Recipients of Revelation
In its entirety, Revelation is addressed to seven very real churches located in the Roman province of Asia in the first century.
The opening paragraph presents the
book as the record of the visions received by John while he was exiled on the
isle of Patmos. Here, it calls itself “the prophecy” in the singular
number, and its contents concern “what things that must come to pass soon.”
Its first recipients would have understood the time reference “soon”
from their perspective.
John was commanded to record
his visions in a scroll, then to send the resulting document to seven churches in key cities of the
Roman province of Asia. In its entirety, it is addressed to these congregations.
Moreover, according to the
promise of Jesus, the one “who reads, and they who hear the words of the
prophecy” will be “blessed.” And John was told to send the “book,”
singular, to the “seven
churches - to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to
Laodicea” - (Revelation
1:1-11).
The book’s first vision includes
seven letters addressed to the “seven churches of Asia.” Each letter includes
commendations, corrections, warnings, and promises specific to its congregation,
and each letter concludes with the admonishment to “hear what the Spirit is
saying to the churches,” plural.
The “churches of Asia”
do not drop out of the picture after the letter to Laodicea. The promises for “overcomers”
in each letter include verbal links to the vision of “New Jerusalem” at
the end of the book. Likewise, the exhortation to “hear what the Spirit is
saying” in each letter also occurs in the central and concluding sections
of Revelation - (Revelation 13:9-10, 22:16).
And the daily struggles of the
“seven churches” with opponents, sin, and deception echo the larger
cosmic battles described in the book’s later visions. For example, the false “prophetess
Jezebel” who “seduces my
servants to commit fornication,” is a local
version of the “Great Harlot, Babylon” who makes the “inhabitants of
the earth…drunk with the wine of her fornication” - (Revelation 2:18-24,
17:1-5).
None of this means that Revelation
is only applicable to the “churches of Asia” or first-century events. At
the time John received his visions, there were more than seven congregations in
the province, plus dozens more scattered throughout the empire. Plural terms
like “churches” and references to saints from “every nation” indicate
a much wider intended audience. However, the original seven congregations
remain a part of that audience. And in the book, the number seven is used
symbolically to signify completion.
Thus, the “seven churches” represent a larger whole, though they are included in it. Likewise, the concluding admonishment of each letter to hear what the spirit is saying to the “churches” also points to this broader audience.
Furthermore, the vision of the
vast “innumerable multitude” of men from every nation celebrating in “New
Jerusalem” certainly envisions something far larger and grander than just
the seven marginalized congregations of Asia. However, those seven churches are
included in that glorious vision, and their members also will find themselves “rendering
divine service” before the “Lamb and the throne” in New Jerusalem.
Ignoring the book’s historical
setting creates significant problems. For example, if the promise to keep the
church in Philadelphia “out of the hour of trial” refers to escape from the
“tribulation” in the remote future, then it has no relevance to the very
congregation that first received this promise. Passages from Revelation
must be interpreted in their historical contexts. What was the imminent “hour
of trial” facing the church at Philadelphia? What was the "throne
of Satan" in the city of Pergamos?
The book uses the real-life
experiences of these first-century churches to set the stage for its visions. Thus,
any interpretation that writes the “seven churches of Asia” out of the
book or pushes them to the side does not take its self-description as a message
for those churches seriously and is doomed to go awry.
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