Free Grace Women

In Revelation chapters 2 and 3, the Lord speaks directly to seven churches in Asia Minor. The messages to these seven churches have a wealth of teaching for believers and churches today. Over the next seven months, Free Grace Women will be exploring these churches through a series of blogs. Each month, a different lady will take a church, and unpack the unique message that the Lord had for that church, discussing the history, content, and providing some modern-day applications for us today. In anticipation for this series, it is important to set the stage, and provide some context for these passages.

Author and purpose:

The apostle John wrote the book of Revelation, while imprisoned on the Island of Patmos (Rev 1:1, 9), and he is writing to the seven churches in Asia (1:4), with the purpose of sharing the Lord’s revelation of the things to come (1:1). In short, it’s a book about the Lord’s soon return. It’s a book meant to encourage the church, especially in times of tribulation, for the righteous Judge is coming and will make all things new (14:6-7, 19:11-16, 21:1-5). This book is for believers, to encourage them in light of the Lord’s soon return and His coming Kingdom.

Readers:

It’s within this framework that the Lord then speaks to the churches of Asia Minor directly. Possibly one of the most important interpretative elements to this series would be the readers. The Lord is speaking to the church, and therefore born-again people. This means that none of these letters are dealing with evangelism. These letters are directed to Christians and deal with Christian living, or we might say sanctification. None of the letters are addressed to unbelievers to instruct them on how to receive eternal life by faith alone in Jesus for eternal life (John 3:16, Eph 2:8-9). Rather, the Lord is addressing the works of these churches and the rewards they can gain in the coming kingdom.

Structure:

Each of the letters of Revelation follow a structure, which we will also follow in this series of blogs.

• Each letter opens with a description of Christ (2:1-2,8, 12,18, 3:1,7,14)
• The Lord then describes the works (or lack thereof) for each church (2:2-3, 9, 13, 19, 3:1,8, 15)
• The Lord praises and/or rebukes the church (2:4, 9, 14-15, 20-23, 3:16-17)
• The Lord gives each church unique instruction (e.g., repent, continue, remember), depending on their situation. (2:5, 10, 16, 25, 3:2-3, 11, 18-19)
• Each letter ends with a description of the reward (e.g., white stone, pillar, crown etc.) that they can gain by faithfully following the Lord. (2:7, 11, 17, 26, 3:5, 12, 21)

Unique Reports:

   Through this series, we will see that each of these churches have unique messages, praises, rebukes, and works. It could be illustrated like a doctor’s appointment. Some churches are doing well and get a clean bill of health (2:8-11, 3:7-13). Some churches are spiritually sick, and need to turn from their sin, or else they will experience the consequences of their unhealthy lifestyle (3:14-22). Other churches have a mixed report (2:1-7). Like a patient with good blood pressure, that is eating well, but also hasn’t been working out regularly, so their mobility is weak, most churches have a mixture of both good and bad works. A good doctor knows what each patient needs and provides care accordingly. In the same way, the Lord looks at these churches with their unique strengths and weaknesses and gives them His instruction depending on their situation.

Right before the Lord begins to address the churches in chapter 2, John has a vision of Christ, standing in the midst of the seven lampstands:

“Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.” Rev 1:12-13

The seven lampstands are a depiction of the churches (1:20). What is noteworthy here is the Lord’s close special involvement with the churches. He stands in the middle of the churches. He is not some impartial party, sitting up in the clouds, ready to pronounce judgment. He is right there in the midst of the churches. He wants us to be healthy, and is ready to enable, encourage, and equip the church for their own unique needs. This is also true for us today. The Lord desires for us all to one day stand before Him, spiritually healthy, and hear “well done.”

Conclusion:

The apostle makes an interesting comment in Revelation 1:3 about the content of his book, saying:

“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

Once again, we see the emphasis of the Lord’s return. The time is near; our Lord is coming soon. What is also worthy of our consideration is the blessing that John gives to those who read his prophecy. Sadly, many people in the church today ignore the book of Revelation. It’s a difficult book to understand, and its full of passages that frighten readers. Due to these things, many within the church today, avoid the book all together. However, John tells us that those who read this book and keep the things written in it are blessed. Our hope is that through this series of blogs, we all grow in our knowledge of the Lord’s teachings, cling to the promise of His soon return, and are blessed by the words of this book as we apply these things to our lives.  

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