In the letter to the church in Sardis in Revelation 3:1-6, Jesus had a surprise announcement for the church and promised a surprise visit if things did not change for the better.  The announcement was that, in spite of appearances of vitality, the church was really quite dead, which would have fallen as a huge surprise to the church itself and to everyone who knew the church’s great reputation.  Jesus had called the church in Ephesus to remember its earlier works, but Jesus called the church in Sardis to remember something even more foundational: how they received and heard the gospel.  His call to them forces us to ask ourselves how we are hearing it today.

In Revelation 2:18-29, Jesus sent the longest letter to the church in the least important city, Thyatira, perhaps because its situation was complicated.  In general, it was a great church, growing in faith and love.  However, they tolerated false teaching that led to bad living.  Jesus himself would deal with the false teacher and her followers, and he called the rest simply to hold on and keep going until the end.  This letter summarizes the message of the whole book of Revelation: Jesus has conquered and will conquer, so we need to keep living in faith and love in order to conquer and reign with him.

In Revelation 2:12-17, we meet the Church in Pergamum, a group of Christians that one has to admire for holding fast to the name of Jesus in a city that Jesus called “Satan’s throne,” and even after one of their number had been killed for his faith.  Although they were steadfast in resisting outside attacks, they were less vigilant about the beliefs and practices of their own members, so Jesus urged them to repent by practicing church discipline, or else he would have to come and practice it himself.  As with all the churches, he promised rich blessings for those who would hear his words and conquer by their faith.

Although the church in Smyrna may not have looked like much on the surface, Jesus’ evaluation of it was wholly positive.  He did not tone down his description of what the believers were about to suffer, but he pointed to the way to face all the challenges of life and death without fear and full of faith.  Although we may never have to face what those early Christians faced, we all have to live, and we all have to die, so Jesus’ words to the church in Smyrna in Revelation 2:8-11 are words for us today as well.

In Revelation 2:1-7, we read the letter to the church in Ephesus, a cosmopolitan port city where intellectual and religious currents were always trying to divert the faith of the Christians.  Jesus commended the Ephesian Christians for standing firm for the faith in such a difficult environment but called them back to something essential they had forgotten – love.  Although truth and love are equally important, they are often difficult to keep together in practice.  Like the Ephesians, we need to make sure we maintain faith in the truth and practice love for God, for each other, and for our neighbor.

In our summer sermon series, we are going to study the first three chapters of the last book of the Bible, beginning with Revelation 1 and then taking the letters to the seven churches of chapters 2 and 3 one at a time.  In this first chapter, we have an introduction that teaches us how and why to read the book and then see a stunning portrayal of Jesus, which serves as the base of the following letters.  This first scene and all the scenes in the book invite us to look behind the events of our lives and our world to see what is really happening so that we can live above our circumstances instead of dominated by them.

With the book of Acts, we finish our review of Bible history. Unlike Old Testament history, New Testament history ends on a very positive note. In Acts, Luke recorded the advance of the gospel from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria and all the way to Rome. The first Christians and many others after them did such a good job that the gospel has reached all the way to us, and now it is up to us to take it to still others.

It is good to have more than one person ready to verify facts, especially when they are well-informed and honest.  In the case of the remarkable life of Jesus, we have four accounts written by people close to the source, which we traditionally call the Gospels, because they record the gospel, or good news, about Jesus.  After considering their authorship, we look at their overall structure and the curious methods that Jesus used to reveal himself little by little to his followers and to others.  These culminated in the crowning acts of his work: his death and resurrection.

With the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we arrive at the end of Old Testament history with the Jews back in their land after having been taken away by Babylonia and sent back by Persia.  They returned in at least three phases, under the leadership of three men – Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah – in order to rebuild the Temple, the people, and the city, respectively.  All was set for a glorious ending to the history, but things took a bad turn right at the end, leaving us hanging and wondering what would become of God’s people.  In fact, the ending of Ezra-Nehemiah points us forward some 400 years to the real end of the story, since God’s final plan for his kingdom was not merely to have one nation gathered in one city walled off from everyone else but to embrace all the people of the earth.

Although the books of Kings and Chronicles cover much of the same history, they have different and complimentary perspectives, focusing mostly on the time of the united Kingdom of Israel under Solomon and then the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Kings answers the question: What went wrong? Chronicles answers the question: Is there any hope for us? It turns out that there was more hope than the people could have conceived, but it wasn’t realized until the coming of Christ in whom the apparently failed promises of the Old Testament find their fulfillment.