God was demanding repentance. What God had in store wasn’t for the faint of heart. He declared that she was going to be thrown on a bed of sickness and her children were going to be killed. God had run out of patience with this wicked heart. He had given her time, but she didn’t do anything productive with that time. Now, she had run out of time. God was not looking the other way because she was a woman. God was patient to a point. She took advantage of the patience of God.

Two thoughts come to mind here:

First, why does a church tolerate wrong? Seems like a simple question, but it’s not. Sometimes who it is can lead some to look the other way. A wife of one of the leaders, the wife of the preacher, the wife of a large contributor, or instead of a wife, a child, and that’s all it takes for some to tolerate. Understand tolerance and patience are not the same. At a moment, it may seem that both, tolerance and patience, are putting up with wrong behavior. Tolerance can continue to put up with wrong. Tolerance has no end in sight. Tolerance accepts and just looks the other way. Patience is looking to an end. Patience is waiting for a change, first in the heart and then in behavior. There comes a time when patience sees no hope. The person is not changing. Jesus told the disciples not to cast pearls among the swine. Here in our passage, Jezebel does not want to repent. It’s the “does not want to” that changes everything. Someone that is slipping and sliding along, and trying—we are to be patient and helping. Someone that doesn’t want to change, the clock is ticking and will soon stop. Not wanting to change is an attitude. It’s not the same as someone who wants to, but they don’t know how. It’s not the same as someone who is just moving at a slower pace than we’d like. The not wanting to crowd isn’t going to change. Their heart is set on staying wrong. There comes a time when a family, a church, a marriage must move on. A husband who is seeing another woman and doesn’t want to change, has all but killed that marriage. A prodigal who has gone to the far country and does not want to change, has all but ruined his relationship with his family. A member who does not want to walk with Jesus will find himself out of fellowship with his church family. It’s the not wanting to that makes all the difference. God ran out of patience because Jezebel did not want to change.

Second, God is patient to a point. God is expecting and looking for improvement. He is looking for positive movement. The repentance would come about from a heart that has been touched by the word of God. The honest and good heart changes. It is that heart that responds to the word of God. The honest heart realizes the pain and wrong that has been caused by their poor choices. Sin has taken over. They have moved away from God. The goodness of the Gospel reaches that heart. It’s not too far gone. It’s still wanting to do what is right. The person grieves over his sins and turns to Christ. God is waiting. God is willing to forgive. Under the banner of the Cross, forgiveness and hope are restored. A person stands united with God, justified and redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. They are sorry for their sins. They regret the wrong that they have done. Lessons have been learned. Faith grows. God is patient toward such. God doesn’t want any to perish but all to be saved.

The patience of God leads to a couple of other thoughts. First, there comes a time when God’s patience has run out with the world. At that time, Jesus will be sent. Everything changes when Jesus comes. He will gather up His people, the world will come to a sudden end and all of us, living and dead, will be cast into eternity. There is a day coming, only God knows, when He will say, “Enough. No more. Go Jesus.” Every day, is one more day of patience from God. Our stupid world continues to ignore the patience of God and spins faster and faster and deeper and deeper into sin. People are living without any compass, any conscience and any thought that each day is one more opportunity to repent before God. Some day, God will say, “They do not want to repent.” Give them another year, another decade, another generation, and they just get worse and worse. Some day, God will have enough of this.

Second, we must wonder about ourselves. Is God waiting on you and I to change? Are we stubborn? Are we fighting God? Jezebel didn’t want to change. How about you? How about me? Maybe the reason Jesus hasn’t come is because God is just waiting for us to give our hearts wholly to Him.

Tolerance and patience—they are not the same.

Roger