Friday, September 23, 2016

Insight into the First Three Churches of Asia from Revelation

This is a bit of a stretch but it is fascinating to note that the first three Churches addressed to in Revelation all had temples dedicated to Caesar in their literal cities whereas the others did not. Also the seven were all connected by a main Roman road. Boring mentions this in his book:
It is not clear why these seven were chosen to represent the whole church, though they are connected by being located on the main Roman road at intervals of about thirty or forty miles. Also, each of the cities named had a Roman law court, a location where Christians had been or could be charged with memebership in the Christian sect, which was suspected of being subversive; and at least the first three churches addressed were sites of temples dedicated to Caesar (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum). (M. Eugene Boring, Revelation, p. 87)

So interpolating this information into my previous interpretations posted here at this blog I would say that this is significant. Jesus chose the specific names and cities with perfect clarity and foresight. The first three Churches, i.e. Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamon are models representing the successive generations of Christians from the time from the ascension of Jesus to about the time of Charlemagne. Ephesus is from the Ascension to the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul. Smyrna is from the martyrdom of Peter and Paul to Constantine. Pergamon is from Constantine to Charlemagne. Of course within these generations the Roman Empire lasted up until the time of Pergamon. The last Roman Emperor or Caesar, so to speak, was Romulus Augustus in the second half of the 5th century. Beyond that there is no more Caesar.

That all seven cities, chosen by Jesus to prophetically model the Church, were all connected by a main Roman road is also of great significance. This signifies that the whole Church on Earth, passing from generation to generation is unified, connected, and continued without fail by the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Saint Peter, the Pope.

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