I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 1-3.

In the introduction to his letter to the seven Churches of Asia (Asia Minor), John gives us a description of God and Jesus which shows us that they are One.  Yet, despite being One, they are different.  God is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.  Jesus is the First and the Last, the Living One who died but is alive for eternity.  Both of them are the One who <strong>IS</strong>, who <strong>ALWAYS WAS</strong>, and who <strong>IS STILL TO COME</strong>.  I can think of no way to easily express better that for God time is no constraint.  He is present both at the beginning and at the end (not “was present” and “will be present”), and at every point in between.  Yet, He understands the passage of time.

Often times I have seen people talk or write that each of the seven Churches represent archetypes of Church, “which one is YOUR congregation?”  However, I realized today that there is only three types listed here.  There are variations between those that fall into each of these categories, but only three categories.  There are three Churches which have lost their enthusiasm: Ephesus, Sardis, and Laodicea.  There are two Churches which tolerate false teachers: Pergamum and Thyatira.  And there are two Churches which are faithful in the face of opposition:  Smyrna and Philadelphia.

I think it is worth looking at the Churches which have lost their enthusiasm in more detail.  Laodicea is neither an enthusiastic, energetic group who strive to get everyone excited, nor a solid, pragmatic group which sees it through to the end.  Sardis is living in the past.  They have a reputation for doing good things, but they are not doing them anymore.  They are just going through the motions.  Finally, Ephesus is still doing good things, but has lost the love which motivated them in the first place.  They no longer act out of love, just routine.