This lesson will begin the series which includes the messages to the Seven Churches of Asia, Revelation 1.4 – 3.14.
Revelation 1:4: “John to the Seven Churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven spirits which are before his throne.”
Introduction
The purpose of the writing of the Book of Revelation is “to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass.” This is often construed as meaning to comfort them in the persecution they are about to face. It should rather be interpreted as meaning that they are to be warned of the consequences of their obedience or disobedience in light of the fall of Jerusalem, the nation Israel, and the death and dispersion of the people. If God did not spare Jerusalem, Israel, and their people when they broke the Covenant, and refused His grace, and chose death instead of life, then God will not spare the members of the Churches who fall into this same tragic condition.
However, in Christ, God will always have a faithful people who will be rewarded and blessed.
Romans 11:21: “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.”
Like the message to the Churches in Revelation, Second Peter chapter two also warns the Church of false prophets, false teachers, and heretics. This chapter is also a catalog of those whom God did not spare: the angels, the old world of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah. The kinds of people doomed for this destruction are listed as: “Them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government.” They are presumptuous, selfwilled, disrespectful, as natural brute beasts, rioters, deceivers, adulterers, covetous, vainglorious, and hypocritical.
Even so, “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.”
The danger is real for Christians:
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened according to the true proverb, ‘The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.’” 2 Peter 2:20-22.
The Book of Revelation serves this same purpose of warning to the universal Church of the consequences of rebellion and disobedience while at the same time offering the blessings to those who walk in obedience in faith and good works. Understanding these messages to the seven churches is vital to the understanding of the rest of the Book of Revelation.
Next Lesson: The Number Seven in the Bible
This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book Revelation In Context, available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, OK. Also available online at www.Amazon.com or www.xulonpress.com
Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.