The Letters to the Seven Churches (Rev 2:1)
(Rev 1:11 NIV) which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."
Map courtesy of Mike Campbell and is not to be used without his permission
From the island of Patmos you sail to the port of Ephesus and then travel
overland to Smyrna, Pergamum then to Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and finally
to Laodicea.
For my photos of Ephesus see
Images of
Ephesus.
- Commentary on individual churches can be found here:Ephesus, Smyrna , Pergamum, Thyatira , Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea
Introduction to the letters to the seven churches:
The letters to the seven churches are a distinct unit of seven within the book of Revelation. Other sevenfold units are the seven seals, the seven trumpets and the seven bowls of God's wrath. Because the number seven denotes divine completeness as a whole the seven letters form a whole unit which has a message to the church universal; there are more than seven churches in Asia, for example Colossi has been omitted. In 1:11 John is commanded to 'write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea'. In verse 13 we see Christ among the lampstands, that is the seven churches, and in the letters we find out what he observed as he walks among the seven churches (2:1). Our Lord is one who walks among the churches and sees their deeds both good and bad. The seven churches represent the different imperfections that are likely to be found in individual churches in different localities and at different times. The churches give us a template against which we can measure our church in order to see our weaknesses and strengths, he also gives us the remedy for our deficiencies.
In this preliminary section God is judging His church in order to purify it from sin within so that it will be able to stand up to the coming persecution and also so that it will not be condemned along with the world (1 Cor 11:32), see the warning in Rev 18:4 to come out of Babylon lest we share in her sins and her judgement. This judgement is depicted later in the sections of the seven trumpets, the seven bowls, the judgement of the harlot and the day of judgement. Pergamum is warned about the Balaamite teaching concerning idolatry and immorality, Thyatira is warned about the false prophet Jezebel who misleads the church into idolatry and immorality. Laodicea thinks it is rich but actually it is poor, but we find that those whom the Lord loves he rebukes and disciplines. Here God warns the church because the world is infiltrating the church, but later the seven trumpets are warnings to the world to repent of its idolatry and its results which include sexual immorality. The harlot Babylon which seduces the people of the world is herself destroyed by fire.
Smyrna and Philadelphia are both troubled by false Jews who slander her, later we find the 144,000 who are sealed by God to protect them from the seven trumpets, these are the true Jews, the Israel of God, who we later see as a great multitude. Smyrna is warned that a period of Satanic testing is coming and they must be faithful unto death and in 12:17 we find Satan making war against the saints and in chapter 13 we find that the beast from the sea making war against the saints and conquering them. We find that those who would not worship the beast are killed and yet in 15:2 there are those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and his name.
Ephesus was sound in doctrine and persevered under hardship, neither the world or persecution was the problem. However they had lost their first love, for Christ and each other and had therefore almost become sub-Christian. John, as his first epistle makes clear, considers love to be the essential response to God's love; 'We love because God first loved us' (1 John 4:19); 'Whoever loves God must also love his brother' (1 John 4:21). One of the features of the churches witness was that her members love each other (John 13:34-35), it is not an option it is a commandment. God's counterpart to the hatred of the world is to be the love of Christians for each other. The church in Sardis was on the verge of death and was hardly in a position to withstand attack from the world and its values. Similarly the church in Laodicea was in danger of receiving the world's values.
In verse 1:19 he commands John to 'Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later'. The letters to the seven churches form a unit as to 'what is now' and the rest of Revelation concerns 'what will take place later'.
The letters follow a general sevenfold pattern:
- A greeting. To the angel of the church.
- A reference to Christ's self designation from Rev 1:12-19, this has some application to the letter to the church.
- A commendation. I know your deeds... (except in case of Laodicea and Pergamum).
- A rebuke if applicable (except in case of Smyrna and Philadelphia).
- A charge to repent or a warning.
- A call to hear. The phrase 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches'.
- A promise. The phrase 'To him who overcomes' followed by a reference to a reward mentioned later in Revelation.
Dr A T Pierson (quoted by Lang) pointed out that these promises at the end of each letter follow an historical order. The tree of life refers back to Eden; the second death to the fall; the hidden manna to the manna in the desert; the white stone to the engraved stones on the high priest's shoulder and breastplate; the rod of iron to Moses holding the rod of God for the defeat of Amalek (Ex 17:8); the white raiment to the garments of the priests; the pillar in the temple to those in the temple of Solomon; and the sitting on the throne to Solomon's reign in glory and peace.
Lang points out that there are three aspects under which these letters may be considered.
- As a description by the Lord of the state of the seven churches of believers then existing (preterist).
- As a prophetic foreview of the Christian age then commenced and to conclude at the coming of the Lord (historicist).
- As a revelation of the moral characteristics of churches found always throughout the age (idealist).
The first (i) is obvious but these were chosen out of all the churches then existing because these reveal the states of every church in all ages, the number seven, the number of completeness suggests this.
The second (ii) is a widely held belief that these seven church in the order used, foreshadow a progressive development of the church throughout church history.
a. the first letter reveals the beginning of declension in the waning of first love, and the last (Laodicea) shows the final outcome of this in rejection by the Lord.
b. The meaning of the name of each church corresponds to the historic feature of the stage assigned to each.
c. The history of the Christian age has in fact followed the stages thus obscurely outlined in advance.
Trench has given a summary of the history of this interpretation and offers these reasons against it.
i. The Letters themselves contain no hint of a prophetic period sense.
ii. The scheme is not known to the apostolic, the post apostolic or even the following sub apostolic age.
iii. The advocates of this interpretation vary greatly among themselves in their distribution of the periods, examples of which of which divergence are given.
iv. There is no truly accurate correspondence of Letters with periods.
One of the themes that runs through the letters are the promises of rewards to those who overcome. Clearly Jesus is the model of one who overcame (3:21). In Johns first epistle we read of those young men within whom the word of God lives who overcome the evil one (1 John 2:14); those who overcome the antichrist because Jesus within them is greater that Satan (1 John 4:4); those who overcome the world by faith (1 John 5:4). Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:5). In John 16:33 Jesus tells his disciples that in the world they will have trouble but not to fear because he has overcome the world.
The rewards for those who overcome involve a share in Christ himself:
- Will eat of the tree of life watered by the river of life whose source is Christ (2:7).
- Will receive the hidden manna which is Christ the true bread which comes down from heaven (2:17).
- Will share in Christ's authority over the nations (2:26).
- Will walk with Christ dressed in white (3:4).
- Will write on him my new name (3:12).
- Will sit with Christ on his throne (3:21).
The letters to the seven churches are integral to the book because they refer to the vision of Christ and the new Jerusalem at the end of the book. In the letters he prepares and purifies the church so that it can withstand the coming assaults on it by its enemies: Satan, the beast, the false prophet, the world and its seduction which are described in the rest of the book.
Summary of the condition of the churches:
i. Commended with nothing against:
Smyrna: Materially poor but spiritually rich, enduring affliction, slandered and persecuted.
Philadelphia: Open door, little strength, kept his word, had not denied his name, endured patiently.
ii. Commended but with things against.
Ephesus: Hard work, perseverance, have not grown weary, cannot tolerate wicked men but had lost their love.
Pergamum: Live where Satan has his throne, Antipas was martyred, remain true to his name did not renounce their faith, but some hold to teaching of Balaam.
Thyatira: Have growing love and faith but tolerate the false teaching of Jezebel.
iii. Nothing to commend.
Sardis: Reputation of being alive but spiritually dead. Wake-up
Laodicea: Lukewarm, materially rich but spiritually poor, blind and naked. About to be spewed out.
Ramsey notes that the descriptions of the churches in all their imperfection serves to define the limits within which the church may exist, yet all of them are part of the church of Christ despite their imperfections
We can see in the letters to the seven churches examples of how Satan wages war against the church (Rev 12:17). In Rev 13 we see the beast out of the sea who persecutes the church and the beast out of the earth who is the false prophet. This is true to the character of Satan who is a murderer and a liar (John 8:44). In the seven churches we can see how Satan wages war against the church by persecution and slander (lies) from outside and false prophets within.