Jesus wrote letters to seven churches that are recorded in Revelation.
Although they were written nearly 2000 years ago I believe they are relevant to us today, reminding us what is important and how we should live.
This podcast is longer as it also gives some context from Revelation 1
Jesus wrote letters to seven churches that are recorded in Revelation.
Although they were written nearly 2000 years ago I believe they are relevant to us today, reminding us what is important and how we should live.
This podcast is longer as it also gives some context from Revelation 1
The Letter to the Church at Ephesus
Just to provide a little context before we dive into the letter to the church at Ephesus we need to have a brief understanding of Chapter 1 as it sets the context and scene for the seven letters.
Jesus introduced Himself by more names in the Book of Revelation than the rest of the bible put together. Each time He gives Himself a title it is to reveal something of His character or purpose.
Jesus begins the by identifying Himself with three titles and two purposes in verses 5 & 6
· Faithful witness
· First to rise from the dead
· Ruler of all the kings of the world
Notice He wants us to know that being a faithful witness and the fistborn are more
important than ruler over all the kings. The first two are about who is, the third is just
hierarchy. Character is more important than hierarchy.
Then Jesus introduces His purposes:
· He loves us and has freed us by the shedding of His blood
· He has made us a nation of priests
He comes to John on the Lord’s Day while John was worshipping in the Spirit.
The Lord’s Day was not Sunday, it is never called that in the bible. The Lord’s Day under the rule of Domitian was what had been Emperor’s Day.
The cult of Caesar as divine had been steadily growing and under Domitian had
become fully blown. Domitian decreed he was divine and begun calling himself God.
While Emperor’s Day required subjects of Rome to declare loyalty to Caesar the Lord’s Day required more. Under Domitian’s rule subjects had to burn a pinch of incense on an altar before a magistrate and declare “Caesar is Lord.”
Jesus is Lord is the earliest Christian creed and no Christian could burn incense and
declare Caesar is Lord and yet to refuse was treason.
It could mean death, imprisonment of loss of property.
John was deeply in worship because the people he loved we in danger. Some would die, some would be imprisoned others would be punished. People he knew and loved would die that day. But John was not lamenting he was worshipping.
It was into this situation Jesus appears and says I have a message for these churches we love.
John didn’t give Jesus a high five or a casual greeting. Of all the people surely John was better placed than anyone to meet Jesus.
Not only was John the disciple Jesus loved but he must have earned brownie points for looking after Jesus’s mother Mary and yet how did John respond? He fell down as if dead.
Jesus was dressed in white with a sash - sounds very much like a high priest on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:4). I want to come back to some of the descriptions later but mention one now as I think it is sometimes overlooked.
Jesus has a two edged sword coming from His mouth. I have often heard this as Jesus having sharp and powerful words but I think it is more than that.
Roman governors were given an iius gladius. The ius gladii was the term expressing the full criminal jurisdiction conferred by the emperor on the provincial governors.
Jesus was telling us His words carried the power to judge. His words are not just powerful they are absolute power over life and death.
We see Revelation as a Jewish book which of course it is and it is full of imagery from the Old Testament but it is also a book that draws on Roman imagery. There is an element of the book being subversive and contrasts Roman power with the divine power of Jesus.
Some of what we see in the chapter could be as Roman as it is Jewish.
We all know seven is an important number in Jewish literature but are you aware it is equally important in the Roman culture.
Rome is a city built on seven hills with seven kings and had an arch of seven Lamps built in 81AD to celebrate the fall of Jerusalem.
I believe that when Jesus refers to the angels of the seven churches and the lampstands He was not drawing on Jewish history but Roman. Yes, it may see seem a bit odd but please bear with me for a minute.
Claudius minted a coin with seven stars in honour of divine Augustus as did Vesparain and Titus. Then in 82-83 Domitian minted a coin to remember his deceased son which showed him among the seven stars. Domitian, who declared himself God, celebrated his son who was immortal in the domain of the blessed dead.
Could this coin by Domitian referred to as DCCT be the origin of the seven stars mentioned in Revelation 1 and again in Revelation 2:1 and again in Rev 3:1. I think it is.
Could the angels be heavenly angels, messengers church leaders or something else?
The idea of being a heavenly angel seems unlikely. It assumes:
1. Jesus is writing to an angel rather than just commanding the angel.
2. Angels are responsible for churches - if so how does that work? Can we consult them? How do they communicate with us.
3. The letter indicates it includes the angel as part of the church.
I recently heard a pastor say the angels are pastors. That the seven stars held in Jesus’s hand are the pastors. He added it is a “high office.” This theory has several problems:
1. Pastors are never referred to anywhere as “stars” In fact the entire New Testament only refers to pastors once and even then they are bracketed with teachers. What I mean by bracketed is that there is definite articles for four offices but in the Greek pastor and teacher appear to be the same role. This is certainly consistent with I Timothy and Titus who say an elder must be able to teach (I Tim 3:2 Titus 1:9). On the other occasion pastor is used in I Peter 5:1 where it is describing a task. Incidently the other time pastor is used it is the same description given to activity ofshepherding in I Peter 5:1 which is also used for Elders in Acts 20:28.
2. We have no evidence that there pastors at this time. Certainly we have elders plural but no evidence of singular led churches although they would soon have bishops or overseers.
3. Do you find it interesting that in Revelation 1:6 Jesus says He has “made us a Kingdom of Priests for God His Father” and then a few verses later 7 some people are stars. In verse 6 we’re all priests by verse 19 we have an elitist class?
Was the angel a messenger carrying the letter. Remember in bible times the word “angel” was not only for angelic beings but also used for people passing on messages or serving (e.g. waiter). So it is possible the churches sent people to minister to John and it is them returning with the letters.
Wouldn’t John want those people travelling with letters that would be seen as sedicious know that they were held in the care and protection of Jesus. Maybe but like Schofield I find this more likely.
Another possibility is very different and is based not on Jewish or church understanding but as a swipe at Domitian. In the first chapter of Revelation Jesus dismantles the beliefs that Domitian has about himself and explains why everything Domitian may think, Jesus is greater. After all that is the point of Revelation - Jesus is greater and He wins.
Domitian minted his coins with DIVVS in 82-83 indicating he saw himself as divine. Hence the coin is referred to as DCCT. These coins depicting his deceased son as the son of god with the seven stars. These were the coins of the time, common and handled, an everyday reminder of who Domitian believed he was.
Numismatists (coin, money & medal study) generally agree that a star in coinage serves as a major symbol of deification for the members of the imperial family.
If you wish to read more you will find more in the paper Jesus the Holder of the Seven Stars in His Right Hand an examination of Rev 16a in Light of Numismatic Evidence by Sanghwan Lee
So is another possibility that the stars as Jesus’s family - His bride. The people he holds so precious that He keeps them in His right hand. The hand associated with power and strength.
Afterall the word star, while not used of pastors, was commonly used in the bible to refer to family. Consider the family of Abraham (Gen 26:4), Joseph (Gen 37:9) the people of Israel (Exodus 32:13, Deut 1:10 & 10:22, I Chr 27:23, Nehemiah 9:23, Jere 33:22) to mention a few. The imagery of God’s people as stars was common in biblical literature.
Imagine if Jesus is saying the angels are the saints, the people of God. That Jesus holds His people in His right hand is also a common theme in scripture, in fact the idea is mentioned dozens of times in scripture.
Consider the following verses:
Psalm 27:10
Psalm 63:8
Psalm 73:23
Psalm 139:10
Isaiah 41:10 & 13
John 10:28,29
I Peter 5:6
The idea of referring to people as angels was not uncommon either.
Jesus refers to John the Baptist as a messenger (same Greek word translated as Angel in Rev 1:19) in Matthew 11:10
Jesus refers to His disciples as messengers/angels (Luke 9:52
John the Baptist sent out angels (Luke 7:24)
Rahab received angels (James 2:25)
Anyhoo
Jesus identifies himself as the one who walks among the lampstands. Jesus wants them to know He is Emmanuel, God with them. He is not distant but in this difficult time He is with them. He is our faithful High priest.
Letter to the Ephesians
If we go by the usual division of the letter into 7 parts.
1. Title of the church
2. Title Jesus uses to reveal what the church needs to know about Him.
3. Compliment
4. Complaint
5. Consequences
6. Warning
7. Reward
To the church in Ephesus, the church we know the most about in church history.
A significant city, second only to Rome it was a strong hold of Caesar worship along with Diana and Dyionisus worship.
Jesus identifies himself as the one who walks among the lampstands. Jesus wants them to know He is Emmanuel, God with them. He is not distant but in this difficult time He is with them. He is our faithful Highpriest.
He compliments their patience in endurance and suffering and discerning false apostles.
Patient in endurance and suffering - sounds like they were doing it tough.
Ephesus was a city famous for one of the wonders of the ancient world, the temple of Diana, also known as Artemis. Bacchus or Dionysus was also big in Ephesus.
Diana was worshipped by music, dancing, singing, dramatic presentations, and chanting of allegiance.
Dioysus was worshipped by drinking, wild dancing and whipping themselves up with music to believing they are ecstatic or in divine presence
(makes you see Ephesians 5:18-20 differently)
2 Corinthians 11 tells us how to identify False apostles
Use their position to profit (v7)
They look for opportunities to Boast (v12)
They deceive v13
They enslave you v20
However verse 4 tells us that we are impacted by a false prophet if “You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you”
Are you discerning? Are you weighing and sifting what you hear? If not you may find yourself paying, feeling inferior to, being deceived and enslaved by a false apostle. There are still plenty false apostles around.
They have however lost their first love. We attribute this to losing their first love to the Lord but this could also be their love for each other and I think this is more likely.
The church patiently endured, patiently suffered, worked out who were false apostles and didn’t follow the Nicolatians - I don’t think they lost their love for God but for each other.
If we reread the book of Ephesians we see several interesting things:
1. There is obviously two groups, the Jews and Gentiles consider the language
V3 blessed us
V4 chose us
V5 adopt us
V6 us who belong
V7 our freedom
V8 kindness on us
V9 revealed to us
V10 He will bring everything together
V11 we are united with Christ
V13 and now you Gentiles have heard the truth, God saves you, identified you
V14 He will give us, that He has purchased us
2. Ephesians spends the first 3 chapters talking about God’s love for us and how He has provided for us and then the next three chapters are about how we treat each other - husbands, wives, parents, children, slaves, master
In Ephesians 4:1-6 we have 7 things to build unity and seven things we have unity in.
Are we focused on building unity? How do we genuinely follow the first commandment if we don’t follow the second “to love one another.”
We don’t know who the Nicolatians were, history indicates they were antinomianists as supported by Revelation 2:6.
Acts 6:5 identifies the 7 deacons, interestingly Luke lists Nicolas and identifies where he comes from. Luke doesn’t list where anyone else comes from, just Nicolas.
Nicolas comes from Antioch. Harvardmagazine identifies Antioch as the third largest city in the known world and it was wicked. Harvard magazine says:
Something we associate with Venice in the 18th century
With Paris in the 19th century
And Hollywood today.
I think Luke identifies Nicolas’s place of origin as a clue that Nicolas got out of Antioch but never quite got the Antioch of himself.
We need to be wholly consecrated.
The Ephesians who were victorious were promised the fruit of the tree of life in the paradise of God.
What is the fruit of the tree of life? Eternal life (Genesis 3:22 What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!)
Is it possible there is a connection with how Jesus introduces Himself and His reward?
His introduction is to provide them with what they need to know, I think the promise is connected.
Jesus tells us he keeps His family in His right hand - the place of safety and care.
The promise is to live forever in paradise.
Where else could paradise be but to be kept in God’s presence, sustained and safe by His power.