Revelation Letters Intro

At the beginning of the book of Revelation, John includes epistles (letters) to the seven churches in Asia.  Over the next several weeks, I will examine these letters.  I want to see why they were written at that time and draw comparisons to the Church today.

This type of blog entry (introducing a series) is not always fun to write.  However, it is necessary to lay the groundwork for the entire series.

First, it should be noted that John writes the entire book as a letter to the seven churches.  His salutation reads:

John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. (Rev. 1:4-5a ESV)

John further tells us that the Lord instructed him to write and send this book to the churches:

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” (Rev. 1:10-11 ESV)

These seven churches are on a route that someone might visit, or even send a circular letter to.  John was exiled to the island of Patmos, so it seems that the letter would make its rounds starting from Ephesus.

John wrote this book as a letter to all the churches, but in chapters 2-3 he wrote messages to each individual church.

Each message he sends to these churches follow a particular format:

1. Christ is identified
2. Jesus offers a commendation
3. Jesus rebukes the church
4. Jesus offers a reward to the “one who overcomes.”

The “overcomer” is translated several ways, depending on which version of the Bible you are reading.  Some say, “the one who overcomes”, “the one who conquers”, “the one who is victorious” or some other variation.

One other thing to note is that Jesus intends for these messages to apply to everyone, not just the church it was originally sent to.  In each message, He says some variation of: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

I’ll start with the first message in a couple of days, the letter to the church at Ephesus.