We are given a seven short letters by John to each of the first century Christians scattered throughout the Asia Minor (Roman Empire) in Revelation chapters 2 & 3. Each letter is God breathed through John as he remained in exile on the island of Patmos. John surely must have been hoping to get out of exile and pastor these churches himself as he had done before with the other Apostles. Each message to the individual churches has encouragement and criticism to overcome all the forces going against them. These letters were meant to help these church’s facing all kinds of tribulations, and for us today as well. Here is a brief breakdown of each of the Seven churches.
Firstly let me start off by clarifying that many see the book of Revelation as symbolic imagery, and the lamps represent lights which are Christians.
The 1st church group is the letter to Ephesus (Loveless Church) in (Rev 2:1-7). This church is accused of losing their first love vs.4. The Lord compliments their good points, but addresses the fact that He sees they have lost their first love. In other words they have lost their Holy passion. Often times when people first become saved they are full of energy and gusto to spread the good news with everyone and go about doing God’s work. Then after time passes it’s tempting to fall into old habits and lose sight of the ultimate goal. Some of these church members were becoming relaxed, and God wanted to show them where they needed work. We can certainly see this effecting Christians today as it did back in the early church.
The 2nd church John’s letter is to Smyrna (The Persecuted Church) Rev. 2:8-11. Sadly these early Christians suffered great hardships and terrible consequences that we can’t even imagine in North America for remaining faithful to God. These persecuted Christians could have avoided torture and death if they merely went along with saying “Caesar is Lord”, whenever it was expected. If they refused to go along with this worship of Caesar, they were accused of being disloyal to the state. Christians in Smyrna became blood sport for the brutal Romans. God wanted to encouraged these frightened people to keep the faith and they would receive the crown of life reward when they reached heaven.
Moving onto the 3rd church we see it is to Pergamos (The Compromising Church) Rev. 12-17. This church was becoming compromising to all the evil going on around them. God says twice in the letter that Satan lived in this city. Pergamos was full of immorality, cults & idol worship. God felt that these early Christians were being deceived and falling into temptation. A lot of the Christians were partaking in the sinful activities going on around them. For instance the men had wives but were taking concubines. Gods standards were high and this early church was trying to have it all.
Now onto the 4th letter to the church of Thyatira (The Corrupt Church) Rev. 18-29 The church in the city of Thyatira got primarily warnings about all the corruption going on. John’s letter used Jezabel an example from the book of Kings. Jezabel represent in the letter what she was known for – sexual immorality and idolatry, manipulation, intimidation and domination. John was reminding them how her life turned out and the results would be awful if this wasn’t removed from the Christians lives also. Guilds ran the economic well being in Thyatira. These social organizations in this city (guilds) would make it difficult for the Christians to find work, if they didn’t go along with the norm (idolatry).
This 5th letter to the church of Sardis (The Dead Church) Rev. 3:1-6. Of all of the letters this one John wrote at God’s command has gotten so much of our attention, primarily because of verse 5 (threat about blotting names out of book of life). Most people consider this to be a dead church. Dead in their sins in other words. God is telling them to repent and turn from their sinful ways before it’s too late. These Christians seemed to just lose their momentum and stopped believing and living for their Heavenly Father. This city of Sardis had a large powerful Jewish community. Practicing this new sect of Christianity was unpopular and the people were trying to blend in with their society not drawing attention to themselves. Whether they were directly or indirectly compromising, it was corrupting their gospel. These very things still happen in today’s church age. People start putting things ahead of God and he is sometimes pushed right out of peoples lives.
Absolutely no criticism is given, only encouragement in the 6th letter addressed to the Church in Philadelphia (The Faithful Church) Rev. 3:7-13 This was a loving faithful church that was suffering heavy persecuted. God wanted to encourage this church for enduring these tribulations. He reminds them of the heavenly rewards in store for them for keeping strong in their faith and not compromising even if it meant death. It is hard to imagine facing the all too real threat of being martyred like these early Christians faced. Missionaries today and throughout the centuries risked so much to carry up the cross of Christ.
Finally the 7th letter is penned to the Church of Laodicea (The Lukewarm Church) Rev. 3:14-22. This one strikes a nerve with a number of Christians today because history seems to be repeating itself. We recognize through this letter these same issues arising in the current church circles today. This church was accused of being lukewarm. Today we have Christians that have this sense of entitlement. The attitude of what can this church offer me? Instead of how can I serve the Lord here? We see rebellion in a number of Christians who want to have both the world and their God in it too. vs.19 “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.”
In each of theses letters God warns Christians of the consequences of sin in their lives. The lampstands have been burned out in these first century churches, in other words the churches no longer existed in these ancient cities. In the times in which we live we should be on fire to be going about God’s work. Surely there have been many other church’s in the past 2000+ years that their lamps went out too.
Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus’ words to us… “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before all men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
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