Beware Jezebel, False Prophet in the Church  I WANT YOUR SOUL!!!!!!

In the Book of Revelation, the figure known as “Jezebel” appears in a symbolic or metaphorical context within the church at Thyatira. Jesus addresses the church, stating that He knows their works, love, service, faith, and perseverance, but He has a few things against them because they tolerate a woman named Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess. This woman is described as teaching and seducing His servants to commit immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. The name “Jezebel” is likely not referring to a literal historical figure but is instead a symbolic reference to the Old Testament Queen Jezebel, known for promoting Baal worship and leading Israel into idolatry. Her actions in the Old Testament, including the murder of prophets and the manipulation of political power, serve as a parallel to the false teaching and spiritual deception occurring in the church at Thyatira.

The woman in Revelation is portrayed as a false prophetess who uses her position to lead others astray, promoting practices that contradict the teachings of Christ and the guidance provided in the Council of Jerusalem, which advised abstaining from idolatry and fornication. The passage emphasizes that Jesus gave her time to repent, but she refused to repent of her immorality. As a result, severe judgment is pronounced upon her and those who follow her, including being cast into a sickbed and having their children killed with death. The reference to “Jezebel” is thus used to symbolize a dangerous influence within the church—someone who claims spiritual authority, promotes false doctrine, and leads others into moral compromise and idolatry.

Some interpretations suggest that the “Jezebel spirit” is not a literal demonic entity but a spiritual condition characterized by pride, manipulation, control, and a rejection of authority. This spirit is said to manifest through false teaching, a desire for influence, resistance to correction, and the use of prayer and spiritual practices to exert undue control over others. However, other sources caution against the concept of a “Jezebel spirit” as a distinct spiritual entity, noting that there is no explicit biblical basis for such a classification and that the term is often used in a figurative sense to describe destructive leadership or false teaching within the church.

In summary, the mention of Jezebel in Revelation 2 serves as a warning against tolerating false teachers within the church who promote immorality and idolatry under the guise of spiritual authority. Whether interpreted as a literal person, a symbolic figure, or a spiritual condition, the core message is clear: the church must remain vigilant against teachings that compromise biblical truth and lead believers away from faithfulness to Christ

Revelation 13:11-18 (NKJV)

13:11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.

In Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, which covers Matthew 24 and 25, He was answering the question, “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” “Age” is “aiónios” in the Greek. Jesus said that there would be “false christs and false prophets…and [they would] show great signs and wonders.” Actually, in Matthew 24:24, Jesus summarized Revelation 13. The first beast that comes “out of the sea,” in Revelation 13:1, is the false christ or the Antichrist, and the second beast that comes “out of the earth,” in verse 11, is the false prophet.

So in Revelation 13, we are introduced to two beasts. The Antichrist is the political man who comes on the scene and will unify the world in a one-world government. There are several places in the Bible where this second beast, in verse 11, is called the false prophet. He is more of a religious leader who unites around the Antichrist with this one-world religion in the last days before Christ returns. Jesus predicted this in Matthew 24. This second beast, the false prophet, will be the personification of Satanic deception.

There are three things in chapter 13 about the false prophet I want to point out. The first is his person, in verse 11. He appears on the scene probably at the mid-point of the tribulation, and he is very prominent during the second half of the tribulation. He joins with the Antichrist during the first half but comes to his religious power during the second half of the tribulation.

In verse 11, John said, “Then I saw…”—so it is in the category of the vision John had on the island of Patmos—“…another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” Notice here that John said “another beast.” The word “another” here means “another of the same kind.” So this beast that comes “out of the earth,” in verse 11, is of the same nature as the beast that comes “out of the sea,” in verse 1. The same Greek word for “beast,” in verse 11, is also used for “beast,” in verse 1. So these two beasts are closely related, and I believe, aligned with one another; they are a team. One is political and the other is a religious leader.

But these two beasts do differ. Their places of origin differ: the beast, in verse 1, comes “out of the sea,” and the beast, in verse 11, comes “out of the earth.” Some Greek scholars point out that the word “earth,” in verse 11, could be and perhaps should be translated “land.” The inference is that this second beast will come out of the “land” of Israel and would be Jewish in his ethnicity.

But we can’t be dogmatic about that; we’re reading about things that are future to us and after the rapture. So we don’t need to get bogged down with details that aren’t really clear in the Scriptures. It’s funny that some Christians like to leave the Bible and get into all this speculation about different people: who they are and where they’re from. But when the Bible doesn’t speak, it’s best for us not to speak as well; just take the Word at what it says.

Notice, in verse 11, that this second beast had “two horns.” In verse 1, the first beast had “seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.” So there is a lot of graphic detail about the first beast, in verse 1, that is different from the second beast, in verse 11.

“Horns,” in Biblical symbolism, speaks of power or authority. It’s possible that the first beast, with “ten horns,” had more power politically, because these horns all had crowns on them, which speak of political power. They’re called “diadems,” so they were kingly crowns. But the second beast only has “two horns” and no crowns on them. Whenever you’re looking at Bible prophecy, you need to pay attention to details, because many times people miss these points. So I believe that the second beast, having “two horns,” means he has authority, but without the crowns, he doesn’t have political power or political authority.

But what is significant, in verse 11, is that he looked “like a lamb” that had “two horns.” This indicates that he is the religious leader of a false religion, a false spirituality, and is an ecumenical leader of all these different groups, bringing them together.

When we get to Revelation 17, we’re going to see a woman riding a beast, which is called “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots.” I believe that is the culmination of this religious leader’s work in uniting the world under one banner, this ecumenical of one-world religion, and it is riding the Antichrist during the second half of the tribulation. But God will destroy this false religious system.

So this false prophet is aligned with the Antichrist, he doesn’t have political power, he looks like a lamb, so he has religious power, but he “spoke like a dragon.” “Grandma, what big teeth you have!” He is invested with power from Satan himself. He words are false and deceptive.

In Matthew 7:15, which is the end of His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

Have you ever had someone knock on your door and say, “Hi, we’re from the kingdom hall; we’re Jehovah’s Witnesses. We’re Christians; we believe in Jesus. We have a Bible. We quote Scripture”? They have the same vocabulary but a different dictionary. They have a different Bible; it’s not based on the Greek, and it’s their own translation to promote their own false teaching.

They’ll come to you. Notice Jesus said that you don’t go to them; they’ll come to you. A cult is on your doorstep. You need to be Biblically grounded and discerning as to the truth of God’s Word. So Jesus warned us that they will come looking like sheep, maybe smelling like sheep, talking like sheep, acting like sheep, “but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

So this beast “out of the earth” is actually the false prophet, who comes speaking “like a dragon,” even though he looks “like a lamb.” We must be careful.

You say, “Well, Pastor John, it doesn’t say ‘false prophet.’” But in Revelation 16:13, John says, “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.”

It’s interesting that Satan is an imitator, so he tries to imitate the Trinity. We have the dragon, which is the anti-God the Father, a false God the Father; we have the first beast, of Revelation 13:1, which is the Antichrist, the imitation of God the Son; and we have the false prophet, the second beast from Revelation 13:11, which is the anti-Holy Spirit. So just as there is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, there is the dragon, the Antichrist and the false prophet. We will see that the false prophet does miracles and points people to worship the Antichrist. On the contrary, the work of the Holy Spirit is to point people to Jesus.