It’s Your Choice
How many of the seven churches Jesus addresses in Revelation can you correctly identify? Match the church on the left to the description on the right. (Answers in Rev. 2-3.)
Ephesus The Faithful Church
Laodicea The Dead Church
Smyrna The Corrupt Church
Thyatira The Compromising Church
Philadelphia The Lukewarm Church
Sardis The Loveless Church
Pergamum The Persecuted Church
When John received the Revelation from Jesus—
likely during the last decade of the first century—of the decline of these churches and all things yet future, less than half a century had passed since Paul’s ministry. These churches were spiritually healthy in the 60s. Their decline is not hard to understand when we consider our own society and how far many present-day churches have departed from righteousness and truth and embraced every kind of aberration under the sun.
Paul warned the churches before he died that false teachers and false doctrine would creep into their fellowships. How did he know? How do we know today? Satan is evil to the core but he’s not stupid. His lies have been successful since the garden of Eden. So when you’ve got a winning strategy, why change it. As sinful humans, we’ve always been susceptible to flattery that strokes our egos. That’s why God warned us through the prophet Micah (6:8), “…what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
If we walk humbly with our God,
we won’t be prey for the enemy’s lies or be attracted to his shiny objects. Biblical truth is our only offensive weapon. If we’re not in the Word daily, we run the risk of drifting away from our protection.
Though these were seven actual churches, they represent the same issues our churches face today. Only two of the seven got a pass from Jesus’ rebukes. His comment to both was similar: “He who overcomes will not be hurt by the 2nd death” and “I will keep you from the hour of testing.” The other five, in addition to specific warnings, were all told to repent. The simple meaning of that is to stop what you’re doing and get back to the basics of what Christ preached; in today’s vernacular: make a U-turn in our attitudes and actions, and remove our idols…or else.
Revelation 12:12 gives us a hint
as to why society seems to be circling the drain: “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” Remember, this was written 2,000 years ago describing something that could happen in our lifetime.
If the condition of today’s religious sector is a harbinger of the last days, Peter’s warning should find purchase in our souls and stir us from our lethargy and passivity: “…the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” (2Pet. 3:10.)
Isn’t it amazing that God’s love continues
to warn an unbelieving world of the future that awaits those who mock and reject Jesus? Until He doesn’t. Look again at the titles of the seven churches above. Wisdom, available from God for the asking (James 1:5), would embrace someone warning of impending doom. May that be you and everyone you love today. Jesus said, “He who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37). Accept His free offer of salvation before it’s too late. If you need more direction, Click Here Steps To Salvation .