Revelation Chapter 1

VERSE 11 “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

“The words “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and”, are not found in the Sinaitic, which is the only complete text of the three oldest manuscripts. Most modern translations agree that those words should “not” be in the text, and it should read as we see above.

The scroll or book that John was going to write these words into is the book of Revelation that we are studying. It became a part of the canonized text only with great difficulty, since many at the time of the finalizing of the bible wanted to do away with this book, since it was out of harmony with the newly conceived “false” concept (fostered by the apostate church) that they were already reigning over the earth. The only reason that it was decided to keep the book was because many in the early church quoted from it, thus making it difficult to eliminate.”

WHAT YOU SEE, WRITE IN A BOOK:

John is commanded by Jesus to record history in advance —from the perspective of the end of the age (“The Lord’s Day”, our day).”

“John is not only authoritatively commissioned, but actually commanded to record the details of this apocalyptic experience in a book. Furthermore, he is charged with the responsibility of sending that written message first to the congregation at Ephesus, and then successively to the other churches enumerated.

AND SEND IT TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES:

“These seven did, of course, literally exist in Asia Minor. But their use here is symbolic. (See The Study of Revelation Part 27 point #4)

They were likely chosen to symbolize the entire age BECAUSE their names so aptly fit the seven conditions through which the church would progress. (Remember: Places equal conditions in Biblical symbolism.)

The fact that the seven literal Churches form a clockwise circuit along one road seems symbolic of their SUCCESSION in history. When traveling this road, one comes to each Church in the correct order. The literal John did send us (all seven Churches) his written message.”

“The message of Revelation was primarily designed to benefit God’s people progressively throughout the age. Nevertheless, Jesus tells John to send it to seven specific local (or literal) congregations in order to prevent the Lord’s people of the early Church from becoming unduly discouraged. A full realization of the great time lapse before the fulfillment of these prophecies might have been detrimental to the spiritual development of the Lord’s people. On the other hand, an erroneous conjecture that its completion would occur either during their lifetime or shortly after their decease would have a salubrious effect, inspiring them to zeal, energy, and joyous expectation of the imminent fruition of their hopes in Christ.”

We will continue with Verse 12 in our next post.