The Church's Bible

“To the angel of the assembly in Ephesus write: “He who holds the seven stars in his right hand, he who walks among the seven golden lamp stands says these things:

Ez 28:13-14, Mt 18:20, Mt 28:20, Jn 5:35, Rv 1:11-13, Rv 1:16, Rv 1:20, Rv 2:8, Rv 2:12, Rv 2:18, Rv 3:1, Rv 3:7, Rv 3:14, Rv 8:10-12, Rv 12:1

²“I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can’t tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false. ³You have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ⁴But I have this against you, that you left your first love. ⁵Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent. ⁶But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God.

Ps 1:6, Mt 7:23, 2Co 11:13-15, Gl 1:7, Ep 4:14, 1Th 1:3, 1Th 5:21, 1Tm 2:19, Hb 6:10, 2Pe 2:1-3, 1Jn 2:21-22, 1Jn 4:1, Rv 2:6, Rv 2:9, Rv 2:13-15, Rv 2:19-21, Rv 3:1, Rv 3:8, Rv 3:15
Ps 37:7, Ps 69:7, Mi 7:9, Mk 15:21, Lk 8:15, Lk 14:27, Lk 18:1, Lk 21:19, Jn 15:21, Rm 2:7, Rm 5:3-4, Rm 8:25, Rm 12:12, Rm 15:4-5, Rm 16:12, 1Co 13:7, 1Co 16:16, 2Co 4:1, 2Co 4:16, 2Co 5:9, 2Co 6:5, 2Co 10:15, 2Co 11:23, Gl 6:2, Gl 6:9, Ph 2:16, Ph 4:3, Cl 1:11, 1Th 1:3, 1Th 2:9, 1Th 5:12, 2Th 3:5, 2Th 3:8, 2Th 3:13, 1Tm 4:10, 1Tm 5:17, Hb 6:10, Hb 6:12, Hb 6:15, Hb 10:36, Hb 12:1, Hb 12:3-5, Hb 13:13, Js 1:3-4, Js 5:7-11, 2Pe 1:6, Rv 1:9, Rv 3:10
Je 2:2-5, Mt 24:12-13, Ph 1:9, Ph 3:13-16, 1Th 4:9-10, 2Th 1:3, Hb 6:10-11, Rv 2:14, Rv 2:20, Rv 3:14-17
Is 1:26, Is 14:12, Je 2:2-3, Ez 16:61-63, Ez 20:43, Ez 36:31, Hs 9:10, Hs 14:1, Mc 3:4, Mc 4:6, Mt 21:41-43, Mt 24:48-51, Mk 12:9, Lk 1:17, Lk 12:45-46, Lk 20:16, Ac 17:30-31, Gl 5:4, Hb 10:32, 2Pe 1:12-13, Jd 1:24, Rv 1:20, Rv 2:2, Rv 2:16, Rv 2:19, Rv 2:21-22, Rv 3:2-3, Rv 3:19, Rv 9:20-21, Rv 16:9
2Ch 19:2, Ps 26:5, Ps 101:3, Ps 139:21-22, 2Jn 1:9-10, Rv 2:14-15
Gn 2:9, Gn 3:22-24, Pr 3:18, Pr 11:30, Pr 13:12, Pr 15:4, Ez 28:13, Ez 31:8, Mt 11:15, Mt 13:9, Mt 13:43, Mk 7:15, Lk 23:43, Jn 16:33, 1Co 2:10, 1Co 12:4-12, 2Co 12:4, 1Jn 5:4-5, Rv 2:11, Rv 2:17, Rv 2:26-29, Rv 3:5-6, Rv 3:12-13, Rv 3:21-22, Rv 12:10-11, Rv 13:9, Rv 14:13, Rv 15:2, Rv 21:7, Rv 22:2, Rv 22:14, Rv 22:17

⁸“To the angel of the assembly in Smyrna write: “The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life says these things:

Rv 1:8, Rv 1:11, Rv 1:17-18, Rv 2:1

⁹“I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death.

Mt 4:10, Lk 4:18, Lk 6:20, Lk 12:21, Lk 22:65, Jn 16:33, Ac 14:22, Ac 26:11, Rm 2:17, Rm 2:28-29, Rm 5:3, Rm 8:35, Rm 9:6, Rm 12:12, 2Co 6:10, 2Co 8:2, 2Co 8:9, 1Th 3:4, 2Th 1:6-7, 1Tm 1:13, 1Tm 6:18, Js 2:5-6, Rv 2:2, Rv 3:9, Rv 3:17-18, Rv 7:14
Dn 1:12, Dn 1:14, Dn 3:16-18, Hb 2:3, Mt 10:22, Mt 10:28, Mt 24:13, Mk 8:35, Mk 13:13, Lk 12:4-7, Lk 21:12, Lk 21:16-19, Jn 12:25, Jn 13:2, Jn 13:27, Ac 20:24, Ac 21:13, 1Co 9:25, Ep 2:2, Ep 6:12, 1Tm 4:7-8, Js 1:12, 1Pe 1:6-7, 1Pe 5:4, 1Pe 5:8, Rv 2:9, Rv 3:10-11, Rv 12:9-11, Rv 13:2, Rv 13:7, Rv 13:15-17
Rv 2:7, Rv 2:17, Rv 13:9, Rv 20:6, Rv 20:14, Rv 21:8

¹²“To the angel of the assembly in Pergamum write: “He who has the sharp two-edged sword says these things:

Is 11:4, Hb 4:12, Rv 1:11, Rv 1:16, Rv 2:1, Rv 2:16, Rv 19:15, Rv 19:21

¹³“I know your works and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. You hold firmly to my name, and didn’t deny my faith in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. ¹⁴But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. ¹⁵So also you likewise have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶Repent therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. ¹⁷He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows but he who receives it.

Mt 10:23, Mt 24:9, Lk 21:17, Ac 9:14, Ac 22:20, 1Th 5:21, 1Tm 5:8, 1Tm 1:13, 1Tm 2:12, Hb 3:6, Hb 10:23, Js 2:7, Jd 1:3-4, Rv 2:2, Rv 2:9-10, Rv 2:24-25, Rv 3:3, Rv 3:8-9, Rv 3:11, Rv 14:12
Nm 24:14, Nm 25:1-3, Nm 31:8, Nm 31:16, Jo 24:9, Is 57:14, Je 6:21, Ez 3:20, Ez 44:12, Mt 18:7, Ac 15:20-21, Ac 15:29, Ac 21:25, Rm 9:32, Rm 11:9, Rm 14:13, Rm 14:21, 1Co 1:23, 1Co 6:13-18, 1Co 7:2, 1Co 8:4-13, 1Co 10:18-31, Hb 13:4, 1Pe 2:8, 2Pe 2:15, Jd 1:11, Rv 2:4, Rv 2:20, Rv 21:8, Rv 22:15
Rv 2:6
Is 11:4, Is 49:2, Ac 17:30-31, Ep 6:17, 2Th 2:8, Rv 1:16, Rv 2:5, Rv 2:12, Rv 2:21-22, Rv 3:19, Rv 16:9, Rv 19:15, Rv 19:21, Rv 22:7
Ps 25:14, Ps 36:8, Pr 3:32, Pr 14:10, Is 56:4, Is 62:2, Is 65:13, Is 65:15, Mt 13:11, Jn 4:32, Jn 6:48-58, 1Co 2:14, Cl 3:3, Rv 2:7, Rv 2:11, Rv 3:6, Rv 3:12-13, Rv 3:22, Rv 14:3, Rv 19:12-13

¹⁸“To the angel of the assembly in Thyatira write: “The Son of God, who has his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished brass, says these things:

Ps 2:7, Mt 3:17, Mt 4:3-6, Mt 17:5, Mt 27:54, Lk 1:35, Jn 1:14, Jn 1:49, Jn 3:16, Jn 3:18, Jn 3:35-36, Jn 5:25, Jn 10:36, Ac 8:36, Rm 1:4, Rm 8:32, Rv 1:11, Rv 1:14-15, Rv 2:1

¹⁹“I know your works, your love, faith, service, patient endurance, and that your last works are more than the first. ²⁰But I have this against you, that you tolerate your woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols. ²¹I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. ²²Behold, I will throw her and those who commit adultery with her into a bed of great oppression, unless they repent of her works. ²³I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. ²⁴But to you I say, to the rest who are in Thyatira—as many as don’t have this teaching, who don’t know what some call ‘the deep things of Satan’—to you I say, I am not putting any other burden on you. ²⁵Nevertheless, hold that which you have firmly until I come. ²⁶He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. ²⁷He will rule them with a rod of iron, shattering them like clay pots, as I also have received of my Father; ²⁸and I will give him the morning star. ²⁹He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.

Jb 17:9, Ps 92:14, Pr 4:18, Jn 15:2, 1Co 13:1-8, Cl 3:14, 1Th 3:6, 2Th 1:3, 1Tm 1:5, 1Pe 4:8, 2Pe 1:7, 2Pe 3:18, Rv 2:2-4, Rv 2:9, Rv 2:13
Ex 34:15, Nm 25:1-2, 1Kg 16:31, 1Kg 17:4, 1Kg 17:13, 1Kg 19:1-2, 1Kg 21:7-15, 1Kg 21:23-25, 2Kg 9:7, 2Kg 9:30-37, Ac 15:20, Ac 15:29, 1Co 8:10-12, 1Co 10:18-21, 1Co 10:28, Rv 2:4, Rv 2:14
Je 8:4-6, Rm 2:4-5, Rm 9:22, 1Pe 3:20, 2Pe 3:9, 2Pe 3:15, Rv 9:20-21, Rv 16:9, Rv 16:11
Je 36:3, Ez 16:37-41, Ez 18:30-32, Ez 23:29, Ez 23:45-48, Ez 33:11, Zp 3:7, Lk 13:3, Lk 13:5, 2Co 12:21, 1Tm 2:25-26, Rv 17:2, Rv 18:3, Rv 18:9, Rv 19:18-21
Dt 13:11, Dt 17:13, Dt 19:20, Dt 21:21, 1Sm 16:7, 1Ch 28:9, 1Ch 29:17, 2Ch 6:30, Ps 7:9, Ps 26:2, Ps 44:21, Ps 62:12, Is 3:10-11, Je 11:20, Je 17:10, Je 20:12, Zp 1:11, Mt 16:27, Jn 2:24-25, Jn 21:17, Ac 1:24, Rm 2:5-11, Rm 8:27, Rm 14:12, 2Co 5:10, Gl 6:5, Hb 4:13, 1Pe 1:17, Rv 2:7, Rv 2:11, Rv 6:8, Rv 20:12
Ac 15:28, 1Co 2:10, 2Co 2:11, 2Co 11:3, 2Co 11:13-15, Ep 6:11-12, 2Th 2:9-12, Rv 12:9, Rv 13:14
Jn 14:3, Jn 21:22-23, Ac 11:28, Rm 12:9, 1Co 4:5, 1Co 11:26, 1Th 5:21, Hb 3:6, Hb 4:14, Hb 10:23, 2Pe 3:10, Rv 1:7, Rv 3:3, Rv 3:11, Rv 22:7, Rv 22:20
Ps 2:8, Ps 49:14, Dn 7:18, Dn 7:22, Dn 7:27, Mt 19:28, Mt 24:13, Lk 8:13-15, Lk 22:29-30, Jn 6:29, Jn 8:31-32, Rm 2:7, Rm 8:37, 1Co 6:3-4, 1Th 3:5, Hb 3:6, Hb 10:38-39, Js 2:20, 1Jn 2:19, 1Jn 3:23, 1Jn 5:5, Rv 2:7, Rv 2:11, Rv 2:17, Rv 3:5, Rv 3:12, Rv 3:21, Rv 20:4, Rv 21:7, Rv 22:5
Ps 2:8-9, Ps 49:14, Ps 149:5-9, Is 30:14, Je 19:11, Dn 7:22, Mt 11:27, Lk 22:29, Jn 17:24, Rv 12:5, Rv 19:15
Lk 1:78-79, 2Pe 1:19, Rv 22:16
Rv 2:7

Tower of Babel

The story of the tower of Babel is famous and fascinating. We learn from Genesis 10:10 that Nimrod, a descendent of Ham and a mighty hunter, built the city of Babel on the plains of Shinar. In Genesis 11, we find that people from all over have come here to build a great tower that stretches into heaven. They all spoke the same language and were engaged in a common and singular task of building this tower.

The building of this tower angered the LORD. To stop its construction, He scattered the people at Babel by creating different languages among them. When people could no longer understand each other, they scattered.

Why was this tower-building such a problem to the LORD? People wanted to reach into heaven. They wanted to de-throne God. The history of humanity is riddled with us trying to reach into heaven by any means except humility, faith, and repentance.

Interestingly, this is the time period right after the great flood with Noah. After the flood, the LORD commanded the people in Genesis 9:7 to spread across the Earth. In Genesis 10:5 we read that people were dispersed and had their own languages. Yet in chapter 11 of Genesis, we read that now people were concentrated at Babel on the plains of Shinar speaking the same language. How does this happen?

We know from history that this is exactly what happens with empires. A powerful nation or king will conquer foreign lands and force those people to work at empire-building often in exile. Those people will learn the imperial language and its customs. They will be stripped of their cultural identity, language, and heritage. This is imperial work. This is colonization. This is evil.

The LORD uses cultural and linguistic diversity to restrain evil, which is what we see happening in the Tower of Babel story. The scattering of the people is a liberation.

Babylon

We see this same process repeated later in the Old Testament when Jerusalem is destroyed and her people are marched in exile to Babylon. The prophet Daniel and his friends undergo this cultural re-education process in service to imperial King Nebuchadnezzar. They resist as much as they can, clinging to their faith and hope in the LORD.

King Nebuchadnezzar, for his part, reenacts the imperial rule of Nimrod at the Tower of Babel several millennia earlier. In Daniel 4:29-30, we find him walking on his roof to get a good look at his empire. He reflects and asserts “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” It would seem that not much has changed.

Babylon is Babel

Indeed, not much has changed, because Babel and Babylon are actually the same place. Babel is the English transliteration of the Hebrew word for this city on the plains of Shinar. Babylon is the English transliteration of the Greek word for this city on the plains of Shinar. The Babel of Genesis 10:10 is the same place as the Babylon of Daniel 1:2. The Hebrew word, the Greek word, and the English words Babel and Babylon all refer to this same place.

This means that when the people of Jerusalem are exiled to Babylon, this is a return to Babel. This is not merely symbolic. This was a real life return to coercion, indoctrination, and conscription. When they return home from exile, this re-scattering is also a liberation.

Babel Bookends

The Bible begins and ends with the LORD toppling Babel. The Babel of Genesis was founded by Nimrod the mighty hunter. This Babel is the archetypal earthly kingdom hell-bent on de-throning the LORD. We see in Daniel several millennia later that not much has changed on Planet Earth. In Revelation 17:4-5, however, we read that one day this will all change. Babylon or Babel the whore represents earthly kingdoms in rebellion against the LORD.

Every person working to loft himself or herself in defiance of the LORD will be scattered (Genesis 11:8). Every proud emperor will be humiliated like a beast (Daniel 4:31-33). Every kingdom breeding immorality will be destroyed (Revelation 18:2).

Out of scattering, humiliation, and destruction, however, will come servants of the LORD who bless all nations. Alongside of justice is hope. This is the hope of a new creation, overflowing with the blessings of shalom.

Revelation 2

Revelation 2 Resources

Revelation 2 Bible Study Questions

Revelation Facts

Revelation Word Cloud

Tower of Babel

Babylon

Babylon is Babel

Babel Bookends

Gn

Genesis

Ex

Exodus

Lv

Leviticus

Nm

Numbers

Dt

Deuteronomy

Jo

Joshua

Jg

Judges

Ru

Ruth

1Sm

1 Samuel

2Sm

2 Samuel

1Kg

1 Kings

2Kg

2 Kings

1Ch

1 Chronicles

2Ch

2 Chronicles

Er

Ezra

Ne

Nehemiah

Es

Esther

Jb

Job

Ps

Psalms

Pr

Proverbs

Ec

Ecclesiastes

Sg

Song of Songs

Is

Isaiah

Je

Jeremiah

Lm

Lamentations

Ez

Ezekiel

Dn

Daniel

Hs

Hosea

Jl

Joel

Am

Amos

Ob

Obadiah

Jo

Jonah

Mi

Micah

Na

Nahum

Hb

Habakkuk

Zp