Christ wants His people to deeply consider the meaning of His messages to the Churches of Revelation. These messages have lessons for us today.

All 54 brethren on the recent Seven Churches tour would agree that this extraordinary journey enhanced our understanding of biblical history. We visited the locations of the seven Churches in western Turkey which Christ addressed in Revelation chapters two and three. Turkey, an ancient land rich in biblical history, has seen all the ages of mankind’s civilization. It is a crossroads of the European and Asian continents and the land where the apostle Paul did much of his work.

Sardis

The first of the seven Churches we visited was Sardis. The city’s archaeological ruins are impressive, and one of its largest features is the Artemis temple. We cannot tell where the New Testament Church met in Sardis. However, the shell of a later, Byzantine era church building on the Artemis temple site indicates that the true faith did not survive here. Christ’s letter to Sardis is not flattering. He says, “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead” (Revelation 3:1). We can take this as a warning for us to “be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain” (Revelation 3:2).

Philadelphia

The second Church location we visited was Philadelphia, where nearly nothing of the first century city is visible. Time and the advance of civilization have covered it over. Christ was very complimentary of the Philadelphia Church, telling it, “You have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name” (Revelation 3:8). Though they are gone from history, the Philadelphians’ example is one to follow. Christ says to us as He said to Philadelphia, “hold that fast what you have, that no one may take your crown” (Revelation 3:11).

Laodicea

Our third Church visit was Laodicea, where a vast expanse of this ancient city’s archaeological ruins has been uncovered. When walking its Roman streets and seeing the beauty of its architecture, it is easy to see that Laodicea was very prosperous. The Laodicean Christians enjoyed wealth, but they became spiritually lazy and therefore Christ rebuked them. “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). This is a dangerous spiritual condition in which we must never find ourselves. Though the Laodiceans were spiritually weak, Christ loved them saying, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19).

Smyrna

Smyrna, the fourth Church site we visited, was in what is now modern-day Izmir, Turkey’s second largest port city. Even in the first century A.D., Smyrna owned a bustling port on the eastern shore of the Aegean Sea. The city looked westward to Rome, and it basked in the attention that Rome paid to it.

In His message to Smyrna, Christ told this faithful Church, “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer” (Revelation 2:10). The power of Rome, with the pressure to worship its emperor, put the faithful brethren in the crosshairs of the empire’s wrath. Indeed, as history bears out, Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of the apostle John, was burned at the stake here. He was “faithful until death” and will therefore receive from Christ “the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). The record shows that other Christians died with Polycarp. These believers “did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11). Smyrna’s example teaches us that we must also be faithful to death. For “he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).

Pergamos

The remains of the ancient city of Pergamos, the fifth Church site we visited, are an impressive archaeological testament to the great power of Rome. Numerous temples here were dedicated to the worship of Rome’s gods and its emperor. One who did not partake in such worship would stand out. Yet, even under pressure to conform, the first century brethren remained faithful. Christ tells the Church in Pergamos, “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name and did not deny My faith” (Revelation 2:13).

Yet, mingling among the faithful brethren at Pergamos were some who “hold the doctrine of Balaam” (Revelation 2:14), and “the doctrine of the Nicolaitans” (Verse 15). Members of the Pergamos Church were compromising their faith in Christ by allowing these doctrines to exist among them. Christ counseled them, “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them” (verse 16). The lesson from Pergamos is to remain faithful and not allow false doctrine to take root in our midst.

Thyatira

Little remains of the ancient city of Thyatira, the sixth Church site visited, where now the modern-day Turkish city of Akhisar exists. Th yatira’s ancient ruins are isolated into one city block. At the time of the Church’s existence in Thyatira, the city was home to many trade guilds. These were something like modern labor unions, and one’s employment depended on membership in a guild. The trade guilds, however, acknowledged pagan deities and expected their members to do likewise.

Christ identified a woman named Jezebel among the brethren of Thyatira, likely using this name to describe a spiritual condition. Like her Old Testament namesake, this Jezebel was seducing the membership “to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20). To keep their jobs and guild membership, some brethren were apparently condoning such practices. A lesson from Thyatira’s example is not to compromise our faith even if doing so presents a threat to our livelihood.

Ephesus

The last of the seven Church sites we visited was Ephesus, once the leading city of Asia Minor and very wealthy. A sea channel, now silted in, connected Ephesus to the Aegean Sea and enabled the city to maintain a thriving shipping trade. Numerous pagan temples were here, including the temple of Diana, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In Acts 19, Luke described the riot against Paul and the Ephesus Church for threatening the worship of “the great goddess Diana” (Acts 19:27). With all the pressures against them, the Ephesian Christians endured. Christ said to them, “You have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary” (Revelation 2:3).

But, by the time John wrote the book of Revelation in the mid 90’s A.D., the Church at Ephesus was 40 years old. Those years had taken their toll for Christ said to it, “You have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4). We have also persevered as a Church, some of us for many years. We must hear what the Spirit says to the Church of Ephesus and “not be weary in well doing” (Galatians 6:9), maintaining fervent love for God and His people.

Conclusion

It was inspiring to see locations where the early New Testament Church once thrived. Yet, it is sobering to think that nothing of that original Church continues in Turkey today. The forces which opposed it would seem to have conquered. But Christ said of His Church that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18, King James Version). Though the Church is gone from Turkey today, it continues with us. By considering what Christ tells the seven Churches, we learn important lessons for our perseverance in “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). May we take these lessons to heart, having an ear to “hear what the Spirit says to the Churches” (Revelation 3:22).