E03: The Call to Conquer (Revelation 1–3)

We walk through the opening chapters and the letters to the churches, highlighting the consistent challenge: to remain faithful and conquer. This sets the tone for the entire book.

Transcript

Michael Berry: All right, ⁓ as promised, we are going to get into the actual text of Revelation in this session. ⁓ You have bared with me, bared with me, bore with me, you've bore with me ⁓ through the last two sessions. We haven't touched much of the Scripture. ⁓ This time we are going to jump straight in, and we're going to go into chapter 1 starting in verse 4. And so, We're just getting right after it today. So go ahead and turn there if you can, and we will get started. Of course, the first few verses were the prologue of ⁓ this book, and ⁓ it is a revelation of Jesus Christ. So I think that's key here. ⁓ the revelation of John John didn't come up with this. is Jesus giving a revelation of himself ⁓ to John. And so I think that's that's key to to keep in our minds as we go through. So the first few verses were were the prologue ⁓ and we are going to jump into the greeting in verse four. So let's jump in. John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is to come. So who is that? That is, that's a common name for God, right? So grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who are before his. throne and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth." And so, right here, right off the bat, we have, of course, God is mentioned as the one who is, who was, and who is to come. There's that verse in there about the seven spirits who are before His throne. That is a reference to Isaiah 11 verse 2. And it's the work of the Spirit is listed there and there's seven items of the work of the Spirit. And verse two of Isaiah 11 says, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, Spirit of counsel and might, Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And so there we have. Number one, the Spirit of the Lord. We've got wisdom, we've got understanding, we've got counsel, might, knowledge, and fear. And so this is just ⁓ kind of a really cool way to say that grace to you from God, grace to you from the Spirit, and then, of course, in verse 5, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. So we have a very Trinitarian ⁓ intro here as John is greeting these churches along with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. He goes on, verse 5, to him who loves us and who has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us this is key, this is going to show up a few times throughout Revelation – and has made us a kingdom and priests, a kingdom and priests. That is really key. It goes all the way back to Exodus 19 verse 6, where the people of Israel are brought out of Egypt and they are referred to as God's kingdom and His priests. And of course, later on in Israel's history, of course, there's a king and then there's also a high priest. And so ⁓ that is ⁓ now being referred to here. as the church. The church is the kingdom and priests. So that is key, like I said, that's going to come up a handful of times throughout the book of Revelation. So starting over verse 6, and made us a kingdom, a priest to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds. And every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him, even so, amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty." Verse 9. Now he's going to jump from the greeting into kind of his introduction to the letter that he's writing. And so there's kind of ⁓ three intros to the book of Revelation, of course, the prologue, and then we've got the greeting to the seven churches from God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, and then John also has his own greeting in here. And so John jumps in, he says, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom. And the patient endurance, one note on that word tribulation. Notice the tribulation is happening now. John doesn't say, I, your brother and partner, and there's gonna be a tribulation in the future. No, he's saying that the tribulation is now, and he is their partner in it. He is ⁓ patiently enduring with them. And so I think that's key to note that. The tribulation John sees is not something distant in the future, but it is something here and something now. So he goes on, ⁓ so partner in the tribulation, the kingdom, the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos, an account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I think that's key to stop here and touch base on this. ⁓ and get a little bit of John's background and what he's gone through to lead him to this island called Patmos. ⁓ And he is exiled here because of his testimony to Jesus in the Word of God. He has been a problem for someone, okay? You don't just get exiled because you're peaceful and you enjoy life and just have nothing. There's no conflict around you or anything like that. He has been a problem and Patmos was a Roman prisoner island. Romans would send people there to exile them, to get rid of them because they were tired of dealing with them. And of course, as mentioned, Rome had the power to exile. So John here had been a problem for Rome. Christian tradition says that he had been sent there during Emperor Domitian's reign, which is his reign was AD 81 through 96. And so we're already dating the book here into at least the 81 through 86 time range of AD, AD 81, 96. Christian tradition says that that John had been boiled alive and miraculously saved. So think Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So he was a problem for Rome. They tried to boil him, to kill him, and he was saved. So they're like, all right, we just gotta get rid of him. Just get him out of here, get him out of our sight, send him to Patmos. And he was here because of his testimony to Jesus. and the Word of God. So he goes on in verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and I heard behind me a voice like a trumpet. You're going to see this pattern multiple times throughout Revelation. This motif of I heard and then I looked and I saw. John is going to do that multiple times. I heard and I saw. It is intentional. It's a way of of deepening the nature of what is heard by what is seen. It's more powerful and it gives it a magnitude to what he had heard. And we see it multiple times. I've mentioned that in Revelation. We see it here in Chapter 1. We see it in Chapter 5. We see it in Chapter 7. And then we see it again in Chapter 9. And it's really key to note this because This actually comes up in chapter 7, and ⁓ it gives us a clue to who the 144,000 are when we get to chapter 7. So take note of that here. It was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. He heard a voice like a trumpet, and it was saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna. and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. So that's what he hears. And then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like the son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like... white wool like snow, his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face shone like the sun in full strength. This is Jesus. This is the glorified Jesus. And it is, he is different than we saw him the first time around. The first time around, he came to us as a baby, helpless and insignificant. Here, judging by this depiction of his person, he is now significant. He is now glorified. And this description does seem to reference ⁓ Daniel 7, and that is significant in John's understanding of what he sees from Jesus recorded in this book, Daniel 7. We'll see this multiple times throughout Revelation. And this is a ⁓ perfect picture of the ancient of days that we see in Daniel chapter 7, in Daniel's vision there. ⁓ Jesus is this perfect picture of the ancient of days from that text. so John, upon seeing this glorified and significant Jesus, he does the natural thing that you do when you're overcome by power. He falls at his feet. And we see why in verse 17 and 18. He says, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades." Verse 19, write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are, and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my hand, in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. And so these lampstands he holds in his right hand and those churches are likely the churches that John had direct relationship with during his pastoral ministry. This revelation Jesus' message is not merely for those in the future. This is not meant for prediction. It's not meant for figuring out the end times. It is a revelation of himself for his living, breathing bride during her tribulation in the first century AD. And this message is one that Jesus intended for us to listen in on. So this is a message to the entirety of the church throughout all time during her tribulation. This is His message, the one whose power is complete, whose love is overwhelming, and whose presence demands worship. This Jesus is significant and this is a Jesus I need in my life. I do need, I do need a baby Jesus who has come into and has turned the power structure on its head and come pretty much insignificant. But I need this Jesus who has everything in control, who his hand is big enough to hold these churches in His palm, I need this Jesus whose power is absolutely complete. And I need His message. And with that, we move to chapter two and the revelation that Jesus has to these specific churches. And these churches are going to hear a word from God in the midst of their tribulation and before we jump into that I just want to give you a picture of what their ongoing tribulation looked like because they were facing some pretty significant significant things in their day and age and so they had persecution from from all sides and primarily they had persecution from Rome ⁓ Christianity was seen as this subsect of Judaism who overall was just a thorn in the side of Roman flesh. And so, Rome had a general hostility towards Jerusalem. And, as happens to be a bystander, Christianity also got the sword as well. ⁓ Christians in particular had seen specific and pretty harsh persecution under Emperor Nero in the 50s and 60s AD. ⁓ They were blamed for the great fire in 64 AD, which burned most of Rome. ⁓ And as their punishment, they were used as human torches in his garden. And so they had had some pretty significant persecution. And currently at the time that Revelation was written, they were under persecution from Domitian, who came to reign, like I mentioned earlier, in Now, Domitian was described by the Roman historian Pliny II. He ⁓ was described in this way. Pliny said, was a beast from hell who sat in his den licking blood. So this guy was pretty unstable. And he was the first emperor who declared himself a god. while he was still alive. And so he blamed Christians as atheists when they wouldn't declare Caesar as Lord. And as ⁓ a result, he blamed every single negative event on Christians, famines, earthquakes, epidemics. If he had a hangnail, he blamed Christians. And this ignited a wave of persecution against Christianity and against Christians, physically, of course. but also socially, also economically, also psychologically. I mean, if you were blamed for every negative event, what do you think that did to your business? What do you think that did to the psychological state or faith? Do you think there would be any pressure to say, know what, today I'd rather be able to buy food than follow Jesus? There's some pretty difficult times, I would imagine. He also levied taxes specifically against Christians as well. Christians were imprisoned by Rome, sent to work in mines where they were often not cared for, ⁓ malnourished. They often died there. ⁓ Property was confiscated from them. There was just plain outright murder of many Christians, and so overall, Demetian's hostility was described as rivaling Nero's. So, Christians were facing persecution from Rome, but they also faced persecution from Jews. Because Christianity, while it was seen as a subsect of Judaism, it was also flagrant to the Jewish ear. And just think about it, if you had grown up as a Jew and you had learned all these things throughout your history, And throughout your growing up, you memorized the first five books of the Bible and ⁓ you spent all of your time looking for, longing for the Messiah. And then this group came and said that the Messiah had already come in Jesus. Well, Jesus died, so that's not the Messiah quite obviously. But this group kept proclaiming it. This group... claimed that Jesus was the fulfillment of all of God's promises to Israel. In 2 Corinthians 1, 20, says, all the promises of God, find there yes in him. They claimed that animal sacrifices were no longer necessary because of Jesus' blood. That's all of Hebrews 7-10. They claim that Gentiles now have access to Yahweh through Jesus. They claim that Jews and Gentiles are now one in Jesus. Of course, in Galatians chapter 3, says, there's neither Jew nor Greek, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's... then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise." Hold up. No, I'm the heir according to promise, not Gentiles. But here's this group claiming this. This group of Christians would claim that not all of Israel actually belongs to Israel. In fact, there is a new Israel that was defined by faith and not ethnicity. Romans 9, 6 through 8 says, all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise. And so you can see the flagrancy of Christianity to the Jews. And this is why the Jewish elite chased Paul all over the Mediterranean trying to discredit his ministry. trying to counteract his teachings, even trying to kill him, it's because Christianity was preaching these things that were just plain and outright blasphemy to the Jews. And so they've facing persecution from Rome and persecution from the Jews. And so we can assume these churches are facing the worst that those groups have to offer. And they face it not just physically, but socially, economically, religiously, and psychologically. And so with that as the backdrop, let's jump into Jesus' to these churches. And there's a common pattern that each one of these messages generally follow. It starts with a reminder of an aspect of who Jesus is, and it pulls it from chapter one. It'll say, him who holds the seven stars in his right hand. And then it launches into the phrase, I know your works. And that's important for us to remember because he intimately cares for these churches. I know you, I know what you do. And there's usually an admonition of the good things that these churches are doing. And then there's usually a rebuke. Then there's a call to repentance that's wrapped in the phrase to the one who conquers. And then there is a promise of restoration. That sounds like prophecy, doesn't it? well, each of these messages, while following that similar pattern I just laid out, they're steeped in a deep understanding of the church itself, the city in which that church dwells, and the challenges that they face there. And so I want to encourage you to read each one of these. There's found in chapter two and three, each one of these messages to the churches. For our time, I'm just going to specifically look at three. So we're going to start off with the first one, which was Ephesus, ⁓ and just read along ⁓ with me here. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Okay, so we see that he referenced back to chapter one an aspect of who Jesus is. That's from verse 12 and verse 16. Then he goes on. I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary." So there's that admonition. So he admonishes them for the good things they are doing. And then we jump into verse four. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you had fallen, repent and do the works You did it first. If not, I will come to you and I will remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent. And I used to think this was more along the lines of, hey, you forgot your first love when he said that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Hey, you forgot your first love. You forgot me. Come back to me. But I don't think that's what he's saying. What he is saying is that they fought for truth. You can see that in verse two and three. They had this patient endurance and they fought for truth. They tested those who call themselves apostles and are not. and are found to be false. So they constantly were looking for what is truth. But in the middle of that, they had lost the way of love. And as Christians, we have to walk that line of love and truth, or do you say it in a different way? We have to walk that line of grace and truth. I'm sure you have maybe people in your life where, ⁓ you know, sometimes people just, they just need a whole lot of grace. And in order for you to have a relationship with them, you just got to give them a lot of grace. There are other people that they need more truth. And finding that line of walking with grace and truth is the call for ⁓ followers of Jesus. If you're always pounding on truth, then you tend to lack the love that grounds that truth, and you start sacrificing people for the sake of truth. On the flip side, if you're always preaching love, then you lay truth at the altar of usually whatever is culturally appropriate. and you end up being drowned out in the choir of whatever is acceptable at that time. But as Christians, we have to find the balance. And the church in Ephesus seemed to have gotten out of balance on the side of truth. He does say that ⁓ the Nicolaitans coming up in verse 6, he says, this you have, you hate the work of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, to the one who conquers. I will grant to eat the tree of life which is in the paradise of God." And so this tree of life, we see this in the center of Ephesus. This tree of life was actually a reference to the temple of Artemis, one of their goddesses. And this temple, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. But in the middle of the temple, there was a garden. And the focus of the garden was a tree that was said to be the location where Artemis herself came down to earth. And within Ephesus, it had developed that when a criminal was on the run, ⁓ They're running from the law, right? ⁓ And they're on the run and that person could go to this temple and go to the tree in the middle of this temple and cling to it and have asylum until they could receive a fair trial. And so you see the picture. There's this tree that appears to have this aura of ⁓ fairness, this aura of paradise. But here Jesus says, no, no, no, no, there is a real paradise, but it's not in the temple of Artemis, but it's in the presence of God. And so the message to Ephesus was, Don't forget to love people. conquer and gain access to the tree of life. And this word conquer, I want to take a minute on it because this word is the key word, I believe, in the entire book of Revelation. It is woven throughout the entirety of the book. In every section, you're going to see this pop up. It's the word your Bibles may say overcome. or the word conqueror but it comes from the Greek word Nikao and ⁓ it means to simply to overcome to to conquer it is where the the Greek goddess Nikkei got her name ⁓ and it is also where the ⁓ the brand name of a shoe you might have on your foot comes from Nike and this word, Nikao, to overcome, to conquer, is going to be something we're going to see all throughout, and I want you to key in on it. We're going to trace this all the way throughout Revelation, even into the end, chapter 21 and 22, we're going to see this word come up in the new heavens and the new earth. And so, just take a note of that ⁓ circle. Box it out underline it highlight it whatever you want to do in your Bible, but that word conquer and in fact It's so important that in every single one of these these letters to these churches We're going to see this come up. And so we're going to see it I believe it's eight times in the first ⁓ two or sorry the second and the third chapter in Revelation so a very key word Lock on to that. We're gonna see it here when we go to the next church we're going to look at, which is Pergamum. And skip to verse 12. We're going to jump, Smyrna, jump into Pergamum, and we pick up in verse 12, like I mentioned. In Pergamum, the opposite of Ephesus seems to be true, and it might actually be that they had love, but they did not cling to truth. NT Wright says this about Pergamum. The letter to Pergamum refers to the city as a place where ⁓ Satan has his throne, and there was a shrine to the healing god Asclepius, whose symbol was a serpent. In addition, Pergamum was another city with a major center of the imperial cult of Rome and its emperors. John does not identify Rome with the devil, but as we shall see, He believes that the devil has been using Rome for its own end, not least to attack the church, and Pergamum was the seat of the Roman governor of the entire region. And so they were here in Pergamum, the epicenter of this imperial cult religion and seem to potentially have assimilated into that cult religion. And so we have here verse 12, and to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. So that returns us to Hebrews 412. Where it says the Word of God is living inactive sharper than a two-edged sword This sword is coming out of the mouth of Jesus. It is his word verse 13 and says I know where you dwell where Satan's throne is Yet you hold fast to my name and you did not deny my faith Even in the days of Antibus my faithful witness who was killed among you where Satan dwells. He re-emphasizes this is where Satan dwells. And so clearly they had seen some of the worst persecution where a brother named Antipas was killed for the name of Jesus and they were staying strong. So that's the admonition. We've seen a highlight of who Jesus is. We've seen the admonition. Now we go into what they need to correct or adjust. Verse 14, but I have a few things against you. have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balaam to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans, therefore repent. And so they, unlike the church in Ephesus, they kind of leaned into the teaching of these Nicolaitans. We don't know exactly what the Nicolaitans taught or even really much about who they were, but obviously it wasn't anything that was ⁓ Christ-like or in the realm of ⁓ Christian teaching. And so they were leaning into these teachings. Verse 16, therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to the one who Nakao, the one who conquers. I will give some of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. And so what is the call? The call is to and to conquer and what will happen to him who conquers? He'll be given a white stone with a new name written on the stone or with the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. So in Pergamum, the buildings, they were all created out of local stone, which was called andesite. And it was a black stone or it was dark colored, like a dark gray. In order for writings to stand out, inscriptions were written on white marble and affixed to the walls of these black buildings. And so it stood out. It defined it. It was very clear what these new white marble stones were saying. And so what Jesus is saying to this church is that When you do this, receive, when you conquer, you receive a new name that only you know with Jesus. This is ⁓ symbolizing an intimate relationship with their creator. And so what Jesus is saying to them, conquer by clinging to the truth. And that truth will foster relationship with Jesus that is intimate and true. One note here, the church in Thyatira has a very similar point. Jesus is dealing with them in a very similar way. However, it's draped in the context of sexual immorality. And so both churches compromised and it led to different circumstances, but the same outcome. Disunion with Jesus and a call to repent. So, we've seen Ephesus, we've seen Pergamum. The last one we'll touch on is in chapter 3. This is probably the most famous one. It is in Laodicea, ⁓ and we're going to read about this church. So verse 14, "'And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.'" Of course, that refers back to chapter one verse five. And Jesus says, once again leads off, I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you were lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say I'm rich and I've prospered. I need nothing not realizing that you're wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love I reprove, and I discipline. So be zealous and repent. Laodicea's geography was in an area that didn't have its own reliable water source. And so it received water from Hierapolis in the north and Colosse in the south. And so Laodicea was kind of in the middle of this valley. And so Hierapolis had hot springs and these hot springs were good for healing. ⁓ Colosse was mountainous and Colosse received cool mountain water Good for drinking, good for refreshment, of course. But by the time both of these sources ⁓ were brought to Laodicea, they had to be piped to Laodicea because Laodicea didn't have its own reliable water source, like I said. ⁓ The water had turned lukewarm and it was also filled with sediment. And so these waters, one cool, one warm, were not useful for their original purpose of healing and of refreshment. And so Jesus is asking them, is telling them, I want you to be useful. I want you to have a purpose, to have something driving you. And so he's saying, I don't want you to be hot, I don't want you to, or I want you to be hot or cold. I want you to have a purpose. Laodicea was also the banking center for this entire area. And so they were wealthy. They had money for ages, right? And so they were very well off. They didn't need any help. They didn't need a lot of help from those around them. ⁓ They were very, very wealthy and so wealthy that they had a medical school there to train doctors. And they specialized. This is really interesting. They specialized in ophthalmology. And what they had developed was a salve to place over eyes that they claimed helped to repair blindness. So they're wealthy. They had a medical school that specialized in ophthalmology. ⁓ And finally, local farmers had developed, and this is partly why they're so wealthy, just as a city, a breed of sheep that made that they made clothes out of and it became a fashion statement ⁓ really in the region. But rather than these clothes being white, like a normal sheep, this particular sheep had black wool. And so with all of that in mind, I wanna read you this section again. He says, I know your works. You are neither cold or hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you're lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say I am rich. I have prospered. I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, you're pitiable, you're poor, you're blind and you're naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich in white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. You're seeing Jesus is challenging them. Be useful by relying on me, not your gold, not your medicine, not your social status, me. And if you can, look at what he says. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. The one who, there's that word, conquers. I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So if you can conquer, you can sit with me on my throne. Man, what an opportunity. What an invitation. Don't rely on yourselves. Don't rely on your wealth. Don't rely on your knowledge. Don't rely on your social status. Rely on me. Perhaps the American church. is most likely odyssey. I mean, abundance is everywhere. And it is really easy with abundance to forget our dependence. But the invitation, the call from Jesus is to rely on Him, not around power, wealth, or status. And so, with each one of these churches, we're going to see that pattern, that very similar pattern, but each one of them leads to a promise of if you conquer... This is what you will receive. I just want to read through what these promises are to those who conquer. In Ephesus, the one who conquers will be granted to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. In Smyrna, the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. the one in Pergamum. I will give some of the hidden mana a white stone with a new name to those who conquer. For those in Thyatira, those who conquer will have authority over the nations and I will give him the morning star. For those who conquer in Sardis, clothed in white garments, they'll be clothed, their name will not be blotted out, and Jesus will confess His name, or their name, before the Father. In Philadelphia, those who conquer will become a pillar in the temple of God, and Jesus says, will write on Him the name of God, the New Jerusalem, and my new name. And then for those in Laodicea, They will be promised to sit on the throne. And it says, as I conquered and sat with my father on his throne. And so, to sum up what we've covered today, and really so far in the book, we've gone through essentially three chapters here. Revelation is a book of prophecy. It's a message from Jesus to his people, encouraging repentance. and promises of amazing restoration. That is his message to these seven churches, repent and conquer and you will be unbelievably restored. And these are the messages that we can listen into today. Of course, they were directly to the churches in Asia Minor while John wrote, but that's not the limits of their message. It extends to our churches today, but not merely our churches, but to each one of us who follow Jesus as King. There's likely within these seven letters a personal message for you specifically in your walk with Jesus. What is it that you might need to repent and to conquer? But the question remains, that word conquer, how do I do it? What does it look like? Because I know what conquering looks like to the world, but I'm not called to be like the world. So I'm told to conquer, but what does that look like? And that is where we'll turn our attention in chapters four and five where we will see these are some of the greatest chapters in the entirety of the Bible. And I'm looking forward to jumping into those with you next time.