Revelation 2:23 And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
This is the kind of verse the atheist and critic have a field day. I can hear them now.
“The God of the Bible is a genocidal ogre who wants to kill people and crush them under his thumb. God is not a God of love.”
The atheist and critic have one fundamental problem. They want to ignore the consequence of behavior. There is a right way and a wrong way. God made it very clear from the beginning. The message is consistent from the Garden of Eden through the end of the New Testament. If one disobeys, they will die. Plain and simple.
Genesis 2:17 “…but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The last thing the atheist and critic want is accountability. They want to do whatever they want. The end result of this thinking is anarchy. It did not work in the past and it will not work now or in the future.
Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.
The atheist and critic have propped up their intellect as deity. They know what is best. And don’t anyone dare question them or point out moral standards. They will have none of it.
And I will kill her children with pestilence… The “her” continues to be Jezebel. “Her children” or followers will get theirs. The text literally states, “I will kill with death” in the original Greek.
…and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts… This message is not for Thyatira only. It is a message for all the churches and all the believers. God the Son (as well as the Father and Spirit) knows your thought life. He knows your feelings and intentions.
Psalm 139:1-2, 4 O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you understand my thought from afar. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it all.
…and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. The atheist and the humanistic critic love to point out how humanity is getting better, constantly evolving, and improving. They say on balance, man has done more good than bad. They want to be judged on their merits and deeds.
Be careful what you ask for. At least three times in the book of Revelation, humanity is told they will be judged according to their deeds. The last two examples are mentioned in the context of the great white throne.
Revelation 20:12b …and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Revelation 20:13b …and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
A message to the atheist and critic, Hell is real whether you believe it or not.
Revelation 20:15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
