What Is the Significance of the 7 Churches in Revelation?

Last updated on: August 23, 2017 at 8:20 am by Brandon D. Smith

What Is the Significance of the 7 Churches in Revelation? 2017-08-23T08:20:32-05:00 Brandon D. Smith

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The seven churches whom Jesus addresses at the beginning of the Book of Revelation have been used in a variety of ways: to diagnose current local church issues, to illuminate historical backgrounds of their cities, etc. While these applications or studies aren’t necessarily wrong or useless, Richard Bauckham discusses their significance in relation to the rest of John’s Apocalypse in The Theology of the Book of Revelation (pp. 121-125):

1. They are judged on the basis of truth. “The churches are commended for not denying (2: 13; 3:8). They are reproved for having a false reputation which hides the truth of their condition (3:1) or for deceiving themselves about their condition (3:17).”

2. They are called to repentance and warned of judgment. “[W]hen Christ, in his relentless knowledge of the truth, has something against a church, the consequence is the alternative: repentance or judgment (2:5, 16; 3:3, 19).”

3. They are shown that Christ is the ‘faithful and true witness’ of divine judgment. “They characterize him as the one who gives truthful evidence. Those who accept his evidence against them repent. It proves salvific. To those who reject it, the evidence itself becomes their condemnation. The witness becomes the judge (cf. Jer. 42:5 with Rev. 3:14).”

4. They parallel Revelation’s depiction of a world ruled by Satan and the beasts. For example, “a church which listens to the Nicolaitans or imitates Babylon cannot bear faithful witness to the truth and righteousness of God. The churches must be exposed to the power of divine truth in the Spirit’s words of prophecy, if they are to be the lampstands from which the seven Spirits can shine the light of truth into the world.”

5. They are offered eschatological hope. “Whether a church’s need is for repentance or simply for endurance, all are invited to ‘conquer’ so that they may inherit the eschatological promises. The Spirit’s prophetic ministry is both to expose the truth in this world of deceit and ambiguity, and to point to the eschatological age when the truth of all things will come to light.”

Bauckham hits on an important theme here. The churches aren’t merely an introduction removed from the rest of the story. There isn’t a break from their chapters to the rest of the book. Rather, they are a practical, on-the-ground illustration of the events surrounding Christ’s return.

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