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Ezekiel 36:6-7 Numbers 24:15-19 Revelation 2:18-29 Matthew 28:18-20
The Sermons to the Seven Churches: The Church of Idolatrous Toleration (2)
We often speak about external factors that harm the church, but all too often it is the members themselves that wound the flock most deeply. There are several true stories of pastors and ministry-leaders and church members whose actions or teachings caused real damage to individuals or the church community.
One of the most extreme and tragic examples is Jim Jones. Jones led the Peoples Temple and in 1978 orchestrated what is generally regarded as a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, in which over 900 people died. This tragedy shows us how charismatic leadership, unchecked power, manipulation, isolation, deception, and false teaching can devastate a “church” community.
Barry Minkow was a pastor who admitted to embezzling more than US $3 million from his former church, Community Bible Church in San Diego. He diverted church funds, forged checks, and set up unauthorized accounts.
Another tragic example of the destructive power of false teaching is the story of David Brandt Berg, founder of the ‘Children of God’ movement. Berg began as a preacher but drifted from Scripture, claiming to receive new revelations that placed him above accountability. He taught his followers to abandon the mainstream church, the Bible’s moral boundaries, and even used twisted ‘spiritual’ reasoning to justify sexual sin. What started as a call to radical discipleship became a movement marked by manipulation, sexual abuse, and heartbreak.
Stories like these remind us that whenever a believer replaces God’s Word with something else, the results are always the same—confusion, corruption, and great harm to God’s people.
In the sermon addressed to Thyatira, Jesus first commended the church for not only maintaining their good works of love and faith in service and endurance, but, he said, they were now doing even more! Sounds like a vibrant, growing church, doesn’t it?
And yet Jesus had a complaint against them. “But I have this against you,” he said, “that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
Now, there are two things we need to look at before we deal with what was happening in Thyatira. The first has to do with the role of prophetess. Now, we have several female prophets in both Old and New Testaments.
Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron was called a prophetess in Exodus 15:20–21 and it is interesting to see that in Micah 6:4 she was recognised as a leader alongside Moses and Aaron.
Then in Judges 4:4–5 we read: “Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. (See also Judges 5) So, hers was a combined civic, military, and spiritual leadership.
Then (and I think this woman is probably the most interesting Old Testament prophetess) there was Huldah (See 2 Kings 22:14–20; 2 Chronicles 34:22–28). While they were repairing the Temple during the reign of Josiah, Hilkiah the High Priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord given to Moses. He then sent a messenger to the King, who tore his clothes when he realise that they were not living according to the God’s Law. So then he commanded Hilkiah and other high-ranking officials to go and inquire of the Lord concerning the words of the book that had been found. And where did the High Priest and these other officials go? Yes, they went to Huldah the prophetess. So, her prophetic authority was recognised by both priest and king and her reply sparked national reform. Interesting, no?
Then there’s Noadiah, a false prophetess, who worked with Tobiah and Sanballat against the returnees from Exile (Nehemiah 6:14). This story shows us that not all the women who claimed prophetic status were genuine.
Isaiah’s Wife is also interesting because it may be that she was called a prophetess because of her husband’s role which would make her title an honorary one, or she was called a prophetess because she shared Isaiah’s prophetic calling. (Isaiah 8:3)
Then there are the unnamed “Daughters of Jerusalem” mentioned in Ezekiel 13:17–23 that prophesied out of their own heart, in other words they were false prophets, and they were judged by God for their deceitful visions.
Now, moving on into the New Testament period we have Anna who in Luke 2:36–38 was said to have been a prophetess. She recognised the infant Jesus as the promised Messiah and proclaimed him to those waiting for redemption. So, in a sense Anna serves as the bridge between Old and New Testaments as she represents the faithful remnant of Israel awaiting the Messiah who had now come.
Then we have the four unmarried daughters of Philip mentioned in Acts 21:8 that gives us a not so clear glimpse into the prophetic ministry of the early church.
There were also women who prophesied in Corinth mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11:5 who seem to have been Spirit-empowered women who participated vocally in worship through prayer and prophecy. It is instructive to note that Paul assumed their active role in the services, so his instruction concerned order and decorum, not prohibition.
There are also other women in the New Testament who were not explicitly called prophetesses, but whose words and actions were prophetic in nature, like Mary, the mother of Jesus who in Luke 1:46–55 prophesied of God’s redemption, and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, who in Luke 1:41–45 was said to have been filled with the Holy Spirit before declaring prophetically that Mary’s child was the Lord.
Peter indirectly hints at the role of the women at Pentecost in Acts 2:17–18 by quoting from Joel 2:28–29: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”
So, the role of prophetess, both godly and ungodly, in both Old and New Testaments was not unusual and so we can conclude that the problem with this person called Jezebel was not her gender. I think that the clue to understanding what was wrong with her can be found when we examine the infamous person she is named after.
And that is the second thing we need to look at: who is this Jezebel and what exactly was she doing?
Now you can read about the Jezebel of the Old Testament in 1 Kings 16–2 Kings 9. She was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon and priest of the Phoenician god Baal (1 Kings 16:31). Through her marriage to King Ahab of Israel, she became queen and effectively introduced and institutionalised Baal worship within the northern kingdom.
So, she was not merely a foreign consort but an evangelist of idolatry, intent on replacing Israel’s covenantal faith with the Canaanite fertility cults. She promoted Baal, the storm and fertility god, and Asherah, a Canaanite mother and fertility goddess associated with sacred trees and groves, thereby encouraging sexual rites, temple prostitution, and syncretism, the mixture of paganism with true faith. She also orchestrated the slaughter of the prophets of the Lord (1 Kings 18:4, 13), establishing instead her own cadre of 450 prophets of Baal and 400 of Asherah.
Now, in the Naboth incident (1 Kings 21), Jezebel encouraged King Ahab to abuse his royal power. When Naboth refused to sell his ancestral vineyard, she forged letters in Ahab’s name, engineered false charges of blasphemy, and had Naboth executed, demonstrating her diabolical fusion of political manipulation, false religion, and bloodshed.
So, the Jezebel of the Old Testament represents the corruption of covenantal loyalty through spiritual compromise and moral perversion. Her rule was marked by deception, manipulation, and the pursuit of power at the expense of truth. Ultimately, her death (recorded in 2 Kings 9:30–37) fulfilled prophetic judgment: she was thrown from a window, trampled by horses, and eaten by dogs—symbolic of divine retribution for defilement and pride.
So, how does the Jezebel of the Old Testament help us understand Jesus’ words in Revelation 2:18–29? As we have seen, Jesus condemned a woman symbolically named “Jezebel”, who called herself a prophetess and who taught and seduced the believers in Thyatira to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
Now there are two possibilities regarding her identity: it is possible that she was a real individual or that she symbolically represented a faction in the church and was therefore not a single leader but a group, but either way by promoting moral and doctrinal compromise with pagan guild practices, the faction or the woman was teaching the believers to compromise.
The Old Testament Jezebel promoted idolatry and immorality in Israel, and this New Testament Jezebel promoted idolatry and immorality in the church. The Old Testament Jezebel murdered the prophets of the Lord whereas the New Testament Jezebel led members of the church into spiritual death. Both manipulated power through deceit, both refused to repent, both mocked divine authority (Rev. 2:21), and both would be cast down and destroyed by divine judgment (Rev. 2:22).
So, in summary: both Jezebels embodied corrupt influence within a covenant community, both seduced God’s people away from purity and faithfulness through false teaching and moral compromise, both represented the spirit of idolatry and manipulation, often cloaked in religious language or authority, and, in both cases, their end was divine judgment, illustrating God’s intolerance of syncretism and his zeal for holiness among his people.
So the fault of this prophetess was not that she was teaching the members of the church but rather that she was teaching the members of the church to compromise…she was misleading the people into sexual immorality and the eating of foods sacrificed to idols.
Now, just a quick word about eating foods sacrificed to idols. Because this was a pagan culture, most, if not all, of the food sold in the marketplace had been offered to a pagan god. So, how did Christians deal with this problem since they were not supposed to eat food offered to idols (Acts 15:29)?
In 1 Corinthians 8-10 Paul argued that eating food bought in the marketplace that had been sacrificed to idols was permissible because believers pronounced a blessing in the Name of Jesus over it prior to eating it. However, it was only permissible as long as it did not offend or cause another believer to stumble.
But, and here we need to understand the distinction, he absolutely forbade the eating of idol food in an idol temple.
Why? Well because participation in the cultic meals hosted in pagan temples or buildings of trade guilds would a) give the impression that the worshipping of idols was acceptable to Christians and b) would expose the believer to some form of sexual immorality because these cultic meals nearly always included sexual rites.
And this is what seems to have been the case here in Thyatira.
And so, because of her false teaching, this self-acclaimed prophetess and her followers or perhaps her co-teachers (here called her children) would be judged by God, cast onto a bed of suffering, perhaps an allusion to the bed people would recline on in the pagan banqueting halls, and struck dead, which is perhaps an allusion to the slaying of all of King Ahab and Jezebel’s children (70 princes) because of her sins.
Harsh? Well, not when you think that her teaching was leading to the eternal spiritual death of many. Besides, as with Pharaoh during the Exodus, the purpose of this sever judgement was so that all would know that God alone is the Lord and that he knows all and will judge all.
So much for Jezebel and her followers or co-teachers.
But the complaint against the believers in the church of Thyatira who had not succumbed to Jezebel’s allurements was that they tolerated her and because of their lack of watchfulness, some in the church had apparently been led astray by her false teachings. So the main complaint Jesus levelled against the church was they did nothing about it and, as the old proverb has it, “He who is silent is taken to agree.”
Ezekiel 33:6 says: “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.” Silence is complicity.
So to these believers who had, on the one hand, not compromised and yet, on the other hand, had compromised because they tolerated evil teaching in the church, Jesus asked for them to hold on to their faith and to persevere. To those who prevailed, who fought the good fight and who finished the race, (Greek: Nike) Jesus would give the right to rule with him over the nations.
As I said in the previous sermon, this is a quote from Psalm 2, but it may also allude to the command given to the church to make disciples of the nations in Matthew 28:18-20 which comes right after Jesus said all authority in both heaven and earth had been given to him. The fact that the one who has all authority is with the church as they make disciples of the nations, could be viewed as co-rulership over the nations.
But then he also said that he would also give them the morning star. In the Old Testament, the morning star symbolized glory, either a false glory such as with the Babylonian king who sought glory but fell from it (Isaiah 14:12), or the glory of the heavenly beings (Job 38:7), but in this case, I think it most likely refers to the glory of the Messiah mentioned (most reluctantly) in the prophecy of Balaam in Numbers 24:17-19. “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth…and one from Judah shall exercise dominion.”
This is no doubt what Peter meant when he said in his second epistle: “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts…” And I think this is what Jesus meant here in this sermon to Thyatira because he later said in Revelation 22:16 “I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” So those who overcome not only share the authority of Jesus and his rule over the nations, but they are also with him even to the end of the age and beyond because he gives himself to them.
Now, today, of course, we may not be tempted to participate in rituals and meals served in idol temples, unless we live in some Far Eastern countries, but we too are often tempted to bow to less obvious contemporary gods such as the sexual issues of our day, the love of money, materialism, especially the prosperity gospel, nationalism, and, perhaps the worst of them all, narcissism or self-centredness. You see, not all idols start off as bad things…often they are good things turned into ultimate things.
So we must ask the question…is there something that has become more important to me than God? Am I pursuing something with the passion and devotion and commitment that ought to be reserved for God alone? Am I bowing to a less obvious contemporary god?
Or…and this is perhaps more to the point of Jesus’ sermon to the believers in Thyatira…am I tolerating those who teach that compromise is acceptable?
Shall we pray?
© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2025.
Psalm 110 Daniel 7:13-14 Revelation 2:18-29 Luke 22:66-71
The Sermons to the Seven Churches: The Church of Idolatrous Toleration (1)
One of the most intriguing aspects of this sermon of Jesus to the church in Thyatira is that it is the longest of the seven sermons and yet it is addressed to the church in the smallest and least significant city. Perhaps it shows us that, contrary to popular opinion, God is not size conscious and throughout Scripture it is often those who were considered the most unimportant and inconsequential who were chosen by God.
Membership in these guilds was almost indispensable for anyone who wanted to make a living in a trade. The guilds regulated business, ensured mutual support, and controlled access to markets. However, each guild also had its own patron deity – often a god or goddess associated with the materials or processes used in the trade. For example, a guild of bronze-workers might honour Hephaestus, while dyers might venerate Aphrodite or another deity linked to fertility and prosperity. Just as an aside, you may recall that Lydia who was known as someone engaged in the purple-dye trade, was from Thyatira.
Guild meetings were religious as well as social. They typically included offerings and libations to the guild’s deity, communal feasts, often involving meat sacrificed to idols, and festive gatherings that could include ritual immorality in connection with fertility cults.
Therefore, belonging to a guild usually implied participation in idolatrous worship and immoral feasts, which created a serious conflict for Christians. To refuse participation was to risk economic exclusion – losing your livelihood – and possibly social ostracism or persecution.
Now, this background may explain the rebuke Jesus levelled at the church for tolerating “that woman Jezebel,” who was teaching that it was acceptable to compromise with idolatry and immorality, most likely by participating in these guild feasts.
The city was essentially a Macedonian colony, founded by Seleucius Necator, but by 280 BC the city was more Greek than anything else. The principal deity, who was also considered the guardian or patron god of the city, was a god by the name of Tyrimnos. The identification of Tyrimnos with Apollo was common enough that inscriptions refer to him as Apollo Tyrimnaios. This likely represents a fusion of a native Anatolian hero-god (Tyrimnos) with the more widely recognized Greek god (Apollo), a process typical of the Greco-Roman syncretism in Asia Minor.
The local cult in Thyatira honoured Apollo Tyrimnaios as the “son of Zeus”, as well as the radiant, horse-riding god associated with the sun and divine insight. So when Thyatira’s citizens worshiped Apollo Tyrimnaios (that is, Apollo under the local title Tyrimnos), they would have called him “the son of Zeus.” So, in that sense, he was regarded as “the son of god,” because that was the standard divine genealogy of Apollo.
Now it is interesting that in the Christ Title, Jesus referred to himself as the “Son of God”, a title used only once in the Book of the Revelation, although John often used it in his Gospel. Perhaps the reason for this was simply emphasis. As the local god of Thyatira was called “the son of Zeus” and since the emperors claimed to be divine often using the title “son of god” for themselves, Jesus declared himself the only true and eternal Son of God.
The Lord Jesus is and always will be the only supreme sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords, the ruler of the kings on earth despite the many claims of leaders throughout the centuries. Pagan religions have come and gone…some have resurfaced only to disappear again. But Jesus remains King. He alone is the Son of God.
But what exactly does this title mean? What do you mean when you refer to Jesus as the Son of God? The title itself has to do with the divinity and majesty of Jesus and his lordship overall, a truth that has come under attack throughout history, many having denied his sovereignty, sometimes unknowingly. So, perhaps it would be good to see what Scripture intends for us to understand regarding this title, Son of God.
In Matthew 16:16, it was used to identify Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Likewise in John 1:49, Nathanael said to Jesus, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Martha’s declaration in John 11:27 once more makes the sonship of Jesus synonymous with his messiahship. In answer to Jesus’ statement and question, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Martha replied, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
John himself claimed that his Gospel was “written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31) In these few verses, the title “Son of God” was coupled together with the titles “Christ”, “King”, and “Messiah”, the one prophesied about in the Old Testament as he who was destined to be ruler over all. As such it has to do with sovereignty and global dominion.
The title was also used at crucial points throughout the earthly ministry of Jesus. At the annunciation, the Angel Gabriel said to Mary, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33) Here the title “Son of the Most High” is strongly connected to his reign and his kingdom of which it is said there will be no end.
At the baptism of Jesus, a voice came out of heaven and said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) This is, of course, a reference to Psalm 2:7-8, “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession,” a verse that is quoted later in this sermon. So, once again, we see that the title indicates that Jesus and, by extension, his followers will rule over all the earth as he clearly states in verse 26 and 27: “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations - and (that one) will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.”
During the temptation in the wilderness, the devil also referred to the sonship of Jesus in the form of a repeated conditional clause: “If you are the Son of God”…as if there was ever any doubt. But Satan’s intention was only really exposed at the temptation in which he “took (Jesus) to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
What was he offering Jesus? Yes, world-wide dominion. But…and this is an extremely important question…was this really Satan’s to give? Psalm 24 tells us that “the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” By referring to Jesus as the Son of God, Satan knew full well that he had come as the Christ, the King, and the Messiah to rule over all the kingdoms of the world, thus restoring the original creation mandate given to Adam. So, this temptation, like the original temptation in the Garden, was a boldfaced lie. The kingdoms were not his to give. He lied for as Jesus said in John 8:44, Satan “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Satan’s empty promise of global dominion was a lie and, as Jesus knew that dominion comes not by rebellion but only by obedience to God he said, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
You see, this was also Adam and Eve’s mistake. They also thought that dominion could be taken without regard to God’s will. What they did not understand was that the command to exercise dominion over all the earth was coupled with and contingent upon the command to obey God…to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Jesus knew that he was the Son of God by virtue of his divinity, but as a Man, or more specifically, as the Second Adam, he also knew that he had been sent to undo the curse brought about through the first Adam’s disobedience…and Satan knew that too. So his temptation hinges on Jesus’ identity as God’s chosen King. “Are you the Son of God?” Are you really the destined ruler of the universe? And, as he did with Adam and Eve, Satan offered him a shortcut. “You don’t have to go through all that pain and suffering that God wants you to…you don’t surely have to die…just bow down to me and you will be the ruler of all the kingdoms of this world.” But Satan lied in the Garden, and he lied once again in the wilderness…but then again, isn’t this the same lie he offers every human leader?
Jesus knew that his primary objective was to be obedient to the Father at all times and at all costs…just as Adam and Eve ought to have been…and so Jesus instructed the believers in Thyatira: “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations…” But for Jesus, obedience meant death. According to Philippians 2:8-11 it was when Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” that God “highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Dominion or rule comes through obedience to God and for this reason, Paul urged us to have the same humble mind of Jesus.
Interestingly, even the demonic forces used the title “Son of God” when referring to Jesus. In Luke 4:41 we are told that the demons came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.” They knew that his advent meant that the coming destruction of the kingdom of darkness was near. In Matthew 8:29, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
As the one and only true Son of God, Jesus is the one who not only has authority over heaven and earth, but also over all that is under the earth…in other words, the demonic forces of hell itself. According to Colossians 2:15, Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” He defeated Satan, sin, and death at the cross, so those who are sons and daughters of the Most High by virtue of their faith in Jesus need not fear the devil or his demonic minions. Jesus, the Son of God, has disarmed them and triumphed over them.
At the transfiguration, the voice of God said from out of the cloud, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” Again this is a reference to Psalm 2 but note that Jesus is also presented as the final and complete revelation of God…all must hear him. Even Moses and the Prophets are subject to him.
Then again, at the so-called trial of Jesus, the High Priest used this title knowing its significance. In his understanding, if Jesus applied it to himself, he would be guilty of blasphemy having made himself equal to God. In Luke 22:67-71, the Sanhedrin said to Jesus, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But (and please notice the time indicator here) from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” Now, this statement referred to the prophecy of the ascension found in Daniel 7:13-14. That the Sanhedrin understood the divine title “Son of Man” to be synonymous with the divine title “Son of God” is made obvious by their next remark.
So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” Of course, when Jesus replied “You say that I am”, they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.” Someone they believed to be a mere mortal had declared himself one with God.
But it is important for us to understand why they reacted the way they did to Jesus’ allusion to the prophecy in Daniel 7. In verses 13-14, Daniel wrote: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” Again, you need to hear the strains of Psalm 2 in the background here.
The members of the Sanhedrin knew the Scriptures very well and they knew exactly what Jesus meant when he referred to himself as the Son of Man. Coming on the clouds of heaven was a well-known Old Testament image of God coming in Judgement. So what Jesus was saying is that though they were seated in judgement over him at that moment, he would soon be vindicated by God to then be seated in judgement over them and, indeed, over the rest of humanity.
The fact that the Son of Man ascended to God the Father and received an everlasting kingdom again supported the divine theme and so they asked him the obvious question. Was he the Son of God? The use of the titles “Son of Man” and “Son of God” dictates the divine.
Now, their personal experience of the fulfilment of Daniel’s prophecy came in AD 70 when the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. Interestingly, Josephus, an eyewitness to the event, recorded that on the night before the destruction of the city “chariots and armed troops (were) seen running about among the clouds”. Remember, Jesus had told the Sanhedrin that they would “see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:62)
The title “Son of God” was also used by the Apostles with reference to Jesus’ divinity and his sovereign rule over the whole world. In Romans 1:4-6, Paul said that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ”. Again, I hope you can hear the clear refrain of Psalm 2 once again.
In Acts 2:32-36 Peter said, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Psalm 110 and the prophecy of Daniel is in the background here, but the important thing to note is that Jesus was once again referred to as ruler over all as he is both Lord and Christ.
In Hebrews 1:1-5, the author said, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but (and again, please take note of the time indicator here) in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”?
Now, these quotations were taken from Psalm 2 and 2 Samuel 7 respectively, once again linking the title “Son of God” with universal rule and dominion. But in the same context, the writer quoted from Psalm 110 in verse 13, “And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand (and again take note of the time indicator here) until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?”
So, from this short study on the use of the title “Son of God” we can conclude that our Lord Jesus has been the reigning monarch over all things from the moment he rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father and that he will continue to “reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25), and until he has inherited all the nations when the ends of the earth have become his possession.
This is the totality of what it means to say that Jesus is the “Son of God”.
In Matthew 11:27-28 Jesus said of himself: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” This statement is phenomenal as Jesus was using the very similar words spoken by God in Isaiah 45:22, “Turn (or come) to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
But the Christ title also states that Jesus is the one who has “eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze”. Now, your Old Testament ears ought to be ringing right now. In Daniel 10 he described a vision he received of a man from heaven whose “body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude”…and this heavenly man revealed to Daniel things that were to take place in the future, especially God’s judgment on all of his people’s enemies.
But at the same time, your Old-World ears should be ringing too because, if you recall, the god of Thyatira, Apollo Tyrimnaios, was not only called the “son of Zeus”, but he was also described as the radiant, horse-riding god associated with the sun and divine insight. So, once again, Jesus portrayed himself in ways that speak into the church’s first century situation perfectly. The Christ title challenges the local false god and the cult’s belief about him. Jesus is the one who alone is the true Son of God and, as such, he outshines any pagan luminary god. His eyes can see through everything, and his feet of burnished bronze can crush any adversary.
So, what do you mean when you call Jesus the Son of God? Does your understanding include his absolute rule as the sovereign King over the universe? Perhaps, if we were to fully comprehend the complete weight of this title, we might live far more victoriously as believers…and we, like Jesus and though Jesus, might also conquer and keeps his works until the end, and together with him, exercise authority over the nations. We would certainly not live in the shadow of defeated principalities and powers, nor would we fear the temporal powers that be. Rather, we would live in the light of the Almighty King as the nation of kingly priests we were meant to be.
So as you come to celebrate this victory feast that we call the Lord’s Supper, lift up your hearts…be encouraged. The Son of God who sees all things and who rules over all things will continue to reign until all his enemies have been placed under his feet.
Shall we pray?
© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2025
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