Church Letters

Ok girlies!  I know we’re going super slowly through these churches but that’s okay.  I want to give you a quick recap of the structure of the letters to the churches. 

The letters each open in the same way; “To the angel of the church in ______, write:”  We talked about how the word angel in Revelation, though it can mean ethereal, heavenly beings, can be used other ways.  We discussed how the word angel could also be used to talk about messengers to the church, or the pastors to the church, and how the letter would be read aloud to the church (really, the whole book of Revelation would be read aloud). 

For each church, we talk about who the speaker is to each of the churches—Jesus.   We also talk about how we know this, because in each of the letters to the churches we see some identifier of Jesus, and most of them link back to how Jesus is described/describes Himself in the very beginning of Revelation.  (NOT because the words are written in red or because there are quotation marks…J)

Jesus praises the churches for the things that they are doing that He likes.   He commends the churches for the good things and encourages them to continue in the good.  Even if there are just a few good in the church, He still recognizes whomever is making an effort to truly follow Him and will distinguish them from the rest.

Jesus usually rebukes the church that He is writing to as well (except for Smyrna and Philadelphia).  He points out what they’re doing wrong and what He doesn’t like about the church and tells them that they need to repent and instead follow God.

They all end with “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  This means to ANYONE who will listen, even to us now.  This is followed by the reward that the person who is able to overcome what Jesus has warned against. 

Look for more on the churches soon!