It's in the news as I type....a professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga wondered if students even read the class syllabus anymore....so he tried an experiment. As he passed out the syllabus to his seventy-one students in the class....he emphasized to them that there were changes and that they should carefully read it. In the middle of the syllabus.....along with information on things like what would happen if they had to make up classes.....he added this....(free to the first who claims; locker one hundred forty-seven; combination fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five.) Inside the locker was a pen and legal pad....written on it was...."Congrats! Please leave your name and date so I know who found it." At the end of the semester he looked in the locker....and no one had claimed the fifty dollar bill that the professor left for the first person to open the locker.
I tried an experiment of my own a number of years ago....as on the tailgate of my truck....in bold stickers.....just below.....SPECIALDOGG.BLOGSPOT.COM.....was this.....DO NOT READ 'LIBERTY AND TYRANNY!' (Mark Levin's 2009 best-seller) Sure enough I got an email from someone at work who read the message in the parking lot....and informed me that they were going to read the book....because I said not to read the book. I've done this experiment more recently with stickers on my truck that read....DO NOT READ 'AMERICAN OLIGARCHS!'Revelation 1:3 has a similar clue to the one that the professor gave....but the reward is infinity better than fifty dollars....and may even be eternally better.....as it reads...."Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near"....and then continues with...."John, to the seven churches which are in Asia...." There are countless books and commentaries available on Revelation.....and many more sermon series preached throughout on it....but from what I have read and heard....they do not emphasize that God is here giving us a "heads-up" in that this is not just book of wild images where we are not even sure what they mean.....as we begin by scanning over seven seemingly insignificant letters to seven churches....almost considering them as merely the 'fine print' of Revelation to get to the real wild stuff.
The seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation are one of the more important parts of the last book of God's Word....and right now....before the events foretold within the book begin to take place....it may be the most important part....for we....you and I....and your church and my church....are somewhere in those seven churches. For me personally....and my denomination of presbyterianism....the letter to Ephesus seems to speak the loudest....as we have our church polity down pat....and our doctrine is precise and as true as can be interpreted....and 'missions' are strong....and we are experts at discipline....but have we in at least a small way.....'lost our first love?' Are we more afraid of making a mistake in polity....than letting God use us in mightier ways? I recall an old piece of humor in the church where in a meeting of ministerium pastors a fire broke out....and a Methodist pastor jumped up and yelled....FIRE!.....and then a Baptist pastor jumped up and yelled....WATER!.....and a Presbyterian pastor jumped up and yelled....ORDER!
I know that I personally can read a couple of these church letters and see in myself critique that is difficult to read....and I do not see in myself any of the praise that is offered to other churches....but I continue to dwell on this portion of Revelation....and read through the entire book often....hoping to gain discernment as God permits it....for although to every Christian in every age....they were to see the time of Christ's return as "near"....it has never so much the case as this very day that we live in!
