ANALYSIS OF THE LETTERS

• The introductory words describing some characteristic of Jesus at the beginning of each letter and the promises to the overcomer at the end of each letter all fit into the context of the message that Jesus is giving the individual churches. It is very interesting to note that the description given for Jesus in the letters to the churches tie to either the promise or the warning for each church. It ties to the promises for those churches which have promises made to them and to the warnings for those which do not have a promise. Note that many of the words describing Jesus are repeated from chapter 1.
• Jesus is speaking these words to the church through the Holy Spirit since each letter contains the phrase and command, “Hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” The words were initially spoken by Jesus to John but they are repeated in each generation to each church as Jesus speaks directly to the churches through the Holy Spirit.
• In all seven letters Jesus uses the phrase, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” In all seven it is near the end of the letter. In fact the last four letters end with this phrase, right after Jesus’ promise to the overcomer. However, in the first three letters Jesus places this phrase right before his promise to the overcomer. Why do you suppose Jesus did that? Do you see any other things that separate the first three from the last four letters?
• The promises to the overcomers all pertain to the millennial or post millennial periods.
• Many of the churches had a large contingent who held to false beliefs. How many of them are we certain had this problem from what we told in the letters? Do churches today have the same problem, with many members holding to false beliefs? Can you think of false beliefs that are common today?
• The Nicolatians professed to be Christians but did not live like it; we would call them hypocrites. They are mentioned in the letters to Ephesus and Pergamum.
• The teaching of Balaam from the letter to Pergamum implies that the church was married to the practices of the world.
• Jesus instructs five of the seven churches to repent. What is unique about the two churches that are not told to repent? (No faults are listed for them.)
• Those churches which had no faults listed, Smyrna and Philadelphia, both faced severe trials at the hands of their enemies but remained faithful.
• Philadelphia is the one church which did not receive a warning from Jesus. It is the only church for which the rapture is mentioned as a promise.
• If you look at a map of the area of Asia Minor where the seven churches were located you will see that they follow a rather circular path in the order in which they are presented. It seems to make sense that they would have been delivered to the churches in the order that they were written, beginning with Ephesus.
• Revelation must have been quickly accepted by the churches as authoritative and written by John, since they were widely quoted as authoritative and written by John in several known second century documents.
• These are messages to the church directly from Jesus himself. They are intended for churches of all ages. What specifically can churches of today learn from these letters? Which of these churches, if any, should today’s churches model themselves after?
• The churches in chapters 2-3 were literal first century churches. As an example, Paul wrote a letter to the church at Ephesus and in Col 4:15-16 he told the Colossians to share his letter to them with the church at Laodicea.

SUMMARY OF JESUS’ SEVEN LETTERS TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES AND ANALYSIS OF REV CHAPTERS 2-3