The question which one may pose to the text is this: what is God doing?
The text states that God gave this revelation, that God is showing what must take place, and that God made this content known by means of an angel. The text gives a noteworthy title to Jesus: the faithful witness. Often texts tell of people who are witnesses to, or witnesses about, Jesus. But in this case, Jesus Himself is the witness. About what, or to what, is He a witness?
Further, the text states that Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth, that He loves us, that He has freed us, that He has made us to be a kingdom, and that He has made us to be priests. Richard Lenski writes:
In Revelation the Apostle John presents the prophetic visions that were given him to see and to hear on a certain Sunday in the year 95 while he was in exile on a the small island Patmos opposite the southern coast of the Roman province Asia, toward the end of the reign of the great persecutor of the church, the Emperor Domitian. The apostle wrote Revelation by the Lord's own order (1:19); divine Inspiration guided his pen.
At the beginning of the text, John states one of the themes which recurs throughout its twenty-two chapters: "He is coming." Jesus is on His way. In the text, God also says of Himself that He is the "Alpha and the Omega," "who is, and who was, and who is to come." God emphasizes His all-encompassing nature in order to contrast Himself with the Roman emperor. While Emperors like Domitian, Nerva, and Trajan might work to project an image of power and authority, they are, in fact, infinitesimal on God's cosmic scale.
God is communicative. He says things; He sends angels with messages. The Greek and Hebrew words rendered as 'angel' in English mean, non-metaphorically, 'messenger' in those languages.
After the introductory chapter come the seven letters to the churches. He praises the deeds of the Ephesian church, saying that the people in that church work hard and persevere; the Christians in Ephesus "cannot tolerate wicked men" and investigate and examine the concepts presented by false teachers. They persevere, endure hardships, and do not grow weary. But, given that all humans are born with original sin, and all humans further commit their own sins, what does it mean, not to "tolerate wicked men"? Perhaps this indicates those who bring nothing positive to the fellowship, but maliciously, or at least negligently, detract from the church's efforts at charity.
To the church in Smyrna, Jesus says, more than once, that He "knows" them and their conditions. He knows their difficulties and knows that they publicly ridiculed. He reminds them, however, that they have received spiritual blessings (cf. Romans 15:27 and Ephesians 1:3).
In Pergamum, Jesus says, His followers are dwelling among great evil, yet remain true to Him. They have not renounced Jesus, even though at least one of them has been martyred.
As in Smyrna, so also in Thyatira, Jesus reports that He "knows" about His people - He knows their deeds, love, faith, service, and perseverance - and that they "are now doing more than" they did at first. The repetition of the theme of 'being known' emphasizes the importance which humans attach to it: people seem to want to know that somebody somewhere is aware of them and of their circumstances, and that somebody somewhere cares about them.
Jesus addresses stern words to the church in Sardis: only "a few people" have remained faithful to Him.
For the church in Philadelphia, Jesus says that He is holding open a door which nobody can shut. His followers in that city have kept His word despite their weakness: the have endured "patiently."
The Christians in Laodicea, Jesus states, are largely useless.
After assessing each of these churches for strengths and weaknesses, Jesus speaks of future blessings. To the Ephesians, "the right to eat from the tree of life." To His followers in Smyra, He says that they "will not be hurt at all by the second death." To those in Pergamum, Jesus promises mysterious blessings: "hidden manna" and "a white stone with a new name written on it." To the church in Thyatira, He promises "authority over the nations" and "the morning star." To His few isolated followers in Sardis, Jesus says that they "will walk" with Him, dressed in white, and that He "will never blot out" their names from the book of life, "but will acknowledge" them before the Father. To the Philadelphians, He promises that each one of them will be "a pillar in the temple of" God, and that He will write on each of His followers "the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven," and that He "will also write on" each of them "my new name." To the Laodiceans, He promises that, if they repent, He will give them "the right to sit with me on my throne."
There is a pattern, for the churches, in the way Jesus speaks: first, an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses; second, instructions, imperatives, and commands; third, promises of future blessings. Some churches have strengths, others have weaknesses, and some have both. The church in Laodicea, which receives the sternest evaluation, also receives the most powerful promise.
Some of the symbolism here is obscure. The hidden manna may evoke the jar of manna preserved in the ark in the temple; the temple having been destroyed by the time of John's writing, this manna would be in an undisclosed location - known only to God. Whether on earth or in heaven, this manna would be God's alone to dispense; if in heaven, it represents the eternal feast. Banquet imagery permeates the entire text. The white stone on which is written a name may represent the follower's new identity; written in stone, it is permanent, and supersedes all other previous identities. To give the morning star as a gift may mean to impart glory; starlight and sunlight symbolize God's glory throughout Scripture.
A group of cousins and siblings, all bearing the surname Zahn, have contributed greatly to textual scholarship. Citing the work of Theodor von Zahn, Richard Lenski writes:
John had lived and labored in and out of Ephesus since the days of the Jewish War which destroyed the Jewish nation. Domitian died September 18, 96. This date makes it necessary to place the visions of Revelation in the year 95. John was not exiled by the emperor himself; he was condemned to exile by the proconsul of Asia, "who would not have been able upon his own authority to punish in this way a preacher of the gospel and an adherent of the Christian faith if he had not felt himself authorized so to act by some decree issuing from the Imperial Government, or some regulation tolerated by it, by which the propagation of the Christian religion was to be checked by the courts or the police," Zahn, Introduction III, 409. How long the exile continued we do not know. There is nothing to prevent us from dating Revelation in the year 96, the actual year of Domitian's death. Nerva ruled until 98, then followed Trajan. John was released after Domitian's death and died during Trajan's reign.
The challenge for the reader, in examining John's Revelation, is to be vigilant against the all-too-human tendency to read legalism into the text. When Jesus cites the strengths of the seven churches, these are not accomplishments achieved by human effort, but rather gifts which have been given to these churches, given by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. When Jesus cites the flaws of these congregations and commands repentance, He is issuing an imperative which human effort can never satisfy; only the Holy Spirit working inside the believer can create obedience. God is never satisfied with human feats. The promised blessings for the churches are not rewards for their exertions, but rather confirmations for the activity of the Holy Spirit in and among them.
A careless reading of John's Apocalypse will yield works righteousness. But the reader must ever bear in mind that the purpose for which the Revelation was given to John was comfort. Legalism does not comfort. Grace does.
