Hello, saints! I thought we might start a new series with deep dives into the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches in the book of Revelation!
Let’s begin with a general overview.
Consider what the Lord says to John Rev 1:11, “Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”
The Lord said, “the seven churches which ARE in Asia” and I would suggest that these are not future churches but that they existed at the time. It was John himself who was put in charge of distributing the book of Revelation to those seven churches, which also indicates to me that they had to have existed at the time. Even though this book was written to the seven churches at the time, this book was also designed to be read by all the Tribulation saints. John wrote in Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
This book was written to and for all the tribulation saints. The Ephesian letter was written by Paul to the church at Ephesus, but that epistle was also meant to be read by all of us believers. So too, the book of Revelation was written to the seven churches at the time, but it was also and primarily meant to be read by all the Tribulation saints.
General Thoughts
I doubt that any of our readers would need to be told that the church today, the Body of Christ, is nowhere to be found in these seven letters to the seven churches. If you’re out there and this is news to you and you want to know more, consider this article called “A Proper Biblical View of Israel Today” or get a copy of my book, “Empowered by His Grace.”
Not only is the Body of Christ nowhere to be found in these seven letters to the seven churches, but this is also NOT a history lesson of the church, as some have tried to teach. I loved what Bullinger had to say about this in his Revelation commentary: “We cannot believe that these places are used symbolically of seven successive stages of ecclesiastical history. If they are, what is ‘Patmos’ the symbol of? And how can a Place be a symbol of Time? When one thing is used as a symbol of another, there is always something common to both, by which the Symbol is connected with the thing symbolised… The difference between these Epistles and all other Epistles in the New Testament is so great, that one wonders how it was possible for them ever to be supposed as being addressed to… the members of the Body of Christ!” Amen!
Some have made the point that Paul wrote letters to seven churches. No, he didn’t. He wrote to eight churches. The first seven are easy to figure out. Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians. Those are seven churches. But he wrote to an eighth church also. This is why I say Philemon is the most ignored and overlooked of all of Paul’s epistles. Philemon was not the “personal letter” everyone says it was. Philemon was also addressed in vs. 2 to the church that was in Philemon’s house, which I would argue was in Laodicea, not Colosse.
However, in that collection of Paul’s letters to all those separate churches, we’re given a complete, big picture, spiritual panorama of the Body of Christ as a whole. We’re shown all the issues we need to know, all the admonitions and corrections we need to know, such that we’re given all the necessary information we need to be successful in our walks.
So, too, the seven letters to the seven churches also provides a complete, big picture, spiritual panorama of the kingdom church as a whole with all the issues that the tribulation saints need to know in order for them to all have success in overcoming the tribulation.
We’re going to discover in this new series about these seven churches in Revelation that the Lord is providing a complete spiritual portrait of the kingdom church, which is illustrated by the seven golden candlesticks. Consider Rev 1:12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; Rev 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot… And, of course, the illustration of the seven candlesticks is explained in Rev 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. So the seven golden candlesticks represent the seven kingdom churches.
Notice also what John wrote in vs. 13: “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man…” With the way vs. 13 is worded, I don’t think John’s talking about a menorah. I think we’re looking at seven separate golden candlesticks and the Lord is standing in the midst of those seven candlesticks, perhaps to illustrate that He is the heart, the centerpiece, the central figure, of His kingdom churches. He is the one who built His kingdom church. And these are the seven bright lights of His church. Yet, these churches are also full of problems, which ultimately provides a big picture portrait of the kingdom church as a whole.
The Number Seven
Consider the number seven. There has to be a great spiritual significance to what we’re studying because the number seven is so prominent. Of course, we know that seven is a number of spiritual perfection or completeness or fullness. Bullinger makes the point that in the Hebrew, seven is from the root (savah), which means to be full or satisfied, to have enough of.
“Hence,” he writes, “the meaning of the word ‘seven’ is dominated by this root, for on the seventh day God rested from the work of Creation. It was full and complete, and good and perfect. Nothing could be added to it or taken from it without marring it.”
I would suggest that it may be in the same sense we’re given this portrait of seven churches, both good and bad, because those seven churches provide a complete portrait of the kingdom church as a whole.
Seven in the Book of Revelation
The book of Revelation is filled with the number seven. The tribulation lasts seven years and has 3 sets of seven judgments: the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls or the vials.
Pastor Jordan once gave a general outline of the book, which you can download here. He highlights that from Rev. 12–16, there are seven personages:
- The Woman
- The Dragon
- The Child
- The Archangel
- The Beast out of the Sea
- The Beast out of the Earth
- The Lamb
He also pointed out that there are seven messages in Rev. 14-16
- The New Song
- The Everlasting Gospel
- The Fall of Babylon
- The Warning of Eternal Doom
- The Blessing of the Faithful
- The Harvest of Destruction
- The Announcement of the Seven Vials
There are also the seven spirits before the throne (1:4), which in chapter 5:6 are also represented as the seven horns and seven eyes of the slain Lamb, and those seven spirits are sent forth into all the Earth.
There are also, in chapter 1 the seven stars and the seven golden candlesticks, which represents the seven angels over the seven churches (1:20).
When the two witnesses die and come back to life and are caught up to Heaven in a cloud, there’s a great earthquake afterward that kills seven thousand men (11:13).
There are the seven thunders of Rev. 10. The great red dragon will have seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads (12:3). The Beast out of the Sea also has seven heads (13:1). The woman sitting upon the scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, also has seven heads and ten horns (17:3).
There is also another seven in the book of Revelation that I love dearly. I think it was Bullinger who pointed this out in his commentary. There are scattered throughout the book, seven “blessed is he” or “blessed are they” verses.
We already read the first one. Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
The verse we quote at the opening of many podcasts. Rev 19:9 Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb…
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
The big picture point is that there is enormous encouragement given to the tribulation saints, which brings us to the greeting to the seven churches.
Grace and Peace to the Seven Churches
Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood…
Isn’t it amazing that at the beginning of Revelation, of all books, we have a proclamation of grace and peace to the seven churches? Why is that? How do you explain that?
Notice that this is a proclamation of grace and peace from the entire triune Godhead. We have first grace and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come... That’s not Jesus Christ. He’s mentioned last in vs. 5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness. So the One which is, and which was, and which is to come has to be God the Father. How can that be? How is it that the Father’s coming? If Christ is coming to establish His kingdom on Earth, it’s as if the Father has come as well, because He and His Father are one. The kingdom that’s coming to Earth is the Father’s kingdom. (But I think it’s possible because of Dan. 7:13 that the Father Himself will come down to this Earth for the millennial kingdom.)
We also have the proclamation coming from the seven Spirits which are before his throne. That throne is God the Father’s throne. When we get into the throne room scene in Heaven, which lasts from chapters 4-6, that throne is the Father’s throne, not Christ’s. We’ll read in Rev. 5:6 that the Lamb is actually standing before the throne. So that throne has to be none other than the Father’s. And, as we mentioned last week, I think the Holy Spirit is seven-in-one, Isa. 11:2 being a cross-reference, all of which means that the proclamation of grace and peace to the seven churches comes from the entire triune Godhead.
We’ve made the point, too, that this book isn’t just to the seven churches. Vs. 3 showed us that this is also, and primarily, to all the tribulation saints. Just as we know that when we read at the beginning of one of Paul’s epistles, God and Christ proclaiming grace and peace to all the saints at a certain church, we know that God is also proclaiming grace and peace to all of us as well, by extension. So too, the tribulation saints will read this and know that God is also proclaiming grace and peace to all of them as well. What a message of comfort to read before and during the worst period in human existence!
Why does God proclaim grace and peace to the seven churches and by extension, all the tribulation saints? For the same reasons He extends grace and peace to all of us in Paul’s epistles. Grace and peace isn’t about the circumstances they’re going to endure. Grace and peace is about their standing before God. This is about their eternal security because of their faith. There’s no other explanation for it! This is about them being at peace with God because of their faith and being empowered by His grace to endure the difficult trials before them, which must shortly come to pass.
We also find in the book of Jude, which is a total tribulation epistle, Jud 1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. Anyone who goes through the Tribulation can get saved by faith alone in Christ alone, and they will have eternal security. Their standing before God is nothing but grace and peace, just as the entire triune Godhead proclaims here at the beginning of Revelation. The Tribulation saints, all saved by faith, they will all not only be at peace with God, but they’ll also have great grace upon them, a great empowerment by God through the Spirit to overcome.
General Structure of the Letters
Next, let’s talk about the general structure of the letters to the seven churches. They all mostly follow a similar pattern. Let’s read the first letter to the first church and then talk about how they are all similarly structured.
Rev 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; Rev 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
First, we have here, as we have in all the letters to the seven churches the address to the angel of that church. Then we have the presentation of Christ. In this case with the Ephesians, we have in vs. 1, These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
Then most of the letters continues with a commendation of some kind. In the case of the Ephesians, He commends them for their works, their labor, their patience, their intolerance of evil and dealing with false apostles, and how they’ve not fainted under the pressures of persecution.
That is followed by judgment and spiritual concerns. Their walk is not perfect, and they need to step up. In the case of the Ephesians, they left their first love. Then they’re given admonitions to get them on track again. There is often a call to repentance. Then what follows is a call to listen to the Holy Spirit. And then He gives a promise to all the overcomers. In this case, He tells them, To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life. The promises found in each of these letters are not to the people of the church but to all overcomers.
So generally,we have “angel, write.” Then a presentation of the Lord. An acknowledgement of good works. Then concerns. Admonition to fix the problem. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Followed by a promise to all of the overcomers.
Now that’s the general structure but there are variations. In some letters, the Lord will offer the promise to the overcomers first and then tells the church to listen to the Holy Spirit. Not every letter to every church has commendations for good works. For example, the Lord had nothing positive to say to the churches in Sardis and Laodicea. On the flipside, the Lord had no spiritual concerns at all for Smyrna and Philadelphia.
In these seven letters to the seven churches, we have this spiritual portrait of the kingdom church as a whole. Two who are exceptional. Two who are flat-out failures, and three who are mixed bags. So basically, 30% are exceptional, 30% are terrible, and 40% are mixed bags, spiritually speaking. The fact that the Lord is showcasing them as His seven golden candlesticks, it’s as if He’s pointing them out and saying, “These are the bright lights of my kingdom church, but look at the spiritual state they’re in, which is not great,” which is symptomatic of His kingdom church as a whole. These are the best. Yet, they’re full of problems.
So the Tribulation saints are going to compare themselves to each church, make sure that they avoid the same mistakes, take heed to all the admonitions, and do everything they can to overcome, so they can enjoy the promised rewards.
Here’s the complete list of articles on the seven letters to the seven churches:
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