Cheaters Never Prosper

What has a society come to when it produces a website dedicated to helping people cheat on their spouses? Perhaps even more surprising, one study found that 57 percent of Americans forgave their unfaithful partners.

From the start, Jezebel was a cheater. She entered into her marriage never intending to worship Israel’s God. During her reign, she never showed the slightest hint of remorse for her deeds. She seduced, lied, stole, and murdered the innocent and the faithful (1 Kings 21:5–15; 18:13). Her sordid life could serve as a definition of immorality.

And yet Christ here states that even this most reprehensible person was given “time to repent.” What wondrous love that the Savior would give His all to redeem such a broken soul!

When God sent down fire in answer to the prophet Elijah’s prayer (v. 38), the miracle was just as much for Jezebel as it was for the people. No clearer sign could be shown that God reigns. At that moment, Jezebel had the opportunity to repent, as the Israelites did. But instead, she clung fervently to her idols. Upon receiving word that 450 prophets of Baal died before the Lord, Jezebel swore, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them” (19:2).

Sadly, the same occurred in the Roman Catholic Church. During the Dark Ages, the church reigned with violence and hedonism without contest for 1,260 years. God gave her time to repent, but as Scripture says, “she did not repent” either. When the Protestant Reformation began to bring forth the truths of the Bible—when Luther, Cranmer, the Waldensians, and countless others stood for the Word of God—and the glorious lights of God’s grace, salvation, and love shone brightly against the darkness of corruption, the church tried to snuff them out.

Christ longs for us to repent and return to Him. But He will never take away our free will to choose. God is the one who offered her life; Jezebel was the one who chose death.

Merciful Savior, every time we build our personal idols, we are unfaithful to You. Forgive our infidelity and thank you for the precious opportunity to repent of our sins.

For Further Study: Psalm 86:15; Romans 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9, 15

Key Bible Texts

And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. (Revelation 2:21 KJV)