Cyclical Not Linear

Revelation 2:1-7

¹“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

²“ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

³I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.

⁴But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

⁵Remember 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.

⁶Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

⁷He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

As we launch seriously into our study of Revelation, some organizational information might be helpful. It’s tempting to just dive in head first, but that may lead to confusion later on in the study. So, I want to lay out a very simple outline so that we are all on the same page as we trudge along here.

Revelation 1 – The Prologue. We already addressed this material last week. This is chapter introduces the true Author, God the Father, and the subject matter which is Jesus Christ.

Revelation 2-3 – The Seven Churches. These seven letters are address to specific cities in the Roman Empire at the time of the writing of this book, but in reality are written to us all.

Revelation 4-5 – The Enthronement of the Victorious Christ. These chapters deal specifically with what happened in the heavens when Christ ascended to take His throne after His death and resurrection.

[The Revelation is written in a cyclical fashion. It does NOT start a point ‘A’ and continue on to point ‘Z’. Looking at the Revelation in a linear fashion leads to interpretive problems and does not give us a clear picture of what John is trying to say. There are three distinctly different visions given to John of the end times. All three visions tell the same story, from a different perspective or that give different details. But it is the same story told three times. With this understanding, Revelation takes on a more accurate look.]

Revelation 6:1-8:5 – The FIRST vision of the end times. The Vision of the Seven Seals

Revelation 8:6-11:19 – The SECOND vision of the end times. The Vision of the Seven Trumpets

Revelation 12-14 – The Interregnum. This is Satan’s entire story. More information will come with the study of these chapters

Revelation 16:1-21 – The THIRD vision of the end times. The Vision of the Seven Censers (Bowls)

Revelation 17-18 – God deals with Satan

Revelation 19-22 – Final Judgment and Heaven

I have included an incredibly rudimentary diagram of the contents of Revelation. I do this to make the point again that Revelation is not seen as one long story. It is the same story told three times. Stack the vision one on top of the other rather than seeing them sequentially. This will give you a great understanding of the text.

Please don’t be overwhelmed by the details at this point. Many are deterred from a study of Revelation just because of the sheer quantity of details. What I can guarantee you is that you will NOT get answers to all of your Revelation questions from this blog. Instead I pray that your understanding grows and the mystery of it all subsides (a little). And mostly I pray that you give glory to Jesus Christ for the beauty of His plan.

Now, on to the subject at hand – the seven letters to the seven cities. The Seven Cities were actual cities in what is today Turkey. There were churches in each of these cities and they become the representation of the whole church. These letters are to US. We are the church and so we read them today with all seriousness and sincerity as we need this information just like the people living in them did.

I will leave you for today with Dr. Brighton’s overview of these letters. Tomorrow we will deal specifically with the first city, Ephesus, and what Jesus has to say to that city.

“Each of the seven letters has a similar literary pattern.

1. The addressee or recipient is mentioned, “to the angel of the church in [city],”
2. Followed by a descriptive phrase that identifies Christ as the author and sender.
3. Each letter then continues with an acknowledgment of the particular historical circumstances of the church addressed and of the work that the church is doing for Christ.
4. The sender then also mentions and describes a danger or dangers that the particular church faces because of the sin of its members and some flaw or weakness in their Christian faith and character.
5. The author of the letter then urges the recipient to repent lest the sender take away the recipient’s place with him.
6. This is followed by a promised blessing to the one who repents, trusts, and conquers.
7. Each letter concludes with an urgent appeal to whomever has an ear to listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. That plural (“churches”) implies that these are ‘open letters’ since their author intends all hearers (or readers) to listen to all seven of the letters.” 

Brighton, L. A. ©1999. Revelation (p. 57). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House.

As you read through the verses for today, look for the seven points above. That will cause you to read the passage several times and for me – goal accomplished! Blessings on your study of Revelation!