The Seven Churches in Revelation

[ncboman]

What's that all about?

ncboman

[Waidmann]

Not sure what's being asked here.

While we were stationed in Germany, my wife, two kids and I took a tour of the seven sites back in 2002. Very interesting and a lot of fun. Almost a personal tour. I called the tour company, asked them how many we needed to run the tour, then solicited a couple of the other Chapel groups in the area to see if anyone was interested. We got another couple, plus a single lady to join us, so the seven of us (significance of the number?) headed over to Turkey. We had a driver, a very knowledgeable guide and a 12-passenger van and off we went. Eight days (4-star hotels every night), and we hit every site. Way cool.

Anyhow, in no particular order, here are my thoughts to start this ball rolling.

Old Roman Postal Route. Ship comes to to Ephesis and unloads mail, and the coast goes the mailman in a circular direction. Easy for a letter to be delivered. We flew into Sadris (modern Izmir), then headed inland to Pergamum and ended up in Ephesis.

Number Seven significant in Jewish/Early Christianity--signifies completion. This is probably significant to John, because he says "To the seven churches in Asia...." when there were at least two more (Colossi & Hierapolis).

Personalized message to each church that is culturally significant. Tailored to each city. That made it fun to research the cities themselves, and see if we could draw the pertinent info about the cities themselves from our guide. Kind of a confirmation that what we had read was accurate.

There has been speculation that churches selected correspond to different conditions the visible church has found itself in over the past 2,000 years. Some would say we're in the Laodicean age now. Personally, for reasons we've discussed here before, I don't buy that.

Laodicea destroyed by earthquake in 60AD (Great Shock under Nero). Also destroyed Hierapolis and Colossi. Other towns damaged, i.e. Philadelphia and Sardis. Major Earthquake in about 19 AD destroyed Pergamum and others. Lots of earthquakes during the latter half of the first century.

That's all I can come up with off the top of my head. Like I said, hopefully it's enough to get the ball rolling on this topic. We loved the trip, and it prompted me to teach a four-week series in Sunday School about the first three chapters of The Revelation.

Waidmann

[Waidmann]

ncboman,

I'm a little surprised that there has been no commenting on this question. I figured that people liked to discuss this kind of thing.

What's your take on the Seven Cities? Maybe what you write may spark some interest. Apparently, what I posted didn't.

Waidmann

[ncboman]

I think we got some folks mia.

ncboman