From start to finish, the book of Revelation is addressed to the “seven churches of Asia,” and they do not fade from the picture in the later sections of the book. While it may include a larger audience, Revelation is first and foremost a message for those seven assemblies, and the significance of its visions cannot be understood apart from them.
Continue reading “Revelation’s Recipients”
In the third chapter of Revelation, Jesus promises to “keep” overcoming saints in the city of Philadelphia “from the hour of trial” that is coming upon the “inhabitants of the earth.” A comparison with similar passages demonstrates that this “hour” refers to the time of judgment when those whose names “are not written in the Lamb’s book of life” experience the “second death” in the “Lake of Fire.”
Continue reading “Kept from the Hour”
After persevering through persecution, the ever-faithful church at Smyrna was promised even more “tribulation” but also exceeding great rewards.
Smyrna was a seaport renowned for its beauty, and it prospered from seaborne commerce. Unfortunately for the church, the imperial cult was well-established there. The origin of the congregation is unknown, and Revelation is the only New Testament document that mentions the city.
Continue reading “BECOME FAITHFUL UNTIL DEATH”
The messenger at Ephesus is commended for *rejecting false apostles, chastised for leaving his first love, and summoned to return to his first works.
In his exhortation to the “messenger” at Ephesus, Jesus begins by stressing his intimate knowledge of all the churches in Asia. He is “grasping” the seven messengers tightly in his right hand, and “walking” continuously among the seven assemblies. Therefore, he knows their “works and labor and endurance” – (Revelation 2:1-7).
Continue reading “FALSE APOSTLES AND FIRST WORKS”
Insights into Bible Prophecy 