JUDGEMENT OF THE CHURCHES

          The Book of Revelations mentions seven different churches, and the Pastor, the head of the body, Jesus Christ, calls on 5 of them to repent. Of the two, not called to repent, one was undergoing severe persecution, and the other one, Philadelphia.
To the Philadelphian Church, Jesus had this to say:
" I know your Deeds, behold I have put an open door before you, which no man can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept kept My word, and you have not denied My name.... I have loved you."  (Revelations 3: 4 - 5)
( I would like to exegete this passage and the passage about laodicea, in another page.  What this page is concerned with,  is mainly the Judgment of God concerning the Church in general.)

.One strange thing to say about these messages to the churches, is, if this is just a judgment to correct the wrong things in the church, why isn't the Corinthian church listed among them.

There can be no doubt that these letters are addressed to contemporaneous churches, existing during John's life, but I believe there is more than that involved with the seven churches.

Jesus Christ instructs the apostle John to write about more than the contemporaneous.        

In Revelations 1:19, we read: "Write, therefore the things which you have seen in, and the things which are, and the things which shall take place, after these things."

John, the apostle, is certainly suited for that task. He has been a follower of Jesus Christ from the very beginning, and now, it is close to the end of John's life of close to 100 years. The churches have been in existence for multiple generations of Christians.
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THE CHURCH AT EPHESUS

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         One writer writes this about the church in Paul's day. As we've mentioned Paul has been preaching Christ to with great power to the vision synagogue and rejected by them and so he has turned to the Gentiles.

          " So Paul moves his ministry center to the hall of Tyrannus--a lecture Hall that he rents. Every day from 11 AM to 4 PM, Paul preaches Christ, trained the eight apprentices that are within, and lays the foundation for the Ephesian church.

          "... Paul mends tents in the morning, beginning before sunrise, preaches in the afternoon, and then mends tents again in the evening. With his own hands, Paul supports himself and the eight men he is training. He often goes hungry and thirsty.

         The community of Christians in Ephesus's meeting from house to house while Paul conducts the work from the hall of Tyrannus. One of the homes where the church gathers is the house of Priscilla and Aquila. Paul has received a wide open door to preach the gospel in Ephesus; however, he encounters many adversaries. On top of this, on a daily basis he experiences anxiety over the well-being of the a churches he has planted. 

         So that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. And God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that the anchor achieves or the aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the disease is left them in the evil spirits went out.... And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all in the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.                                    Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. In many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and begin burning them in the sight of all; and they counted up the price of them and found that 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily in prevailing." pp. 115-116 Frank Viola, THE UNTOLD STORY

         So, from the citation of Scripture, the Holy Spirit worked mightily through Paul. Pentecost, obviously, was in a prophetic timeline, but God, the Holy Spirit, was using mighty acts in introducing the gospel to the city of Ephesus just as at Jerusalem. One difference was this was taking place over three years, and the potential converts numbered in a much larger size like  close to 250,000 of Ephesus rather than 60,000 of Jerusalem. 

LACK OF FOCUS ON JESUS  CHIRST

        So it would be safe to assume there was a large number of Christian converts in Ephesus, perhaps as many as 1000 or more.

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Not only are these message strange, there is an interesting aspect about these, Revelation passages, and that is the historic timeline of the churches-- especially the mentioned Ephesians church.

 CONSIDERING THE EPHESIAN CHURCH

The church at Ephesus is mentioned repeatedly in the New Testament.  The city of Ephesus was a very significant Place in it's size alone--the city was estimated to be over 250,000 people.
The Apostle Paul spent at least 3 years in church planting there, and this was not in building church buildings.
Consider that 3000 came to Christ in one day on Pentecost,  through the work of the Holy Spirit, and certainly the Holy Spirit was working with Paul.  (Read Acts 19:8-12, 15-20)

The churches have been in existence for multiple generations of Christians and have been a part of multiple cultures.

It would be instructive to know the obstacles that might help or might hinder the growth of the church.

WHAT WAS LIFE in THE ROMAN EMPIRE LIKE?

The Roman Empire government, which had been a representative Senatorial form, had changed with the rule of Emperor Augustus (rule 27 BC to A.D. 14).                              So for the past 120 years, everyone lived under the rule of one man, the Emperor. Roman Empire in the beginning of the church was enjoying the Pax Romana ("Roman peace") which the Emperor Augustus had established from Spain to the Black Sea, from Egypt to the English Channel. For the most part life in the Empire was secure and trade was safe.  That would change in the last years of the apostle Paul's mission work. This change would focus in the Roman Empire's Palestine area around Jerusalem. There were between 70 and 100 million people living in the Roman Empire. One half of these people were slaves. (The Empire was run on slave labor. Slaves had no legal rights and are viewed as a personal property of their masters. Some wealthy Romans on his many as 20,000 slaves.) If you and the Roman Empire are part of the wealthy senatorial class. Most belong to the plebeian class. More than half the population is dependent on the regular distribution of free grain. 90% of the Empire's workers are in farming and hurting.

at the stake.













I should add, at this point, that the seven churches were judged
 by God not me or by any man.

As one reads this criticism, God uses a criteria that I wouldn't 
use nor what the world including most Christian leaders today, 
would use, and for that matter not what most church people 
today would use.

For example, we all would consider the large numbers coming
 to our church as being that of at

All churches were called on to repent of some particular sin, with 

he exception of Smyrna and Philadelphia.
Smyrna was a martyr church---Polycarp, 2nd century pastor of
Smyrna, was burnt at the stake.
 Philadelphia had "little power," yet was faithful in the Word..