END OF TIME PROPHECIES 017

"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."                                   Revelation 1v11

The voice of the risen Christ said to John  "what thou seest write in a book."   This is expanded in verse 19 and the threefold command to write becomes the division of the entire book.  

• Write the things which thou has seen:    This refers to the vision of verses of chapter 1 v 12 - 18 and may also refer back to the gospel of John and the epistles of John.   Particularly in John's first epistle he says the following;  " that which ......... we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life.   The apostle John was witness to His public life, to His crucifixion, to His resurrection, to His ascension, and now to His exaltation.   The theme of Revelation chapter 1 comes under the heading  "the things which thou has seen." 
• Write the things which are:      This refers to the church age of which John was part and covers chapters 2 & 3 of Revelation, describing not only churches in existence then, but a prediction of the course of church history until the end of the age of grace.   The phrase  "this present age " is distinct from " the age to come "
• Write the things which shall be hereafter:      This commences in chapter 4v1 and continues to the end of the book.   This interpretation is made clear by the ending of chapter 4v1 which describes  " the things which must be hereafter. "  

Thus the book of Revelation must be understood like this:

chapter 1  - the vision of the glorified Christ; 

chapters 2 - 3  -  The role of Christ in the church age; 

chapters 4 - 22  -  the role of Christ after the church age.

The command to write to the seven churches in Asia is interesting.   Asia means "slime or mire."   The churches stand for God in what is spiritually speaking a slime pit.   the names of the churches are also interesting and give some idea of their weaknesses and strong points as they stand to be a testimony for God.

• Ephesus means desirable but had left her first love and portrays loveless orthodoxy.
• Smyrna means myrrh and is the symbol of suffering - this church under went severe persecution.
• Pergamos means marriage and represents the church being wedded to the state.
• Thyatira means incense, but the fragrance had gone bad because of severe moral departure.
• Sardis means remnant and portrays the nominal church in which only a few were truly saved.
• Philadelphia means brotherly love and refers to a small recovery of true Christian love, but which only had a little strength.
• Laodicea means the right of the people and represents a church where people were in control and not the Lord.  

Of all the churches mentioned above only Philadelphia stood the test of time.   Trouble and failure was the order of the day and we should expect nothing less or more; yet we shall see there was something for God in all of them since they are described as "the seven golden lampstands."