Resisting Trump with Revelation (09)
Letters to seven churches (2)
(cont’d)
Thyatira (2:18-29): Imperial Economy vs.
God’s Economy
The
message to this church comes from the One with “eyes like flames of fire” and
“feet . . . like burnished bronze” (v.18; cf. 1:14,15). Thyatira was a growing
commercial and manufacturing city particularly working with bronze. This may
account for way Christ is identified. Yet fire and burnished bronze can also
connote power and judgment. The focus of this message seems to be on economic
entanglements with the empire and the ways such commitments can compromise
faith and witness.
Again,
Christ offers a mixed report. On the
plus side, “love, faith, service, and patient endurance” in which they are
growing (v.19). On the negative side, though, they tolerate a Jezebelian
teaching (“the deep things of Satan,” v.24). Jezebel was the Canaanite wife of
King Ahab of Israel who influenced him and nation to practice idolatry. The
parade example was when Ahab schemed to take land from an Israelite who wanted
to keep it as an inheritance for the long-term viability of his family as Torah
instructed. Ahab, though, had adopted an
imperial land as possession policy which resulted in drastic growing
disparities in wealth between the haves and have-nots. Amos, several
generations later, railed against this kind of situation.[1]
Grimsrud
thus concludes, “Given Thyatira’s role as a regional economic center and noting
the condemnation of imperial economics later in Revelation (. . . ch.18), we
can assume that the use of the symbol ‘Jezebel’ may well have been meant to
include a connotation here that the accommodation has problematic economic
ramifications.”[2]
Christ’s
vigorous and violent response (vv.21-23)[3]
to those practicing such idolatries and economic oppression gives us a clue
about seriously he takes such matters. The Levitical Jubilee laws (Lev.25) show
God’s intention that land and family are inextricably linked and that
disparities of wealth are to be levelled out every 50 years (or once a
generation). Christ works off that same set of priorities here.
The
one who conquers is given a share in Christ’s rule over the nations (Rev.22:5)
and receives the “morning star” (v.28). Jesus takes this name as his own at the
end of the book (22:16). Thus the conquerors are united with him and share in
his victory which follows the death and resurrection pattern.
Sardis (3:1-6): From Death to Life
The
One who has the “seven spirits of God and seven stars” (v.1) brings his next
word for the city of Sardis. The Holy Spirit and the reality of the churches
are his. He discerns and knows what is really going on in and among them, far
better than they know themselves. This community, Sardis, for instance,
believed themselves to be safe from aggression even though it had been invaded
with drastic results several times earlier in their history. Thus, “you have a
name of being alive, but you are dead” (v.2). The church there was in the same
boat.
Though
a few members of the church have faithfully served God and resisted the lures
of Empire (v.4), most had not. And they
were living on fumes at the threshold of extinction as the people of God. Sardis
was a site for extensive worship of Rome and its deities. The temple dedicated
to Artemis was especially impressive.[4]
The baleful influence of the Empire, again, casts its baleful shadow Jesus has
a threefold antidote for what ails them (v.3).
-remember:
who they are and what God calls them to be
-obey:
live that way
-repent:
change their way of life
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But it’s
not. Memory, as Jesus recommends it and the Bible portrays it, is our bulwark
against the claims and siren call of Empire. But not as an intellectual
exercise of recalling some piece of information or another. Rather,[5]
To obey then is not the mere keeping of a command but
responding out of our living relationship with God which is life-giving. Such
remembering and such obedience make repentance possible. We can in this way
truly change our lives, our direction, our loyalties, align our lives again
with Christ’s.
Conquerors will share in Christ’s white robe of victory.
Philadelphia
(3:7-13): Christ Opens Never-to-be-Closed Doors
The
One who has “the key of David” and opens and shuts doors for this church brings
a word of approbation only to this church. They are small and powerless (v.8).
They lived in a city formed to be a conduit for and incubator of Hellenism in
the region, a “missionary” city of sorts. Boasting a large Jewish community,
Philadelphia was also known as “Little Athens” for the number of temples
dedicated to Dionysus located there.[6]
Philadelphia
was destroyed by an earthquake in 17 a.d.
Aftershocks abounded and left its residents fearful. Many remained
living outside its precincts years after the quake. Some left it at night to
sleep outside the city so as not be caught unawares by another quake.
This
most-praised-by-Christ church of the seven addressed here faced numerous
obstacles. Three of them were conflict with the Jewish community in
Philadelphia (v.9), lack of power (v.8), and the ubiquitous specter of the
Empire. In spite of all this, Christ promises this congregation that their
witness would prevail (the “open door,” v.8).
Thus,
the city created to evangelize the region for the Greco-Roman worldview would
host a church mandated by God to evangelize that same region for the gospel of
Jesus Christ. And the promise of the “holy” and “true” One rested with the
latter. Because he is with them, crucified but risen and installed by God as
world ruler (”key of David,” v.8), this church clothed in weakness will prevail
by Christ’s power. Fear made perfect sense for a church in this setting. But it
makes no sense because the one they follow had “opened the door” for them. And
they heard that assurance and acted on it. And Christ promises them a place in
his city from which they will never have to leave but reside securely there
bearing his name.
Laodicea (3:14-21):
Shutting the Door in Christ’s Face or The Dangers of a “Country Club” Church
The
“faithful and true witness” brings to the church in Laodicea a word about the
source of all things (“origin of God’s creation”) and their costly blindness to
this truth and the corruption of their witness.
Laodicea
was a wealthy “can do” sort of town. Shortly after a devastating earthquake in
60 a.d. the city rebuilt itself in an even grander fashion and refused imperial
aid to do so.
Situated
in the Lycus valley, Hierapolis was 6 miles away and Colossae 10 miles. The
former was known for its pools of hot water known for their healing qualities.
The latter for its cold springs which proved recuperative for weary travelers
after a long day on the road. We’ll
return to this shortly.
Laodicea
was known for its medical schools (especially its eye salve), its sophisticated
and secure banking system, and its manufacture of garments of raven black
cloth.
They
could do, did do, and expected to keep on doing what they needed to do for
themselves.
The
church there imbibed the same attitudes and reflected them religiously. “You
say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing” (v.17) is Christ’s
damning judgment against them. He spells this out in terms of each point of
Laodicean pride. “Therefore I
counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and
white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being
seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see” (vv.18-19). They do
not realize that they are poor, naked, and blind (v.17).
Further, this church is neither “cold nor
hot” though Christ wishes they were one or the other (v.15). Being “lukewarm”
they only make Christ sick to his stomach! Often,
we take the terms hot, cold and lukewarm psychologically as our spiritual
temperature. We use those terms that way. The oddity of taken the terms this
way, hot (spiritually alive), cold (spiritually dead), and lukewarm
(spiritually apathetic) it that it puts Christ in the position of commending no
faith (cold) to apathetic faith (lukewarm). And claiming that the latter rather
than the former makes him ill. This is not usually how the Bible or Christ sees
these things.
In
John’s world these temperature terms were not used psychologically. In fact,
John tells us it is our “works” that show us neither hot nor cold. If we
remember the geography mentioned above, we have the clue to what John means.
Hot refers to the healing waters of Hierapolis; cold to the refreshing
invigorating pools of Colossae. Laodicea had not water supply of its own. The hot
water of Hierapolis was carried by an aqueduct system down to Laodicea. It
arrived lukewarm, useful in that state only as an emetic to induce
vomiting. John uses this imagery to
suggest that the ministry of the Laodicean church was neither healing nor restoring
or energizing but lukewarm, making God want to vomit them out.
This
bleak judgment is tempered only by Christ’s reminder that he loves these folk
and that is why he “disciplines” them (v.19). So there is hope. But it is the
hope of a community that has closed its door on Christ, leaving him outside
knocking on the door to gain entrance to them and their lives (v.20). This
verse does not refer to Christ knocking on an individual’s heart as popularly
thought. The idea is that the community has shut its gates to Christ, just as
they closed their city gates to protect against intruders every night. Christ
wants to gain entrance again so that the community’s meal will be a true
Eucharist. This is the way they can conquer and share in his victory (v.21).
In
the next post in this series I will try to pull the various threads of these
seven letters in a synthetic portrait of a resistical church.
[1] https://peacetheology.net/2011/12/10/revelation-notes-chapter-2/.
[3] We must remember here that in the vision of Christ John gives us his
“weapon” is that “two-edged sword” of the Word of God in judgment and mercy.
The violence here is metaphorical of divine judgment which ends in restoration.
More on this as we proceed.
[4] Grimsrud at https://peacetheology.net/2011/12/10/revelation-notes-chapter-3/.
[5] http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/remember-remembrance.html.
[6] Daniels, Seven Deadly Spirits,
106.
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