Revelation 2-3
{THE SEVEN LETTERS}
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- Seven Churches - Overview - (The visitation of Jesus to the churches of Asia prepares the reader for the visions that follow the seven letters) - {PDF Copy}
- Tree of Life - Ephesus - (The messenger at Ephesus is commended for rejecting false apostles, chastised for leaving his first love, and summoned to return to his first works) - {PDF Copy}
- Faithful Until Death - (After persevering through persecution, the ever-faithful church at Smyrna was promised even more tribulation but also exceeding great rewards) - {PDF Copy}
- Tribulation of the Church - (In Revelation, faithful saints experience tribulation, but the unrepentant inhabitants of the earth undergo wrath) - {PDF Copy}
- Hold Fast My Name - Pergamos - (Pergamos receives praise for remaining faithful to his name, but correction for tolerating the teachings of “Balaam”) - {PDF Copy}
- The Nicolaitans - (Deceivers within the churches were encouraging believers to compromise with the idolatrous rites of pagan society) - {PDF Copy}
- Martyrs and Overcomers - (In the book of Revelation, overcoming saints persevere in their testimony of Jesus whatever the cost, even a martyr’s death) - {PDF Copy}
- The Inhabitants of the Earth - (The inhabitants of the earth represent the men and women who are omitted from the Book of Life because they submit to the Beast) - {PDF Copy}
- Thyatira and Jezebel - (The call to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches begins to intensify after the warning about the teachings of Jezebel – Revelation 2:18-29) - {PDF Copy}
- Food Offered to Idols - (Daniel and his three companions refused to participate in the religious rituals of the Babylonian Empire – Daniel 1:14) - {PDF Copy}
- Arrayed in White Garments - Sardis - (The church in the city of Sardis receives no commendation, only warnings, and a summons to repent) - {PDF Copy}
- Pillar in the Temple - Philadelphia - (Philadelphia receives no correction since she has remained faithful, and therefore, she will be kept from the hour of trial ) - {PDF Copy}
- Kept from the Hour - (The hour of trial will come upon the whole habitable earth, but overcoming saints will not experience this final judicial act – Revelation 3:10) - {PDF Copy}
- Gold Refined by Fire - Laodicea - (Laodicea receives no commendation, only corrections, and warnings. Its hope lies in becoming “gold refined by fire”) - {PDF Copy}
- Beginning of the Creation - (Revelation looks forward to the reign of Jesus in the New Creation, a reality inaugurated by his Death and Resurrection) - {PDF Copy}