(2011) Revisiting the end of Chapter 1 John is to write about three things SLIDES 2-1, 2-2 What he has seen The things that are The things which will take place after these things Each of these parts is prophetic First, the things John saw are chapter 1, the vision of Christ Then in chapter 4, we see the things that are after these things This leaves the things that are in chapters 2 & 3 The things that are remain a present tense prophecy until the things that happen after these things begin (i.e., chapter 4) The things that are therefore refer to the church age which occurs between chapter 1 and chapter 4 Last week we ended on verse 19, so we still need to examine verse 20 before moving to the next chapter Rev. 1:20 As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Here s our first chance to apply one of our rules, the rule for interpreting symbols We have stars and lampstands As I promised, the answer is found in the immediate context Jesus says the stars He was holding represent the angels of the seven churches And the lampstands represent the churches themselves The imagery is very powerful
2! The image of a star suggests a heavenly object, watching overhead Always present, always shining down A messenger from Christ to watch over His people This describes the role of angels in ministering to the saints, according to Heb 1:14 The lampstands represent the Church itself Each local expression of the Church is a light in the world And taken together, the seven lamps remind us of the seven branches of the tabernacle menorah in Israel Israel was to be a light in the world for God as well Is. 42:6 I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations, For now that responsibility falls to the Gentile Church Which together are a light to the nations What s the meaning of Jesus holding the stars and walking among the lampstands? It clearly suggests ownership and authority and control Jesus is showing John (and us) that He runs and controls His church, from beginning to end All the prophecies of this book will come about because Jesus will make it so Now we move to the seven letters to the churches Jesus is speaking to the churches...who is the Church? The Church is defined as those who have the Spirit of God Rom. 8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
3! When did the church begin? If the church is defined as all those who have the Spirit s indwelling, which began in Acts 2 at Pentecost The start of the Church age A period of time defined by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in those who are the children of God by faith Since this age had a beginning, does it have an end? And we ll look at that when we reach chapter 4 Introduction to the Letters SLIDE 2-3 There are three ways we must understand the content of the letters to the seven churches in chapters 2 & 3 First, the letter are literal letters Real letters delivered to seven real churches Second, they are universal instructions written to the Church as a whole (i.e., 7 means completeness) So all the warnings and exhortation applies to every believer during the entire Church Age Finally, each letter is a progressive revelation of a period in the history of the Church Age These periods run successively from the first to the seven church Therefore, the first letter corresponds to the first period of Church history While the seven letter depicts the nature of the Church in its final stage This last method is relatively new to interpretation of Revelation Only in the past 100 years or so have scholars understood the prophetic nature of the letters But that makes sense
4! Until we have the benefit of hindsight of history, we couldn t see the pattern But once we see the pattern, we could make sense of it Why do we think this pattern was hidden from the Church for so long? Well, which period of history would most benefit from understanding the prophetic nature of the letters? Obviously, the seventh and last church period So as we study each letter, we will make some comparisons to history to see when each period began and ended We ll use this chart to follow the sequence SLIDE 2-4 The first cross represents Christ s death The far right cross represents His return We ll talk more about the middle cross later So as we study the letters, we need to make notes about the history of each church and the content of each letter SLIDE 2-5 Rev. 2:1 To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: Rev. 2:2 I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; Rev. 2:3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name s sake, and have not grown weary. Rev. 2:4 But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Rev. 2:5 Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. Rev. 2:6 Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Rev. 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.
5! As we read through the letters, we must be careful to note the audience for each of Jesus statements We might assume that because He writes to the churches that every statement is spoken to believers But if we make that assumption, we will misinterpret the letters Jesus is writing to fellowships in certain locations Which means He is speaking to a collection of people The people are meeting in a place (i.e., Ephesus, Smyrna, etc.) and they call themselves the Church in that location But can we assume that everyone in a building is a believer, a true Christian? Just because you sit in your garage doesn t make you a car Likewise, just because someone attends church and sits in the pew doesn t make them a Christian, a part of the Church In reality, every church building is likely host to two kinds of people First, we have the visible church This refers to those who physically congregate SLIDE in 2-6 the building calling themselves a church We say it is visible because we can see the people in the building But have no idea what is in their hearts, so we can t know if they are believers In fact, it s entirely likely that some are not I was an unbeliever sitting in churches regularly until I was saved in my late twenties Secondly, we have the invisible church The invisible church refers to the true Church, the believers in any gathering
6! All true believers are those with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit We say they are invisible because the indwelling cannot be seen...only God knows who they are for sure Jesus speaks to both groups (believers and unbelievers) in these churches So if we are to interpret the letters properly, we must identify which group is in view for each instruction of Christ With each church letter, we will follow a similar pattern We ll look at the meaning of the church name, the geography, and the history of each literal church Then we ll follow the handout Description of Christ taken from chapter 1 Commendation if any Condemnation, if any Exhortation Promise Warnings, if any Ephesus Name means desired or desirable Chief seaport connecting West and East in the Roman Empire SLIDE 2-7 Many temples dominated the city: Artemis (one of the seven wonders) Other temples dedicated to emperor worship SLIDE 2-8 By the end of the first century, probably the largest and most influential church in the world Description of Christ
7! The lampstands and stars suggest authority Jesus wants to emphasize His authority over the Church His control over its destiny Commendation They are patient and endure for Christ s name sake in the very pagan Ephesus They do not tolerate false teachers examining those who teach them and uncover evil Paul warns the leaders in Ephesus about coming false teachers in Acts 20 Later he writes letters to Timothy in Ephesus on how to deal with the false teachers Great example for any church In v.6, these people are called Nicolatians, which means ruling over people or conquerors These false teachers were trying to create a clergy/ laity distinction Or levels of authority based on secret knowledge or works The church hated these false teachers and rejected them, earning Christ s commendation Condemnation The church lost their first love What is the first thing a Christian loves? Christ (and His word) John 14:15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. In a rich, powerful city full of temptations and distractions, the church began to focus on the wrong things, leaving a love for Christ behind
8! Remembering this is a universal warning as well, what would that look like if it happened today? A very distracted, self-centered church preoccupied with status and image and power rather than fulfilling the mission of the church Exhortation Repent and return Repent can mean two things, Biblically speaking Repent can mean turn from a life of sin and ignorance toward God and accept the Gospel Mark 1:14 Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, Mark 1:15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. Repent can mean a Christian turning from sinful behavior Luke 17:3 Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. Luke 17:4 And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, I repent, forgive him. In these letters, Jesus frequently gives the command to repent In order to understand which type of repent He means, we must examine the context of each occurrence The context here is of repenting of bad behavior So Jesus is clearly talking to Christians in the Church at Ephesus He is not suggesting they needed to repent and believe in the Gospel