“And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 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. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.” (Revelation 2:18-24 KJV)
Judgment day. Okay, maybe not just yet as this is only from chapter two, but it sure seems like it for a certain individual mentioned here. Or is it just concerning this individual? It sounds like, to one degree or another, it is everyone nearby who has tolerated these actions. This begs an interesting question. What about the sick needing a doctor? “But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” (Matthew 9:12 KJV) There are two immediate and obvious answers to this. First, can a physician become sick should he forget about his mission of healing and become too fascinated with the disease? Secondly, is it possible that the “physician” has forgotten what it is like to be sick thereby proceeding with a heart that is not interested in rescuing, but a heart that hastily finds amputating more convenient? The words that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees were not just a reminder to everyone listening that the sick do really need a doctor. They were also a reminder that if we have forgotten that Jesus was the doctor who first healed us that we have completely missed one of the prerequisites of salvation. “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” (Romans 3:22-24 KJV) So, as “doctors” we need to remember the sicknesses that Jesus has healed us from and we need to remember who is healing whom. We also need to be sensitive enough to the Spirit’s leading as to when the call for help has ceased and a defiant justification has begun.
What about those who are so deep in their sickness that they are steadfast in their justification for their folly? Even in the most perverted of sins where the individual legitimately believes that God made them inherent with that perversion and completely disregards how that perversion could have ever been included in the “image of God” (see Genesis 1:26); then there is a subtle reminder of how the cure is available that Nicodemus took the trouble to find out about. “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 KJV) Even those in the deepest and darkest perversions can be completely remade if they are willing to surrender completely to Jesus. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV) It is also a reminder to those who insist on managing a peace rather than surrendering to the One who has the explosive power to remake things as peaceful, that the practice of skirting sin as something excusable is also seen as sin and will at some point be strictly dealt with.
“He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:39 KJV)