Vision of the Ages: The Message of Revelation
The Apostle John was exiled to the isle of Patmos where he received the book of Revelation. Jesus appeared to John and commanded him to write letters to the seven Churches of Asia. The vision of Christ sets the stage for the letters to the churches. These were seven real churches located in the major cities of the Roman province of Asia, which is the modern nation of Turkey. The exalted King of the universe is speaking to His Church in the world. Jesus was standing in the middle of seven candlesticks or lamp stands which represent the churches and the fact that Jesus, because He is in Heaven, is always present with the Church.
In the letters John writes, some aspect of Christ’s glorious appearance is repeated to each Church, further emphasizing who is addressing the churches. There were certain aspects of Christ that the churches needed to contemplate. For example, His eyes are like a flaming fire: He can see everything that is happening in His Church. This could be a comforting thought if the Church is in trouble or it could be a warning if the Church is unfaithful.
The seven letters all follow the same format. Jesus identifies Himself with some aspect of His glorious person. He then assesses the condition of the Church, pointing out both good and bad qualities and exhorting the church in some way based on that assessment. Each church then receives a glorious reward that they will receive if they overcome the challenges that are before them in the world and remain faithful to Jesus. Most of the churches have both good and bad qualities. There are two Churches that receive no negative feedback from the Lord and there is one Church to whom Jesus has nothing positive to say.
Most churches are a mixture of good and bad qualities. The bad qualities are not glossed over by the Lord. He demands repentance and warns of serious consequences if change does not happen in the churches. Jesus is both kind and stern with His Church. These are qualities that men cannot seem to balance. If men assess the Church, not only do they fail to see everything, but they also tend to either allow faults to go unaddressed or are too harsh without offering any hope. But our Lord Jesus has the perfect balance of kindness and severity because He is God and these are aspects of God’s nature.
These letters should be seen in the context of the whole book. The main purpose of the entire book of Revelation is to prepare God’s people in the world to successfully pass through opposition, tribulation, and persecution while remaining faithful witnesses to Christ and being fit for the eternal habitation of the New Creation. When Jesus assesses these Churches, He is saying that unless they remain faithful, or unless they repent, it is possible for the Church to fail and to be overcome by the opposition of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. Some of these churches in Revelation were in danger of having their lampstand removed from its place. Some of the people in these Churches are clearly not accepted or approved by the Lord. There is the possibility of a spiritual shipwreck on the stormy seas of this present, evil world.
These letters are easy to skip over or treat lightly as we struggle to understand the more difficult sections of the book. But we must hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches or we will miss the message of this book of Revelation. These letters are relevant to any Church and we are challenged to assess ourselves as Jesus assessed these churches. These letters are not written so that we can assess other Churches and give ourselves a free pass. We are meant to ask ourselves if there is anything that Jesus says to these churches that might apply to our church or even to our lives individually.
If we consider all seven letters together we can discern four crucial issues in the Church that really matter to Jesus:
· Spiritual Issues: Jesus assesses the quality of the churches
· Doctrinal Issues: Jesus assesses the teaching of the churches
· Moral Issues: Jesus assesses the purity of the churches
· Cultural Issues: Jesus assesses the environments of the churches
Spiritual Issues: The Quality of the Church
The Church is viewed by Christ as a single entity, or a Body, not just a loose collection of individuals. Churches have a communal personality or spiritual quality that is the aggregation of the individual members. If most of the members have a certain quality then this tends to define the spiritual personality of that Body. There may be individuals who are the exception to the rule (there were some even in Sardis who did not soil their clothes), but this does not negate the Lord’s assessment of the whole Body. Like a good physician, Jesus takes the spiritual temperature of each congregation.
The Love Issue
The very first letter addresses a church that was commended for several strong points, yet was lacking in one crucial area of spiritual life: they had lost their first love. And so, Jesus warns them: “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first” (Rev. 2.4-5).
Notice that they had really abandoned their first love, which is a deliberate move and not something that just happened by accident.
Even though this church had remained doctrinally pure and had been faithfully serving the Lord, they were doing those things without keeping their first love.
What does it mean to abandon our first love? This could mean the love you had at the beginning. It is something like the tender, passionate love we often see in newlyweds, who are enthralled with each other and seem to think of nothing besides being together and pouring praise, affection, and adoration on each other. In the same way, there is a fresh and passionate love for Jesus that should not be set aside by Christians.
Another way of looking at this phrase, “first love”, is that this is the one thing that comes before all other things. In other words, the first love is what we put first in our affections and priorities. Obviously, for Christians, the thing we put first is not a thing at all but a Person: Jesus is to always be first in the church. If the church were to put anything else, any other love, before Jesus this would be a great tragedy and betrayal.
It is no accident that marriage is the thing that portrays the relationship between Christ and His church. In a marriage relationship, your spouse is to always be your first love and nothing else, and certainly no one else, is to come before them. So, a church that has left its first love has committed a fatal error. Nothing else quite makes up for leaving our first love.
And yet, it is possible for the church to continue functioning, doing many good works in the name of Christ, even maintaining the proper beliefs, while being cold toward the one Person who matters most. And a church that is cold toward Jesus will soon be cold toward each other as well. It is love for Christ that solidifies all Christian love. The church simply cannot do without love. As Paul wrote so eloquently:
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor 13.1-3).
The Commitment Issue
Another spiritual quality that is important to Jesus is commitment. And there is one church that is rebuked thoroughly for being lukewarm, or lacking a full commitment to Christ. In fact, the lukewarm church is the only one that has no praise from Jesus at all. “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Rev. 3.15-16).
Everyone knows that lukewarm water is useless. You can cook or clean with hot water, but not with lukewarm water. You can drink cold water. But drinking something that is lukewarm can be disgusting. And that is exactly how Jesus felt about the lukewarm church: it made Him sick.
Jesus wanted them to be either hot or cold. We should be able to understand this sentiment. No one wants to be in a relationship with someone who is lukewarm about the relationship. It is better to be all or nothing.
Lukewarm relationships are pretentious: someone is not being honest or forthright about how they really feel. It is better to either fish or cut bait. Half-heartedness is never ideal and Jesus certainly won’t tolerate half-hearted churches for long. Jesus expects His people to be committed, zealous, passionate, fully devoted people. You can’t do this half-way. It is better to just stop following Jesus altogether, and give up the pretense, than to be lukewarm.
So why are there lukewarm churches? Perhaps there are people who think the Lord will receive them even though they are not fully invested. Some people think Jesus will tolerate almost anything. But Jesus made it very clear that His disciples must be fully committed or they would be disqualified. Yet many churches feel that they are safe just for showing up and going through the motions. The lukewarm condition creates a false security and the people who are in the grip of such a spiritual state will always be blind to their true state. This is especially true if there is some apparent success or if the church is in a comfortable position. Prosperity or success is like being on a spiritual muscle relaxer. There is no condition more dangerous than this and it might be the very state that generally describes the American Church today. But even the Lukewarm Church is not written off by the Lord. He is still standing at the door and knocking.
The Works Issue
Jesus also assesses the works of these churches. He wants them to know that He sees everything they are doing. Jesus commends the churches for their hard work and for doing more than what they did before. Jesus likes to see the church increasing in good works. Jesus Himself was known for doing good works. But there is one church Jesus described as dead, their works being incomplete. “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God” (Rev. 3.1-2).
A dead church is one that is doing nothing for the Lord. Ironically, the dead church had a reputation for being alive. This proves that Jesus’ assessment of the church can be very different from the assessments of men. The dead church is very close to what Jesus called the Pharisees: whitewashed tombs filled with dead men’s bones.
Obviously, we are not saved because of our works. But our works are the evidence of spiritual life. There is life where there is activity. And all the Lord’s disciples are supposed to bear fruit. We are saved by grace to do good works, not to sit around like museum pieces gathering dust and cobwebs. Faith without works is dead.
We should not think that our works are limited to attending worship services. The times of assembly are for equipping the saints to then go out and do the work of the ministry. Jesus expects His people to get filled up so they can then give something away to others.
The Perseverance Issue
The final spiritual quality that Jesus assesses is perseverance. Jesus commends several of these churches for their faithfulness: “I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary” (Rev. 2.3). “Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth” (Rev. 3.10).
One of the signs of true faith is perseverance. Anyone can persevere when things are easy, like a runner who is going with the wind. But perseverance is really needed when there is opposition and difficulty. Persevering means keeping the faith and continuing to serve the Lord, even in trials, pain, suffering, or opposition.
This perseverance involves a public and visible allegiance to Christ that others can witness. There is a temptation, when things get difficult, for Christians to become silent or take their faith underground, so to speak, to avoid the opposition. At other times, we may become weak or tired and are tempted to give up. Perhaps we begin to think that our work does not matter, that we are accomplishing very little of significance, and we become discouraged. And then there are the basic difficulties of life that can steal away our strength and attention.
To each church in these letters, Jesus gives a tremendous promise to those who overcome, who keep the faith to the end and persevere through all the tribulations of this world. These glorious promises show us that the future is bright for the children of God and our perseverance will be richly rewarded. The most important thing we can do to persevere is to fix our eyes on Jesus, who is the author of our faith, and who Himself had to endure many trials and temptations, including the death of the cross, and has now entered His eternal glory. That same glory is awaiting us who keep the faith. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Rev. 3.21).
It is vital that churches can assess their own spiritual condition. That is why these letters were written. Perhaps we can see something about ourselves in these letters: maybe we have lost our first love, or we are not fully committed to Christ. Or, our faith may just be talk without any works to prove our claims. On the other hand, there may be signs of life that we need to recognize: if our good works are increasing this is a sign of growth and faith. And if we are standing firm and continuing to serve and to follow Jesus, then we can have great assurance and confidence in the faith.
Doctrinal Issues: The Teaching of the Church
Jesus not only speaks to the spiritual state of these churches, He also assesses their doctrine. Doctrine simply means teaching or what we believe to be true and right. There are some churches today who say that doctrine does not matter, and that Christians should have the freedom to believe as they choose. This position cannot be based on reading the letters to the churches. Jesus rebukes these churches for tolerating false teachers and embracing their doctrines. While Christians are to be known for their love, this in no way allows for tolerating error. But even though Jesus commends the church at Ephesus for remaining doctrinally pure, but He still rebuked them for losing their first love. This shows us that simply embracing the right doctrine does not automatically solve every problem in the church. Christianity is not just a list of doctrines that we are to accept intellectually. However, churches need to give serious thought to what is being taught and believed in their ranks. The proliferation of false doctrine in the church has reached epic proportions today.
Teaching that Claims Authority
Every teaching starts with someone who claims an authority that other people should listen to and obey. There were teachers at Ephesus who were claiming to be Apostles, but were false (Rev. 2.2). An apostle is someone sent by Christ with His authority. There was a woman at Thyatira who claimed to be a prophetess (Rev. 2.20). (Jesus did not rebuke the church for letting a woman speak but for allowing her to teach false and immoral doctrine.) A prophet is someone who speaks the Word of God. An apostle and a prophet are two of the highest ranked leadership gifts in the Church (Eph. 4.11). But how do we recognize the ones who have this gift and those who may be imposters? The Lord obviously expects the church to exercise some spiritual discernment in this area. We are to test the spirits. But this is not just a subjective feeling.
We must understand that all authority in the church resides in Jesus, who is the Head of the Body. That means that there is no one else in the Body of Christ who has any inherent authority. All authority comes from Jesus. If a leader or teacher has been sent from Jesus, then to obey that person is to obey Jesus. We are under no obligation to obey any other person other than Jesus. No person in the church can teach their own opinions and thoughts and demand that others submit to them. There is only one King. Teachers and leaders who have been sent by Jesus will only speak the Word of God.
If a person is speaking the Word of God, meaning that which agrees with what has been revealed in Scripture, then the church should submit to that person’s teaching. A teacher who is bringing something other than the Word of God must be rejected.
We must also look closely at the lives of those who teach and claim to be leaders in the church. Jesus said we would recognize false teachers by the fruit of their lives. Teachers who are immoral, hypocritical, greedy, selfish, or who treat the people of God harshly, cannot be from Jesus and should not be tolerated by the churches. Those who tolerate and encourage false teachers are just as guilty as those who spread the false doctrine and are partaking in their sins.
Teaching that Encourages Carnality
There are some false teachers who are hypocrites. That is, they might tell others to avoid sin but fail to avoid it themselves. However, there are false teachers who not only dive into sin themselves, they also teach and encourage others to indulge the flesh. The false teachers Jesus mentions in these letters were known for doing that. Jesus compares them to Balaam, an Old Testament false prophet who was driven by greed to try to curse the people of Israel by promoting idolatry and sexual immorality (Rev. 2.14). And the woman at Thyatira is called Jezebel, though this might not have been her real name. But she was doing in the church what Jezebel did in Israel: promoting idolatry and immorality (Rev.2.20). The sect known as the Nicolaitans were probably promoting the same combination of sensual indulgence and paganism (Rev. 2.6, 15).
Remember that these people were teaching these things from within the church. These false teachers had successfully infiltrated the ranks of the believers, like wolves in sheep’s clothing.
They were probably attractive, convincing, and charismatic people who claimed to be Christians. And there were people in the churches who listened to their teaching, tolerated their presence, and even believed and accepted their doctrine.
These teachers were justifying carnality and paganism by turning grace into a license. “Let us sin so that grace may increase.” Or they may have been teaching that spirituality has nothing to do with the physical body. God is only interested in the spiritual, not the physical, so you may do as you please with your body.
False teaching always produces bad fruit. You can usually see the results of bad doctrine in bad living. Many false teachers have continued to successfully convince Christians that sin and worldliness is not really that bad. But in these letters Jesus’ words to the churches who have tolerated and embraced false doctrine cannot be stronger:
“Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth” (Rev. 2.16).
“Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works” (Rev. 2.22-23).
Jesus is not a friend to those who corrupt His Body and lead His people astray.
Teaching that Promotes Philosophy
These false teachers must have claimed to have a higher knowledge than the typical Christian. They had something that went beyond the simple Gospel of Christ or that was a special revelation beyond what had already been written down in Scripture. One of these even claimed to know the “deep things of Satan” (Rev. 2.24)!
These teachers always manage to combine Scripture with a little philosophy and worldly wisdom. They sound culturally sophisticated because they want to be in tune with the spirit of the Age and to be praised by other men. There are these kinds of men and women in every generation of the Church. They are trying to modify the Christian Faith and edit the Scriptures to remove whatever is offensive to the spirit of the Age and the prevailing culture. So, they are popular and are praised for being progressive and opened-minded. And those who reject and oppose them are called narrow-minded, bigoted and hateful.
This happens in every generation. It happened when the new scientific liberalism of the 19th century began to infiltrate the church and teachers began questioning the inspiration of Scripture and the possibility of the miraculous. It has happened in our generation with people in the church embracing universalism and moral relativism. No doubt, if the Lord tarries, the generations that follow us will continue to fight these battles in their times. The issues may be different on the surface, but there is really nothing new under the sun and Satan continues to attack the churches with the same old lies wrapped in new packages.
Teaching that Creates Divisions
The result of false teaching is divisions or factions in the Church. We have so many divisions in the church because teachers have come into the church and taught things contrary to the Gospel and the Word of God to draw away disciples after themselves. The word “heresy” has come to mean a false teaching, but it originally meant faction or division. This is a work of the Flesh and the result of unstable, immature people who are blown and tossed about by every wind and wave of doctrine (Eph. 4.14).
The Gospel and the Spirit of God draws believers together and makes them one in Christ. False teachers and their doctrines seek to splinter the Body of Christ and to cause Christians to follow the teachings and agendas of men. False teachers always have their own agenda and are not concerned about the welfare of the Body of Christ. The Church is supposed to make disciples of Jesus. But false teachers are out to make their own disciples. One of the marks of a cult is a radical devotion to a man and his own views rather than to Christ. Denominationalism is devotion to a tradition rather than to Christ. And every cult and denomination believes that it has the truth and that every other group is suspect or on the outside of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus holds the false teachers, their followers, and those who tolerate them responsible for the proliferation of false doctrines in the Church. The only reason false teachers have influence is because the churches allow them to speak and to exploit the unstable. It is the responsibility of the churches to reject those who are coming with their own agendas and another Gospel. It is because the churches were not able to do this that Jesus had to make His own assessment and possibly administer stern discipline as well. It is always better for the Church to assess and judge itself rather than having to be judged by the Lord.
Moral Issues: The Purity of the Church
Jesus points out the moral failures of these churches (See 2.14, 20-23). The immorality was directly linked to the false teaching that was justifying sin and paganism. Jesus commands repentance and shows no tolerance for sin in His Body. The two kinds of sin Jesus specifically mentions in the churches of Asia are sexual immorality and eating foods sacrificed to idols. These two specific transgressions point us to some broader categories of moral issues that still are relevant to churches today: 1. The purity of the physical body, and 2. The purity of the conscience.
The Purity of the Physical Body
The Greco-Roman culture in which the churches of Asia lived thought very little of the physical body. The old philosophers thought of the physical body as a prison for the immortal soul. Therefore, a person could be quite religious while still engaging in all kinds of sexual perversions. In fact, sexual acts with temple prostitutes was a regular part of pagan worship and this was probably what the churches of Asia were doing. The ancient world was morally corrupt and all kinds of perversions were common and accepted by society as quite normal. The Christians in the churches of Asia had come out of this kind of culture. The Jews were the only ancient people who had a different ethical framework regarding sexuality and marriage. The Apostolic doctrine in the New Testament commanded Gentile converts to separate themselves from their former way of life. But some of the people in the churches of Asia had gone back to their pagan ways, encouraged by the false teachers to do so. Jesus rebukes them for their regression into sin. There is no room for ambiguity or compromise on this issue: sexual sin must be avoided!
Unlike the pagan philosophers, the Biblical writers took a much higher view of the physical body. The Lord Jesus Himself had a physical body, so the body itself is not evil. And Christians are promised a new body at the Resurrection. In the meantime, what we do with our bodies is extremely important. The body of the believers belongs to the Lord and is only to be used in the service of the Lord, not in the service of sin. The sinful desires of the Flesh must be put to death, or denied expression (See Eph. 4.17-5.17; Col. 3.5-10; 1 Thess. 4.3-8).
The only lawful expression of sexuality for a Christian is between a husband and wife. Marriage is meant to be a picture of the deeper, spiritual union between Christ and His Bride, the Church (See Eph. 5.22-33). Christians who engage in sexual sin are not being an accurate representation of Christ and the Church. The Church must be a pure and faithful Bride for the Lord. The book of Revelation will show how this contrasts with the defiled Whore of Babylon, which is a depiction of the wicked World. The believer must live in purity and faithfulness to the Lord, and there are no exceptions to this obligation.
Obviously, the sin of sexual immorality is not the only expression of the many different sins of the Flesh. The Christian must separate himself from all expressions of the Flesh (See Rom. 6.1-22, 7.4-6, 8.1-13, 12.1-2; 1 Cor. 6.12-20; Gal. 5.16-25). For this reason, the power of the indwelling Spirit is set against the desires of the Flesh which enables believers to keep their bodies sanctified, or separate from sin, and offered unto God as living sacrifices which do only His will. No personal desire or temporary pleasure should come before doing God’s will and pleasing Him in everything we do. Unfortunately, this is not a popular teaching in our neo-pagan and increasingly immoral culture.
The Purity of the Conscience
We understand the meaning of sexual immorality. But what about eating food sacrificed to idols? This problem is not relevant to people in Western cultures today, but it was a big deal in the early Church and there is much teaching in the New Testament about this practice. The pagan temples were in every city of the ancient world. Sacrifices were brought to the gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome and what was not eaten in the temples was sold in the public marketplace. Should Christians be purchasing and eating this meat that had been previously dedicated to an idol?
The Gentile Christians were converted pagans and many of them might have still believed that these idols represented actual deities. The Jews knew there was only one, true God and that the pagan gods did not actually exist. But the Law of Moses had taught the Jews to avoid all forms of idolatry. Christians are no longer under the Law and there was no direct commandment about meat sacrificed to idols. This was not an easy issue to resolve. Though it may seem like ancient history to Christians today, there are at least two important principles to be seen here.
First, there is the matter of the conscience. Conscience literally means “with knowledge” and it refers to an awareness or sensitivity to what is right and wrong. A bad conscience brings guilt and shame. Eating meat sacrificed to an idol could bring some Christians guilt and shame before God. This can happen even when a believer does something that is not actually a transgression of any actual commandment in Scripture. Therefore, the principle of the conscience is to do nothing that cannot be done unto the Lord. If it defiles your conscience, then don’t do it!
Secondly, there is the matter of Christian fellowship. The early Christians had differing views on eating meat sacrificed to idols. This issue could have easily caused a rift in the Church, especially between Jews and Gentiles. Some believers would have been offended and others would have been made to feel guilty before God if they ate the meat. In view of this sensitive issue, the early church leaders wanted all the churches to avoid eating meat sacrificed to idols (See Acts 15.29). This called upon those who felt no personal guilt if they ate this meat to give up their rights for the sake of their weaker brethren (See Rom. 14-15.7). But it seems that the churches in Asia were being encouraged to violate this principle.
People in Western culture zealously protect their personal rights and their freedom to determine for themselves what is right and what is wrong. Modern people treasure freedom and autonomy. The only sin today might be one person telling another person how he or she ought to live! Modern people, at least in the West, also view religion and spirituality as a personal, private affair between them and God that involves no one else. We each have our own religious convictions and we are often encouraged to tolerate everyone’s religious views. However, if the Gospel is true we cannot live as our own masters nor can we live only for ourselves.
Moral issues in the churches today are often approached in an unbalance manner with churches either taking the extreme views of legalism or license: some churches become quite strict and force people to live according to rules while other churches go along easily with the prevailing culture and have no limits at all for personal behavior. Unfortunately, there has been a kind of reverse evangelism where the values and thinking of the pagan world has influenced the lifestyle of many Christians perhaps even more than they realize.
Cultural Issues: The Environment of the Church
Jesus wanted these churches to know that He was aware of their earthly circumstances and the contexts in which they lived (See 2.9, 13; 3.7-9). Jesus is in Heaven, but the churches were upon the earth, which is the arena of evil and the activity of the Devil. The World is the place of conflict and hostility to God. Jesus warned His disciples to expect hostility from the world around them. However, Jesus also sent His Church out into the world to be His witnesses and to make disciples. Several of the churches of Asia in Revelation were in hostile environments and were being persecuted. However, one of these churches had before them an open door, or an opportunity for ministry. We can learn from these letters that culture is hostile to the Church but is also an opportunity for the Church to serve Jesus in the world.
Culture Opposes the Church
The main purpose of Revelation is to prepare and equip the Church in the world to endure opposition as well as identifying the sources of this opposition. A good summary of the opposition facing Christians is the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. Cultural opposition to the Church is another way of talking about that opposition that comes from the World. Culture can oppose the Church in a couple of different forms.
First, there is secular culture. One of the churches in Revelation had already encountered violent persecution and one of the members had been killed. This church lived where Satan had his throne, which was probably a reference to the seat of Roman political power in that city and region. (Later in Revelation John will reveal that the power of the State is one of the major enemies of the Church.) Christians need to understand that human culture is not neutral but is fallen and enslaved to sin and to Satan. Culture is more than just how people dress and the foods they eat. Culture is all about values or what people think is important in life. Every culture has idols, including money, pleasure, and power (See 1 John 2.15-17). The idols of the ancient world were easy to see, but modern cultures are still idolatrous. The things the world is seeking does not include God and His kingdom. Like the ancient builders of Babel (Gen. 11), the world has its own agenda. Not only is culture hostile to God, it is also hostile to the people of God. God’s people are aliens who don’t fit in with the World and its agenda and values. But culture is constantly pressuring everyone to conform to its will rather than the will of God. This pressure to conform must be constantly resisted by Christians (Rom. 12.1-2).
Secondly, the is religious culture that opposes the people of God. We expect the pagan culture to oppose Christians, but this source of opposition might seem surprising at first. Some of these churches in Revelation were facing persecution from Jews who were unbelievers. Many of the Jews were hostile to Jesus and to the Apostles and were initially the most hostile opponents of the early church as it began to spread throughout the Gentile world (See Rom. 11.25-28). These Jews were called a synagogue of Satan just as the Roman government had been called the seat of Satan because Satan was using both to oppose the Church. (Later is Revelation false religion, along with the State, will be identified as the major opponents of the Church in the world.) Christians should expect hostility from religious people. Religion is often used as a cloak for great evil in the world. Those who killed Jesus were certainly in this category of using religion for their own purposes. Religion is often used to justify greed and a hunger for power. Religious people will often act with violent aggression toward anyone of anything that threatens their place and position in society, all the while thinking they are serving God (See John 11.47-48).
Culture is an Opportunity for the Church
Culture can be hostile to the Church, but it is also a mission field where God has sent the Church to preach the Gospel and to make disciples. One of these churches in Revelation was given an opportunity, or an open door, to go forth into the world and do the work of God. The Apostle Paul spoke in these same terms about an opportunity that God had given to him: “But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor. 16.8-9). Note here that there can be an effective work for the Lord even where there are many adversaries! Wherever the work of God is being done there will always be opposition. Every effective work is launched by God, not only by human initiative. The Lord opens and shuts doors.
The Church finds itself in many different historical and cultural contexts. But no matter where the Church is in the world, there are three possible responses it can have to the culture that surrounds it. First, the Church can compromise with the prevailing culture. That is, the Church may simply begin to reflect the beliefs and values of the world. Churches that do this may be rewarded with worldly acclaim and even material wealth. Secondly, the Church may choose to cloister itself away from the culture. This is what the Church did during the monastic movement and it is also what many Fundamentalists do today. The Church, like the Pharisees, can seek to minimize all physical contact with the people of the world and create its own, insulated sub-culture where everything is sterilized and sanitized. The third option is for the Church to creatively engage the surrounding culture with the Gospel of Christ while at the same time retaining its own distinctiveness as the holy people of God. Obviously, the first two options mentioned here are not sanctioned by Scripture and are disobedient to the command of Christ for His Church to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel to every nation.
There are several reasons why churches sometimes choose to either compromise with culture or to cloister themselves away from the culture. First, it is easier to go to either of these extremes and it takes little thought or effort to do so. Secondly, compromise or cloistering is a way to gain some power, either by agreeing with the cultural elites or by claiming to be the only people who know how to fix the culture. But the real reason for compromising or cloistering is to avoid suffering for Jesus, either by agreeing with the culture or by withdrawing from it. A church that is neither compromising nor cloistering will always be vulnerable to persecution, just the Lord Jesus Himself suffered when He came into the world. Jesus has called the Church to suffer as He did before entering Glory. The book of Revelation calls the Church to patiently and willingly suffer for Jesus in the world until the New Creation dawns.
Until that time when Christ comes for His Bride, the Church must remain in the world without becoming defiled by it. The very presence of the faithful Church has a great influence on the surrounding culture because the followers of Jesus are like salt and light in a world that would otherwise be very corrupt and dark.
These letters to the churches in Revelation remind all churches everywhere and throughout history that Jesus is ruling the world He commissioned the Church to influence in His Name. It is the Lord who sovereignly opens doors for the Church to do His work in the world. Jesus sends out laborers into the harvest field because He is the Lord of the harvest. The Church must go and preach the Gospel, but it is always the Lord that makes this work effective, opens the hearts of people, and gives the increase to the seed that was sown. We must be attentive to see the doors He is opening for us in this generation!
