When most Christians think about the book of Revelation, they think about the book as a prophecy of the end events and the second coming of Christ. They may or may not realize that even futurist interpreters disagree over which…
Revelation as a Book of Theology and Guidance for the Christian Life Now The idealist approach differs radically from the historicist. It would be attractive to someone who is tired of conflicting attempts to pinpoint how Revelation is fulfilled in…
THE END IS NEAR! Most of us are familiar with examples of the historicist approach. This is an easily abused approach to the book of Revelation. According to historicists, the end is near and we can see this by looking…
Revelation yields tremendous truths for living and for a Christian worldview. Like some other parts of Scripture, it does not yield these truths apart from careful study. Taken on its own, Revelation is a challenge for Christian readers. They often…
The Spiritual Blindness of a Wealthy Church The letter to Laodicea provides a challenging conclusion to the seven letters. It has a distinct resemblance to God’s word through Old Testament prophets like Isaiah. The people of God at Laodicea need…
Repentance and Renewal of Fellowship with Jesus As noted above, the Laodicean church first needs Jesus to relieve their blindness to their sin. Then, they need to repent of their sin and seek his forgiveness and cleansing from sin. In…
The Church’s Spiritual Poverty and Blindness In Revelation 3:17, Jesus clarifies his source of dissatisfaction with the Laodicean church. He says, “Because you are saying, ‘I am rich,’ and ‘I have become rich,’ and ‘I am in need of nothing,’…
Overview of the Laodicea Letter In terms of overall tone and themes, the Laodicea letter is similar to the Sardis letter, but it is even more negative. Jesus does not mention any strengths for the church, nor does he mention…
The Philadelphia letter already contains several promises of Christ to this faithful church. It closes with his promises to the conquerors. Jesus says, “The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and…
The obedience of the church at Philadelphia comes up at the beginning of Revelation 3:10. It says, “Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come…