REVELATION 1-3 REVELATION REFRESHER SERIES PART 12021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 1-3 Revelation Refresher Series Part 1

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. It is great to be with you this evening, and I'm excited about what the Lord...

has for us. We're going to be doing things a little bit differently for our Wednesday evenings for the next few weeks and considering more in depth the book of Revelation. And so, you know, as we've been going through the Bible in three years, we celebrated a bit last week as we finished up the book of Revelation in the Bible in three years and

But one of the downfalls of the Bible in three years reading schedule is that the book of Revelation always lands in December. And December is always a crazy month.

And of course, you have Christmas, and so there's special services around that. And so we don't really get to spend too much time in the book of Revelation, even as we're reading along with the Bible in three years. And so although we're reading through it in our gatherings together, we don't get to teach much through it and consider it more in that way. And so as I was reading through Revelation this past year, it was on my heart to come back and revisit Revelation.

and to allow it to refresh our memory, to refresh our understanding of the book of Revelation, but also to refresh our anticipation of the Lord's return and to be looking forward to what he has in store for us. And so we're going to be doing this series for the next few weeks. I'm calling it the Revelation Refresher Series, and we'll take a few chapters a week and

And that'll take us about two months or so to work our way through. And it's going to be a different style of teaching than I usually do. More of an overview of the passages. Lots more information. You thought I gave a lot of information before. Well, just wait. Hold your horses and get ready. Strap yourself in. Grab a pen. Grab a notebook. And I want to encourage you to write these things down, to walk through them with me.

and consider them yourself. Now, along with that, because we can't do everything, so it's going to be less targeted application than I usually would give in a message. And that's okay, because you have the opportunity to hear from the Lord, and I want to encourage you to invest some time to allow the Lord to speak these things to you further and to minister to your hearts.

Now, one other element that I hadn't planned on until Lena messaged me today and said, hey, what if we did a Q&A and, you know, give people opportunity? And she said, because she has questions. And so I'm going to try to set up something this week so that you can send in questions. And then on Wednesday evenings, we'll answer questions for the previous chapters and the current chapters.

and just try to address some of the things that might still be a mystery and maybe need some further exploring. And so you can look forward.

For that coming up this week, hopefully I'll get that set up and send out a notice of how that you can send in questions if you have them. And it'll be an exciting time to work our way through the book of Revelation together. Well, tonight we're going to look at chapters 1 through 3. And let's begin, though, by just looking at verses 1 through 3 of Revelation chapter 1. So hopefully you're there. Revelation chapter 1, here's what it says in verses 1 through 3.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants, things which must shortly take place. And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw. 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 now.

near. Let's pray. Lord, as we consider your word this evening, I pray, God, that you would minister to our hearts. Lord, in the midst of all the things that are happening around us, in spite of the things that are happening, Lord, in our nation and in our capital, Lord, you're still on the throne, and you have some important things that you want us to consider. Lord, you want our full and undivided attention. You want our hearts to be sold out for you and ready to hear from you.

And so, God, I pray as we work our way through the book of Revelation tonight and over the coming weeks, Lord, that you would quicken our heart, that you would stir up an excitement within us about you, our relationship with you, and your soon return. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as we work our way through the book of Revelation, we'll be looking at some overviews of the chapter and giving some outlines. And so here's the first one in Revelation chapter 1.

Each chapter I'll share a key verse, and so the key verse of Revelation chapter 1 is verse 1, which says, Here we get the introduction, and the book is named here, The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Now, the word revelation, it means unveiling. It means something that is being revealed.

You could think of it like the pulling back of a curtain. Or when they're about to show off a brand new work of art, there's a curtain or a blanket, a linen over the piece of art, and then it is unveiled. And the work of art is able to be seen as the wrapper is removed. Or maybe just a couple weeks ago,

I forget the dates. Okay, it's only one week ago, two weeks ago. Yeah, Christmas, you got to unveil, right? You got the revelation of what your Christmas present was. You got to tear off the wrapping paper and see what was inside.

And that's what this book is. And that's interesting because many times the book of Revelation is looked at as so mysterious, you know, and so unapproachable, so impossible to understand. But the book is meant to be a revelation and uncovering a revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ and his plans for the things that are to come.

And so this chapter is broken down into four parts. Blessed is he who reads this prophecy in verses 1 through 3. John introduces himself and the seven churches that are in Asia in verses 4 through 8. And then he explains what happened. I heard a loud voice behind me in verses 9 through 11. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet there in verses 12 through 21. Now to touch on these a little bit.

In verses 1 through 3, we see that there is not only the introduction, but also the promise of blessing. Blessed is he who reads those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near. Whether or not you're excited about the book of Revelation and spending some time in it, you need to know there is a blessing that Jesus promises to those who spend time in this book.

And although it is a revealing and an unveiling, it doesn't mean that everything is easy to understand. It doesn't mean that everything is perfectly crystal clear. It doesn't mean that it's all straightforward and we don't have to consider anything or work through, you know, some thoughts and challenges and do cross-references. And it doesn't mean that it all comes easy. But for those who will spend the time and read through the book,

For those who will spend the time and listen to the book or listen to the book being taught, for those who take these words to heart and allow them to impact the way that they live, the Lord says there's a blessing for you. And so I want to encourage you to be blessed. Let's start off 2021 blessed by spending time here in the book of Revelation. Well, again, John introduces himself there in verse 4.

He says, John, to the seven churches which are in Asia. And so we're looking at this vision, this book that John wrote down, and this is the Apostle John. He at this time, as he's writing this, is pretty much the last of the apostles. Those original 12 disciples of Jesus who later were called apostles as the Lord sent them out.

They've all died. They've been martyred for the most part. And now John is the final one. He's the one who lasted beyond all of the rest. This is probably happening around 70 years after John began to follow Jesus. That's the wrong slide there. Here it is.

Here is the timeline of the Apostle John. If you look back in the timeline in the book of Acts and the Gospels, it's probably around 28 AD or so that John began to follow Jesus. And Jesus called him. He saw him, you know, there with the nets. And he said, hey, come follow me. I'll make you a fisher of men. And so John begins to follow Jesus.

About 32 AD, Jesus is crucified and resurrected, and so you have that time with Jesus that John had. And then, of course, Jesus ascends into heaven and sends out the apostles and says, hey, go make disciples of all the nations. And so for the past many years now, John has been about that business. He's been doing that work.

Later on in his life, as he gets older, he begins to write some of the things that we are familiar with as far as the Apostle John is concerned. The Gospel of John, around 85 AD. He wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, probably around 90 AD. And the latest book, the last book written in the Bible, the last of John's works, is the book of Revelation, probably taking place around 97 AD.

AD, and tradition tells us that John died in Ephesus around 100 AD. So you do some math in all of this, estimating that John was maybe about 20, 25 years old when he began to follow Jesus. At this time, as he is receiving this vision and writing these things down, John is probably about 90 or 95 years old.

And so much time has passed for him individually, but the church as well has been developing and the churches have been spreading and more churches have been planted. And so the Lord has been doing a work through all this time. And yet at the same time, the church is in trouble and really needs some words from the Lord. And so the Lord chooses John.

Here in his old age, they're isolated on the island of Patmos, and he says, John, you need to send a letter to the churches. And so in verse 4, he's addressing it to these seven churches. These are seven churches that existed in Asia Minor. We'll see that in just a moment, and we'll dig more into these churches in a little bit as we head into chapters 2 and 3. So John introduces himself.

He addresses the churches, and then he begins to tell them what took place. I heard a loud voice behind me. Kind of makes me crack up a little bit. Jesus snuck up behind John in this vision. He says in verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet.

And so the Lord comes behind him and blows a trumpet. And so now I don't have to apologize to Pastor Sisko when I sneak up behind him and make a loud noise because I'm just trying to be like Jesus. And so that's, you know, something I'll continue to work on, Pastor Sisko. You can look forward to that.

But he sneaks up behind John and he begins to address him. He begins to talk to him and tell him about the things that he needs to send to the churches and also the things that are to come in the rest of the revelation that we'll see in the coming chapters.

Now, all of this is taking place, he explains in verse 9, on an island called Patmos. Here's a quick geography look at that. So there in the Mediterranean Sea, if you look at the bottom of that map, you can barely see Caesarea. That's the very northern end of Israel there. You can see the Sea of Galilee a little bit there. And so that's the...

northern end of Israel down there, and then of course you have the Mediterranean Sea and all of the Roman Empire above that. And so Ephesus was a place that John spent much time, and later on we'll go back to, and he will die there in Ephesus. But at this moment, he's on the island of Patmos, which is just off the shore there a little bit, and he is there on this deserted island as a result of

attacks from the Roman Empire. And John here is being persecuted for his faith. Look at verse 9 at the end. It says, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. And so John here is there because of his testimony of Jesus Christ, because of the word of God. Tradition tells us that

Before this, Rome tried to kill John with boiling oil, but he survived that. And so again, this is very late in his life. All of the other apostles have died or been put to death for their faith. They tried to put John to death for his faith with boiling oil, but it was unsuccessful. He didn't die. And so then they went to plan B and banished him to this deserted island called Patmos.

And isn't it interesting, you know, as the enemy is coming against and trying to defeat the work of John and the service of John unto the Lord, it's there on this island of Patmos that the Lord gives him this incredible vision, the revelation, the final closing book of the scriptures, and

that gives us all of the details that we need for the events that are to come. And so even as the enemy works and attacks and fights, the Lord is able to do good things and to bring about good in the midst of it. And so John's banished here to the island of Patmos. He's there by himself and the Lord appears to him and says, "'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.'"

And here as Jesus appears to him, there's some great correlations to where the Father has said, you know, similar things. I am the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega. And we can look at and kind of cross-reference those things and understand that Jesus is equal to the Father. He and the Father are one, not the same person, but one God, again, in that triune nature of God.

And Jesus here explains the purpose right off the bat. In verse 11, he says, what you see, write in a book. And so John writing down the book of Revelation is a direct obedience to the command of Jesus. I want you to write these things down, not for your own records, not just for your own personal private journal or diary. He says, and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia. Jesus says, I want you to record these things, and then I want you to get the word out.

Again, this is important to understand because the book of Revelation is intended by the Lord for the churches to read, for the churches to consider and to meditate on. And these specific churches, again, we'll cover more as we get into chapters 2 and 3. But the point to start with here is that the Lord wants the churches to know. He commanded John. He brought about this whole circumstance, this whole vision here.

so that the churches could know the things that are written in this book. Well, in verses 12 through 20, John says, Verses 12 through 16 give this description of the vision of Jesus that John has. Verse 12,

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. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars out of his mouth,

I'm sorry, out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. Now, this is John who spent three years with Jesus as a disciple. It's John who, you know, saw Jesus even after he had resurrected and watched him ascend to the Father. But this is a new example.

vision of Jesus. This is a new way that John has not seen Jesus before. Here, he gets to see the glorified Jesus. I guess he did see him in a similar capacity on the Mount of Transfiguration, right? And so he sees this person of Jesus in his glory, his head and hair white like wool. His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

He has these different elements trying to describe. And this is one thing that we often run into with these kinds of visions as we spend time considering heaven and eternity. There's this poetic language, these descriptions that are given that are not...

meant to be, you know, exactly literal in the sense, you know, he says his feet were like fine brass, right? They weren't brass, but it was like that. Try to picture, you know, this most beautiful brass that you can see. That's what his feet were like. His voice was like the sound of many waters, this booming voice, this roaring voice. And so John's trying to kind of capture the essence of what he's experiencing here in this vision of Jesus.

It's interesting to consider the vision that Daniel has of the Lord in Daniel chapter 10. There's a lot of similarities in the descriptions. You can check out Daniel chapter 10, verse 5 and 6 to see Daniel's description as the Lord appears to him.

Now, some of these things, as we look at them, there's all of these different elements in this vision of Jesus, and we can try to consider each one. I'm not going to do that this evening, but there's, you know, interesting things to consider as he highlights these different aspects of the Lord. But one thing I do want to point out is in verse 20, he explains some of the

symbolism that is here. In verse 20, it says, And so he has this vision of Jesus, and he's amongst these seven golden lampstands. And perhaps John was wondering, what does all this mean?

And what are these lampstands? And so Jesus here is giving him some insight and saying, here's what that meant. Here's what that vision means and giving him the key. And I think this is important to consider because when we have the scripture reveal the mystery or the explanation of a symbol or a type or the explanation of a parable as you look at the gospels,

That is, you know, when it's concrete and clear and we can know for sure. As you look at the different aspects of Jesus, there's a lot of things that we could consider and speculate about, but we, you know, may not be able to have the certainty that we have here. And so Jesus says, I want you to know this. Look, I am there in the midst of the church, and in my hand are the angels of the seven churches. The angel, the word angel, it means messenger.

And so there's some discussion about this, and you can discuss it amongst yourselves if you'd like. Is Jesus saying that there is an angel that is assigned to each of these churches, and so each church has their guardian angel, it might be. But it would seem like what the Lord is saying here is that he's addressing the leaders of these churches. The word angel means messenger.

And so he could be addressing the messengers of the seven churches. The one who will, so picture kind of what the Lord is saying here. John, write these things down, send it to the church so that the messenger of the church can deliver to the church the message that I have for them.

And so the Lord could be handing this down to the pastors of these churches for them to relay the message to the church itself so that they could hear what it is that the Lord has for them. Well, another really important verse here in Revelation chapter 1 is verse 19 because this gives us an outline of the book of Revelation.

Revelation 119, he says, Here we get a quick kind of rough outline of the whole book of Revelation. It's divided into three parts. Write the things which you have seen, that's the past. Write the things which are, that's the present. And then write the things which will take place after this.

And so he wants John to capture the past, the present, and the future related to this vision that the Lord is giving to him.

The things that are past, we find that in Revelation chapter 1. He's had this vision. He's had this encounter with the Lord Jesus. It's past at this point. And Jesus says, write that down. Don't miss out. Don't forget about, you know, chapter 1, how this all began. So write that down. And then write the things which are. And for that, we would look at Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

In Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus is going to write a personal letter to each of these seven churches that he's been referring to.

And those are churches that were in existence right then. That was the present for John. They were those churches, you know, just on the mainland, far from him. And so the Lord wanted to get this message to those churches right then. It was a message that they needed to hear right at that time as the Lord was giving John this vision. But then there were things that were not yet taking place, the future things, the things which will take place now.

after this. And this is an important aspect of the book of Revelation. God wants us to know about future events. He wants us to know not everything, not every detail and not exact timings, but there's a lot of things that he wants us to know about the things that are to come. And so he says, "...write the things which will take place after this."

Again, jumping back to verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. God has his eye on the future, and he says, I want you to capture these things so that my servants, so that the churches, so that my people can understand and know about the things that are to come, the things which must shortly take place.

And perhaps you're asking, what are the things which must shortly take place? Well, I'm so glad you asked because I have a little list here of some of those things. Sometimes I call this God's to-do list. As you look at God's prophetic timeline in the various things that he's prophesied throughout history, so many prophecies have been fulfilled.

But there's a few that are outstanding. And so these are the things which must shortly take place. The rapture of the church. That has not happened, but it is something that will happen. It's something that is foretold in the scriptures.

hinted at in many different passages, but spoken of directly by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and elsewhere, we can see this understanding that we will be, the church will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and then to forever be with the Lord. And so that is an unscheduled event as far as we're concerned.

The Lord knows the day and the hour, but we don't know it. There's no timeline. There's no exact dates to be set. There is just the constant expectation of the return of Jesus Christ. Well, then you have the seven years of tribulation.

And the seven years of tribulation we'll spend a lot of time on because the bulk of the book of Revelation is about those seven years of tribulation. Chapters 6 through 18, we're going to dig into those things and see a lot of the details about what's going to happen. But it is going to be a time where the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth like the world has never seen before. And so the wrath of God is going to be unleashed. The first three and a half years are going to be bad because

But the last three and a half years are going to be exponentially worse even than the first three and a half years. And so that's often referred to as the Great Tribulation, that last half of those seven years. Well, also on the agenda is the return of Jesus Christ. This is the second coming of Jesus. The first coming of Jesus is when he was born of the Virgin Mary. We just celebrated Christmas and we're reminded of that first coming.

The rapture of the church happens where Jesus doesn't actually come to the earth, but he comes almost to the earth. He's in the atmosphere. It says we meet him in the heavens or in the clouds. And so that's not the second coming of Jesus. The second coming of Jesus is at the end of the tribulation period where he actually sets foot on the earth, on the Mount of Olives, and there will establish his kingdom. And that brings us to the next thing, 1,000-year reign of Christ.

Also known as the millennium.

This is going to be a thousand years where the earth is going to be restored, where everything will be different. There's going to be so much change. The wolf and the lamb will lie down together. Kids will be playing with, you know, snakes that previously would have freaked parents out. But it's all safe now because there's going to be a renewal of the earth and the things that the Lord had in place, similar to what we saw back in the Garden of Eden.

During this time, there will be people who survive the tribulation period, and they will enter into the millennium, and they will live out what you might call normal lives. Now,

It might not be exactly like what we have experienced as normal lives, but normal lives. They will provide for themselves. They will get married and raise families and move to different locations and learn different trades. And they'll be worshiping the Lord. There will be a time of, it's called forced righteousness. Righteousness.

where everybody will be required, as the Lord reigns, to be obeying God. And so it's going to be a time of peace. It's going to be a time of rest. It's going to be a time where the earth is refilled and rejuvenated and repopulated. It's going to be a beautiful time. And many Old Testament passages really go into some really good pictures of what this time is going to be like.

During this thousand-year reign of Christ, Satan is bound. And I always like to consider that because it's important to remember that Satan is not God's equal. He's not the equal of Jesus.

He's not, you know, an equal opponent that, you know, it's like always back and forth. You hope the good will win, but you know, you never quite know. No, during this time, Satan is bound. God has full control over Satan, and he is able to lock him away so that he has no influence upon the earth during this thousand years.

But at the end of that thousand years, you have the final rebellion of Satan, where he's released. And the scriptures are quite clear. He is released from the bottomless pit at that time. He doesn't escape, right? He doesn't figure out some way to dig through the walls and get out. But he is released by the Lord to have one last opportunity to rebel and to give the people who are in the millennium hope.

one opportunity to rebel against the Lord. And so similar to Adam and Eve having the opportunity to rebel against the Lord in the Garden of Eden, God will give the people of the millennium this opportunity. And if they want to reject his lordship and his kingdom, then they will have this opportunity here in the final rebellion of Satan. But it's not going to last long, of course. And the Lord puts a stop to that final rebellion. We'll see that as we get further along in Revelation.

After that comes the great white throne judgment.

This is the final judgment for unbelievers. And Satan and his demons will be cast into the lake of fire. Anyone who is not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. And that will be the end of all sin, the end of all rebellion against God. It will be that permanent resolution to all of those things. And then God will take us into a new life.

Fresh experience with him in eternity. A new Jerusalem, a new heavens, a new earth. And again, we'll consider these things again at the end of Revelation.

And so these are the things which must shortly take place. There's a lot there. There's some interesting things there. There's fascinating things there. There's things that we know nothing about there. And so there's a lot to explore and enjoy. But it's important to have a good grasp of what these things are and the sequence of these things to help us keep straight in our mind and our understanding some of the things that the Lord says about these coming events and to not get confused or, you know,

worked up over situations that happen that make us panic and think, well, maybe Jesus did return and the rapture didn't happen and that kind of stuff. We need to understand these are the things that God has declared and we'll spend a lot of time here in Revelation working through these things to better establish these elements of the future for us.

Well, again, these things are not just for seminaries and Bible colleges and, you know, Bible students and those who really want to dig in. Jesus is telling John, write all these things down and send it to the seven churches. And so that brings us now to Revelation chapter 2 and 3. In Revelation chapter 2 and 3, Jesus writes letters to each of these churches.

Now, just to give you an idea about where these churches are, it's very similar to where John has been. So here's this map again. Again, you can see Caesarea there at the bottom, and that is the very northern tip of Israel. And then you have the Mediterranean Sea. And then up on the top left, you have what was known as Asia. Now, that's not the continent of Asia, but we often refer to it as Asia Minor, where

And so this was an area in the Roman Empire that was profitable, that there was a lot of population there. And so there was some really big cities, Ephesus being one of them, and important places of travel as people would go back and forth through them. And so there was a lot of churches in this region, but the Lord identified seven that he wanted to write to.

And so looking at this upper left corner there, these are the churches, this is the area that God is addressing. And so he's going to be writing to these seven churches, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Now again, John spent a lot of time in Ephesus. He's going to go back to Ephesus after he gets off of Patmos. And so he was familiar with that. He may have been familiar with the other churches,

cities and the other churches, we don't really know, but the Lord's familiar with them, and he knows exactly what they need to hear. And so he's writing something to each one of them. Now, as we consider Revelation chapters 2 and 3 tonight, I would encourage you to consider that these chapters are the most important chapters in the book of Revelation for us today.

I know we look at the book of Revelation and perhaps like, you know, you're excited and like you're kind of chomping at the bit, like you want to jump into all of those future things that I just kind of listed through and highlighted. And let's get all the details and figure out all the mysteries. And all of those things about prophecy can be very exciting. But first, God says, I want to do some work in your heart.

Before you get to all the future stuff, before you get carried away with, you know, all of the speculation and all the ways that these things might be fulfilled, he says, first, I want to address you where you're at in your relationship with me. And really, that's what Revelation chapter 2 and 3 are for. These are the most important chapters in the book of Revelation for us today.

And so we're starting out strong as we look at these chapters this evening, making sure that we spend time in these important things that the Lord has for us and the things he wants to say to our hearts. Now, as you look at these letters to each church, you can consider the application of them in several different ways.

First of all, there was the application to the actual church that existed back in 95 AD when John was writing this. Again, as I showed you the map, there was literal cities, actual churches that were there in those places that needed to hear the things that Jesus was writing to them right at that moment. It was a timely prophetic message from the Lord for them right then and right there.

But another aspect of this to consider is looking at the global church. If you look back over church history over the past several thousand years, there is perhaps some correlation to these seven churches and to basically, you know, kind of a general look at the church of the world in different time periods of history. And I'll show you a little bit more detail about that as we go.

But another application that is important for us to consider is individual churches today. So if Living Water is your home church, the Lord would speak to us, Living Water, through these letters to the seven churches. And perhaps we should spend some time considering and asking the Lord to show us where we fit and which one best describes us as a church and where we're at and

help us identify what it is that we need to hear from him today as a church. But the fourth application, of course, is the personal application. And each of these letters we can look at and consider. I would suggest to you, for the most part, I would say as Christians, we are likely going to be one of these seven churches at some point in our Christian life.

That, you know, as we're walking with the Lord, it's not always, you know, that we are on the highest point, on our, you know, best relationship with the Lord, in, you know, full force walking with him. There's going to be highs and lows in our relationship with God. And at different times, we're going to need to hear different things from the Lord. And I would suggest that we could identify with each of these churches at various times in our Christian life.

And that might be interesting to consider as you look back at your own history as a Christian. But of course, the most important thing to consider is, okay, that's where I was. Those are things I went through, but where am I today? And I would encourage you to spend some time seeking the Lord on that. That you would look at these letters to the seven churches and ask the Lord to show you which one best fits with you and where you are.

And it's not just that, you know, it's a good description and, you know, now we don't know what to do with it. The Lord addresses the situation of each of the churches and then he tells them what they need to do in light of where they're at.

And so we have some very great personal instruction from the Lord for us as we find ourselves in various situations that we can turn to and understand, here's what the Lord wants of his church, of Christians who are in these various conditions. Well, I'm going to kind of look at these two chapters briefly in looking at the outline, and then we'll come back and consider a little bit more detail. So Revelation chapter 2 is first, of course. The key verse is verse 11.

It says, Now as Jesus declares this in Revelation 2, verse 11, he gives similar exhortations to each of the churches. Every church has a he who has an ear, let him hear statement. And so you can see that, again, the Lord is very interested in

In Christians who are willing to receive from him, to receive these things, do you have an ear? Do you want to hear what the Lord is saying? And Jesus is calling us to listen to what he has to say. There's also the promise to those who overcome.

And this is another consistent thing in all of the churches, that there is this promise for those who overcome. There's going to be challenges. There's going to be opposition to your Christian faith and to your walk with the Lord. But if you overcome your condition, where you're at, and the repentance that's needed, if you overcome the opposition from the world around you, if you push past all those things and stay faithful to

to the Lord through the midst of it, he says, you won't be hurt by the second death. Now, the second death will be dealt with a little bit later on, but it's a call to the great white throne judgment. The second death is being cast into the lake of fire. And so Jesus says, look, if you overcome, then you won't be hurt by the second death. You won't be cast into the lake of fire. You will spend eternity with God.

Well, the first letter he writes is in verses 1 through 7. He writes to Ephesus, and the summary of that letter is, And so they were a church that were faithful to the Lord in many ways, but not faithful in their love for the Lord. Then Smyrna, he writes to in verses 8 through 11,

The Lord encourages them, be faithful until death. They were suffering. There was great persecution. And God encourages them, hold fast. Don't give up. Be faithful, even if it costs you your life. Then he writes to Pergamos in verses 12 through 17. And he tells Pergamos, repent, or I will come and fight against you. And there's some strong warning there that the Lord gives them.

And then in verses 18 through 29, you get the letter to Thyatira, the longest letter of these seven letters. And he tells them it's time to repent. Thyatira, I've been patient. I've been putting up with all of your rebellion. There's not time left. Right now, this moment, it's time to repent. It's time to get right with God. Well, then Revelation chapter three, the key verse is verse six. Again, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The Lord says it over and over again in each of these letters. He wanted Ephesus to hear what he had to say to them. But again, he's addressing all the churches in each letter. He wants Ephesus also to read the letter to Pergamos. He wants you and I to read these letters and to listen to what he has to say. Some valuable things that the Lord has for us in chapters 2 and 3. Well, in chapter 3, verses 1 through 6, we get the Lord's letter to Sardis.

And he tells them, you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. You're alive in reputation only, but you have dead religion and not an actual relationship with me. Then he writes to the Church of Philadelphia, verses 7 through 13.

To this church, he says, I've set before you an open door. Now, Philadelphia is a church that doesn't receive rebuke. It's just commendation and exhortation from the Lord. And as we read through these things, we all want to identify with the church of Philadelphia, right? As we think about, okay, which of these churches am I? You know, which of these churches is living water? And, you know, we just kind of, there's this gravitational pull to Philadelphia. All right, we're Philadelphia. That's great.

And if we are, then that's great. But we need to be open and honest and allow the Lord to show us if that's not where we are and allow the Lord to lead us to work towards being more like the church of Philadelphia. Well, then you have the church of Laodicea in verses 14 through 22. And God gives them pretty much a strong message saying, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

This is the lukewarm church, and God doesn't like lukewarm Christianity. And so he says, you make me sick, and I will vomit you out of my mouth. Now again, as we consider these things, it's important to understand them in a variety of different contexts. We need to understand them in the context of the actual churches that Jesus was writing to.

And, you know, that's not something that we can get into detail with in our service tonight, but that is something you can dig into in looking at some of these churches and considering what the Lord said, understanding some of the background and some of the context of the history that was happening there in 95 A.D.

Then there's the global church. I'll talk about that in just a moment. Different times in church history. Individual churches today need to consider these things and then ourselves personally need to consider these things.

Well, here's a quick look at the church age and church history, a very broad stroke, of course. But this is what is seen by many as a parallel to the letters to the seven churches. And there's some interesting things to consider in this.

This isn't directly stated by the Lord that this is an outline of all church history. So there's room for discussion. There's room for differences and changes and the Lord showing something different at some point in the future. But there is some interesting correlations and corresponding things with these different times of history and these seven churches. And so essentially the idea is this.

Each letter represents a portion of the history of the church as a whole, starting at 32 AD up until the tribulation period.

And the letters are in order of those time periods. And so you would look at the church of Ephesus and then look at 32 to about 100 AD and say, wow, this time period of history is really interesting and corresponds with the state of the church, the condition of the church in those early days of the church, which is interesting to consider. Because, of course, we do see a lot of similarities in the letters that are written throughout the New Testament and

the issues that were happening within the church that, generally speaking, during that time period, there was a lot of religion, but there was a disconnect to the relationship to God. And although they were faithful in many ways, they had left their first love.

Now, again, interesting to consider because this is the early church, right? 32 AD, that's when Jesus is crucified, resurrected. And so it's, you know, within that first hundred years, the church already has had some issues with staying faithful in their walk with the Lord and being faithful to love the Lord in that relationship.

Well, then you have the church of Smyrna, which would range from about 100 to 300 AD. Now, again, these are just rough estimates. Again, none of this is, you know, the word of the Lord. It's just some interesting corresponding things. The church went through, during that time period, some very severe persecution, and

And so the persecuted church there in Smyrna is a good picture perhaps of the Christians, generally speaking, during that time period and the message that the Lord would have for them.

Well, then you have the Church of Pergamos, and this was a church that had compromised and was corrupt in many ways, and so there's some corresponding elements to that in 300 to 500 A.D.,

again, not getting into all of the details, there's some considerations of, you know, the Catholic Church, the Reformation, you know, all of those things that could be factored into this church age and church time period. Now, if you want to dig into church history, that's, you know, something that...

many people get excited about. And so there's opportunity to do that. There's resources to do that if you want to kind of explore these things further and if you're a history buff. Well, the last four churches are interesting because each of them are a little bit different than the previous three in that, you know, they extend to the end. They extend to the tribulation or the rapture of the church as you look at this. And

To me, that's what makes this interesting as you look at these history things, but also maybe not super meaningful. Because if Thyatira exists until the tribulation and Laodicea exists to the tribulation, that doesn't necessarily give us an indication of where we are in the timeline, right? And so instead, what it speaks is really the personal application, that understanding

We can be any of these churches at this time, in the present right now, because these churches exist until the tribulation and

the rapture. And the reason why you would understand that is because some of the texts that is in there, some of the things that the Lord says, and we'll see that as we look a little bit further in the individual churches. But so you have Thyatira, which maybe began around 500 AD and continues on into the tribulation. And then Sardis, and

beginning around 1500 AD, continuing into the tribulation. Philadelphia, beginning around 1700 AD, and not going into the tribulation, God says he will spare them from the hour of trial that is to come upon the whole earth. And so that would be looked at as the rapture of the church. And then Laodicea, which would be around 1900 AD, perhaps,

through the tribulation period. And so interesting things to consider. Again, perhaps interesting to you and you want to dig into that further, there's church history and things that you can research or you can look up these things and dig into them yourself. So there is the global church at a particular time. There's the literal church that was there in 95 AD.

There's individual churches today, but then our own selves. And so I just want to spend the remainder of our time considering these seven churches and considering some of the things that the Lord might want to minister to us about. And so writing to the church of Ephesus, the summary of that is, you have left your first love. Verse 1 of chapter 2 says this,

Each of the churches that Jesus addresses, he includes an element of himself from the vision that he gave John in chapter 1. And here he reminds them that he is the one who is in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. He says, I want you to know I'm right there in the midst of the church.

To each of the churches also, Jesus says, I know where you're at. I know what's going on. In verse 2 here, in chapter 2, verse 2, it says,

You have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary. As he writes to Ephesus, he says, really good things. And it's like, so far, so good. These are really great things. And all of the things that they're faithful in are important things. They're doing good works. They're laboring hard for the Lord. They're enduring persecution and difficulty. They're not compromising. They're holding fast to sound doctrine. But if our Christian life only consists of these things,

then we are not where God wants us to be. And that's an interesting challenge to consider. I mean, if verses two and three describe our life to a T perfectly, but that's all of our spiritual life, then we're not where God wants us to be. Verse four, the Lord says, nevertheless, I have this against you that you have left your first love. If we have those things described in verse two and three, then all we have is religion. If we don't have verse four described,

A loving relationship with God. And so the Lord, speaking to Christians who used to be close to God in that personal and loving relationship, they used to be there. They had that love one time, but they've left that love. And so to Christians who used to be close to God in that way,

The Lord says, And so, something to consider for you this evening. If you are really well-fitting in verses 2 and 3, you really do great things for the Lord, you work hard for the Lord, you endure, you have good doctrine, but if you're lacking that love relationship of God,

The Lord says to you, remember from where you've fallen. Go back and learn how to walk with the Lord in love. It's similar to what Pastor Sisko was sharing a little bit earlier. Is he your teacher only and not your God? We need to learn not to just be religious, but to really know the Lord and love him. Well, writing to the Church of Smyrna, again, the summary of that is be faithful until death. Jesus says in verse 8,

These things, says the first and the last, who was dead and came to life. To the church that is suffering greatly, that is being persecuted and people are being put to death for their faith in Christ, Jesus says, remember who I am. I am the first and the last. That person who persecutes you, they don't get the last say. Even if they put you to death, I'm the last.

I get the last say. I'm the end, and I was dead, and I came to life. I have the power to give life, and I will give you everlasting life. He tells the church again in verse 9, I know your works, your tribulation, your poverty.

I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. I know what you're going through, Jesus says. It may feel like I'm far away, that I don't understand. You're suffering greatly, and in times of suffering, it's easy to feel like God is so distant. But Jesus gives some details here. I know exactly what you're going through. I know exactly the hardship and the heartache that you're experiencing.

And so what does the Lord say to Christians who are suffering greatly and seeking to be faithful? Verse 10, here's the Lord's message to them. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation 10 days. Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life.

Jesus says, if you're suffering greatly, if this is where you are and this is the place where you're at in your walk with the Lord, Jesus says, don't fear those things that you're about to suffer. You got this. I'm with you. It's for a limited time, 10 days. Be faithful even if it costs you your life and I will give you the crown of life. There's gonna be great reward. You be faithful to me. Well, then to the church of Pergamos.

Summarizing it, it says, In verse 12, he says, Remember, I have a sword. I'm not just loving Jesus who came in a manger, but I also am the one who will bring judgment. And the church of Pergamos is a church that needs to repent or it will be judged. Again, verse 13, he says, Again,

I know what's going on. And you have these faithful people in your midst. But verse 14, I have a few things against you. Because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat being sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. You also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I hate. Jesus says you have some real problems concerning doctrine.

And your doctrine, the bad doctrine that you're teaching and holding onto and allowing in your midst is causing or allowing for this sinful behavior that is going on. And so there's some real issues here. And so verse 16, he says, repent or else I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Now they are a church who will not deny Jesus. They're trying to still claim the name of Jesus,

but they keep on allowing this bad doctrine and sinful behavior in their midst. And so here's the message of the Lord. To Christians who will not deny Jesus, but keep on practicing sin. Again, is that a place where you find yourself? Does that accurately describe your walk with the Lord, your spiritual life? You want to hold on to the name of Jesus. You call yourself a Christian. You consider yourself to be a Christian, but you keep on practicing sin and holding on to bad doctrine.

Jesus says, repent or I will come quickly and I will fight against you with the sword of my mouth. And so if that's you, listen to the words of Jesus. You need to repent, correct your doctrine, correct your behavior, bring it in line with what the Lord wants. Well, then to Thyatira,

The summary is, it's time to repent. Now, this is the longest of the letters. We're not going to dig into the details here. But here the Lord tells them in verse 20, I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent."

And so you're allowing this, again, situation, bad doctrine, which turns into bad behavior. And I've been patient. This isn't something new. This has been going on for a while. I've been sending warnings. I've been sending messengers. I've given time to repent, but she has not repented. This is a corrupt church that has been practicing sin for a long time. And so Jesus, looking at Christians who have been corrupted, Christians who have been practicing sin for a long time, who've heard lots of warnings from the Lord, says,

calls to change and calls to repent. Here's what the Lord would say in verse 22. Indeed, I will cast her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation unless they repent of their deeds. He's giving one last chance. I've given time to repent and you've refused. Now, this is it. This is the last chance. And maybe even just speaking prophetically, I don't know where you are with the Lord and where the Lord is with you, but

Perhaps for you right now, listening to this, this is your last chance. This is your last opportunity to repent and get right with God. To Christians who are practicing sin and they've been in that sin for a long time, the Lord says, all right, you got one last chance.

There's going to be judgment unless you repent. It's time right now. Today is the day. Not later, not tomorrow, not after, you know, the next season or the next party or, you know, whatever it is. Right now, turn and get right with the Lord. Well, to the church of Sardis, now in chapter 3, verses 1 through 6, the summary is you have a name that you're alive, but you are dead. Again, he says in verse 1, I know your works.

And what do I know about you? He says, you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. The other churches around Sardis think, wow, Sardis is great, man. They're on fire. They love God. They're serving God. They're faithful. God says, I've heard all those rumors too, but I know the truth. I see your heart and you're dead. You don't have spiritual life. You're not walking with me. And so the Lord speaks to the church of Sardis. He speaks to Christians who have a good reputation in

but are dead inside, dead spiritually. He says in verse 3, A great allusion there to the rapture of the church. He's saying, look, it's time for you to turn back, to repent. Hold fast, he says, and repent, or you won't be included in the rapture.

And so to Christians who have a good reputation and we're focused on the external, but we're dead in our spiritual life. We used to have life. He says, remember how you have received and heard. Go back and remember how you used to know me and have spiritual life and go back and live that life again with me. Hold fast and repent, he says, or you're gonna miss out when the Lord returns for his church. You're gonna be left behind. You have a good reputation. Everybody thinks you're great, but I see the heart.

You're dead. Well, verses 7 through 13 give us the church of Philadelphia. The summary is, I've set before you an open door. Again, this is the church that everybody wants to be.

This is the church that is good and serving the Lord. Verse 8, I know your works. I've set before you an open door that no one can shut. You have a little strength. You've kept my word and have not denied my name. Jesus is saying, good job. You don't have the biggest buildings or the greatest prophets or whatever. You have a little bit of strength, but you've held fast to my word. You've not denied my name. Good job.

What does the Lord say to Christians who are faithfully serving God? He says, verse 11, Jesus says, finish well.

Finish well. Hold fast what you have. You're almost there. You're almost to the end. Hold fast. Don't swerve. Don't change. And this is an important exhortation. As we're going through the Old Testament again, we're going to see many people, many of the Old Testament saints were faithful to God for many years and then in the end really stumbled and made some serious mistakes and even departed from the Lord. And there's a great need for us to hold fast what we have.

We can get comfortable and complacent in the things that we have and loosen our relationship with God and our faithfulness to God. And God says, no, no, don't do that. I've set before you an open door. Keep going through, man. It's hard. Yes, you only have a little bit of strength, but stay faithful. Hold fast. Stay close to me. Keep serving me that no one may take your crown. Well, finally, the church of Laodicea, verses 14 through 22. The summary is, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

This is the lukewarm church. Verse 15, I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. I wish you were on fire for me, or I wish you were cold against me. And then that may sound a little bit strange, but the Lord wants us to be genuine in our relationship to him. And lukewarm is a disingenuine relationship to God.

Again, trying to hold on to the name of Christ, but not wanting to walk with God and behave in the way that he calls us to and to live the life that he has set before us. We want all the benefits of eternity, but we don't want any of the discipline of walking with him right now.

And the Lord says, look, it would be better because you're just deceiving yourself if you were just cold because you would know exactly where you're at. You wouldn't be confused and think that you're okay when you're really not. You would know and understand you're cold. I could wish you were cold or I could wish you were hot, one or the other, but lukewarm, oh no, that's the worst because you've just deceived yourself. And so I will vomit you out of my mouth. And so what does the Lord say to Christians who are lukewarm, who have one foot in the church and one foot in the world? Wishy-washy, in and out,

Party on Friday, church on Sunday, consumed with the world, consumed with sin, but still trying to come back and pretend like we know the Lord and love the Lord. Here's what the Lord says to lukewarm Christians. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent. Notice what he says. Get hot. I wish you were hot. So get hot, be zealous and repent.

In verse 20, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. Jesus says, look, it's not too late. You're lukewarm, that's disgusting, but it's not too late. You can get hot.

Be zealous, repent, I'm knocking on the door, answer it, and you will experience relationship with me. You will experience me. I'll come in and dine with you, and you with me. We will have a real relationship together. You'll hear from me, I'll hear from you. It's what you need. It's what God desires. Open the door. God's knocking. Be zealous and repent.

Well, these letters to the seven churches are powerful, man. There's so much that we could consider, but I think that's enough for today. It's enough for us to meditate on and allow the Lord to speak to us about.

And so as we begin this Revelation refresher series, we're here in chapters one through three tonight. Next week, we're going to look at chapters four and five of Revelation. And so if you want to dig in a little bit further in advance, start reading Revelation chapter four and five in preparation and be looking for, I'll send out a message about the Q&A opportunity. So if you have some questions, maybe from chapters one, two, and three, or some questions from chapter four and five, and you're

you want us to address them next Wednesday, we'll give you an opportunity to send those in and we'll discuss those and talk about them in the next service as well as Revelation chapter 4 and 5. Let's finish up with prayer. Lord, we thank you for your word. And there's so much here, Lord, because there's so much that we need to receive from you. So much, Lord, because we need you so greatly.

And you, Lord, speak words to us that are right and true, words that we need to hear, where we would love to live in our delusional fantasy in our minds. Lord, you break through that and you say, this is where you really are. I pray that you would help us, Lord, to be honest and open with you about our relationship with you. And Lord, to be receptive to the things that you want to highlight and the things that you want to say about our walk with you. I pray that you would speak to us, God, and I pray that you would help us

Let us have ears to hear what you say to the churches, Lord, that we might hold fast and overcome and experience the glories that you have promised to those who walk with you. We love you, Lord. We thank you for this opportunity to know you. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.