According to Revelation 1:11, the book was written to seven congregations in Asia, modern Turkey. For 2,000 years scholars have wondered why such an important message would be sent to these churches since they weren’t even the most important of their day, let alone now.
True, Ephesus was a leading city of the time, but the church there was small and so were the others. Why wasn’t the book written to the Church in Rome, for example? Surely the Lord knew that Rome would be the capital of Christianity for much of church history, the perfect addressee for such a timeless message. Or how about Jerusalem, where the Church was born?
Four Levels of Application
The answer lies in the realization that the letters of chapters 2 and 3 have a representative as well as a specific purpose. They can actually be read with four levels of application. The first level is historical. These seven churches really existed and each was experiencing the particular problem to which the Lord referred as He dictated the letters to John. Second, since all the churches were to read all the letters, the letters were also admonitory to all. Third, since both the challenge and promise with which each letter ends are personal rather than corporate, the letters were for individuals as well as congregations. And fourth, read in the order in which they appear they outline church history and so are prophetic. They chronicle the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy. (Daniel 9:24-27)
The Lord began each letter with a different one of the 24 titles that are used to describe Him in the book, and the title He selects gives a clue to the letter’s theme. The name of each Church also contains a clue. Each letter can be divided into seven parts, the Lord’s title being the first one. Then come a commendation, a criticism, an admonition, a call, a challenge, and a promise. Two of the seven letters, Sardis and Laodicea, contain no commendation, and in two, Smyrna and Philadelphia, no criticism is given. Pergamum has no admonition, but has two criticisms. In the last 4 letters the challenge and the promise are reversed.
I’ll dissect each letter into its component parts as we go. And since I visited the sites of each of the seven churches a few years ago, I’ll include a personal note or two as well. With that, let’s get started.
Blessings,
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