18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.
In this letter Jesus is referencing the church in Thyatira, and a prophetess that he refers to as "Jezebel" though it is unclear historically to whom this refers. The reference to Jezebel in these verses can be confusing because of the story of Jezebel, the priestess of Baal and Asherah, in First Kings; her story takes place eight hundred years before the writing of Revelation.
Thyatira is an ancient city in Asia Minor, now called Akhisar and located in what is now Turkey. Below is a photo of the ruins of this church.
The Jezebel of the Old Testament was trying to turn Israel back to the worship of Baal through her husband Ahab who was the King of Israel. She put to death many prophets of Yahweh, and others fled Israel to hide in surrounding caves. Eventually Ahab was overthrown and Jezebel was put to death via defenestration.
Many of the scholars whose writings I read trying to find out more about this later Jezebel think that Jesus might have used the name as a symbol rather than an actual formal name. The link I included above refers to a church in Thyatira "dedicated to worship of the Chaldean Goddess, Sambethe"; the author notes that there was a prophetess at this temple who was said to receive prophecy from her pagan god.
The problems Jesus has with this prophetess are the same as in his earlier warnings: convincing Christian believers to eat food sacrificed to false gods and participate in sexual promiscuity. Apparently these were both tenets of other religions that were present in this city along with the Christian Church.
Since animal sacrifices were being made on a regular basis it must have been tempting for Christians to partake of meat that was offered to them, but Christ sternly warns against this and rebukes the members of this church for being led into this practice by a prophetess of another religion.
Christ also gives the same warning to members of this congregation about sexual promiscuity. It's clear that the surrounding paganism did not value sexual purity among congregants; in fact sexual activity was sometimes part of religious ceremonies. This edict to adhere to sexual purity applies to both males and females alike in Christianity; men are not given a get out of jail free card to be sexually promiscuous like folks sometimes like to believe. Paul's warning to us to flee from sexual immorality in Corinthians 6:18-20 drives home what a particularly grievous and dangerous sin is sexual licentiousness.
If you want to accept Salvation from Christ here are some resources:
A Prayer for Salvation from Christ:
Lord
Jesus, I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Please come into
my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take complete control of my life and
help me to walk in Your footsteps daily by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you Lord for saving me and for answering my prayer.
A more detailed step by step process:
https://www.wikihow.com/Accept-Jesus-Into-Your-Life
