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Preventing the Purpose of God: Lessons from Jezebel
There has been a lot of ink used on topics such as God’s will, the sovereignty of God, predestination, free will, etc. The episode about Jezebel at the congregation in the city of Thyatira can shed some light on conversations and discussions about these topics. This woman’s true name is not known to us since she is only referred to by her symbolic [i.e., typological] name. She is named Jezebel because her impact and influence on the local congregation is similar at points to the ways the ancient Jezebel influenced God’s people in earlier centuries. Jezebel’s impact on Israel was detrimental because of her promotion of the worship of foreign gods and pagan practices like witchcraft [1 Kgs. 16-21; 2 Kgs. 9].
This Jezebel of Thyatira was promoting a syncretistic form of religion for herself and her followers which included “sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols” and teaching “Satan’s so-called deep secrets” (Rev. 2:20, 24). The Jezebel account reminds the modern church that our betrayal of the message of Christ can be both behavioral and doctrinal, as it was at Thyatira. It is hard to conceive of more polemical labels or more severe epithets coming through a Christian prophet like John than terms such as “Jezebel” and “teachings of Satan.”
Could anyone be more deserving of immediate and harsh punishment from God than this Christian Jezebel? Yet, at least as far back in time as the episode of the golden calves at Sinai, God has been known to deal slowly with his people when they deserve his wrath. Significantly, the Lord revealed himself to Moses as a
compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished (Exod. 34:6b-7a).
Accordingly, we are not surprised to learn from John about Jezebel that she was given “time to repent” (Rev. 2:21). There would be no spontaneous and punitive pyrotechnics like the apostles earlier wanted to bring down from heaven upon the Samaritans with Jesus’ consent (Lk. 9:51-55).
It is clear in the Greek text and most translations of Rev. 2:21 that there was divine purpose in Jezebel being given extra time, and the purpose was to give her time to repent. This divine intention certainly resonates with Paul’s words in Romans 2:4b, where he states the fact “that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance.” At Thyatira Jezebel did not read from Christ’s script and so she did not use this extra time to repent. There was obviously a clash of the wills. Christ acted with patience toward Jezebel with the intention that Jezebel would repent; but notwithstanding this revelation of divine intention, Jezebel wills otherwise and refuses to repent.
Jezebel’s refusal to follow God’s lead by continuing in her sins is a stark acknowledgement that God’s desire does not override our wills, and that by sinful choices we can thwart God’s intentions for our lives.
Graeco-Roman Antiquities & the New Testament
GRANT
Graeco-Roman Antiquities & the New Testament
There are things you can tell about an entire ocean even if you have only one cup of water from it. Naturally a scientist would like to have as many cups and as broad a sampling as possible, but even a single cup is of some help. The same is true when investigating the world of the New Testament. You can learn something even from one ancient document, though the explorer of the ancient world would like to have as many documents as possible.
I hope once a week to present a small sample of information that mirrors some aspect of the ancient world surrounding nascent Christianity.
“Two Things Awe Me Most, the Starry Sky Above Me and the Moral Law Within Me”
Immanuel Kant
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Early Roman Empire; Julius Caesar
with nativity star/comet above head.
Used with the kind permission of
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Millennia before the writings of the 18th century European philosopher Immanuel Kant, humans were in awe of celestial marvels. They both delighted in and were terrified by meteorological phenomena. The Romans were no exception to this outlook. When it was thought that Julius Caesar became a deity after his death [i.e., apotheosis] a comet appeared in the skies over the city of Rome for some days and was immediately regarded as a nativity star/comet. It celebrated the birth of Caesar becoming a god. It did not take long for the portrait of Caesar to be accompanied by a star/comet above his head.
Students of Scripture know that there were similar thoughts about a star and divine nativity in Matthew’s Gospel. In that narrative certain Persian astronomers/astrologers are looking for the King of the Jews. According to non-Christian authors of that time period, “Ruler of the world” expectations abounded in the Middle East during the early Roman period. Thus, we are not surprised to learn of oriental astrologers searching among the Jews. Looking back upon the 1st century AD, the late 1st century–– early 2nd century AD Latin biographer Suetonius reports,
There had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judaea to rule the world. This prediction, referring to the emperor of Rome, as afterwards appeared from the event, the people of Judaea took to themselves; accordingly they revolted” (Suetonius, Lives of the 12 Caesars; “Life of Vespasian” IV.5).
According to the 1st Gospel, “Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. . . . After they had heard the king [Herod the Great], they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh” (Matt. 2:1-2, 9-11).
It makes sense that the book of Revelation might use sideral iconography to depict divine truths, whether of God’s divine punishments (6th seal; Rev. 6:12-17) or of the grandeur of one’s elevated status from God (Rev. 1:16-17). The intersection of the prophet John’s starry symbolism and the symbolic language in the religious atmosphere of that
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| Aureus coin minted during the reign of Domitian. Used only for educational purposes. |
culture is clearly seen in John’s depiction of the Son of Man in Rev. 1:16.
In particular, a coin minted during the reign of Domitian depicts the divinized son of Domitian sitting on the globe of the earth, surrounded by 7 stars and with hands looking like stars. Unlike the other components of the imagery of the Son of Man in Revelation one, this sideral imagery cannot be located in the Hebrew Scriptures like it can in the propaganda of the imperial cult. In part, this aspect of John’s imagery is a response to the imperial cult and its idolatry.
Immanuel Kant probably did not have the celestial Messiah in mind when he associated personal awe with the “Starry sky above me,” but the prophet John experienced a terrifying awe when he contemplated the celestial image of the Son of Man who could hold 7 stars “in his right hand” (Rev. 1:16-17).
