Tuesday, August 8th | Jezebel and the Church

Welcome back, everyone! Today is Tuesday, August the 8th. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. Or if you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

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We're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. The verse of the day today comes from Proverbs 6, verses 27-28. Can a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be seared? I'm going to say no.

I'm going to go out for a while. TLDR, no. I'm going to go off on just a wild hair and say, no, you can't.

You cannot do that. He's talking about adultery. Solomon, in the context of this proverb, he's talking about going off and committing infidelity with a married woman or another unmarried woman. But whatever it is, it can be said of any sin, if you flirt with temptation, you're going to get burned.

And don't we try to do that? We try to see how close we can get to sin without actually sinning. Like, well, I know this is wrong, but what if I do this?

Mm-hmm. This isn't a sin. I'm just going to do this, and we're fine.

It's like, OK, but this is a sin. I know, but I'm not doing that. I'm just doing this. But then, what about this?

This is kind of the middle way between those two. What if I just do that? Stop trying. If you're driving and there's a guardrail over here, you're not going to hug the guardrail. You're not going to scrape along the side of the guardrail. You're going to stay away from it.

It's there to protect you, but you're not going to ride alongside it. Nor if you're a kid, you're not going to be like, OK, Mom and Dad, how much can I disobey you before you punish me? Right. You're asking the wrong questions. Right. And that's something that we've got to learn as little kids, because my son is certainly doing that right now. Yeah.

That's a very toddler thing. Yeah. I've got a question from a Dane S. OK.

Right here in North Carolina. Dane S. All right. What's the question? We, along with millions of others, want to know a food reference. Millions of other viewers. People are very... I don't know what it is.

I think it was The Great Pride. This is not a food show. No, it's not. But people really want to know how we eat our food. What's your ideal hot dog topping? Ooh. Just regular hot dog?

I think so. What else is there? Well, I don't know if you like sausage dog or bratwurst or other types of hot dogs. Would you go differently if it were? I would.

All right. I guess give me your regular hot dog. Regular hot dog. Regular hot dog topping.

Ideal topping for me. Of course, you have the hot dog. Hot dog has to be longer than the hot dog bun. I don't want any of this bite in the bun, and I don't want any hot dog.

What's up? You get the hot dog bun, but you got to get the extra long hot dog so that it sticks out the ends of the bun. Can't have a hot dog that's smaller than the hot dog bun.

Okay. Anyway, toppings for the hot dog. Chili.

Yes. Coleslaw. Mustard. Ideally spicy brown mustard.

And a little bit of hot sauce. I would agree with everything, because I don't really love hot dogs. Hot dogs are not one of my favorites. But I do eat them. And when I eat them, I typically enjoy them.

But I'm very plain Jane. Chili. I'm with you. Mustard.

Definitely love spicy brown mustard. You got to stop right there. I want to say this, and I don't want to roast him too hard because I know he's not here, but I'm going to bring it up.

100% I'm going to bring it up. Dr. Shah likes mayonnaise on his hot dogs. Don't knock that. That's gross. Don't knock that. Elizabeth eats mayonnaise on her hot dogs too. I don't love it, but I've had it before.

It's not awful. I'm not a man. I saw a woman in our church doing it one time, and I was like, oh my gosh. I don't mind saying her name. I was like, Nancy, why are you putting that on your hot dog? She was like, I love it.

And you know Dr. Shah loves it. I said, huh? You said what?

Say it one more time. And I confronted him. He didn't even deny it. I was like, Dr. Shah, Nancy said you like mayonnaise on your hot dogs. He was like, I do.

I was like, you're one of the most cultured men that I know. You're married proper in all things, but you put mayo on a Frank. If you do mayonnaise, you have to do ketchup though. You want mayo chop on your hot dog?

Yeah. Oh my gosh. That's almost as bad as ranch. I hate to sound like I'm from the nineties, but gag me with a spoon. Literally gag me with a spoon. What were you saying about the bratwurst?

What would you do with that? Oh, so if it's a brat, which is a bigger, like a bratwurst, you got to have it on a pretzel bun. Those are delicious bratwurst. And then you get, you get some grilled peppers and onions. You put those on top mustard on top of that.

Oh my God. Why do y'all get so bougie with y'all's food? Just bring in all this like weird stuff, like your sauerkrauts and your slaws and your cabbage and your carrots. Just put some mustard and put some like, I would even be fine putting the ketchup on it. Put your ketchup and mustard on a hot dog. Chili and slaw is a typical topic. If you order a hot dog all the way, it's probably going to come with chili and slaw or like chili and onions. I'm good with the chili.

And I agree with you. I like the spicy brown mustard, but then just stop. It's just like pizza.

Put your pepperonis on it and move on. You ain't got to do all this anchovies and this mushrooms and this pineapples and berry flakes and all this stuff. Mac and cheese and bourbon chicken and all that.

Who are you? Can I get a pizza with some Pad Thai on top? Let me get some pizza with a warm apple pie and some ice cream.

Just slap it on there. This is like some kind of child's fantasy. This got silly.

It's got very silly. We're going to check in with Dr. Shah about the mayonnaise on hot dogs. Yeah, we can't not talk about it.

I know that he does. We're going to start the show in just a minute. But if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. Let us know your ideal hot dog toppings as well. We'll be back. Excuse me.

I got tripped up because I had mayonnaise on my hot dog. Hey, everyone, my name is Ellie and I'm David. We want to take a minute and let you know how we can actually serve you as you're listening to Clearview today. The Bible paints an extraordinary picture of who we are as a church body. The mission of Clearview Church is to lead all people into a life changing, ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ. A huge part of leading people is praying for them. A big reason that Christians have unanswered prayers in their life is because they're not praying.

You know, 1 John 515 says, and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. If you're listening to the Clearview Today show, we want to know how we can pray for you as well. There's a number of ways that you can get in touch with us at Clearview and share your prayer requests. But the best way is by texting us at 252-582-5028. You can also send us an email at prayer at Clearviewbc.org or you can download the Clearview app on iTunes or Google Play.

You know, on that app, there's a dedicated prayer wall that helps us to get to know what's going on in your life, how we can pray for you, and how we can take any necessary steps to get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for listening. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028.

That's right. If today's your first time ever joining us here on the Clear View Today Show, we want to welcome you, let you know exactly who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadon Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. You can find all of his work on his website.

That's AbbadonShah.com. Dr. Shah, today we're talking hot dogs. Okay. I like hot dogs.

The great hot dog debate of 23. And I don't want this to turn into a big debate. I just want to understand. I just want you to help me understand. Because I've always admired you, looked up to you as a man of fine taste.

You are a cultured man, a man who knows and enjoys the finer things in life. So I have to ask on behalf of the Clear View Today audience, what's with the mayo on the hot dogs? Man, mayo is awesome.

I have to disagree. On a hot dog? Yes.

Okay. Describe your ideal hot dog. This is like the only way you'll be able to have a hot dog for the rest.

Because we had Dane S. from North Carolina right in. The ideal hot dog was what Jerry used to make in Henderson. Yeah. Jerry's hot dogs. I have heard that Jerry's hot dogs were... I've had Jerry's hot dogs.

They are very good. He's gone. But man, on Saturdays, I used to send Nicole out to get me footlongs from Jerry's trucks. So he would have, of course, the bun, hot dog. And then he would put ketchup, mustard, and then chili on it. That sounds great.

And then add jalapeno peppers on top. Ooh. Yeah, awesome. But at some point, you graduated to mayonnaise.

Yes. Well, I ate hot dogs before I ate Jerry's hot dog. I got you. And I love mayonnaise. I want the hot dog.

Other than that, it's so dry. You know, if you eat too many hot dogs, it can make you real sick. It can. It can put you in a sick bed.

Could you wind up in a sick bed? That's going to get us the segue back into the topic. I used the same exact segue yesterday.

It worked a little better today. This is not at all a deliberate segue. But speaking of sick beds... We have to work on a segue game. Our segues can get really, really good, or they can be really obvious. Well, you know, an obvious segue is OK. We are continuing our discussion from yesterday. We're discussing the different churches in the Book of Revelation and how these warning letters, these autopsy reports, how they impact our understanding of the Book of Revelation, not just in these individual churches, but in our lives today. We're continuing our discussion of the church in Thyatira that we began yesterday.

That's right. This was a church that was tolerating people like Jezebel. And for anybody who didn't get a chance to listen to yesterday's episode, when we talk about Jezebel in the Book of Revelation, it's not the same, like some reincarnation of that Jezebel who was in the Old Testament. This person is a Jezebel-like character. And if you know anything about that, you know, Jezebel was a Phoenician princess.

Even her name means, you know, dedicated to Baal. And she turned God's people away to Baal worship. And she misled and misguided the people of God.

And so God had some very stern warnings. And Jesus calling her out is, in a sense, merciful because he's saying, I want you to repent. But she didn't repent. So even in his judgment, there was mercy. But Jezebel, of course, too bullheaded to turn towards God.

She continues her path. And just like her namesake, she doesn't give in. So this Jezebel that Jesus is calling out in the Book of Revelation, she was part of the church in Thyatira. That's what I was saying. Or somehow she got in it. She was like misleading them from within. Yeah.

Yeah. And let's go back to the Jezebel in the Old Testament. God sent Elijah to King Ahab and he told him, kind of gave him a warning that judgment was coming. This is in 1 Kings 21. And he said to Ahab through Elijah, and you shall speak to him saying, Thus says the Lord, in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth.

Now, let's pause there for a moment. Naboth was this man who lived next to the palace of King Ahab. And he had a little sliver of land, a little vineyard. He was very proud of that vineyard. And it was part of his family land. And Ahab saw that vineyard and said, I want that. So he went to Naboth and said, hey, I'll give you money or I will resettle you.

Just give me the land. And Naboth said, no, it's in the family. I can't give that away. And Ahab was so insulted that he went home and he sulked. You know what I mean by sulking? He was like pouty. He was pouty. There it is. There's the pouty face.

That's the look right there. And his wife showed up and said, what's going wrong with you, Ahab? And he said, he's not giving me the land. He's not going to give me that land. And Jezebel was like, what kind of king are you? Are you a king or not? Well, you know what? I'll take care of you.

You'll have your land. And so what she does is she does something very evil. She falsely accuses Naboth.

And she does it through these worthless scums. Gives him some money, I guess, or some little toy and says, accuse him. Say that Naboth blasphemed God. Naboth has blasphemed the king. And nobody's going to ask the question like, wait, wait, wait. Why would you say he has?

So what is the evidence? No, the crowd just goes crazy. It's like a mob rule. And they grab Naboth and they stone him. And he dies. And dogs came and licked up the blood.

It's just a sad sight. And that's that. Now she comes back and says, Ahab, go get your land. It's done. Now she is thinking, I took care of that problem. No big deal. You know?

Yeah. Never sent a man to do a woman's job or something like that. Not sure what she said, but I'm sure she has some arrogant, cocky, just blasphemous words. And Ahab is like, thank you. He just goes and takes the land, I guess. He takes the land. What a guy. All that for a vineyard. What a king.

That must have been some vineyard. Yeah. Wow. And he doesn't have to pay for it because previously he was willing to pay. Now he doesn't have to pay for it. It's his. Now that's how some people think.

And I'm talking to Christians and non-Christians. You think you have done this deed and there are no repercussions, but there will be. You will pay. And while you're paying, if you're a Christian, while you're paying for it, the Holy Spirit will kind of gently whisper in your ears.

You remember that back then? All right. Here's how it comes back. And it will pierce like a knife in your chest. And you're going to realize, oh, shucks. Really? Yeah.

So here's, here's a suggestion. If you're going to, when you go through that and the Holy Spirit reminds you, the best thing to do is don't try to wiggle your way out. Just say, God, give me the grace, the forgiveness, the strength to endure this, because this is the law of life. What you sow is what you reap.

But not in the case of Ahab. He's thinking, man, it's all done. He's thinking, man, it's all done. Wow. Was it that easy? All I had to do was whine. I should have just took her with me. I should have just took her with me to begin with. All I had to do was sit in my palace and pout. I just pouted and got my way.

Now that's reinforced. Anytime in life there's something to be done and it is easy without any work for it. If it's not your salvation and God's grace in your life, just know everything costs somebody something. Even salvation costs Jesus his life on the cross. So anytime you have this, Oh, that was free. That was man.

Hey, I lucked out there. No, it's going to cost. And if you do something underhanded like this and evil, you're going to pay for it. And so Elijah comes to Ahab and says, well, when, when he first comes before Ahab, listen to Ahab.

This is first Kings 21, 20. Have you found me? Oh, my enemy. He's changed his tune now.

No, no, no. This is when he is being sarcastic. But he's already gotten the land.

He's already got the land. He's feeling, he's feeling confident now. He's not wimpy and pouty no more. Yeah. He's not pouty.

He's like, Oh, here we go. Like I used to go visit this family. Okay. And they were not evil people. They were actually good people. And this gentleman, every time I would come to visit them is like, Oh, here you are preacher. Come on in and come fuss at us. Yeah. I'm like, really?

What does that mean? Come on in and come on in and come fuss at us sinners. So, okay. That's what I'm going to do.

That would just kind of be odd. I'm like, maybe I need to leave, but they're like, no, no, no. Come on in. Come on in. So he's doing something sarcastic, you know, kind of evil. And he answered, I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity, means your children, your descendants, and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free. And concerning Jezebel, the Lord also spoke saying that dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. The dog shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city.

And the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field. Jezreel. Is that near Jerusalem?

Is it Jezreel Valley? Didn't we go by there? Yeah. It's near there. Yeah.

We walked right past that site. Yeah. So you remember the Mount Carmel? I do. Right.

That's where Elijah and the prophets of Baal, but you know, near there is a Jezreel Valley. Wow. Yeah. We, we drove past.

We drove past. Okay. Okay. Yeah. The Valley is on the other side.

So we didn't, I guess technically we did go right by them. I guess, I guess. What's the other Valley I'm thinking of that was by Jerusalem? Is that Kidron?

That's the one I was thinking. Jezreel Valley is a different one. Okay.

But it's right there by Mount Carmel. So here's Jezreel Valley. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. We take all those pictures and certain people wanted to sing over there. Right.

Right. That you didn't want to sing? No, I didn't want to sing.

I'm like, leave the man alone. Can we sing How Great is Our God? No, I don't. I don't have my guitar. That's okay. We're just going to sing it.

I'm like, no, we're not. I'm going to power through and sing it. You sing.

I'm not going to sing it. Because it's this right here. We want to take it all in and just be like, you know, that this is a place where Elijah, you know, gave that gauntlet, I guess, you know, go for it.

So anyways, going back here, when Ahab heard this, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his body and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about mourning. At least there was some sense of conscience in this man to go, oh no. I'm about to get what I deserve. Yeah.

Yeah. I was going to say, this sounds like a good thing. This sounds like a good response from him, like a moment of repentance and kind of genuine, like, oh, I messed up. You know, prior to this, think about it, David did the same thing. And God forgave David, even though the child had to die.

But what they did, what he did to Uriah the Hittite. Same thing here. Ahab gets it and goes, wait, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Here's the sackcloth.

Here are the ashes. I am very sorry for what I've done. It's wrong.

It's wrong. So God is a forgiving God. He says, see how Ahab has humbled himself before me because he has humbled himself before me. I will not bring the calamity in his days, which means this, the law of sowing and reaping is going to continue. Your descendants are going to die because it says what?

In the days of his son, I will bring the calamity on his house. It means it's going to come back. And see, that's the hard part is when you do things, it's not like you die because that will be very easy. It's like, kill me, kill me, just kill me. And God says, no, you're going to watch somebody close to you die. Now watch that.

Like, oh no, why can't it just be me? I did it. Right.

It doesn't work like that. So here in Ahab's situation, he humbled himself and God said, you're going to live. But then how about Jezebel? Jezebel did not for a single moment humbled herself. She was not part of God's people anyways. So the prophecy was fulfilled in 2 Kings 9, 30 through 37. And not only Ahab's children had to pay for his sins, but then also Jezebel was thrown off the balcony.

She fell at the same spot Naboth fell and she died. And the wild dogs, these are not your fluffy pets. These are the wild dogs that roam the countryside, came in and they devoured her.

Just a little piece of hand was left. I mean, they, they just descended on the carcass and devoured it. So when Jesus gave that warning to the church in Thyatite, they would have known instantly exactly what he was talking about. Something bad is coming. Yeah.

Yeah. Now this whole idea of people dying because of some sin, because of misguiding and misleading God's people, you find that again in 1 Corinthians 11 or earlier, right? Paul's letters earlier than Revelation, where it says in verse 29, for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. And when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. So Corinthians, there were people dying because of their behavior. Yeah.

I think maybe in the future, this might be a good one where we can tack. Cause I know with the, with the time we have left, we won't have time to really dive into it, but I can see and hear people listening to an episode like this and coming to the conclusion that God's not actually just, because if someone came to you and said, Hey, unfortunately you are under arrest. We've uncovered new evidence that your father may have committed several crimes in his past.

So you are going to have to go to jail for that. We would say, okay, well, this is an example of justice being, of injustice. So I think this might be something where we can kind of affirm God's justice, but maybe devote an entire episode in the future to kind of traveling down this path. I think the Bible talks about them being examples.

So Ananias and Sapphira dropping dead. People lie all the time in front of the offering plate as they're saying, I surrender all. And then drop 10 bucks on the offering plate. No, you're not surrendering.

Do you make a hundred dollars a month? Yeah, exactly. You're barely surrendering any.

You're not surrendering a thing. Yeah. So yeah. People don't die today in the same way. But then again, who takes the time to sit down and create a massive family tree to see whose sins are where, how is the law of sowing and reaping being enacted here and who is dying?

We don't have the time or motivation and we shouldn't be the ones doing that anyway. Right. And it's almost created this like harmless Christianity, this Christianity in the West where it's like, we have no concept of God's actual justice. It's just the things that make us feel good and the things that make us feel like it's me and my individual walk with Jesus and not a more comprehensive, concrete network of consequences, I guess.

Yeah. I believe in grace. Thank God for his grace. Having said that, God's justice is also operative. It works. It works. And it works in ways that we will not be able to comprehend.

But it does work. All I can do is make sure that in my life, I don't do anything like what Ahab did or Jezebel did or what this church was doing. That's right. So listen to Revelation 2 24.

It says, Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan. I mean, this is a very kind of harsh words, right? Yeah, just that kind of language. This isn't just something to play around with. It's not just, oh, I slipped up here. Oh, I messed up.

I'm struggling with temptation. Jesus calls it this doctrine. He calls it the depths of Satan. Just the gravity of those words alone. I mean, that should be a wake up call.

Yeah. And he says, I will put on you no other burden. It means there's only so much you can handle.

And here's the here's the word guys, people who are listening. If you can't, if this doesn't wake you up, then it's not even a burden for you. You're just living life just without any consequences, without an awareness of God's justice. So Jesus says, hold on or hold fast to what you have till I come. But then in verse 26, he says, and he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, I will give him to him. I will give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron.

They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessel. Again, going back to Psalm 2, because that's where we started last episode. It says, ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. What do you want?

Ahab wanted that little track of land. What do you want? What are you willing to do to get what you want? Don't do that. The people in the church in Thyatira were willing to sell their souls to get what they wanted.

What do you want? God says, I will give you the nations as an inheritance if you just come to me and don't use this, these ulterior ways. Don't do that. Yeah. And then he says, you shall break them with a rod of iron and you shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. I mean, the word of God is so deep. You know, finally, verse 27 says, as I also have received from my father, I will give him the morning star. And now this is a reference going back to numbers 24. And now we have another character coming from the Old Testament, who is Balaam. We discussed Balaam earlier in another letter, but here's now Balaam. And Balaam, while he was cursing and while he was trying to curse God's people, he ended up blessing them, as you know.

Even his own donkey told him, it's like, what are you doing, man? Stop beating me. You need to chill.

You need to chill. And in his cursing, blessings are coming. And in the blessings, messianic prophecies are being given.

And one of them was in verse 17, this is numbers 24, 17. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob. A scepter shall rise out of Israel and batter the brow of Moab. I mean, that's a very, I don't know how to say that, but it's quite a chilling metaphor of battering the brow of Moab. It's hitting you where you're not going to recover. Not only will people see that, see the strike, but that strike will end your life. It kind of reminds me of like Jesus crushing the head of the serpent. Like, I think you wrote that in one of your books that's coming out very soon, you know, Satan struck Jesus as heel.

You can recover from that, but a crush of like someone crushing your head. He's not dead yet, but it's a fatal blow. And destroy all the sons of Timel. So again, the whole point is this, choose God, choose to do things God's way, and you will have the morning star. Failure to do that and leading people astray will only bring death. And of course, like Balaam, you can choose to go Balaam's way, or you can choose to live God's way. If you choose to live God's way, you have Jesus Christ.

That's right. So much, so much is there. So beautiful. If you guys enjoyed today's topic, if you have questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-58-25028. Or you can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. And don't forget, you can click that link at the bottom of the page, contribute financially to what God is doing here through the Clear View Today show and be a part of reaching the nations with the gospel of Jesus. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear View Today.