Revelation (IVP New Testament Commentary | IVPNTC)

Top Highlights

“For some people today tolerance is the only real virtue and intolerance the only vice. The message to Thyatira goes against the grain of modernity by setting limits to tolerance. The main criticism of the angel of Thyatira is that he has tolerated something—and someone—that should not be tolerated (v. 20).” (Revelation 2:18–29)

“Yet to John they are, quite literally, angels whom God holds responsible for the life and well-being of the congregations.” (Revelation 1:17–20)

“The persistence and courage of the Ephesians in the face of outside threats had not lapsed (v. 3), and their attitude toward false teaching was exemplary. The same could not be said, however, of their love toward God and their generosity toward each other (v. 4). In Matthew, Jesus had predicted that ‘many false prophets will appear and deceive many people’ and that ‘the love of most will grow cold’ (Mt 24:11–12). The message to Ephesus was that it was no good to avoid the first of these warnings only to fall victim to the second. Loss of your first love is not primarily the death of passion, as in a stale marriage, but the failure to maintain the commitment once made to help and serve one another. Here as everywhere in the Bible, love for God and love for one another are inseparable.” (Revelation 2:1–7)

“These words have often been romanticized in popular religious art, in pictures of Jesus ‘knocking at the heart’s door.’ What is wrong is that Jesus is standing outside the door, excluded from the banquet like the homeless stranger in Amos Wilder’s poem. The poignant plea, though directed first to the church at Laodicea, is strategically placed near the end of the series of messages as Christ’s last appeal to any congregation that has shut him out. The beautiful ‘invitation’ is at the same time a severe indictment of a church that is self-sufficient, complacent and only marginally Christian.” (Revelation 3:14–22)