The Rainbow and the Church
As we all know, the rainbow is a
symbol of God’s salvation. Though our culture has sought to hijack its meaning
and degrade its purpose, we should not fear holding it up in its true light. In
chapter four, we will see that a rainbow surrounds the throne of God in almost
the exact same way that the people of God are seen worshiping Him around His
throne. Is this a parallel? I think it is.
As previously stated, the rainbow
is a picture of God’s salvation of mankind. It is a promise that God will never
again flood the Earth and wipe out all of mankind by water (Genesis 9). Will He
eventually judge the human race and recreate the universe once it passes away?
Sure, but, until then, we [the Church] are the picture of God’s grace in this
world. The seven beautiful colors of the rainbow are a reflection of God's incredible brilliance in His creation of these seven churches. This is what God is doing in the world and how He is continually revealing His way of salvation. We are His messengers who have been entrusted with the Gospel of
salvation to take the good news into all the nations.
The hope of eight billion people
living in our world today lies in our hands. Will we be faithful? Will we
persevere? Will we conquer? Will you and I hold fast to all that we have been
given? You and I, much like these churches, have a choice to make. The ball is
in our court.
Jesus is in Control & on Display
Nevertheless, great encouragement
is found within these two chapters because we are told that Jesus Himself holds
the pastors in His right hand and walks among the churches (2:1). Now, I know
it says that He holds the pastors, but He holds you as well (John 10:28). What
Jesus is saying here is that He holds our leaders in His hands. This is to be
an encouragement for us as we seek to submit ourselves under their authority
because we know that they are ultimately under God’s authority.
We must always remember that our
Lord not only holds us but is also among us. He is with us no matter what trial
we face. He is near when we are suffering, and He is close when we need Him the
most. He is in our midst at all times and always willing to be involved in our
lives, if we will only open the door and invite Him in (3:20).
The key point to notice within
each of these letters is that the churches are not the light. They are only the lampstands — the platforms upon
which the light rests. In the first description of Jesus, back in 1:13-16, we
are told that He is the light. The Church’s job is to simply hold Him up so
that all can see.
While the entire book was sent to
all seven churches, these two chapters contain messages from the Lord for each
one. They are filled with praise, rebuke, warnings, commands, exhortations,
reward notifications and content which was specific to each one’s context. For
most of them, the Lord had both good and bad things to say. However, there are a
couple exceptions. Nothing necessarily good or bad is said of Smyrna, only that
Jesus encourages them to remain faithful as they are about to experience
intense persecution. Also, nothing negative is said about the church in
Philadelphia. It looks like the Lord only had good things to say.
We will be studying each of the churches
individually over the next seven days. Our study will include both an
examination of what the Lord wrote to each as well as application and
reflection for our own lives as believers. I look forward to delving into this upcoming
section together. If you would like to glance ahead, I’ve listed each church
out below.
The Seven Churches:
It is important to remember that
they were real, literal and local churches in John’s day. However, they also maintain a much broader representation of the corporate [universal] Church body. In other words, these seven churches parallel the entire Church of God until the Lord comes back.
*Click here to read the purpose of this blog series.
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