The Gulf Between Position and Condition

An interpretation of the last book of the Bible. Part 28. Revelation 2:19-20.

Jezebel means “chaste,” but she was only chaste in appearance. That is just what Jezebel’s teachings did: create a gulf between a believer’s position in Christ and his actual state.

What does our “position in Christ” mean? In Christ we are perfect, righteous, and sanctified (Rom 8:1; 1 Cor 6:11, etc.). Whoever has accepted Jesus as his Savior; whoever has been born again, has a holy and immaculate position before God. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor 5:17). But our condition—our personal life—must then be correspondingly sanctified (1 Thess 4:3).

If we create a gulf between position and condition by following the spirit of this world (whether morally or financially), while saying that we believe in Jesus Christ, then the spirit of Jezebel is ruinously effective. Jezebel’s teaching is practiced in just this way: you blur the lines. You may even go so far as to say by way of apology, “It’s the old man in me that’s sinning, not the new man.”

“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” (Rev 2:20). She seduces obedient servants to eat food sacrificed to idols (in other words, to have fellowship with those of dubious character). The Lord is deeply saddened by the church’s doings; it insults His holiness. The church’s offense isn’t in a specific action against the Lord, but in a passive tolerance of the enemy. And tolerance ultimately means affirmation.

Midnight Call - 03/2022