We have been working through a series on the book of Revelation. This book of the Bible can be difficult to understand for a variety of reasons, so we are taking it slow and studying it bit by bit together.

As we continue through the book of Revelation, we encounter seven letters to seven churches. The second letter is to the church in Smyrna, which was about thirty-five miles north of Ephesus. The city had temples to goddesses, such as Roma, gods such as Zeus and temples to emperors to include Tiberias. From a religious standpoint, Smyrna had a large Jewish population which were highly opposed to Christianity. The Jews living in Smyrna saw Christianity as a threat to both their religious beliefs and their political freedom to practice Judaism. Smyrna was only one of two churches who did not receive a rebuke from Jesus.

Jesus’ letter to the church in Smyrna is found in Chapter 2, starting in verse 8.

 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. ⁹ “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death’.”

In verse 8, Jesus describes Himself as the first and the last, who died and came to life. We studied this title of Jesus closely in a prior post.

In verse 9, Jesus reinforces that He is active among His churches. Jesus knows what is occurring and acknowledges the tribulation that the church in Smyrna is experiencing. The Jewish population in Smyrna was slandering the Christians to protect themselves from political persecution. It was more important to the Jewish people in Smyrna to stay in the good graces of the Roman government than to listen to the truth about the Son of God, Jesus. When Jesus says He knows the poverty of the church in Smyrna, He is referring to the persecution by the Jewish people and the pagans. Both groups would bring charges against the Christians, causing them to lose jobs, homes, land, and possessions. Jesus then goes on to say “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich)”. Here, Jesus is referring to the spiritual riches of knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior. No amount of worldly wealth can ever bring the joy, peace and love found in Jesus.

Jesus continues to say He knows about “. . . the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” These Jewish people pretend to love God, but instead are tools of Satan. Jesus then provides the church of Smyrna a picture of the future in verse 10. “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation.” Jesus is telling the church not to be afraid, some of them will go to prison and be tested, but the length of the test will be temporary. God remains in control, which is why they should not fear. God allows His children to be tested to refine us. It is more important to be close to God than to be comfortable. “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 68:10).  

In verse 10, Jesus provides a promise. “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Jesus is telling the church that some of them will suffer to the point of death. How can one remain faithful to the point of death? Refusing to renounce belief in Jesus as the Son of God. The people persecuting the Christians would incite imprisonment and torture wherein they were threatened with death and killed if they did not renounce Jesus. The symbol of a crown or a wreath would have been common for the winners of athletic competitions. The crown of life is the entrance into paradise (heaven), even though the body will die, they should not fear. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

In verse 11, Jesus concludes His letter to Smyrna by commanding the church to listen and obey what the Spirit is saying to the church.  Jesus also provides another promise, “The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.” A person’s physical death is known as the first death, which sends people either to be with Jesus in Paradise (Heaven) or to Hades (Luke 23:43, 2 Corinthians 12:14). Then as we are told in Revelation, Hades is ultimately thrown into the lake of fire or Hell. This is the second death, where all people who are in Hades because of their lack of belief in Jesus will then spend their eternity in Hell. The one who conquers sin and death is the one who believes in Jesus. He has already conquered death for us (Romans 6:23, Romans 8:2, 1 Corinthians 15:54 – 56, Hebrews 2:9).

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the wisdom that we have in the Bible. Lord, help us to apply Your Word in our everyday lives. Lord, help us to study Revelation and give us understanding. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

We have been working through a series on the book of Revelation. This book of the Bible can be difficult to understand for a variety of reasons, so we are taking it slow and studying it bit by bit together.

As we continue through the book of Revelation, we encounter seven letters to seven churches. The first letter is to the church in Ephesus, which was a major city and one of the most powerful in the Roman Empire. From a religious standpoint, Ephesus had many sacred temples but was best known for its temple to the fertility goddess, Artemis (Acts 19:23-24). There was also a widespread interest in magic and sorcery (Acts 19:19-20). Jesus’ letter to the church in Ephesus is found in Chapter 2, starting in verse 1.

Jesus says to John, “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

² “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³ I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ⁶ Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ “

In verse 1, Jesus describes Himself as holding the seven stars in his right hand and as the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands. We studied the seven stars previously. We also studied the seven golden lampstands (which are the churches) and how Jesus walks among His churches. He is not removed from what is happening in our churches today, He is among us.

In verses 2 and 3, Jesus commends the church for being patient, testing the spirits to know if their teaching is false and not growing weary. In verse 4, Jesus tells the church in Ephesus that they have abandoned the love they had at first for Jesus. When people first accept Jesus as their Lord, there is a deep joy and love that starts to grow in their hearts. If we allow the world to stamp out that love and joy for Jesus, we lose sight of Him. We start to act more like the world and those who do not know Jesus.  

Jesus continues in verse 5 to tell the church to repent and to remember the deeds and the love they had for Jesus. If the church does not put their love for Jesus before everything else, He will remove the church of Ephesus’ lampstand from its place. This is why Jesus describes Himself in verse 1 as the one who walks among the lampstands. He is not a far-off God who does not know the hearts and minds of His people, He walks among us.

In verse 6, Jesus notes that the church of Ephesus hates the works of the Nicolaitans, which He also hates. The Nicolaitans are mentioned here and in Chapter 2, verse 15. There is no definitive information on what specific beliefs the Nicolaitans held, but we are clear on their practices of immorality and idolatry. They are associated with the worship of Balaam (Revelation 2:14-15).

In verse 7, Jesus concludes His letter to Ephesus by commanding the church to listen and obey what the Spirit is saying to the church.  Jesus also provides a promise. “To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” The way to conquer is to remain faithful to the teaching of God, to live our lives in a way that shows the love of God to all people. The tree of life is first mentioned in Genesis 2:9; “The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The paradise that Jesus refers to is the garden of Eden. Humans lost access to the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned (see prior post series for a different view on this familiar Bible story). Jesus says He “will grant” the right to the tree of life for those who conquer sin by walking by faith. He will restore what God intended, which is for humans to be with Him in paradise (Luke 23:43).

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the wisdom that we have in the Bible. Lord, help us to apply Your Word in our everyday lives. Lord, help us to study Revelation and give us understanding. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

We have been working through a series on the book of Revelation. This book of the Bible can be difficult to understand for a variety of reasons, so we are taking it slow and studying it bit by bit together. As we begin our study of the seven letters to the seven churches, it is important to note that the current time we are living in is called the Church Age. The present time or Church Age is the period of time after Jesus ascended to heaven and before He returns to earth.

In Chapters 2 and 3, Jesus tells John to write seven letters to seven real churches that existed at that time. These churches symbolize all churches, meaning every church, past and future, fits into one of the seven types described by Jesus. As you read the letters, think about what type of church you belong to and what Jesus says to that church.

Each of the seven letters has a similar pattern. First, Jesus tells John which church to write to. Then, there is a descriptive title of Jesus that we have already studied from Chapter 1. The third item that Jesus includes in each letter to the seven churches is the commendation for the positive deeds that specific church has done. We pause here to note that only one church, Laodicea, did not have any positive deeds noted by Jesus. What positive deeds might Jesus highlight for your church?

After noting the positive deeds, Jesus then rebukes each church, (except two), for its negative deeds. Smyrna and Philadelphia do not have any negative deeds included in their letters. Again, we should reflect on what negative deeds Jesus may include in a letter to our church? The fifth section of each letter from Jesus contains a note about the future, the entire book of Revelation is about Jesus wanting His people to know what is going to happen. The futures for all seven churches are warnings to either repent before it is too late or prepare for upcoming persecution. The sixth section is a call for each church to listen and obey what the Spirit is telling the church. The seventh or last section of each letter is a promise to those who do listen and obey the Spirit, they are the overcomers. As we begin our study of each letter next week, we will use this pattern to help us understand.

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank You for Jesus. Thank you for our churches. Thank You for the wisdom that we have in the Bible. Lord, help us to apply Your Word in our everyday lives. Lord, help us to study Revelation and give us understanding. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

We have been working through a series on the book of Revelation. This book of the Bible can be difficult to understand for a variety of reasons, so we are taking it slow and studying it bit by bit together.

Everything we have studied in this series so far in the book of Revelation has already occurred. Chapter 1 tells us about the past. How do we know this? The verses use verbs that are in the past tense, meaning the actions have already occurred. As we begin to study Chapters 2 and 3, starting next week, we will see the verb tense change to the present tense. How do we know the verb tense changes from past to present tense and why does this matter?

 The book of Revelation is Jesus telling us what has happened (Chapter1). What is happening (Chapters 2 and 3). And what will happen (Chapters 4 through 22). Let’s review a few examples from Chapter 1.

Chapter 1, verse 1, “The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him . . .”. The revelation or the vision was already provided to Jesus from God.

In Chapter 1, verse 5, “To him [Jesus] who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, ⁶ and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father . . .”. Jesus has already freed us by shedding His blood on the cross. For those that believe in Jesus, He has already made us a kingdom, we are citizens of heaven and just passing through on earth (Philippians 3:20, Ephesians 2:19, Hebrews 11:16, and 2 Corinthians 5:1). All believers are already priests to serve God (1 Peter 2:5 – 9). The tense of the verbs matters because the work on the cross is done, it is finished. Jesus already completed all that needs to be done for us to have eternal life. All we have to do is believe.

In Chapter 1, starting in verse 12, we see a number of past tense verbs. John ” . . .turned around” and “among the lampstands was someone. ¹⁴ The hair on his head was white . . .and his eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like bronze . . . and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶ He held seven stars, and His face was like the sun. ¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet . . . he placed his right hand on me.” 

Each of the actions in the verses we have studied so far are completed, they are past tense. In verse 19 of Chapter 1, Jesus confirms this for us by telling John, “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.” As we continue our journey through Revelation, we are about to enter the present and then the future.  

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the wisdom that we have in the Bible. Lord, help us to apply Your Word in our everyday lives. Lord, help us to study Revelation and give us understanding. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

We have been working through a series on the book of Revelation. This book of the Bible can be difficult to understand for a variety of reasons, so we are taking it slow and studying it bit by bit together.

In Chapter 1 verse 18, John writes what Jesus tells him. “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

To understand what Jesus is telling us, we must travel back to the cross and understand while Jesus’ body was in the tomb and before God raised Him to life on the third day, what was He doing?

It is true the body of Jesus laid in a tomb, but His spirit was very busy.

We know from our study last week that Hades is the place of the dead. Hades is where everyone who died before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was sent. Hades has two sides. One side is full of fire, torment and agony and the other side full of love, peace and joy. For those who die today and do not believe in Jesus as the Son of God, they go to the area of Hades filled with fire. They will spend eternity in Hell, but not quite yet. The book of Revelation and all of its prophesies must be fulfilled before the people in Hades will be judged for the rest of eternity and sent to Hell also called the lake of fire (Revelation 20:12-15).

It is important to note that once someone dies, they cannot change their mind and choose to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. They are sent to Hades and then Hell for eternity.

In order to obtain all authority over death and Hades, Jesus went to Hades and visited both sides. Why? Until Jesus was born, died, and then raised to life, Hades was the temporary holding place for everyone who died. The people who died before the crucifixion, but loved God, believed in the Word of God and looked toward the coming of Jesus, went to the area of Hades that was full of love, peace and joy (Luke 16:23-26).

In 1 Peter 3:19, we are told that Jesus went to the place of the dead and proclaimed that He had laid down His life to save sinners from eternal death (Hell). Jesus went to the area of Hades that was full of love, peace and joy, and led those people to heaven or Paradise.

Ephesians 4:8 says, “This is why it says: “When he [Jesus] ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” ⁹ What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.” Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth to include holding the keys to death and Hades.

Today, when someone dies, if they believe in Jesus as the Son of God, they immediately go to heaven or Paradise. If they do not believe in Jesus, they are sent to Hades to spend time in fire and agony until the book of Revelation has been fulfilled. Then, they will be sent to the lake of fire or Hell for all eternity.

What is our role in Revelation? We are to focus on sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ until He returns. We all have a job to do and that is telling as many people as possible the good news of Jesus.

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the wisdom that we have in the Bible. Lord, help us to apply Your Word in our everyday lives. Lord, help us to study Revelation and give us understanding. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

We have been working through a series on the book of Revelation. This book of the Bible can be difficult to understand for a variety of reasons, so we are taking it slow and studying it bit by bit together.

In Chapter 1 verse 18, John writes what Jesus tells him. “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

This week, we are going to analyze Hades. Before we go further, we must first define Hades.

There are two areas of Hades, also known as the place of the dead or Sheol, one area is filled with fire, torment and agony. The other area is filled with peace, love and joy. If you were to die right now and you do not believe in Jesus as the Son of God, you would go to the part of Hades filled with fire. It is critical to understand that once a person has died and is in Hades, it is too late to make a choice to believe in Jesus. We know this from Luke 16, starting in verse 22. “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side [heaven]. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”

There is no way to cross over the two areas of Hades. One area is the place of torment, full of fire and agony for those who die today without believing in Jesus. The other is full of love and peace.

Revelation 20:14 says, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

The lake of fire is Hell. We will study Hell more as we continue through the book of Revelation. Hades and Hell are two different places. For now, it is important to know Hell is real and people who do not believe in Jesus will spend eternity there. The Bible warns people repeatedly that anyone whose name is not written in the book of life (those who refuse to believe that Jesus is the Son of God), will go to Hades immediately when they die. The physical death is known as the first death, which sends people either to be with Jesus in Paradise (Heaven) or to Hades (Luke 23:43, 2 Corinthians 12:14). Then as we are told in Revelation, Hades is thrown into the lake of fire or Hell. This is the second death, where all people who are in Hades because of their lack of belief in Jesus will then spend their eternity in Hell.

We can think of Hades as a temporary holding place for those who die. For those who believe in Jesus, when they die today, they go to Paradise also called heaven. Even if someone chooses to believe in Jesus as they take their very last breath, they go to Paradise. We know this because the thief that was hanging on the cross next to Jesus was indeed a thief, he confessed to being a criminal. Yet, when the thief said to Jesus that he believed in Him, Jesus said to the thief, “I promise, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43. Not after the thief cleaned himself up or got down from the cross and did a few good things to make up for his bad behavior. Right then and there, Jesus was going to take the thief to Paradise.

Who do you need to tell about Jesus today before it is too late and they are sent to Hades, a place of torment and agony?

Jesus is now holding the keys to Hades, which gives Him all power and authority over physical death and eternal death. We will cover next week exactly how Jesus obtained the keys to Hades.

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the wisdom that we have in the Bible. Lord, help us to apply Your Word in our everyday lives. Lord, help us to study Revelation and give us understanding. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

We have been working through a series on the book of Revelation. This book of the Bible can be difficult to understand for a variety of reasons, so we are taking it slow and studying it bit by bit together.

In Chapter 1 verse 18, John writes what Jesus tells him. “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death . . .”.

The book of Revelation is Jesus telling us what has happened, what is happening and what will happen. In verse 18, Jesus explains to John that He was dead and is now alive forever. But how was Jesus raised from the dead and what does that mean for us today?

When someone holds the keys to something, it means that they have authority over it. In verse 18, Jesus is telling us that He has all power and authority over death. On the cross, Jesus died and was then buried. Death was allowed to take over Jesus’ physical body so God could raise Jesus from the dead. Why?

Everything that God does is to show His glory, to show all humans that He is real. God allowed Jesus to die so that God could raise Jesus from the dead. There are many verses that tell us God raised Jesus from the dead. We will look at just a few. Acts 3:15 is addressing the Jewish leaders of the time and says, “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!” And Acts 4:10 is answering a question asked by the Jewish leaders about a man healed by Jesus, “he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.”

Galatians 1:1 says, “This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.” Colossians 2:12 says, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”

Acts 2:23 says, “This man [Jesus] was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. ²⁴ But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”

What does God raising Jesus from the dead have to do with our lives today? Romans 8:1 says, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. . . . The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” This means that once you believe in Jesus as the Son of God, you have the Holy Spirit living in you. This is the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, giving Jesus authority over death. When we sin, we invite death to come into our lives, so we need Jesus to save us from death (Romans 6:23). But what does it mean that Jesus saves us from death?

All humans will die a physical death, which means our bodies will die. Every human also has a spirit living in our bodies. When our physical bodies die, that spirit either goes to heaven or hell. If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, our spirit goes to heaven because we have the life-giving Holy Spirit living in us. We have been freed from the power of sin that leads to death. This does not mean physical death, but instead spiritual death. If we do not believe in Jesus, then our spirit goes to hell for all eternity, this is spiritual death. Jesus died on the cross to save us from spiritual death (John 3:16). All we have to do is believe in Jesus.

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank You for Jesus. We believe that He died on the cross for our sins. Thank You that Jesus is the perfect and final sacrifice. Thank You for the wisdom that we have in the Bible. Lord, help us to apply Your Word in our everyday lives. Lord, help us to study Revelation and give us understanding. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.