God has not forgotten the Jewish people, and neither have we.

A Publication of CJF Ministries and Messianic Perspectives Radio Network

Messianic

Perspectives

Post Office Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292-0345 Iyyar–Sivan–Tammuz 5770 / May-June 2010

I recently traveled to Turkey and Greece with GideonLevytam, CJFM’s director of international ministries. As we shared the privilege of teaching from John’s vi-sion of the risen Messiah and His messages to the sevenchurches (Rev. 1–3), we were confronted with breath-taking views of impressive archaeological ruins. Eventhe briefest look at the historical-cultural backgroundsto this familiar passage can help us gain a “messianicperspective” into Jesus’ message for believers today.

The Seven “Churches”

There are common misconceptions about these so-called “churches” that I should clarify. While manyancient church buildings litter the landscape of bibli-cal history—mostly from the Byzantine (AD 324-640)or Crusader (AD 1099-1291) eras—the term used inthe Book of Revelation for “church” (the Greek

ekkle-sia

) refers not to buildings but to the believing com-munities living in the cities where these seven brief letters were sent.While many have attempted to correct this misun-derstanding by substituting the word “church” with“congregation” or “assembly,” it is sufficient to usethis common word with a correct understanding of itsoriginal meaning—and perhaps using even more carewhen explaining its significance to Jewish friends whoassume “church” by any definition is simply a Gentileconcept. These concise communications recorded inRevelation 2—3 provide pointed evaluations of sevenlocal churches, and divine counsel from the risen Mes-siah telling the believers in these localities exactlywhat He desired for them and their assemblies.

The Seven Letters

Each communication follows a similar format:

1. The angel (perhaps a reference to the spiritual leadership)of the church is addressed, “To the angel of the church. . . .”2. Jesus describes Himself, often with some fact related toJohn’s vision from Chapter 1 and to the church’s particularsituation or problem, “These things says He who holds theseven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of theseven golden lampstands.”3. He lovingly commends them for their qualities or godlydeeds, “I know your works, your labor, your patience, andthat you cannot bear those who are evil.”4. He then offers His authoritative and often stern complaintor rebuke, “Nevertheless I have this against you. . . .”5. Thankfully, He does not leave them with only a complaintbut offers His divine counsel or authoritative command abouthow to address their problems: “Remember therefore fromwhere you have fallen; repent and. . . .”

sxc.hu/photo/1053763 & 706719

Messianic Perspectives

Dr. Gary Hedrick,

Editor in Chief

Rachel Zanardi,

Editor

Erastos Leiloglou,

Designer

Messianic Perspectives

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. Subscription price: $10 per year. The publication of articles byother authors does not necessarily imply full agreement with all the views expressed therein. Unless otherwisenoted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible (Nashville, TN: ThomasNelson Publishers, 1982). Visit us online at www.cjfm.org. Toll-free OrderLine: (800) 926-5397.© 2010 by CJF Ministries. All rights reserved.

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This pattern is easily observed in thetext and illustrated by the chart below. You can use this chart to do your ownanalysis of the seven churches. As onecommentary observes,

“The seven churches fall into threegroups. The first and last are in dangerof losing their very identity as [followersof Jesus]. Therefore, they are exhortedto repent in order to prevent their judg-ment and to inherit the promises thatgenuine faith deserves. The churchesaddressed in the three central lettershave to varying degrees some whohave remained faithful and others whoare compromising with pagan culture.Among these Pergamum is in the bestcondition and Sardis is in the worst.These churches are exhorted to purgethe elements of compromise from theirmidst in order to avert judgment onthe compromisers (and probably alsothemselves) and to inherit the prom-ises due those who overcome compro-mise. The second and sixth letters arewritten to churches which have provedthemselves faithful and loyal to Christ’s‘name’ even in the face of persecu-tion. . . . Even though they are ‘poor’and ‘have little power,’ they are encour-aged to continue persevering . . . sincemore trials will confront them. They areto endure with the hope that they willinherit the promises of eternal salva-tion (both will receive a ‘crown’).”

Persecution and theRoman Imperial Cult

Before becoming too judgmental aboutthe poor spiritual condition of thesechurches, it is important to under-stand the grave situation in whichthey found themselves. Why was it sotempting to compromise with the cul-ture and consent to false teachings?Such circumstances do not provide anexcuse for sin, but they do remind us of the difficulties believers faced as theycounted the cost of following the Mes-siah. Unlike modern America, wherea person might garner public approv-al for declaring himself a born-againChristian, first-century believers in Asia Minor found themselves subjectto persecution and martyrdom for re-fusing to participate in the Roman im-perial cult. All subjects of Rome were required toengage in the worship of the emperor.Domitian (ruler from AD 81-96) eveninsisted on being “addressed as

domi-nus et deus

” (Lord and God).

Afterthe destruction of the Jewish Templein AD 70, the annual temple tax (seeEx. 30:13; 2 Chron. 24:9; Neh. 10:32;Matt. 17:24-27)—once used for itsupkeep—was transferred to Rome insupport of its elaborate pagan templeon the Capitoline Hill. By paying off the Romans, Jewish subjects were le-gally exempted from participation inthe imperial cult.However, Jewish believers in Jesus wereoften not accepted by the Jewish commu-nity at large. They could be renouncedby the religious establishment and leftsubject to the demands of the imperi-al cult. Further, since Gentile believersin the Jewish Messiah were not them-selves Jewish, they too were subject tothe empire’s pagan religious demands.“Christians were routinely exposed tothe cult and faced strong pressures toparticipate lest they arouse the ill will of their neighbors and local elites.”

As Colin Hemer suggests, “The Chris-tian was faced with a cruel dilemma.His safety was assured only by pre-paredness, in time of need, to identifyhimself either with pagan society, bysacrifice to the emperor and the ex-pected participation in the religiousaspects of guilds and social life (the ‘Ni-colaitan’ answer), or with Judaism onwhatever terms would gain him accep-tance in the synagogue, that is, prob-ably, at least an implicit denial of hisLord.”

What a terrible predicament!Persecution was real for both Jew-ish and Gentile followers of MessiahJesus in first-century, western AsiaMinor where these seven letters werecirculated. For this reason, the believ-ers were repeatedly called to patienceand perseverance (Rev. 1:9; 2:2-3, 19;3:10; 13:10; 14:12) as they awaitedthe Lord’s coming deliverance. Buthow were they faring in these tryingtimes? The seven letters give us someindication of their specific strengthsand struggles.

Sample Study Chart

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I. Ephesus:

The church that left itsfirst love (Rev. 2:1-7).

It is not surprising that Ephesus wasfirst among the seven churches to beaddressed. It was one of the RomanEmpire’s largest cities (more than250,000 people), capital of the provinceof Asia, and home to the world’s larg-est temple (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world). Pilgrims traveledannually to visit this temple of the fer-tility goddess Artemis—known as “Di-ana of the Ephesians” (Acts 19:28, 34).So in some sense, Ephesus may be lik-ened to a pagan version of Jerusalem.This city had an early response to theGospel during Paul’s second mission-ary journey (Acts 18:18-19), and wasa center of Paul’s ministry for near-ly three years as the Gospel spreadthroughout Asia Minor (Acts 19:10).Timothy served the believers in Ephe-sus (1 Tim. 1:3), and they are alsothe only one of these seven church-es to have been written a completeepistle among the New Testamentwritings—Paul’s letter to the Ephe-sians. When Paul wrote to the Ephe-sians, he commended them for theirlove. “

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and yourlove for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers

” (Eph. 1:15-16).However, by the time of John’s prophet-ic vision, Jesus says that the Ephesianbelievers had left their first love (Rev.2:4). While the church at Ephesus hadstayed pure in doctrine by rejectingthe teachings of false apostles (v. 2)and pure in deed by hating “the deedsof the Nicolaitans” (v. 6), their puritywas no substitute for the mark of truediscipleship: love (John 13:34-35).

To this church, Jesus identifies Him-self as, “He who holds the seven starsin His right hand, who walks in themidst of the seven golden lampstands”(Rev. 2:1). The lampstand (Hebrew

menorah

) provided light inside Isra-el’s tabernacle (Ex. 25:31-40). Its sixbranches plus the central shaft forma seven-branch candelabra fitting theimagery of John’s vision of the risenMessiah who stood among the sevengolden lampstands—an appropriatelysymbolic reference to the seven church-es that serve as spiritual lights in thedarkened world (Rev. 1:12-13, 20; seeMatt. 5:14). Sadly, the believers atEphesus were in danger of losing theirposition as a witness to Jesus—thetrue light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5).Their lampstand would be removedunless they repented soon (Rev. 2:5).

II. Smyrna:

The poor and persecutedchurch that wasspiritually rich(Rev. 2:8-11).

Smyrna, the modern Izmir, was a pros-perous port city on the Aegean Sea, butbelievers at Smyrna dealt with suf-fering and persecution—to the pointof martyrdom. Against the backdropof Smyrna’s economic wealth, Jesusdescribed the believing community’ssituation of spiritual wealth amidsttheir personal poverty and persecu-tion: “I know your works, tribulation,and poverty (but you are rich)” (v. 9).The difficulty of living under perse-cution from the Roman government’simperial cult is evident even fromthis brief description. Furthermore,throughout the empire many Jewishbelievers in Jesus found themselves atodds with their rabbis and synagoguecommunities.

Synagogue of Satan

Jesus encouraged these persecuted be-lievers by assuring them that He wasaware of their wrongful suffering dueto the rightness of their position. “I

know

the blasphemy of those who saythey are Jews and are not, but

are

asynagogue of Satan” (v. 9). The contro-versy within the Jewish communityover the messiahship of Jesus providesthe background for the phrase “syna-gogue of Satan” in Revelation 2:9 and3:9. By this time, Jesus’ predictionthat His followers would be “put out of the synagogue” (see John 9:22; 12:42;16:1-2) had become a reality for believ-ers at Smyrna.There was little tolerance for Jesus-believing Jews within the synagoguecommunity, and some followers of Jesus were experiencing formal ex-communication. The exemption fromemperor worship afforded to the Jew-ish community was not available tothese messianic Jews. If they were notallowed to worship Jesus as their mes-siah in the synagogue, they would beforced by the Romans to worship theemperor.

R. A. Higbee