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title:  Christ’s Messages for Then and Now
date:   09/01/2019
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There were more than seven churches in Asia, but Jesus spoke 7 distinctive messages (Rev 2&3) for the churches in that province. This suggests the symbolic significance of these messages for Christians (Rev 1:11, 19, 20). Their meanings apply on three levels:

**Historical:**

The recipients were 7 churches in prosperous cities of 1st Century Asia where emperor worship had been set in as a token of their loyalty to Rome. Participation in this and other pagan religious rituals became compulsory. The Christians who refused to participate faced trials and at times martyrdom.

**Prophetic Application:**

Revelation is a prophetic book, the messages are of prophetic character as well. The spiritual conditions in the 7 churches coincide with the spiritual conditions of God’s church in different historical periods and are a panoramic survey of the spiritual state of Christianity from the 1st century to the end of the world.

**Universal Application:**  

Just as the entire book was sent as one letter that was to be read in every church (Rev 1:11; 22:16) so the seven messages also contain lessons that can apply to Christians in every age. While the general characteristic of Christianity today is Laodicean, some Christians may identify with the characteristics of the other churches.
