It's simply the conclusion that I have come to. There are plenty of commentaries to reference and I have done so over the years but ultimately everyone has to make up their own mind on certain Biblical issues. The Book of Revelation begins with a majestic encounter that the Apostle John had with the Lord Jesus...the "Alpha and the Omega"...and "the One who is, and who was, and who is to come." Chapters four through twenty-two hold the apocalyptic literature that Christians have meditated upon for almost two-thousand years, but wedged in between, in chapters two and three, are the seven letters to the seven churches. It is difficult for me to look at these chapters as not having apocalyptic considerations.
These seven churches truly existed within that small area of Asia Minor which is now Turkey. What is obvious is that these churches, as they are described, also exist today in some form. What is not so obvious is how the messages pertain to the Christian who is informed only verses beforehand..."Blessed is the one who reads and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophesy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near."
I can see traits from my own Christian walk in a few of the churches and none of them are complimentary. I can see many traits in the churches of America....some condemning and some adulatory. I can see a mixture in many churches. I can see these same things in churches all around the world! It seems a perfect syllabus for preparation, and being the very Word of God, it would be perfect wouldn't it?
It can only help, in my opinion, to pour over these two chapters on a regular basis, and implore of God for the blessing promised, for if we should be convicted that we are primarily the church in Ephesus then we can return to the love that we had at first. Surely many can take comfort in the exhortation to Smyrna to prepare for the persecutions ahead, and this may even be for us in America. Pergamum, where Satan's throne is, should have us examining all of our doctrine not explicitly laid out in Scripture. Who was that woman Jezebel in Thyatira? Is she still around? Are we still tolerating her? Is our reputation as a church one of "being alive" as was that of Sardis, but are we in fact "dead?" Should not the great encouragement to Philadelphia be a pregnant joy to all of us? And if we are in fact spiritually related to those in Laodicea then finding that out would be devastating, but hope is given even there!
Summing this post up...considering that two chapters in the twenty-two chapters of the Book of Revelation address churches, both faithful and errant, how can we not wait in expectation for veils to be removed here as we do in the rest of this awesome, frightful and most Jesus Christ exalting and triumph exulting book of hope?
These seven churches truly existed within that small area of Asia Minor which is now Turkey. What is obvious is that these churches, as they are described, also exist today in some form. What is not so obvious is how the messages pertain to the Christian who is informed only verses beforehand..."Blessed is the one who reads and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophesy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near."
I can see traits from my own Christian walk in a few of the churches and none of them are complimentary. I can see many traits in the churches of America....some condemning and some adulatory. I can see a mixture in many churches. I can see these same things in churches all around the world! It seems a perfect syllabus for preparation, and being the very Word of God, it would be perfect wouldn't it?
It can only help, in my opinion, to pour over these two chapters on a regular basis, and implore of God for the blessing promised, for if we should be convicted that we are primarily the church in Ephesus then we can return to the love that we had at first. Surely many can take comfort in the exhortation to Smyrna to prepare for the persecutions ahead, and this may even be for us in America. Pergamum, where Satan's throne is, should have us examining all of our doctrine not explicitly laid out in Scripture. Who was that woman Jezebel in Thyatira? Is she still around? Are we still tolerating her? Is our reputation as a church one of "being alive" as was that of Sardis, but are we in fact "dead?" Should not the great encouragement to Philadelphia be a pregnant joy to all of us? And if we are in fact spiritually related to those in Laodicea then finding that out would be devastating, but hope is given even there!
Summing this post up...considering that two chapters in the twenty-two chapters of the Book of Revelation address churches, both faithful and errant, how can we not wait in expectation for veils to be removed here as we do in the rest of this awesome, frightful and most Jesus Christ exalting and triumph exulting book of hope?
