Red Letter Days
Letters from Jesus to His Church
Named & Shamed
September 8, 2021 • Richard Jones, Mike Shuter
We review episodes 1 & 2 of Things That Make You Go Mmmm where we looked at Rewards & Riches and Insightful Imagery, and then look at a group and an individual who are Named & Shamed by Jesus Himself! As we look at these themes in the letters to the churches we can learn about what God wants for us and how we can live fully for Him.
To The One Who Conquers
August 22, 2021 • Mike Shuter
We've seen in the letters to the churches the opportunity for great eternal rewards for those who conquer and are faithful to the end. The question is how do we conquer? As we explore this we'll see the scriptures have great insights for us in what it means to conquer and be victorious in Christ
Laodicea - 'Lukewarm & Laidback'
August 25, 2021 • Christopher Alton • Revelation
Laodicea lay about forty miles east of Ephesus, near the banks of the river Lycus. There were at least six cities called Laodicea at the time, so it was often referred to as ‘Laodicea on the Lycus’. It was founded by Antiochus of Syria, around two hundred and fifty BC, and named after his wife Laodice. It became a rich and prosperous city, a centre of banking and finance, and famous for the soft black glossy wool from its sheep. It was so wealthy that when it was struck by an earthquake in AD 60, unlike many other cities, it needed no financial help from Rome to rebuild. The church in Laodicea must have been founded early on, probably while Paul was living at Ephesus, and most likely through the ministry of Epaphras, according to Paul’s letter to the nearby Colossians. Paul mentions Laodicea five times in this letter, including another letter he also wrote to its church, which has been lost to history. Sadly, it’s the only one of the seven churches about whom Jesus doesn’t have a good word to say. He tells them that they’ve become complacent in their comfortable lifestyle. Paul’s letter to the Colossians speaks of the struggle he had for the Laodiceans. He wanted them to ‘reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ’. Laodicea was a rich and prosperous city, and in such a place, it could be easy for the church to ignore its true spiritual riches. Perhaps even thirty years earlier, Paul had begun to see the rot set in at Laodicea? Jesus speaks about two further aspects of the church, which are reflected in the city of Laodicea. Firstly, the warm spring water. Laodicea had been cited on a strategic trade route, but not close to a water source. Its water arrived through several miles of an underground aqueduct, which meant it was lukewarm when it arrived. This contrasted with the hot springs at nearby Hierapolis, and the cold refreshing water at Colossae. For Jesus, the church was like the city’s water supply, lukewarm and sickly to the taste, and so neither use nor ornament! Secondly, Jesus refers to the ointment for which Laodicea had become famous. The city was a leading medical center for eye treatment in the ancient world. One of its most graduates produced a reference work which was still be used up to the Middle Ages. Laodicea’s ‘Phrygian Powder’ was exported throughout the world, to treat eye diseases. And with no small trace of irony, Jesus calls out the church for its spiritual blindness, offering them as a cure, His own salve to anoint their eyes.
Philadelphia - 'Gateway of Love'
August 25, 2021 • Christopher Alton • Revelation
Philadelphia is the only one of the seven cities of Revelation that was not a major city in the province of Asia at the time. However, it was on the southern highway connecting Pergamum to south Asia Minor, making it strategically important. It was called the ‘gateway to the east’, which gave it some commercial importance. Philadelphia was the youngest of the seven cities in Revelation, founded in the Second Century BC. The city took its name from the tale of two brothers, Eumenes the Greek king of Pergamum and his brother Attalus. On two occasions Attalus demonstrated complete loyalty to his brother. Once a false rumour of Eumenes’ assassination led Attalus to accept the crown, only to relinquish it when his brother returned. On another occasion the Romans encouraged Attalus to overthrow his brother and become king, which he refused to do. Attalus was nicknamed Philadelphos, meaning ‘one who loves his brother’. Philadelphia was a missionary city, founded to promote a unity of spirit in the region, by spreading Hellenistic customs, and loyalty to Greek ideas within an Asian culture. It was probably this missionary status that Jesus was alluding to, when He talked about the open door set before the church in Philadelphia. The church was well placed to use the city’s strategic location and missionary status to spread the good news about Jesus. And He was going to help them do this, despite the opposition they faced in the city. In fact, when Islam later spread in the region, Philadelphia stood as a free Greek Christian city for hundreds of years. The city was also famous for its agricultural produce, and especially for its grapes, due to its fertile soil. The city was said to produce the best wine in the whole region. But this came at a price. Philadelphia’s nutrient rich soil came from extinct volcano ash. It was on the edge of a great volcanic plan, called KATE – KE – KAUME, which means the ‘Burned Land’. The region was subject to frequent earthquakes, and Philadelphia was the closest city to the fault line. During the great earthquake of AD17, which levelled twelve cities in Asia overnight, Philadelphia was hit the hardest. So much so, that Emperor Tiberius gave them a five-year tax break! The aftershocks were said to last for months, leaving residents afraid to return to their homes in the city, for years afterwards. The fear of a city that could fall again lived long in the memory. So, Christ’s promise to make them pillars in the immovable temple of God, must have been a treasured promise to the Philadelphian Christians.
Sardis - 'Faded Glory'
August 25, 2021 • Christopher Alton • Revelation
Sardis was a city of former glory. About seven hundred years previously, it had been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, and one of the greatest cities in the ancient world. Since then, it had fallen to the Persian King, Cyrus, who liberated the Jews from Babylon. Sardis fell to the Greeks under Alexander and was eventually passed to the rule Rome. Its main claim to fame was the rich gold and silver deposits in the area. It was the first place in the world where silver and gold coins were printed. During the days of the Lydian kingdom, they discovered a way to separate gold and silver from one another. This ushered in an economic revolution, because previously it was difficult to trade with an allow of gold and silver, not knowing how much of each there was in any coin. Once Lydia could make coins of pure gold and pure silver, it made them reliable as a source of currency throughout the ancient world. It made Sardis and the kingdom of Lydia rich. By the time of Jesus’ letter to the church in Sardis, the city’s wealth and glory was long faded. It was a place degeneration. It was a place which traded on its past reputation, but the present reality was a disappointment to the visitor. Since its glory days it had been conquered, first by the Persians and then by the Greeks. They were caught unaware on both occasions, thinking they were impregnable in their mountainside citadel. The church seemed to mirror the city in this respect, with a lack of spiritual vigilance, hence Jesus’ command to ‘wake up!’ It appeared relaxed about heresy and so it was free from outside opposition in the city. The church seemed to fit so well into the pagan environment around it, that although it looked like it was full of life from the outside, in reality it was spiritually dead. Jesus’ letter came at the eleventh hour, urging them before it was too late. And perhaps the warning was heeded, because by the second century the city was home to the most prominent bishop in Asia, Melito of Sardis.
Thyatira - 'Traders of influence'
August 25, 2021 • Christopher Alton • Revelation
The longest letter in Revelation is, ironically, written to the smallest and least known city. It lay on the road between Pergamum and Sardis, founded by the Greeks in Three Hundred BC. It was in a flat open valley and, being a gateway to Pergamum, often housed troops to defend that city. Its main claim to fame, was the significant number of trade guilds based there, including wool and linen dyeing, garment-making, tanners, potters, bakers, slave dealers and brass workers. A trade guild is an association of traders, membership of which was essential for those wanting to pursue a trade. The problem for the believers in Thyatira, was that their meetings often involved acts of pagan worship and sexual immorality. As we know from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, avoiding involvement with these things was hard to do in wider society, without offending unbelievers. Jesus addressed an influence within the church, which He described as “seducing My servants” into these practices, promising to cut them off. He encouraged the saints in Thyatira to hold fast to what He had given them. In Acts 16, we’re introduced to a woman named Lydia, whom Paul encountered in Philippi. Luke describes her as a ‘worshipper of God’, and she was one of the first to receive the gospel message in Philippi. It was in Lydia’s home where the church began. Luke tells us that she was from the city of Thyatira, and describes her as “a seller of purple goods”. Thyatira was also a significant centre for the wool trade in the ancient world, and Lydia was probably a seller of purple dyed fabrics. One the city’s specialties was the dying of cloth with a reddish purple dye, obtained from the madder root, later known as ‘Turkey red’. An inscription found at Philippi, honoured a purple dye dealer from Thyatira, who was a patron of a citizen in Philippi – who knows, maybe this was Lydia?
Pergamum - 'Politics & Parchment'
August 25, 2021 • Christopher Alton • Revelation
Being found fifteen miles inland, and not on one of the great trade routes, like Ephesus or Smyrna, Pergamum was nonetheless an important city, exceeding them as a city of culture. In fact, it was the capital city of Asia for hundreds of years before losing its crown to Ephesus. It had a unique status as a political city, from which rulings were made which affected the whole of Asia. So, it became one of the most influential cities in the Roman Empire. Pergamum was built on a steep hill, making it an ideal fortress site, but also lending itself to construction of a ten-thousand-seater outdoor theatre. It was said that the acoustics were so good, that a whisper on stage could be heard all the way up in the top row. It also had a library which was second only to the great library of Alexandria in the ancient world. Its collection of two hundred thousand books, was so great that the Roman general Marc Antony presented it as a wedding gift to his bride Cleopatra. Pergamum was also a well-known centre for healing and medicine, with the world’s first psychiatric hospital being established there. Even some of the Roman Emperors came for medical treatment from time to time. During a time of shortage of papyrus from Egypt in the second century BC, parchment is thought to have been invented in Pergamum, deriving its name from the city. Although animal skins had been used before, they came up with a way of preparing them, so both sides could be used, which eventually led to the replacement of rolled manuscripts, with bound books. In His letter to the church, Jesus describes Pergamum as “the place where Satan's throne is”. It’s a curious phrase, and over the years lots of people have wondered what it means. There was a famous altar there, and it has quite a story. It was known as the altar of Zeus, and this was where Antipas, the bishop of Pergamum, was sacrificed for refusing to worship the emperor. John had appointed Antipas, and Jesus described him as “My faithful witness”. This altar is still intact today. It was excavated in the late nineteenth century, and moved to the Pergamum Museum in Berlin in 1910. It was from this altar that Hitler’s chief of propaganda, Albert Speer, drew inspiration in designing the architectural monuments to the third Reich in Nazi Germany.
Smyrna - 'Crown of Asia'
August 25, 2021 • Christopher Alton • Revelation
Smyrna was forty miles north of Ephesus and disputed with it for the title of first city of Asia. Like Ephesus it was on the eastern shore of the Aegean Sea, but with the advantage of a narrow harbour, which could be closed for protection in time of war. It had a stadium, a library, and boasted the largest theatre in all of Asia. The city was surrounded by rich farmland, which provided a source of good wine. Smyrna was a great trading city, which was described as the ‘Crown of Asia’ for its beauty, and regarded as the loveliest of Asia’s cities. One of its streets was known as the Street of Gold, housing many of its temples, which ran like a necklace around the foothills of Mount Pagos. It was home to trade guilds of basket-fishermen, tanners, silversmiths, and goldsmiths. And membership of these guilds often included sacrificing to a pagan deity. The city was very loyal to Rome, having sided with the Roman Empire over the Carthaginians, a couple of hundred years previously, and before Rome was the dominant power in the region. And so it became one of the first cities to worship the Roman Emperor as a god, having competed for the privilege of erecting a temple, to worship the Emperor Tiberius in AD twenty six. We don’t know exactly when the church was founded, although it’s likely this would’ve happened during the time Paul lived in Ephesus. Luke tells us in the book of Acts, that all of Asia heard the word of the Lord through Paul. Smyrna had a large Jewish population, known for its hostility to Christians, which made it difficult for those in the early church to live in the city. The Jews were exempted from Emperor worship, so they could stir up as much trouble as they liked on this issue, for the church. About sixty years after John received the Revelation, his pupil Polycarp, who became the bishop of Smyrna, was martyred for his faith. He was burned at the stake, for refusing to acknowledge Caesar as Lord, instead of Jesus.
Ephesus - 'Idol Marketplace'
August 25, 2021 • Christopher Alton • Revelation
During the first century, Ephesus was the most prominent city in the Roman province of Asia. This was the western part of the peninsula, of what was later called Asia Minor. This geographical area is now part of modern-day Turkey. Ephesus was on the mouth of the Cayster River as it flowed into the Aegean Sea. So, it became an important export centre for Asia because it was a gateway between Eastern and Western trade routes. When you arrived at the port, there was an impressive avenue, which was thirty-five feet wide, and lined with columns, which would take you into the city. Ephesus became part of the Roman Empire in One hundred and thirty-three BC, and by the time of the early church, it had grown to a city of a quarter of a million people. This put it on a par with other major cities across the empire, like Alexandria, Carthage, and Antioch. We think that Rome may have had about one million people at its peak. Ephesus had the added advantage of being the meeting point of three important trading routes. It was granted self-governing status by the Romans, so it had its own law courts, as well as a busy marketplace, theatre, and impressive stadium, which seated around as many as twenty-five thousand people. Although a place where the Roman Emperors were worshiped, the main attraction was the worship of the ancient goddess Artemis (also known as Diana). Her temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was rebuilt at least once, after a fire, and covered an area about as wide, but slightly longer, than Wembley football pitch. According to the Roman writer Pliny the elder, it had a hundred and twenty-seven pillars of Persian marble, thirty-six of them overlaid with gold and jewels. So, it was a truly magnificent building. The tourist trade this attracted, became a lifeline to the city, when extensive deforestation upstream caused the harbour to silt-up, hampering its trade. Thankfully the city could fall back on the huge marketplace, which had emerged for idols to the fertility goddess. So, when the apostle Paul preached his gospel in Ephesus, causing many to destroy their idols, this threw the livelihood of the city’s craftsmen into peril, causing the riot we that read about in the book of Acts. The gospel of Jesus Christ probably came to Ephesus through Aquila and Priscilla in about AD52, after Paul left them there on his way to Corinth. Paul returned on his next journey and stayed in Ephesus for more than two years. Luke tells us in the book of Acts that ‘all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks’. Later he sent Timothy to minister in Ephesus, and eventually the apostle John took up residency there for many years, until his exile to the island of Patmos, where he received the Revelation.
Red Letter Days - He Knows Us
July 18, 2021 • Christopher Alton • Revelation 2, Revelation 3
The continual refrain of Christ in His letters to the churches, is “I know”. He knew each church and its members intimately. Not as one who had simply left them behind as He returned to the Father. The letters of Revelation are personal and passionate correspondence from Jesus to those whom He loved dearly. As we consider what He knows of each church, much of what Jesus says will resonate with each of us in different ways. This is because He knows us intimately as well – our passions, desires, plans, struggles and weaknesses. He came not only to understand us, but to fill us with His very own fulness and empower us. He knows the beautiful design God has for each of us, and has sent His Spirit to repair and restore, shape and to set us back on track.
Rewards & Riches
June 30, 2021 • Richard Jones, William Lyon
Have you thought much about what life will be like after Jesus returns?! In His letters to the churches, Jesus gives us some mysterious insights into the rewards and riches we can receive in the Age to Come. We take a look at what these things might be in glory! This is part 1 of our Mid-week Message series, "Things That Make You Go Mmmm", with William Lyon and Richard Jones.
Red Letter Days – What's Your Letter?
June 13, 2021 • Mike Shuter
When Jesus sends his letters to the churches in revelation he is challenging them, encouraging them but in it all wants them to be all that he has created them to be. To represent him well and for them to experience the life he has for them. The question is at the moment what letter is Jesus writing to us? What is God saying to you in this next season to encourage and challenge you but ultimately to lead you to Him and the life He has for you.
Red Letter Days - Measuring the Church
May 30, 2021 • David Lyon
Jesus's letters to the seven churches (Revelation 2-3) demonstrate just how much He loves His Church, and how deeply concerned He is to ensure that each one represents Him faithfully. And in the very first letter - to Ephesus - we discover how Jesus evaluates or 'measures' things! To our great shock we find that this famous church had "abandoned its first love", with terrible consequences. What is the Spirit saying to us, in our own time and context, two thousand years later?...