Useful Bible Studies > Revelation Commentary > chapter 2
A woman in Thyatira was encouraging people to follow their own wrong desires. They were not loyal either to their husbands and wives, or to God. She considered herself a holy woman; but she was teaching people to live in a manner that is completely unholy. They were imitating the behaviour of people in a wicked, unholy religion. Christ would act in judgement against her, and against the people who had behaved in this way. He hoped that those people might still turn back to him. He wanted them to confess their evil deeds to him; he wanted to forgive them.
However, there was no hope for the people who really wanted to live in that evil manner. Christ refers to these people as ‘her children’. If people refused to stop this wicked behaviour, Christ’s judgement against them was severe. In the original language, Christ emphasises the idea of death: ‘I will kill her children with death’. Both their bodies and their spirits will die. That is, they can never enter the New Jerusalem (21:8). They will never receive the good things that God gives to his children. That is because God does not consider them his children. In Revelation 2:23, God describes them as ‘her (the woman’s) children’, in other words, her children by these evil acts. He calls them her children because they behave like her.
In the Old Testament (the first part of the Bible), Jezebel’s whole family died because of the wicked behaviour that she brought into Israel. That was God’s judgement against them, because they all followed her wicked religion (2 Kings 9:7-10). In the New Testament (the later part of the Bible), God’s judgement is still against people who carry out wicked acts. That is so even if they are church members. It is so even if they consider themselves holy. Christ knows the truth about all people; he is the judge of everyone. He urges people to turn from their wicked behaviour and to confess their evil deeds to him. His judgement against them is certain unless they first invite him into their lives. He will only forgive and save the people who do that.
Next part: ‘The deep things of Satan’ (Revelation 2:24)
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© 2016, Keith Simons.