The Book of Revelation: Lesson 13 – Chapters 2 and 3

The word Christ is Greek for the Hebrew word māshîah. So “Christ” and “Messiah” are essentially the same word, just different languages. Here is John 1:41…

 “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ).”

“Messiah” means “the anointed of God.” The coming of the Messiah was, and still is, the great hope of Israel. Again, “Jesus Christ” is the same as saying “Jesus the Messiah.” “Christ” is basically a title. It’s not Jesus’ last name!

From the outset of this final book in the Bible, we are told that this is “the revelation of Jesus Christ,” and before chapter one is finished, Jesus the Messiah was elevated to Jesus the reigning Lord of the Universe in all His power and glory (Rev. 1:12-18).

Various aspects of this overwhelming picture of Jesus are underscored in Chapters 2 and 3 before each of the seven churches are told what this transcendent Jesus has to say to them. In every case, His overall message is quite clear. There may be questions we might have about details:

  • Who were the Nicolaitans?
  • What’s “hidden manna” mean?
  • Explain the term “pillar in the temple of my God.”
  • Etc.

But none of these terms are essential to our overall understanding of what Jesus had to say.

It’s also true that historians can give us a lot of background on these seven cites. But none of that information has all that much of a bearing on the clear bottom-line message of Jesus in each case.

We are three chapters into Revelation, and nothing so far has been all that difficult to understand. In a way, Revelation can be as confusing as you want to make it. If you insist on understanding everything, you probably never will. But if you can be content with a grasp of the big-picture items, you should do fine.

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