The Riddleblog

"To the Church in Laodicea" -- Letters to the Seven Churches (8) -- Revelation 3:14-22

A Stern Warning

The church in Laodicea thinks of itself as wealthy, very well-off, and without any apparent needs. But the reality is far different. While this congregation may have an exalted opinion of itself, Jesus describes this church in completely different terms: wretched, pitiful, poor, and naked. This church is lukewarm and is about to be spit out of Christ’s mouth. With these words of rebuke, the church in Laodicea joins the church in Sardis as the only two congregations among the seven addressed by our Lord which receive no word of praise. Instead, these two churches receive only a word of rebuke and a command to repent, lest they face Christ’s judgment.

With this letter we come to the end of John’s opening vision of the resurrected Christ which began in Revelation 1:12 and which ends in chapter three with Jesus’ words of encouragement, admonition, and rebuke to those congregations struggling to remain faithful in the face of paganism, persecution from the state, as well as from those Jews who lived in significant numbers in several of these cities.

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The Seven ChurchesKim RiddlebargerOctober 22, 2022The church in Laodicea, Lukewarm, Jesus tands at the doorComment

"To the Church in Philadelphia" -- Letters to the Seven Churches (7) -- Revelation 3:7-13

No Words of Rebuke

Jesus has no word of commendation whatsoever for the church in Sardis. Because of their lax attitude toward doctrinal matters and because of their compromise with paganism, the congregation in Sardis receives only a stern word of rebuke from the Lord of the church. But to the church in Philadelphia, Jesus utters no words of rebuke. For the Christians living in Philadelphia, Jesus only has words of commendation. Unlike the church in Sardis, Christians in this church have kept Christ’s word and refused to deny their Lord even though their church was weak and struggling. Because of their faithfulness, Jesus promises to deliver them from the trial which is coming upon the earth and to grant them entrance into the heavenly city.

Shakin’ All Over — The Great Earthquake of A.D. 17

Knowing something about each church and its particular environs is very critical in understanding the promised blessing or threatened curse given by Jesus. Philadelphia was a city which had experienced wide-spread damage as a result of an earthquake in A.D. 17. In fact, the recent history of this city factors greatly into word of encouragement Jesus gives to this struggling congregation.

The ancient city of Philadelphia (modern day Alashir) was founded about 140 B.C. by Attalus II, whose surname was Philadelphus. Out of love and admiration for his brother, Eumenes, Attalus named the new city Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.[1] Located along the strategic road which linked Asia with Europe, Philadelphia became an important center of commerce and trade. As such an important crossroad, the was city a kind of open door through which Greek culture spread south and east into Asia Minor, Syria, and Persia, and through which, in turn, Asian goods passed to the north en route to Greece and Rome. Philadelphia was, in a sense, a kind of gateway between east and west.

The city was built on a very fertile volcanic plain and the local vineyards produced renowned wines and fermented beverages. But given the proximity of the city to an ancient volcano, the area was often hit by powerful earthquakes. A massive quake did, in fact, hit the area in A.D. 17. The damage was so severe and widespread that the Roman government under the emperor Tiberius exempted the city from paying tribute (taxes) for some time. Tiberius even donated a vast sum of money to help the city rebuild. But the aftershocks from this quake were so strong and persisted for so long that people slept outside of their dwellings for years afterward. According to ancient records, a number of people maintained homes and businesses in the city, but at dusk left the city to sleep in the surrounding countryside because of fears that the next quake would bury them in their sleep. The people lived in fear for generations and the city continually suffered damage from aftershocks.

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The Seven ChurchesKim RiddlebargerOctober 10, 2022The church in Philadelphia Comments

"To the Church in Sardis" -- Letters to the Seven Churches (6) -- Revelation 3:1-6

A Stern Rebuke

When Jesus speaks to the seven churches in Asia Minor, he usually commends these struggling churches before giving them a word of rebuke. Not so with the church in Sardis. This congregation receives only a stern rebuke. “Wake up,” Jesus warns them, or else he will suddenly come upon them in judgment. Although the church in Sardis thinks it is alive, in reality it is near death. This congregation has stopped preaching the gospel in order to make peace with paganism. It is no longer a faithful witness to God’s saving mercy in Jesus Christ. Therefore, this church must wake up and repent, or else face the wrath of Jesus Christ who is the Lord of his church.

Jesus Is and Remains the Lord of His Church

Beginning in Revelation 1:12, John records his vision of the resurrected Christ, along with the seven letters that Jesus addresses to seven historic churches in western Asia Minor. In each of these seven letters, Jesus relates a particular aspect of his post-resurrection glory to specific issues facing each of these congregations. Jesus commends several congregations for those things they are doing well. He points out the issues and struggles that each of these congregations was facing. He promises blessings to these churches when they are obedient to his word, while threatening curses if these congregations fail to repent. But even when there is a word of rebuke, each of these letters ends with a promise of blessing to all those who overcome and who remain faithful to Jesus Christ despite the suffering, persecution, and temptations that these Christians faced.

These letters tell us that Jesus is not an absentee Lord of his church. When John sees the resurrected Lord in his vision, Jesus is walking in the midst of his churches, represented by seven lampstands, which are symbolic of Christ’s presence among his churches. They are also symbolic of the Holy Spirit empowering these congregations to be faithful witnesses of God’s grace in Jesus Christ to those around them who are living in darkness. Jesus knows full well what each one of these seven churches is facing. He knows their struggles, their victories, and their failures. Indeed, these seven churches are also representative of Christ’s church throughout the entire period of time between Christ’s first advent and his second coming. The issues these churches faced in the first century, will mirror situations that Christians will face until Christ comes again with great power and glory at the end of the age. What Jesus says to these first century churches, he says to us in the 21st. Therefore, each of these seven letters ends with the now familiar exhortation: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

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The Seven ChurchesKim RiddlebargerSeptember 26, 2022the church in SardisComment

"To the Church in Thyatira" -- Letters to the Seven Churches (5) -- Revelation 2:18-29

“To the Church in Thyatira” — A Unique Set of Circumstances

The letter to the church in Thyatira is the longest of these seven letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3, and perhaps the most difficult to interpret.

As we have seen with each of these letters, it is essential for us to understand something about the historical context of this particular church in order to correctly interpret our Lord’s letter to this congregation. The city of Thyatira is quite unlike the earlier cities we have seen–Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum. These were all large cities and important centers of commerce. Thyatira was not.

All of three of the former cities were dominated by various forms of paganism. The Christians of Ephesus lived in the shadow of the temple of Diana and were immersed in a culture which was dominated by the worship of Diana. The cities of Smyrna and Pergamum were not only filed with pagan temples of every sort, but were also centers of emperor worship. Christians who lived in these two cities found themselves facing death and imprisonment at the hands of the beast–that is, the Satanically empowered Roman government–which attempted to force Christians to confess that “Caesar is Lord” at the point of a sword. Unless Christians in these cities were willing to confess that Caesar was Lord–which is to take the mark of the beast–they were not allowed to buy and sell or to participate in the commercial and cultural life of the city. If you were a Christian living in Smyrna and Pergamum, it truly cost you something to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and that Caesar is not.

In addition to living under such difficult circumstances because of the paganism which was rampant in these cities, Christians in these cities faced another problem. They were slandered by certain Jews who were secularized to the point that although they continued to worship YHWH, they also were willing to confess the divinity of Caesar in order to conduct their business and participate in the cultural affairs of the city. As a result of this intense persecution and slander, Christians in Smyrna were forced to live in abject poverty. Many were arrested and imprisoned. Even though Satan persecuted them to the point of death, Jesus promises to give them the crown of life.

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The Seven ChurchesKim RiddlebargerSeptember 15, 2022Church of ThyatiraComment

"To the Church in Pergamum" Letters to the Seven Churches (4) -- (Revelation 2:12-17)

Throughout the Book of Revelation, Satan is depicted as an already defeated foe, who, in a final act of desperation, wages war on the people of God. In certain instances, we read of Satan empowering the Beast to persecute Christ’s church using the full power of the state and the point of the sword. But in other instances, Satan takes a much more subtle approach. As the father of lies, Satan is not only the persecutor of the church, he is also the seducer of the church. In the Book of Revelation we not only read of the Beast who makes war upon the saints, we also read of the harlot, who seduces the peoples of the earth. Like the church in Smyrna, the church in Pergamum faces intense persecution from the God-hating Roman empire. But the church in Pergamum also faces an enemy from within, a seductress who entices God’s people to commit spiritual adultery.

When we come to Christ’s third letter to the churches of Asia Minor, our Lord’s letter to the church in Pergamum, it is important to recall that each of these seven letters are part of a larger vision which began in Revelation 1:12 with John’s description of the resurrected Christ. When John is granted the privilege of seeing Jesus in his post-resurrection glory, he attempts to describe what he sees. But words obviously fail him. John describes the struggle between Jesus Christ and his ancient foe, the devil, using apocalyptic language in which words are used are symbols to point to the “story behind the story,” namely, Jesus Christ’s certain victory over Satan and all of those allied with him.

No longer depicted as a bruised reed, the Jesus of the Book of Revelation is the Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the one who was dead but who is now alive forever more. Jesus is the great high priest who not only purchases us with his own blood but who also makes us to be a kingdom of priests (Revelation 1:5). In this book, Jesus is God’s final prophet, as Jesus speaks to us about the course of this present evil age which is the great tribulation, that final period of human history, depicted throughout the New Testament as the “last days.” In the Book of Revelation, Jesus is described as God’s all-powerful king.

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The Seven ChurchesKim RiddlebargerAugust 29, 2022The church in Pergamum, The error of the NicolatiansComment

“To the Church in Smyrna” Letters to the Seven Churches (3) – (Revelation 2:8-11)

Jesus Warns His Disciples — “The World Will Hate You If You Love Me”

In the fifteenth chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (v. 18). In his letter to the church in Smyrna, Jesus tells this struggling congregation that they will suffer great persecution, even to the point of death. The one responsible for this persecution is Jesus Christ’s ancient foe, the devil, who conducts his campaign against the church in Smyrna through the agency of the local synagogue and the local government. In Revelation 2:8-11, we see, in part, the historical outworking of that about which Jesus was warning his disciples in John 15, the inevitability of the persecution of God’s people at the hands of Satan. But Jesus Christ is the Lord of his church and even when persecuted unto death, his people triumph because he is their champion and the Risen Lord.

The Risen Lord Speaks to His Churches

The letters to the seven churches are part of a larger vision which began in Revelation 1:12 which opens with John’s description of the resurrected Christ. John describes seven golden lampstands which are symbolic of Christ’s presence with his church as well as the Holy Spirit’s empowerment of these congregations to serve as light to the unbelieving world which lives in darkness. These letters are part of a larger vision which begins with a description of Jesus Christ in all of his post-resurrection glory. It is Jesus who is the Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and Last, that one who was dead but is now alive forevermore. Jesus holds in his hand the keys of death and Hades. It is this Jesus who walks among his churches. He knows the exact circumstances that each one of these congregations is facing. He knows their troubles and the nature of the evil they must confront. Jesus commends these churches for their faith and perseverance, but also confronts them with their sins.

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The Seven ChurchesKim RiddlebargerAugust 15, 2022The Church in Smyrna Comments

“To the Church in Ephesus” Letters to the Seven Churches (2) – (Revelation 2:1-7)

The Lord of His Churches Addresses the Ephesians

Jesus Christ is the Lord of his church. He walks among the seven lampstands and holds the seven stars in his hand. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. He is alive forevermore and holds in his hands the keys of death and Hades. Jesus Christ is our great high priest who has freed us from our sins through the shedding of his own blood. He has made us to be a kingdom of priests to serve his God and father. That same Jesus now comes to us with words of exhortation and rebuke found in the seven letters addressed to the churches of Asia Minor.

In the opening section of the Book of Revelation (chapters 2-3) we find seven letters which were originally addressed to the seven churches scattered throughout Asia Minor (Turkey) and to whom John is sending this circular letter we now know as the Book of Revelation. The letters to the seven churches are part of a larger vision which begins in Revelation 1:12 and which continues on to the end of chapter 3. But before we go any farther, it is important to put these letters in their proper context in order to interpret them correctly.

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The Seven ChurchesKim RiddlebargerAugust 1, 2022the Church in EphesusComment

“The Alpha and the Omega” — The Lord of the Seven Churches (1) -- (Revelation 1:4-20)

No Longer a Carpenter’s Son

Throughout his messianic ministry we see Jesus in his state of humiliation. In the four gospels Jesus is revealed as the Son of God whose true and eternal glory is hidden by a veil of human flesh. In the gospels Jesus hungers. He thirsts. Jesus suffers. And he bleeds. When our Lord died upon the cross, we see him in his most humble estate, torn and bloody, bearing the wrath of God toward our sins in his own flesh. But the gospels do not end with the cross and Jesus’ humiliation. The gospels end with the account of our Lord’s bodily resurrection, the empty tomb and Christ’s glorious exaltation. The Christ we meet in the opening chapter of the Book of Revelation is not the carpenter’s son. Nor is he the humble and suffering Christ. The Christ we meet in the Book of Revelation is the Exalted Christ, the Risen One who is Lord of his church. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

It is sad that so many Christians avoid the Book of Revelation because of its difficult and mysterious nature. It is even sadder, perhaps, that so many use this book as a springboard for speculation about the Bible’s relationship to current events. Revelation is not a guide for interpreting breaking news. Instead, Revelation depicts Jesus Christ’s victory over all his enemies as the final chapters of redemptive history draw to a close. Therefore, we should not be afraid to read and study this book. Nor should we handle it irresponsibly by attempting to connect it to recent headlines as though John predicted every war, earthquake, and global crisis which could possibly befall the human race. John does not do this.

What John does do is describe the on-going struggle between Christ and Satan until our Lord returns to raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new. While John may not predict specific future events in exacting detail, he does provide us with a theological explanation of all the wars and rumors of wars, the earthquakes and famines, and those signs of his coming which Jesus called the birth pains of the end (Cf. Matthew 24:8).

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