The Seven Churches of Revelation, Part 1

Revelation is a work of art, doing what only good art can do: activating our imagination; giving us an interpretive lens through which to see the moments of life so that you can respond correctly. Revelation is a book about practicing the way of Jesus in the now and not yet.

You’ve Already Won
Shane and Shane

Jesus Over Everything
The Belonging Co

Jesus at the Center
Israel and New Breed

Christ Be Magnified
Cody Carnes

Remarkable moments often require interpretation before you can respond

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Big Idea #1
Revelation is like Bohemian Rhapsody

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The Three Genres of Revelation
1. Apocalypse
2. Prophecy
3. Letter

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Revelation 1:1
The Revelation of Jesus the Messiah! God gave it to him to show his servants what must soon take place. He signified it by sending a message through his angel to his servant John…

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Revelation 1:3
God’s blessing on the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and on those who hear them and keep what is written in it. The time, you see, is near!

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Revelation 1:4
John, to the seven churches in Asia, grace and peace…

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These seven real churches are meant to represent the church in all places and at all times.

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Big Idea #2
Revelation is like a final exam

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Big Idea #3
Revelation is not like Wordle

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Richard Bauckham
“John depicts the future in images in order to be able to do both more and less than a literal prediction could. Less, because Revelation does not offer a literal outline of the course of future events – as though prophecy were merely history written in advance. More because what it does provide is insight into the nature of God’s purposes for the future, and does so in a way that shapes the readers’ attitudes to the future and invites their active participation in the divine purpose.”

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Revelation is a book about practicing the way of Jesus in the now and not yet.

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John 18:33-37
So Pilate went back into the Praetorium and spoke to Jesus. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked. “Was it your idea to ask that?” asked Jesus. “Or did other people tell you about me?” “I’m not a Jew, am I?” retorted Pilate. “Your own people, and the chief priests, have handed you over to me! What have you done?” “My kingdom isn’t the sort that grows in this world,” replied Jesus. “If my kingdom were from this world, my supporters would have fought to stop me being handed over to the Judaeans. So, then, my kingdom is not the sort that comes from here.” “So!” said Pilate. “You are a king, are you?” “You’re the one who’s calling me a king,” replied Jesus.

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John 18:37
“I was born for this; I’ve come into the world for this: to give evidence about the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

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The purpose for which Jesus came to this world was to be a faithful witness.

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John 18:38
“Truth!” said Pilate. “What’s that?”

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John Stott
“Any contemporary observer who saw Christ die would have listened with astonished incredulity to the claim that the Crucified was a Conqueror. Had he not been rejected by his own nation, betrayed, denied and deserted by his own disciples, and executed by authority from the Roman procurator? Look at him there, spread-eagled and skewered on his cross, robbed of all freedom of movement, strung up with nails, pinned there and powerless. It appears to be total defeat. If there is victory, it is the victory of pride, prejudice, jealousy, hatred, cowardice, and brutality. Yet the Christian claim is that the reality is the opposite of the appearance…Overcome there, He was Himself overcoming. Crushed by the ruthless power of Rome, he was Himself crushing the serpent’s head. The victim was the victor, and the cross is still the throne from which he rules the world.”

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Revelation 1:4-5
John, to the seven churches in Asia: grace to you and peace from He Who Is and Who Was and Who Is to Come, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, and from Jesus the Messiah, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

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Revelation 1:10-12
I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. “Write down what you see in a book,” it said, “and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” So I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. As I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands,

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Revelation 1:13-18
and in the middle of the lampstands “one like a son of man,” wearing a full-length robe and with a golden belt across his chest. His head and his hair were white—white like wool, white like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like exquisite brass, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. He was holding seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword was coming out of his mouth. “The sight of him was like the sun when it shines with full power. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though I were dead. He touched me with his right hand. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “I am the first and the last and the living one. I was dead, and look! I am alive forever and ever. I have the keys of death and Hades.

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Revelation 1:19-20
Now write what you see, both the things that already are, and also the things that are going to happen afterward. The secret meaning of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, by the way, and the seven golden lampstands, is this. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches themselves.”

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Michael Gorman
“The purpose of the book of Revelation is to persuade its hearers and readers, both ancient and contemporary, to remain faithful to God in spite of…suffering—whatever form that suffering might take, and whatever source it may have…Revelation tells us [that] covenant faithfulness is possible because of Jesus and worthwhile because of the glorious future God has in store for us and for the entire created order.”

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The Message to the Churches
Be faithful witnesses of The Faithful Witness.