Sometimes life hits you hard and you simply want to crawl up in the fetal position in a hole and hide away from life… but your 5 children and your job and your responsibilities all help pull you out of the hole. Your own desire to live an extraordinary life pulls at you too – you know that you WANT to do this even if you currently don’t want to do this.
Our church just went through Revelation – and we love our church. But we really don’t agree with much of how they view Revelation. And we don’t really believe that we have this book all figured out either, but we still read and study it in hopes that the Spirit of God will reveal His truth as He’s promised to do. And we need to remind you that all of this study, including Revelation, is simply writing down of what we see in the Scriptures and what we hear God revealing to our hearts.
So, Revelation 2… we see letters to four churches in the 1st century AD – The churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum and Thyatira. Usually, I’ll simply walk you through the text, but today I want to point out a few things.
This text talks about Jesus:
- He holds the seven stars in his right hand (see chapter 1) (vs 1)
- He walk among the seven gold lampstands (vs 1)
- He is the First and Last (vs 8)
- He was dead but is now alive (vs 8)
- He has a sharp two-edged sword (vs 12)
- He is the Son of God (vs 18)
- He has eyes that blaze like fire (vs 18)
- He has feet like polished bronze (18)
What I see is someone beyond humanity, but also was humanity if he died. I see a person who is in fact God himself. It’s a supernatural person who speaks to these churches in this chapter. The descriptions go on in Chapter 3, but we’ll deal with those tomorrow.
And one more theme – This text talks about those who are victorious:
- They will receive fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God (vs 7)
- They will not be harmed by the second death (vs 11)
- They will receive manna from heaven (vs 17)
- They will receive a white stone with a new name that is understandable by only them (vs 17)
- If they obey Christ to the very end, they will receive authority over all the nations to rule with an iron rod (vs 26-27)
- They will have the same authority that Jesus received from his Father (vs 28)
- They will receive the morning star (vs 28)
One last theme – the text continues Jesus’ common refrain in the Gospels:
He who has ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what is being said to the churches.
Well, my goal is to be victorious through Christ. My goal is to listen and understand what is said. My goal is to seek Jesus as He is – God, powerful, lovely, frightening and holy. And we’ll endeavor to do that today.
The church of Ephesus should strike fear in the hearts of all who have followed God for any length of time. Ephesus looked good (vs 2-3), but they didn’t love well (vs 4). In fact, their lack of love was so great that Jesus threatened to remove their lampstand from the 7 lampstands that we read about in Chapter 1 – He told them that their lack of love was threatening their existence as a church!
Let me just pray right now: Dear Lord, help me to love you and to love others with a love that reflects the love you’ve shown me! Help me to not be lacking in love, but rather may I live in the love that you so lavishly spread to me. I know that my heart can be hardened sometimes, cleanse it and soak it in the oil of your Spirit. Break my heart so that it can love through the love you give me! Love through me today Jesus!
The church at Smyrna seemed to be doing well in the Spirit realm, but they faced suffering and poverty. They were going to see more and more of it too. Jesus’ words to them was to remain faithful in spite of the threat of death that they we under. He encouraged them to be courageous and hold fast to the truth.
Pergamum’s church lived in a rough place – Jesus’ literally says that it is where Satan has his throne and it was a place of martyrdom. But even with these challenges, they remained loyal to Jesus. But they are a mixed bag – though faithful to Christ, they also allowed for false teaching in the church. They allowed for those that taught that sexual immorality and idol worship weren’t that big of a deal. And Jesus can’t tolerate that – He tells them to repent or to expect that He would come and fight against them Himself.
The last church in this chapter was Thyatira. Again, this church was a mixed bag with some good traits but other bad ones. Again, the problems surround sexual immorality and idol worship. Again, Jesus promises consequences for these sins in the church. He promises that He is the one who searches out thoughts and intentions of everyone – nothing is hidden from Him! But with Thyatira, Jesus continues to see improvement and he challenges them to hold tightly to what they have until the end.
Revelation is challenging for many reasons – it uses words and descriptions that are sometimes beyond our understanding – but it is also challenging because of chapters like this. Chapter 2 does have some imagery, but primarily it’s challenging because of its straightforwardness. Chapter 2 reminds us that God is not messing around and that He is serious about our holiness. He sees our internal struggles and it is not hidden at all from this Searcher of thoughts and intentions. Holiness in us is His desire. No false worship, no idols, no hint of sexual immorality. Our churches need the message of Revelation 2 – I need the message of Revelation 2.
Oh God, let Your Word impact my heart today. Let me be exposed before your eyes of fire and your living Sword. Let that Sword cut away at the idol worship in my heart. Let my playing around with the sin of sexual immorality be cut away today. Forgive me for believing the lies of this world when your Truth is so readily available for me. Restore unto me a desire to seek you out again in your Word. Give me the faithfulness to be victorious in You. Help me live as a man of honor, integrity and faithfulness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The Eleven89 