Letters From The King (Revelation 2-3)
This sermon was preached at Sherwood Community Friends Church on Sunday, October 18. You can watch the video of this sermon by clicking below.
On Good Friday, April 12, 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama, a well known Baptist pastor was arrested for leading a peaceful march, and they put him in solitary confinement.
Someone slipped him a newspaper and on one of its pages, eight local clergymen had published a statement calling his work “unwise and untimely.” In other words: It’s irrelevant. Slow down. Be patient. Wait.
Martin Luther King Jr. had no paper, so he started writing his reply in the margins of that newspaper, then on scraps a trustee slipped him, then on a notepad his lawyers gave him. Piece by piece, the letter was carried out of the jail.
He opens it with four words: “My Dear Fellow Clergymen.”
Did you catch who he’s writing to? He’s writing to the church, to comfortable church leaders who had decided the safest thing was to keep things quiet.
In that letter, King remembers what the early church was like, and he writes this:
“In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.”
Hold onto that thermostat picture, because we’re coming back to it.
About nineteen hundred years before Birmingham, another man was confined for his witness on a rocky island called Patmos. He also writes to churches. And the voice behind every word John wrote belongs to the King of kings.
Today we’re going to read snippets of his mail.
Where We’ve Been
Last week we started our new teaching series called Behind The Curtain: A Journey Though Revelation and asked a big question: What if we’ve been reading Revelation wrong?
We learned that Revelation is three things (do you remember?): an apocalypse, a prophecy, and a letter. It pulls back the curtain, it speaks God’s Word into the original audience’s present day like the Old Testament prophets did, and it reaches real people in real cities.
Let’s say our big idea from last week out loud together:
Revelation is not about predicting the future. It’s about revealing Jesus and forming us into his faithful witnesses in the present.
Revelation unveils the cosmic battle behind the scenes, but it’s not about decoding events—it’s about discipleship, showing that Jesus wins, evil loses, and those who endure with Him will reign with Him.
We talked about how whenever we read Revelation, or anything in the Bible, to ask these two questions in this exact order:
What did this first mean for the original audience?
What does it mean for us?
John addresses his pastoral mail “To the seven churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey)” (Rev 1:4), and then Jesus himself tells him,
Revelation 1:11 CSB “‘Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.’”
Did you catch that? This whole book, every vision, every beast, every song in the throne room, every seal and trumpet, was addressed to these seven churches from the first to the last chapter.
Chapters 2 and 3 officially introduce these churches onto the stage, and the rest of the book keeps talking to them about what they needed to know. They would have understood it far better than we do, because it was written about their culture, their world, their streets, their situation, in their day.
And let’s all remember why John is on Patmos. He tells us in 1:9. He’s there “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” Rome sent him to an island to be silenced and forgotten. Joke’s on them because from that island, his penned message was sent around the world and through time.
Letters From the King
Now let me ask you this… When you get a piece of mail, what’s the first thing you look at?
Right?! Who it’s addressed to and who it’s from tells us how seriously to take it.
Every one of these seven letters opens the same way. Listen to the first one. Jesus tells John…
Revelation 2:1 CSB “Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands:”
“Thus says.” That, right there, is how a king speaks.
At the Revelation seminar I went to last year, Dr. David Mathewson pointed out, and I’m paraphrasing him here, that these are messages from the risen Christ, and that opening echoes the prophets’ “Thus says the Lord.” Scholars like David Aune have noticed it’s also how a Roman emperor opened his official decrees.
So who’s doing the authoring of these seven letters in Revelation? Who’s it from?
Jesus, the Lord of the prophets and the King over every king and emperor. In his book A Companion to the Book of Revelation, Mathewson describes the robe and sash Jesus wears in chapter 1 as the clothing of “a priestly and kingly figure, whose role is to exercise oversight of the lampstands [which we know from chapter 1 are the seven churches in chapters 2 & 3] by evaluating them, either commending and encouraging them or rebuking and warning them.”
These words, that John is frantically writing down, are letters from the King.
Every letter follows the same pattern. Jesus opens with a “thus says” and then introduces himself with a piece of the vision John saw from chapter 1, the piece that each church needs most.
Revelation 1:12-16 CSB “Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest. The hair of his head was white as wool—white as snow—and his eyes like a fiery flame. His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading waters. He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.”
That vision gets broken down in the opening of each of these seven letters. We don't have time to read all of chapters 2 & 3, but when you read this on your own, you'll see bits of it.
After his introductions, Jesus then says, “I know your works.” To these churches he gives praise, rebuke, or both, and a call to act.
He closes each letter saying something like, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Every church was meant to read all seven letters aloud so they knew what was happening throughout the Kingdom. And he ends with a promise “to the one who conquers” that shows up again at the end of the Book of Revelation in the new creation mentioned in chapters 21 and 22. There’s a lot of cross over in this book— both OT, NT, and of itself. The tree of life we read about in chapter 2 verse 7 is the same tree of life at the end of the book in chapter 22 verse 2.
Remember the playbill I handed out to you last week? If you didn't get one, we've got plenty so please, please take one today because this is basically a Revelation cheat sheet — a helpful guide to understand it. On it we are introduced to some characters in the book of Revelation and it frames Team Lamb and Team Dragon. We’re going to be talking a lot about that.
One of the characters in the drama of Revelation is the angel in the churches.
Who is “the angel of the church”? Some read it as the church pastor, but Mathewson says the way John writes is that these angels are spiritual beings, the heavenly counterpart of each earthly church pastor (also known as messenger because they bring the message from God), and Jesus addresses the church through its spiritual angel (its messenger).
Remember this: What happens in the pews is always tied to the unseen realm.
And then there’s the image Jesus himself uses for the churches when he describes it to John:
Revelation 1:20 CSB “The mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
We know the church is not a building. We can be a church without any of this physical building, and that's what's being communicated here. Jesus is communicating to John: Buddy, we’re writing to the Spiritual AND Physical realm church overseers something important they need to listen up and pay attention to.
In John’s day, a lampstand stood in the Temple, in the presence of God, and its job was to give light. That’s our job too as the Church: to be faithful witnesses to God’s presence in a dark world. Every one of these seven letters asks the same question: Church- is the light of Jesus Christ still shining from you?
These seven churches had problems in their day, but their problems do certainly show up in every church in every century, including ours.
The letters of Revelation are letters from King Jesus written to these seven churches.
Three Kinds of Churches
When we read all seven letters together, we see that “Only two of the churches are suffering any kind of persecution and are marginalized (Smyrna, Philadelphia). The other five are guilty of some kind of compromise or complacency with Rome (Mathewson, David).”
Five out of seven. The biggest danger to these churches was already sitting in the pews. Let me just say those people weren’t on Team Lamb.
Mathewson groups them three ways: persecuted, complacent, and compromised. The truth is, there’s a sliding scale between complacency and compromise, and most of us live somewhere on it.
The Persecuted Churches: Smyrna and Philadelphia
Let's first look at the letters to the two persecuted churches. They get no rebuke at all from Jesus— only praise. To Smyrna, King Jesus says,
Revelation 2:9 CSB “I know your affliction and poverty, but you are rich. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
They were poor, likely because they refused to join the guilds and emperor worship that ran the local economy. And Jesus tells them,
Revelation 2:10 CSB “Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
Did they listen? Decades later, the bishop of Smyrna was an old man named Polycarp. The authorities told him to deny Christ and live. His response was: “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?” (Carmen Trenton in Dragons, John, and Every Grain of Sand)
He was then burnt at the stake for that testimony. The flames actually didn't kill him, so then he was stabbed to death.
Now that’s a church who listened and obeyed its King’s letter!! Amen?!
Go Team Lamb!!
And to the church in Philadelphia Jesus says,
Revelation 3:8 CSB “I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”
Little power, but a faithful witness. I think any power they had and needed came from God’s Word. How many of us need to hear that today?
We might feel like we have little power, but we are still able to keep God’s Word and not deny his Name. That’s where the real power lies. Go Team Lamb!!
The Complacent Churches: Ephesus, Thyatira, and Sardis
Next, let's look at the three complacent churches. The text says Ephesus looked great on paper: hard work, endurance, sound doctrine. This church was planted by none other than Apostle Paul and he left his coworkers, Priscilla and Aquila, there to carry on the work. They hosted the church in their home, and they discipled a guy named Apollos who was also a leader there. Now Jesus is writing to that church.
It was a church with a great start, and they could spot a false apostle a mile away, and yet King Jesus said this to them:
Revelation 2:4–5 CSB “But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”
Scot McKnight points out that the Greek word behind “abandoned” can mean to release or let go. He says it this way: “The Ephesians have released their love. It didn’t escape; they released it.”
Jesus said they need to get it back and return to their first love.
Many of us set our first love down a little at a time, still doing the right things while our hearts drift. Maybe these are even “God things” and we think about them from time to time— like this Ephesian church did. Their lamp was flickering and needing more oil. The oil is love. (Carmen Trenton)
The next church in Thyatira had love, faith, and service, but they made room for a particular sort of teacher we’ll meet in a minute.
And then there’s the church in Sardis. The King says…
Revelation 3:1 CSB “I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.”
There’s no persecution or false teacher here. Everything looks fine from the outside. Sardis was a church so comfortable in the world that they didn’t even realize they were on the verge of spiritual death (Mathewson). So Jesus calls them to wake up.
Let me ask you this… Have you ever fallen asleep somewhere you weren’t supposed to? Church counts! Hopefully not as we speak… right?!
The danger of sleep is that you don’t know you’re asleep. That’s why, as the Church, Jesus has to be the one to wake us up.
We talked about the persecuted church and the complacent church. Now let's talk about the two compromised churches.
The Compromised Churches: Pergamum and Laodicea
We’ll circle back to the church in Pergamum when Team Dragon takes the stage. Let’s go straight to the church in Laodicea, the last stop on the mail route.
The King says,
Revelation 3:15–17 CSB “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.”
How’s that for a Sunday morning greeting, huh?!
Many of us were taught that “hot” means on fire for Jesus, “cold” means against him, and “lukewarm” is somewhere in the middle. Laodicea would have heard it differently. The nearby city Hierapolis had hot springs for healing the body. Nearby Colossae had cold, fresh water for drinking. Both were good. Lukewarm water was good for nothing and most people spat it right out of their mouths.
“Lukewarm is not an image of indifference, indecision, or ‘middle of the road.’ It is an image of uselessness and worthlessness.” (David Mathewson)
Laodicea had grown rich in the Roman economy, and somewhere along the way they decided they didn’t need Jesus. A church that needs nothing has stopped giving light.
How does the thought of that resonate with you and me, us, right here… with the churches in our area and region and nation?
Team Dragon in the Pews
As we read through Revelation we want to ask, “Who’s on stage in the scene, and which team are they on?” This week, in chapters 2 and 3, some members of Team Dragon show up, and interestingly, they’re sitting inside the churches.
Let’s hear it for Team Dragon!
“Boooooooo!!!”
Let’s spend a little time with them now to understand who they are, because they do show up again later in the story.
Where Satan’s throne is…
Remember when we were talking about the Compromised Church, just a minute ago, we skipped past the church in Pergamum and right to Laodicea. Let’s look now at what Jesus says about Pergamum,
Revelation 2:13 CSB “I know where you live, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding on to my name and did not deny your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was put to death among you, where Satan lives.”
Well gollllly… where Satan’s throne is and where he lives…
They were holding onto who Jesus was intellectually, but they weren’t living for him. They hadn’t surrendered to him and allowed him to transform their lives.
It’s just like what James said in his letter: “You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.” (James 2:19 CSB)
Jesus doesn't want believers. The modern church throws that term around too casually. Even the demons believe. They just haven't given Jesus Christ their allegiance. He wants people who are devoted followers of him to be his faithful witnesses. That's what this is about.
Pergamum was Asia Minor’s regional capital, home to a great altar of Zeus, a temple to the serpent god of healing, and a center of the Roman Imperial cult’s emperor worship. Satan’s throne was the whole system demanding that people bow the knee to Caesar and the gods. And one believer in this church named Antipas refused. Jesus gives him his own title from 1:5, “my faithful witness.” Antipas is on Team Lamb.
“Hoooraaaayyyy!!!”
But notice: Jesus says Satan lived there… in that city, and his sinister influence had found its way into the church. I have, unfortunately, seen this very thing in churches over the years, and some of you have too. Satan’s in the pews. It’s painful, and it’s exactly why King Jesus wrote his letter.
Okay… how you doing?
Besides Satan, there are a few other Team Dragon characters who take the stage in the letters of chapters 2 and 3. Let's learn about who they are.
Balaam
The King writes to Pergamum…
Revelation 2:14 CSB “But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites: to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.”
We’re first introduced to Balaam in the Old Testament book of Numbers (the fourth book of the Bible) chapters 22 through 25?
Balaam was a prophet-for-profit. Think of him as a spiritual consultant who sold his gifting to the highest bidder, a freelance clairvoyant with a real connection to God that he kept trying to monetize.
There was this pagan Moabite king named Balak who hired Balaam to curse Israel, but God kept turning Balaam’s curses into blessings. So Balaam found another way.
Numbers 31:16 tells us his advice drew Israel to the idol feasts of Moab— which we know these idols, and most all idols are to demon gods or demonic spiritual beings. Even though Balaam lured the Israelites, he couldn’t curse God’s people, so he got them to compromise. Those are the wiles of Team Dragon, it worked in Balaam’s day, it was working in John’s day, and it still works that way today.
The Nicolaitans
Jesus says Pergamum also has “those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans” (2:15), and Ephesus hated their works (2:6).
We don’t know a lot about the Nicolaitans, but Dr. Mathewson says they were likely teaching that compromise with Roman idolatrous religious practices was compatible with following Jesus to “keep the peace” so to speak. To them, maintain civic life (idol feasts, trade guild banquets, practicing in the Roman imperial cult) to avoid social and economic cost. In other words, they were teaching that you can go along to get along.
How are we seeing this today in the life of people who consider themselves Christian? How have people compromised by living within the culture of society rather than living the way of Jesus? And unfortunately, this sort of compromise has become commonplace in the culture of the Church— especially here in the modern West.
Jezebel
To the church in Thyatira, King Jesus says…
Revelation 2:20 CSB “But I have this against you: You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols.”
John gives her the name of the Old Testament Israelite queen, married to the wretched and sinister King Ahab, who led Israel into Baal worship and a whole host of other junk.
Thyatira was a city of trade guilds, each with its patron god and festival meals. Skip the feast, and you could lose your customers, your status, even your home in town. Jezebel’s compromise was seemingly giving them a way out of suffering because they assimilated into the cultural norms of commerce and status.
How are Christians doing this today?
The synagogue of Satan
Jesus uses this phrase twice. First was in chapter 2 verse 9 to the Smyrna church and then also chapter 3 verse 9 to the Philadelphia church.
Remember, John and many of these believers were Jewish. This would have been a family argument inside the Jewish community over whether or not Jesus is the Messiah (Craig Evans; Dragons, John, & Every Grain Of Sand).
The word “satan” is translated to mean “opponent” or “accuser,” and some were slandering certain believers to the authorities— essentially tattle-telling on them for believing Jesus is the Messiah. The King’s letter was a warning to those within the churches, and now all of us, about remembering whose work we’re actually doing when we accuse and slander anyone else or do anything to oppose Christ’s faithful witnesses.
Do you see the common thread? Balaam, the Nicolaitans, Jezebel, the synagogue of Satan all said the same lies in different words: You can follow Jesus and still eat at Babylon’s table. You don’t have to be different.
Scot McKnight writes that for these witnesses of Jesus, “It required daily exercise in resistance not to go along.” We are called to be dissident disciples of Jesus Christ in the face of Babylon’s culture.
In other words, every day we must ask ourselves, which team are we living for?
Written to Them, True for Us
So as we bring all this together, let’s ask our first important Bible reading question: What did all this first mean for John’s original audience?
Seven churches lived inside a system that wanted their worship, their money, and their loyalty. They responded in three different ways: Persecution, Complacency, and Compromise. Jesus saw these churches clearly, comforted the suffering faithful, and warned the comfortable.
And our second Bible reading question: What does it mean for us?
Which of these seven churches most resembles the Big “C” Church today?
Pause. Let people answer in their heads and perhaps a few responses out loud. (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea)
Scot McKnight compares the way of Babylon to water for a fish: it’s nearly invisible to the one swimming in it. Nobody decides to be lukewarm. We drift. It’s the slow fade. Our culture creeps in quietly, through our calendars, our screens, our wallets, peer-pressure, our own fears, our rationalizations and in what we’re afraid to say out loud or do.
BIG IDEA: Before Team Dragon attacks from the outside, it is already sitting in the pews. Faithfulness starts in here by committing to Team Lamb before it ever confronts Babylon out there.
The King Who Knocks
Here’s some good news as we bring this to a close. King Jesus writes these letters because he loves his Church. Listen to this:
Revelation 3:19 CSB “As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent.”
Jesus is drawing on Proverbs 3:12, where it says the Lord disciplines the one he loves like a father who delights in his son. The rebuke is evidence of his love.
And then comes one of the most heart filled verses in the whole Bible, spoken to Laodicea, the worst church on the King’s hot list:
Revelation 3:20 CSB “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
Did you catch where Jesus is standing? Outside the door of his own church. The King of kings knocks like a lover (Song of Songs 5:2). He rebukes and disciplines those he loves, because of how much he loves them. And he's doing it because he wants to come in and have a relationship with us. This is all about relationship, guys.
And in the next verse Jesus gives this promise:
Revelation 3:21 CSB “To the one who conquers I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”
The complacent church that thought it needed nothing is invited to share his table and his throne— if they are zealous and repent. That’s what he says. And if they let him in, he gives everything. That’s the sort of King Jesus is.
Close
Martin Luther King Jr responded to eight church leaders who looked at the moment and said, “wait” with a reminder of who the church was meant to be. A thermostat sets the temperature. A thermometer only reports it.
Laodicea had become a thermometer. It read the temperature of Rome and matched it. Lukewarm. And from exile on Patmos, John wrote down the words of the King to call his church back to be a thermostat.
So let me ask you, church: Are we a thermometer or a thermostat? Are we reflecting our culture’s temperature, or is the presence of Jesus unapologetically in our homes, our workplaces, our community spots, and this church as a thermostat setting the temperature around us?
If you leave here today thinking this was a nice church service, good music, inspiring sermon, but choose to do nothing with it— if it has no impact on your life— that's lukewarm. That's being a thermometer. And King Jesus says that’s worthless.
The book of Revelation is for those churches who want to live faithfully in Babylon as a thermostat.
Jesus has a plan for his churches. Did you know this?
He has a purpose, a mission, and a vision for who we are to be and what we are to do. Do you realize this?
Each of these seven churches were called out for something they were doing. He launched into his letters to each church by saying, “I know your works”.
Some people think all we need is God’s grace and we’re good to go, that we don’t need to do anything. Well for our salvation, yes 100%, but for living faithfully, that thinking is bad theology.
Baked within these two chapters of Revelation each letter opens with Jesus talking about how he has observed the works of these churches. He’s watching his churches to see if they are doing the things he wants us to do for his Kingdom. That’s the purpose of the Church.
Jesus builds his Church on the foundation of his Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) to go out and make disciples of all nations and he invites us to fulfill it so the world around us will know him, have Father God revealed to them, and for us to live differently than the rest of the world.
We are to bear the fruit of his Spirit, resist the evil spiritual forces actively engaged to snuff us out, snatch us away from the fold, and divide us. We are to take care of people who cannot take care of themselves, but be as shrewd as serpents so we are not taken advantage of. We are to live lives devoted to prayer to have a direct relationship with God and help others do the same. We are to live lives devoted to knowing Jesus Christ by being students of his Word.
This is all about abiding in him— being and staying connected to God.
I’ve heard so many people say that they just want to hear God speak to them. Read his Word— every day. He speaks from his Word. You want to hear his voice and what he wants from you, then read his Word. Become a student of his Word and you will know God intimately and hear his voice to know his will. He says it all in his Word. If you don’t want to read it, then listen to it audibly. There are so many ways to do that now. It was written to be read aloud anyway so listen to God’s Word every day and you will know God, be known by him, and understand his vision, mission, and purpose for his Church so he could lead us where he wants us to go, so we could be who he wants us to be, do what he wants us to do, and help others do the same. That’s the Church.
This is all about abiding in him— being and staying connected to God.
That’s who we’re supposed to be as the Church. And he’s watching. Jesus is watching us. He knows our works well.
The church can have all the greatest doctrine, say all the right things, but how they are living could turn all that around if their behavior and church culture is ugly. How we’re living is what is meant when Jesus says, "I know your works.”
What sort of letter would we receive from King Jesus, to us, here at our church?
Citations
Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963. Quoted: “My Dear Fellow Clergymen” and “In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.” Historical details from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University.
David L. Mathewson, The Book of Revelation, Didasko Seminar notes (May 2025). Principles paraphrased in the pastor’s own words: the messages as prophetic words from the risen Christ echoing “Thus says the Lord”; the angels as heavenly counterparts of the churches; against the seven church ages view; the three groups of persecution, complacency, and compromise.
David L. Mathewson, A Companion to the Book of Revelation (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2020). Quoted: “a priestly and kingly figure...” (p. 45); “only two of the churches...” (p. 46); “lukewarm is not an image of indifference...” (p. 54). Paraphrased: the Nicolaitans and Sardis (pp. 48, 50, 52); the reflection question (p. 56).
Scot McKnight with Cody Matchett, Revelation for the Rest of Us (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2023). Quoted: “The Ephesians have released their love. It didn’t escape; they released it.” (p. 173); “It required daily exercise in resistance not to go along.” (p. 178). Paraphrased: Babylon like water to a fish (p. 168). Team Lamb and Team Dragon language from McKnight.
Carmen Trenton, “Suffering and Hope in Revelation 2-3,” in Dragons, John, and Every Grain of Sand: Essays on the Book of Revelation, ed. Shane J. Wood. Quoted: Polycarp’s words as cited by Trenton from The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (p. 214); “She is giving them a way out of suffering.” (p. 215). Paraphrased: the lamp needing more oil (pp. 212–213).
Craig A. Evans, “Observations on the Judaic Character of the Polemic in the Seven Letters,” in Dragons, John, and Every Grain of Sand: Essays on the Book of Revelation, ed. Shane J. Wood, pp. 15–27. Paraphrased: the synagogue of Satan as an intramural Jewish dispute and “satan” as “opponent” (p. 21); Proverbs 3:12 and Song of Songs 5:2 behind Revelation 3:19–20 (p. 26).
David E. Aune, “The Form and Function of the Proclamations to the Seven Churches (Revelation 2–3),” New Testament Studies 36 (1990): 182–204. Paraphrased: the seven messages shaped like imperial edicts.
Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm (Lexham Press, 2015). Referenced: spiritual beings connected with earthly communities.
Team Lamb and Team Dragon playbill: Blackhawk Church, Madison, WI, used by permission.
Scripture quotations are from the Christian Standard Bible (CSB), copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers.
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