The Church in 2 Peter to Revelation

This is Part Last One of my series, How do the apostles refer to the church? This has been great! And enlightening! Today I will look at 2 Peter to Revelation. I admit, Revelation lives up to its reputation even here!

2 Peter
In his second epistle Peter does not use the word church. refers to them once as brethren, and 5 times beloved.

1 John
John does not use church in his first epistle. He only and repeatedly uses terms of endearment: little children (7 times), children of God (3 times), beloved (5 times), brethren (4 times).

2 John 
This epistle is enigmatic because it is uncertain whether John is referring to individuals or the church when he speaks to and of the elect lady, lady, and thy elect sister. He refers to believers as children 3 times.

3 John
He uses church, brethren, beloved 3 times each, children 1 time. John is very tender in all his epistles.

Jude 
Jude is also brief and tender: beloved 3 times, saints once.

The Revelation
The Revelation of Jesus Christ has many references to the people of God, and some of them call for a tough decision. I will be honest, I don’t really know how to proceed, especially because the references are numerous, scattered throughout the book, and some are a tough call (who is he referring to?). Here goes:

Let’s begin with the most frequently occurring expressions.

Church 7 times. Churches 13 times. 20 times some form of ekklesia is used. Each and every time it is used to refer to the seven churches of Asia, each and every time it is a local church, the assembly of believers in a city. This is the fundamental meaning of ekklesia and what we should think of when we see the word church unless something in the context directs us otherwise. But local church was a little different in apostolic times. For example, the church in Smyrna. There was only one ekklesia in Smyrna. One bishop. They were all united under one banner, but I admit I have no idea how they met, whether there were any smaller groups etc. Something to ponder.

Saints is used 13 times. Brethren 4 times.

Now I think I’ll list the other expressions for the church by chapter as we encounter them in reading Revelation.

1:6 kings and priests (also 5:10; 20:6)

7:3 the servants of God (servants occurs 9 times)

7:4 one hundred forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel – There are those who are having a duck fit right now. I know there are many who see this group as referring to physical Israel; just as there are those who see this as symbolically referring to the church. The argument for Israel is he is so specific, listing twelve thousand from every tribe. It seems rather elaborate for a symbol. The argument for the church is these are the servants who are sealed (v 3) and this is immediately followed by the great multitude (v 9). The thought is v 4 is the church symbolically, v 9 is the church in reality. You decide.
The one hundred forty and four thousand also appear in 14:1 & 3 but without the appellation of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

7:9 a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues 

11:18 them that fear thy name

12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
The woman is Israel, the man child is Christ, the remnant of her seed is the church. How do I know? They keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. As you read Revelation you can see these are marks of a Christian:

14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

15:2 …them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name…

17:14  …and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

18:4 my people

19:1-10 is an amazing passage which should once again put us on ‘shouting ground’! You should really read the entire passage, I will simply list the words for the church
1 much people
5 Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.  
6 a great multitude
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.  

10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Have the testimony of Jesus. As I said in chapter 12, this is the mark of a Christian.

21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

21:24 the nations of them which are saved

21:27 they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life

22:14 Blessed are they which do his commandments

22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come 
The church is called the wife of the Lamb and the bride; the New Jerusalem, the city which comes down from God out of heaven is also called the bride, the Lamb’s wife. I will leave it to thee to sort this out!


The Book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible so this is the end. What have we seen?

The church is the assembly of the saints, the brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. They gather together regularly, are organized (elders, deacons), and have a plan (pray, preach, teach). The apostles employ a multitude of descriptors, metaphors, and images for the church, including: temple, body, flock, olive tree, family, people, nation. By far the most common descriptor for the church is brethren. I admit I was a little surprised to learn that brethren is the apostles favorite term for the church. As I've been saying throughout this series, we should probably adjust our speech to reflect this apostolic and biblical emphasis.