Revelation 2:20; Notwithstanding!

Revelation 2:20 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.

Notwithstanding is the adversative “but”, to show a contrast, to jolt the listener to sit up and listen carefully. The verb “I have” is in the present continuous tense. It is a constant warning that sounded out to be watchful and vigilant.

The leadership in the church has permitted, that’s the word “sufferest”, the “woman Jezebel” to be a prophetess, to teach. And this teaching has promoted a sensual lifestyle amongst the members – promoting immorality and idolatry, leading the people to sin. And unlike the church in Pergamos, where false doctrine came in covertly, the infiltrating of false teaching and sin was done, overtly, in an open manner that should not have been permitted. Balaam attacked Israel from without; she from within – Jezebel was a stranger in Israel and yet she was responsible for the worst idolatry in the nation and she persecuted the servants of God. 

The name “Jezebel” is symbolic of the Old Testament character Jezebel, wife of Ahab, king of Israel in 1 Kings 16-19. Ahab was a weak king who dared not think differently from her wife, the daughter of the Ziddonians, a most idolatrous people of Canaan, the perpetrator of Baal worship and immorality in Israel. Though Ahab was not totally insensitive to the voice of truth, he continues to be a wretched slave to the father of lies, as personified in Jezebel. His heart was given to Jezebel, and her affection is the price to which everything else was to be sacrificed. He was the sport for her tempers and she exercised over him unlimited control.

It seemed the leadership of the church was subject to the domineering and manipulative influence of a Jezebel like character much like the likes of Ahab as we dig deeper into the story of how immorality and idolatry took a stronghold on Israel, threatening God’s swift judgment upon her. Jezebel was an influential person in Israel and rule with irresistible power, a power that was given over to her which should not be.

May the Lord be merciful to protect His church. Amen.