What does the last book of
the Bible have to say to the churches?
Normally when you study something you would start at
beginning.[1] If you wanted to study the
history of basketball then you would go back to James Naismith. If you wanted
to study the history of the United States then you would start with the
Pilgrims, George Washington, and all those guys whose faces are on our money.
But, because I am a brilliant Journalism major I am going to switch things up
and look at the church from the end of the Bible, the book of Revelation. Don’t
try this sort of start-your-study-from-the-end stuff on your own. Only I, as a
not so professional journalist and theologian (ahem) can do this sort of thing.
We are studying the Bible to try and determine God’s
purpose and designed product of the church. This sort of study requires that we
look at all of the writings in the New Testament which speak to our subject,
the church. We’re not going to be able to find our answer in one singular
passage, book, or letter. If we want an accurate picture we will have to look
at each book and author and divine the answer. Therefore, what I will aim to do
in these articles is look at each letter and in some cases, letters, in an attempt to review those passages which
speak to our question of what should be the purpose and product of the church.
Why, you ask, are we starting in Revelation? Because in the Revelation to John
the Lord Jesus Christ directly provides several commendations and criticisms of
the seven churches to whom he addresses. These positive and negative comments give
us a helpful glimpse into what Christ wants from his church. This will give us
a framework to begin putting the pieces together of our study. We also must
consider the importance and gravity of what Christ is saying. This is the last
book of the Bible. Here Jesus is speaking directly to seven churches in a time
of great suffering and persecution. The context and timing of this book tells
us, the reader, that the words written here should be taken of utmost
importance. So without further ado[2] let’s dig in.
Revelation is one of the most hotly debated and
scrutinized books of the Bible. (Anytime you start talking about the end of the
world there is bound to be some controversy). Therefore I’m not going to get
too deep into the debated topics. I think it’s agreed upon that Revelation was
written in time of great suffering and persecution for the church of Christ.
Christians, including the author of Revelation, were jailed for their beliefs.
The Roman government was becoming more and more hostile to believers.
Additionally, most if not all of the original apostles had died or were dying.
Would the church continue to be faithful to the apostles’ message and the
gospel in such a difficult time? Thus we have the contextual background of the
letter.
What we’re going to do is look at Jesus comments to each
of the churches, note the commendations and criticisms and then see what those
commendations and criticisms have to say about God’s designed purpose and
product of the church. We will be looking at the opening three chapters in
which Jesus speaks to the churches. So what happens? Jesus shows up, scares
John to death[3]
and tells him to write letters to seven different churches.
Okay, so that was basically a long intro into what the
next few articles will be about. Up next: Jesus’ words to the churches.
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