Here we have God the Father in verse 4 “who is and who was and who is to come.” A bit of research shows that this is actually an awkward way in the Greek language to describe Yahweh. The Godhead is front and center in these end times, as He was at the very beginning. We should each work to diligently make our churches acceptable to the Lord Jesus, and that he would not find anything wrong in us. All but two – the churches at Smyrna and Philadelphia – had both good and bad in them. Some were good at one thing, and yet others at another.
Some churches were very faithful, others not so faithful. Of these seven churches, local individual churches show – as far as we can tell from history – the predominant kind of church that was in each era, even though all seven kinds would have been present at the time. We will explore this further as we move ahead in the book. For this to begin, the church age must come to a stop. Thus, the pieces are in place for God to restart His focus on Israel. The parts are in place: Israel is back in her homeland and about to celebrate 70 years back in her Promised Land then, just a few months ago the USA recognized Jerusalem as the historical and rightful capital of Israel. We are in the dawning of this rejuvenation. But as we come to the end of the first century, Jesus finds a cluster of seven churches that will serve as examples of what the church age looks like right up until the Lord’s return for His Gentile church and the era of the Jews restarts. Paul wrote letters to the churches in Greece – places like Corinth and Ephesus. Paul and the other apostles took the Gospel to Africa, Asia, Rome and Greece.
Galatians 1:15-16 “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood. Then, of course, Paul was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. It was Peter in Acts 10 who was sent to a Gentile soldier named Cornelius. Ironically, Jesus used Jews to begin the Gentile church age. The Jews were put on hold for a season while the Gentile church age – the one we are still in – blossomed and bloomed. He healed the sick, raised the dead and was rejected by his own and so He gave the work of the Gospel to the Gentiles. John the Baptist announced the coming of the Messiah ( Matthew 3:2 Mark 1:15). These seven churches, which we will explore individually, were a picture of the church age – the age we live in right now. So, John may have been able to see the land mass he was writing to. In relation, the Isle of Patmos was just off the coast of Turkey in the Mediterranean Sea. This gives you an idea of where we are talking about. You can look on a map and see it for yourself. The Gospel had travelled with the apostles into Greece and these churches were in the area that bordered Greece, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Black Sea to the north. They were still a part of the Roman Empire. These churches were in what is the western part of modern-day Turkey. There were seven churches to whom this letter was originally addressed. This week we will jump right into it and see what the Lord has for us. I pray that you will take the time to read the book as many times as you can as we travel through it. ’”Īs we began the journey last week on the way through the book of the Revelation, we noted that just reading the book brought the reader a blessing.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. “Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:
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