# Summary - by Element of the Seven Church Assessment --- ### Background - Another way of looking at the seven churches is to organize the observations by the six elements - The summary of Jesus' [[Assessment]] of the churches in the seven letters to the churches is presented by element {[[Revelation_02|Revelation 2]] & [[Revelation_03|Revelation 3]]} --- ### The authority of the assessor - Jesus - These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. [2.1] - These are the words of the First and the Last, who died and returned to life. [2.8] - These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword. [2.12] - These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze. [2.18] - These are the words of the One who holds the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. [3.1] - These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens, no one will shut; and what He shuts, no one will open. [3.7] - These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation. [3.14] - The Spirit - He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches [2.7, 2.11, 2.17, 2.29, 3.6, 3.13, 3.22] --- ### An acknowledgement of some good things - Deeds, your labor, and your perseverance [2.2] - Cannot tolerate those who are evil [2.2] - Have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles [2.2] - Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name. [2.3] - Hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate [2.6] - I know your affliction and your poverty—though you are rich! [2.9] - And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan. [2.9] - I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held fast to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells. [2.13] - I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first. [2.19] - But you do have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments [3.4] - They are worthy [3.4] - know your deeds. [3.8] - For you have only a little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name. [3.8] - You have kept My command to endure with patience [3.10] ### A condemnation of some negative things - Have abandoned your first love [2.4] - Some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. [2.14] - In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. [2.15] - You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols. [2.20] - Those who commit adultery with Jezebel will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds. [2.22]I will strike Jezebel's children dead [2.23] - I will repay each of you according to your deeds [2.23] - I know your deeds; you have a reputation for being alive, yet you are dead [3.2] - I have found your deeds incomplete in the sight of My God [3.2] - I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other! [3.15] - Because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth! [3.16] - You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. [3.17] ### A plan of action (POA) - Keep in mind how far you have fallen [2.5] - Repent and perform the deeds you did at first [2.5] - Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. [2.10] - Be faithful even unto death. [2.10] - Repent! [2.16] - To the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to Jezebel's teaching and have not learned the so-called deep things of Satan: I will place no further burden upon you. [2.24] - Hold fast to what you have until I come. [2.25] - Wake up and strengthen what remains, which was about to die [3.2] - Remember, then, what you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. [3.3] - Hold fast to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. [3.11] - I counsel you to buy from Me [3.18] - Gold refined by fire so that you may become rich - White garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed - Salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see - Be earnest and repent. [3.19] - He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches {2.7, 2.11, 2.17, 2.29, 3.6, 3.13, 3.22} --- ### A consequence for failing to complete the POA - Jesus will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place [2.5] - I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth. [2.16] - If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know the hour when I will come upon you. [3.3] --- ### A promise / reward - To the one who is victorious, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God. [2.7] - I will give you the crown of life. [2.10] - The one who is victorious will not be harmed by the second death. [2.11] - To the one who is victorious [2.17] - I will give the hidden manna - I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it. - To the one who is victorious and continues in My work until the end [2.26-28] - I will give authority over the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery —just as I have received authority from My Father. - I will give him the morning star. - They will walk with Me in white [3.4] - Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white [3.5] - will never blot out his name from the Book of Life [3.5] - I will confess his name before My Father and His angels [3.5] - I have placed before you an open door, which no one can shut. [3.8] - Look at those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead. I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you. [3.9] - I am coming soon. [3.11] - The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. [3.12] - Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from My God), and My new name. [3.12] - Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. [3.19] - Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me [3.20] - To the one who is victorious, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. [3.21] ### Other noteworthy observations - The church in Smyrna - No mention any negative behavior [2.8-11] - No consequence for failing to complete the POA. [2.8-11] - The church in Thyatira - No consequence mentioned for failing to complete the POA. {2.18-28} - The church in Philadelphia - No mention any negative behavior [3.7-13] - No mention a consequence for failing to complete the POA. [3.7-13] - The church in Laodicea - Nothing good was said [14-22] - Longest list of negative things [14-22] - No consequences for failing to complete the POA. [14-22] ---