Text: Revelation 1
Icebreaker: What comes to mind when you hear that we will have a message or cell about Revelation? (or) What would be your reaction if God showed up to speak to you?
Introduction: The book of Revelation is taboo for many people, and because of that it is misunderstood and many Christians just don’t read it. With the help of the Holy Spirit, and an understanding of the background to its writing, we can see how it made sense to those who first read it, and can discover how what God spoke to them then still has relevance to us and to our every-day lives with Christ now.
Today we start our series about the seven churches of Revelation. These churches were located in Asia-Minor, which is now part of modern-day Turkey. So that we are prepared to jump into hearing about the seven churches themselves, we first need to understand what was happening with John, the Apostle who “wrote” the letters to them, by recording what Jesus gave him to share. Knowing that although John wrote the words, it was Jesus who inspired and gave them, is a valuable lesson to us all about how we come to have the scriptures.
John was in exile when he received the Revelation
The Apostle John was exiled on the island of Patmos, (near the coast of Asia Minor/Turkey) which in his time was a Roman penal colony. John’s “crime” was to proclaim the gospel; the Roman Emperor was mercilessly persecuting Christians with the aim of destroying Christianity. So, we know that John was in a prison when Jesus spoke to him and gave him the Revelation.
This is a good reminder for us that God can speak to us whatever “prison” we find ourselves in and that even in the hardest circumstances, God can deliver His message to us and through us. It’s worth noticing that this message was not a message that would particularly comfort John in his distress; this message was for others, and John was the one to receive it and to make sure that it was written down and passed on to God’s people. This message was very important and John’s circumstances were not a barrier to him being used by God to receive and share it.
God gave words to the seven churches that would spread into the world.
These particular seven churches may have been chosen to receive Christ’s apocalyptic message because, geographically, they were located along an established circular trade route, which brought together the most populous and influential parts of the province. Once the apocalyptic message was given to the churches in these prominent cities, the message would spread to the Christian communities in the rest of the province through those who would visit for trade or through those who would journey to other places for trading. It seems that God had a strategy in speaking to these seven churches which would help the growth of Christianity around the world.
The seven lampstands that we read about represent the seven churches and we hear how Jesus, who was “One like the Son of Man” (v13), was moving amongst them in John’s vision. Jesus came as the ‘Light of the world’ and commissioned us to be the light of the world. We are not the light itself, but we reflect the Light of Jesus into the world.
We can ask ourselves are we open and attentive to the Spirit in a way that means God can use us to receive from Him, not necessarily for the benefit of ourselves, but for the benefit of others, as John was here?
We cannot stop!
Today nothing remains of the churches that were named in the Revelation given to John. Persecution has been an ongoing threat to Christianity in Asia Minor, particularly since Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453. Estimates place the current number of Christians as being about two percent of Turkey’s population. God’s strategic use of churches to share the gospel message continues today, particularly in places where there is severe persecution of Christians, but wherever we may be living, as the church we are called by Jesus to “make disciples” that His glory might be known.
This is a privilege and a responsibility that we cannot ignore - now we are carrying the message and speaking of the power of Jesus to save in this time and place as the seven churches of the Revelation were called to do in their time.
Conclusion:
Although the seven letters in Revelation are tailored to the named churches, these churches and their stated deficiencies can symbolize all churches and Christians in one respect or another and so the instruction given to Revelation’s congregations, is a valuable source of God’s word to Christians and churches today.
Localities of the 7 churches:
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