Be Still and Know

Revelation 4:8 During the last few days we have been challenged by the risen Lord’s messages to the seven churches. They have been extremely down to earth and have spoken directly into the lives of those very different churches. We have been ...

Revelation 3:20 Holman Hunt’s painting ‘Light of the World’ is probably the best known of all biblical pictures. Jesus stands outside a door which is overgrown and clearly hasn’t been opened for a long time. Hunt painted no handle on the door...

Revelation 3:19 This letter to the church in Laodicea was a wake-up call. They were full of self confidence but the Lord tells them that they have absolutely no reason for such confidence. In a city that prided itself on its wealth, they are told...

Revelation 3:14 Nothing is more important in this life than to know who can be trusted. Every single day it’s an issue for us. Clearly it is fundamentally important within our family and among our friends, but it is also important with our wo...

Revelation 3:8 These words were written to the church in the prosperous city of Philadelphia. Most of the seven churches were criticised for some aspect of their life, but not this one. They were probably small in number, but they had perseve...

Revelation 3:1-2 I love the fact that these seven letters to the churches are all completely different. Each church its own history, strengths and weaknesses, and the risen Lord addressed his words specifically to each situation. The church at ...

Revelation 2:18-19 This is the beginning of the letter to the church in Thyatira. It was the smallest and least significant of the seven towns which the risen Lord addressed, and yet they received the longest letter! Thyatira was a busy comme...

Revelation 2:14 These letters to the churches in Revelation are wonderfully straightforward and personal. The risen Lord didn’t beat around the bush! He identified that the Christians in Pergamum had much to commend them. They had been loyal to t...

Revelation 2:12-13 The city of Pergamum, whose church received this letter, was famous for its commitment to emperor worship. It had three temples that were exclusively devoted to the Roman emperor. Although it didn’t have the long history an...

Revelation 2:10 It’s hard for most of us to imagine what it would be like to live with the continual likelihood of persecution, simply because of our Christian faith. The harshest treatment that we are likely to receive is to be laughed at be...

Revelation 2:8-9 These words introduce the second of the letters to the churches, sent to the church in Smyrna. There was no surprise that the first letter went to Ephesus because it was definitely seen as the most influential of the cities. Howe...

Revelation 2:7 All seven of the letters to the churches end with these words. They make it clear that the letters have been written not merely to these specific churches but to anyone who has the ability to listen. They are the words of t...

Revelation 2:4 Many of us will be more familiar with an earlier translation of these words which ran: “you have lost your first love”. The truth is that the Christians in Ephesus had done so well. They had been strong in the face of oppositio...

Revelation 2:2 These words come from the first of the seven letters to the churches, and they were addressed to the church in Ephesus. Pergamum was the capital city of the province of Asia, but Ephesus was in every way the greatest city. It had t...

Revelation 1:12-14 In order to understand these amazing verses, we need to appreciate that the Church at the time was very small and facing the brutal and powerful opposition of the Roman Empire. This must have been incredibly scary. It looked as...