The Revelation of Jesus Christ

THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
A WEDNESDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY
EDGEMONT BIBLE CHURCH
FALL 2009- SPRING 2010
October 14, 2009
LETFERS TO THE CHURCHES - Part 1

I. "THE THINGS WHICH ARE..." Understanding the messages to the churches
A. "Are" obviously gives us an interpretive clue to understanding these messages
1. These are messages to 7 local churches which were existent at that time
2. It describes conditions of and warnings of things that were going on at the time John was alive and writing this book
3. Our interpretation must be primarily as messages being given as encouragement or counsel to the churches at that time and for them
4. Using the best historical and grammatical information available to us we try to reconstruct their situation and the message given to them in order that His message can be understood and application can be made of it lest we take the same erroneous steps they took or we come into the same danger some of them were in
B. Applications can be made then from our understanding of these messages
1. Personal - "He who has an ear to hear..." gives us a sobering call to listen to what he was saying to these churches be instructed by it. "He who overcomes…” gives us adequate motivation and reason to make serious application of what we have heard. Though the message is sent to the church as a whole these two phrases show us that individuals within the body can make an individual choice to not participate in the body's sin but come away from it in repentant faith. “The Just shall live by faith.”
2. Corporate - any church is prone and vulnerable to the same maladies listed in these messages. Any church in any period of this present age can receive counsel from these messages and make the needed
corrections or receive the encouragement from these messages. The problems listed in the churches are typical problems of the warfare put up by the Adversary against the church and its Lord. It may also be seen that what is described by them is the successive stages of the church and the development of the church any place it is planted
3. Prophetic - It is clear from the words of this book that the messages contained therein are words of prophecy. Looking prophetically
through time, from the day of this being written until our present time, a fairly good picture can be painted of the church through the "historical ages" that have transpired. Since the third and final category about which John was to write, "the things which shall take place after this," one could make a reasonable case that we are still in the "present", since "after this" has not happened yet and that these messages are a picture of the church through history up to the time of the Tribulation of Daniel, prophesied by our Lord. Caution must be taken here for such applications are more arbitrary
and conjectural than the ones offered in the primary interpretation. We might see the following:
a. Ephesus - the church in the first century beset by false teachers, fighting them off but losing its first love in the process to 100 AD
b. Smyrna - the church in the second and third centuries under persecution by the Romans from 100 AD to 316 AD. The church's bishops were looking forward to the coming 1000 year reign of Christ, the Kingdom of God. They endured 10 separate periods of official persecution before it ended with Constantine
c. Pergamos - the church's wedding to the world with Constantine. A Roman emperor becomes the "head" of the church. Persecution has ended and the church has become acceptable. Now it takes its place among the powers that be. It becomes a "fortress" of power. An unconverted emperor,
Satan's throne, has become the leader of the church. It is during this period the church is developing a clergy/laity division, the Nicolaitans, and the papacy begins in the 7th century. The church is entering the Dark Ages ~
d. Thyatira - Perhaps the word means "continual sacrifice'. The Nicolaitan heresy introduces the "Mass", continuously offering the sacrifice of Christ's once-for-all death on the cross! The priests have now taken the position of the Levitical priesthood, the church has replaced Israel and the religion of Jezebel, Astarte and Baal, mother and child, has replaced Christianity. But hospitals and caregivers are those in the convents and monasteries, in the name of Jesus are still being done. In there are still "remnants" of believing enclaves throughout the same region occupied by the empire and the "church."
e. Sardis - The church is claiming to be a living vital agency that God sees as dead! These are the years just before the "Reformation". Even among this dead church there are some who have not defiled themselves with the gross heresies of the "church". These are the precursors of the reformation
f. Philadelphia - The church in reformation. The open door that no man can close was the restored truth of faith alone, in Christ alone, by the Word alone. Unfortunately, the ones who "discovered" these truths and restored them to the church did not free themselves from the old ways of love of power, formalism and ritualism. They spent too much time fighting each other and the old church. They did not restore the great love of the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ nor of the meaning and reality of His Kingdom. They restored the priesthood of every believer but kept the same or similar hierarchies on a much smaller level. In Europe they could not divorce themselves from the state.
g. Laodicea - the people's glory. The church is now in the hands of the people to become whatever the people want it to be. It is
not cold, that is, to offer a cold refreshing drink to the thirsty nor were they hot to offer the healing therapy of the hot springs. They were tepid. They had a false estimation of their value. Christ is on the outside of the church looking in, knocking to seek entry to see if there may be even one who
would invite him in for fellowship. This is the church today!
C. The churches are treated as individual churches not as a single unit.
1. Each church is a local church with its own messenger.
2. Though they are connected by common faith and salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, they are not treated as a federation.
3. They are not called on to unite or become as one with one "bishop" leading all the others.
4. Part of the mystery of the church is that Christ unites them "mystically" not organically. He is the head of each one as well as the head of all.
5. There is no call for a church hierarchy but each church is held responsible for its own behavior

II. THE STRUCTURE OF THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES
A. Audience identity
B. Speaker's identity and authority to speak
C. Message
1. Commendation if one is given
a. Given first, if it is the most prominent characteristic
b. Given last, if it is the least outstanding characteristic
2. Criticism and commanded change
D. Promise to those who overcome
E. Call to any who are willing to listen