Revelation 1:9-11

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

 Ἐγὼ Ἰωάννης, ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὑμῶν καὶ συγκοινωνὸς ἐν τῇ θλίψει καὶ βασιλείᾳ καὶ ὑπομονῇ ἐν Ἰησοῦ, ἐγενόμην ἐν τῇ νήσῳ τῇ καλουμένῃ Πάτμῳ διὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν Ἰησοῦ. ἐγενόμην ἐν πνεύματι ἐν τῇ κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ, καὶ ἤκουσα ὀπίσω μου φωνὴν μεγάλην ὡς σάλπιγγος λεγούσης· Ὃ βλέπεις γράψον εἰς βιβλίον καὶ πέμψον ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἐκκλησίαις, εἰς Ἔφεσον καὶ εἰς Σμύρναν καὶ εἰς Πέργαμον καὶ εἰς Θυάτειρα καὶ εἰς Σάρδεις καὶ εἰς Φιλαδέλφειαν καὶ εἰς Λαοδίκειαν.

John introduces himself as the author of the book of Revelation (though the content of the revelation was given from God to Jesus to an angel to John as per the earlier verses in Rev. 1). He identifies himself as a fellow brother of the saints in the seven churches, and also as a fellow partner in the tribulation that these churches are going through. It is fascinating to note that Jesus warned His disciples about a coming tribulation in their lifetime that will signal the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:29-30):

“Immediately after the tribulation (θλῖψιν, thlipsin) of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

As discussed in the verses prior to this section, Jesus stated in Matthew 24:34 that “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” It would appear that this tribulation that Jesus prophesied is now upon the saints, meaning that the coming of the Son of Man is near. It is not surprising therefore that the following blog post will cover Rev. 1:12-16 which describes John’s vision of the Son of Man.

John is not only a partner in the ongoing tribulation, but he is also a partner in the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus. As discussed before, Christ has made the saints a kingdom of priests to God the Father. However, the saints must endure the ongoing tribulation and overcome together with the Lamb. The theme of overcoming as conquerors in Christ permeates the book of Revelation. Just as John is enduring patiently, there is a subtle encouragement to the saints to endure together with him.

John reveals that he was on the island of Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, meaning that he was placed there as a form of punishment because of John’s own witness to the “witness” of Christ. The island of Patmos is about 40 miles or 64 km from the mainland of Asia Minor, where the seven churches addressed in Revelation are located. This was where Rome exiled political criminals and John might have been forced to do some kind of manual labor during his exile, perhaps mining in the caves. As a side note, if John was in fact forced to do strenuous manual labor as punishment, it would make more sense for John to be in his mid-50s (if he was in his 20s at the time of Christ’s crucifixion as per some traditions) (if Revelation was written around AD 64-66) rather than in his mid-70s (if Revelation was written around AD 95).

The fact that John wrote that he “was in the Spirit” means that he was well aware that he was experiencing a prophetic vision by the power of the Spirit. The reference to the Lord’s Day appears to mean that John received this revelation on Sunday, which came to be known as the Lord’s Day because Christ rose from the dead on Sunday. The significance of the Lord’s Day could be the fact that the new covenant, and the new creation in connection with the new covenant, was theologically inaugurated when Christ rose from the dead. Since the content of Revelation appears to have something to do with the historical inauguration of the new covenant and the new creation, it would make sense for the vision to be given on the same day as Christ’s resurrection.

However, some commentators have suggested that the significance of τῇ κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ (tē kyriakē hēmera) has to do with the OT usage of ἡ ἡμέρα [τοῦ] Κυρίου, which is used for historical local judgments from Yahweh upon evil peoples/nations. Even though other commentators object to this connection because the OT never refers to the day of the LORD with the exact construction that John uses here in Revelation, I think this connection might be possible at least in light of the overarching theme of judgment upon an evil people/nation [Israel] from Yahweh.

John then hears a loud voice like a trumpet speaking to him, instructing him to write down what he sees in a book and to send that book to the seven churches. In the subsequent passage, readers will discover that the one speaking to him is none other than Jesus, described as the Son of Man. John must write down what he sees, which turns out to be the entire content of Revelation. Readers should recall at this point that the seven churches are exhorted to hear and keep what is written in Revelation, for the time is near. What John sees and what he wrote down has to do with events that are in the near, immediate future for John’s audience, not about things thousands of years down the road which have not been fulfilled. The only exceptions to this hermeneutical rule is if the context demands that something is to be fulfilled in the far future, such as in Revelation 20 when Satan is to be released after the thousand years are up. The rest of Revelation should have something to do with the present and ongoing circumstances of John’s audience and their near future.

The seven churches are listed in approximate order of increasing distance from Patmos, and also in the order in which the churches are addressed in Rev. 2-3: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. I will provide some historical background for each church as we interact with the respective verses addressed to each of them. For now, it will suffice for readers to know that it is safe to assume that the primitive church mostly comprised of Jewish Christians who came out of Judaism and Gentile Christians who might have converted to Judaism first (and became God-fearers) and later converted to the Christian faith. Therefore, most of the saints in the seven churches came out of Judaism and were most likely being pressured to return to Judaism, as can be seen in the books of Acts, Galatians, and Hebrews, at the least. In fact, since Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple and even told the high priest and his fellow Jewish leaders that they would see the Son of Man coming on the clouds, the Jews might have been mocking and ridiculing Christians, taunting them in light of the fact that their temple still stood and no “coming” of the Son of Man has taken place so far.

“The Christians’ so-called King has made false prophecies! He was wrong! He was a fraud, a fake Messiah! So now, come back to Judaism, the true religion of Abraham!”

These kinds of comments, together with real persecution from the Jews, including excommunication from the temple and the local synagogue, meant that Jewish Christians were literally exiled from their respective societies. We shall see later in Revelation that this impacted the saints’ economic ability to purchase and sell goods.

This general background to the seven churches is helpful to keep in mind when we dive into the seven letters in Rev. 2-3. Additional historical information will be provided for each particular church in its rightful place.

Soli Deo gloria!