Bible Study - Revelation Session 6

Revelation, Session Six and Seven Christ the Savior, Anderson SC Chapters Two and Three – the letters to the seven churches

Sources:

• The translation of the Apocalypse is from the Orthodox Study Bible.

• Lawrence R. Farley, The Apocalypse of St. John: A Revelation of Love and Power, The Orthodox Bible Study Companion (Chesterton, IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2011),

• Bishop Averky, The Epistles and the Apocalypse (Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, Volume III. (Holy Trinity Seminary Press, 2018).

• Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse, ed. David G. Hunter, trans. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, vol. 123, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011).

• Jack Norman Sparks, The Orthodox Study Bible: Notes (Thomas Nelson, 2008), 1712.

• Venerable Bede, The Explanation of the Apocalypse, trans. Edward Marshall (Oxford: James Parker and Co., 1878).

• William C. Weinrich, ed., Revelation, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005).

Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse, ed. David G. Hunter, trans. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, vol. 123, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011), 63–80.

The Things that had been Written to the Angel of the Church of the Ephesians

2:1. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: “Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

He discourses with the church through the angel just as if he were an educator to the one being instructed….

2:2–5a. 2 I know your works and your toil and your patience, and that you cannot bear evil men, and you have tested those calling themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them false. 3 And you have endurance and patience on account of my name and did not grow weary. 4 But I hold it against you that you have left your first love. 5a Remember, therefore, [25] from where you fell, and repent and do the works first.

Accepting the church in two ways, he reprimands it in one way. He has put the one in the middle and the achievements on either side... 

2:5b–6. 5b If not, I will come to you soon and I will move your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent. 6 But this you have: that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

The movement of the church to deprive them of divine grace…

2:7. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

…  He promised to grant to such a victor in the war against the demons to eat of the Tree of Life, that is, to partake of the blessings of the future age, for, periphrastically, eternal life is meant by the Tree. …

The Things Declared to the Angel of the Church of the Smyrnaeans

2:8. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: “Thus says the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life.

The first as god, and the Last as having become man in the latter times, and having opened eternal life to us through his three-day death.

2:9a. I know your works and the tribulation and the poverty, but you are rich.

“Affliction and poverty in the bodily things, which you suffer patiently for my sake, being afflicted by the unbelievers and deprived of your possessions, but in spiritual things you are rich, having ‘the treasure hidden in the field’ of your heart.” [28]

2:9b. And the blasphemy of those who say they themselves are Jews and are not, but a synagogue of Satan.

…  “Judah” means “confession.”  [(Sept.) and they do not confess Christ]

2:10. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to put some of you in prison that you might be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

He says, “Do not fear the tribulation from the enemies of God through afflictions and trials, for ten days and not long-lived.” For this reason, death must be despised, since in a little while it grants “the unfading crown of life.”

2:11. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches: The one who is victorious will not be harmed by the second death.”

… He will not be harmed by the second death of Gehenna. [29]

The Things Declared to the Angel of the Church in Pergamum

2:12–13a. 12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: “Thus says the one who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13a I know your works and where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is.

This city was full of idols… 

2:13b. And you keep my name. You did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, that all-faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

…

2:14–15. 14 But I have a few things against you: that you have there keeping the teaching of Balaam, who in Balaam taught [30] Balak to put a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat meat sacrificed to idols, and to practice fornication. 15 Thus you also have those who keep the teaching of the Nicolaitans, which I likewise hate.

So it seems this city had possessed two difficulties: First, the majority was Greek, and second, among those who were called believers, the shameful Nicolaitans had sown evil “tares among the wheat.”8 …

2:16. Repent. If not, I will come to you soon, and I will war against them by the sword of my mouth.

Love for humankind is also in the threat. For he does not say, “against you,” but I will war against them, those who are incurably “diseased.”

2:17. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches: To the one who is victorious I will give to him to eat from the hidden manna, [31] and I will give to him a small white stone, and a new name written upon the stone, which no one knows except the one receiving it.”

The “Bread of Life” is the hidden manna, the One who descended from heaven for us and has become edible. …