Letters to the Seven Churches

Letters to the Seven Churches

Session 2: Message and Exhortations

I.The Broad Scope of the Letters:

Whenever someone writes a letter it is a good practice is to try and identify what the author was wanting to convey; more than the details but grasping the overall message of the letter. The Revelation 2-3 Letters to the Seven Churches outline several key messages from the Lord. In this session we will examine the broader themes in order to understand some of the Lord wants us to take away.

II.The God of Great Love:

A main themewe are to understand from these letters is that God has indescribable love for His people. This love is shown in many different ways throughout the letters.

A.Eternal Rewards in the Seven Letters:

1. Jesus’ promises:

Jesus makes some profound statements about what He will give to these churches if they will overcome (Re. 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28, 3:4-5, 11-12, 19-21).

1. Eternal rewards elsewhere in the scripture:

There is no small amount of promises dealing with the age to come and the eternity hat follow it (Ps. 62:12; Pr. 19:17, 25:22, 28:10; Da. 7:18, 22, 27, 12:13; Is. 32:1, 40:10, 49:4, 62:11; Je. 17:10, 32:19; Mt. 5:5, 12, 19, 46, 6:4, 6, 16-20, 10:41-42, 11:11-12, 16:27, 18:1-6, 19:21, 29, 20:16, 20-23, 26-28, 23:11, 25:13, 34-40; Mk. 9:33-37, 10:21, 30, 35-45; Lk. 1:14-19, 6:23, 32-36, 9:46-48, 22:24-30, 12:33, 14:11, 13-14, 16:10-12, 18:14, 22, 30, 19:17, 21:1-4, 22:30, 36-38; Jn. 13:12-17, Ro. 2:7-8, 8:17-18; 1Co. 2:6-7, 3:14, 4:5, 6:2-3, 9:17, 24, 15:58; Eph. 6:8; Php. 3:14; Co. 3:23-24; 1Ti. 4:8, 6:6; 2Ti. 2:12; Ja. 1:12, 2:5; He. 2:5, 6:10-12, 9:15, 10:35-36, 11:24-26, 35; 1Pe. 3:3-4, 5:4; 2Pe. 1:11; Re. 5:10, 22:5, 12). These scriptures highlight God’s desire that we think hard about our future and weigh our decisions in this life.

1. God rewards those He esteems:

The idea that the omnipotent God would share His wealth and blessings with us forever is a profound statement of love. He is not bound to give in this way, He chooses to esteem us and to reward us according to His kindness. The letters which have correction as their baseline are laced with eternal rewards to show us this love.

B.Greatest Promise for the Worst Off:

It is astounding to look at what costly rewards Jesus offers to these churches. Most amazing is that He makes the most outlandish offers to the congregations that were the worst off spiritually. This speaks volumes about what God uses to motivate the heart, willing to give the most to those that are the furthest off. To the church that was defined as “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” He offered share of His throne!

“To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne (Re. 3:21).”

C.God’s Undying Love:

1. Even in weakness:

His love for us remains even while we are imperfect; we are the aim of His affections while on the journey to obedience. Every believer struggles to love God, struggles to do right and has a real fight within our heart to keep our focus on the Lord and His righteousness. This doesn’t disqualify us from His love, in fact He delights in us as we journey through our frailty to love Him. He is honored by our efforts however weak we may be.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness (Ro. 8:26).”

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2Co. 12:9).”

1. Even in compromise:

What is perhaps more difficult to believe is that His love is still unmoved for us even while we are in compromise. Compromise has its consequences but it never severs His love for us. He is the Eternal Father who loves unconditionally. We didn’t deserve His love when we were dead in our sin and we don’t deserve it any more because we have said yes and no less where we say no.

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins (Co. 2:13)”

1. Nothing can separate:

Every created thing was made for His glory, each human being was made in His likeness and created for fellowship with Him. This however can not keep someone out of Hell if they refuse His love. God even loves those who are in Hell, though He cannot support their decisions. God’s love for us is unshakable, He is always willing to receive us if we would but receive His love through repentance. Nothing we can do can separate us from that continual invitation.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ro. 8:35-39).”

D.Rebuking and Giving Correction are Signs of His Love:

It should be very comforting for us that the following statement would be included in these letters; it is a sure sign to us that though God may have to deal with us sternly, rebuking and chastening us it is actually a sign of His love. We can remain confident that God still is pursuing the relationship so long as we have His rebukes (Pr. 3:11-12).

“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent (Re. 3:19).”

1. Rebuke:

The term speaks of the verbal disapproval when a wrong is committed. The rebuke can come in many forms but is intended to get a simple message across to us that we have crossed a line.

1. Holy Spirit:

Many times the Lord accomplishes this internally with the Holy Spirit striking our conscience.

1. Believer:

Other times however the Lord may use a brother or sister to bring the wrong to our attention, perhaps because we were unwilling to listen to His Spirit.

1. The Lost:

Sometime the Lord will even embarrass us by using the lost to reprimand us, this is intended to be seen as a more stern warning because we, the children of light, were not able to do righty and someone still lost in darkness had to bring it to our attention.

1. A donkey:

But if the Lord has to use a donkey to rebuke you then you’re in real trouble. This actually occurred in the case of the prophet Balaam in the Book of Numbers (Nu. 22:28-35).

1. Discipline:

Disciple on the other hand refers to the consequences of our decisions that are meant to be redemptive; they are intended to teach a lesson and to cause us to respond differently in future circumstances.

1. Responding to correction:

We tend to have a very backwards paradigm about discipline, even considering it a curse. We have been trained by our prideful society to reply harshly to correction and to reproach those who speak such things to us. This is pure foolishness (Pr. 5:23, 6:23, 12:1, 13:18, 15:5, 32, 23:23).

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline (Pr. 1:7).”

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid (Pr. 12:1).”

“A fool spurns his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence (15:5).”

III.What Each Church was Known For:

So that this can make sense to us in our modern context think about the following descriptions as if they were being said of you and whatever local church you attend. These letters would have circulated throughout the region, especially after John was released from Patmos and the entire Book of Revelation had been written become well known. Allow this to strike further closer to home by interpreting these statements as Heaven’s perspective about your congregation, actually the way that Jesus Christ feels about your fellowship. These were real people receiving real messages from Jesus about how He saw them and how he felt. Image a Sunday morning where the pastor stands up and addresses the room and white as a sheet, stumbling through his words stutters out the following statement; “we had an amazing…a fearful thing happen to us this week…a angel suddenly appeared in our leadership meeting and gave us a hand written letter that was addressed to us from…from…Jesus.” Ask yourself how you would feel being known in Heaven by these descriptions, and then having everyone in Christendom also knowing your reputation.

1. Ephesus:

1. The church that had forsaken their first love (Re. 2:4).
2. To read the full message that was written to this church see Revelation chapter 2 (Re. 2:1-7).

1. Smyrna:

1. That church thatwould soon suffer a great persecution (Re. 2:10).
2. To read the full message that was written to this church see Revelation chapter 2 (Re. 2:8-11).

1. Pergamum:

1. The church that needed to repent (Re. 2:16).
2. To read the full message that was written to this church see Revelation chapter 2 (Re. 2:12-17).

1. Thyatira:

1. The church that had a false prophetess (Re. 2:20).
2. To read the full message that was written to this church see Revelation chapter 2 (Re. 2:18-29).

1. Sardis:

1. The church that had fallen asleep (Re. 3:2).
2. To read the full message that was written to this church see Revelation chapter 2 (Re. 3:1-6).

1. Philadelphia:

1. The church that had endured patiently (Re. 3:10).
2. To read the full message that was written to this church see Revelation chapter 2 (Re. 3:7-13).

1. Laodicea:

1. The church with the lukewarm faith (Re. 3:16).
2. To read the full message that was written to this church see Revelation chapter 2 (Re. 3:14-22).

IV.Jesus Praises the Churches:

Each of the congregations was found to be in uniquely difficult circumstances and therefore had unique struggles. To all but one of the churches (Laodicea) Christ spoke words of praise for where they were doing well, where they were already overcoming or growing. Below are the phrases of praise that He spoke to each of them in the brief letter that He wrote each church. Again these statements are the position of Heaven made known to the congregation.

1. Ephesus:

Jesus highlights perseverance and boldness to stand against false teaching.

"You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary (Re. 2:3).”

"But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate (Re. 2:6).”

1. Smyrna:

He praises the Church of Smyrna for their endurance of persecution and that they have held onto their relations hip with Christ.

"I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich (Re. 2:9)!”

1. Pergamum:

Because of the high pressures presented to Pergamum Jesus actually praises them just for not renouncing Him. We cannot relate to an environment where the praise from God is holding the line on simply not denying our faith.

"Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives (Re. 2:13)”

1. Thyatira:

The Lord had much to say in praise of the Church of Thyatira. They had grown in genuine love for Christ and their faith had matured, they served wholeheartedly and overcame in the midst of difficulty. While others had grown cold and lazy they had continued on in their walks and ministry.

"your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first (Re. 2:19).”

1. Sardis:

Sardis received mostly rebuke but Jesus made sure to point out that a few from that church had remained faithful to Him and were walking in righteousness despite all the compromise around them. This praise wasn’t really for the congregation as a whole but for those few who hadn’t “soiled” themselves.

"Yet you have a few...who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy (Re. 3:4).”

1. Philadelphia:

Jesus speaks well of Philadelphia pointing out how they have stayed true to the Word of God. He praised them for overcoming the great pressures they had to deny Jesus and that they had maintained the faith while having “little strength.” Perhaps, this was to contrast where other congregations had been allotted more strength; whatever the case Jesus was honored by their service to Him while having little strength to do so.

"I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name…you have kept my command to endure patiently (Re. 3:8, 10)”

1. Laodicea:

It is more than a little noteworthy that Jesus had absolutely nothing positive to say about this church. We have a false idea that just because we are alive, or because our church exists that somehow Jesus is pleased with us. He loves us all, He desires to be in relationship with us all, He has high hopes, destiny and desire for each of us but He is not automatically pleased with us. It is the case that there are some believers and in fact some ministries that the Lord has nothing positive to say about.

V.Jesus' Words of Encouragement:

Anotherattributeof Jesus’ letters was that on top of praising them for where they had shown forth good fruit He gave most of the churches additional word’s of encouragement and admonition. These encouragements were intended to keep them steady and equip them with the particulars of how to endure the trials they were facing. This is yet another indication of Christ’s commitment to the success of His people.

1. Ephesus:

The Church of Ephesus received extensive praise from Jesus as well as a clear rebuke but wasn’t given any additional words of exhortation.

1. Smyrna:

Jesus gives Smyrna some bad news about their future, telling them that they are about to undergo severe testing for a ten-day period. He tells this to them ahead of time and encourages them to remain faithful even to the point of loosing their life; which doubtlessly many of them did.

"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 the crown of life (Re. 2:10).”

1. Pergamum:

Pergamum is the second of the seven churches who wasn’t given any additional words of exhortation.

1. Thyatira:

Jesus exhorts Thyatira to just keep holding the line as they had been, He says that He doesn’t want to put anything else on them at this time because He knows that the weight of what they are already carrying is heavy enough.

"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): Only hold on to what you have until I come (Re. 2:24-25).”

1. Sardis:

Sardis is given a strong admonition to work diligently to ensure that what they had worked for not be lost. He tells them that there is hope for them but they must begin to pour much effort into strengthening the little that they have.

"Strengthen what remains and is about to die (Re. 3:2),”

1. Philadelphia:

In essence Jesus tells Philadelphia the same thing as Sardis, to strengthen what they have. The context however is very different because Sardis was about to loose what they had because of their complacency where Philadelphia is being told to hold on to what they have in light of the coming trial they will face. Jesus promises that while they will go through the difficulty He will keep them. The phrase translated “keep you from” can also be interpreted “keep you through.”

"I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown (Re. 3:10-11).”

1. Laodicea:

Jesus gives the lukewarm church some straight talk. He lays out the clear way forward them should they wish to cover over their shameful nakedness. He has been chasing them all the while their hearts have wandered from Him, in His last efforts before He removes His presence from them entirely He encourages them to come and dine with Him, He says that anyone who would open their heart to Him and repent He would gladly receive. But He also makes it clear that He will not open that door for them; He stands very near however knocking longing to be invited in.

"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...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 him, and he with me (Re. 3:18-20).”

VI.Jesus' Promises to the Seven Churches:

1. He Who Has An Ear:

As stated previously Jesus made promises about eternity to each of the congregations of Asia Minor. Each of these promises was either preceded by or had immediately following it the telling phrase“He who has an ear, let him hear.” This was Jesus’ way of saying; “meditate on these truths in order to gain greater understanding and have your spirit come alive.” Jesus gives this teaching 14 times, 7 times in the gospels and 7 times in the book of Revelation.