Wifey Wednesdays

Hello and welcome to Wifey Wednesdays, a podcast for women who are seeking to be the best wives they can be. I’m your host, Emily Hatfield, and this is the show where the plan is always to do things God’s way, especially our marriages. Today we are cycling back to a negative example from scripture that we can learn something from that will shape us into the people God wants us to be. And the woman we are talking about today - she’s familiar. Maybe not the text, maybe not in who she is, but I think she’s familiar in our own hearts.

In Revelation 2, Jesus is having John write letters to the seven churches of Asia. Thyatira is the congregation mentioned in Revelation 2:18-29. It’s a pretty lengthy letter compared to most of the others, and in it we find a woman that must have been a big part of either their congregation or simply their culture. Let’s read the text:

“I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat foods sacrificed to idols. I have her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead.”

Well, yikes.

This woman, whoever she is, is called Jezebel. I’m doubting that’s her actual name; who in their right mind would name their daughter that. But the imagery is supposed to be conjured up in our minds, of that wicked queen in the Old Testament, who was the leader of her family, making things happen and murdering whomever she needed to in the process. And it seems this woman in Thyatira is a very similar woman of influence. Now, her influence seems to be a little different flavor, but evil nonetheless.

Here we have a woman who is leading people down a dead end path — a spiritual dead end, that is. They are following her in works of sexual immorality and idolatry. They are letting themselves be deceived because she calls herself a prophetess, when really she is a liar and is simply telling people the things they want to hear — the word used is seducing them into doing these things. She is convincing them that she is right, her thinking is right, and that they should follow after her in doing the things that feel good and seem right to them.

Notice that the text mentions that they are being convinced to eat food sacrificed to idols. Now, that topic has been cleared up elsewhere in scripture. It’s just food, so it’s not that the eating meat sacrificed to idols part is the problem…it’s in their consciences. Apparently, some see it as wrong - but they do it anyway. They’re following her lead. Or maybe it’s that there are people there who see it as wrong, but she’s convinced those who don’t think it’s wrong to simply flaunt their ideology and shame the others who do. Romans teaches us that both of those scenarios is wrong. You cannot offend your own conscience, but you also cannot offend your brother’s conscience. We’re to bear with each other as we come to understand God’s truths. But we cannot train our consciences based on other people’s preferences, but instead let God’s word train our consciences. That’s not what’s happening in Thyatira though. They’re tolerating this woman who seems to have a power complex, who is running roughshod over everyone and seducing them into sin.

Tell me this doesn’t still happen.

Oh wait. There are still very powerful women in our churches, in our societies, and in some very powerful seats of influence. The way we wield influence is a huge thing. This woman, she apparently had the ear of a lot of people, and what did she do? She told them to give in to their desires and to follow after their flesh. She lied to them, maybe even lied to herself, and would not turn to God as the source of information - as the source of decision. Instead, she placed herself as the be all end all, and seduced others into following her instead of God’s instruction.

I think we find a lot of things that fall into this category. We’ve probably all heard it said, you find what you’re looking for. I went to and now live in a town with a Christian college. Guess what is on that college campus? What you’re looking for. That’s what’s there. You will find good and you will find evil. You will find voices to tell you what you want to hear. The same is true anywhere you look…anywhere you listen. There will be someone telling you that God just wants you to be happy…that there are certain things that scripture says but that God doesn’t really mean…there are things in the Bible but it’s from a different time and for a different time and we are beyond that and higher than that and free from that.

But here’s what I know: sexuality hasn’t changed. Oh, we might like to say that it has, but from the beginning God made us male and female. And from the beginning, people have tried to pervert that. And today - today we live in one big old perversion of that. But it was a lot like that in the first century, too. There were people whose whole lives revolved around sexuality and sensuality. Brothels were a huge part of the culture. Idol worship was basically just a series of orgies and other sexualized rituals. Homosexuality was very popular. But just because the culture had it, and praised it, didn’t make it right. And the people in Thyatira were rebuked for tolerating teaching that went against God’s laws for sexuality.

Regardless of the “flavor” of sexual sin, unless you have a married man and his wife, everything else is going to be sinful. None is better or worse than the other. Everything outside of God’s prescription is sin. Everything outside of God’s prescription is something that we have to give our self-control to. Maybe you’re tempted in one way or another — all of us have to submit ourselves to Christ and have the self-control to obey His will.

But you better believe you can find a woman of Thyatira around, who will tell you what you want to hear. You’ll find someone who says - love means love. As long as it’s monogamous it’s fine. I’m sure the woman of Thyatira was very popular for her lack of condemning for all sorts of perversions. The only problem is, God condemned her. She had been given time to repent, and she wouldn’t, and so she was going to face the consequences — as is everyone who follows her.

We cannot be people who let the world influence us, and we cannot be people who influence others based on our own opinions and feelings. It doesn’t matter what I think, or what you feel. It matters what God says. It matters how God feels. We must be people who seek His will and His word above our own feelings and thoughts and desires. Let His word inform your decisions, inform your feelings about things — not the other way around.

This woman of Thyatira, I think she’s still hanging around today. She’s got a loud voice. She’s very popular. But do not be deceived: her end is destruction. Following her bad advice will lead to death, just like it did for everybody following Jezebel’s advice. Where did she end up?? in the belly of a dog — which is disgusting. And yet, that would be preferable over an eternity in hell.

And so today, let’s determine to not be women of Thyatira - women who have deceived ourselves and are deceiving others by saying certain sins aren’t sins at all. And let’s also keep ourselves from being deceived by this woman and her children — we can know the truth, and the truth will make us free. It might not make us popular. It might not mean we get all the things our feelings tell us we want, but we will get freedom - we will get peace - we will get to be in the presence of Jesus one day.

Thanks be to God that He gives each of us the opportunity to repent, and that He doesn’t desire for any of us to be lost in our sin. Thanks be to God that He forgives every sin — and that no sin is too dark or too depraved for Jesus’ blood to cleanse. May we only ever seek His will in all things, praying that our hearts will be guarded by His wisdom and peace, so that we can silence the voice of the wicked one.

Thank you for listening to today’s episode; I know it’s been a lot. I appreciate you bearing with me as we cover all kinds of topics on this show. Ultimately, I just want to speak where the Bible speaks and remain silent where the Bible is silent. But the Bible isn’t silent regarding sexuality, and so I don’t feel that I can shy away from it either. I want, more than anything, to be pleasing to God. I pray that we will all seek His face and His will in our lives, even if it is hard or uncomfortable or causes all manner of upheaval. One day, heaven awaits. His presence will make it all worth it, and then some. Until then, and until that day, love God, love your husband.