In chapter three, the instructions are given to John to write to the churches of Sardis, Philadelphia, and Leodicea. The church, the Lord say, at Sardis “has the reputation of being alive,” but he says they are dead. There is no other way to take this than that they have lost their zeal for the lord, and are not doing the work that the church is supposed to do.The church at Philadelphia gets little in the way of rebuke, but praise or their endurance, and a promise of protection “from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world.”

To the church at Laodicea, this famous passage is written: “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” This seems to say that they also are lacking in zeal.

Chapter four begins the visions with the 24 elders and the strange “living creatures.” It is here that we begin to caution the reader to be open to the possibility that some of the imagery may not be deep prophecy that unveils the secrets of the universe. Some of it may just be poetic imagery, such as was written in that time. The point of this chapter may well be that all creatures – both heavenly beings and creatures of all types, recognize that the Lord is the Holy one, and is worthy of our praise.

No matter what interpretation you give each of these eleven verses, keep in mind the original audience.  These were persecuted Christians, many of whom may have known people – even had loved ones – that had been killed because of their faith in the Lord.  But they were holding on to that faith while looking toward heaven.  Here, as instructed by the Lord in Revelation 1:10-11, John gives them a grand glimpse of that splendor in the sort of literary imagery that was common to their day.  In the middle of the Lord’s battle with Satan, John gets that look at the throne of our Creator in heaven, and the worship that He worthily receives there.

/Bob’s boy

Bible Reading Schedule for this month
Click links below to read or listen to audio of one of this week’s chapters in Colossians and Luke

Rev 3, Rev 4, Rev 5, Rev 6, Rev 7

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

Please visit this site’s menu item “The Author’s Books” for info on the author’s books, website, and Facebook page.

All of my comments in this blog are solely my responsibility. When reading any commentary, you should always refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word.

The book of Revelation is notoriously difficult to understand for a number of reasons. First, it is written as a poetic work, with much imagery. This presents great difficulties because so many people try to use the entire book as a guide to a very literal interpretation of modern events. Secondly, this type of imagery, while more familiar to people of the first century is very foreign to people today; and its inclusion in the New Testament (which is so reliably straightforward in most cases) seems even more confusing that it otherwise might. Third, while there are several references to Christ’s second coming, it is important to remember that John opened the book with the statement that this revelation of Jesus Christ was given “to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.”

Addressed to seven churches in Asia (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea), it had more than one purpose. But undeniably, one of those purposes was to give comfort to Christians in these and other places – Christians who had suffered and were still suffering great persecution because of their love for Jesus and their refusal to bow to those who would have them deny the Lord.

Contrary to what modern-day “prophets” would have you believe, these Christians were not concerned about what would happen in the middle east (or anywhere else) during the 20th and 21st centuries; and it is the height of insolence to think that half of such a book written for them would concern itself with events of our era. It is the opinion of this writer that other false prophets a century from now could easily use the same passages their peers use today to fit their own perception of world events. Don’t fall into that trap.

When you read a part of revelation that you are tempted to take literally, examine the surrounding passages, and ask yourself if that means you should take those other passages literally as well. Much error in teaching and understanding can be avoided this way.

In chapter 2, John is told what to write to four of the seven churches. He commends Ephesus for their endurance and for weeding out false teachers, but scolds them for having “abandoned the love you had at first.” This probably refers to the fact that they had lost their zeal for worship and teaching that had been strong before. He has words of comfort for those of Smyrna, while also warning that their persecution was about to become even greater.

For those at Pergamum, he has praise for holding fast, even though they are in the middle of the worst of evil. But some of their number have fallen into the teachings of the Nicolaitans, who he praised the Ephesians for holding in disdain. We know little about these Nicolaitans, other than the fact that they did not teach the truth. For the Thyatira church, he also begins with praise, but scolds them because some of their number had succumbed to the sexual immorality and false teaching of a woman named Jezebel, who represented herself as a prophetess.

/Bob’s boy

Bible Reading Schedule for this month
Click links below to read or listen to audio of one of this week’s chapters in Colossians and Luke

1 John 5, 2 John, 3 John, Rev 1, Rev 2

___________________

some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

Please visit this site’s menu item “The Author’s Books” for info on the author’s books, website, and Facebook page.

All of my comments in this blog are solely my responsibility. When reading any commentary, you should always refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word.