22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
He who has an ear
Jesus closes this epistle with His redundant appeal to the churches. Seven times to seven churches He makes the same appeal. Never again in the book of Revelation does He make this application. Those churches that come with the mentality of being positive to Jesus’ challenge, He will do certain things for these churches.
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches
We can expect Jesus to bless us has He has all the churches of history if we respond to His desire for fellowship. It is one thing to listen to Jesus and it is another thing to respond to what He says.
Note that this is not what the apostle John says to the churches but what the “Spirit” says to the churches.
PRINCIPLE:
We not only need to listen to what the Spirit says, but we must respond to what the Spirit says to our hearts.
APPLICATION:
It is not enough to listen to Jesus, we must hear and apply truth to experience personally. In other words, we need to understand the principle and apply the principle to our experience.
Since these commands come from Jesus personally communicated through the Holy Spirit, we should take special note of all seven messages to these churches. Are you in danger of losing your “first love” (2:10), caving into pressure (2:10), defecting doctrinally (2:14-15), developing moral problems (2:20), becoming temporally dead in a spiritual sense (3:1-2), in danger of losing your crown (3:11) or growing cold spiritually (3:15-16)?
1 Pe. 4:17 “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
Pastor Richison, I’ve been a “Christian” since childhood, but was reborn only about 8 years ago. I was a lost, sinnig Christian for over 80 percent of my life. This church that I attend just celebrated 25 years since their first Sunday service. I saw pictures of a lot of “charter” members. They had joy and excitement in their expressions. Those very same folks today appear to be listless, inactive “bumps on a log”. Granted most of them are getting on in years (I’m considered a “young-un” at 57). My fear/concern is that the church has become inaffective in reaching the poor and lost community He placed us in. Anyway, I have been trying to obtain understanding about the seven churches in Revelation and comparitivly the church I serve. I’ve taken notes throughout your exposition of chapt. 2 and 3, and may have to read it again. In any case, THANK YOU for all of your efforts for the Christian truth. It is certainly a lot for our finite minds to understand the Glory of God. Does the Bible say anything about the Christian of age and how to revitalize them? Asking for prayers, Gregg in NM (I’ve never been much of a speller, but I’m a good auto mechanic.)
Gregg, there is no explicit passage of which you speak. However, there is the example of Caleb who at 80 years of age took on a big task and said "Give me that mountain."