The Seven Churches Of Revelation, Lesson 1 Series

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The Seven Churches of Revelation

Lesson 1: Revelations 1; 2:8-11

(Rev. Barry Johnson and Rev. Rodney Johnson)

Introduction

Hello everyone and welcome to lesson one of our study of the letters to the seven Churches from the book of Revelation. Many people hesitate to read this book because for them it’s scary and it has a lot of symbolism in it. I understand this thought as I too do not understand some of the imagery that John uses to describe what he was shown. However, as we go through the message to the seven Churches, you will see that those messages are pretty clear and, more importantly, they are applicable to all Churches today.

There are seven specific messages that Jesus gave to John for the seven Churches of Asia. Of the seven messages, there were only two Churches that Jesus did not find fault in how they were operating as a Church, what they allowed to happen in their congregations or their service to Him. We are going to start with those two Churches so that when we get to the other five we will reference back to the differences between the Churches that Jesus did find fault with and the two that He did not find fault with.

As Rodney said, our focus in the next seven lessons is limited to the seven churches that are covered in chapters two and three and what they can teach us about the Body of Christ today. The challenges that each of the churches faced and the specific instructions that Jesus gave to them will be our focus in these lessons. When these lessons are complete, it is our prayer that, as we look at the churches, you will be able to clearly identify the characteristics of a church that Jesus commends and the characteristics of a church that He condemns.

And to help you do this, I’m going to identify the common themes that will be seen in each of the churches. I’m going to list them with very little explanation at this point. First is the phrase “I know thy works.” The second is “He that has ears to hear, let him hear.” Third is the repeated call for “repentance.” The fourth theme is how Jesus hates the doctrine that teaches we can be saved and, at the same time, live immoral lives. We will see this when Jesus talks about the false teachings of the Nicolatians, Balaam, and Jezebel. And, finally, we are going to see the promises that Jesus gives to those who overcome the issues in that church.

Now, before we start with the first Church, we want to set the stage by quickly reading through the first chapter. So get your Bibles out and turn with us to the first chapter of the book of Revelation and we will begin reading at verse one. As we read through the verses we will provide some context/commentary that will help set the stage for the book in general and the seven churches specifically. Let’s Begin.

(1) The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,

(2) who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

It is important to understand that the book of Revelation is not John’s revelation as some refer to it. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ that He shared with John. John just recorded everything that he was told and saw. Another point I want to make is this: when you think of the imagery that John recorded, remember he was seeing future events. Just consider how someone would describe an airplane flying in the air 2000 years before it existed. He would attempt to describe it based on his reference points. Again, I am sharing this just as a point of consideration as you read this book of prophecy.