End Times 7 Churches of Revelation Intro

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In the book of Revelation, we find the seven churches - Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. What's cool about the seven churches is that we get the good, the bad, and the ugly right up front. It's so good for us to look at what the Savior himself in his glorified state says to the churches right before laying out the vision for the culmination of time itself.

The seven churches give us some great insight into how we should live, how we should interact, how we should work, what our attitude should be. In a nutshell, in modern English, the seven churches tell us how we should roll. When scripture interprets scripture and you put it all together, you will see two things:

You will see this is not easy and goes against many things we think now in our culture are virtues but are really disobedient to God. So we will feel uncomfortable at times.
There's a thing that comes from having your eyes opened and your ears open and that is freedom. Just freedom supported by the hope and the joy and the seven churches will bring clarity.

See, when Jesus gives you real eyes to see and real ears to hear, you can no longer accept falsehoods as virtue. And your heart will break for those who can't see, even as they act like they have the truth. So what do we do? We show them grace and we try to get them to come and taste and see that the Lord is good. Even if some things don't look good to our carnal modern mind, we have to stick with it.

A Quick Overview of the Seven Churches

Let's start with a quick overview of the seven churches:

Ephesus - They had sound doctrine but had lost their first love of Christ.
Smyrna - They were poor and persecuted, but spiritually rich and encouraged to remain faithful even unto death.
Pergamum - They held tight to Christ's name, but tolerated false teaching and moral compromise.
Thyatira - They were loving and faithful, but allowed a false prophetess to lead others into sin.
Sardis - They had a reputation for being alive, but they were spiritually dead, and they needed to wake up.
Philadelphia - Oh, we all want to be church Philadelphia. They were faithful and obedient despite limited strength, and Christ promises to protect them.
Laodicea - They were lukewarm and self-satisfied, blind to their spiritual poverty.

Revelation chapters 2 and 3 cover the entire seven. What we are going to find is incredible instruction and insight into what Jesus approves of as well as what makes him possibly want to remove your lampstand. Yeah, it's going to be quite remarkable.

Good Ground Christians and Churches

Sharing the gospel and protection from the great deception must be a part of a good ground fellowship, a good ground church. It is really of paramount importance. In Matthew 13, the parable of the soil and the farmer (or the sower as it is in my translation), scattering the seeds, your soil, your life, your church, the content and effects of the soil of your world experience will directly impact your walk with Christ and the ability to protect you from deception.

So Matthew chapter 13, starting in verse three:

"And he told them many things in parables, saying, 'A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, and since they had no depth of soil, when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.'" (Matthew 13:3-9)

So the disciples now questioned Jesus about why he speaks in parables. Verse 10:

"And the disciples came to him and said, 'Why do you speak to them in parables?' And he answered them, 'To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.'" (Matthew 13:10-11)

So, is Jesus telling us that some will get it and some won't? It's pretty obvious. That's what he's saying. Jesus is telling his followers, I speak in parables or storytelling in order to go deeper with the ones who see and keep it oblivious from the folks who are spiritually blind. It's obvious in this text. That's what he's doing.

Verse 12:

"For the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: 'You will indeed hear but never understand; you will indeed see but never perceive.'" (Matthew 13:12-14)

Verse 15:

"For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it." (Matthew 13:15-17)

So Jesus is doubling down right here. He's telling them he is going to be the one to open the eyes. He is going to be the one to heal this condition. And then he tells the disciples how fortunate and blessed they are that they actually get to be alive and to walk alongside the Messiah.

That is one of the byproduct benefits of having your eyes open by the Lord. You feel blessed. You feel fortunate. You know, you didn't open your eyes yourself. You feel chosen. You feel loved. The Lord has opened my eyes. And now I want to live for him. And I want my life to matter to him. I want my life to count in his eyes. That's what the good ground Christian says in their heart because their eyes have been open and their ears have been opened by the Lord himself.

The Four Soils Explained

Jesus tells us what to be aware of in our world. The word in your heart, that word that is opening your eyes, is a seed - and what ground it stays in or lands in determines if your vision gets clearer or if you return to your blindness. The location of where you put this seed, the life-saving giving word of God, will determine the fruitfulness of your salvation and sometimes even its authenticity.

Make sure you hear this, okay? The location of the soil, the ground of your heart that has heard the word of God will determine the fruitfulness of your salvation and sometimes even if it's authentic or not.

Jesus actually explains it. Verse 18:

"Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path." (Matthew 13:18-19)

You get this? Failure to understand. Failure to have the word breakthrough and allow Jesus to open your eyes and ears. This person has heard the gospel and is not redeemed.

Verse 20:

"As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away." (Matthew 13:20-21)

This is what I call adding Jesus to what you have going on. There is joy in the Savior, but only on selfish terms. Again, this is a false conversion. Sorry, not sorry.

Verse 22:

"As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful." (Matthew 13:22)

This is what I call being a fan of Jesus. The Savior's awesome, but only if I can benefit from him in this world, and again, only on selfish terms. This is also a false conversion.

Verse 23:

"As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty." (Matthew 13:23)

Do you see the various levels of conversion here?

The path is not converted. The path heard the message and is lost.
The rocky and the thorny are fake Christians and fake conversions.
And the one being real is the good ground.

Now take the path out of it. Three out of the four probably asked Jesus into their heart. They probably had some regret. They probably recognized the greatness and glory of God as found in Jesus. But the rocky soil and the thorny soil never understood the heart of the gospel. Never totally understood the need for a substitute that you can't stand before a holy God. You will never be able to stand before a holy God no matter what you do. It's all about what he does. The recognition of your own sinfulness. The fact that you will never be able to save yourself. The true repentance Jesus calls us to.

And they never had their eyes open and they never had their ears open. Instead, they saw Jesus as some sort of a means to an end. And they missed out on the good soil, on good ground.

The point is also how much yield the seed is going to produce and the good ground is going to produce. Here Jesus, the Lord makes it so clear. It will be different for each and every one of us. Well, how can I make my seed bear the most fruit? That's not for us to decide. For us, it is to have eyes to see and ears to hear and stay grounded in good soil and then leave the results to the Lord. Do our very best with what we've been given in the environment in which we've been given.

Part of good ground is focusing on the faithfulness to the king himself and allowing the results to be what they are going to be.

The Glorified Christ in Revelation

With that teaching in mind, let's look at the book of Revelation and how it starts. Revelation chapter 1, we get a description of what John sees. Now understand, John tries to describe the glorified savior and words cannot do justice for it. This viewpoint, this is the image you should have in your prayer time.

Revelation 1:10-11:

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, 'Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.'"

So the instruction is given. Did you catch that? Loud like a trumpet. In other words, you're going to write what I'm specifically saying and you're going to do it accurately. And this is about to get real like a trumpet.

When we read these next few verses, I want you to really see how there is no way John can accurately describe the glory he is about to see.

Verse 12:

"Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength." (Revelation 1:12-16)

Verse 17:

"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.'" (Revelation 1:17-18)

Listen now. John knew Jesus as well as anyone. And when he saw him, he is so overcome with awe and terror. Don't miss that total glorification of our king. And John, who walked with Jesus, John stood at the foot of the cross. John was standing there when Jesus ascended into heaven. He knew Jesus. And in the awe and terror of what he saw, he's so shocked he falls down as if he's dead.

And then in perfect character, our Lord and Savior Jesus, our incredible savior, touches him with his right hand and says, "Fear not. I am the first and the last."

Like I said, this is the viewpoint who you should imagine in your prayer time. Quit thinking of Jim Caviezel from Passion of the Christ or the dude from The Chosen. This is the risen glorified king who we pray to, who we sing about, whose name we want to make great.

Verse 19-20:

"Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches." (Revelation 1:19-20)

So before we get to the seven churches, see that Jesus refers to them as being represented by lampstands. Our goal as a church should always be to make sure our lampstand does not get removed. Many churches in America, their lampstands have been removed. And it's sad to see.

End Times Perspective - A Practical Illustration

So let me do a quick overview of the end times for you. Now, I am not trying to be flippant about pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib rapture theories. I just want to make the case. How much does it matter?

Seriously, we all know that God takes his children out of this world and that can happen at any time for anyone. We also know that the Bible teaches of a tribulation time. Christians believe that a second coming of Christ will happen in a handful of ways. All surrounding a taking away of the church and God pouring out his wrath on earth with the culmination of Jesus ruling and reigning. And we all get to party in the new Jerusalem with God in our midst for all of eternity.

How that happens, how to interpret the prophecies have divided folks for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. Even the thousand-year reign of Christ is subjected to three different schools of thought:

Premillennialism teaches that Jesus will physically return before the millennium to reign on the earth for a literal thousand years followed by the final judgment.
Amillennialism teaches that the millennium is symbolically viewed as the current church age in which Christ reigns spiritually through his church with no future earthly thousand-year reign. Christ will return once at the end of the age for final judgment and the new heavens and earth.
Postmillennialism holds that the world will gradually be Christianized, ushering in a golden age, the millennium after which Christ will return.

That kind of division is crazy, isn't it? Let me give you an example - an illustration I thought of this week that I've never shared in public before.

The Burning House Illustration

Let's say you call me and a few others from the church to help you with an electrical problem. You can't get any electricity to the freezer you have in your garage. Now, why you would call me is part of the mystery since I'm about as handy as a broken clock, but you do anyway, and I show up with a few others.

So, we start to debate the issue.

One says, "No, it's the fuse box. We need to swap out the fuse."
Another says, "No, no, it's the wiring. We need to rewire the box to the outlet."
And then another says, "You're both wrong. It has to be the outlet box. We make the fix there and we plug it in. It should work."

Of course, I'm just standing there holding wire cutters, not knowing what to do, trying to look important.

And just then, an angel appears to us. No question it is from God. Why? Because we are so afraid. Angel tells us that tonight the house is going to burn down. We ask, "Is this for sure? Can we do anything to stop it?" And the angel says, "No, there is no stopping it. It will happen. And this warning is an opportunity for us to get the valuables out of the house."

So the angel departs. What do we do? Do we keep arguing about the best solution to get electricity to the freezer? Can you imagine how stupid that would be? "Well, I still believe we need to rewire it to solve the issue." No. No. You now flip all your efforts to getting the valuables out of the house.

So with all the end times mumbo jumbo for the most part just let it go. Why? Because sharing the gospel and protection from the great deception that is coming upon us is what we need to be about as a collective. That is what is really of paramount importance because we are to be watchful and to be looking for the return of Christ.

Let it settle there. Let that be enough. Search prophecy for deeper understanding. Absolutely. Let's do that together. But let's stop the nonsense. Let's stop trying to figure it all out. The tribes and the millennial reigns and your point of view and all this. You know what it does? It takes you off mission. The mission should always be to keep our focus on sharing the gospel any way we can and to be prepared for the great deception. You know, getting the valuables out of the house. Make sense?

The Comfort of Christ's Return

I want to close with a scripture that everybody who's into prophecy, pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trip, premillennial, amillennial - all of them, this is one of their core texts. And I want you to let this scripture wash over you. It's supposed to comfort you. It's supposed to give us peace.

It's 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:

"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. And we who are alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words."

Another phrase says, "Comfort each other with these words." This truth, it's so basically straightforward and it should be enough. Just at face value should be enough. Why? Because it is comforting to know the king has it. Jesus has this. I'm comforted and then I roll on. Then I get back on mission. Then I stay on mission.

Standing Firm in Truth

So as we dig into the seven churches, we need to be able to handle the hard truths, the narrow way. Because if you can't handle the truth, what's one of the first things that's going to pop up in your life? Let me tell you what it is. You will be a prime candidate for deception. Truth rejectors many times will be the ones who fall for deception. And many times that deception will line up perfectly with our feelings and make so much sense to us on the surface, especially with the delusion that Americans have been under over the last 15 to 20 years as we've been growing softer and softer where Jesus has become your buddy.

I hate browbeating you with this, but I can't stand the "He Gets Us" campaign. That's such a fraud. He saves us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Every religion in the world is working their way up towards God. Or in Christianity in America, we're making him so soft that he's just our buddy. He's our pal. When we are sinful and we are just awful and we can't stand before God, Christianity is the only one where God works his way down to us while we were yet sinners and he saves us, he rescues us and he offers to be our substitute and a byproduct of that is getting eyes to see and ears to hear and then he wants us to stay on mission.

So let's embrace the truth and live in the freedom, the joy and the hope that is only found in salvation provided by Jesus. And let us rally our good ground Christian lives together and create a good ground fellowship in which we will stand firm with spines of steel given to us by God himself.