Greetings Disciples of Jesus!
This year we spend time in Revelation during the Easter Season. We get all the good parts on Sunday so let’s spend a bit of time with the complicated parts in between times. The information that follows is gleaned from the Bible and Craig Koester’s book, “Revelation and the End of All Things”. We read Revelation 1:4-8 on Sunday which begins with John’s address to the 7 churches that are in Asia. These seven churches are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. Each church is addressed individually but not privately as this is a circular letter that travels in their midst. The letters to each church follow the same basic pattern:
Address from Christ
Words of rebuke and encouragement Summons to listen and promise to the faithful conqueror
Rev. 1:4 speaks of the 7 spirits who are before the throne which may also be the 7 spirits, the 7 heavenly representatives of these churches. The address to each congregation mentions traits from the vision of the glorified Christ in 1:12-20 which invites the churches to consider their situation in relation to Christ and not in comparison to one another. When we keep our eyes focused on worshiping one God, it helps us from coveting our neighbors or comparing ourselves to other churches. As we explore these letters it is good for us to remember our own situation in relationship not to other churches but in relationship to Christ. Revelation is a complex book that builds on patterns and symbolism and demands deep study from us.
Here is how Christ is identified in each of the churches:
Ephesus – the words of him who holds the 7 stars in his right hand, who walks among the 7 golden lampstands.
Smyrna – the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life.
Pergamum – the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.
Thyatira – the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
Sardis – the words of him who has the 7 spirits of God and the 7 stars.
Philadelphia – the words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
Laodicea – the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation.
Three of the churches – Ephesus, Pergamum and Thyatira were dealing with the problem of assimilation. These were places of high cultural and religious diversity. They had internal conflicts about acceptable and unacceptable forms of Christian faith and practice. They struggled with to what extent Christians could accommodate pagan practices and how important it is for Christians to maintain a distinctive identity.
As Ephesus struggled with resisting assimilation, they lost the love it had at first – pursuing the way of Chirstian love without compromising the integrity of their faith. Pergamum wrestles with to what extent Christians could conform or assimilate into the pagan society. The congregation is drawn to Balaam from the book of Numbers who was to curse the people of Israel but instead ended up blessing them, but the people of Israel joined the pagan practices of the people of Moab. Thyatira is commended for its love, faith, service and endurance. They are rebuked for tolerating a self-identified prophet who was teaching Christians to practice fornication and to eat meat sacrificed to idols (2:20). Connections are drawn from the Old Testament to Jezebel for this community.
Smyrna and Philadelphia deal with the problem of persecution most often instigated by local members of the community rather than the government. Christians in Smyrna were considered a subgroup of Jews and fell under the same protections of Jews. Many of the non-Jews viewed Jews with contempt, charging them with hatred of humanity because they refused to honor other gods and did not participate in civic rites that included pagan religious rites. When the Jewish community attempted to sharpen its boundaries the Smyrna congregation faced persecution on two fronts, leaving them poor. Philadelphia was small, poor and denounced by the local synagogue. They refused to deny Christ. And the promise they are left with is that Christ holds the keys to lock and unlock the door leading to the presence of God and those who persist in faith will be pillars in the temple of God.
Sardis and Laodicea face no threat from the outside – no accusers or imprisonment. These congregations seem to be thriving and yet the message to these churches is almost all negative. Their problem is complacency. Their threat is comfortable conditions. They are not threatened by society but by the judgment of Christ.
Sardis looks alive by society standards but in the eyes of the risen Christ they are at the point of death. They lack vigilance. Christ comes like a thief to steal them of their complacency that they mistake for security. They deceive themselves with contentment with incomplete obedience to Christ. They have “soiled their clothes” (3:4), they have sinned by compromising their relationship with God and Christ and have not washed their clothes in the blood that makes them white. The promise and warning is to preserve in walking with the risen Christ, dressed in white and having Christ write their names in the book of life.
Laodicea does not know the truth about itself. They think that because they are rich, they need nothing. They cannot see their condition in relationship to Christ. Christ says he is about to spit them out because they are neither hot nor cold (3:16) and yet Christ stands at the door and knocks which suggests that he is somewhat of an outsider to the church that bears his name.
The messages to the 7 churches will be built upon in the visions that unfold in the next chapters of Revelation. Whether we face persecution, assimilation or complacency the vision of the heavenly throne room, the 4 horsemen and the other visions can help to awaken the complacent, strengthen the persecuted and bring those tempted to assimilate a renewed sense of faithfulness. The promises made to these churches are not forgotten in the visions that follow and point to the final chapters of Revelation that gives us a picture of everlasting life.
This is John’s picture to us as he went back through the Old Testament to make sense of what God was doing in Jesus Christ and what it means to trust the risen Christ. In our adult forum we reflected on a quote by Barbara Johnson that suggested we are an Easter people living in a Good Friday world but we wonder if we are Good Friday people living in an Easter world because Christ is risen and the whole world is changed and yet we live in this between time! It is hard for us to get beyond our Good Fridays where we think the world is falling apart with sin, death and the power of evil. It is hard for the reality of the resurrection to take root and direct our lives as our Revelation congregations remind us.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
