Comparative Overview of the Seven Letters of Jesus

Name of Church	Ephesus	Smyrna	Pergamum	Thyatira	Sardis	Philadelphia	Laodicea
Jesus’ Identity	The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands	The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life	The One who has the sharp two-edged sword	The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze	He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars	He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens	The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God
Knowledge	I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance	I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.	I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is.	I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance	I know your deeds	I know your deeds.	I know your deeds.
Appreciation	that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.		You hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.	Your deeds of late are greater than at first.		Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming quickly;
Criticism	But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.		But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.	But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.	You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.		You are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
Instruction	Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first	Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life.	Therefore repent!		Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent.	Hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.	I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
Penalty	Or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.		Or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.	Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.	Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.		So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
Listen Carefully!	He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.	He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.	He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.	He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.	He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.	He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.	He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Reward	To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.	He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.	To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.	But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you. Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.	But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.	He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.	He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.