Many Christians and Bible scholars believe we are living in the ‘end times’; that is, the count-down for the return of Yeshua HaMashiach/Jesus the Christ is on. If that is the case, should we not pay close attention to the book of Revelation? I think so. If you haven’t done it lately, it’s time to read Revelation carefully again, with study aids in hand, especially those that cross-reference to bring understanding from other scriptures.

I have been doing that lately, stopping at every verse for which I know a melody, to sing the scripture. Remember this one, from Rev 1:18? “I am He that liveth and was dead. And behold I am alive forever more. Amen. And I have the keys of death and of hell. I am He that liveth and was dead.” And so on. But that’s just me. I have to sneak some singing into everything 🙂

Then comes a sobering question: where are we now, in the timeline of those seven churches addressed in Chapters 2 to 3? So many of the descriptors sound familiar from our own 21st century experience, that I wonder if it’s really correct to take a strictly linear view of those seven churches. For example, are we not still, like the saints in the church of Ephesus, “testing those who say they are apostles and are not”? Do we not (at least some of us- myself included) periodically have to repent of leaving our first love, remember from where we have fallen and re-commit to “doing the first works”? Rev. 2:4-5.

As in the experience of the Smyrna church, aren’t some Christians still being thrown into prison by agents of the devil, and having to “be faithful unto death”? There are 21st century martyrs being killed in places where by all appearances “Satan dwells”, as happened to the Pergamos church, whose members had to live and keep professing their faith in the same place where Satan had established his throne. And are we not, in such circumstances, still at risk of compromising as Balaam and Balak contrived to have the Israelites do?

Probably exceeding the experience of Pergamos and Thyatrya though, the 21st century sexual immorality and eating of things sacrificed to idols seem to have reached an all time high. (Ever check out the idolatrous figures presiding over the service in some increasingly popular restaurants?) And knowing “the depths of Satan” has gained popularity in recent years- as we can see from the demonic theme of many movies, TV series and You-tube postings.

“I know your works … You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead… I have not found your works perfect before God.” Sound familiar, or was that just for Sardis? The Life-giving Spirit was being excluded by some in Sardis just as He is today in some religious organizations that do their notable works under the banner of Christianity.

Then comes the church at Philadelphia. The key of David and that door which only God opens and shuts. And again we are faced with the “synagogue of Satan” metaphor for the controversy over Jewish/Gentile identity, which had faced the church of Smyrna. This is where I need to stop for now and dig deeper. Although we see some of the former descriptors in our 21st century church, and although we can also identify with the lethal luke-warmness and blinding opulence in the subsequent description of the Laodicean church, we need to ‘stick a pin’ and examine this “synagogue of Satan” issue some more, because I suspect it may help to pin-point just how close to the end of the end times we are.