Revelation chapter 2 begins the letters to the seven churches—direct messages from the risen Christ to real congregations facing real challenges in first-century Asia Minor. These churches were located on a circular route, making it easy to pass this letter from city to city. But these messages are not just for those seven churches—they are for all believers everywhere.
What Jesus addresses here in each of the churches sets the tone and themes for all of the action and imagery of the rest of the Book! Christ is standing among the churches.
Because there are 7 (the number of completion), that means that these messages are for all believers everywhere. These churches are addressed specifically as representatives of all churches everywhere. All of these churches are all reading each other's mail! They're not isolated – the church is one in these things to support and hold accountable.
These are locations that need keys to victory in their own battlefield. And they also need the overarching big picture of God's victory for the entire world. And so that's what they're receiving in this revelation from John.
The themes are all set here. And there's almost no themes that don't get teased out in chapters two and three first. So you have to understand chapters two and three because this is the practical application. This is how we know what to do with the rest of the book. He's telling you—it's not guesswork. He's telling you what to do.
Pattern of the Seven Letters
Each letter follows a consistent pattern that Jesus uses to address His churches:
1. Address: "To the angel of the church..."
2. Description of Christ: "These are the words of him who..." (usually from Rev 1:13-16)
3. Commendation: "I know..." (Jesus knows their situation)
4. Criticism: What needs correction (except Smyrna and Philadelphia)
5. Command: Repent, hold fast, or be faithful
6. Universal Call: "Whoever has ears, let them hear..."
7. Promise: "To the one who is victorious..."
As a leader you reward the things you want more of. This is what Jesus is doing here! Do more of these things!
Ephesus was the largest and most important city in this region/province – Asia Minor. It was on the coast, a trade city, with the famous temple of Artemis in it.
The church in Ephesus was started in a joint effort between different missionary journeys of Paul and Apollos. Acts 18:19-20:38. By the time of this letter (around 95 AD), the church had been faithfully serving for over 40 years.
There is an angel in charge of each of these churches. These churches had angels assigned to them, and the angels were now to help these churches follow the words of Jesus to them.
"These are the words of him who" starts each of the 7 letters here. What follows is almost always part of the imagery of Christ in Rev 1:13-16.
The seven stars/angels are in Christ's right hand, meaning Christ has complete control. "Among the lampstands" – Christ Himself is present among the churches.
Three Encouragements Jesus Knows:
1. Your deeds, hard work, perseverance
2. You cannot tolerate wicked people, tested false apostles
3. Persevered, endured hardships, not grown weary
Their deeds were specifically in regard to upholding the truth of the Gospel against false teachers and false apostles. "Not grown weary" – these are believers who had been at it for 40 years plus, some of them. This church at the time of this writing had been around for about 40 years, 40 plus years. So there were some believers who had been through it and had not grown weary.
"I hold this against" is actually "Nevertheless, I have this on you..." the word "against" isn't there in the Greek. It's a little softer.
"Nevertheless I have this on you: that you have released the love you had at first." It's the picture of someone who held something, didn't hold it tight enough and it slipped out of their grip.
"Remember the height from which you've fallen" speaks of some awesome people. Things aren't quite as awesome at the moment.
"Repent" is literally "to think differently" (metanoia in Greek). Spiritually it's to change your heart mind and direction. "Do what you did at first" – He's telling them that the road back to where they were is the same road they've already traveled, they know the way!
He says, repent and then do what you did at first. He's telling them, look, you've already been down this road. You know how to get there again. Follow the same path. It's reminiscent of scripture in Jeremiah that says, follow the ancient path. So there's something to like just doing the spiritual disciplines that God's already trained you in. Bible reading, prayer, church, worship, getting into God's presence in nature, all those kinds of things.
"Or I will remove your lampstand" – That's a big deal. The rebuke is gentle, but the consequence is HUGE!
Jesus is going to COME! – do you see the thread in ALL of these! MEGA-THEME ALERT! Carried forward throughout the whole book!
It's not 100% clear who the Nicolaitans were and what they were doing. The leading theory is that the Nicolaitans were teaching Christians to compromise with the Imperial cult in order to GAIN STATUS in the Empire and AVOID PERSECUTION.
There is a level of government control that Christians are unable to comply with. Don't follow the Nicolaitans and compromise with demonic government edicts. That theme of not compromising with demonic government edicts is carried forward throughout the book!
The Nicolaitans were teaching Christians to compromise with the imperial cult, the emperor worship, like the Nero worship, in order to gain status in the empire and avoid persecution. The Ephesian Church did the right thing. They hated the teaching of the Nicolaitans and were facing hardships because of that. They were facing economic hardships. They were facing political pressure and the kinds of things that hating those teachings would produce.
"Whoever has ears... hear... what the Spirit says" hints at the universal nature of all of these letters for all believers. This refrain is REPEATED IN ALL 7 LETTERS toward the end of the letter. Our hearing is key. It's the Spirit of God's message, that Jesus Himself is speaking here. In other words, the Trinity is in agreement.
"To the one who is victorious" is a phrase that is used in all 7 letters as well.
The promise to eat from the tree of life connects back to Genesis 2:9 and forward to Revelation 22:2, where access to eternal life is restored in the new creation.
Smyrna – the first letter with no rebuke in it. We don't see the founding of this church in Scripture. The city was wealthy, but the church in it was poor.
The First & Last who died and raised to life (from Rev 1:17-18). To this persecuted church facing martyrdom, Jesus identifies Himself as the one who conquered death.
The city was wealthy. The city of Smyrna was very wealthy, but the church in it was poor, which means they were probably under some level of economic persecution, which was common in those days. People wouldn't do business with you because you weren't of the same faith as them. It's common in the Middle East today, by the way.
"Claim to be Jews but are not" – These are people who were likely kicked out of the synagogue, started their own rogue synagogue, that Jesus calls a synagogue of Satan!
This is NOT a statement against ALL Jews, on the contrary it's a statement from Jews judging others in order to maintain the purity of the faith before God. Jesus was Jewish, so was BY FAR the majority of the Christian church at this time. In fact, the first Christians in Ephesus were specifically Jewish, look at Acts 19. So it's a call to purity among Jewish believers.
Jesus does something here that He doesn't do with Ephesus. He gives Smyrna a prophetic encouragement.
Smyrna is about to go through persecution. Jesus warns them about it, but is not going to shield them from it. Instead, the promise is to assure them through it that He will be with them.
Smyrna is about to go through persecution. Jesus warns them about it, but is not going to shield them from it. Now listen, this is in contrast with Philadelphia the favorite because Jesus says to them, I'm going to shield you from the persecution. Smyrna is like, come on. We got to go through it. Yeah, they're going to go through it. So why does one church go through it with Jesus? Jesus says, look, I'm going to be there with you in it. I'm going to keep you through it. And why does another church get delivered from it by Jesus? That question is not answered in the text, by the way. It's something that's left for us to discern and to pray through.
This is where the rubber meets the road for discernment from the Holy Spirit and listening to God's voice on a regular basis. Because we have to be able to understand what season we're in.
"The devil" is the one instigating this persecution. We wrestle not against flesh and blood.
Historically, the church in Smyrna did go through persecution and many martyrs lost their life, in the first and second century, we see that in the writings of Ignatius and Polycarp. Then 700 years later Smyrna and Philadelphia were the last two cities to fall to the Muslim invaders. They were two cities who actually put up a fight. Pacifism was not the answer, that's why none of these cities/churches exist anymore.
"Victor's crown" – this was the reward for sports and military achievements. The crown is also mentioned in connection to the church in Philadelphia. These two churches are winning!
The second death refers to eternal judgment after physical death (see Revelation 20:14). Those faithful to Christ, even unto martyrdom, are eternally secure.
Pergamum – This city was the first to invite the Romans into Asia Minor, they were the original traitors. Because of that they were the center of the Imperial cult in the region. The city had a giant 120x112 ft statue of Zeus, you can see the ruins of it today. The worship of the emperor was mandatory with festivals of food that had been offered to idols including to the emperor. Not engaging in emperor worship became a capital offense.
The sharp, double-edged sword from Revelation 1:16 represents the Word of God and Christ's authority to judge (see also Hebrews 4:12).
Pergamum was the seat of emperor cult worship in the province of Asia Minor. That was the primary place. That was the place that actually invited the emperor into Asia Minor in the first place. That invited the Roman Empire in. So they were the original traitors. And they were considered the capital city of Asia Minor by the Romans because of that. Which all the other cities probably didn't like them for that.
They are being chastised for what two groups are doing. One group of them are following Balaam into idolatry and sexual immorality. Another group is following the Nicolaitans presumably into compromise with the Imperial cult to gain status and avoid persecution. Even though not everyone in the church is in these two groups, it affects enough people that the call from Jesus is for EVERYONE to REPENT!
Balaam was the prophet who couldn't speak a bad word against Israel at first, but then was welcomed into Israel's camp and led them into sexual sin and idolatry resulting in a giant plague in Numbers 25. Not a good dude.
But the faithful are comforted with the fact that Jesus will fight only against the unfaithful with the sword that's in His mouth. Even though Jesus won't fight against the faithful, they still need to repent for being a part of allowing this sin in their church! We carry a measure of responsibility for the spiritual health of the believers around us.
We can repent for allowing the sins of others in our sphere of influence and community. This is consistent throughout scripture. The whole church needs to repent for what those two groups in the church are doing.
"Hidden manna" – the ark of the covenant was lost in 586 BC as attested by Jeremiah 3:16. But many Jewish traditions (Maccabees, Baruch) declared that Jeremiah had hidden it away. This may be in view here. It probably also views the bread of life, and spiritual manna as referred to in John 6:35-40. Could be a reference to the marriage supper of the lamb in Rev 19:6-9.
"White stone" – white stones were used for medicinal purposes. Also, a white stone was used by jurors to declare someone innocent in court. Pergamum buildings at the time also used white marble for inscriptions. They're being declared innocent by Jesus, and given a new permanent name!
Thyatira – Not a large city. The city's economy emphasized trades and crafts. The trade guilds had a common meal each month dedicated with meat that was sacrificed to their deities. The meals also had prostitutes who were made a part of the festivities. Christians who refused to participate in these meals would be isolated socially and economically. The city was just starting to be prosperous – new money.
Jesus identifies Himself with eyes blazing like fire and feet like burnished bronze (from Revelation 1:14-15). Nothing escapes His searching gaze—He sees and will judge all things.
Their encouragement: Love, faith, service, perseverance, and now they're doing more than they were at first. This church was growing in the right direction in many ways.
The Biblical Jezebel in the book of Kings was not a prophetess, but she had 900 prophets of Baal. So she is connected by her promotion of demonic prophecies. Jezebel was accused in Rabbinical commentaries of prostitution and in 2 Kings 9:22 of witchcraft. In prostitution she becomes a prototype of the Empire in Rev 17-18.
Some of the prophetic destinies are certain here, like what is going to happen to Jezebel. This is set, there was no offer of repentance to her. Most of the people in these churches get an offer of repentance from Jesus, including even the followers of Jezebel here with the phrase "unless they repent of her ways" (v 22). But Jezebel had already been given "time to repent", and now the time was up! There is a time of repentance, but the window does close.
Jesus had already given her a chance to repent. She refused and now it's done. What's happening can't be changed for her. But most of the other people in these churches get an offer from Jesus to repent. And in fact, even the followers of Jezebel here have that offer kind of with the phrase "unless they repent." But Jezebel had already been given time and now her time was up. So there's a time of repentance, but the window does close.
Mega-Themes: Now there's a further description of Jesus here at the end of the letter in the middle of the rebuke that is unique, after Jesus judges them he says, "Then all the churches will know that I am He who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds."
The churches need to know 2 things, and they're only going to know them by demonstrated judgement:
1. Jesus searches hearts and minds
2. Jesus repays according to deeds
These two items are carried forward in the rest of Revelation. These are themes, especially the second theme of judgement, that's a mega-theme in Revelation!
Two groups of people in Thyatira – the faithful, who only need to hold on to what they have, and the followers of Jezebel . . . the sexually immoral. It's extremely bad news for them. Here the faithful are not held responsible for repenting for the actions of this deep in sin group. What's the point? There is a limit to communal responsibility. We're not responsible for EVERYTHING everyone in our sphere of influence does.
"Iron scepter . . . pottery" is from Psalm 2:8-9! Those who remain faithful will share in Christ's authority to rule over the nations. The morning star is Christ Himself (see Revelation 22:16).
These four churches—Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira—represent a cross-section of the challenges facing believers: losing first love, enduring persecution, compromising with the world, and tolerating false teaching. Yet in each case, Jesus walks among them, knowing their works, calling them to faithfulness, and promising eternal rewards to those who overcome.
What I want you to see in this is catch the themes because these are the things that are going to make all the weird imagery make sense. All the weird imagery is just going to fit in the space in your mind of, "I don't know what's going on" unless you carry through these themes.
The Mega-Themes: Jesus is going to come. Judgment is going to happen. Rome is messing everything up. We have to be faithful to the end. These are the things that make the entire book of Revelation make sense.
The remaining three churches (Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea) will be addressed in Revelation chapter 3, completing the seven letters. Each church receives what it needs—encouragement, correction, warning, or promise—perfectly tailored by Christ who walks among His lampstands.
Interactive Web Commentary | Revelation 2
Synthesized from: NIV Scripture, Pastor Jared Stepp's teaching notes (12/6/23), and December 2023 teaching transcript
For review and editing by Pastor Jared Stepp
💡 Tip: Hover over blue scripture references to see the verse text.