Living Apocalypse

For the next few weeks I'll be posting on Revelation 2:1-3:22 - the Seven Letters to the Churches - out of my new book Living Apocalypse: A Revelation Reader and A Guide for the Perplexed.

Please join us and share your comments and insights.

General Introduction to the Letters

In the previous chapter we studied 1:1-20. The opening of the Apocalypse has provided us with a magnificient proclamation of blessing to those who read and obey what is testified to and written. John’s prophetic addresses is to the seven churches in Asia, but symbolically to all churches. Grace and peace from God, who was, is, and is to come and Jesus Christ, who has provided redemption and made his followers into a subversive kingdom serving God.

We developed, more extensively, verse 10 and the phrase ‘on the Lord’s Day’. I suggested, against both the traditional and reformation views that we meet together not because of tradition, nor because of social convenience, nor for the practical ordering of the life of the church. The real reason we meet for worship is because of the resurrection of Christ. This is ‘the Lord’s Day’.

Attention was also given to the notion of John’s being ‘in the Spirit’ and the reception of the command to write to the seven churches (see 1:9-20 first vision). In verse 12 John turns to ‘see’, implying here the visionary aspect of what he is now about to describe. We concluded that this majestic vision was of the crucified, risen, and glorified Christ. Many of the Old Testament metaphors that describe God, especially from the book of Daniel, are now used by John in his description of ‘one like a son of man’.

In verses 17-18 the prophet fell at the feet of Christ as though dead, but is told not to fear. The one he sees is the First and the Last—the Living One—the one who was dead, but who now lives forever and ever. Verse 19 includes the command to write what was seen, what is now, and what will take place later. These are not to be taken as statements of time that provide a neat division of the book as often past, present, and future concerns are woven in and through all parts of the Apocalypse. In verse 20 we were given the explanation of the mystery of the seven stars in Christ’s right hand and of the seven golden lampstands among which he is seen (see 1:13, 16). The seven stars are the angels of the churches and the seven lampstands are the churches.

This brief review of chapter 1 leads us into some preliminary considerations on the seven letters—proclamations in chapters 2-3 that are addressed “to ‘the angel’ of the church in ...” We may quickly find ourselves unsatisfied with the previous explanation of the seven stars being the angels of the seven churches. What does this mean? Why are all the letters addressed to an ‘angel’? Are we to think that the churches had some sort of guardian angel? Were these letters addressed to human messengers or leaders, perhaps something like bishops in the churches?

I hope to provide some answers to these important questions in the next post.