Numbers
in the Book of Revelation: Seven Churches
Read Revelation 1:1-6
There are so many wild notions that
exist about the book of Revelation. I remember when I worked at RadioShack
while I was in seminary we had just gotten a new manager of the store. And I remember having a conversation with him
about the Book of Revelation. He said
that he had studied a few years ago and that he believed that some of the
visions, some of the descriptions could fit real, modern day creations. For example, he talked about how in one of
the visions locusts are described as a part of how the end of the world and he
said the description sounds a lot like an Apache Helicopter. And that meant he could’ve been predicting
the end of the world for us who are living now.
And I thought well, okay I guess that’s possible. I have since learned, no, the book of Revelation
has nothing to do with Apache helicopters.
Nothing.
My hope in this series is to help
you read Revelation the way it was intended to be read. And to understand what you are reading the
way it is intended to be understood. To
pursue reading and understanding the book of Revelation you have to be okay
with unanswered questions. Because while
God has definitely put enough in this book for us to understand and for us to
grow in our faith and in our witness, there will definitely be things we don’t’
understand. And we just have to accept
those things and push on as best we can.
At the same time God has given us brains and resources and enough in the
book of Revelation that we can know a whole lot about it. So what do you need to know.
First, the book of Revelation is
first and foremost a letter. Notice
verse 4…"John to the Seven churches in the province of Asia. It is a letter
from John to the Churches in the province of Asia. Before being an end times saga with weird
visions and strange symbols and bowls and lanterns and dragons and other wild
stuff, it is first and foremost a letter.
Written by a person while in exile on the island of Patmos…a person
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
I have here my neighbors mail. I have in my hand Jeff and Connie’s
mail. Oh yeah, I just decided to be
curious when I was getting my mail and thought I would walk across and get
their mail as well. We have a good
relationship so I didn’t think they would mind.
So lets see what’s here. Oh,
trying to get them to switch to DirecTV.
It looks like this is a bill from the city of Hickory, must be a water
bill. Store coupons that we all
get. Ooh, what is this? Mt. Creek Construction. Ooh it’s from his company…lets see what it
is. Annual performance review…ya’ll want
to be nosey? You want to see how Jeff is
doing his job?
That’s crazy right. That’s absurd. I would never go into their mailbox. And hopefully they know that. We trust each other not to do that. And I think it’s federal offense to get into
someone else’s mailbox. As absurd as that
sounds that’s what the book of Revelation is.
It’s a letter in which churches get to read each other’s mail. It’s written to these seven churches on one
scroll. Here's map of Asia Minor.
It is modern day Turkey. Here’s where John is in exile and here is
where the churches are. So Ephesus is
the first church. They will copy the
scroll to have for themselves and send the original up to Smyrna. And on around the letter would travel. It wasn’t just a letter, it was a letter
strategically written for a purpose to these seven churches. Churches that would then spread the message
from their own cities out across the rest of Asia and Europe.
The book of Revelation is a letter
written to seven churches before 100 AD and it was one scroll. For that reason, it was intended to be read
out loud during worship services. It was
primarily heard by the people more than it was seen by them. So the rich imagery and symbolism would have
had them able to follow along with the message throughout the reading of the
book. And when I say reading, I mean the
whole book. It was probably sometimes
split up into sections, but they would have been large sections, not just a few
verses like we are looking at today. So
what that means is that it can be dangerous to take just one verse or two
verses and make it say whatever you want it to say without considering the
entire book of Revelation as a whole.
Another thing about the book of
Revelation is that because it is apocalyptic literature, it is not to be taken
literally. The word “Revelation” in Greek is apokalypsis – which means an unveiling or revealing. It is full of imagery and symbolism from the
Old Testament because it was written to Christians who would have been familiar
with the Old Testament and what those images meant. Therefore, most of Revelation cannot be taken
literally. It just can’t…the 1st
century readers did not take it literally…John did not write to be taken
literally…neither should we take it literally.
The genre of Apocalyptic means it is written in way to be read
non-literally. So it is a letter written
in the form of apocalyptic literature to tell the truth about what is
happening.
The reason this is so important is
because a letter is written at a specific time, by a specific author, to a
specific person or group, for a specific purpose. John, the author of Revelation, did not have
Adolf Hitler in mind when he wrote the book of Revelation. I remember a guy told me when I was in
College that he thought that Bill Gates was the Anti-Christ. When John wrote the book of Revelation he did
not have Bill Gates or any other contemporary figure in mind. Some of the descriptions of evil in
Revelation has more to do with the emperors around the time John wrote the book
then they do with the rulers of today.
Most likely the Roman emperor in power was Domitian and he was not kind
to Christians. Also, John was familiar
with another evil emperor who oppressed Christians named Nero…he will be
important later on in this series on the Book of Revelation. Here’s what I’m saying, so many pastors and
Christians make Revelation say what they want it to say instead of looking at
the context in which it was written.
Start with the context then ask what does this mean for us today.
At the time of Domitian’s rule in Rome
Christians in these areas were being persecuted. John wrote the book of Revelation to show the
Church that in the end Jesus and those who belong to Jesus would be
victorious. That what is happening now
is just temporary and that the victory is already won even though it doesn’t
seem that way. Remember the word Revelation
in Greek means an unveiling…John is unveiling the truth of what has happened is
happening and will happen for those who hold on to their faith in Jesus
Christ. He is saying, in a time of great
persecution, keep the faith because the lamb of God has already won. The book of Revelation is a message of hope
to persecuted Christians in it’s original context. John’s purpose was not to predict the end of
the world or to give us 21st Century Christians who the anti-Christ
would be…no it was written to bring hope to Christians who were being put in
the arena and torn apart by wild animals.
It was written to Christians who had heard the story of the emperor
using Christians as human torches to light his banquet hall. It was written to Christians who had heard
about someone who would not claim that Domitian was Lord so they bound him to
corpse and left him to rot alive. That’s
the context. That’s why it was
written.
Next time you think you have it bad,
think about what it would be like to face a torturous death simply because you
would not claim that the national leader was lord. See Domitian and other emperors like him,
demanded that they be called lord and God.
And of course Christians and Jews too could not claim that the emperor
was lord and god because only God, only Jesus held that title. And so Domitian simply sought to get rid of
them.
You would think Christianity would die
during this time. That the fear of
persecution would destroy the church because people would fear for their
lives. You didin’t have to tell these
Christians that the great tribulation was coming, no, they were already in the
great tribulation. Later in the letter
when John writes of the great tribulation, these Christians are saying, yeah,
that’s what we are going through here and now.
It wasn’t sometime in the future, it was here and now for them. They were already suffering the worst of
the worst. And you know what, the church
did not shrink and lose members, the church grew. Throughout history, during times of the
greatest persecution the church has grown exponentially. When the persecution is the worst, the most
faithful Christians rise up and spread the gospel more powerfully that at any
other time in history. Throughout
history, during times of great blessing and prosperity, the church has shrunk
and declined.
You all know where we are in the United
States of America. Christians are not
persecuted here. We don’t fear for our
lives. In fact, most people in the
United States of America think they can make it in life on their own. So why do we need God? John, writing under God’s inspiration writes
in Revelation chapter 3 to the church at Laodicea verses 17-19. That sounds like the
United States of America. Now, it was
written to the church at Laodicea and the warning was for the church at
Laodicea, but we can see the same thing happening around us, can’t we. This is
how you apply Revelation. I’m not saying
John was writing the United States of America when he was writing to
Laodicea. What I am saying is that like
the churches in Laodicea, we have bought the lie that we are
self-sufficient. We have bought the lie
that we can accomplish our dreams and when we do we will be happy, we will be
rich. It doesn’t work that way does it.
The kind of richness God talks about in
verse 18 is a richness of recognizing that we are the opposite of
self-sufficient. That we can’t live life
on our own. That we need a savior and a
Lord. Not a lord like Domitian that
purports a lifestyle of prosperity and ownership and power by the sword, but a
Lord who purports a lifestyle of faithfulness, love, generosity and power by
grace and mercy. Revelation is a letter
whose warnings and promises we need for today.
We may not be persecuted like the church was at the time this was written,
but we still need hope.
The closest thing to persecution
most of us experience is the testing of our faith. It’s in those times that we realize the
significance of the message of the book of Revelation That when our faith is tested, we must
realize that Jesus has overcome evil, sin and death and we have nothing to
fear. That even in the face of certain
death…we have nothing to fear…because death is not the final answer. Jesus has overcome and eternal life is the
final answer. Death just leads us into
another life, into a new creation.
Revelation is about hope and faithfulness to Christians in the midst of
hard times.
It was and is a letter to 1st
Century Christians that we get to read and that we get to believe and live out
and whose message we get to receive. The
message is this: there is always hope…no matter how dark life is, no matter
that it looks like evil is winning, no matter that a loved one dies tragically,
no matter that someone you care about is diagnosed with cancer, no matter that
a married couple you love is getting divorced, no matter that your mom or dad
is diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s, no matter that you have lost your
job, no matter that what there is hope.
Because God is God, Jesus is Lord, the Holy Spirit is powerful and God
has overcome and defeated all that threatens the human race. Let the message of the book of Revelation be
what it was intended to be…a message of hope and victory for those who put
their faith and trust I the slain Lamb of God.
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