The Seven Oracles of Jesus to the Churches of Asia
An Overview
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Have you ever thought about what Jesus might say to the Church today?
Over my sixty-three years of life, I have been in my fair share of churches.
In every case, most of those who attended and were involved earnestly wanted to serve the Lord.
There was a desire for fellowship with fellow faith travelers—and more often than not, Sunday worship together was a time of joy.
In our last several years in the Philippines from 1996–2002, my family attended Union Church of Manila, an international church that traced its roots back before World War 2.
On any given Sunday, worshippers from twenty to thirty countries around the world were praising the Lord together.
At times it seemed as though heaven had reached down and touched us as people from every tribe, tongue and nation joined together in joy-filled song and in fervent prayers for the world.
But no matter how healthy a church seems, scratch beneath the surface and the smiles of Sunday morning are tempered with often conflicting ideas of how best to “do church.”
At Union Church, the leadership was composed of men and women of multiple nationalities and cultures who not only had different opinions—often neither “right” or “wrong,” just of different preferences—but communicated those differences out of their own cultural framework.
As an elder, and for a time head elder, I saw the relational dynamics play out in real time.
For the most part our clearly articulated shared mission led to dynamic communication, ideas, and effective implementation, but at times we had to work past differences in opinion and communication to get there.
Messy is one word to describe it.
Both before and after that time at Union Church, I’ve seen pastors leave churches for indiscretions, churches split over all sorts of things, pastors kicked out because one group or family with influence wanted to wield their power, and other stuff.
Only rarely does theology have to do with any of it.
In other words, churches, though the collective beachhead of the Kingdom of God, are still a gathering of sinful humans who have yet to be fully sanctified.
And of course, I am one of those.
The Churches of Revelation
When I read through Revelation 2–3, what I see in those descriptions from Jesus are the composite of the Church, both when Revelation was written and ever since—the good, the bad, and even the ugly.
Jesus’s words pulled no punches.
He told it like it was and still is.
For the next few weeks, I will look at each of the seven oracles as Jesus’s message to that church and the churches as a whole.
But before getting into the weeds of what Jesus said to each church, I’d like to step back and look at these oracles altogether to get a good idea of what we will see.
(continued)
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Jesus
The first important thing to recognize is that these chapters are part of John’s first vision of Jesus beginning in Revelation 1:10. There is no break between Revelation 1:20 and 2:1. If you happen to have a “red-letter” Bible, you will notice that the red is continuous from 1:17 all the way to 3:22.
Jesus never stopped speaking.
Although chapter breaks can sometimes be helpful in setting out segments in a biblical book, we must always keep in mind that the chapters and verses were incorporated hundreds of years later.
None of the NT books had chapters or verses when written and copied (I will often pencil over chapter breaks—and the added headings—in a Bible translation I am reading, like here or the beginning of John 3 which directly continues from John 2:25 with no break; another is John 9:1–10:21.
Revelation itself is better read with no chapter breaks at all!).
With no chapter break for Revelation 2 or 3, the speech of Jesus to John is continuous.
Oracles, not letters
The messages to the seven churches are often termed “letters” as though they were written separately, sent to that individual church, and meant only for that church.
That notion misses the language of Jesus and the scope of the oracles not just to the named church, but to all the churches, especially in the admonition: “The one who has an ear let him listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Churches plural.
Each oracle, though addressed to the particularities of one church, is meant for all.
Why do I term them “oracles”?
That term fits with how Jesus begins each section: “Thus says the One who …”
This language is akin to a fiat from a ruler to his people, but more importantly akin to “Thus says the LORD” in the Hebrew prophets.
Each church is the recipient of a prophetic oracle from Jesus, but one meant for all to hear.
(cont.)
Patterns
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the oracles is their stylistic uniformity.
They each have a number of common elements, though the content of these elements is different in every case.
1. Each oracle is introduced with “to the angel of the church in (one of seven cities) write.”
The Greek term angelos can mean either supernatural “angel” or human “messenger” (just like the Hebrew word mal’ak), but likely is the first, since angels abound in Revelation. I will address these angels further in my next post.
2. Each oracle begins with “Thus says the One who …” reflecting the prophetic oracles in the Old Testament (as I said above).
The nature of Jesus’s self-identification draws either on what he has already shown in his vision or speech to John, or to an identifying feature later in Revelation, all of which are characteristics of the Exalted Jesus.
3. The content of every oracle general follows the pattern, “I know your works, that you are …” referring to the good aspects of the church, but then followed by “But I have this against you …” referring to areas they need to change or repent from.
There are some deviations from the pattern: the oracles to Smyrna and Philadelphia have only positive aspects, while Sardis is almost totally negative as well as Laodicea.
There is usually some sort of judgment indicated for refusing to repent from the aberrant conduct.
4. Jesus concluded each oracle with
a) the phrase “The one having ears let him listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.” This important phrase indicates that each oracle was meant for all the churches. For the first three oracles the statement precedes b), and for the last four it follows b).
b) a statement about the reward to come for “the one who conquers.” These rewards usually come from something spoken of in Revelation 19–22.
So what?
By being aware of these patterns, we can zero in on the particular content of each oracle with the ability to compare and contrast them with the others.
Ultimately, we realize that though each church has its individual character, the seven churches together are indicative of the entire Church, then and now.
Messy then, messy now, but still called to be the bride of Christ.
I encourage you to read through Revelation 2 and 3 and observe, or perhaps even mark, these elements in your Bible.
Next: The Oracle to Ephesus.
Thanks for reading. See you later.