The Seven Churches

This is not a message of the past. This is a message of the present and the future. These seven letters are not just a message to reading this, but also to America-what our country must do to spiritually and morally revitalize itself. When we, as a nation, have reached a place of moral, political, and spiritual corruption, as we are now, we need a rebirth. We need a new beginning, and this is the message about how to get there. These seven churches are not the only churches in Asia Minor. There are many churches in Asia Minor, but these are located at seven major points of communication in the Roman Empire. God knew that once the message was planted there, it would spread to the whole earth. When John, on the Island of Patmos, wrote the book of Revelation, God gave it to His Son, His Son gave it to an angel, and the angel gave it to John. John scribbled it down on parchment. It was smuggled off the island when Diocletian died, was recorded by the churches, and became for us one of the most encouraging and victorious books in all the Bible. Let's read To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.' God gives all these things to the one who overcomes-not the one who stops at the midpoint, but the one who overcomes.

Let's begin with this thought: the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Why is it important for you to know this? Because until you see Jesus in the book of Revelation, you have never truly seen the real Jesus. Now, let's consider the setting of Revelation chapter 1. John the Revelator was exiled on the Isle of Patmos, a barren, rocky island in the Aegean Sea about 10 miles long and 6 miles wide. John was a pastor, Apostle, who had been arrested and removed from his church by Rome for refusing to confess that Caesar is Lord-a practice known as Caesar worship. If you refused to confess Caesar as Lord but declared Jesus as Lord, you were considered an enemy of the state and sent to a place like Patmos or to the Colosseum to face execution by wild beasts. Our spiritual forefathers paid a great price for their faith. John found himself placed on this island among criminals.

He hears the screeching seagulls and endures the brutality of the Roman soldiers. It was Devil's Island. I have written a novel about John's experience. John was the Galilean fisherman who dropped his nets to follow Jesus Christ as a teenager. Now, at about 84 years of age, John faces brutal treatment. He was the one who placed his head on the breast of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, part of the inner circle with Peter and James. John witnessed his master hanging between two thieves, kneeling beside Mary, the mother of Jesus. Jesus was covered in blood; the 39 stripes from the Roman whip left his body emaciated and bloody. In agony, Jesus cried out, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' At that moment, Jesus Christ did not appear as the King of Kings or the Messiah. He did not look like anything but a future martyr. Now, God sends the revelation of His Son to the church, urging believers to look to Him. The last time they saw Him, He was on the cross, but now He is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, with power and glory. He is no longer wearing a crown of thorns, but a crown of crowns, for He is King of all kings and Lord of all lords.