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| The theater at Ephesus |
1. To the angel of the assembly in Ephesus write: The one who holds these seven stars in his right hand says, the one who walks in the middle of the seven golden lampstands,
The book of Revelation is a letter. It specifically addresses seven churches in Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey. Of course Islam did not exist at this time, nor were there Turks in this region. This region was thoroughly Hellenized, "Greek-ified" and had been for over six centuries. More indigenous peoples did remain, especially further inland. Further, migrating groups like the original Galatians (who became the Celts) passed through the area over the centuries.
Ephesus is perhaps the most magnificently uncovered city from the ancient Greco-Roman world. Today you can still see the theater where the riot of Acts 19 took place. You can see the forum where Paul no doubt set up shop to make tents and other leather goods while sharing the good news with his customers. You can see the barest remains of the Temple of Artemis that many think is essential background to understanding Paul in 1 Timothy 2:12.
Ephesus became an important center of Christianity, especially after Jerusalem was destroyed in AD70. The Gospel of John was likely written from here. And it is likely from here that John the Revelator was exiled, just as perhaps Paul had been in the late 50s. The book of Ephesians, although not likely written only for Ephesus, reflects the central place this city played in the early church. It is to this incredibly important early cradle of Christianity that Jesus gives his first prophetic word.
2. "I know your works and labor and endurance and that you are not about to endure evil individuals and you have put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not and you have found them false. 3. And you have endurance and you have endured because of my name and you have not grown weary...
1. Jesus begins with positive comments. This is an important lesson to learn not only so that we are more likely to persuade but because God's direction means to redeem us if we will allow it. The churches at Ephesus have endured. They have resisted evil. Their faith has shown itself in their works.
Notice that John addresses the collective house assemblies of Ephesus as the "assembly," singular. In his earlier letters, Paul tends to address individual house churches in the singular rather than the collective assemblies of a city. The growth of the church has led to a more collective reference and one lampstand for the whole community.
We might ask whether these words from Jesus are a direct quote or whether they are coming to us through the mind of John. In keeping with the nature of inspiration in general, we should suspect that the words of Jesus are coming to us here in the same way that prophetic words came through the Old Testament prophets. Such prophecies seem to reflect the vocabulary, style, and thought categories of the prophets who convey them.
2. We do not know who the false apostles mentioned are. We do have good reason to believe that late first century Ephesus saw the beginnings of what would become more full-blown Gnosticism in the second century. 1 John speaks of a group that had left the (probably) Ephesian community (1 John 2:19). This group seems to have denied that Jesus had took on flesh when he became human (1 John 4:2-3).
This comment suggests that this group were "Docetists" who believed that Jesus had only seemed to have flesh. [1] The Gospel of John probably takes a swipe at this group in John 1:14 when it notes that "the Word became flesh." It is at least possible that the Nicolaitans mentioned later in the chapter were early Gnostics. 1 and 2 Timothy, seemingly written to Ephesus, both indicate the existence of false teachers in the Ephesian community.
An apostle is someone sent with a commission to represent someone else. The apostles were those to whom the risen Jesus had appeared and sent them to be witnesses of his resurrection. In a world full of spiritual experiences, we can imagine there were people who claimed that Jesus had appeared to them in spirit.
3. In the past, some have interpreted the churches of Revelation as prophecies about various periods of church history. The main point of this allegorical reading is to say that the church of this current moment is the lukewarm church of Laodicea. It became a preaching point to urge a congregation to become more fervent, to become "hot" again.
There is of course no indication of this scenario in the text. These were real churches with real issues. Certainly John did not expect there to be seven ages of several hundred years each. He probably didn't expect there to be another twenty or thirty years!
Nor can church history really be reduced to this sort of simplistic schema. Any attempt to align these churches to history would be forced at best. So while we cannot rule out the possibility that God planted a secret in the text for us to discover now two thousand years later, this approach has no basis in the text and is, in the end, rather narcissistic.
4. "But I have against you that you have left your first love. 5. Therefore, remember from whence you have fallen and repent and do the first works and if not, I am coming to you and I will remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.
Jesus and John do not clarify what the first love of the Ephesians was. Certainly we can infer from other places in the New Testament that our first love must be God (Matt. 22:37-40). Our second love is then our neighbor.
However, one suspects that John has more concrete things in mind, something that reflects a deficiency in the love of God. We can only guess at what that might be. The letters to the other churches mention specific practices, like eating meat sacrificed to idols or false teachers. The letter to the Ephesians remains generic.
Perhaps it had something to do with the very reasons John was exiled, yet the other Christians of Ephesus were not. They managed to continue on in Ephesus while John had been banished. Perhaps John is saying that this situation reflects a lack of fervor or faithfulness on their part. In the end, we can only speculate.
6. But you have this, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7. The one who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious I will give to him to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the Paradise of God.
1. Jesus ends on a positive note, another lesson for us to take away. The goal of discipline is not to leave someone discouraged or depressed but to inspire them to change course. Jesus begins and ends his critique with affirmation to the Ephesian churches.
We do not know who the Nicolaitans were or what their thinking/philosophy was. I speculated above that they may have been early Gnostics, but we really do not know. 1 John implies of the group that left its community that they had some material means but did not help others in need (1 John 3:17). Again, it is only a guess that this group's bad "works" consisted in withholding their resources from others in need.
The expression, "Let the one with ears to hear, hear," comes of course from the ministry of Jesus (e.g., Mark 4:9). It supports once again that John the Revelator had known the historical Jesus. One sign that a person is in tune with the Spirit is that one resonates with and heeds the Spirit when he speaks.
2. The "tree of life" and the "Paradise of God" are allusions to Genesis 2-3. It is the first anticipation that what we are seeing in the book of Revelation is the final completion of the work that began in creation. Adam and Eve were meant to eat of the Tree of Life and to live forever. Instead, they were kicked out of Paradise.
Those who are saved from the coming judgment will fulfill that destiny. They will eat of the Tree of Life and live forever. They will enter into Paradise, the New Jerusalem which will come down from heaven and be the city of God on the new earth. Between now and then stands the battle, the final vanquishing of the forces of evil. And before that is Tribulation.
Smyrna
8. And to the angel of the assembly at Smyrna write,
The First and the Last says these things, who became dead and has lived,
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| Remains of Smyrna in the middle of modern Izmir |
Jesus has already identified himself as the first and the last (1:17-18). Those verses in chapter 1 also identify him as the one who died and returned to life. Chapter 1 also calls him the "firstborn from the dead" (1:5). It is possible that it is especially in this way that Jesus is the "first" because we like him will rise from the dead. He is the last not least because in him humanity finds its consummation. He is the "last Adam" in the language of Paul (1 Cor. 15:45).
9. "I know your tribulation and poverty, but you are wealthy, and [I know] the slander from those who say that they are Jews but are the synagogue of Satan.
Like John himself (1:9), the church of Smyrna has been undergoing tribulation. It is apparently a poor church. We will not find any sympathy for the rich in the book of Revelation, just as in most of the New Testament. From books like James and Revelation--and elsewhere like Luke-Acts--we certainly get the impression that Jesus did not think highly of those who had wealth.
Some of their persecution seems to have come from a synagogue in the city. In some of the harshest language in the New Testament, John calls that synagogue an "assembly of Satan." Here we might point out the close relationship between the Jewish synagogue and the believer's assembly. Both were gatherings to worship the God of Israel and to fellowship with one another.
The believing assembly of Smyrna perhaps originated as believing Jews within the broader synagogue. However, it would appear that they have been expelled or at least are no longer welcome. John 9:22 likely alludes to a situation in Ephesus in the late first century where those who confessed Jesus as the Messiah were liable to expulsion from their synagogue. [2]
The statement that they think they are Jews but that they are not could indicate that this is a synagogue of Gentile proselytes to Judaism. Sometimes proselytes to a new religion are more zealous than those born into it. However, in the end it seems more likely that John is saying their lack of faith in Jesus indicates they are not true Israelites.
Perhaps John is implying something like what Paul says in Romans. "Not all from Israel--[not all] these are Israel" (Rom. 9:6). And in Romans 2:29 he says, "[The true Jew is] the Jew in the hidden [person] and the circumcision of [the] heart in [the] spirit [is the true circumcision]." The members of this synagogue may think they are true Jews. They may think that they are a synagogue of God, but John says the are actually a gathering of the Adversary, of the Satan.
10. Fear nothing that you are about to suffer. Behold the Devil is about to throw you into jail so that you might be tested and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful to death and I will give to you the crown of life.
Throughout the book of Revelation, there is the expectation that tribulation is here and is coming. "The Tribulation" is not a far off distant seven-year period. It is now. It is this in-between time. It is the time between the accomplishment of salvation by Christ and the final return of Christ. Faithful believers should expect to suffer.
This is of course not always the case. There are periods of time when Christians do not suffer. We cheapen true tribulation when we treat minor inconveniences as suffering. Someone calling us names or taking away our tax exempt status is not real suffering. If someone were to take away our guns, that would not be suffering. Any claim of that sort has no perspective on the suffering that some Christians have had at various points in history--sometimes at the hands of people claiming to be Christians.
The "ten days" are not literal days. Like most numbers in Revelation, it is a symbolic number. For some indefinite period in the near future, they are going to undergo tribulation and testing. Some of them will be brought on charges, just as presumably John himself was. Jail was not a sentence but a holding place before sentencing. In John's case, the sentence was likely exile from the city.
The course of such charges are likely the "synagogue of Satan," for it is the Devil that is about to throw them in jail. Possible charges could include sedition for calling Jesus Lord when Caesar is the Lord of the empire. There was a long-term understanding between the Romans and Jews that their worship of one God was not a threat to Roman rule. But the Romans were less convinced about Christians once they began to be able to distinguish the two groups.
Sedition could lead to death. By the time of Revelation, both Peter and Paul had died at the hands of the empire for causing disturbances and, just perhaps, for such sedition. The book of Revelation itself is similarly seditious. It would not have been hard for a Roman to identify who Babylon was, especially in the light of 17:9-11.
Indeed, there is some reason to believe that John the son of Zebedee was martyred, despite Christian tradition probably based on John 21:23. In Mark 10:38-39, Jesus seems to prophesy that both James and John will die a martyr's death. Who knows? John could have died for writing the book of Revelation!
11. The one who has ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the assemblies. The one who is victorious will never be hurt by the second death.
The letter to Smyrna ends similarly to the letter to the Ephesians. The person who has his or her ears attuned to the Spirit will hear, understand, and live accordingly. The mention of "assemblies," plural, could indicate that there were several house churches in Smyrna, which is what we would expect of a large city. However, the appearance of this admonition to the other churches here may suggest he means all churches, not just the ones in specific cities.
Mention of the second death alludes to a theme that will reach its climax in 21:8. There is a physical death. Then there is a final death in the lake of fire. Those who resist Satan in this life may die the first death at the hands of evil people. They may be hurt in this life. But they will be victorious in the fight that matters most--the eternal one.
Pergamum
12. And to the angel of the assembly at Pergamum write,
The one who has the sharp, double-edged sword says these things:
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| The theater in Pergamum |
Pergamum was the first city in Asia to become a "neocorate," a place with a temple dedicated to the Roman emperor. In this case it was Augustus, the first Roman emperor. It is at least possible that John refers to the emperor cult here as the "throne of Satan." When we get to Revelation 13, we will suggest that the "beast from the land" may actually refer to the Roman emperor cult.
We do not know the names of many martyrs from the first century. We know Stephen and James the son of Zebedee. We know Peter and Paul. It is likely that John the son of Zebedee also was eventually martyred.
Here we find out the name of another early Christian martyr, Antipas. We do not know exactly how he died, although it is reasonable to infer that he came into conflict with "Satan," likely the Roman authorities. Yet the believers in Pergamum did not abandon their faith despite the conflict of loyalties--worldly versus heavenly authority. Antipas suffered death as a result.
14. But I have against you a few things because you have there those who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who was teaching Balak to throw stumbling before the sons of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.
Balaam was of course a prophet for hire in Numbers 22-24, whom the king of Moab hired to try to get the God of Israel to switch sides. Balaam could not of course get Yahweh to do so. Instead, he ended up blessing Israel instead.
Jesus and John here indicate that there are some at Pergamum who are tempting the church to go astray similarly. The picture is one of corruption from within, false teachers within the church who are leading the church astray. And the areas in which they are being led astray are areas of key spiritual concern. When Acts 15 presents inner church conflict, food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality were key points of concern because these two things are singled out by the Jerusalem leadership (Acts 15:20).
However, these were not issues on which all Christians agreed. On the one hand, Paul was entirely on the same page as John when it comes to sexual immorality. When you look at Paul's instructions on sexual immorality, he seems entirely in line with Leviticus 18. He did not in any way think the new covenant changed God's expectations in this area, even in relation to non-Jews.
On the issue of food sacrificed to idols, Paul's position seemed considerably more nuanced than the Jerusalem leaders. Indeed, this was arguably a central bone of contention at Antioch in the conflict Paul mentions in Galatians 2:11-14. Paul never gives the verdict of the letter in Acts 15. At Corinth, he treated food offered to idols as a "don't ask where it came from" issue (1 Cor. 10:25, 27).
His theology of such food may have been different from that of John. For Paul, no food was intrinsically unclean (Rom. 14:14). What made it unclean was what your conscience said about it. If you believed it was unclean, it would be a sin to eat it (Rom. 14:23). If your conscience was truly clear, it would not be a sin to eat it. For him, the impact of your eating on others was what was important, although Paul does rule out eating at a pagan temple (1 Cor. 8:10; 10:20).
Whatever the specific situation at Pergamum, Jesus and John oppose it. Perhaps there were those who were telling the church that it was acceptable to eat at a pagan temple if you did not believe that the god of the temple was real. Paul did not support this practice either, although there were Christians at Corinth who were not bothered by it. For Paul, this was like going to a demon restaurant.
15. So you have also those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans similarly. 16. Repent therefore. And if not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will battle with them from the sword of my mouth.
This is the second mention of the Nicolaitans, the first in relation to Ephesus. But while Ephesus rejected this group, whoever they were, the believers at Pergamum seem to have been more receptive. Again, we cannot say with any certainty who they might have been. Could they have been a type of Gnostic who did not believe that the body was relevant to one's spirituality? If the body is inherently evil and corrupt, then does it matter what one does with it? But we cannot know.
17. The one who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To the one who is victorious I will give to him the manna that has been hidden and I will give him a white stone and on the stone [I will give] a new name that has been written, which no one knows except the one who receives.
As with the previous churches, the word to Pergamum ends with the same invocation to those who are receptive to the word. At the same time, the individual churches often get a unique promise as well. In this case, they are promised hidden manna, food from heaven like the manna the Israelites were given in the wilderness. It is food on which to survive when no other food is in sight.
The nature of the white stones of the promise is a matter of much debate. Some reference the Urim and Thummin of Exodus 28 (cf. 28:12 and 30), where each stone had names of the tribes of Israel on it. These helped the priest divine God's will (cf. 1 Sam. 14:41). Some point to the practice of using black and white stones to determine innocence or guilt. These two allusions are not mutually exclusive.
The stone here is clearly a sign of God's approval. The name is a sign of election and blessing. However, it is not unconditional election. It is election based on victoriousness--faithfulness and endurance to the end.
Thyatira
18. And to the angel of the church at Thyatira write,The nature of the white stones of the promise is a matter of much debate. Some reference the Urim and Thummin of Exodus 28 (cf. 28:12 and 30), where each stone had names of the tribes of Israel on it. These helped the priest divine God's will (cf. 1 Sam. 14:41). Some point to the practice of using black and white stones to determine innocence or guilt. These two allusions are not mutually exclusive.
The stone here is clearly a sign of God's approval. The name is a sign of election and blessing. However, it is not unconditional election. It is election based on victoriousness--faithfulness and endurance to the end.
Thyatira
The Son of God says these things, the one who has his eyes as flames of fire and his feet are like brass.
The image of Jesus evokes the picture we have already seen in 1:14-15. This is the first time that Jesus is called, "Son of God," which was a title of royalty in the Roman world. The first emperor, Augustus, for example, called himself the "son of God." In the context of Revelation, it is possible that this expression should be taken in its fully subversive sense.
19. I know your works and love and faith and ministry and your endurance, and your recent works are greater than your first. 20. But I have against you that you allow the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and leads my servants astray to commit fornication and to eat things offered to idols.
Jesus and John once again begin with a positive statement of praise toward the church at Thyatira. They have demonstrated the works that go along with their faith, expressed in ministry and love toward others and each other. They have not only persisted in faith but the works that come from their faith have increased over time--something for which Jesus and John compliment them.
However, the letter moves on quickly to admonition. Apparently there was a false prophetess at Thyatira. It is very important to note that John has nothing negative to say about the fact that a woman might prophesy. Female prophecy is the norm of the New Testament. It is a fundamental indication of the Age of the Spirit in Acts 2:17. Philip the evangelist had four daughters all of whom were prophetesses (Acts 21:9). The problem of head-covering in 1 Corinthians 11 is a direct result of the fact that women prayed and prophesied in Corinthian worship.
So the problem is this specific person who is claiming to be a prophetess. John likens her to Jezebel in 1 and 2 Kings, the wife of Ahab, king of the north. She did not worship Yahweh but Ba'al instead and killed the prophets of Yahweh.
The implication is thus that this false teacher was an infection in the church at Thyatira, someone who was not truly in Christ but gave the pretense of speaking for God. The two acts of sin mentioned here are those mentioned at Pergamum: sexual immorality and food sacrificed to idols. It is at least possible that "sexual immorality" here is meant figuratively, namely, as spiritual "fornication." Such a metaphorical sense would suggest that they are "cheating" on Yahweh with other gods.
The mention again of food sacrificed to other gods suggests this was a major issue of debate in the late first century church. We might infer from Romans 14:2 that some Jews became vegetarians in order to avoid the mere possibility of eating such meat. Again, Paul framed the issue in terms of a person's intention rather than the act itself. We might infer that John the Revelator was much more scrupulous.
21. And I have given her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her fornication. 22 Behold, I am throwing her on a bed and those who who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their works.
This letter is not the first time the church at Thyatira has heard this critique. Probably John himself, as well as members of the church, have already spoken out against the teachings of "Jezebel." They have probably spoken already against her teachings on food sacrificed to idols. Now Jesus himself speaks his authority to him.
Those who follower her teachings and do not change directions are headed for tribulation. This not a tribulation not by the empire against the church but a discipline from God. God's preference is to reclaim and restore them. He has been giving them time to repent. It is an unpleasant image, just as their unfaithfulness to God is unconscionable.
23. And I will kill her children with death and all the assemblies will know that I am the one who searches thoughts and hearts, and I will give to each according to your works.
There is no thought of unconditional security for believers here. Although God would much prefer there redemption. those who abandon him will not receive favoritism on the Day of Judgment. The second death awaits all who do not remain faithful in their hearts and actions.
God will judge them according to their works. This is not salvation by works, but rather our works indicate the status of our faith. God, because he is all-knowing, knows our hearts. He knows if we are his true servants or not.
24. Now I say to the rest of you at Thyatira, as many as do not have this teaching, who have not known the depths of Satan as they say, I am not throwing on you another burden 25. except hold fast what you have until I should come.
As before, Jesus and John end on a positive note. Not everyone at Thyatira has followed the teachings of Jezebel. Not everyone has gone to the depths of Satan. They are not rebuked but affirmed for their faithfulness. Their only burden is to continue to hold fast. Clearly those who do not hold fast will not be part of the eternal kingdom of God.
It is striking that Jesus and John would indicate that Satan could have a footing in the church. It is a reminder that Satan does not always come at us from outside the church. Sometimes he comes at us from within, even by those who think themselves spiritual, even prophetic.
26. And the one who is victorious and who keeps my works until the end,
I will give to him authority over the Gentiles
27. And him will shepherd them with an iron rod
As clay vessels are broken in pieces
28. As also I have received from my father, and I will give to him the morning star.
John closes the letter to Thyatira with reference to a version of Psalm 2. This psalm was a royal psalm, a psalm in honor of the king. Most of this type of psalm was read by the earliest Christians as a messianic psalm, a psalm about Jesus.
In this case, the psalm is applied to all true believers rather than Jesus specifically. After all, we are "co-heirs" of the promise with Jesus (Rom. 8:17). We are a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9). Like the Israelite king of the past, like Jesus himself in the present and future, believers will have authority over the nations (i.e., the Gentiles).
Interestingly, the Greek version of this psalm was a little different here than the Hebrew that we have. However, we should remember that there were many variations of the Greek translation around. Since we will argue later that John spoke Aramaic as a first language, it seems likely that he is following a text that did exist in Hebrew.
So while the original Hebrew text probably said, "break them with an iron rod," John goes with the alternative, "shepherd them with an iron rod." The next line is similar to the Hebrew--they will be broken like clay vessels. In contrast, those who are victorious will get the morning star. Revelation 22:16 indicates that the morning star is none other than Christ himself.
29. And the one who has ears, them hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
The instructions to Thyatira end as the instructions to the other churches have ended.
[1] The Greek word for "seem" is dokeo.
[2] It is unlikely that this situation was taking place at the time of Jesus himself, although it could have happened in some isolated situation. It is much more likely that the Gospel of John is addressing a situation at the time of its writing.
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