This episode we look at the letter to the angel in the church of Smyrna.

Smyrna was north of Ephesus,

and still exists in the modern city of Izmir. 

And contrary to what is described in this letter to the church,

Smyrna was a prosperous city at the time of the John's vision,

and it was one of the main rivals for "First city of Asia" with Ephesus.

This letter highlights a very important thing

when we talk about the Kingdom of God.

Often a Kingdom perspective

is very different than an earthly one.

Ephesus was the pre-eminant church at the time of John's vision.

The church was founded by and home to St. Paul for five years.

It was the second largest city in the empire after Rome.

It was the home of John.

And by the time of this book,

The church in Ephesus was changing.

Before we can jump into the letters to the seven churches,

we need to talk about about the symbolic meaning behind the word Church.

As we will see again and again in Revelation,

this is all about Jesus.

And John makes it clear that the revelation of Jesus is related to a mystery.

John is going to use the word mystery a lot.

And as we have seen already, the first place he uses it is in reference

to the seven stars, the seven lampstands, and the seven churches.

There is something hidden here,

that John wants to reveal.

And again, going back to the title of the book, what he wants to reveal is Jesus Christ.

The word "church" does not appear anywhere in the new testament.

The word used in the new testament is the word "ekklesia."

Ekklesia is a word that references a specific place and time.

We continue our study with the end of the first chapter,

and the end of the opening vision.

17* When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Now write what you see, what is and what is to take place hereafter. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

John tells us that he"fell down as though dead."

I am going to restate one of our core ideas throughout this study:

We are taking this book at face value,

observing first,

and accepting that John is experiencing an encounter with Jesus Christ

and describing to us what happened.

We begin unpacking the first vision, and the first encounter with the symbolic language in revelation: seven, stars, fire, gold, and light.  We will begin to recognize a Jesus very different from the one we have seen before.

Christ John Otto directs Belonging House, an international community of artists and creative people.

You can find out more at https://belonging.house

Get our Friday email, https://christjohnotto.substack.com

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These studies are made possible by our patrons.  You can become a patron too: https://patreon.com/belonginghousemedia

We look at the beginning of the book, and the distinctives of Apocalyptic literature.

Christ John Otto directs Belonging House, an international community of artists and creative people.

You can find out more at https://belonging.house

Get our Friday email, https://christjohnotto.substack.com

If you enjoy these teachings, share them with your friends or buy a coffee to show your support. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

These studies are made possible by our patrons.  You can become a patron too: https://patreon.com/belonginghousemedia

In this episode we look at recommended Bible versions for artists, and the various grids used to understand the Bible.  We will look at the distinctives of the evangelical grid, and why it really is good to be aware of this perspective as an artist or creative person.

Christ John Otto directs Belonging House, an international community of artists and creative people.

You can find out more at https://belonging.house

Get our Friday email, https://christjohnotto.substack.com

If you enjoy these teachings, share them with your friends or buy a coffee to show your support. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

These studies are made possible by our patrons.  You can become a patron too: https://patreon.com/belonginghousemedia

This week Christ (rhymes with "wrist") John Otto goes into the historical background of the Book of Revelation.

Christ John Otto directs Belonging House, an international community of artists and creative people.

You can find out more at https://belonging.house

Get our Friday email, https://christjohnotto.substack.com

If you enjoy these teachings, share them with your friends or buy a coffee to show your support. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

These studies are made possible by our patrons.  You can become a patron too: https://patreon.com/belonginghousemedia