I know your troubles and your great poverty (even though you are rich in my eyes). I know that you are slandered by those who should be your brothers. I too have felt the brunt of lies and the hate of unjust accusations from those who profess to be the people of God, but who, in reality, serve Satan.
So listen very carefully to the eternal One. You will not be able to understand what I am about to tell you, or understand life at all, not your life, not the life of your church, not anyone’s life, if you do not understand these things in the context of eternity. Your life here, brief as it is, is set in eternity, and is significant within my eternal plan and purpose. This perspective will free you to see the events of your life through the truth of God and his word. I am telling you this to prepare your heart for faithful service to Me.
Message: “Smyrna: The Poor, Rich Church!” Message Text: Revelation 2:8-11
I am learning in this study to pay closer attention to how Jesus Christ identifies himself to each church before he gives them his evaluation. Here is how his communication in Revelation comes to us. Jesus Christ speaks, John writes it down and the Spirit speaks to the seven churches, and eventually to us. We have already seen also, that John was commanded to write down everything he saw, and that too was to be delivered to the seven churches.
So how did Christ identify himself to the church at Ephesus?
(Revelation 2:1 ESV) To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: “The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.”
When Jesus Christ identifies himself as the one talking, he describes himself differently to each church, but there is a common denominator: In some way he makes sure that they know that he knows what is going on in the life of that church. He tells them directly—“I know”—and then goes on in his evaluation. With the Ephesian church he develops this even more.
He has intimate knowledge of the life and the people of the church at Ephesus because he walks among the churches, surveying the landscape, taking the pulse, evaluating. Picture that for a moment, Christ visiting western Illinois and walking among the churches here.
We remember from Revelation 1:20 that the lampstands are the seven churches. But what does that mean? The lampstand was not the light, but the light holder. This is important. Two things: 1) The light is not the lampstand. The light, or lamp, is placed on the lampstand. 2) If there is no lampstand, then there is no place to put the light. If Christ removes their lampstand, he effectively removes the light of his presence from them.
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary tells us that a lampstand is a pillar, a tripod, or stand for supporting or holding a lamp. The churches were the light holders, lamp holders, vessels from which God would illumine himself, where he would place his light, his holy illumination, his holy fire. God would set his glory on the lampstand to illuminate the world around, to bring clarity, to pierce the darkness.
That is what light does. It clarifies, pierces the darkness, pushes away the shadows, allows us to see more clearly, removes ambiguity and gives us certainty about the truth of God and his word.
Let me give an example from the same author. The same John of the Revelation writes in 1 John:
(1 John 5:13 ESV) I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
That you may know. Clarity. In SS some time back we discussed the perspicuity of God in his word. Perspicuity refers to clearness of style or exposition, freedom from obscurity; something clearly expressed or presented; lucid, acute perception. God doesn’t stutter. He plainly speaks his truth to us in his word so we can know what we need to know.
So then if our purpose as a church is to be a lampstand from which God sheds his light onto the world, and if the purpose of the light is to clarify who he is and his creation of this world and the rebellion of humankind and the need for the forgiveness of sins and his eternal plan of salvation only through Jesus Christ and his divine purpose and everything else from Genesis to Revelation, then I hope that we can see that whether or not the pastors and teachers of a church are teaching or preaching from the Bible, that if they are not pursuing the glory of God, if they are not honoring God as God, if they are not clarifying the truth of God as to who he is, and the salvation he offers, and his eternal plan and purpose for the ages, then the light of God is gone from that church. Christ has removed the lampstand, and they are merely casting their own light.
REVELATION MESSAGE 4 –
Revelation-The Final Chapter of Preparation / Revelation 2 / 100916 AM
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Jesus Christ has intimate knowledge of the life and the people of the church at Ephesus because he walks among the churches, surveying the landscape, taking the pulse, evaluating. Picture that for a moment, Christ visiting western Illinois and walking among the churches here.
We remember from Revelation 1:20 that the lampstands are the seven churches. But what does that mean? The lampstand was not the light, but the light holder. This is important.
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary tells us that a lampstand is a pillar, tripod, or stand for supporting or holding a lamp. The churches were the light holders, lamp holders, vessels from which God would illumine himself, where he would place his light, his holy illumination, his holy fire. God would set his glory on the lampstand to illuminate the world around, to bring clarity, to pierce the darkness.
That is what light does. It clarifies, pierces the darkness, pushes away the shadows, allows us to see more clearly, removes ambiguity and gives us certainty about the truth of God and his word.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Let me give an example from the same author, the same John of the Revelation writes in 1 John:
(1 John 5:13 ESV) I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
That you may know. Clarity. In SS sometime back we discussed the perspicuity of God in his word. Perspicuity refers to clearness of style or exposition, freedom from obscurity; something clearly expressed or presented; lucid, acute perception.
So then if our purpose as a church is to be a lampstand from which God sheds his light onto the world, and if the purpose of the light is to clarify who he is and his creation of this world and the rebellion of humankind and the need for the forgiveness of sins and his eternal plan of salvation only through Jesus Christ and his divine purpose and everything else from Genesis to Revelation, then I hope that we can see that whether or not the pastors and teachers of a church are teaching or preaching from the Bible, that if they are not pursuing the glory of God, that if they are not clarifying the truth of God as to who he is, and the salvation he offers, and his eternal plan and purpose for the ages, then the light of God is not on their lampstand. He has removed himself from them, and they are merely casting their own light.
They are obscuring the truth of God and receiving glory from one another and not seeking the glory that comes from the only God! However, make no mistake: the spiritual dynamic, false or otherwise, in a church of thousands and ten thousands is powerful and soul stirring. The combined voices of thousands in worship and praise and testimony, the camaraderie of the human soul, the good intentions of good, moral people. Top it off with a polished, eloquent preacher sharing from the Bible. A very powerful witness. God must be here. But, no, this is a brightly shining light, but not the light of the glory of God.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
What a resume this church had! By any human measurement or observation, right up to the time of John’s writing now in Revelation, this appears to be a good, strong church. In fact, if you were to move to Ephesus around AD 90 and were looking for a new church home, you would be thrilled to find this church.
Their commitment to faithfulness and duty was reflected in the words of Christ himself. They worked hard and patiently endured. They exposed fake church leaders, endured suffering and hardship for Jesus’ sake and did not grow weary in well-doing.
Some kind of town! Some kind of church! Wow!
Except … they weren’t.
They were seriously flawed. So flawed, in fact, that they were in danger of losing their gospel witness. Why? They had forgotten what was most important.
Programming Note: I come to a place in our text where I ask–What is John going to see when he turns? And then I say something like … Not this … I am referring to an 8 1/2 X 11 printout I have of Warner Sallman’s “Head of Christ.” This is the very popular depiction that you have probably seen many times. I compare “that Jesus” … which was conceived in the mind of Warner Sallman in 1924 to our Lord “who is and who was and who is to come.” 🙂
What does Jesus look like now in heaven? And … what does it matter? And … Do you know that God gives us a very clear picture in Revelation of Jesus Christ?
We don’t have to guess …
(Revelation 1:12–18 ESV) 12Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Unfortunately many dismiss this as merely figurative and symbolic, but can we discuss this for a minute? 1) Isn’t this the description that God chose to put in his holy word? And, 2) Isn’t this the most lengthy and detailed description we have of Christ in the entire Bible? And, 3) Isn’t this description found in the very book of the Bible which proclaims its stated purpose at the very beginning to be “the revelation of Jesus Christ”?
Also, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, was very emphatic with the Apostle John. He was to write down everything he saw. This is what he wrote because this is what he saw because this is how Jesus Christ chose to reveal himself. How could we dismiss this very intentional revealing of Jesus Christ himself as merely symbolic or representative?
But we do. Many prefer the “Head of Christ” picture by Warner Sallman which originated in 1924 and then attained great popularity after it was colorized and promoted from 1940 on. Sallman’s work is Jesus to, I don’t think I would be exaggerating to say, millions. And don’t tell them otherwise.
But here in Revelation we don’t have the “pretty Jesus” that some have called Sallman’s painting which originated less than a century ago from his “mind’s eye.”
What we have in Revelation is the mind of God and the portrait that he chose to set before us in the context of this carefully chosen mission that he set out for the Apostle John. “Write down what you see and send it to the churches.”
Message: “The Jesus Christ God Wants You to Know!” Message Text: Revelation 1:1-20
Many over the years have spent their time and energy trying to identify the anti-christ. These people override God’s purpose with their own agenda, and the results are a foolish mixture of the weird and the heretical.
The revelation of Jesus Christ. This is so relevant to our times, as it has been outstandingly relevant for every generation of humans who have ever walked the planet.
We do not need to know who the anti-christ is, but we do need to know who the Christ is. I will repeat that. We do not need to know who the anti-christ is, but we do need to know who the Christ is.
Not the palatable Christ of your imagination or the compromised Christ of your pragmatic, sensible religion or the Christ for whom you have somehow generously found the time to carve out a small niche in your crowded, busy life. Not the Christ that keeps you in good standing in the community. Not the man upstairs. Not the abridged, edited version of some liberal theologian or college professor. And certainly not the image represented by some picture on the wall.
We need to know the revealed Christ, the One who is coming with the clouds, the Christ of glory, the Lamb who was slain and who will one day peal the seals away from the scroll of God’s terrible judgments and wrath.
No one other Christ will do. Revelation is all about revelation. The revealing of Jesus Christ, glorified and coming again.
Message: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ!” Message Text: Revelation 1:1-3
Do you ever wonder at times if we, as in God’s people, or at least those who profess to know God, ever listen to him?
We get something pretty unique in a study of Revelation. We get the central idea and God’s stated purpose within the first three verses.
The first three words of Revelation are: The apocalypse of Jesus Christ. Apocalypse meaning the revealing, unfolding, uncovering of Jesus Christ, not the meaning we usually attach to it. However, that meaning comes along as Jesus Christ is revealed and is seen as the One worthy to break the seals on the scroll that brings devastating judgment–aka apocalypse–on the this world.
Here is another starter point: So many people trying to identify the anti-Christ. But if we are paying attention to the words of God himself, he is telling us that this revelation is a revelation indeed. The revealing of the glorified Christ. Maybe we should make sure we know who the Christ is before we are too concerned about the anti-christ.
So much in this ending chapter of the story and drama of this world. Going from a study in Genesis to a study in Revelation seemed to me when the thought first floated through my consciousness a wild idea. But now … wow! I see God’s perfect timing.
