The time period and place of residence, in which John obviously, would be the Island of Patmos, but that came from Roman punishment. John's residence previous to and following Patmos, must have been Ephesus. The years 68-70AD or certainly during the siege of Jerusalem because the Romans would build a siege wall around the sieged fortress or city--which they did to Jerusalem. The Apostle John, obligated to the care of Jesus's mother Mary would not have escaped from Jerusalem in those desperate years. Jesus had warned them "when you see the city surrounded by armies flee into the hills..."
Author Prof. J. Dwight Pentecost brings out in his book "Section the Three, Prophecies of the Present Age," some good material on Revelation's seven churches. (pp. 150-163)
Material from Pentacost's book offers some large interpretations for this particular difficult part of Revelations.
Revelation's chapter two to three have been viewed in numerous ways. Usually, this affects the chronology someway; attaching meaning to the church's presentation sequence to mean traversing the entire church history, or this sequence having a more restricted or no meaning at all, being merely the geographical location of the local community of the church. Thus giving the reader some meaning or message from God's exhortation of the church's contemporary behavior.
The writer, Pentacost, not only offers all of that above plus much more. He writes"
"The time period of Revelation: two and three. John, in the book of Revelation, is writing concerning things that were past, things that are present, and things that are future (Rev. 1: 19).
(I believe this pictures trends when looked at in a chronological sequence, these trends may draw from overlapping previous trends.)
Dr. Walter Scott (Exp. of The Rev. p.213) writes:
The great divisions of the book are here written for the instruction of the Church of God.
"What thou hast seen" refers to the vision of Christ just beheld (verses 12-1g6). "The things that are" refer to the several successive, broadly-defined features of the professing Church and of Christ's relation thereto, till its final rejection, not yet accomplished (chaps. 2 and 3).
"The things that arc about to be after these things." In this third division, the world and the Jews, and, we may add, the corrupt and apostate Church, i.e., that which is to be "spued out," are embraced in this strictly prophetic part of the Apocalypse (4-22: 5).
Nothing has more contributed to throw discredit on prophetic studies, than the erroneous principle on which it has been sought to interpret this book.
Here is the key for its interpretation hanging on the door; take it down, use it, and enter in. There is simplicity and consistency in apportioning the main contents of the book to :1 past, 2 present, and 3 future.21
It would seem evident, then, that John, in writing to the seven churches, is depicting this present age from the inception of the church to the judgment of the apostate church prior to the second advent. Thus the period of time covered by these chapters would essentially parallel the period covered by Matthew's chapter thirteen."
Pentecost constructs a comparison of Matt. 13 and Rev. 2-3--see my page 1 of this blog.
Matt. 13, of course, consists of parables of the Kingdoms "of God" and "of Heaven." The link between the Kingdom of Heaven and the church is that Jesus's later interpretation: Jesus is the planter of the "good seed." (Matt. 13:37-39). Matt. 13:38-41 raises some theological questions. Obviously, in this parable, there is only one growing season from the planting of the seeds to the harvest of the mature plants--further evidence to this being only one season is the waiting until the maturing of the plants before harvesting. (Matt. 13:28-30) The harvesting which is "the of the world." (Matt. 13:39, 40)
"The purpose of plants.f God and of writing of the seven letters may be suggested, Heaven.
1. John is to seven local congregations in order to meet the needs of these individual assemblies. Pember says: '1'111'1"1' "There can be no doubt that these letters were primarily intended for the communities to which they are inscribed, and deal with :1I actual circumstances of the time.
There would be, then, a direct historical application of what is recorded to each of the seven churches, (bearing in mind the previous trends are still present and may havte some overlapping effect.)
THE SEVEN CHURCHES ARE AT JOHN'S WRITING EXISTANT
Seiss pp151
b. These letters would reveal the various kinds of individuals and assemblies throughout the age. Seiss states it thus:
". . . the seven Churches represent seven varieties of Christians, both true and false, Every professer of Christianity is either an Ephesian in his religious qualities, a Smyrnaote, a Pergamite, a Thyatiran, a Sardian, a Philadelphian, or a Laodicean. It is of these seven sorts that the whole church is made up ....
. . . every community of Christian professors has some of all the varied classes which make up Christendom at large . there are Protestant Papists, and Papistical Protestants; sectarian anti-sectarians, and partyists who are not schismatics; holy ones in the midst of abounding defection and apostasy, and unholy ones in the midst of the most earnest and active faith; light in dark places, and darkness in the midst of light.
I thus find the seven Churches in every Church, giving to those Epistles a directness of application to ourselves, and to professing Christians of every age, of the utmost solemnity and importance.23
Pember says:
"... when taken together, they exhibit every phase of Christian society which would ever be found in the various parts of Christendom, and so enabled the Lord to give comfort, advice, exhortation, warning, and threatening, from which something could be found to suit any possible circumstance of His people till the end of the age,24
Thus, there would be a spiritual application, in addition to the historical interpretation.
c. There is a prophetic revelation as to the course of the age in the letters. Pember states: "In the order in which they were given, they foreshadowed the successive predominant phases through which the nominal Church was to pass, from the time when John saw the vision until the Lord came."25 The seven churches, which were only seven of many which John could have chosen to address, seem to have been specifically chosen because of the significance of their names. Ephesus means "be loved" or perhaps "relaxation." Smyrna means "myrrh" or "bitterness." Pergamos means "high tower" or "thoroughly married." Thyatira means "pereptual sacrifice" or "continual offering." Sardis means "those escaping" or "renovation." Philadelphia means "brotherly love." Laodicea means "the people ru1in~ speaking" or "the judgment of the people.'?" The names them selves suggest the succession of the development of the periods within the age.
Concerning this development Scott writes:
Ecclesiastical pretension and departure from first love characterized the close of the apostolic-period-Ephesus (2: 1-7).
Next succeeded the martyr-period, which brings us down to the close of the tenth and last persecution, under Diocletian-Smyrna (2: 8-11).
Decreasing spirituality and tncreasing worldliness went hand in hand from the accession of Constantine and his public patronage of Christianity on to the seventh century-
Pergamos (2: 12-17). The papal church, which is Satan's masterpiece on earth, is witnessed in the assumption of universal authority and cruel persecution of the saints of God. Its evil reign covers "the middle ages," the moral characteristics of which have been well termed "dark." Popery blights everything it touches-
Thyatira (2: 18-29). The Reformation was God's intervention in grace and power to cripple papal authority and introduce into Europe the light which for 300 years has been burning with more or less brilliancy. Protestantism with its divisions and deadness shows clearly enough how far short it comes of God's ideal of the Church and Christianity-
Sardis (3: 1-6) Another Reformation, equally the work of God characterized the beginning of last century.
PhiladeLphia (3: 7-13). The present general state of the professing church.
the professing Church which is one of lukewarmness is the most hateful and nauseous of any yet described. We may well term the last phase of church-history on the eve of judgment, the christless period-Laodicea (3: 14-22).
Note that the history of the first three churches is consecutive; whereas the history of the remaining four overlaps, and then practically runs concurrently to the end-the Coming of the Lord.s"
While these seven epochs are seen to be successive, it is im portant to observe that the succceding epoch does not terminate thc preceeding one. Pember well observes:
"The number of parablcs [in Matthew 13] and of epistles is seven, that numbor being significant of dispensational completeness: and, in each of the two prophpecies, we apparently have set before us seven successive phases or characteristic epochs .... which embrace the whole ... , these epochs commence in the order in which they are given; but any of them may overlap that which succeeds it, or even extend its influence, in a greater or less degree. to the end of the age."28
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the state
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Hid
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Sardis
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escaping
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Reformation chJll:<h ]
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The last
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True church of
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Pearl
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Brotherly Philadelphia love
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days
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the last days
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Dragnet
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Laodicea
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People ruling
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Last days
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Apostasy"
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It is not intended to infer that there is an identity in the revelation in the two passages, rather, that there is a similarity in the progress of the course of the age as revealed in the two portions.
