Introduction

We’ve just looked at seven main points that can help us understand this great book. Now we’re going to go chapter by chapter and hit the main thoughts in order to weave everything together to see God’s overall message to Christians in the first century and His message of encouragement for us in the twenty-first century today, Revelation 2:10.

Let me encourage you to carefully read through each chapter first before you read the comments on each chapter.

Revelation 1

In Revelation 1 Christians are immediately impressed with the image of Christ, the One Who is in control. Remember that this was during times of great persecution. Rome was persecuting Christians, some were being dragged off. People like Domitian were in control. Thus, Christians are reminded of the image of Jesus in Revelation
1 that Jesus is still ‘KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS’, Revelation 19:16.

During times of persecution, we must look to Christ for help.

‘Among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.’ Revelation 1:13-16

Here we see this image of Jesus that presents His holiness, power, radiance, and the Word of God that came out of His mouth. The impression we receive from this image is that Jesus is alive, well, and in control, which means that during persecution we must look to Christ.

There’s a practical lesson here for Christians then as well as for us today. When we face difficulties, when we struggle, and when things don’t always go the way they ought to in life, we need to go to Jesus first for help.

Too many times we look to self-help books, doctors, psychiatrists, and so on. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, but the first place we ought to be looking for help is Jesus Christ, Hebrews 12:1-2. If we want real help in times of trouble, we must look to the Lord. He is able to help those who are in need of help, Hebrews 2:17-18.

Revelation begins on a positive note, Jesus is alive and well and can help us. Thus, we must look to Him in times of trouble.

Revelation 2-3

Revelation 2-3 probably are the chapters that have been studied the most by people who have examined the Book of Revelation. Paul had spent three years in Ephesus and during that time ‘all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks,’ Acts 19:10.

All seven churches may have had their start during this time frame. They’re now facing a severe crisis, there was widespread persecution of Christians.

Persecution came in the form of Judaisers, pagans and the Roman government. At the close of each letter, a special blessing is pronounced on those who overcome the persecutions.

Let’s simply notice that Jesus says this to these congregations, He knows what’s going on in His church, and we need to let Him be the Head of the church.

Jesus rebukes five of the congregations, Ephesus, Revelation 2:1-7, Pergamum, Revelation 2:12-17, Thyatira, Revelation 2:18-29, Sardis, Revelation 3:1-6, Laodicea, Revelation 3:14-22 and only two are not rebuked. The church in Smyrna, Revelation 2:8-11, isn’t condemned and the church in Philadelphia isn’t rebuked, Revelation 3:7-13.

Five out of the seven are rebuked for things they are not doing or for things that they should not be doing. Either they were doing something wrong, or they were lacking in some area.

During times of persecution, we mustn’t forget that Jesus is still the Head of the church and that we’re responsible as a member of that church for how we live our lives. Revelation 3:21 reveals the encouragement that Jesus offers saints who live faithfully, 2 Corinthians 13:5.

In Revelation 1 we see Jesus standing in the midst of the seven churches and when we get to Revelation 2, we find Jesus walking around the seven churches.

Instead of the church giving its own evaluation on how things are going, Jesus is going to give His own evaluation as to how they are really doing.

The Church In Ephesus

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:” Revelation 2:1

Jesus Himself is the author of this letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesus was a large important city on the west coast of Asia Minor where the apostle Paul founded a church. And there were a number of factors which contributed to the importance of Ephesus.

The first factor was economics, Ephesus was the most favourable seaport in the province of Asia and the most important trade centre west of Tarsus. Another factor was size, Ephesus was the largest city in the province, having a population of perhaps 300,000 people.

A third factor was culture, Ephesus contained a theatre that seated an estimated 25,000 people. The fourth, and perhaps most significant, reason for the importance of Ephesus was religion.

The Temple of Artemis or Diana, at Ephesus ranked as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. If you were around in Biblical times and thought of Ephesus, your mind would automatically think about the city where you would find the ‘tem­ple of Diana.’

In Acts 19 we find in Ephesus, a silversmith by the name of Demetrius who made a living out of idol making, and he was causing all sorts of trouble for Paul and the other disciples.

And we have recorded in Acts 19:27 that Diana was loved and worshipped by people from all over the world. The original temple of Diana crumbled into the dust many cen­turies ago but when it was rebuilt, it became one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

And it was to this temple that Alexander the Great came too. He wanted his name carved on one of the 127 pillars and so he offered all the riches of his eastern campaign for the privilege, but the city fathers turned down the offer.

And so even the mightiest mortal on earth of the time, couldn’t even buy the privilege to have his name on a pillar in the temple of a god. No wonder years later the apostle Paul would write to the Ephesian church and tell them in Ephesians 2:19-22 that they were the temple, not of any old god but of Almighty God Himself.

The history of Christianity at Ephesus began around A.D. 50, perhaps as a result of the efforts of Priscilla and Aquila as we read in Acts 18:18. Paul came to Ephesus in about A.D. 52, establishing the church and stayed there for at least three years as Acts 20:31 tells us.

And it was during that time that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians and was faced with many opportunities to share the Gospel but also faced many problems as Acts 18:23-41 tells us.

We also know that it was in Ephesus that Paul baptised believers who apparently came to know the Gospel through disciples of John the Baptist, Acts 19:1-5, and he opposed the strong influence of magic, Acts 19:11-20.

But by the time that John penned these words in Revelation 2:1-7, the church at Ephesus was busy working for the Lord but had no sincere love for Him. They had all the church programs but had no passion.

They were a busy church with great statistics, but they were a church that was drifting away from their heartfelt devotion to Christ. Ephesus was a busy church with high spiritual standards, the work had been difficult, but they had not collapsed.

Looking from the outside, in every way this church is what we would call a successful church. And from the outside people would look in and think that this is a church that deeply loves their God. Christ is more concerned about what we do with Him, rather what we do for Him.

And so, to everyone else this was a greatly successful church but to Christ who is now walking amongst them, this church is in the process of falling.

“These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.” Revelation 2:1

Notice how it begins, it is addressed to the angel of the church but in verse 7 it is addressed to the ‘churches’. John is either telling us that churches have guardian angels who have some sort of spiritual responsibility for a church, or he is simply showing us that the angel is the personification of the church. We won’t dwell on that for the moment.

John reminds them straight away that ‘Jesus holds the seven stars in His right hand’, which is figurative language which means, the life or death of the church resides within Jesus, Ephesians 1:22-23.

Remember that Ephesus was a great city for debating, everyone loved to debate with anyone about life and religion. And so, both Paul and John are both saying that Christ is the absolute author­ity, there is no room for debating here.

There is no room for debating the facts about what Jesus is about to say to this church.

“I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.” Revelation 2:2-3

Notice how Jesus begins to deal with their reputation, he begins by talking about all the things which are right with this church. They had a lot going for them and the Lord lets them know that He has seen all the good they are doing in His Name.

1. He commends their service and says ‘I know your deeds’.

Jesus recognises that this church over the years since it was planted has accomplished many great things for the glory of God. They have been working hard and Jesus has seen their efforts.

This was no Sunday morning only church, they were actively serving the Lord wherever and whenever they could, using their own expenses and personally sacrificing all they could for the glory of God.

They had their benevolence programmes and youth programmes and they persevered. In other words, despite all the opposition they were receiving, they continued to work.

The people in Ephesus did not appreciate these Christians or their zeal for the Lord and they opposed them publicly and physically, Acts 18-20.

But these Christians endured the opposition and the persecution, and they continued to serve the Lord faithfully in spite of everything thrown against them. And so not only does He commend their service.

2. He also commends their separation.

There are times when the church needs to stand for truth. These Ephesian Christians were quick to defend the truth, in so many ways. John tells us in verse 6, that they rejected the works of the Nicolaitans.

Who are those guys?

Well, the Nicolaitans are identified by Irenaeus and Hippolytus, two early church fathers, as a sect which grew out of Nicolas who are mentioned in Acts 6:5. They were the ones who apostatised from Christ.

But however, they originated, they were known as perverts, with low morals, a sect that were loose thinking and practiced loose living. And thankfully the Ephesians couldn’t bear them.

The Ephesians also exposed deceivers who claimed to be apostles. All in all, we would say that they were morally and doctrinally approved.

The Ephesians dealt with their opposition quickly and stood for what they knew was right. And despite all the opposition and all the trials that come from being followers of the Christ they have hung in there and didn’t grow tired from it all.

And so outwardly the church at Ephesus looks great, the Ephesian Christians think that everything is going well, and they are doing everything they are supposed to be doing.

And people on the outside and possibly even other churches of the Lord are looking at the Ephesian church and thinking, ‘wow, I wish we were more like that church’.

And they wish that, until the reality check comes from Jesus. After offering this church some words of commendation, Jesus now gives them some words of condemnation.

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.” Revelation 2:4

There is nothing like bursting your spiritual bubble, is there? You can’t help but almost hear the disappointment in the words of Jesus. Jesus says, that while they look good on the surface, there are problems in the heart that must be dealt with.

And notice how Jesus wants them to know that this is a personal matter. It seems that Jesus is grieved by the problems He sees in this church. Jesus looks at these people whom He loves and for whom He died and tells them that they simply do not love Him like they used to.

The church of Ephesus was active in the Lord’s work, but they were serving out of a sense of duty and not out of a fervent love for Him. They had become like Martha who laboured, but not out of love, Luke 10:38-42 / 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.

The Ephesian’s first love was Jesus Himself and His church but because they were so obsessed in being doctrinal pure, they were actually departing from loving Jesus and His brotherhood in the process. It is also possible that the Ephesian church had forsaken their first love in terms of their eagerness and joy, Jeremiah 2:2.

Remember that Jesus has not come to hurt the Ephesian church, He has come to help them. He offers words of commendation, words of condemnation, and now He is going to speak a word of correction. He’s going to tell them how they can fix that which is wrong in their congregation.

“Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” Revelation 2:5

There are lots of things we have to remember in this life but here Jesus says remember or ‘consider how far you have fallen’. Here is a church which was flying high in their own eyes, but Jesus says remember how far you have fallen.

He wants them to remember that moment when they first came to know Him. He wants them to reflect on what He did for them. He wants them to recall all the excitement and emotion of those early days with Him.

He wants them to look back to a time when their love for Him motivated everything they did. He wants them to recognize that although they thought they were flying, they had actually fallen.

If we don’t love Jesus and His people like we did before, the cure is repentance. Change your mind about it and let that change of mind result in a change of conduct. The word ‘repent’ is the Greek word ‘metanoeo’ and it means ‘a change of mind that leads to a change of action’.

But what exactly is it they have to repent of? Well, it’s quite simple. Jesus says they need to repent of our coldness and fall in back in love with Him all over again.

Notice that repentance leads to action, the Ephesian church were to do the things they first did. In other words, their good deeds were to be motivated by love again.

Remember that Jesus saw all their good deeds, but they were serving without love. But now He says I want you to continue in those good deeds but with the motivation of love behind them.

He says to the church in Ephesus, if they don’t repent, then ‘He will come and remove their lampstand’. He’s not talking about the second coming here, because His coming totally depends on whether or not they will repent.

In other words, if they do repent, He won’t come and remove their lampstand but if they don’t repent, He will come and remove their lampstand. If the congregation at Ephesus doesn’t remember, repent, and do something about it, then destruction will come upon them.

Ignatius, who was one of the apostolic church fathers said that ‘the church in Ephesus must have listened to and obeyed Jesus words for a while anyway’.

But where is the church in Ephesus now? There’s no church there now and there hasn’t been for a long time. We can only imagine what goes through the minds of all those visitors who have been to Ephesus today.

They would say, ‘Let’s go to Ephesus, you know that place where Christians used to meet.’ And as they walk around the place, they stumble across a baptistery which is all dried up and covered in leaves, what a sad picture that is, isn’t it?

Jesus visited Ephesus and removed the church, the candlestick, it’s gone, Matthew 23:27.

“But you have this in your favour: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” Revelation 2:6

Jesus says He hates the practices of the Nicolaitans just like the Ephesians do. In other words, love the sinner but hate the sin, hate the deeds but love the people.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7

We are victors in Christ whether we live or die. We are victors in Christ when we remain faithful in good times and hard times. And our reward for our faithfulness is the right to eat of the tree of life in heaven.

John tells us that the tree of life answers to the water of life, Revelation 22:1-3. It is the food and the river and the drink of the saints. The tree of life stands for spiritual sustenance, it is the ‘food’ of the righteous.

It reminds us of the events in the garden when man had unbroken fellowship with God. So, whether by life or death, here or hereafter, the victorious Christian is secure.

The Church In Smyrna

“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write.” Revelation 2:8

We know what the church in Ephesus was like and how it started but concerning the church in Smyrna we know absolutely nothing about its beginnings.

In all probability the church in Smyrna was established around 55-56 A.D. after or during Paul’s third missionary journey. It was possibly Paul who established this church, but it would seem more likely to be established by some of his students from the school as Acts 19:8-10 tells us.

And so, because we don’t know anything about its beginnings, we need to take some lessons from its present state.

This city, which was famous for its loyalty and faithfulness, became the host of a church commended by the Lord for the same faithfulness. We find people with convictions even before they became Christians.

The city of Smyrna, was called the ‘Glory of Asia.’ It was proud Smyrna, deeply religious Smyrna, heathen Smyrna. Smyrna, the centre of Caesar worship and the leading city of empire worship for many years.

Smyrna built a shrine to ‘Roma’ as early as 195 B.C. and as the Republic spread, the worship of Rome became more widespread.

According to the historian, Balsdon, in July 44, 4 months after the assassination of Julius Caesar, ‘an unexpected comet ap­peared in the sky. It was a prodigy, accepted by the people as evidence that Julius Caesar was now in heaven, a god, Divus Julius’.

And since the spirit of the empire was reflected in the leaders, it was easy enough for people to begin to believe the supreme leaders were the embodiment of the spirit of the empire.

The emperors began to be viewed with awe and one Roman writer tells us, ‘from the time of Augustus a new form of Roman cult makes its appearance, the worship of the emperor.’

He goes on to say that in the east, ‘the line drawn between God and man was not too distinctly drawn’.

It wasn’t this way in Rome, the Romans were too stubborn for such nonsense. When Augustus accepted the name, there immediately sprang up a cult around him.

Herod the Great, for example, built a temple and shrine to him but no emperor, however, was consecrated to godhood until after his death.

And as time went by, a priesthood was formed to serve in the emperor worship and in the process of time, it became necessary that the citizens or subjects showed their loyalty to the state by the worship of the emperor. And so, Smyrna won a contest, a contest to see who would erect a shrine to the deified Tiberius.

The Christians lived in a heathen town which embodied not only the eastern gods but the gods of Rome. The Roman gods were of the more dangerous kind, their servants could bring down punishment upon the heads of the Chris­tians for not submitting to those gods.

But Smyrna also has Jews, lots of them, hostile and vocal Jews, Jews of the sort who would take the lead in the execution of Polycarp. Not faithful Jews but the sort who lived in the days of Antiochus 4^th Epiphanes, the kind that didn’t worship God, but worshipped survival.

The city of Smyrna was about 35 miles from Ephesus, and it was a city of about 100,000 people in John’s day. It was called the ‘crown city’ because it was surrounded by hills that resembled a crown.

It possessed a safe harbour where ships from all over the world came to buy and sell goods. Several things made this a special city in its day, for example the production of myrrh. The substance came from a shrub like tree, when the leaves were crushed a very fragrant odour came from them.

Myrrh was used as a fragrance by the living and an embalming agent for the dead. And if you remember, myrrh is mentioned in association with the life and ministry of the Lord, Matthew 2:11 / Mark 15:23 / John 19:39. The word ‘myrrh’ means bitter and so it came to be associated with suffering and death.

And so straight away we can see that Smyrna was a planned city, a free city, and a beautiful, wealthy pagan city.

“These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.” Revelation 2:8

The leading god of Smyrna was ‘Dionysus,’ who was the god of wine. Smyrna was famous for its vines, each year the death and resurrection of ‘Dionysus’ was acted out in public plays. But the Christians knew the difference between myth and solid, indisputable historical fact.

Jesus identifies Himself as ‘the first and the last’ and we should be familiar with that title because it’s a name which was applied to God in the Old Testament, Isaiah 44:6. And so straight away John reminds these Christians and says, ‘come what will, Christ is with us.’

Smyrna, who claimed to be first of the world, John assures the saints there, that Christ is first and last, and there is no competition, and so there is no room for human pride.

Now those words ‘who died and came to life again’ should read ‘became dead and came back to life again’. So, what is John talking about? He’s talking about the resurrection of Jesus.

He saying the risen Christ is He who experienced death, and who passed into death, through death and out of death, and who came to life again in the triumphant event of the resurrection overcoming death, and who is alive forever more.

Jesus experienced the very worst in which life had to offer but He has conquered the worst that life can do. He experienced death so that we don’t need to be afraid of it anymore, 1 Corinthians 15:55.

And it’s because of this that only Jesus can demand such loyalty from His followers and be able to reward those who are loyal to Him.

The church in Smyrna was a crushed congregation.

“I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.” Revelation 2:9-10

It does not always pay to be a Christian, but it is better after you die. When times are hard and you become poor, be faithful. Why? James says that God has a currency which are eternal riches, and so be faithful when poverty strikes, James 2:5.

Paul says, don’t worry when times get hard for the Lord knows who are His, 2 Timothy 2:19-21.

The Lord knows each and every one of us intimately and He knows everything He needs to know about the church in Smyrna. He knows they are facing persecution; He knows they are facing poverty.

Think about this in practical terms, because they were Christians, they were denied jobs because of their relationship with Jesus Christ. And Jesus knows this, and He knows that they faced the prospect of being sent to prison.

And if all that wasn’t trouble enough, he tells them that was even more trouble ahead. But despite all the tribulation, thanks be to God, Smyrna was a consistent church.

“I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” Revelation 2:9

Don’t underestimate that word ‘afflictions’ here. He’s not saying that being a Christian in Smyrna was a headache, He’s not saying it’s an inconvenience. He’s saying because you’re Christians, you’re under all sorts of pressure, grinding, crushing pressure.

Remember the Roman Emperor Domitian was ruling at this time, so they were experiencing the crushing load of the Romans forces trying to destroy Christianity.

Don’t underestimate that word ‘poverty’ either, this is not just being poor, it means they were absolutely destitution. In other words, they were poor and unable to help themselves.

They were poor perhaps, because they were from a poorer class to begin with, but most likely because of robbery, job rejection, and business boycott as forms of persecution.

But despite the already existing pressure from the Roman worship, the slander of the Jews, and their extreme poverty, these lovely people were faithful.

Jesus says to these faithful Christians in Smyrna, you guys aren’t poor, you are all ‘tycoons.’ You guys are filthy rich. In other words, what these Christians lacked in the world, God would make up for them in heaven.

Should we be intimidated by others when they have a go at us for being Christians? Jesus says, ‘I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan’.

Notice that word ‘say’. ‘They ‘say’, they are Jews’. These guys wouldn’t have recognised Abraham if he had appeared wearing a name badge.

This very same Jesus had spoken to an audience of Jews and if you remember, He recognised their racial status but denied their relationship with Abraham, John 8:57-59.

The Lord doesn’t only know you and me intimately, he also knows everyone else intimately too. My point is that these people were proud to be Jews, they were proud of their synagogues and all the while Jesus says that they were a synagogue and the Devil dwelt in them.

Notice that this church had a positive testimony, the Lord didn’t have a rebuke for this church like He did with many of the others. And so not only did they have a positive testimony they also had a very powerful testimony.

How do we know that? Simply because in spite of all the wickedness, which was going on around them, and in spite of all the affliction that they were put through, they remained faithful.

And so, because of this they received comfort from Jesus Himself, Jesus comes to them as ‘The first and the Last, He that was dead and is alive,” Revelation 2:8. He is reminding them ‘He knows’ what they are facing because He has faced tribulation and suffering as well.

Notice the word ‘slander’, it should be the word ‘blasphemy’ which is used. The word ‘blasphemy’ is the Greek word, ‘blasphemia’ which means, reviling, but here it is used not primarily to direct blasphemy against God but reviling against believers. In other words, Satan is tempting the saints to blaspheme in the name of Christ.

Although there is no rebuke for this church, there certainly are a few words of caution.

“Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.” Revelation 2:10

Satan was doing the tempting but God at the same time is proving, testing, and trying them. Why? Jesus doesn’t want them to lack anything, we must accept that difficulties come for a reason. They come to help us grow and become mature as Christians, James 1:2-4.

Jesus says that God will let His people suffer, 2 Timothy 3:12, but it’s not all doom and gloom because Jesus reminds us that He has overcome the world, John 16:33.

They were about to feel the pressure increasing, they were about to join the long list, the long, glorious list of those who were imprisoned for righteousness sake.

They were about to be tested for ‘ten days’, now this is not literal, this is the Hebrew way of saying for a short time. Daniel, for example, was tested and thrown into the lion’s den for 10 days, Daniel 1:12-16. Jacob was tested by Laban 10 times, Genesis 31:7.

It’s not hard to see then the origin of ‘testing, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.’ By the time we get to the New Testament, it had become the expression for a period of trial by hardship.

Jesus knows His people and those who are not His and this would include the devil himself. He tells them that, ‘the devil will put some of you in prison.’ He tells them that not too long from now some of you, not all of you but some of you will be put in prison.

Now if that isn’t frightening enough, under Domitian if you were getting put in prison that meant that you were going there just before being put to death. And so, Jesus cautions them and says don’t be afraid, but faithful, even to the point of death.

In other words, don’t worry about if they kill you, because you will be at home. When times are really tough, nothing can separate us from the love of God, persecution can’t and death can’t, Romans 8:34-39.

Jesus is looking for total, lifelong commitment to Him in faith and with such faithfulness secures the ‘crown of life.’ James 1:12. The crown was among the Romans and Greeks a symbol of victory and reward.

The crown or wreath worn by the victors in the Olympic Games was made of leaves of the wild olive, in the Pythian Games, the crown was made of laurel.

In the Nemean Games, it was made of parsley and in the Isthmian Games, it was made of pine. The Romans bestowed the ‘civic crown’ on anyone who saved the life of a citizen, and it was made of the leaves of the oak.

But these crowns died because they were made of leaves and things. This crown, the crown which Jesus gives lasts, why? Because it is made of life, 1 Peter 5:4.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death”. Revelation 2:11

Remember despite the fact that this letter and the others are written to a specific church, it applies equally to the other churches and in fact to all the churches.

The expression ‘second death’ is found three other times in the book of Revelation, Revelation 20:6 / Revelation 20:14 / Revelation 21:8.

J.H. Thayer defined the ‘second death’ as ‘the miserable state of the wicked dead in hell’.

This condition is characterised as the second death because it follows physical death. It is designated as death because it is the terminal separation from the Lord, Matthew 25:41 / 2 Thessalonians 1:9.

What is the second death? The second death is the ultimate and eternal separation from God. In other words, Jesus is saying to these faithful Christians in Smyrna and to us today that it’s so much better to die the first death in faithfulness to Christ than to die that second death.

Think about it, Jesus says because He is alive after death, so it will be with the Christian, we can escape hell if we remain faithful. Jesus says, I know about all the affiliations and poverty we experience, which are only temporary, He says, nothing will separate us from Him.

In fact, Jesus says the faithful lose nothing but gain everything worth gaining, and that is Jesus Himself, Philippians 1:21.

The Church In Pergamum

“To the angel of the church in Pergamum.” Revelation 2:12

Pergamum was the capital of the Roman Province of Asia, a royal city, the grandest city of its time, it was the cultural city of Asia. When we think of Pergamum we think about the University of Asia Minor, with its huge and famous library.

Its library of over 200,000 parchment rolls was surpassed only by Alexandria and we know that parchment was actually invented here.

They gloried in their knowledge and culture; it was a city of fashion. It was one of the great religious centres in the eastern world, it was the centre of emperor worship.

Being the Roman capital of Asia and centre of emperor worship explains the reason for much of the persecution and death of Christians during it’s time. Because it was located inland and on a rocky hill this prevented it from becoming a commercial centre.

And so there it sat, like a throne, on top of a hill, surveying the valley around it, it was a throne indeed. But who sat on that throne? Well Rome did. Pergamum was the seat of state religion, it was where the original Augustan Temple was built. But who else sat on the throne? Zeus did. One of the most famous altars in the world was there at Pergamum.

Up on a ledge jutting out from the hillside, 800 feet up, sat the huge altar with smoke ascended endlessly from the sacrifices offered there.

Barclay says, ‘No one could fail to see it,’ since ‘it would look like nothing so much as a great seat or throne’.

Who else sat on that throne? Asklepios did. Asclepius, the god of healing, was here. Thousands of sick people from near and far would visit the temple site. ‘Asklepios the Saviour’ was on the tongue of eager worshipers day after day.

Just like the church in Smyrna, we know nothing of its beginning but from Acts 19:10 we can say that it was probably Paul or some of his students who established the church there.

And so just like we did with the church in Smyrna, the lessons we are going to learn are not found in its beginnings but rather in its present state, or condition as we find it written here in Revelation.

“These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.” Revelation 2:12

Notice that Jesus is the One who has the ‘doubled-edged sword.’ It’s not the sword of the Spirit, as we usually understand it to mean, it’s not the word of God like Paul uses it in Ephesians 6:17.

This is the Greek word ‘rhomphaia’ and it means a weapon of war and judgement, and we see it being used in Revelation 19:11-16. It is the sign of authority, and if you possessed this sword that meant you had the right to use it.

The Romans carried a short broad-sword, and it had a distinct curved sabre-type blade. When the Romans were given governing powers, they were given power to inflict capital punishment, this was called ‘the right of the sword.’

But who then had the power of life and death? Asklepios their god of healing? Who was supposed to be able to raise the dead or kill the living? Zeus, the supreme god of the Grecian world? No! Was it the Romans? The Romans, John 19:10-11.

The Roman governors were divided into two classes, those who had the right to the sword and those who did not. In other words, Rome had the power of life over death, others didn’t.

Here Jesus says that He has the right of the sword, He has the power of life and death, and He has the power to judge and the power to carry it out.

Which again reminds us that we should never be afraid of anyone who tries to persecute us for being Christians, but we should always be afraid of the One who made it possible for us to become Christians in the first place, Matthew 10:28.

Jesus knows this church as He does the others, He knows each of us individually and He knows what’s happening in His church. But what does He know about the church in Pergamum?

“I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.” Revelation 2:13

Jesus knows where you and I live, He knows our address’ and postcode, Acts 10:5-6. The Christians at Pergamum had a permanent earthly dwelling, and it should be encouraging for us to know that the Lord knows our address, even to the street.

And although the Christians were very active in Pergamum, Satan was very active too. And if learn anything from this, it’s simply this, it is possible for Christians to be Christians where Satan is strongest.

Jesus knows where everyone lives but He also knows where Satan lives, Pergamum is where Satan’s throne is. In other words, this was a church in difficulty because this is where Satan was politically active.

That word, ‘throne,’ is the Greek word ‘thronos’ which basically means a seat for a royal king who has power. In other words, anyone who sat on the throne holds dominion or exercises authority.

The idea is that this is a city where Satan rules, or the city ruled by Satan, and he is influencing everything within it. We can see that Satan influenced everything because there was pagan worship, the worship of Asclepius, the god of healing and medicine, emperor worship, and the persecution of Christians.

But despite all the persecution and evil which was happening around them they remain true to Jesus. And sometimes that faithfulness to Jesus meant death.

We don’t know anything about this person named Antipas, but we do know that he was faithful even in death. History says nothing about him, but legend says that he was roasted to death, but he was never ashamed to die a Christian.

He witnessed for Christ at Pergamum, and he died for the cause. And won’t it be wonderful when we die that we will have the eternal pleasure of fellowship with this unknown hero.

And so, this church who were caught up in a whole world of different religions, persecuted time and time again held on to their faith, they stayed true to the name of Jesus, Acts 4:12 / Acts 5:41 / Matthew 10:2.

These Christians were like you and I, they were baptised in the Name of Jesus, into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19-20.

In other words, our journey begun in the Name of Jesus, we became Jesus’ possessions and just like these Christians, we too should never give up what belongs to Jesus and that is our souls.

The Christians in Pergamum hung on in there despite the temptations, despite the persecution. And so, after the Lord makes them aware of the things that were right, He then brings to their attention the things that were not right.

“But, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.” Revelation 2:14

One of the saddest words in the English language is the word ‘but’ and we use it all the time, don’t we? I love you ‘but!’ I loved the meal ‘but’! I enjoyed the worship ‘but!’ Jesus says I know where you live and I know the temptations and persecution you are facing and I’m so proud of you for hanging on in there, ‘but!’

Jesus is practicing what He preached, Matthew 18:15, and He is being honest with them, He is being gentle with them, like we should be when someone is involved in something they shouldn’t be.

Jesus says there were some in the church that were trying to teach others to sin. They were encouraging others to eat sacrificed meat and encouraging others to commit fornication.

There were some that held the teaching of Balaam but let me ask you, why should Jesus reprimand the church because ‘some’ hold this teaching? Well simply because there must have been some kind of unlawful silence by the church in regard to the matter, there must have been a lack of discipline.

Paul rebukes the Corinthians for not disciplining the ungodly man in their congregation, 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, but this congregation weren’t obviously rebuking anyone for holding on to this teaching.

But what is the teaching of Balaam? Remember Balaam wasn’t wrong in everything, he wanted to die the death of the righteous. He knew, by the word of God, what Israel would do to Moab and the rest. But he also loved gain and he urged on idolatry mingled with fornication.

You see Balaamism was a compromise of morals and for people in this city to eat things sacrificed to idols meant to engage in the feasting and various other wicked things of the wicked idolatrous temples, including fornication.

In other words, the teaching or the doctrine of Balaam was a perversion of the Christian doctrine of liberty, Galatians 5:13. Peter talks about the way of Balaam in 2 Peter 2:10-15.

He says the way of Balaam is really the way of covetousness and refers to anyone who hires themselves out to do religious work merely for personal gain. It’s the selling of our spiritual gifts for personal gain out of covetousness.

Jude tells us the error of Balaam in Jude 11. Balaam thought that he could get God to curse His people and bypass His covenant promises because of their evil.

Seeing their evil, Balaam supposed that a righteous God must curse Israel, but he was blind to God’s faithfulness to His promises. And so, since Balaam found out he could not curse Israel, he realized he could cause them to corrupt themselves by getting them to marry the beautiful women of Moab, Numbers 25:1-3.

Picture the scene, these women came into the camp of Israel and catch the eyes of the men of Israel. They invited them to their sacrifices full of immorality and idolatry and before you know it, the men are eating at the tables of false gods, sleeping in the beds of pagan women, and bowing themselves down to worthless idols.

But how did this happen? Yes, it did, Numbers 31:13-16. In other words, Balaam was first person to introduce the doctrine of ‘once saved always saved’.

Jesus says the church in Pergamum were tolerant of compromise and they had become compromisers. Balaam taught to go out among those who practice idolatry and get along, in other words, he wanted God’s people to compromise for practical reasons.

We need to understand that coming out of idolatry often causes problems. A great part of social life was the idol feasts, and so because of this many Christians often lost their jobs, trade, friends, and family. And so, to a degree we can see why they may want to compromise.

You can imagine that these teachers were encouraging some Christians to attend some feasts, just eat a little meat, and just burn a little incense. Trying to convince others that owning an idol is nothing, after all a man must live and feed his family.

You can imagine them, asking vulnerable Christians, how can we defeat Satan unless we know what Satan is doing? And before you know what’s happening, they became tolerant of evil, idols and fornication.

The teaching of Balaam wasn’t the only false teaching, which was happening in Pergamum, they also had the problem as the church in Ephesus had with ‘some that hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.’

“Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans”. Revelation 2:15

Remember what Revelation 2:6 says, “You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”  Do you see the difference? What had only been the practices in the church at Ephesus has now become doctrine in the church in Pergamum.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly a tradition or a practice becomes doctrine. We don’t know what the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was, so we must take into consideration the background context.

In the context of Revelation 2:6, we see in Ephesus, that they came from within the church, they were bad people who were trying to improve and modernise Christians.

In the context of Revelation 2:15, we see in Pergamum, we can see that they were proud, and they were trying to get Christians to conform to worldly standards, adjusting their Christianity to the world, advocating loose living.

In the context of Thyatira in Revelation 2:20, we see similar teaching, where they say evil is good and Christians need to know the deep things of Satan.

Do you see the real problem Jesus has with this doctrine? He says, there are more serious problems that He sees, through the Nicolaitans, the world was changing the church, instead of the church changing the world.

The church was not aware of the dangers and the results of their actions and compromising attitude. And so, Jesus says to them, you are tolerant in three areas.

1. They are tolerant of the teachings of Balaam, in other words they were practicing compromise, they were practicing ‘once saved always saved’.

2. He tells them they are tolerant of the teaching of the Nicolaitans, in other words they were the compromising in the practice of evil itself.

3. And finally they were tolerant of a lack of disciplinary action, they should have dealt with the false teaching quickly and properly.

“Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” Revelation 2:16

The call to repentance did not come to the false teachers but to the church and Jesus tells this church to repent of its worldly ways. In other words, there were some changes which had to be made, they had to change their attitude and become intolerant of compromise. They had to change their conduct because of their acceptance of their wrong way of life.

And please don’t tell me that Jesus never gets mad, because He does. He’s not talking about the final coming of Christ, He’s talking about coming in judgment against these ungodly sects.

Remember that Jesus says that He has ‘the right to the sword,’ He has the power and authority to exercise judgement. And so, what He is saying is, that the church needs to make some changes too or else they too will suffer in that coming.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it”. Revelation 2:17

Jesus says, are you listening? Do you hear and understand what’s He’s saying? He’s said, repent, listen carefully, remain faithful and die faithfully, and he says if you do these things, you will be victorious and you will be given some of the hidden manna.

Now what is this hidden manna? Well, the first mention of manna is found in Exodus 16:4 where we find manna was the food God provided to the Israelites when they wandered for forty years in the desert.

What else do we know about it? According to Exodus 16:31 we know “It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.”

And if you remember according to Exodus 16:31-32 God wanted some manna saved and preserved for future generations to remind them of the Lord’s covenant of faithfulness and so Moses placed a portion of manna in the Ark of the Covenant.

Somewhere between the time Moses first placed it in the Ark and the dedication of the Solomon’s Temple, the manna disappeared along with Aaron’s rod, 1 Kings 8:9.

So where did the manna go? Did God or an angel remove it and take it back to heaven? We simply don’t know; however, some Jewish legends claim that Jeremiah hid it before the Babylonian captivity and that it would remain there until the Messiah showed up.

But that’s one question we don’t have the answer to, but we do have the answer to this question. Who is this manna? The manna is Jesus Himself who claimed to be the true manna, the real manna which came out of heaven. John 6:31-65.

Paul says that Christians were sustained by an invisible source, hidden manna, Colossians 3:1-4. What manna was to the Israelites, Jesus was to the Christians and much more.

The saints were already feeding on that hidden manna of course, but the promise assures them of continued sustenance from Jesus, whatever the course of events.

Jesus says that these Christians couldn’t partake of the heathen feasts, but they could feed on something better. In other words, if you have to give up earthly pleasures, heavenly joys will be yours.

What else were the Christians in Pergamum promised if they repent, listen carefully, remain faithful and die faithfully? Jesus says they will be given a ‘white stone with a new name written on it.’

The colour white symbolises innocence, and so Jesus recognises their innocence, it stands for purity, justice, nobility, victory, and joy. In Biblical times white stones were given to people who were tried and acquitted. They were given to a slave freed with citizenship.

They were given to an athlete overcoming opposition. They were given to warriors coming back victorious. They were given to clients as being worthy of the privilege of sharing freely in their masters abundance.

All these declare what Christians have and what they will receive if we remain faithful. Then there was the white stone that friends shared with each other which guaranteed a warm reception anytime and anyplace they met.

Jesus says it will have a “new name written on it and known only to the one who receives it”. The idea behind a new name indicates a new relation, new hopes, and triumphs and only the owner of the stone would know the name written on the stone.

In the Bible a name was very important, you can see this in the many places where the name spoke of the events surrounding the birth of a child.

You can see it in the many cases where names were changed to indicate a change in circumstances of status of the one re-named. For example, Abram becomes Abraham, Jacob becomes Israel. Simon becomes Peter etc.

A ‘new name’ means a new relationship or status into which the child of God entered by virtue of some new experience with his Master. But it was ‘his’ name and nobody else would know it. It was his trial, and it was his experience with God, it was his victory.

In other words, it’s personal to the individual Christian.

The Lord knows where we are and what we are doing. Antipas was the example for the Christians in Pergamum, and he is still our example today, and he certainly thought it was all worth it.

Jesus says He wants faithfulness from every Christian and that’s because it will only be the faithful who will be rewarded, Matthew 25:23.

The Church In Thyatira

“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:” Revelation 2:18

Jesus writes to the church in Thyatira.

Thyatira was a town long recognized as a garrison town and it was the gateway to the important areas of Asia Minor. It had no real religious significance, but it was a town of trade unions of every kind, and we know that Acts 16:14 tells us that Lydia, the seller of purple garments lived there.

Metal work flourished there, especially working with bronze. We know nothing about how church was established but it is possible like some of the other churches, that Paul or some of his students according to Acts 19:10 may have established the church there. It may also be possible that Lydia went back home to establish the church.

The town of Thyatira lay in the mouth of a long valley, which connected the valleys of Hermus and the Cuicua River. Today there is still a railway that runs down the valley. And because of the great roads of the trade routes from Syria to Pergamum, it would have had some sort of strategic importance.

There must have been some sort of settlement there because in 290 BC its name emerged in history, and it was discovered as a military centre.

If Thyatira fell, Pergamum lay open to attack. There was no hill to erect a lookout point, and this resulted in a town being fated to fight, be knocked down and built up again.

It was a great commercial centre because of its road and the valley brought trade from all over the world, and it was most famous for its wool trade, and the dyeing industry.

Purple dye was very expensive, and it came from a little shellfish called a Murex. The dye was extracted from the throat. The Roman writer Pliny said that 1lb of purple dye cost around £100 and so Lydia must have been a wealthy woman, dealing in one of the costliest substances of the ancient world.

Thyatira was the centre for temples of Artemis and Appollo, but they were not especially famous. It’s interesting that though this was the smallest of the churches addressed in the book of Revelation, it’s the longest letter written.

“These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.” Revelation 2:18

Straight away Jesus introduces Himself as the Son of God which means that He is the Saving One. He describes Himself as One who has eyes like blazing fire which means that He is the searching One. He says He has feet like burnished bronze which is symbolic of judgment.

“I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.” Revelation 2:19

Like we have seen in all the letters we’ve looked at so far and like we will see in the letters to come, He knows what’s going on in each church.

Here is a congregation who were very active in doing good. Here is a congregation that are very loving in seeking one another’s highest good.

Here is a congregation who had confidence in their faith and were motivated by their faith. Here is a congregation who are very active in their service for the Lord and each other.

They were very good in areas of benevolence; they took care of the poor and needy among themselves and around them. They were a very patient church, even in the midst of trails and sufferings. And they were a church which were doing more now than they ever have.

They were making progress as a church, individually they were growing in Christ and non-Christians would certainly know they were Christians.

Jesus acknowledges that says, there’s a problem, ‘you’re too patient, and you’re too gently in love with certain people.’

“Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.” Revelation 2:20

Jesus says your patience and love have led you to become tolerant of this woman called Jezebel. Jezebel followed a similar line to that of the Nicolaitans and the Balaamites like we saw in the earlier letters.

And we can imagine some Christians saying, ‘what’s wrong with being a part of a trade union and attending the feasts which offered sacrifices unto the gods?’ It’s harmless they would declare, especially as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10, when you know that an idol is nothing.

 So, who is this, Jezebel? Well, there are three possibilities.

1. She is called that woman Jezebel and in Greek her name means wife although we can’t be sure.

Some people believe that she was the wife of one of the elders, and that she was a productive source of trouble, undoing all the work her husband did.

2. It has also been suggested that she is to be identified with the famous Oracle called the Sambathe. It is possible that Sambathe may have been a Jewess.

It was said that she was a Jewess that tried to destroy the Christians.

3. Some believe it was Lydia, who found Christianity clashing with her business.

She wanted the church to compromise and attend some heathen festivals.

The original Jezebel was the daughter of the King of Sidon and Ahab, the king of Israel, had taken her for his wife, 1 Kings 16:3. Her sin was that she brought her own gods to Israel, namely Baal and Astarte.

The problem here was that Jezebel was seducing the Christians from the worship of the true God, and taught them to eat things offered to idols and commit fornication just as her predecessor had corrupted Israel.

In other words, whoever this lying woman was, she is making the church suffer. Jesus is telling us if we are too patient with people and too loving of people because we don’t want to upset them, then a congregation can die of compromises.

Now is it possible to be too patient with someone? Is it possible to be too loving to someone? If you take a moment to read 2 John, and if you read between the lines, especially 2 John 10-11, you will read about an elect lady who was so kind and so gentle and so loving that she had to be warned against welcoming false teachers into her home.

And so it is possible to be to patient and too loving. And concerning Jezebel, Jesus’ patience, and love for her is running out.

“I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling”. Revelation 2:21

Jesus says He has given Jezebel time to repent but she isn’t willing too. She obviously claimed to be one of God’s people, after all she calls herself a prophet. But she is actively involved in sexual immorality and won’t repent, 2 Corinthians 7:10.

Jezebel refuses to repent and because of her unwillingness to do so, Jesus goes on to declare her sentence.

“So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead.” Revelation 2:22

Jesus says I will cast Jezebel ‘on a bed of suffering’ which figuratively speaking means she will be inflicted with disease. Remembering that she is practicing sexual immorality, the chances are this might be some kind of sexually transmitted disease, but again we don’t know for sure.

Jesus also says that he ‘will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely’. In other words anyone who is participating with Jezebel in her sexual immoral living will also suffer the consequences with her.

And if they don’t stop participating in Jezebel’s ways, they will die spiritually for eternity. But why? Why did Jesus want to discipline them? Well, to put it simply, the Lord was going to make an example of them to teach others what happens when truth is compromised and sin is tolerated.

“Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds”. Revelation 2:23

 Notice what Jesus says here, he’s not disciplining them just for the church in Thyatira’s benefit but for all the churches benefits. The One with the eyes like fire, fire like a fur­nace, fire like in the forge used by the metal workers of Thyatira.

Jesus with such eyes sees all. The searing look burns its way through all the appearance. It lights up the dark places and it sees down into the very heart.

We can deceive many people and even ourselves at times, but we cannot fool or deceive God, Galatians 6:8-9. God knows our mind’s innermost thoughts and feelings and He knows our heart’s desires.

The Lord who knows all things, was going to make an example of those who are participating with Jezebel’s sexual immorality, to teach other churches what happens when truth is compromised and sin is tolerated.

The church in Thyatira were tolerating this false prophet called Jezebel. She was a false teacher who was encouraging the members of this church to commit fortification which would ultimately lead them away from Christ.

Whoever she was, she was working from within the church. She was teaching immorality as a practice of Christianity, teaching it was okay to eat meat offered to idols.

Remember that for many people being a Christian involved the exclusion from many social activities, economic opportunities, possibly even buying meats, and family ties.

She was likely teaching that when you become a Christian you don’t need to give up all these things because God would not expect you too.

She would teach that fornication was okay because it was practiced in idolatrous worship. And so by her attitude and life she was teaching rebellion against God’s will, by her active campaign to convert others to her will.

False teachers don’t come in with a sign on their heads, saying, ‘I’m a false teacher!’ They take their time, they make close friendships within a congregation and slowly but surely begin to preach and teach their own ideologies, 2 Peter 2:1-2.

Jesus has dealt with Jezebel and dealt with those who are involved in her practises, but what about those who aren’t involved and remain true to Jesus?

“Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’” Revelation 2:24-25

To the faithful saints in Thyatira, the faithful saints who don’t learn or even listen to her teaching. To the faithful who don’t learn or listen to her teaching on Satan’s so called deep secrets. To the saints who had not delved into her wickedness, Jesus says, ‘Hold on until I come.’

To you and me those words may not mean much, but to the citizens of Thyatira they carried some weight. When this city was being threatened from an attack, they would have to try and hold-off the enemy until the city of Pergamum was ready.

Thyatira was a weak city but it had to make the best of it. And so Jesus says to these weak saints, try and live courageously until He comes.

Our God knows all things and He sees all things, 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, and when Jesus writes to the church in Thyatira, He sees His followers and understands what’s happening within that church.

And so because He sees and knows each of them individually, He knows that the faithful need some sort of reassurance concerning their destiny.

“To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— that one ‘will rule them with an iron sceptre and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father.” Revelation 2:26-27

To those who are victories and continues to do His will until death, he will give authority over the nations. The authority Jesus offers the overcomer is the authority that He had already received of His Father.

But what kind of authority is this? When is this kind of authority going to be given? We are already enjoying this authority. As Christians we are fellow heirs with Christ right now, Romans 8:17.

Paul says the world and all things are already belong to the Christian right now, 1 Corinthians 3:21-23. John says that the prayers of the saints affect the world and cause God to send judgments on it, Revelation 8:3-5.

The very fact that Paul and Peter urge us to pray for kings and all that are in authority proves the prayers of the saints affect world leaders.

We have already received that authority because we are at present reigning with Christ and we use it all the time in our prayers to God, Romans 5:17. In other words we not only share in Christ’ sufferings but we also share in Christ’s judgment.

When Jesus is talking about ruling them with an iron sceptre, we need to understand that every time the words rule with an iron sceptre are mentioned they always mean shepherd. The rod of iron is said by some to be a staff with an iron top since this was often the weapon of a shepherd.

Notice that the weapon is not a sword, that’s because the metal workers in Thyatira would quickly grasp the meaning of the word iron. And the potters would quickly grasp the meaning of the broken pieces of pottery.

But Jesus is not through comforting the faithful.

“I will also give that one the morning star”. Revelation 2:28

What comes to you mind when you think of the morning star? You may be forgiven for thinking that the morning star is the guarantee that the night will end. If I were to say to you all, I pray we all receive the morning star, what would you think?

You may think this is a little strange but actually it isn’t as strange as you think. Jesus is the morning star, that’s what He calls Himself, Revelation 22:16.

Peter says the day star arises in our hearts, and so floods us with light, 2 Peter 1:19. Don’t misunderstand me here, this promise doesn’t mean we don’t already have Jesus because we do.

John is speaking in terms of having a new appreciation of Jesus. Paul speaks of the Galatians needing Christ to be formed in them again, Galatians 4:19. Some of the Galatians had gone from Christ but many had not. It was as if they had to come to know Jesus all over again.

The faithful Christians in Thyatira had the morning star and faithfulness unto victory would see them gaining a deeper and more intimate relationship with their Saviour.

This would be true if they were faithful until they saw the upcoming threat pass and it would also be true if they died in their faithfulness.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches”. Revelation 2:29

We have to listen carefully to everything which is being taught in our assemblies. Yes, we may be a living, loving, steadfast, working church, but we need to be careful that, that isn’t only on the surface.

The Lord is concerned with the heart, and He tells us, if we are faithful, and do what we need to do and hold fast, then because of our faithfulness, victory will be ours.

If we continue to make Christ our own, He will help us fall in love with Him all over again. If we continue to follow His way and do what He says, we will enjoy eternal life with Him. The only burden Jesus puts on us, is to be faithful which is no real burden at all.

The Church In Sardis

“To the angel of the church in Sardis write.” Revelation 3:1

Sardis was the capital city of Lydia, and it was founded about 1200 BC. The city itself was located fifteen hundred feet up in the air on a ledge of rock jutting out of the side of a mountain.

There was one narrow road leading into the city, the other sides of the plateau were just steep cliffs which made the city very safe and nearly impenetrable by invading armies.

Gold and silver coins were first minted there, and it was famous for the industries that operated there. Carpet, wool, and dyed cloth were their primary products, and it is said that the art of dyeing material was invented at Sardis.

The fall of Sardis began when the people of the city became complacent in their wealth, their power and their city’s apparent invincibility.

The city was proud of its past and it was proud of its reputation, but its reputation was all it had left. For all intents and purposes, the city of Sardis was dead, even while it lived.

Sardis today is a wilderness of ruins and thorns, where the only habitations are a few huts of the Yurok nomads.

We know nothing at all about how the church in Sardis started, and as we go through Jesus’ letter to the church in Sardis you will find He has no words of commendation for them, but He does have some words of condemnation and counsel.

“These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” Revelation 3:1

John begins by reminding us that Jesus is the One ‘who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars’. What does that mean? Well, the good news is we don’t need to speculate because the best interpretation of the Bible is the Bible itself.

John tells us that ‘seven spirits’ are equated with ‘seven eyes,’ Revelation 2:20 / Revelation 5:6. This clearly means that Jesus has all-seeing power and also implies He has all-wisdom.

The number ‘seven’ would of course indicate ‘fullness’ or ‘completeness’ but it may also be used to speak of the total knowledge concerning the ‘seven’ churches. In other words, as we have seen in all the other letters, Jesus sees all and understands everything.

And this isn’t anything new, a way back in the days of Zechariah we find the same idea, Zechariah 3:9 / Zechariah 4:10. It looked to some as though the temple which had begun its building work about 16 years previously would never be completed.

And so, God assembles the people and has a top stone set before Zerubbabel according to Zechariah 4:7 and He then swears that Zerubbabel, who started it, would finish it.

Engraved on the stone are seven eyes. But whose eyes are they? God’s eyes. God is challenging the people to look at this top stone, they couldn’t see the completion of the temple, but God’s eyes could see the completion, because He was greater in knowledge and wisdom.

His eyes could see all the obstacles which needed to be removed, the things which must be taken care of, for the job to be finished, 2 Chronicles 16:9.

The ‘seven spirits’ which are equivalent to the ‘seven eyes’ speak of the total wisdom and insight which comes from the Spirit. Remember that each letter ends with the words, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

In other words, no matter what appearances might say, Jesus knows and sees the reality.

Jesus says, He knows every individual and every congregation as they really were. In fact, Jesus tells the church in Sardis that, “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

This was a church which worked and much like we do today, they probably broke bread every first day of the week and contributed of their means. Jesus says to the church in Sardis, you have the reputation of being alive, but the fact is you are actually dead. The church in Sardis outwardly looked great but inwardly they were rotting away.

We know that the city of Sardis was ‘alive’ during times of strife and war, but it couldn’t live with peace. The church in Sardis had not been at war with Rome, it wasn’t having any trouble with the prominent group of Cybellian wor­shipers which lived there.

There are no records of slanderous Jews attacking the church. In her peace she seems to have drifted into a coma and then on into death.

This congregation was living on its past reputation without any present achievements. They used to be heavily involved in mission work, but they are doing nothing, except glorying in the past.

Jesus isn’t so concerned about the things they used to do as a church, but He is very concerned about the things they are doing or not doing today as a church. We can’t live on the past and the church can’t live on her past reputation.

 “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.” Revelation 3:2-3

Here is a church that started lots of things but finished none, here is a church that promises so much, but delivers so little. In other words, they were great starters but terrible finishers.

The church in Sardis had no excuse for not completing what they started out to do. They weren’t under attack from within or from outside of the church. There’s no indication that there were people arguing over the Deity of Jesus, there’s no indication of legalism.

In other words, they were just lazy, and they were content with a second-hand faith, 2 Timothy 3:5. Jesus says the church in Sardis stood for nothing and had fallen from everything.

They were not dying but they were dead as a church, some individuals were still alive but, on their way, to dying as we will see in a moment.

Being ungrateful, was somewhat characteristic of a Sardian and the citizens of that city had changed the church into having the same character.

Some of the Christians were in the world but sadly of the world. They had developed an attitude of laziness and just didn’t care anymore for themselves or those around them.

They simply didn’t care for their own Christian life, Romans 13:11. They simply didn’t stand firm in the faith, 1 Corinthians 16:13. They simply didn’t resist the devil and flee from him, 1 Peter 5:8. They simply didn’t watch and wait, 1 Thessalonians 5:6.

They were barely alive and ready to die but they were spiritually dead. And so, each member had to repent in their hearts and show that repentance in their attitude by actually finishing the things they had started.

Because if they don’t wake up and repent then there would be consequences, He would come like a thief in the night. We all know that most thieves work at night and they never come at a time when we expect them too.

As Christians we should be familiar with the words of Jesus here as this illustration of ‘a thief in the night’ is used a lot throughout the New Testament, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4.

There were some Christians in the Sardis church who were faithful and that’s who Jesus going to address next.

“Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels”. Revelation 3:4-5

Notice that Jesus makes the distinction between the individual Christian and the congregation. They had become an ungrateful church and they had forgotten all that God had done for them, Hebrews 2:1.

The church did start to drift away because they didn’t pay attention to what they had heard but there were a few Christians who remained firm and they were the ones, who didn’t soil their clothes. In other words, they didn’t allow no-one or nothing to kill the strength and blessings of being a Christian.

It is possible for a Christian to live among sinners and not be affected by their evil. Jesus says that the faithful in Sardis ‘will walk with Him’, this is an allusion to Enoch, Genesis 5:22-24.

In other words, Enoch lived during that time of evil before the flood where no one listened to or trusted God, but he did. He was surrounded by evil, but he continued to stay close to God.

Jesus says to the faithful in Sardis, despite all the evil influences around them, despite all the un-Christ-like behaviour among some of their own members.

The faithful few in Sardis will walk faithfully with God and they have remained true to their faith which was reflected not only in their talk but also their walk. And they are so worthy, not because they earned that worthiness but because their conduct reflected their Christian faith.

Notice also they are dressed in white, the colour white in this text represents purity and victory in the presence of God, Revelation 7:9. This text is symbolic of the Feast of Tabernacles which was the most joyful of all Jewish feasts.

It followed the harvest of the crops and the ingathering of the grapes, and it followed the great Day of Atonement when the sins of the nation were removed. And at that one moment, they were pure and victorious in God’s eyes, being right with God again, what a wonderful day that must have been.

Look how personal this is? Jesus knows each of them intimately, even to the point of knowing their names. In this world we’re nothing more than a national insurance number or a reference number.

But Jesus, He knows my name and He knows your name and He says, He would be proud to name His faithful ones, as His own before the Father and His angels.

People can wear and use the Name of Jesus for all sorts of reasons, but they still might not be known to Jesus. The ones who are known to Jesus, are the ones who do the will of the Father, Matthew 7:21-23.

Jesus didn’t ask the faithful in Sardis to get up and move, He encouraged them to stay. Paul says, the stronger brethren are supposed to bear the burdens of the weaker brethren, not move away, Romans 14:1.

Even if the congregation is being exposed to false teaching, what are the faithful supposed to do? Get up and leave? Paul says it is the evil leaven which is to be removed, not the leavening influence of the faithful few which is to be removed, 1 Corinthians 5:6-7.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:6

Are we listening? Are we awake and walking with Jesus victoriously in all purity? Jesus knows our ways and thoughts. Jesus is very much alive and if any church claims to belong to Him, then they too need to ensure that they stay alive.

The Church In Philadelphia

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write.” Revelation 3:7

As we go through this letter written by Jesus to the church in Philadelphia, we will see that the church is praised by Jesus, not for its numerical strength, but for its faithfulness even though it’s weak.

The word, ‘Philadelphia’ is the Greek word for ‘one who loves his brother’. The city was named for Attalus II, whose love for his brother Eumenes earned him the name Philadelphos. The city itself was situated at the border of Misia, Lydia and Phrygia but not a garrison city.

It was located on the Cogamus River about 105 miles from Smyrna and it was founded with the deliberate intention of being a missionary city of Greek culture and language to Lydia and Phrygia and had a successful missionary spirit.

Its rich and fertile volcanic soil made it a grape growing and wine making centre and it was subject to frequent earthquakes and daily tremors.

It was a city with many names for gratitude, for example, ‘New Caesarea’ which means ‘city of Caesar’. They named it ‘New Caesarea’ out of gratitude for Tiberius who restored the city after the earthquake of 17 AD.

And another example is ‘Vespasian Philadelphia’, or ‘Flavia Philadelphia’. The people understood what it meant to receive a new name, as it was in relation to the emperor who was reigning at the time.

Philadelphia became and remained a wealthy city and an important trade centre as the coastal cities declined. And it grew in a spirit of persistence against overwhelming odds, and it had many magnificent temples and other public buildings.

Like we’ve seen with most of these letters, we have no record of how the church was established or by whom. Of the seven letters to the seven churches found here in Revelation only two didn’t receive any sort of correction or rebuke.

One was the church in Smyrna, and the other is this church, the church in Philadelphia. While the letter to the church in Smyrna is a challenge for them to remain faithful unto death, this letter is filled with compliments and praise.

The other five letters all contained words of complaint and correction, but this church receives nothing but praise from the Lord.

And as we go through this letter, we become quickly aware that this is a church that the Lord is using for His glory.

“These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.” Revelation 3:7

There is no doubt that Jesus has His Jewish enemies on His mind when He writes this letter as He says, ‘He is holy, and He is true’. The Jews claimed themselves to be a holy nation, they were set apart for holy service to God.

But as we know from reading through the Bible, we can clearly see that the claim had only an appearance but no substance. But Jesus was the sanctified One and His claim had substance, Hebrews 4:15.

The word ‘true’ means, ‘genuine, the sub­stantial reality.’ Sometimes the Bible uses the illustration of a shadow, and it is always associated with the Jewish religion, Colossians 2:16-17. Jesus truly is the Holy One in every sense of the word, and He is also the real deal.

Notice what Jesus is holding, He is ‘holding the key of David.’ And what are keys used for? Opening and closing things. That’s why He says, “what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.”

To most people, this is no big deal but to the Jew, this was a rebuke. Because this is about holding the key of power and authority and Jesus says, ‘He has this power and authority’.

But what authority is He talking about? Some people like to believe He’s referring to the authority over the treasury, which I will explain in a moment. But the authority here under consideration is a whole lot more than a city treasurer.

In Isaiah 22:15-25 we read in verse 15 that Shebna was treasurer and governor. And when we read on, we saw that his authority was to be taken from him and given to someone else, Isaiah 22:20-22.

Is there any doubt in your mind that Revelation 3:7 alludes to Isaiah 22:22? Eliakim was to be put over the ‘house of David,’ Isaiah 9:6-7. And in Isaiah 36:3 we read of the removed Shebna as being a scribe and Eliakim as being ‘over the household.’ He basically represented the city against the invader.

The key was the symbol of power and authority and not only does Jesus have the key, but He also has the power of using the key, Matthew 28:18-19. In other words, Jesus holds the key to life and death, Revelation 1:18, and some Jews couldn’t or wouldn’t accept that.

Or to put the point across more simply, Jesus in claiming to be the promised Messiah also claims the right of in­clusion and exclusion. He had let the Philadelphians in, He had opened the door and not all the Jews under heaven could close it.

No matter how hard they tried, all their slandering or mockery made no difference. The open door is the door to blessing but notice that Jesus is also a shutter of doors. To enter the presence of God meant going through Jesus and there is no other way, John 14:6.

There can be no entrance into the presence and blessing of God except through Jesus. And so, despite all their slandering, the door to blessing was closed against the Jews.

Despite all their cries of, ‘we’re decedents of Abraham’! Despite all their ritual keeping, despite all their claims to history, their law and their prophets, the door was firmly shut, Luke 11:52.

The door of blessings was shut by the One who has the key of the house of David.

“I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” Revelation 3:8

Time and time again we have seen that Jesus knows everything, Proverbs 15:3. And Jesus sees and knows everything which is happening in this world. The open door here is a door of service and notice that they haven’t provided it, but God has.

The idea is that of access or ability to enter the kingdom of God eternal or to take advantage of opportunities. The opportunity is provided by the Lord but we as Christians must take advantage of it, Colossians 4:2-3.

An open door could be a large opportunity to share the Gospel with hundreds of people or even a nation. But an open door can also come in the form of a simple chat with a workmate or a friend. Or by chatting with someone on the bus or in a queue in a shop.

God can open a door by helping others out in times in trouble, or by providing food for those who really need it. Because according to our text, when God opens a door no one can shut it.

This means that no external power, no resources, and no excessive wealth, no military forces, or even heavenly bodies can shut what Jesus opens.

Jesus has the power and authority, and He says to the church in Philadelphia, “I know that you have little strength.” In other words, they were weak in influence and had no political sway.

Many scholars believe that this was speaking about the size of this church, a small church with limited resources and few workers. But what they probably saw as weakness, the Lord saw as strength, Romans 8:31-32.

The Lord saw their little strength but said, I am going to bless you with open doors because “you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”

Remember this part of the country was prone to earthquakes and so they are going to have opportunities to do mission work not only in their own area but to the regions beyond because of their faithfulness.

And so, this church is going to be greatly blessed but there are others who won’t be blessed.

“I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.” Revelation 3:9

Even today that there are many Jews who need to know about their spiritual state. They are lost, undone, Christ-less and therefore priest-less and so in effect they are hopeless, because apart from Jesus there is no hope.

The real Jew is a physical descendant of Abraham through Jacob who has given his life to Christ. If he hasn’t done that, he is no Jew, and that’s not me saying that it’s the apostle Paul, Romans 2:28-29 / Romans 9:6-7. They can claim to be Jews all they want but if they haven’t given their lives to Jesus, they are not real Jews.

And it’s to these Jews that Jesus says, “I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.” We don’t know of what kind of people the Philadelphian church was made up of.

If they were Gentiles then the ‘insult’ here is of the plainest kind which must have made the Jews howl when they heard it, Isaiah 60:14.

Jesus in this same letter says he will write on them ‘the name of the city of my God.’ His favoured ones will be ‘called’ the ‘city of God.’ The Philadelphians will know the joy of having the Isaiah passage fulfilled in them and they will be called the city of God.

The ‘Holy One’ who is also the ‘True One,’ will cause these lying arrogant haters of the Gentiles to bow down before them. And then these Jewish Gentiles haters will know that God loved the church there.

In other words, there was in store for the Philadelphians a day of justification. A day when the Jews would be humiliated. And this was going to be the church’s assurance that in the coming hour of trial that they would be kept.

“Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.” Revelation 3:10-11

To understand what Jesus means here we need to go back in time to a time when the emperor Domitian was ruling. Because when Domitian came on the scene, persecution began and so anyone who re­fused to worship the emperor became enemies of the state.

Christians came under the terrible pressure of Rome for about two and a half cen­turies until the Edict of Toleration under Galerius. The Jews too had their troubles with Rome, for it was Hadrian who urged the termination of circumcision and aimed at building a shrine to Jupiter on the site of Jerusalem.

This rebellion of the Jews in 132 A.D. under Bar Kosheba was per­haps the bloodiest of the Jewish battles with Rome. The historian Dio Cassius reports that over 580,000 of the Jews died, in the war. In the early stages prior to the revolt, the Christians were suf­fering greatly at the hands of the Romans.

But just how was Jesus going to keep them from the hour of trial? Does this mean that the church was not going to suffer?

Not at all, that’s why He tells them to, “Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.” In Ezekiel 9:1-8 we are told the righteous would be kept from the hand of the destroyer but the ‘keeping’ didn’t mean they would be saved from physical suffering or death. In Ezekiel 21:3-4 we read of the same judgment as taking away the righteous as well as the wicked.

The point is they were preserved all the way through it and so they came ‘out of’ it. In other words, Jesus keeping them from the hour, is keeping them from what the hour could produce.

So, what could that hour of trial produce? Apostasy, falling away. In other words, Jesus would safely see them through their time of trouble, but the Jews had no such promise.

“The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.” Revelation 3:12

Philadel­phia was known as ‘Little Athens’ for it was full of idols and idol temples. It would not have been the first time that the worshipers of the idols had felt the ground shake and the pillars crack and tum­ble, due to the earthquakes. At such a time there would be only one thing to do and that is run.

But God’s temple cannot crumble whatever happens in the physical realm. The pillars in that temple are mature Christians, solid, stable, and immovable, Galatians 2:9. Christians like James, Peter and John, Christians who stand firm are the overcomers. When Jesus says, “Never again will they leave it,” he’s saying that the saints would never have occasion to run out for fear.

We don’t know whether the church in Philadelphia was made up of Jewish Christians or Gentile Christians or both but there is a lot of Jewish symbolism in these last few verses. In Isaiah 56:3-8 we find an amazing piece is Scripture.

If the church is Gen­tile we have Isaiah speaking of the foreigners who have said, in Isaiah 56:3 “The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.”

Also in Isaiah 56:3 there is a reference to the eunuchs who were a despised group, and they have the same reservations believing they will not be acceptable to God.

But in Isaiah 56:5 we are told the foreigners and eunuchs are not to worry for, “to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.”

In Isaiah 56:7 Isaiah says, “These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”.

In other words, if the congregation is Gentile or predominately so, we have the Scriptural assurance for them. If the congregation is Jewish or predominately so, we have comfort for them. So, whoever they are, the scorned, the weak, they all have the son of David behind them.

This is an open door for both Jew and Gentile. The door is open for both the Jews and Gentiles to receive the eternal blessings and promises from God, John 10:16.

And it’s to the Christian who doesn’t fall away when persecution comes that Jesus says, “I will also write the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem.”

 

Remember the Jeru­salem of Judea had long since ceased to be the ‘city of God.’ And it was there where they plainly examined and cruelly rejected their God.

But there’s another Zion and this Zion had as its foundation, and His name is Jesus the Christ, Isaiah 28:16.

This was the ‘new’ Jerusalem, the ‘stones’ of which were members of the ‘new’ covenant. Notice where this new Jerusalem comes from, it comes ‘down out of heaven’ and that’s very significant. This tells us of its divine origin, this is a city, made without hands, whose builder and maker is God.

While the beast-like kingdoms of Daniel 7 rise out of the water or the earth, the Messianic kingdom is set forth in the Son of Man who rides in the heavens. What a wonderful picture that is, isn’t it?

But Jesus isn’t finished yet, the ‘new’ name of Jesus would be written on them. Remember this is referring to endorsement, being identified with, Matthew 10:32. In other words Jesus would own the overcomer as His own.

But what is this new name? It is ‘Lord.’ Paul says this will have to be confessed, one way or another, Philippians 2:9-11. And the day is coming when everyone born or dead, every demon in hell is going have to confess that Jesus is Lord.

And so, Jesus says to all Christians, whether your alive or dying, whether you’re in peace or at war, whether you are rich or in poverty. If you remain faithful to Him, you will be unashamedly owned by Jesus.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:13

Are we listening? May we always listen and pay close attention to what the Spirit is teaching us today. May we always keep our eyes open for those precious doors which God opens for us to share the Gospel with others.

May we never give up or think about falling away when hard times come. May we never forget the place and authority of Jesus. And may we never give God the opportunity to disown us because we have disowned Him.

Remember, when He finishes with those same words to all the seven churches, He is actually teaching the same lesson to all the churches so that they too will pay close attention to what He says.

The Church In Laodicea

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write.” Revelation 3:14

Out of all the churches written to in Revelation 2-3, I think it’s sad that the church in Laodicea has been the most studied and preached.

The church that made famous the shocking saying of Jesus, ‘I will spew you out of my mouth!’ The town itself lay around 43 miles southeast of Philadelphia and the Laodiceans were a rich community.

They were famous for glossy black woollen garments and for their famous eye-­powder. This powder was exported all over the world in tablet form. It was then ground into powder and used to relieve eye com­plaints. Phrygia was one of the areas in Asia Minor where eye diseases were rampant.

The city is located in the Lycus River Valley together with Hierapolis and Colossae. This valley is a natural route of travel from east to west. The city was founded by the Seleucid king Antiochus II and named for his wife Laodice about 260 BC.

It has a famous aqueduct and the water that was piped to Laodicea was rich with calcium which over time would cause the pipes to clog. The engineers designed the aqueduct with vents covered with stones that could be removed periodically for cleaning.

There were also many stadiums, one which is still preserved today. This one at Laodicea was built by Nicostratus and dedicated to Vespasian in AD 79 according to an inscription found in it.

The stadium is circular at both ends and the total complex was 900 feet long. Used primarily for running races, the length of the track was fixed at 600 feet.

This church was planted and received the Gospel not from the apostle Paul but from his helper Epaphras during the time Paul was in Ephesus, Colossians 4:12-13.

“These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.” Revelation 3:14

Jesus begins by describing Himself as the ‘Amen’ and usually when we think of the word, Amen we automatically think it means ‘so be it.’

But here it doesn’t mean that, in describing Himself as the ‘Amen’ Jesus is saying that He is the firm One, the definite One. In other words, Jesus is the One who is steady and unchangeable in all His purposes and promises.

He also says, ‘He is the faithful and true witness.’ As we go through this letter you will soon see there was nothing distinctive about the Laodiceans. They had no ‘witness’ and they were not faithful to the testimony they had concerning Jesus.

They really stood for nothing, they weren’t concerned with heresy, and they weren’t concerned about being heretics. After all to become a heretic takes energy, and they didn’t have any energy.

Jesus says, He is the faithful and true witness, whose testimony of God, to men, ought to be received and fully believed. But Jesus also has another testimony and that is the testimony of men to God and that too will be fully believed because Jesus is the true witness.

Notice what else Jesus describes Himself as, He says, He is “the ruler of God’s creation.” Now the KJV uses the words, ‘The beginning of the creation of God’ which can be very misleading.

The word ‘beginning’ here doesn’t mean that Jesus was the first thing created as some people like to believe. It means Jesus is the ‘cause’ or ‘source’ of the creation of God, Hebrews 1:1-2.

Jesus is reminding the rich, self-reliant church in Laodicea where all the blessings come from. Every human being is blessed by God, Matthew 5:45.

The main problem in the church in Laodicea, it was their church, not the Lord’s. Jesus immediately identifies their problem and it was a problem of possession. It was their church and they did as they pleased, and they never considered the will of the Lord.

Jesus says, He is the steady, unchangeable One, He is the One who is faithful and is the true witness. He is the One who is the source of all blessings and it’s His church, not ours.

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:15-16

Once again, we’re reminded that Jesus sees and knows everything that every Christian is doing or not doing and He sees the congregation as a whole. He says, you Christians in Laodicea are ‘neither cold nor hot but lukewarm’.

They were lukewarm, which doesn’t mean they were going from cold to hot but they were actually going from hot to cold. The hot springs of Laodicea were not really hot but comfortably warm so it was good for having a bath in but horrible to drink.

But let me ask you, did Jesus want them to become cold? Would He really rather have had them cold as to lukewarm? Well, that’s what He said and maybe He said it that way simply to stress the horror of their position.

And what was the horror of their position? They were neither hot nor cold. In their present state they couldn’t claim they hadn’t known, they couldn’t claim that they have never been moved.

In that way, it would have been better for them never to have been moved than having been moved to become moderate, 2 Peter 2:21. To these lukewarm Christians Jesus says, you are neither cold nor hot but lukewarm and because of that, I’m going to reject you, I’m about to spit you out of my mouth.

In other words here is a church which had lost their passion for the things of the Lord. They had become indifferent and apathetic. They had reached a place where they were going through the motions, but they were unmoved by the things of the Lord. They didn’t care too much about the cross of Jesus, they weren’t really interested in what the Word of God meant.

They didn’t really care about the condition of the lost people around them. These Christians were not burning hot with passion for Jesus, neither were they totally dead and cold, they were somewhere in between.

“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Revelation 3:17

Someone said, ‘Let your words be few and sweet. It’s better this way when you come to eating them.’

God always hears what we say, and He has this tremendous memory. The trouble with us is, we have such large mouths and so little worth the saying. Without Jesus, we can do nothing, John 15:5.

The church in Laodicea is guilty of the ‘atheism of the pound’. Now what do I mean by that? I mean, in comes the pounds and out goes God. This is a church that thought it could buy its way to congregational success, Psalm 50:12.

The Laodiceans say, ‘they are rich’ and ‘we need nothing.’ Jesus tells them they are, ‘wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.’

Can you imagine how you would have felt if Jesus had written these words to you? The truth is we all hate to see ourselves for how we really are. Jesus says to this church, ‘You are not rich, you are totally poor’. He says, ‘You are not blessed, you are wretched’ which means afflicted. ‘Pitiful is what you are’, Jesus says.

All their wonderful medicine for which they were famous for, to help eye complaints can’t help them, they are blind. Their beautiful black, shiny garments which covered the bodies of so many, even in foreign lands, can’t hide their own embarrassing nakedness.

These are strong words, and we need to remember that how we see ourselves may not be how God sees us.

“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see”. Revelation 3:18

The town of Laodicea had a banking centre but sadly its vaults didn’t hold the gold of God. Their gold was the type of perishable gold which Peter describes in 1 Peter 1:18. And yes their black garments covered the body but as we know, God’s white garments covered the soul.

And so Jesus sees and looks at the heart, 1 Samuel 16:7, and He tells them that their famous eye medicine can’t deal with real eyes, the eyes where you can see the real you.

“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” Revelation 3:19

We know that discipline is needed spiritually as much as it is needed physically, Hebrews 12:4-13. We know that God wants to mould us and help us to look more and more like His Son Jesus.

But we need to understand that discipline is not something God does to us but discipline is something which God does for us. If God did that for Jesus, and for our benefit, Hebrews 5:7-8 don’t we want God to have His way with us to help us grow in obedience to Him?

Our problem is that we want to get out of the trial too early, we want it over and done with. But God is working in us, and because He loves us, He is trying to produce perseverance in our lives, He is trying to help us become mature where we lack nothing, James 1:2-4.

And when discipline comes our way, it may be because we’re heading off in the wrong direction and we may need to think seriously about it and turn towards God again.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me”. Revelation 3:20

If you’ve already been immersed into Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins but your slowly drifting drifted away, why don’t you come home again? This passage of Scripture was written with people like you in mind, why don’t you let Jesus back in?

Now there are some who teach what they call the ‘sinners prayer’ and the Scripture they use to support this idea is this very verse.

Now there is a great variation when it comes to the ‘sinner’s prayer’, but most say something like this, ‘Jesus, I now realize I have sinned against you. Please forgive me of my sin. Please come into my life and change my heart. I want you to be my Saviour. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.’

Let me ask you, who is Jesus speaking to in Revelation 3:20? He’s not speaking to non-Christians but He’s speaking to people who have already become Christians. There’s not one teaching anywhere in the Bible about saying a prayer to become a Christian.

Jesus in an effort to get back into His church, is standing knocking at the door. And He says, ‘If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me’.

Do you see how our relationship with Jesus is so personal? Fellowship together, eating with one another. Jesus will knock and He will wait, but He will not break down the door. It must be opened by you and that’s because Jesus won’t enter anyone where He is not invited.

Notice that although Jesus is speaking to the whole church, He actually addresses them individually, He doesn’t say, ‘if everyone’ but ‘if anyone.’ Now why is that important?

Well simply because as a church, we can drift away, but it only takes one Christian to invite Jesus back into their lives again to get the church moving in the right direction again.

“To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.” Revelation 3:21

Isn’t God a graceful God? Isn’t God a patient God? He’s about to spit them out of His mouth because of their lukewarm attitude and their self-sufficiency but! But He says, if they repent and change their attitude towards their Lord Jesus then He will bless them richly.

This church seemed to be absolutely overrun and overcome with luke-warmness and self-confidence. And yet it was possible by the rebukes and warnings of Christ that they might be inspired with fresh zeal and vigour, and might come off conquerors in their spiritual warfare.

Think about it, God is a God who wants to forgive. And if they repent, then all their former faults will be forgiven, and they will have a great reward.

And what is that reward? ‘They shall sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and have sat down with my Father on his throne’.

We know that Christ Himself had met with His own temptations and conflicts. And we know that He overcame them all, and was more than a conqueror. And we also know that Christ’s reward was to be seated in glory with the Father on His throne.

Jesus is saying that those who are conformed to Christ in His trials and victories shall be conformed to Him in His glory. And He says they shall sit down with him on His throne, on His throne of judgment, on His throne of glory to all eternity.

Isn’t that worth changing your attitude for? Isn’t it comforting to know that God really does want to reward us for our faithfulness?

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:22

Are we listening? Have we listened to what the Holy Spirit has been saying to us through all of these letters?

All seven letters have closed with a demand for our attention. They are written for all the churches, in all ages and in all parts of the world, 1 Peter 4:17.

May we strive to always do what is right in the eyes of the Lord and may we also be ready and willing to repent as individuals or as a congregation. The rewards for faithfulness are just too great to lose out on loved ones.

Summary Of The Seven Churches

In a general sense, the problems that existed in the seven churches of Asia are the same kind of problems experienced by congregations today.

We would do well to carefully study these seven churches and learn from their mistakes. These churches were in a state of crisis, some were strong, and some were about to be overcome, they needed encouragement.

Revelation is a symbolic presentation of the church in conflict with Jewish, pagan and Roman persecuting powers. It promises victory if they will overcome, it’s up to them to diligently fight the battle. If they will put forth the effort to overcome Satan and his angels, then Christ will help them in their battles.

During times of persecution, we must not forget that Jesus is still the Head of the church and that we are responsible as a member of that church for how we live our lives.

We must look at ourselves and examine ourselves to see if we are living in the faith, especially in times of persecution. But at all times we must make sure that we’re right with God and that we’re living as we ought to live, realising that if we live faithfully, then we can overcome and live with God.

To Read Or To Listen To A Sermon Series On The Seven Churches Please Click Here

Go To Revelation Part 4