In Revelation 2:18-29, John begins his fourth edict by commending the church of Thyatira for their blue-collar faith.

John describes a vision of four angels holding back the winds of the earth to prevent them from causing harm as they await the sealing of God's servants.

“In a world that values grand gestures and visible power, God’s kingdom operates through the seemingly insignificant acts of love, kindness, and justice…”

The narrative of the horsemen challenges believers to examine the ways they might be complicit in these systems. Are we, like the early Christians, subtly seduced by the allure of power, wealth, and security offered by 'Babylon'?

The White Horse stands in steep contrast to the slain lamb of the throne room, both in his posture and his method of wielding power.

While the Pergamum Christians were commended for holding fast to their faith during the “days of Antipas”, not all was going well in their church. Jesus had a bone to pick with this small community.

 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.

The concept of the Rapture finds no mention in the writings of the Church Fathers, nor does it align with the theological frameworks of the Byzantine Church or the Medieval Church. In fact, many American Evangelicals are surprised to learn that this idea is less than two centuries old

“Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”

The Resurrection of Jesus reveals that God’s power enters into the world only through cross-shaped acts and not through acts of earthly power.

In Revelation 2:12-17, John takes his Jesus Edict to Pergamum, the two-tiered neokoros-honored city once designated the capital of Asia Minor.

The kings of this earth are pretending. In Johns eyes, they are merely a parody of the reality found in Christ. The kings of the earth are no higher than you or I; their crowns might as well be made of paper, their thrones of cardboard.

“John understood that a person cannot share in the profits of domination without also sharing in its crimes.”

In Revelation 18, Babylon falls after it reaps the harvest it has sewed. She has received “double for what she has done” and has received “as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself” (v6-7).

Revelation 2:8-11 / The Church of Smyrna

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life:”

The church's role is not to argue, fight, or upend or overthrow. It is not to take power and try to steer the ship. The role of the church is simply to be the church.[2] The church's role is to embody the lamb, display the cross through our everyday lives, and gather all people at the table of communion with Jesus.

Johns readers are in that wilderness, and they are facing the same ancient temptation once again: do they worship the emperor and drink from the cup of the empire, or do they choose to take up their cross of suffering and remain allegiant to Christ?

Johns readers are in that wilderness, and they are facing the same ancient temptation once again: do they worship the emperor and drink from the cup of the empire, or do they choose to take up their cross of suffering and remain allegiant to Christ?

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

Throughout church history, God’s people have welcomed the 40 days before Easter as a time to pull away from the appetites of the world. Learn more about how to make space in your life for the Spirit during the season of Lent.