Thank you for returning today. I want to begin with a brief announcement: it will take two weeks to cover everything found in Revelation chapters 1 through 4—so, we’ll be extending the year.
Just kidding.
We will finish on time, but I will narrow the focus each day. There is a great benefit in reading through the Bible every year. Each time, we notice things we missed before, and Scripture continues to speak into our lives.
Today, I want to concentrate not on what Revelation states, but on what it omits—and why that makes a difference.
The Cost of Faithfulness
Revelation opens by telling us John wrote it while he was on the island of Patmos (Rev. 1:1, 9). Most scholars agree this is the apostle John—the one “whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23), the author of the fourth Gospel, and a recognized leader in the church at Ephesus.
They sent John into exile on Patmos due to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 1:9). He was imprisoned for preaching Christ as King.
This places his writing of Revelation around AD 95, during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian. (1)
Why Domitian Is Not Named?
Domitian is never mentioned in Revelation—but he didn’t need to be.
The believers in the seven churches of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey; Rev. 1:11) knew who he was. Unlike Nero, who ruled earlier and infamously used Christians as human torches to light Rome, Domitian was far more calculated.
He was stable and organized. But he demanded to be worshiped as a god. (2)
People viewed public allegiance to Jesus Christ as treason. People incorporated emperor worship into their everyday lives, such as trade guilds, festivals, and civic events. Refusal meant exclusion, economic hardship, and punishment.
Domitian’s strategy wasn’t open chaos; it was pressure to compromise.
The Slow Erosion of Faith
Under this pressure, many churches drifted. Not by abandoning Christ outright, but by tolerating sin and blending in with the surrounding culture.
People labeled them divisive and dangerous if they stood on God’s Word. If they softened their convictions, others left them alone.
Over time, the world crept into the church—until the difference between the two became difficult to see.
That is why Revelation addresses churches, not governments.
A Timeless Warning for the Church Today
We see the same pattern in our own time.
Scripture is clear about what makes up sin, yet the culture embraces those things as enlightened and progressive. Some churches, to remain relevant or attractive, stop resisting what God calls wrong.
We are often told today to emphasize only the “love” of Christ. But love that leaves a person on a path toward judgment is not love at all (Heb. 12:6; Prov. 27:5).
The church is called to speak truth with love (Eph. 4:15)—not to replace truth with tolerance.
Seven Churches, One Call to Repentance
In Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus addresses seven churches. Jesus commends two churches without rebuke. The others received a warning from Jesus.
Some tolerated sin (Rev. 2:14–15, 20).
Some trusted activity instead of spiritual discernment (Rev. 3:1–2).
Some replaced devotion with comfort and prosperity (Rev. 3:15–17).
In every case, the command is the same: repent (Rev. 2:5, 16, 21–22; 3:3, 19).
You don’t repent of doing right—you repent of sin.
Outward success, cultural approval, and numerical growth may impress people. They do not impress God.
Lampstands, Churches, and Responsibility
Most of what we read here addresses the church level. Jesus warns, He can remove a lampstand—the church’s witness (Rev. 2:5).
An individual believer does not lose salvation. Scripture is clear that no one can snatch us from Christ’s hand (John 10:28–29). But a church can become spiritually useless.
That is why Jesus stands at the door and knocks—not at the heart of an unbeliever, but at the door of the church (Rev. 3:20).
Begin Where God Has Placed You
If your church is not welcoming the fullness of God—His truth, His holiness, His standards—then you have a responsibility.
I do not believe in church-hopping. If God has placed you in a congregation that has drifted, you are not called to abandon it lightly. You are called to love it enough to help guide it back to faithfulness.
Our calling as Christians is simple but costly: to love God and make Him known (Matt. 22:37–39; Matt. 28:19–20).
When we compromise that mission, we may remain busy—but we cease to be useful.
Tomorrow, we will read Revelation 5-8.
Footnotes
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.30.3, noting that the Apocalypse was seen “toward the end of Domitian’s reign.”
- Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars: Domitian 13; Dio Cassius, Roman History 67.4, describing Domitian’s insistence on divine titles and honors.