Sleeping with the Enemy
Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. Revelation 2:22
Commit Adultery – God is speaking. Listen up! To the church in Thyatira, God says, “You are lying in bed with the great whore Babylon. You are serving her idolatrous ends. And you have contracted a spiritual disease which will destroy you. Now you will have terrible affliction.”
Did you notice that God is not speaking to the non-believing masses? He addresses the church, the ekklesia, the “called-out ones” in Thyatira. These foolish people who have been released from bondage, have consorted with Satan’s system. They are having intercourse with the world. How has this happened? Subtly, my friend, subtly.
Watchman Nee once said that the true church “depends for its very existence upon the ceaseless impartation of fresh life from God, and it cannot survive one day without it”. But this is not true of the system of the world. In the world, men are quite capable of devising means, plans, programs, funding, principles and whatever else it takes to sustain the life of an organization (or their own lives) without a daily impartation of God’s divine gift. In fact, success in the world is based precisely on this fundamental difference: to be able to survive and prosper on human effort and ingenuity alone. The world’s system is the system of independent survival. As such it is absolutely in opposition to the plan of God for it operates on the power of self-sufficiency, a power that originates directly from Satan.
The great whore is incredibly seductive. She offers exactly what every man wants – independence, freedom, liberty. She appeals to the same natural strain that trapped Eve in disobedience – to know good and evil for myself. John uses the Greek moicheuontas. The verb is an active present participle. That means the adultery is going on right now. It is going on every time these called-out ones advance their agenda without God’s Spirit, without God’s voice and without God’s provision.
Adultery is a sin punishable by death. We seem to ignore that fact. We are so intent on self-preservation, accumulation, success and image that we no longer consider our actions adulterous. But where God does not direct, the system of the world does. The sheets are perfumed. The room is delightful to the eyes. The wine is excellent. But she’s still a whore.
A Christian exhibits deliberate dependence on the Father. Anything less is sleeping with the enemy.
