…These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass
— Revelation 2:18

I have already described the essence of the letters to the churches in Ephesus and Pergamos. Now I will dwell on the letter to the church in Thyatira. Here the Lord rebukes the angel of the church for tolerating that woman Jezebel. So who is this Jezebel, and how do her teachings differ from the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans spoken of in the letter to the church in Pergamos? There, as here, the followers of these teachings committed sexual immorality and ate things sacrificed to idols. The essence of that immorality and of eating things sacrificed to idols was described in the article “Exposing the Nicolaitans, or How to Stop the Plague“. So what is the essence of the immorality and of the things sacrificed to idols in the teaching of Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess?

The key lies in how Jesus reveals Himself to these churches and how He promises to fight against the followers of these teachings. To the church in Pergamos He reveals Himself as the One who has the two-edged sword, with which He promises to fight, and to the church in Thyatira as the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like fine brass. The two-edged sword symbolises the Word of God, so the church in Pergamos was based more on the Word of God, in which all of God’s promises for His people are written. The teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans said roughly this: “If you want to receive God’s blessings or promises, you have to pay or make sacrifices.” In other words, they taught keeping God’s commandments and the law [immorality] in order to inherit the promises, and doing something for it [eating things sacrificed to idols], such as serving or giving tithes, so that God would bless you.

The church in Thyatira was prophetic, because Jesus reveals Himself as the Son of God with burning eyes and bronze feet. Jezebel also called herself a prophetess, and the Lord was going to strike her followers with death and sickness. Prophetic ministry is always aimed at healing people and setting them free from addictions. The lie of her teaching was much like Balaam’s, only it was aimed at people’s health. Now listen, or read, carefully: “If someone tells you that in order to be healed you need to do something or sacrifice something, you have just heard a false prophet of Jezebel.” The Lord calls this teaching the depths of Satan, or, in modern terms, witchcraft, because Scripture says that Jezebel practised witchcraft. [2 Kgs.9:22]

Recently a woman wrote to me: “I have been disabled since childhood. The Lord told me He would heal me if I served Him. I served Him, but He didn’t heal me. God doesn’t always heal. What do you say to that?” What do I say? That this woman heard a lie from the mouth of the prophets of Jezebel, who say that you have to sacrifice something — money, time and so on — to receive healing. Only witches and fortune-tellers take payment for healing. God’s gifts, including healing, are unconditional and free. Jesus has already borne our infirmities and sicknesses on the cross. Although I knew this, the Lord also corrected me after I had prayed for a sick person. I was telling the sick person about Jesus’ finished work on the cross, and that the Lord had already borne all his sicknesses and all he had to do was receive God’s healing. The Lord said: “How can a sick person receive healing if he is weak?” And really, how? Have you ever tried, without success, to find something you had lost, even though it was lying in plain sight, until someone told you: “There it is, on the table”? In the parable of the lost coin, the woman could not find the coin until she lit a lamp and swept the house. [Luk.15:8] The woman in this parable symbolises the Holy Spirit. And the burning lamp and the sweeping — aren’t they the eyes like a flame of fire and the feet like fine brass?

Fire always separates what is of God from what is of the enemy, gold from dross, wheat from chaff. Our body is the temple of the living God, and it is holy, and all filth such as infirmities and sicknesses is not from God, so the Lord sweeps them out of His temple with His bronze feet. Bronze symbolises judgment. The Lord justifies the person and judges the sickness, which He burned up and condemned in the body of Jesus on the cross. And having risen, Jesus is now not subject to sickness and death, and we are as He is in this world, seated at the right hand of God! It is better to look not at the cross, which is on earth and reminds us of judgment and sins, but at heaven, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. [Col.3:1] The cross and the Red Sea are behind us; Christ and the promised land are ahead!