Letter to the Seven Churches

As we engage with this revelation in our new series we’ll see things as they are, Jesus is ascended, enthroned, ‘the ruler of the kings of the earth.’ His the victory, the final word, and the power to keep the Church he has loved with his own blood. In him we are more than conquerors, in his strength we can overcome.

According to Jesus’ assessment, there was much to commend the church in Ephesus, they were working tirelessly to the good fight against those peddling false ideas about the Christian life. However, they also had a significant problem: they had forsaken their first love. Were they so caught up in contending for the truth of the faith that they lost sight of the object of faith? In his kindness, Jesus delivered a warning and a call to repentance, accompanied by the grace to do it, the need supplied by the characteristic of Jesus that introduces each letter. To Ephesus, the reminder that Jesus ‘is among the lampstands,’ accessible and knowable. Foster and guard that relationship, for it is love for Christ that fuels endurance, that overcomes to receive the promise.

Jesus openly taught that discipleship could prove costly, ‘A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also,’ (Jn. 15:20). This was the experience of the church in Smyrna, opposition from Jerusalem was be followed by oppression from Rome. How would they persevere as the ‘lampstand’ witness they were called to be? The risen Jesus speaks to encourage. Though men may come against them, as the First and the Last, he has the final word in all history. As the resurrection life, he secures their eternity. Therefore, they need not be afraid. They can stand faithful because what is theirs to receive is greater than anything they might lose. The world may offer affliction, but the reigning Jesus offers life as the victor’s crown.

The third church Jesus addressed was in Pergamum, a city dominated by an altar to Zeus and a centre for the emperor cult. Jesus identifies the power behind this counterfeit worship, the father of lies, they lived ‘where satan had his throne.’ The church had already experienced grief for holding fast to the truth of the lordship of Christ, Jesus commends their faith. However, some were being swayed by the creep of false teaching. Once again, as Jesus issues the pastoral corrective, he reminds the believers that he has the resource they need, the sharp double-edged sword of truth and justice. Above the noise of the culture rises the word of life, over the kingdom of the deceiver, the conquering Christ reigns, his sheep listen for his voice and overcome.

If the believers in Ephesus were commended for holding truth but admonished for losing love, the church in Thyatira was commended for their love but reprimanded for losing truth. This is a mixed church comprising faithful believers and a significant number who appear to have heeded alternative voices, false teaching that leads to false worship, spiritual adultery, as it was with Israel under the reign of the kings. Jesus, with blazing eyes, sees all, and jealous for his bride, speaks with royal authority. To the wayward the call to repent, a false gospel cannot save. To the faithful, the encouragement to hold fast to what they have, the true gospel delivers, all the way to sharing in the glorious, unending reign of the King of kings when he comes for his bride.

Things are not always as they appear. The believers in Sardis enjoyed a fine reputation, a name for being ‘alive,’ perhaps a happening church. However, the reigning Jesus had a different assessment. They were not alive but dead, not alert but spiritually fading, their mission unaccomplished, their distinctive compromised. Jesus’ diagnosis meets this spiritual slumber with a wake-up call: ‘repent, remember, remain in the gospel before it’s too late!’ These are the words of Him who has what they need to do just that, the Spirit and the word, that they may join with the faithful, to whom a better name is promised, not before men but before the Father himself. Let us hear what the Spirit says to the churches, enlivened to the gospel and its mission, alert to the greater and enduring name.

Philadelphia, the ‘city of love’ for some, perhaps, but not for the church facing pressure and opposition, required to endure patiently for the sake of Jesus’ name. His letter to the believers is a word of encouragement. Neighbours might shut their door in their face, but Jesus, the gatekeeper of the royal palace, the true Eliakim (Isa. 22:20ff), flings wide the door to the throne of honour. He will keep his people from the hour of trial and vindicate their name. His message – hold on to what you have, to the gospel word and the precious name, even if it costs approval and accolade now, the faithful overcomer will receive so much more, the rights and privileges of home with God in the true city of love, identified forever with the king of love, Jesus himself.

Laodicea boasted a banking district, medical facilities and thriving textile industry; it was a city so affluent it could refuse imperial aid when devastated by an earthquake. Sadly, according to Jesus’ assessment, this sense of self-sufficiency had taken root in the church, nurturing a kind of ‘lukewarm’ discipleship. In love, Jesus brings a sharp rebuke, a word of reality, a word of grace – be earnest and repent, I will meet your spiritual poverty out of the abundance only I can supply; open the door to me and share covenant fellowship with me. Jesus is the faithful shepherd who will not leave his own to the folly half-heartedness. As we heed this word, we come with empty hands to receive of him, filling hearts with devotion to him, until joy is complete at the last, when we shall reign with him.

We’ve been reminded through the letter to the seven churches of the toil, tribulation and tumult the people of God will encounter in the days before the consummation of all things. How will the Church overcome? Jesus has reminded his people that he has every grace to prevail. Furthermore, in the single vision of chapters 4-5, John is ushered into the centre of heaven itself to witness reality. Using the apocalyptic language of Daniel and Ezekiel, John reports the setting and the drama of Jesus’ coronation and the reign of the redeemed. Here is a word of great reassurance: not only is there a throne far above the kingdoms of men, but God’s purposes to bring justice and blessing through Christ his Messiah will come to pass. Let us therefore persevere, confident and courageous.

In Revelation 4 John is taken up into the heavenly tabernacle, the throne room of the Almighty; the setting for the drama that unfolds in chapter 5. In the right hand of the enthroned one is a scroll, the covenantal promise of inheritance and judgment, the fulfilment of God’s purpose to vindicate and secure his people and deliver justice. Alas, there is no one worthy to open the scroll, to bring it to pass. How will heaven be filled with God’s people? No wonder John wept. Yet, at the height of the tension, there came a joyful comfort ‘See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able…’ John turned to see not a lion, but a wounded lamb, the covenant fulfilling, people redeeming Saviour; and all heaven responds, ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and praise!’ Let the earth join the chorus and rejoice in the good news.