{"id":602,"date":"2017-10-04T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=602"},"modified":"2017-10-04T06:00:35","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T14:00:35","slug":"devotion-revelation-21-7-letters-to-seven-churches-letters-to-us-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=602","title":{"rendered":"Devotion\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 2:1-7\u00a0\u00a0 Letters To Seven Churches, Letters To Us\u00a0 Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revelation 2:1-7 <\/strong>–\u00a0\u201cTo the angel of the church in Ephesus\u00a0write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand\u00a0and walks among the seven golden lampstands.\u00a02\u00a0I know your deeds,\u00a0your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested\u00a0those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.\u00a03\u00a0You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name,\u00a0and have not grown weary.\u00a0 4\u00a0Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.\u00a05\u00a0Consider how far you have fallen! Repent\u00a0and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand\u00a0from its place.\u00a06\u00a0But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans,\u00a0which I also hate. 7\u00a0Whoever has ears, let them hear\u00a0what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious,\u00a0I will give the right to eat from the tree of life,\u00a0which is in the paradise\u00a0of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s do a little review on how we should approach these letters to the seven churches.<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s notice that these letters have a fourfold application:<\/p>\n

The all have specific meaning to the local church that is being written to.\u00a0 The Lord is dealing with a real church.\u00a0 He is writing about real things they are doing right, and dangers they face.\u00a0 To them, He was speaking to the point. His words were to them, truly a \u201cdouble edged sword.\u201d (Hebrews 4:12<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Second, they apply ecclesiastically.\u00a0 Meaning that they apply to matters of the church.\u00a0 Not just the church that is being written to, but also to all churches throughout church history.\u00a0 The specifics may vary, but we are all more alike than different.\u00a0 After all, all believers are united in Christ.\u00a0 So to lead the church, it is essential to study these seven letters.\u00a0 The Lord is educating pastors, teachers and elders.<\/p>\n

Third, these letters are personal.\u00a0 They apply to all of us.\u00a0 Let us read, heed and beware.\u00a0 We have all heard the common admission of us all \u201cThere but for the grace of God, goes I.\u201d\u00a0 We should read these letters for personal encouragement and admonition from the Lord.\u00a0 We should also read these letters as warnings to us, just as the Lord warned these churches.\u00a0 Some of us may have our doctrine offended.\u00a0 But the Lord spoke plainly, and as always, truthfully.\u00a0 As all church leaders should study these seven letters, so should all how who love and serve the Lord apply to our lives what the Lord here says to these seven churches.<\/p>\n

Fourth, the letters apply prophetically.\u00a0 To the churches these letters were ready they were telling what was come for them.\u00a0 To us, much of these seven letters is history, yet contemporary.<\/p>\n

Next we should note of these letters that there is a general pattern, or application, in each of these letters that Jesus wrote:<\/p>\n

First, they all start with a greeting.<\/p>\n

Second, they reveal who the letter is from.\u00a0 The letter is from Jesus and largely He describes Himself using the descriptions from Chapter 1.<\/p>\n

Third is the \u201cI know\u201d section in which the Lord tells something good about the church.\u00a0 I love that He starts these parts by saying \u201cI know.\u201d We must remember that the All-Knowing One is He who is speaking.\u00a0 His eyes were always on the churches and the saints, just as they are always on our churches and us. He with the eyes like blazing fires, burns through the cover ups and sees the truth.\u00a0 He is watching.<\/p>\n

Fourth, Jesus exposes something that is not right in the church.\u00a0 He does this from His great love for the church.\u00a0 He wants to bring it to their attention so that the fault may be addressed.\u00a0 Just as He will do that individually for us (Showing His eyes are on us).\u00a0 The church being addressed, and us, need to listen as He reveals the fault, which leads us to number five.<\/p>\n

Fifth, Jesus expresses a warning.\u00a0 Now, a good thing to remember when studying the scriptures is that if God says it, He means it.\u00a0 He is not a silly person who talks to hear Himself speak.\u00a0 He does not say something without reason for saying it.\u00a0 He is God.\u00a0 He speaks with purpose and precision.\u00a0 As the churches He was then addressing must do, so must we heed these warnings.\u00a0 As the churches were not to explain away the warnings by any doctrines of men or rationalization, neither must we.<\/p>\n

Sixth, after exposing the fault and issuing a warning, the Lord lifts up, encourages and gives hope.\u00a0 He reveals that all need only heed His words and everything is alright. Just as He did for Cain (Genesis 4:6-7<\/strong>), He offered them, and offers us, direction to life and encourages us to take that path.\u00a0 He wants all to be encouraged and not discouraged.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because what awaits is far greater than anything on this earth.<\/p>\n

Seventh, after exhorting, the Lord gives a promise to each of them, and to each of us.\u00a0 These promises were for them to cling to, and for us, to cling to.\u00a0 They are our hope.<\/p>\n

Praise the Lord for giving us the book of Revelation to see what is coming, and to give us direction for present.\u00a0 The book of Revelation is a book that continues the story of God\u2019s love for all the world.\u00a0 It shows the great and eternal reward for all those who trust in the Lord, and it also shows the horror that awaits those who harden their hearts to Him.\u00a0\u00a0 But for us, dear Family, the hope expressed here lifts our hearts to praise God.\u00a0 It stirs our minds with excitement as we hear words of great comfort from the Eternal One to His children.\u00a0 Our spirit and soul soar with hope and we look to the horizon for what is to come.\u00a0 And we know that what is to come is our Savior, our Lord, our great redeemer, Jesus Christ. \u00a0Luke 21:27<\/strong> \u201cAt that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.\u00a028<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.\u201d \u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/strong>\u00a0– But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revelation 2:1-7 –\u00a0\u201cTo the angel of the church in Ephesus\u00a0write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand\u00a0and walks among the seven golden lampstands.\u00a02\u00a0I know your deeds,\u00a0your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested\u00a0those who claim to be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[2449,156,122,1865,104,8,1019,106,94,2284,2448,17,711,124],"class_list":["post-602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-all-knowing-one","tag-christ","tag-elders","tag-genesis","tag-hebrews","tag-jesus","tag-lord","tag-luke","tag-micah","tag-pastors","tag-personal","tag-psalm","tag-revelation","tag-teachers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":603,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions\/603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}