Seven Letters to Seven Churches - Pt 1

 

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. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” 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.” (Revelation 1:4–11 ESV).

 

I’m always a bit unsure of the “next” in the Morning Devotionals. My hope is that I will choose passages that will bring all my readers encouragement and hope in their individual journey. So, with that in mind, I have decided to look at each of the seven churches of Asia that John delivers “letters” to in His “Revelation of Jesus Christ.” He opens the book with a prologue, a letter-style greeting, and John's vision of Jesus among the seven churches. John writes from exile on Patmos, likely a Roman penal colony, for his work as a Christian missionary. This opening vision of Christ lays the groundwork for the messages to the churches in the next parts of the book (cf. Revelation 1-3).

 

Theologically, the first chapter and our reading today presents Jesus with titles that belong to God. When Jesus calls himself "the First and the Last," he uses the title that identifies deity, affirming his own divine nature. He is also the "firstborn from the dead," a comfort for Christians who might soon face death for his name. For application, Jesus appears among the lampstands, which represent the seven churches, suggesting his presence with his people. Above all, God is still in control and will conclude history the way he promised. Because all history is in God's hands, his people need not fear.

 

We should also remember that “seven” is often symbolic. However, in this case, it appears that the letter is literally sent to seven churches but also that it is symbolic of the letter being sent to the whole world. John would have understood the scope of his reach with the letter and uses seven to mean whole or complete also. These seven churches are mentioned in the order in which they occur along the road. Presumably, given the cost of creating texts (the best estimates are that a gospel would cost something like $600 in today’s money to reproduce) and the poverty of most of the congregations would necessitate that one copy of the letter would make the rounds from city to city. Accessibility to Scripture was nothing like our experience today. Think about this from the perspective of an individual member of the Christian congregation in one of these cities: you would probably hear the letter read a few times (in its entirety) and then the letter would be on its way and you would never have any contact with the text again. This may be one of the reasons for the vivid visual images in the letter. It is an understatement to say that they stick in the mind, and you would presumably be able to visualize and ponder them over the months ahead.

 

That brings me to a request as we go forward over the next few days. Please read the first three chapters of Revelation as often as you can. Make some notes with questions or comments that need clarification. Send those to me in comments or messages and I will do my best to answer them also.

 

Remember most of all, while there is a sense of judgment and peril attached to these images, believers have already overcome every experience that we might face, including death itself because of the work of Christ on our behalf!