November 21, 2024

Passage Read: Revelation 1-2
Meditation Verses: 2:19-20

Thought

The church at Thyatira is growing in dedication, love and obedience, but they have among them a woman who considers herself a prophetess, who teaches immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols. Some in the church follow her, but some do not. Those who do not need only to hold fast what they have, but those who follow her need to repent, as she also does. God has given her time to repent, but she doesn't want to, so she will be judged with sickness along with her followers. But her followers will have it even harder, as they will be killed by pestilence, so that all the churches know that God sees all and judges accordingly.

Application

A church may have a problem with a false prophet in their midst and fail to cast them out, but that doesn't condemn the whole church. Some in the fellowship can refuse to follow and even be growing, even while others come under judgment for listening to the false prophet. It's certainly not the best situation for a church to tolerate a godless teacher, but if they are not sufficiently mature, they will not know better. If enough can grow in maturity, they can come to understand the need to drive out the false teacher, and God may support them by judging the prophet and their followers. That in itself would give confidence to the faithful to work with God to purify the fellowship, but interestingly God asks nothing more of the faithful but to remain faithful to what they've already attained. I live in the midst of a perverted generation, but that doesn't mean I have to give in to them. Likewise, I may be in a divided church, but I don't have to give up and give in to the unbelievers. They are no excuse for me to disregard God's teachings and truth.