Revelation's 7 Letters to 7 Churches

[Mr. M]

On 6/5/2024 at 7:46 AM, JoeCanada said:

It's important that a person reads the Letters to the Seven Churches in the same order as they are in Revelation 2 and 3.

So from here, read the Letter to the Church at Ephesus

Neither number nor order are particularly relevant,

since each message includes this admonition:

2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22 “He who has an ear,

let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

Hence, each word is relevant to all, and every one

must be given consideration by all.

What stands out to me in these letters is:

1. The churches are judged according to their works.

2. Commendations are given for edification and exhortation

and comfort, and thus they are, in fact, prophetic by a NT standard.

3. Admonitions are given that must be received as the sternest 

of warnings, as they include comments pertaining to things the Lord

hates. Also, this is not the only place in the scriptures where we are

taught and warned in this regard, and yet many often claim that a 

God of Love is incapable of feeling, warning and acting against 

such things. These admonitions are of the most serious nature.

Revelation 3:5 He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment;

and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess

his name before my Father, and before his angels.

To avoid having our name blotted out from the book of life seems to me

to be of an utmost priority.

Revelation 20:

12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened.

And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged 

according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 

13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead

who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 

14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 

15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

The common interpretations of Grace often preclude concern for these matters,

negating the need to repent after receiving correction from the Spirit.

The command to repent or else...comes up 6 times in these two chapters.

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.

Therefore be zealous and repent.

4. Lastly, each letter includes wonderful promises, not for those who believe,

but for those who overcome. Thus, the need to abide unto the end is paramount.

 

Edited June 7, 2024 by Mr. M

[luigi]

21 hours ago, JoeCanada said:

I'm not sure where you are going with this.

Seven is a very common number in scripture, occurring about 400 times.

John is instructed by Jesus to send a letter or message to the seven churches. These messages are Jesus' love letters to His Church, His instructions to His Church that will endure the 70th week of Daniel,  the One True Church.

Good Morning JoeCanada,

The seven churches are the seven eyes/spirits of the Lord, who are throughout the world today. I believe each eye/church represents different characteristics/psychologies.

[JoeCanada]

15 hours ago, Michael37 said:

I'm not sure what you are asking @JoeCanada. The Bible does set out the 7 letters in order, and there are numerous charts online to further aid understanding,

Hi Michael37,

What I tried to do didn't work. I was hoping to have the postings all connected. The Letter to the 7 Churches immediately followed by the Letter to the Church at Ephesus, then Smyrna, then Pergamum, etc..... instead of single posts like they are now.

It would have been a really long post had I submitted it as one article. I wanted to break it up into several small ones that follow or continue from the previous one. The flow would really then really make a lot more sense.   I have seen others that post articles that follow their previous post. I'm just not very computer savvy.

At 70, it's sometimes hard to teach new tricks to an old dog :)

[WilliamL]

On 6/6/2024 at 6:39 PM, JoeCanada said:

Ok.... so, what did I write in the post that needed correction? 

I don't understand where you are going with this.

 

On 6/6/2024 at 1:31 PM, WilliamL said:

On 6/5/2024 at 8:46 AM, JoeCanada said:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bondservants, the things which must soon take place...

Soon is an erroneous translation; a more accurate reading is "quickly or speedily." A description of how, not when, the event will occur.

 

[Michael37]

On 6/9/2024 at 12:58 AM, JoeCanada said:

Hi Michael37,

What I tried to do didn't work. I was hoping to have the postings all connected. The Letter to the 7 Churches immediately followed by the Letter to the Church at Ephesus, then Smyrna, then Pergamum, etc..... instead of single posts like they are now.

It would have been a really long post had I submitted it as one article. I wanted to break it up into several small ones that follow or continue from the previous one. The flow would really then really make a lot more sense.   I have seen others that post articles that follow their previous post. I'm just not very computer savvy.

At 70, it's sometimes hard to teach new tricks to an old dog :)

That's not hard to do if you have all your material prepared in advance in order and know how to copy script from the original Word Document on your device and paste it in consecutive new windows of the thread on the forum.

My point is though, that a new thread on the 7 Churches is not likely to break new ground. 

 

[JoeCanada]

58 minutes ago, Michael37 said:

That's not hard to do if you have all your material prepared in advance in order and know how to copy script from the original Word Document on your device and paste it in consecutive new windows of the thread on the forum.

Thanks....

That is what I did. I had everything in  Word, I copied and pasted in new windows.... but somehow they didn't all converge properly. 

1 hour ago, Michael37 said:

My point is though, that a new thread on the 7 Churches is not likely to break new ground.

It is my hope that  in reading the Letters to the 7 Churches; the intro followed by each Letter to the corresponding Church, in order, consecutively..... that the reader might see how they all correlate to the seven seals, as outlined in each letter that I posted. 

[JoeCanada]

2 hours ago, WilliamL said:

Blog index and summary here: https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2814-index-and-summaries-of-articles/

 

Thanks.....

However, I scrolled thru your blog and did not see any postings related to the 7 Churches of Revelation.

Perhaps my old eyes missed one???

[Michael37]

55 minutes ago, JoeCanada said:

Thanks....

That is what I did. I had everything in  Word, I copied and pasted in new windows.... but somehow they didn't all converge properly. 

It is my hope that  in reading the Letters to the 7 Churches; the intro followed by each Letter to the corresponding Church, in order, consecutively..... that the reader might see how they all correlate to the seven seals, as outlined in each letter that I posted. 

A quick search of the Web shows a number of pages offering "insight" into the topic in hand.

Here is a summary of the Seven Seals, but why do they need to be correlated with the Seven Churches? Every attempt I have perused really strains to make a case for it.

1. Conquest

2. Conflict

3. Commodities

4. Carnage

5. Complaint

6. Catastrophe

7. Clarion

[WilliamL]

On 6/9/2024 at 6:32 PM, JoeCanada said:

Thanks.....

However, I scrolled thru your blog and did not see any postings related to the 7 Churches of Revelation.

Perhaps my old eyes missed one???

Maybe that is because you didn't ask me anything about the 7 churches???

But since you are asking now, here is what I have written on the subject:

The 24 Elders of Revelation, Part 2: The Time of Their Appearance

Revelation 4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door having been opened in heaven. And I heard the first voice which I [had] heard as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show thee things which must take place after these things.”

After what things?

The previous things shown to John were the events of chapters 2 - 3. They describe the era of the 7 lampstands, which represent 7 churches:

Revelation 1:20 “The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven lampstands are seven churches.”

Jesus told one of these churches that if it failed to do righteous works, He would “remove your lampstand [church] from its place.” 2:5 And over the course of time, all of these seven churches of Asia Minor were eventually removed: none exist today. However, the angels of these churches, the “seven stars in His right hand,” could never be taken out of His hand: they therefore remained to continue their work elsewhere in the earth. These spiritual authorities thereafter established seven characteristic types of churches over seven periods of Church history.

The powers of darkness have their own spiritual authorities, including the seven heads of Satan (12:3), and also the seven heads of the Beast. 13:3 While the dominions of these good and evil spiritual authorities have waxed and waned over the centuries, none have ever ceased to exist.

In the first century A.D., Jesus sent out seven spirits upon the earth to establish seven characteristic church types. The seventh and last church type was originally called the Laodicean church. Most notable among its characteristics were that it was wealthy, but lukewarm in its works of righteousness. Rev. 3:15-17 Such things, of course, are seen in the greater part of the modern Church, particularly in the United States, the world’s leading Christian nation. (In appearance, at least.)

Jesus’ last message to those “who overcome” in this church – and His last message to the whole Church Age – was,

Revelation 3:18 “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire…and white garments…and eye salve, that you may see.”

Gold represents gifts of the Spirit; white garments, righteous works (19:8), and eye salve, ability to attain spiritual wisdom and understanding. The purchase price for these things is our time and our labor in the Lord’s Word and work.

Immediately “after these things” of this materially-wealthy but spiritually-unprofitable church of Revelation 3, there will come the events of Revelation 4:1 and following, wherein God’s throne of judgment is set in place, being surrounded by the 24 Elders. We can reasonably conclude that those things are near to come, because this latter-day church has been corrupting itself and diminishing before our eyes.

But even so, Jesus infers that out of this church, a select group of overcomers will arise and mature on earth.

https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/2946-the-24-elders-of-revelation-part-2-the-time-of-their-appearance/