Apocalyptic? #17: Harlotry in the Churches (Rev. 2:12 to 3:6)

 

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus . . . Smyrna . . . Pergamum . . . Thyatira . . . Sardis . . . Philadelphia . . . Laodicea write . . .” 

(The full text of the Letters to Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis is printed in the RSV at the conclusion of this blogpost.)

 

Middle Layer of the Apathy Sandwich:  The PORNEIA Churches:  Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis                                                        

Would you CARE if your church had leaders or even significant factions within it who promoted a government that allowed and even funded the killing of babies and other innocents—both in your own country and throughout the world?  (The Roman soldiers slaughtered children, adults, and the elderly with impunity—even crucifying them outside the city walls and catapulting them against the walls of Jerusalem!  Even so, the High Priestly party in Jerusalem was trying to secretly turn the city back over to the Romans.  John calls this “harlotry” or PORNEIA—committing adultery with the godless government.) 

1.      If you WOULD NOT CARE, you have APATHY, just like the church in Laodicea.   

2.      If you WOULD CARE DEEPLY and WOULD expunge such factions from your local congregation, despite the fact that you would be SLANDERED by the Synagogue of Satan (the members of the church who chose to backstab their fellow Christians in order to claim a religio licita status as Jews), you would be identified by Christ as a GOOD church, such as Smyrna and Philadelphia.   

3.      If you WOULD CARE, but you would TOLERATE such a faction in your church, you land in the MIDDLE of the Apathy-Porneia sandwich, as do the churches at Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis.   

There are certain terms in Jesus letters to the churches of Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis that all fit in the same bin.  They all refer to the same problem:  PORNEIA, Nicolaitans, Balaam, Jezebel, and defiled.  We have already mentioned the fact that both Jesus and the Ephesians hated the works of the Nicolaitans.  Now, we see that Jesus condemns the Nicolaitans in the church of Pergamum in the same breath as he condemns the teachings of Balaam: “But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice PORNEIA.  So you also have some who hold the teaching of the Nicola′itans.”  In other words, those who followed the teaching of Balaam and the Nicolaitans were practicing PORNEIA—i.e., they were “eat[ing] food sacrificed to idols.”  Likewise, the church at Thyatira was condemned because they tolerated “the woman Jezebel, who call[ed] herself a prophetess and [taught and beguiled Jesus’] servants to practice PORNEIA and to eat food sacrificed to idols.”  John equates the Nicolaitans and the Balaamites linguistically by a Hebrew-Greek translation play-on-words.  Balaam (Hebrew) may be translated as Nikolaos (Greek).  They both mean: “he has consumed the people.”  My book Revelation:  The Human Drama (pp. 82-83) explains:

According to Charles:

Balaam = bala am = "he hath consumed the people" . . . while Nikolaos = nikai laon.  Such a play on the etymology of words is thoroughly Semitic.  There is, it is true, no exact equivalent to nikan in Hebrew.  Hence the above can stand.  Furthermore, a comparison . . . which shows that the Balaamites and the followers of Jezebel were guilty of exactly the same vices, makes it highly probable that the latter were a branch of the Nicolaitans.

The “PORNEIA” and “defiled” connection is explained in my book Revelation:  The Human Drama (pp. 82-83):

John's polemic against fornication/porneia both in the church (Jezebel, Balaam, and the Nicolaitans) and in Judaism (Babylon) is probably a polemic against syncretism. Technically, the harlot situation which is confronted in Revelation is one in which there is a fusion of the heroine with the villain.  The "harlot" [PORNĒ] is a "woman" who commits adultery with the "horns" of the "beast."  She is a "woman" who is "seated on" the "beast."  . . . She has, in a Hebrew sense become one flesh with the serpent (through the serpent's synecdochic representative, the beast).

Syncretistic tendencies have been identified by Revelation scholars as the porneia (fornication) of which John accuses Jezebel and Babylon.  Perhaps syncretistic tendencies are an important rationale in John's choosing "Babylon" as the name of the harlot.  John appears to be greatly influenced by the book of Daniel.  The heroes of Daniel are the young men who resist syncretism, once they have been carried away into "Babylon."  They refuse to eat Babylonian food (Dan. 1:8) on the grounds that they would be defiled (summolunô in LXX) by (the syncretistic? act of) eating the king's food.  This is possibly the verse that John had in mind when he spoke in 14:4 of the "virgins" who were not defiled.  John uses the cognate molunô (defiled).

The Babylonians attempt to assimilate the young men into their religion by renaming the young men with Babylonian names, often associated with Babylonian deities. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are renamed respectively Shadrach, Meshach, and Aved Nego (Abednego).  Daniel is renamed Belteshazzar.  Daniel is determined to resist the law outlawing prayer to his God, even if it means incarceration with lions.  The other three young heroes are determined to resist pagan worship, even if it means death in a fiery furnace.  These heroes are models of anti-syncretism.  Even John's literary style in many ways imitates this thoroughly anti-syncretistic book.

"Why," John's favorite Psalm (the 2nd) asks, "do the heathen [Gentiles/goiim] rage?"  "They have plotted together against the Lord and His Messiah," it answers.  All other nationalities are expected to oppose the Lord and His Messiah.  Therefore, syncretism does not matter for the heathen.  They are all united against the Lord and His Messiah, anyway.  Any alliance with these heathen is porneia, for John.  The dragon is not in the important sense syncretistic, because the union of heathen gods, religions, and cultures is not porneia.  Only when Jews or Christians are united with heathen elements is there the type of syncretism which is equivalent to porneia.  The Old Testament harlot, Israel/Zion, is guilty of harlotry only to the extent she seduces and enters into alliances with her heathen neighbors.  The specific identity of the neighbor is insignificant--so long as it is heathen.  Therefore, John, in guarding against porneia, is interested only in this type of syncretism--Jewish (and Christian) alliances with heathen.

I have written more on syncretism in my posts:  Apocalyptic? #7, #10, and #11.  The church at Sardis is referred to by Jesus as a “dead” church, but some hope is still held out for some members of the church:

“Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”

Not being “defiled” means that, while most in the church are dead/defiled, some have not succumbed to the pressure to engage in syncretism.  Although Jesus connects PORNEIA/defilement with “eati[ng] meat sacrificed to idols,” he is doing so synecdochically (see Apocalyptic? #14).  “Eati[ng] meat sacrificed to idols” is only one “part” that represents the “whole” of caving-in to a perverse, anti-Jewish, anti-Christian government or culture.  The Apostle Paul, you will remember, saw no problem with eating “meat sacrificed to idols,” so long as one understands that God is the one who created the meat, and not some idol, and so long as one does not cause his brother to stumble (i.e., by misinterpret one’s eating or drinking something from the marketplace as an indication that one is “worshipping” a false god to whom it has been dedicated).”

I Corinthians 8:4-13 (NIV) states:

⁴ So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” ⁵ For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), ⁶ yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

⁷ But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. ⁸ But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

⁹ Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰ For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹² When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

Jesus is concerned, here, not so much with “eating meat” as he is with making alliances with pagan Rome.  The high priestly party in Jerusalem is called the “harlot/PORNĒ Babylon” not because she “ate meat” sacrificed to idols (she did not), but because she made an alliance with Rome, to secretly work to turn the Jewish state that had rebelled against Rome in 64 A.D. back over to Roman authority.  She had conspired with pagan governmental authorities (Pilate and Herod) to crucify Jesus.  She had committed adultery/PORNEIA with the Beast/Rome!

Likewise, certain parties (Jezebel, the Balaamites, and the Nicolaitans in the churches) and, perhaps, also in the churches, those who said they were Jews but were what Jesus called “the synagogue of Satan” were more intent on serving the Beast/Rome than they were on serving God and Jesus or even helping their fellow-Christians.  J. A. T. Robinson (pp. 207-208) reports, regarding the Neronian persecution of Christians following the Roman Fire of 64 A.D.:

exceptional and dangerous circumstances, involving the betrayal of fellow-Christians . . . [in] the Neronian persecution in Rome.  Describing it, Tacitus . . . spoke of the “information” given by those who confessed which led to the conviction of their fellow-believers.  Clement, reflecting on the same sad story from the Christian side, speaks of “a vast multitude of the elect, who through many indignities and tortures, being the victims of jealousy, set a brave example among [the Christians].  . . . [The Shepherd of] Hermas . . . pictures vividly the various sections under pressure: “As many . . . as were tortured and denied not, when brought before the magistracy, but suffered readily, these are the more glorious in the sight of the Lord; their faith is that which surpasseth.  But as many as became cowards and were lost in uncertainty, and considered in their hearts whether they should deny or confess, and yet suffered, because this design entered into their heart; for this design is evil, that a servant should deny his own lord.”

Even in Asia Minor, where being a Christian might not have cost someone their life in the Neronian persecution, it certainly might have cost one financially.  So, in a move to protect their businesses and business interests, many “Christians” chose to put distance between themselves and the Church.  Perhaps, as a show of good faith to Rome, these “Jewish Christians” even participated in pagan festivals.  It was just good business.  Robinson (pp. 211-212) comments: 

If we ask why now [the Jewish Christians] were . . . “staying away” from assembling with their fellow Christians ([Hebrews] 10:24f.), we may recall that in his description of the [Neronian] persecutions, [the Shepherd of] Hermas speaks of those who “were mixed up in business and cleaved not to the saints”; they “stood aloof . . . by reason of their business affairs . . . from desire of gain they played the hypocrite . . . .  Some of them . . . are wealthy and others are entangled in many business affairs”; and the wealthy “unwillingly cleave to the servants of God, fearing lest they may be asked for something by them.  . . . [T]he Jewish community in Rome had a strong business sense, which was reflected in its Christian members.  Their temptation was to allow racial and economic connections to outweigh the commitment of their Christian faith.  . . . [T]hey sought to shelter under the “protective colouring” of the religio licita [=legal religious status] of Judaism.”

In John’s and Jesus’ terminology, the synagogue of Satan, Jezebel, the Nicolaitans, and the Balaamites sold out their fellow Christians.  Since the Jews were exempt from Nero’s persecution of the Christians—because Judaism was considered an “acceptable religion” (religio licita), many Jewish Christians became—like the high priesthood in Jerusalem—"harlots” who committed PORNEIA with Roman authorities.  Their garments were “defiled” because they chose to be in league with the Beast. 

Before we quickly condemn those “Christians” who chose political expediency over loyalty to Christ in the churches of Asia Minor, it would be wise for us to consider those “Christians” today who (for political expediency) tolerate, vote for, support financially, and generally promote those who want taxpayers to fund the murder of babies, who support rampant sexual deviancy, who shout obscenities at law enforcement officers—all for the sake of physical and/or financial security.  (The issue of “financial security” for those who speak out as Christians in America is exploding in the year 2021.  Many Christians are tempted to stay quiet and allow pagan influences to infiltrate the church.  This is the circumstance of the three PORNEIA churches.)  Would Jesus say to such Christians, today: “Repent, or I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place or I will come to you soon and war against [you] with the sword of my mouth or I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you?”  Or, will Jesus say to Christians today, as he did to the two churches—Smyrna and Philadelphia—at the second level of the sandwich: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life; I will make [you] a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall [you] go out of it, and I will write on [you] the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.”

The Text (Revelation 2:12-3:6)

The Message to Pergamum

¹² “And to the angel of the church in Per′gamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

¹³ “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; you hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith even in the days of An′tipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. ¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality. ¹⁵ So you also have some who hold the teaching of the Nicola′itans. ¹⁶ Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. ¹⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.’

The Message to Thyatira

¹⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Thyati′ra write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

¹⁹ “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. ²⁰ But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jez′ebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her immorality. ²² Behold, I will throw her on a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her doings; ²³ and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. ²⁴ But to the rest of you in Thyati′ra, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay upon you any other burden; ²⁵ only hold fast what you have, until I come. ²⁶ He who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him power over the nations, ²⁷ and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received power from my Father; ²⁸ and I will give him the morning star. ²⁹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

The Message to Sardis

3 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

“‘I know your works; you have the name of being alive, and you are dead. ² Awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. ³ Remember then what you received and heard; keep that, and repent. If you will not awake, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. ⁴ Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. ⁶ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Apocalyptic? #10: They're Digging in the Wrong Place (Rev. 1:4a)

 

⁴ John,

To the seven churches in the province of Asia

 

(Revelation 1:4a NIV)

 

Inside Address and Return Address

                                                                                                                                              

⁴ John  No doubt, this book is written by John—but which John?  Not the same John as the one who wrote the Gospel or the same person as the one who wrote I John, II John, or III John.  This John writes in Greek, but thinks in Hebrew.  Not so for the writer of the fourth Gospel, who writes in very clear Greek, or any of the three letters attributed to John.  The author, a Jewish Christian prophet known only by the name John, was adept at the use of figurative language.  Some Revelation scholars (primarily, source-theorists) believe that the book was written by several different authors.  The frustration associated with reading source-theorists (those who believe the book is compiled by various authors using various sources at various times) is the scholarly consensus that Revelation's unique grammar argues convincingly that it was written by a single author at a particular time.  While earlier fragmentation-based theories (or source-theories) of authorship have survived, the majority view now holds that the work is a unity by one author.  Evangelicals should happily accept this scholarly conclusion:  John is the only author of Revelation.  In I John 1:1-4, the (unnamed) author claims multiple times to have seen, heard, and touched Jesus.  These are apostolic credentials, even though no apostleship is specifically claimed by the author.  The Gospel of John identifies its author as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”: 

“²⁰ Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them . . . ²⁴ This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true” (John 20:20-24 ESV).

The evidence that this disciple whom Jesus loved is the Apostle John is found in John 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, and 21:7, in addition to 20:20.  The author of II John and III John identifies himself only as “The Elder.”  Only in Revelation, of these all so-called “Johannine” writings, does the author identify himself as “John.”  The reader of this blog is certainly free to disagree with me with regard to the authorship of Revelation (it really doesn’t change any part of the perspective I am offering), but I believe that the Gospel of John and I John were written by the Apostle John.  I believe that II John and III John were written by someone (possibly, but not necessarily, named “John”) who was a disciple of the Apostle John and who received a spiritual gift of “eldership” through the laying on of the Apostle John’s hands.  (Note that, according to II Timothy 1:6 and I Timothy 4:14, Timothy received a miraculous spiritual gift of “eldership” by the laying on of the Apostle Paul’s hands.  See my blogpost “The Logic of Christianity 17:  And Batting Cleanup:  The Holy Spirit.”)  John the author of Revelation claims to have the spiritual gift of “prophecy” (which he surely received by the laying on of hands of an apostle [see Acts 8:18], possibly the Apostle John).  All books in the New Testament not written by Apostles were written by individuals with such miraculous spiritual gifts:  evangelists, prophets, elders, etc.  These gifts were administered by the laying on of the hands of apostles; therefore, all of the New Testament books may be called the Apostles’ Doctrine (Acts 2:42).  This is what certifies the infallibility of all New Testament books.  Henry Chadwick, in The Early Church, writes: “Sixty or seventy years later, Ignatius was speaking of Antioch and the Asian churches as possessing a monarchical bishop, together with presbyters and deacons.  In his time, there were neither apostles nor prophets” (p. 46).  Whether the John of Revelation is John the Prophet, John the Elder, or John the Apostle, his testimony is inspired of God (and, therefore, Apostle’s Doctrine) and should be considered infallible by believers.  As a believer, therefore, I reject Adela Yarbro Collins’s assertion that the crisis addressed in Revelation is more perceived than real, i.e., that the writer of Revelation was mistaken in his prophecy.  Prophets who were mistaken in their prophecy were condemned in Ezekiel 13.  Such false prophets were condemned to death by God in Deuteronomy 18:20-22:

²⁰ But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”

²¹ You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” ²² If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken.

John, most certainly, claimed to speak in God’s name (“The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him”) in Revelation 1:1.  How terribly ironic it would be, if John, who states in Revelation 1:3 that what he writes is “prophecy” and who consigns the “false prophet,” along with the Beast and the Dragon to the lake of fire in Revelation 20:10, were himself a false prophet!  Yarbro Collins reaches a conclusion that is too equivalent to the assertion that John was a false prophet, if and when she and so many other Revelation scholars try to place the writing of Revelation in 96 A.D.  My answer, in the immortal words of Indiana Jones in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is: “They are digging in the wrong place!” 

Scholars have recognized TWO possible dates for the Book of Revelation:  96 A.D. and 69 A.D.  Scholars who are digging through the historical referents of 96 have come up empty (if Yarbro Collins is correct in her assessment of the historical situation).  Therefore, in a fresh perspective, I recommend digging through the historical referents of 69 A.D.

 

The issue of whether we date the writing of the book in 69 or 96 also hinges on whether we consider John’s testimony concerning the date of writing to be false or true.  This issue should, therefore, be a no-brainer for Evangelicals.  This issue is phrased by scholars as a conflict between “internal” and “external” evidence for the date of the book.  By “internal,” scholars mean what the author actually claims or appears to claim.  By “external,” scholars mean what others say about the book.  J. Massyngberde Ford (pp. 3-4) asserts that the bulk of internal evidence demands a Jewish milieu, prior to 70 A.D.  Although Adela Yarbro Collins concludes that Revelation was written around 96 A.D., she presents a balanced discussion of the external evidence in dating the book.  Yarbro Collins writes:

 

The earliest witness is Irenaeus [born c. 130 A.D., died c. 202 A.D.], who says that the Apocalypse was seen at the end of the reign of Domitian.  Since Domitian ruled from 81 to 96, Irenaeus' comment refers to 95 or 96.  . . . [Yet,] Irenaeus is not reliable on figures of the first century . . . .

     Victorinus, who . . . died in 303 . . . and Eusebius [born c. 260 A.D., died c. 339 A.D.] say that Revelation was written during the reign of Domitian.  They add that John was banished to Patmos by Domitian . . . .  [Yet,] [c]ommentators have disagreed about whether this tradition of John's banishment is reliable historical information or a legendary motif inspired by Rev. 1:9 . . . .

     A few late sources date Revelation to the time of Claudius [reigned 41-54 A.D.], Nero [reigned 54-68 A.D.], or Trajan [reigned 98-117 A.D.].  These texts show that there were traditions about the date that were apparently independent of Irenaeus . . . .

     Irenaeus' testimony has been questioned recently on the grounds that he believed both Revelation and the Fourth Gospel to have been written by the apostle John.  If Irenaeus was wrong about authorship, so the argument goes, he may have been wrong about the date too . . . .

     Another objection to Irenaeus' dating could be raised on the basis of Domitian's portrayal as the second persecutor, a new Nero . . . .  There is extremely little evidence that this tradition was accurate.  (pp. 55-56)

In fairness, despite some external evidence that it was written before 70 A.D. (during the reigns of Nero or Claudius), the bulk of the external evidence favors a date of 96 A.D.  The internal evidence supplies another story.  Not only does J. Massyngberde Ford (pp. 3-4) assert that the bulk of internal evidence demands a Jewish milieu, prior to 70 A.D., a number of scholars (Charles, Grant, Caird, Bruce, et. al.) would concur that a date between 68 and 70 A.D. to be a possibility. 

What is it internally that demands the earlier date?  Firstly, the most poignant verses in the book for those looking for internal evidence of the date of Revelation are 17:10-11.  Scholars have agreed that the "seven heads = seven kings" refer to Roman emperors.  Hence, calculations ensue in an effort to determine the emperor's reign under which the book is being written.  John states that "five fell, one is, and the other has not yet come."  That places John and his audience precisely in the reign of emperor number six.

Calculations to determine the date of the book look something like this:  It is difficult to see how the head count could begin before Julius Caesar.  If Julius were head one, head six would be Nero who died in 68 A.D.  Since Julius was never officially an emperor, it seems more likely that Augustus is head one, and that Galba who reigned only in 69 A.D. is head six.  Since Tiberius was the first Emperor following Jesus birth, he might be head one in which case Otho who reigned only in 69 A.D. is head six.  Skip Tiberius as head one and you have Vitellius who reigned only in 69 A.D. as head six.  How many heads may be skipped before this clue of John's becomes meaningless?  It appears that John is claiming that the book is being written around 69 A.D.  There are elaborate (forced?) ways of making Domitian equal head six, but it seems much easier to conclude that 69 A.D. is the date John claimed to write.

Secondly, Revelation 11 discusses the measurement of the temple.  Is it possible to speak of measuring the temple after 70 A.D., the year it was destroyed?  Yarbro Collins (p. 65) states that "before 1882, this passage was used to date the book as a whole before 70 [A.D.]"  She points out, "Recently, J. A. T. Robinson has revived the argument that Revelation as a whole was written before 70" based somewhat upon chapter 11.  Yarbro Collins (p. 67) sees that (at least part of) chapter 11 refers to Jerusalem:  "The earthly Jerusalem is referred to later in ch. 11 as Sodom and Egypt, the place where the lord was crucified (v. 8)."

Thirdly, Yarbro Collins (p. 76) offers one more ambivalent piece of evidence:  "Laodicea suffered a serious earthquake in 60/61 [A.D.]  Nevertheless, it is addressed in Revelation as an affluent church.  The earthquake is not mentioned or alluded to in Revelation.  . . . [Yet, t]he fact that the citizens did not need imperial help to rebuild is an indication that a date in the late 60's is not impossible."

If Yarbro Collins and other scholars are unsuccessfully digging for historical referents in 96 A.D., I repeat the Indiana Jones line: “They are digging in the wrong place.”  They need to be digging in the historical events around 69 A.D. 

Who, then, is John?  He is an infallible witness of a message from God and Jesus.

 

To the seven churches in the province of Asia:  Martin Kiddle, in The Revelation of St. John, a vol. of The Moffat New Testament Commentary, p. 216, states that "John's picture of the [devil] is as syncretistic as the pagan religions of Asia Minor.  These seven churches have all been planted in the midst of this syncretistic scene.  Most of the churches have good and bad traits. Those bad traits in the churches are primarily related to the sin of syncretism, which John calls porneia/fornication. The sin of Jerusalem—the harlot/Babylon/pornē—is also syncretism.  She (the Jerusalem High Priestly family) committed adultery/porneia with the Roman Empire.  (Syncretism was defined and explained in my post “Apocalyptic?  #7.) The churches are encouraged to repent from their bad traits so they will be prepared for the awe-full events in the coming Divorce of Israel (also, explained in my post “Apocalyptic?  #7).

 

One can see in the attached map that starting from the Isle of Patmos, the seven churches are in a circular route on the mainland of what is now modern-day Turkey. 

 

The circular route begins with Ephesus, which (along with Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria) was one of the three great cities in the eastern portion of the Roman Empire, according to Ford (p. 388).  Significantly, Ephesus was a key church for the Apostle Paul.  He wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians, in which he praises the church for the “love” they show toward all the saints (1:15).  This may be significant since, in the next chapter in Revelation, they are called out for having forsaken their “first love.”  The Gentiles in the church were called “the Uncircumcision” by the Jews who called themselves “the Circumcision” (2:11).  This may indicate, if not outright opposition, at least some antagonism between Jewish and Gentile Christians, but both seem to be present in this church at Paul’s time.  Nevertheless, Paul seems to indicate that Jesus had accomplished a peace between the two factions (?), so that he could reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity (2:16).  Perhaps, this peace and reconciliation was the “love” which the church in Revelation had forsaken, or perhaps, it was the “love” that husbands should show their wives, as Christ also “loved” the Church and gave himself up for it” (5:25-33).  If the “fornication” of which Revelation accuses the Nicolaitans in Revelation 2:14 is literal fornication (violating the love between husband and wife), this “forsaken” love could be indicated. The final verse of Ephesians suggests another love to which Revelation could be referring: “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible” (6:24 ASV).  That Paul had a loving relationship with the Ephesians is indicated in Acts 20:17-38.  Before Paul returns to Jerusalem in what he believes will be the last trip of his life, he calls for the elders from Ephesus to meet him.  He recounts the prophecies that he has received that he will be carried away into captivity.  At this news, the Ephesian elders “all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him” (20:38 ASV).  Paul spent altogether about three years at Ephesus and had left Aquila and Priscilla there for a while to help the church (Acts 18:18-21).  These two had further instructed Apollos (Acts 18:26).  Paul endorsed Timothy’s ministry in Ephesus (I Timothy 1:3), thanked Onesiphorus of Ephesus for his help, and commissioned Tychicus to Ephesus (Ephesians 6:21-22, Colossians 4:7, and II Timothy 4:9, 21).  While Paul experienced much love in Ephesus, he tells the Corinthians (I Corinthians 15:32) that he had fought “wild beasts” in the city, but that he was being successful (I Corinthians 16:8-9): “for a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.”

 

While we know a decent amount about the early church at Ephesus, from Paul’s time, the Ephesian church is virtually the only one of the seven churches of Revelation that we know much about (other than the information found in the Book of Revelation). 

Colossians 2:1; 4:13-16 does indicate that the Church in Laodicea exists, and even receives an epistle from Paul, but that epistle has been lost. Since Paul instructed the Colossians and Laodiceans to share the epistles sent to each (Colossians 4:16), the Laodiceans would have, at least, been taught the doctrine found in Colossians.  Paul’s companion Epaphras (Colossians 4:12) may have been the founder of the church.  Paul seems not to have visited the church in person. 

The Book of Acts does not state that a church in Thyatira existed, but an influential woman from Thyatira whose name (or nickname) was Lydia was the first European converted to Christianity by Paul (Acts 16:13-16, 40).  She, however, was living in Philippi at the time of her conversion, not Thyatira.  She houses Paul and his company while they are in Philippi, perhaps, serving also as the host of a house church there.  It is certainly not inconceivable that, given her influence and business connections, she may have converted others upon her return visit(s) to Thyatira, but we do not explicitly know of a church in Thyatira until Revelation mentions it.

After Revelation, the church at Smyrna is referenced in writings as the church at which the Christian martyr Polycarp [born c. 69 A.D., died c. 155 A.D.] is a bishop (or elder) nearly 100 years after Revelation was written.  Polycarp attests that Ignatius of Antioch [a contemporary of Polycarp] wrote letters to the Ephesians, Philadelphians, and Smyrnaeans, but the copies of letters that currently exist are either forgeries or spurious or come from a later period in the history of the Church, when there was a single (monarchical) bishop in each church, when the Roman Catholic church was attempting to establish hierarchy in the Church.  In New Testament times, a plurality of elders and deacons were found in each church, not a single-bishop-per-church model.

Probably, as a result of the dearth of information regarding the seven churches of Revelation, “creative” Christian teachers took it upon themselves to posit a “dispensationalist” interpretation of these seven churches.  See the chart below. 

The dispensationalist interpretation of the seven churches is incorrect.  These seven churches were actual historical churches in what is now modern-day Turkey.  Since we know little about the churches other than Ephesus, however, we will consider what we know about the cities themselves and what is implied or stated concerning the churches in Revelation as we interpret. It is quite likely that many Jewish Christians from Judea traveled to the region of Asia Minor, especially after escaping from Jerusalem before the seven-year war of 66 to 73 A.D. between the Jews and the Romans.  Revelation is concerned more with the problems surrounding Jerusalem at this time than with the religious circumstances of Asia Minor.

BOTTOM LINE:  1.  Whether the author is John the Apostle or John the Prophet, he is still inspired and his writings are infallible.  2.  The seven churches, even though we only know much about the church in Ephesus, are all historical churches existing in 69 A.D.  Dispensationalism should be ruled out.