I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. It said, “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
“Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen. This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Revelation 1:1:9-11, 19-20
Once again, it is all quite simple and straight forward to this point. John has been given a vision and told what to write on the basis of what he has seen and heard. He is then told to write what he saw and heard in a book and send it to the seven churches mentioned. In simple terms what he was to write filled a book but it was sent as a letter. He was also told which churches to send it to.
The repetition at the end of every introduction is “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.” This statement is what concludes each introduction to each church. Did you notice that “churches” is plural? Every church received the message sent to each church. They all read, or more likely heard, the letter sent to all seven churches! These were not individual letters addressed to seven different churches. It was in fact a communiqué sent to all seven. Actually it was likely sent beyond the seven churches as I will address shortly. But the point I am making at this stage of the Gem is all people in all seven churches heard the message sent to everyone. All believers were part of the same body. The whole Christian community received the same message. i.e. all believers heard each others’ mail read out.
The refrain “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches” is there at the end of each introductory statement to each church. [Rev 1:11 and 19 is followed by 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13 and 3:22.] Each church was to know what was in each churches’ mail. The message to all seven churches was sent to all so they could learn from what was said to each church and subsequently to each church member.
There are some commentators who have suggested the idea that John should have moved on to Revelation 4:1 after writing 1:19-20. In other words
“Write down what you have seen—both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen. This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. . . Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it.
Revelation 1:19-20, 4:1-2
No, no! A thousand times NO! To do that would be to lose both the application of it all and to skip over the relevance to the NOW. The reference to: ‘What things are now happening before that things that will happen’ in verse 1:19.
Let’s stop and reflect on the relevance to the churches in John’s time and even us moderns, two millenia into the future.
Some of you have asked me why the seven churches are set in the order they are. Allow me to address that question with the help of the map below.
Does the map help you to answer your own question, if you have asked that same question yourself? I am sure if you look carefully at the map you will know why the cities and towns are in the order they are. Starting with Ephesus and moving in a clockwise direction you will see the cities were in the same sequence such that if one were to take a journey around the region covering all places named they could all be contacted in sequence on the same trip. Much has been made of the fact that when John was released from Patmos he returned to Ephesus. But don’t forget that John’s journey over this area was in the Spirit while he was held in Patmos. Notice the proximity of Patmos to Ephesus. Notice too the location of Nicaea which I have marked. This is the centre where the Council of Nicaea was located, but that is another story.
The distance between Ephesus and Smyrna is 64 kms, Smyrna to Pergamum is 80 kms, Pergamum to Thyatira is 64 kms, Thyatira to Sardis is 48 kms, Sardis to Philadelphia is 48 kms while Philadelphia to Laodicea is 64 km. Normal walking pace is 5 km an hour; 3 kph is slow and 7 kph is a fast pace. That gives you an idea of how much time you would take to travel to and from each of those towns and cities. You can work it out for yourself. For many of us we are not used to walking. But in John’s day most people walked on an overland journey.
Why were those seven cities and towns chosen? Especially when Thyatira and Philadelphia were small towns and not large cities. Why weren’t Assos and Troas chosen? Well actually it was the Holy Spirit who chose the places to send the letter. However, think on this. The first three centres were on a normal route to connect to the hinterland and Pergamum. Pergamum was the central hub for the northland inland route to the interior. Each of these towns and cities were the stepping off point to reach the interior region from each centre. Thyatira was the location from which to reach the North Eastern interior. Sardis was the access point for the middle Valley of Hermus, while Philadelphia was the route to take to gain access to into Upper Lydia. Laodicea was the access point to the Central Phrygian region through the Lycus Valley. These seven centres were ideal staging points to spread the word through their immediate region and from there to the rest of the Roman Province of Asia.
There were many other towns and cities in addition to those listed. Another road from there connected Pergamum with Cyzicus. Philadelphia was connected by road to Dorylaeum, while through Laodicea one had access to Apamea, Synnada and Cibyra. Ephesus was connected by the Great Road which passed through Magnesia and Tralles through to Laodicea. From Laodicea one could cross Galatia and Cappadocia and ultimately reach to the Great Euphrates. This circular Roman network proved strategic for reaching the rest of Asia.
Not only was the geography significant but the history of the area and the events that had taken place there were relevant too. After having gained some insight to the background of the region we will gain a better idea of why John made comment about certain events and people who lived in each of these areas. We will examine each of these seven churches in detail one by one in the following Gems. Kevin has asked the question related to the fact that John was told to write to the angel over each church. Although the message was meant for human beings, the guardian angels in each place would be the ones to keep watch on the people and respond to their prayers. Don’t forget that Jesus, the Son of Man, was standing in the midst of the lampstands. The angels are the stars and the lampstands are the churches. The Holy Spirit broods over his church and looks to see if they are carrying out their role. The multiple eyes are ever alert and watching.
It was God Himself who chose which churches were to receive the letter John sent. I am so glad John wrote and sent it; it was quite a feat.
Ian
Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.
Nelson Mandela
Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace.
Jerry Bridges
Most people don’t get beyond their first revelation. They enshrine it, build a fence around it and stay put. I am so glad John followed up by doing what Christ had shown him. Aren’t you?
Ian