Replies

Thank you for your reply and your question!

For all of the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, Christ declares their special challenges, praises them for what they are doing well and admonishes them for their failings. And then He speaks to those who overcome, blessings. So whereas the church as a whole may not be blessed, the individual believers may be. Take Ephesus for example:

Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. - Rev 2:1-7

Thank you for your thoughts on this but let me take it a little farther.

All of God's blessings come with a condition. There is a big "If" attached to them. Isn't the condition here that the churches repent and do what the 2 churches Jesus found favor with do, which is teach about those "which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan."
Is that not what the "Spirit sayeth unto the churches"?

My question is, would they not have to do this in order to be "accepted" by Christ. Individual believers, as you say, might be blessed but wouldn't they also have to understand or "hath an ear" to this same teaching in order to find complete favor with Jesus? His last admonition in chapter 3 was to hear what the Spirit said to the churches.