Revelation 2:1 – 3:22
Remember, the Book
of the Revelation is about Jesus Christ. It divides itself into three parts:
1. The PERSON of Jesus Christ
2. The POSSESSION of Jesus Christ — the church
in the world, Chapters 2, 3
3. The PROGRAM of Jesus Christ
In this lesson we
will look at the Possession of Jesus Christ: the church. The Book of the
Revelation deals with seven churches, the church in: Ephesus (2:1-7); Smyrna (2:8-11);
Pergamum (2:12-17); Thyatira (2:18-29); Sardis (3:1-16); Philadelphia (3:7-13)
and Laodicea (3:14-22).
Each of the
churches have characteristics that the bible describes as positives and
negatives. There are characteristics that Jesus loves and those He hates.
Ephesus
What Jesus loves: hard
work, perseverance and the rejection of false teachers.
What Jesus hates:
They have “left their first love,” the gospel…even Jesus Christ Himself.
What Jesus
promises: eternal life to those who overcome through Him (their first love)
Smyrna
What Jesus loves: Their
spiritual richness in the face of slander.
What Jesus hates: those
who rail against the church.
What Jesus
promises: the faithful unto death will receive the crown of eternal life.
Pergamum
What Jesus loves:
they have remained true to Jesus in the face of satanic influences
What Jesus hates:
infiltrators who engage in idol worship, sin and compromise with the world (Nicolaitans).
What Jesus promises:
a white stone with a new name written on it. In Revelation 19:12 we learn that
this is a reference to the Word of God…Jesus Christ.
Thyatira
What Jesus loved:
their love, faith, service, perseverance and growth.
What Jesus hated:
Jezebel, the false teacher and adulteress and her ilk in the church.
What Jesus
promises: spiritual authority and Himself, the morning star (see Revelation
22:16).
Sardis
What Jesus loves:
their excitement.
What Jesus hates:
that their excitement is fake; they are really “asleep at the wheel” and dead .
What Jesus
promises: to the few who are real, Heaven and security in the Book of Life.
Philadelphia
What Jesus loves:
that they have kept His Word and have exalted His Name.
What Jesus hates: that
they have allowed Judaizers into the church…those who want to blend the Old
Covenant (Jews) with the New Covenant (Christianity).
What Jesus
promises: protection from the future “hour of trial” (tribulation), His soon
return and a role in the new Jerusalem.
Laodicea
What Jesus loves:
not much.
What Jesus hates:
that they lack fervor for the Word; their sense of spiritual narcissism. They
are dull and spiritually lifeless.
What Jesus
promises: if they will repent, he will enter their congregation and feed them
spiritually and they will experience salvation.
Lessons for our churches
Our churches’ focus must be
Jesus. Some ethereal concept of “God” is unacceptable. Our first love must be Jesus Christ and His gospel in
everything that we do.
Our churches must withstand
persecution by being absorbed by the finished work of Christ at the cross of
Calvary.
Our churches must collectively
repent when we stray from the gospel.
Our churches must guard against
all false teaching wherever it is found.
Our churches must be alert,
energetic and awake.
Our churches must patiently
wait on God to do His work in us through Christ.
Our churches must be hot for
Christ. He must be our in-all, of-all, through-all, and by-all of everything we do and stand for.
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