teaching

As bizarre as it may sound, someone in the ancient church at Thyatira was teaching “the deep things of Satan.” I’m not surprised by the existence of heresies and false doctrines. These are perennial problems Christians will have to contend with until Jesus returns.

But the promoters of this aberrant spirituality identified it as of the devil. Why would they do that in a church? That’s the question we asked in last week’s post.

To answer that, we need to identify what they were espousing.

It turns out that these false teachers weren’t alone. They tried their luck in other churches.

The following is an outline of the churches and the heretical issues they had to deal with. (All verses are from the NASB.)

Ephesus

• “you cannot tolerate evil people, and you have put those who call themselves apostles to the test, and they are not, and you found them to be false” – Revelation 2:2

• “the deeds of the Nicolaitans” – Revelation 2:6

Pergamum

• “you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.” – Revelation 2:14

• “So you too, have some who in the same way hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” – Revelation 2:15

Thyatira

• “I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” – Revelation 2:20

• “those who commit adultery with her” – Revelation 2:22

• “her children” – Revelation 2:23

Three of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation had to confront individuals within their fellowships who were drawing unhealthy attention to themselves. In Ephesus, they were self-identified apostles who turned out to be fakes. As a group, they’re labeled “the Nicolaitans.”

These trouble-makers also pop up In Pergamum. Jesus compares their messages to that of Balaam. During their time in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites hadn’t yet crossed over to the Promised Land. Intimidated by the Canaanite clans who resided there, God’s people couldn’t believe He would keep His promise to them. So the Lord punished and protected them. He had them stay in the wilderness for forty years, until that whole generation had died off. The Lord would bring a new generation into the Promised Land. But while they wandered in the desert, God took care of His people by providing them manna from heaven. He fed Israel when there was no food around them.

While the Israelites were nervous about the Canaanites, King Balak was anxious about the Israelites. He feared they might conquer him the way they ruined Egypt. But what to do about them?

Balak hired a prophet named Balaam to curse Israel, but he couldn’t because God wanted to bless His people. So this prophet came up with a clever trick. He couldn’t speak a judgment over the nation because God wouldn’t allow it. But he could tempt Israel into inviting the judgment of God on itself.

And that’s what he told Balak to do. To ensure “safe passage” through the wilderness, so the advice went, the Israelites should placate the local gods. That way, they won’t get on their bad side. All God’s people had to do was engage in some rituals to please these deities. And these rituals involved cult prostitution and eating meals in honor of the gods.

Things the nations all over practiced, but which God had forbidden to Israel.

Centuries later, Jesus tells the apostle John that the Nicolaitans were offering the same package to a new generation. And like Balak and Balaam, these wolves in sheep’s clothing had a hidden reason for their instruction.

The label “Nicolaitan” consists of two Greek words joined together: nike, which means “victory,” and laos, which means “people.” There are two basic ways of combining these words. The first would be, “victory of (or for) the people,” and the second would be “victory over the people.” I think this name means both. In an attempt to teach believers how to have spiritual victory, the heretics were actually conquering them.

Jesus opposed both aspects. He wants us free, and He’s given us everything we need to walk in that freedom. We don’t need to look beyond Christ Himself.

But a false prophetess whom Jesus names “Jezebel” was promoting the same errors. Food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality formed the gist of her messages. And Jesus warned that she and her followers were running out of time to repent. He could not and would not allow such teaching to infect His church. Either the heresy dies or the church does. There’s no compromise.

The prophetess and her disciples refer to their insights as “the deep things of Satan.” It sounds like they’re undermining the gospel of Jesus Christ, and His call to holiness.

But like we noted last week, being that blatant would guarantee the failure of the heretics. To gain a hearing, they would have to offer the saints in these churches wisdom for spiritual success. And since many Christians were suffering for their loyalty to Jesus, the false teachers had to offer them something that would allow believers to defeat the world that oppressed them.

The self-identified church leaders would control followers of Jesus by showing them how to gain victory. It’s the way of the Nicolaitans, stemming from the schemes of Balaam and Balak. Deceptive promises that result in bondage.

The gods were opposed to Israel, and Balak couldn’t change that. Instead, he and Balaam instructed Israel how to get on their good side so they could conduct their wilderness journey in peace. In the same way, the false teachers in the church were revealing the secrets of how to get the devil to back off. Doing that would mean the persecution would stop! Good times would return! Sounds appealing!

So they taught Christians about the devil and his minions, but they did it for a hidden reason. The false teachers, inspired as they were by the enemy himself, sought to enslave God’s people. It was all a grand ruse which couldn’t work because it departed from the purity of the gospel. As the apostle Paul puts it,

“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, this you tolerate very well! – 2 Corinthians 11:3-4

As the phrase, “the deep things of Satan” (Revelation 2:24) has a broader context in the second chapter, so we find this heresy in the still wider setting of the New Testament. Next week, we’ll take a look at other passages which call out and combat this affront to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the meantime, remember the true source of our victory!

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place.” – 2 Corinthians 2:14