Category: Daniel Burton

The Church is Smyrna was no stranger to suffering.  The church was in the midsts of profound religious persecution for those who sought to follow Jesus Christ.  Christians would not following the synagogues who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ and even approved of the martyrdom of some of the earliest church fathers (Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna being the first recorded martyr outside of the bible). Nor would the Christians engage in the type of worship of Caesar that would have been mandatory for Roman worship.  Beyond that, there was the profound misunderstanding of Christian doctrines.  As they talked about the body and blood of Jesus Christ, people assumed they were cannibals.  This is just one of the misunderstandings.

The church is Ephesus was surrounded by a pluralistic society in which many gods were given temples and places for people to worship.  As a major trade center, various different religions found a home in Ephesus with no one god being elevated above the other.  Then there was the issue of the Nicolatians.  The Nicolatians were marked by their flagrant indulgence of the self.  They would engage in adulterous worship and commonly participated in religious services to other gods.  They abandoned their witness and the church is Ephesus stood out as a major opponent of the Nicolatians. Yet, for all of the theological fervor of the church in Ephesus, they had grown increasingly cynical at the world rather than embodying what a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ looks like.  

John hears the voice of God calling first, and turns to see who stands behind him.  The voice is described as a loud trumpet, heralding His coming.  There is a strength and power behind its timbre.  Jesus tells John to write down what he is encountering and to spread it to the churches.  This is the God given word to be delivered to all the churches.  Furthermore, Jesus amidst the seven lampstands, holding the seven stars.  He is intimately involves in the details of the live of the church. 

For many people, the idea of apocalyptic literature is misunderstood.  Our mind have become inundated with zombie apocalypse, dystopian futures, and loyal bands of survivors trying to make it amidst cinematically cataclysmic events.  For biblical literature, however, the idea of apocalyptic literature comes form the idea of unveiling or revealing.  Thus, the imagery of nuclear winter, war, or end of days type scenarios, while they may be part of what will be to come, are not the purpose.  The main point of Revelation is to reveal the nature of God’s Sovereign rule throughout all human history through the empowerment of the church to minister to the world.