Introduction to Revelation

Tom Shrader begins a series on the seven churches of Revelation by examining Christ's authority and presence in chapter 1. He shares deeply personal reflections from his summer, particularly about caring for his wife Susan through her six-year cancer journey and learning to trust God's control amid economic hardship and personal struggles. The teaching sets the foundation for understanding how Jesus walks among His churches today.

“Everything that happens in your life and mine in our nation is under His control - that doesn't mean when things are painful they don't hurt, it just means He's not giving us something beyond His sphere of control.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: What Christ Says to the Church (Revelations)

Recorded: 2010

Duration: 33 min

Themes: authority, presence, trust, control, suffering, faithfulness, hardship, revelation, caring for sick spouse, facing economic hardship, dealing with cancer, pastor, husband, struggling with control, experiencing suffering, long-term caregiver

Scripture: Revelation 1, Revelation 2-3, John 18:37, 1 John, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Theological Themes: christology, christ's authority, ecclesiology, church structure, divine sovereignty, god's control, biblical revelation, spiritual discernment

Full Transcript

I'm going to invite you to open your Bibles to the Book of Revelation. Here's what we're going to do. I hadn't planned on doing an introduction. We want to start a new series on November 7th, which is Anniversary Sunday. So we want to start a new series then.

I thought leading up to that—if you need a Bible, by the way, raise your hand and the guys and gals will get you a copy—we have eight Sundays till then. My thought was to do what I relearned on my summer vacation. I was actually going to maybe even do two or three weeks of it because I could fill that up and then do some other things. But as it got closer, I decided that what we're going to do is that today. Then we're going to take the next seven weeks and look at the seven churches that are in the Book of Revelation.

Why Study the Seven Churches?

The reason for this—we did this about eight or ten years ago—is we're continually asking: What's the plan for the church? Not just East Valley Bible Church, but the church in general. How does God view the church? If Jesus was here, what would He say to the church?

I remember just playing with those ideas. I've been playing with those ideas for twenty years. But coming across something John Stott had written, let me quote from him. He said, "Fortunately, we are not without a means to answer that question. The New Testament contains much information about Christ's purpose for His people. The second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation contain seven letters, each addressed to a particular first century Christian community in the Roman province. Although these letters were written by John, it's claimed that they were given to him directly by the ascended and glorified Christ. Although their message is related to specific situations in those churches, it expresses concerns which apply to all churches. By praise and censure, by warning and exhortation, Christ reveals what He wants His church to be like in all times and in all places."

What Jesus does when we get there—and we're going to start in chapter one, verse one—what Jesus does when He gets to chapter two is give us instruction and direction and warning and encouragement and advice and condemnation and commendation to the churches. There are seven actual churches. There are seven churches that represent seven characteristics or seven traits that are present in a church, one of them.

Understanding Church Characteristics

Actually, I think it's this: All of them are present in every church. In other words, here at East Valley Bible Church, I think all of these character traits that Jesus talks about are present, but one tends to become the dominant culture. The same is true—obviously corporately is true individually. So within the body of Christ, there are people who are going to be spoken about in the book of Ephesians in the message to the church at Ephesus, some to the church at Smyrna and Pergamon and Thyatira and Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea.

So what we're going to do starting next week is look at these seven churches and see what Jesus is saying to us. I personally think that if you would have said, "What's East Valley Bible Church like? If it represents one of these churches or they're associated with one of these churches, which one is it?" I would have for sure said five years ago and prior to that, it would be the church at Ephesus. I think that's changing as God changes us, but that means we're vulnerable in new areas.

So I want to just do an introduction. We're going to do about twenty minutes on this so that when we start next week, we hit the ground running.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Look at chapter one, verse one: "revelation of Jesus Christ." The word revelation means unveiling, disclosure, uncovering. So as we talk about the book of Revelation, we need to understand that it's about Jesus—His actions, His desires, His return, obviously, His power, His might, His majesty, His holiness, His love, His judgment.

"So the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show to His bondservants things that must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant or bondservant, John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all the things that he saw."

When I was gone, the guys—Tyler and Neil, Tim, Paul, Ricardo—went and took a chapter of 1 John. So that John that wrote 1 John is the same John that has this revelation. Jesus appears to him and Jesus gives him this revelation. That John is—and there's different views, but the dominant view, and I think most would agree—this is the Apostle John. Probably at this point in time, about ninety-five years old, he would have been one who was with Jesus.

When John delivered an Easter message, it had a certain punch to it because he didn't say, "Let me tell you what I heard happen." He said, "I was there and here's what happened." It's that John at the end of his life who has this revelation.

The Timing of Christ's Return

Verse three: "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near." What He's saying is the time for Jesus' return is near.

Now here's what we understand: that term "near" needs perspective. In God's context, a day is a thousand years. Jesus has been gone two days. If I text Susan and say, "I'll be home soon," and she knows—we live three or four minutes from here—she knows that if I say, "I'll be home soon, I'm on my way," that I should be there no later than fifteen or twenty minutes, something will happen along the way.

When Jesus says, "I'm coming again soon"—we see that at the end of the book of Revelation—let's not for a second think, because it's been two thousand years, He's not coming. He's coming. He's coming in His own timetable. That end is near.

Verse four: "John to the seven churches that are in Asia." And we're talking about Asia here—He's talking about modern day Turkey. Turn to the back of your Bibles, keep your finger there, the back of your Bibles, and many of—

them will have a series of maps. When things get slow and I'm boring, you probably have turned there in desperation. If you turn to the back, usually it'd be a map that would be headed with something like the missionary journeys of Paul. If you have a Bible we gave you, it's map number nine. What you're gonna see there is the Mediterranean Sea, and you'll see that we're at the very eastern end of it.

Now depending upon how detailed your map is, you can look up there and see Macedonia, look just off the coast and try to locate Ephesus. That'll be the beginning of this tour. You can find Ephesus and move in a semi-circle. You head north, each of these cities about 35-40 miles apart.

So you're at Ephesus, you head north to Smyrna, then to Pergamum or Pergamos, then southeast just a bit to Thyatira, keep heading south to Sardis, now you head east again to Philadelphia, and you'll see Laodicea. Not every map shows all seven of those. It depends on the detail of the map. The map I have in the back of my Bible shows four or five of them.

The Strategic Location of the Seven Churches

It was a strategic area. They were all connected by a key road. One historian writes this: "the great circular road that bound together the most populous and wealthy and influential parts of the province of Asia." That's what they were. So these were, by and large, the wealthy cities connected together.

As I said, we're gonna look at each one of those seven. But there's seven actual churches. Several of them still exist today. Seven actual churches.

Now again, back to verse four, John writes this, and now Jesus is giving him this message: "Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is to come." There's the eternal presence of God, speaking of Jesus Christ, the one who spoke this creation into existence. He's not limited by power, majesty - He's majestic. And the seven spirits - the seven becomes a key number here, it's a picture of perfection or completion - who are before His throne.

Jesus' Threefold Introduction

From Jesus Christ, and we're gonna see this in each of the seven churches, Jesus introduces Himself in a different way, sometimes very similar, sometimes radically different way. Oftentimes the way He introduces Himself deals right with the point He wants to make with them. Well, as He's introducing this letter, it's from Jesus.

Verse five: Jesus Christ identifies Himself in three ways. The faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

So He's the faithful witness. Jesus came - John says John 18:37 - to bear witness to the truth. He is the truth. He is the faithful witness. Everything He speaks is fact, true - not a lie, not a deception. In Him He allows us to see what is right, what is true.

He's the firstborn of the dead. It makes reference to His resurrection. He was dead, but He is now alive. He's glorified. He's returned to that position that Isaiah saw, that pre-existing Christ. And He's the ruler overall. He directs the affairs and the destinies of nations and of individuals. He's the King of kings and Lord of Lords. He rules over all the earth.

The God Who Is in Control

Again, so much of this introduction is repeated in each of these churches. He is the one who has everything under control. Everyone, every person, everything, every event is under His control. That doesn't mean when things come into our life that are painful that they don't hurt. And it doesn't mean that when things come into our life that are difficult that they aren't challenging for us. It just means that we need to know He's not giving us something beyond His sphere of control. So everything that happens in your life and mine, in our nation.

You know, I was laying in bed last night. I rarely sleep Saturday nights anyway, but I was thinking about this and I'm thinking that I don't have the lesson I want it. And I'm thinking of that picture of the five kids and I'm thinking I wonder what it'll be like when Braden's 60. There I wonder what it'll be like when they'll grow old and I kind of intuitively worry about the world they'll inherit.

But then it occurred to me that I'll bet my dad worried about the world I didn't hear it, and his dad worried about the world. And you know, it's the cycle of life.

Observing Our Times of Difficulty

There's one of the things that I observed, and I was talking to Susan about it the other day, is just the massive pain. Economic pain to be sure. I don't know if you realize this - the unemployment rate in the United States is twice the unemployment rate in Mexico. I mean, we're in some deep water. And no reason to think it's gonna get better soon.

There's been an idea proposed that has an opportunity of passing. It's anything. And just what Kabuto said: we know spending doesn't work, so we're gonna spend more. That's not a political statement. I'm not - it just is. You can go all the way back. You can blame George W. Bush - he started the bailout thing. So don't write emails please on a political thing. It just is. But that's the way that's the world. That's what it is.

And I think there are times - I mean when Paul writes - see if I can find it - Paul writes to the church at Corinth and he says this: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed." We're afflicted. We're perplexed. We're persecuted. We're struck down. I feel like that a lot.

And that's what I saw a lot of vacation more at Cannon Beach. It's a Christian Conference Center, and there's a cost associated with it, but I was just stunned how many people were there scholarshipped to some degree by either the Conference Center or by their parents or grandparents or friends who'd sent them because they're just hurting so much.

The gentleman who found my iPad and brought it back said the last three years have just been brutal. What we need to understand—and I need to remember this all the time—is that things are beyond our control, but they're not out of God's control. So He's teaching us. He's teaching us all sorts of lessons in different ways.

For some it's a relational test. For others it's economic. For others it's a grace test. For others it's physical. It's all sorts of tests. I don't know if it's a characteristic of getting old or what, but I'm not as happy. I think I'm joyful, but I don't think I'm as happy. I don't know if that's true or not, but it is for me.

You look around and I have to remind myself all the time. While I was gone, they announced that Toshiba has developed 3D screen where you don't need the glasses. That's a big deal—if that's true. I'm just telling you, call your stockbroker and buy Toshiba tomorrow. I don't know if it's true; they can't confirm or deny. But that 3D allows things to begin becoming more real, right? So I'm sitting ducking from things that are coming at me.

Finding Reality in God's Word

Well, I need to go back to God and His word all the time so I can see things real. Because I can look around and just look at all of this and go, "Is it worth it? This is so hard. This is so difficult." Yes is the answer. Not because intrinsically it's worth it, but because God says it's worth it.

So you'll have those moments, and He says, "I am the one. I am the one who holds all things together. I'm the King of kings." To Him John's writing: "To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins"—because that's our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is not any of those things I talked about—it's sin. "And made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory and dominion forever."

"Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. Every tongue will confess, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen." "I am the Alpha," Jesus speaks, "and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I'm the one who is, who was, and is to come." There's nothing outside my sphere of authority. There's nothing unknown to me. There's nothing beyond my control. This is all designed to give us comfort and reality.

John's Vision on Patmos

Verse 9: "I John, both your brother and companion in tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos." If you remember your map, there was Ephesus, which used to be, by the way, a port town, but now silt and all that has filled in. It's now inland about four miles. Patmos is just off there. It's a small island—four miles wide, six miles long. John is now exiled on that. He's an old man, as I said—95, 96, 97, whatever he is. "For the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ."

"And I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day." Not sure what that means. Certainly means he wasn't dreaming—this was real. He's in worship or honoring God or thinking of Him or thanking Him. "And I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,' and, 'What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia.'" Then he lists them: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

Why These Seven Churches?

Why those seven churches, by the way? It could be because they're strategic, just humanly. As I said, these are key churches, key cities—wealthy, heaviest population. It could be because they're strategic. It could be because they're accessible. It could be, as we're going to see, because they have strengths and weaknesses. It could be that they needed that instruction so we would have it today.

Here's my answer. Here's what I wrote down: best answer—because God said so. Those are the churches He chose. When our girls were young, Sarah is very much like Reagan; Haley is very much like Braden. I say this all the time about Haley: she could have raised herself. She really didn't need parents. I mean, she could have raised herself.

Sarah could have raised herself, but she might have turned out differently. Sarah and I are very much alike—she needed a lot of correction and a lot of direction. She asked a lot of questions. She was the one who said "Why? Why? What?" She was a big "why" kid. Just in car rides—the best thing about a car ride is, and to this day Tim will tell you, you put her in the car, she falls asleep—but she just starts: "Why is the sky blue? Why is grass green?"

One time she asked me, "Why do we sleep standing up or laying down? Why do we sleep lying down?" I said, "Because Mom told us to. I don't know." I thought there was an odd question, but what she had seen was she had seen a show where the astronauts slept standing up in the space shuttle.

As I dealt with her, most of the time I'd answer—she'd push: "Why? Why is that? Why are we going there? What are we going to do?" But every once in a while—and I hate this answer, by the way, and if you're a kid, this is the answer you hate more than any other answer—but every once in a while I would say to her, "We're going to do this." "Why?" "Because I said so. I'm your dad. We're going to do it because I said so. That's why."

Well, here you go. Here's what I hear often: God says, "Tom, we're going to do it this way because I said so." He picked these seven churches because He's God. Now, there might be some strategic reason to it, but even then, He placed them strategically where they are.

The Vision of Christ Among the Lampstands

Look at verse 12 and 13: "Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band."

We have these seven lampstands and we also have these seven stars. We don't have to wonder what they mean. Look at verse 20: "The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars..."

The angels of the seven churches. As you look at each one of these churches, they are introduced to this. Right to the angel. Look at chapter two, verse one. The angel of the church at Ephesus. Verse eight. The angel of the church at Smyrna. You'll see it in all of them. The angel means messenger. It's the one who's reading this letter. In our context, it might be a teaching pastor or senior pastor. It's the one who receives the letter.

The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the churches. As I said before, this seven is a number of completion or perfection. That's Jesus who's right in the middle of them. John has this vision of Jesus walking amidst these seven churches, communicating to these seven messengers.

John's Reaction to the Vision

He's got a unique reaction. Verse 17. "I saw Him. I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His hand on me and He said to me, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last." He touched them. Much like He touched the leper, the blind man. His touch was not a punitive one. It was a comforting one.

And He said, "Don't be afraid." Some of you came here today and you just need to hear that. Don't be afraid. He's the first and the last. I was going through something maybe 10 years ago and somebody just sent me in the mail. It was just a card and all it said is, "Tom, I have everything under control, Jesus." That's what He's saying here.

He saw, John saw Him, Jesus, and he fell at His feet as if he was dead and Jesus says, "Wait a minute. I'm going to comfort you. I have an assignment for you."

The Three-Part Commission

It's in verse 19. "Write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which take place after this." So write the things that you've seen. We saw some of what he saw earthly in 1 John. This is what I beheld. This is what I saw. And the things which are, I think that's chapter 2 and 3, that's to the seven churches and the things which will take place. That's the balance of the book.

The Pattern of the Letters to the Churches

Here you go. I want you to see a pattern. And you're going to see, we call it a general pattern because it's generally true. There's a couple of exceptions. But just look real quickly and we'll close at chapter 2. There's a pattern where he identifies the recipient, a strength of the church, a weakness of the church, and a promise. Not always, but he does here.

So the recipient, I got a letter the other day. It was addressed, "Reverend Tom Schrader or current senior pastor." So I thought, a little job security there. "To the angel of the church at Ephesus." So there's the recipient. And then He'll always, by the way, identify Himself.

Look at verse 2 and 3. Here are the strengths. "I know your deeds. I know your toil and persevere and that you can't tolerate evil men and that you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they're not. Found them to be false and you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake and you've not grown weary." There's the strength. Right there.

But, verse 4, "I have this against you." Here's the weakness. "You've lost your first love." And then, again, at various levels, He'll deal with each of these in each of the letters and one of them He actually identifies no weakness at all.

And then generally a promise, and you'll see it there in verse 7, "He who has ears to hear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God." So He gives them that. There's that pattern that we're going to see.

Overview of the Seven Churches

So we're going to study the seven churches. Each one of them you'll find a characteristic. I'll give you a list of them. He identifies the church at Ephesus as loveless. The church at Smyrna is suffering. Remember we said every church or even people represent this.

The church at Pergamos, when you go from Pergamos to Thyatira to Sardis, it starts a decline. Pergamos is a compromised church. Thyatira is a corrupt church. By the time they get to Sardis, it's a dead church. He gets to the church at Philadelphia, no weaknesses identified there. He says, you're faithful.

And then to the one that seems to get the strongest message of all, it's to the church at Laodicea. You know that one probably the best of the seven because He says, "I wish you were hot, I wish you were cold. You're not hot or cold so you make me vomit." And also classic verse, chapter 3, verse 20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." So we'll look at those seven churches over the next seven weeks.

A Personal Reflection

I started, and again, like I said, I apologize, but I started personal and I want to end on really a personal note. I relearned on my summer vacation what I'd been learning for like a long time. We're at Cannon Beach and we're there for Labor Day conference. It was the Labor Day conference we did six years ago.

And we were walking down the beach and it was the day after Labor Day and all of the tourists had gone and we're at the end of our walk. And whenever we go, I don't know if you do this, but wherever we go, we always say, "Could we live here? Do you think we could live here? You could live here. Would it be like this? What would that be like?" And we had processed all of that.

And we always, especially I do in August, I get really reflective. It's really a downtime for me and a time to think. And I said to Susan, I could take you right where we're standing, I said, "You know, six years ago, you know, we've been prudent and prepared and planned and, you know, if there's a disaster, there's a disaster. But the only thing that can really screw us up here beyond just some super disaster is if one of us gets sick."

And then it was two months later that the cancer diagnosis came. And I've learned a lot in this, but I learn a lot when I spend, in this entire time, so she's been through four or five surgeries, she's either been in radiation or chemotherapy for six years now, basically. And I've learned a lot. And by and large, and I don't want to make this

Personal Update

I want to share where I am personally right now. I'm trying to share my journey with you. With the exception of about two years ago to a year and a half ago where I got pretty down on myself - feeling sorry for myself, frankly - I've done pretty well with this thing. Susan's been awesome. She's a warrior.

But being with her every day, I see what I see, and that's just how weak and sick she is. The cancer, not so much. We don't know where that is, by the way. If you want to know, we don't know anything other than last time we scanned, we had a good scan. They've decided to scan every six months, partly because of the emotional trauma. Unless you've been through it, the trauma of a scan is brutal. They're going to scan probably next month.

She's so frail. She's so weak. She has good days. She was at church this morning. I couldn't find her. I texted her. She didn't text me back. I called her. She didn't call me back. Like when you're a teenager - you're 16 years old and just went out with a car for the first time. Oh my gosh. Anyway, I found her over in the commons with some friends laughing.

I really resolved that she's going to be the dominant focus in my life. I don't know exactly what that means. I think teaching here is primary for me, but almost everything else is secondary or tertiary or way down the path.

Why I'm Sharing This

I tell you that, number one, because you're always asking. I got here this morning and had 10 people before I even got started - and I don't mean that in a negative way at all. You just want to know, and I appreciate that. You ask how Susan is doing. That's how Susan's doing.

Number two, so that you'll know if you don't see me at things, it's not because I don't care about you or because I'm not involved in ministry and don't care about it. I just have a finite amount of energy. You need to know I don't do anything around the house - zero.

Learning New Things

I went to the store the other day. Here's what I learned: you need to take a list. I didn't have a list, and I came home. Susan's just on the couch, asleep. She said, "How was the store?" I said, "Well, I went to Market Side" - which by the way is a great store. She said, "Okay, what did you get?" She didn't even open her eyes. She's just kind of laying there. I said, "Well, I got some chicken, and I got some bagels, and I got ice cream." She said, "You need a list." I said, "I know."

I'd never done any laundry until she got sick. Yesterday I was doing laundry and putting her clothes away. It really occurred to me that in 32 years, I've never thanked her for washing my shorts, for doing my socks.

I don't know what any of all this means, but I want you to know that because you ask all the time and you need to know. Like I said, I want to stay engaged at a certain level, but she's the top of the food chain for me right now. I don't know what that means - I keep saying all that stuff. But I'm not going to hit every ministry event. I'm not going to hit even some of the big things. You could be praying about that as well, because it's a big thing for us.

Unexpected Joy

I probably had more satisfaction taking care of her than anything I've ever done. The other thing I learned - I mean, I knew I was selfish - but when Tyler said the boys are going to play t-ball, I said, "That's great." He said, "The games are Saturday morning." Well, college football is huge - I mean, there's nothing bigger than college football. I immediately thought, "What about me?" Then I really realized I really want to go.

I will tell you, I really mean this - Iowa football's huge, but I wouldn't have traded 14 Rose Bowl games for that t-ball game yesterday. Watching Yale run in a circle. Braden got to first base, and Sarah got this beautiful picture. It's Brian Berger kneeling down by Braden, and Braden had gotten to first base. It's him looking around. Susan and I are there, and he said, "Hey, Nana, did you see that?" It was like this incredible moment.

Not to be maudlin or sullen, but that's just kind of where I am. That's what I'm thinking.

Closing and Communion

I don't know that that's the greatest transition, but I'll tell you what's really cool - we don't coordinate worship, but these songs today really feed into that. And communion too.

We're going to get crunched. I'm long about seven minutes, so you're going to get crunched on time. The servers are going to present elements to you. If you know Christ, we invite you to join us in this time of communion. The guys and Jen are going to lead us in worship. It may be hurried, so I apologize. It's my fault if the worship starts too quick. That's my fault.

Let me pray as the band comes. Father, thank You for this moment, day, place, time that we can be here. Thank You for all that You give us and the strength and the grace and the mercy that You brought us to this place. I pray that as we take this time of communion, we would remember Your son Jesus. We pray to You and worship You in His name. Amen.