Revelation Chapter Two, What Is Rendered

Revelation 2:23 “I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

The ESV renders this verse’s beginning as, “and I will strike her children dead.” The RSV translates the verse identically to the ESV. The NIV, with the exception of the article, “and,” renders it likewise.

The idea is that Christ our Lord will destroy out of the church those who are specifically her children. What does this mean? Well, it does not mean biological generations. It is closer to what Paul wrote when he told the Corinthians, “For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” Jesus, when speaking to the Jews that disbelieved, said, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do,” John 8:44. Finally, Paul said, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ,” 1 Corinthians 11:1.

A child, when they are young and impressionable, will model their behavior off of their parents as a pattern of action and reaction. They absorb what we are, run it through their understanding, and regurgitate it as their own personalities mature, adapt, and individualize. Paul exhorted the Corinthian church to imitate him, their spiritual father that led them to Christ. Not that Paul was their savior, but that Paul served Christ openly and selflessly. He encouraged his children in the gospel to do likewise. Children follow the adage of monkey see, monkey do. Many of us have likely seen clips of parents catching their small children swearing out of context and laughing about it; but where did this child learn the language, and when to employ it? That would be us.

Jezebel’s fate will be shared by her children. She discipled them and led them into idolatry and sexual sin; they will share her fate. He warns the churches that this expression of His contempt for indulging evil will be seen and taken as a sobering, cautionary note for the churches abroad. The early church experienced something of the sort with Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:1-11. Both agreed to lie to Peter about their charity, and their duplicity cost both of them their lives. The Holy Spirit killed them, and they were buried by the Jerusalem church to the end that, “great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things,” Acts 5:11. Jesus simultaneously expunged evil from the moral and doctrinal purity of the church, while doling out an object lesson that God the Holy Spirit was not to be trifled with. His truth, His church, His children were not to be treated casually, or like a game or social club. We are, one and all, answerable for ourselves as to who we become and what we do with the liberty Christ has given us, Galatians 6:5.

A second example can be found in 1 Corinthians 11:23-34. The Corinthian church was taking the Lord’s Supper improperly. Some went hungry, others glutted themselves, others were drunk. Paul expressed deep frustration with the condition of Christ’s memorial and explained to them that the sickness and–perhaps–strange or sudden deaths among them were due to their casual and contemptuous treatment of the Lord’s Supper, 1 Corinthians 11:30. The doctrine Jezebel smuggled into the church corrupted its denizens. There were those that were her children, and they would suffer her fate: death because of her impropriety and sin. This would serve as a judgment or condemnation of this conduct in a gathering that is meant to glorify Jesus Christ. We gather for Him; that is the purpose of the church. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them,” Matthew 18:20. Notice our Lord states that we gather in His name. That is the express point of the church. We seek to come together with like-minded believers to glorify and worship the Son of God. We celebrate His triumphant victory over sin, His glorious resurrection, and His ascension to the Father’s right hand as He prepares a place for each one of us in Heaven. 

Jezebel entered the church for other reasons. “Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves,” Acts 20:30. Her goal was to subvert true Christian faith with her own variation, her own denomination, if you will. Whether Jezebel was a Nicolaitan or perhaps a Gnostic, we do not know; we do know that she taught perversion, and suffered for her vainglory. The Lord further cautions the churches that He will render to each one according to their works. Jezebel’s works bore a specific fruit, easily identified in its nature. Romans 2:6 reminds us that God will, “render to each one according to his deeds,” see also Psalm 62:12, Proverbs 24:12. The fruit of seeking God’s will and performing it reveals who we belong to and whom we are doing it for. It is written that our actions (doing good) reveal that our desire is immortality; that is, receiving eternal life from God and spending that eternal life as an endless currency in gratitude for the amazing gift we have received, Romans 2:7. The self-seeking endure indignation and wrath, Romans 2:8. Paul’s use of the term “self-seeking” implies that the former party of verse 7 was not seeking self interest, but Heavenly interests, God’s interests. They were God-seeking. They patiently continued in doing good, knowing their reward was in Heaven, and not on earth.

Jezebel’s children and their matron are given death. The saints are warned that they will be given what their works deserve. If she has seduced the saints into serving false gods, they have built upon wood, hay and straw and will receive nothing of merit. They will truly be able to say, like Job did long ago, “I have escaped by the skin of my teeth,” Job 19:20, 1 Corinthians 3:15. Let us do what the church of Ephesus did, and test supposed teachers of Christ before submitting to their leadership, and never with blind submission. We are accountable for our own choices, deceived or otherwise.