Revelation 2-3, "The One Who Conquers"

Everyone wants purpose and everyone seeks power. Many people live with purpose, but it is a compromise from the purpose for which God created us, to be faithful witnesses created in His image. And most people live disconnected from the power of God’s Spirit and what power they do have has been coopted by the powers that control this world. Our purpose gets compromised when we pursue the world’s lust for power, wealth, and status and our power gets co-opted to the rulers of this world when we live by their rules.

This goes for individuals, and it goes for churches. Even churches might do good things the wrong way, using the world’s methods, and compromise and get co-opted.

By reading the letters Jesus wrote to seven first-century churches, we can see something we all need to hear. In fact, Jesus tells us right in these letters, “Listen up, the Spirit is speaking to you through my words.”

The first thing Jesus says is, you won’t know your purpose or your power until you really know Me. If our Christology is good, we will live with purpose and power. If our Christology is bad, our purpose will be compromised and our power will be coopted.

How many of us know Jesus Christ as He is?

Do You Know Jesus?

Revelation 2:1 (ESV)

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars (angels) in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands (churches).

Jesus is using angels, spirit beings who inhabit heaven, to minister on behalf of the churches. And Jesus walks among us. He has infinite cosmic power, and He is intimately accessible.

Revelation 2:8 (ESV)

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

Jesus is the Eternal God who laid down His life for us and took it up again. All authority in heaven and on earth is His. He has the “power of an indestructible life (Hebrews 7:16)”.

Revelation 2:12 (ESV)

“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

The two-edged sword is Jesus’ word that judges all.

Revelation 2:18 (ESV)

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

Jesus is the Son of God who sees all and stands in power and glory to carry out God’s will, even when He was tested in the fire of trial and suffering.

Revelation 3:1 (ESV)

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

Jesus has the fullness of power of the Holy Spirit and full authority.

Revelation 3:7 (ESV)

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

Jesus has authority to bring God’s Kingdom anywhere He chooses. Any door is open to Him and no one can shut.

Revelation 3:14 (ESV)

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.

To paraphrase John’s gospel, “In the beginning was Jesus and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Jesus is our Maker. The Maker knows how things work. Jesus knows how your life works. Jesus is the Maker of the church. He knows how the church works.

What I appreciate about this book, and these letter in particular, is that Jesus doesn’t assume that people who go to church understand who He is or what He is doing. He takes the time to reveal to each church some way they can know Him better. Every attribute here is relevant to us today.

The Jesus revealed in these letters is the crucified and living head of the church. Going back to chapter 1, when John saw Jesus in all His glory, he was literally floored.

Revelation 1:17–18 (ESV)

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Jesus is the Eternal God, mighty to save, authority to judge by His word of truth, who has something to say to us. He has a purpose for us. He has the power to carry out that purpose through His church. His angels stand ready to help us in that purpose. The presence and the power of the Holy Spirit is available to the church to carry out that purpose. Are we living in that purpose and power?

Do You Know Your Purpose?

People can lose their purpose in life. They are compromised by the challenges of life and the agendas of the world powers. Musicians who begin writing worship music get swept up in the music industry money-making machinery. Lawyers who take an oath to include pro-bono work (working for free for the poor) are required to work 90 hours a week by their firm so that they can get promoted and never get to charitable work. Teachers who want to inspire students with an awareness of God’s world and our place in it as image-bearers get called to the principle’s office if they don’t abide by policies that violate their moral principles.

Churches can compromise too. Our purpose is to be the faithful witness to the crucified, risen, reigning, returning Messiah Jesus. And along come marketing agencies that want us to build our brands, political parties that want us to promote their platform and get out the vote (by the way, you should vote after you do your homework on the issues and candidates), and publishers who want to use the church as a platform to sell their religious materials. All of these are happening in America right now.

We can see five churches of the seven who receive letters from Jesus have compromised their purpose.

The Ephesians has become a church that faithfully preaches truth and stands against false teachers but is only known for what they hate. They hate the works of the Nicolaitans. And that’s not wrong. Jesus hates the works of the Nicolaitans also. The Nicolaitans were a group that was trying to mix Christianity with the permissive Greek religions, and were leading people astray from faithfulness to Jesus. But the Ephesians were doing this without demonstrating the love of Jesus. They have been compromised by fear and fundamentalist religion. They are in danger of losing their place as a church.

The churches of Pergamum and Thyatira have mixed their love for Jesus with idolatry and sexual immorality. Pergamum Christians’ love is too permissive and lacks discernment and they’ve been compromised by the worship of Zeus that had made their city famous. The Thyatiran Christians have been compromised by Roman culture, overly tolerant. They were passive when it came to confronting an immoral teacher. If they don’t repent, Jesus Himself will punish the false teachers who were leading others astray.

The church of Sardis reminds me of so many churches that have been started in the last twenty years. They are exciting places that offer a lot of activities (gymnasium in picture). The church has taken the name “Life Church” (the word for “reputation” in 3:1 is “name”).

Revelation 3:1 (ESV)

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

But when you did below the surface of all the activity, only a handful of people are actually alive in Christ. They have abandoned the gospel for clever marketing and exciting services. If they don’t return to discipleship to Jesus, He Himself will “come against them”.

Revelation 3:3 (ESV)

Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

Imagine a church that Jesus is actively working against. Not a good place to be.

The fifth church that has been compromised is in Laodicea. They have been compromised by comfort. They were a wealthy church, which has the illusion that all is well. But discipleship is not strengthened by staying comfortable, and their faith had become neither hot nor cold, just lukewarm. The danger of riches and comfort is that when we don’t feel any need, we never cry out to Jesus. Which leaves us spiritually…

Revelation 3:17 (ESV)

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

It was so bad, Jesus pictures himself completely outside this church, knocking on the door to be let in.

Revelation 3:20 (ESV)

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Jesus’ warning to this church is the most graphic.

Revelation 3:16 (ESV)

So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

So, what is the purpose of the church? We are a “lampstand”.

Revelation 1:20 (ESV)

As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

We are a light in the darkness. We are called to be the faithful witness to Jesus Christ in a world that is influenced by satan and the beastly kingdoms. When we compromise our purpose, we are in danger of having our lampstand removed.

Revelation 2:5 (ESV)

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. All but two churches are praised by Jesus for remaining faithful in some way. And two churches remained true to their purpose. And they reveal something about the power we truly possess as believers.

Do You Know Your Power?

Do we know our power? If you are a believer in Jesus, you are often most powerful in the moments you feel the most vulnerable. In moments of trial and persecution, when following Jesus is hard, we are tempted to think we are powerless. What would Jesus say to us? Jesus tells one church,

Revelation 2:9–10 (ESV)

“‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation.

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

For the Christian, to die is gain. We receive our inheritance, the fullness of joy and pleasure forever more in the presence of God, and the right to share in the kingdom of God as co-heirs with God. And we’re going to see consistently in Revelation, to die for the sake of Jesus’ name (martyr) gives someone a special place even among the saints in the kingdom. Those people can commune with Jesus in a unique way.

So, for someone who is faithful to Jesus, tribulation and poverty in the world’s economy means great riches in God’s economy. To suffer looks like weakness. But to suffer tribulation for the sake of our witness to Jesus is our power.

Revelation 2:11 (ESV)

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

Our power to conquer death is not holding on to life in this world with all our strength. It is being faithful to Jesus even if we die, and then the second death, eternal death will never hurt us. That is the power God grants the faithful who remain true to our purpose.

But there’s more. Jesus writes to another church, the church at Philadelphia,

Revelation 3:8–10 (ESV)

“‘Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.

These Christians had been kicked out of the Jewish synagogue in Philadelphia for their faith in Jesus. They might feel powerless, but their faith was in the most powerful Person in the universe. When our faith is in Jesus, even those who mock our faith will one day come and bow down before our feet, and they will learn that Jesus has loved us. That is our power. That we are loved by Jesus.

They may lose their place in the synagogue, but in the end,

Revelation 3:12 (ESV)

The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it,

and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.

Their identity is secure. Their place in God’s kingdom is assured.

“The one who conquers” is promised many things by Jesus in these letters. Eternal life, a share in the rule and reign of God in His kingdom, but most meaningful to me, full assurance that we are known and loved by God. Our victory is not that we succeed politically or become wealthy and influential and people buy your pastor’s book. Don’t compromise your purpose. Don’t let your power get co-opted by satan and the rulers of this world. Our victory is that we abide in Jesus Christ by faith.

Jesus is the One who conquers. But Jesus doesn’t conquer through compromise to the ways of the world. His power is not co-opted by the rulers and religious people. He conquers through love, sacrifice, atonement, and mercy. Our victory is a share in His victory.

Our faith in Jesus is our victory because it is a declaration to the world and its rulers that the love of God in Christ is so satisfying I would rather lose my life as a witness to Jesus than keep my life and compromise my true purpose and the power of His Spirit.

Communion

Questions for Discussion

What are some purposes for which people live their lives?

What is our true purpose as humans?

How does Jesus restore us to our purpose?

What do we learn about Jesus in the letters to the churches?

What are some ways the churches are fulfilling their purpose?

What are ways the churches have compromised their purpose?

What is the power of the faithful Christian? What power does the church have?

What does it mean to conquer, and how do we conquer?

How would you summarize the promises to those who conquer?

What is the Spirit saying to the churches? What is He saying to our church?

How will you respond to this passage?

Who is someone you can share this passage with this week?