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The apostle Joh begins by telling the church how it ought to live. He tells each church the special reward believers will receive for living holy lives that are pleasing to the Lord. Then he enters into an extensive description of the tribulation that fulfills many Old Testament prophecies, as well as Jesus’s Olivet discourse. This section also describes God’s dealing with Israel after the church has been raptured and the times of the Gentiles have end. This leads to Christ’s millennial kingdom on earth, followed by the judgment of unbelievers and the transition into the new heaven and new earth – the eternal state in which believers will be with the Lord forever. 

I want to look particular to the Church of Laodicea. But let say this first, these seven letters have a threefold interpretation and application:

1. Contemporary—they had a direct message to the local churches of John's day. I intend to take you to the location of these seven churches in these next two chapters. I have visited the sites of these churches several times, and I want to visit them again and again, because it is such a thrill and because it brings me closer to the Bible. You can get closer to the Bible by visiting these seven churches than you can by walking through the land of Israel. The ruins have an obvious message. John was writing to churches that he knew all about. In The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia Sir William Ramsay said, “The man who wrote these seven letters to the seven churches had been there, and he knew the local conditions.”

2. Composite—each one is a composite picture of the church. There is something that is applicable to all churches in all ages in each message to each individual church. In other words, when you read the message to the church in Pergamum, there is a message for your church and a message for you personally.

3. Chronological—the panoramic history of the church is given in these seven letters, from Pentecost to the Parousia, from the Upper Room to the upper air. There are seven distinct periods of church history. Ephesus represents the apostolic church; Laodicea represents the apostate church. This prophetic picture is largely fulfilled and is now church history, which makes these chapters extremely remarkable.

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