The first chapter contains a prologue to the book, which is similar to the one in John 1:1-18, the prologue to John's Gospel (cf. 1 John 1:1-4). It also relates a vision that God gave John that prepared him for what follows. This presentation has the effect of showing that Jesus Christ is the culminating figure in human history (cf. Heb. 1), and it prepares the reader for the revelation of His future acts that constitutes the bulk of this book.
Before analyzing each of the seven letters that follows we should note some of their features as a group. They are similar in that they are all brief, and each contains a unique description of the Lord Jesus drawn from 1:12-20 that is appropriate to that church. Moreover each contains a word of commendation (except the letter to Laodicea) and each carries some rebuke for the congregation (except those to Smyrna and Philadelphia). Furthermore each exhorts its readers to specific action, and each holds out a promise as an incentive for faithful obedience.
"These promises are often the most metaphorical and symbolic portions of the letters and thus in some cases present interpretative difficulties. Each is eschatological and is correlated with the last two chapters of the book (21-22). . . . Furthermore, the promises are echoes of Genesis 2-3: what was lost originally by Adam in Eden is more than regained in Christ."67
"Churches 1 and 7 are in grave danger; churches 2 and 6 are in excellent shape, churches 3, 4, and 5 are middling, neither very good nor very bad."68
These were letters to historical churches in the first century similar to so many of Paul's epistles, for example. A notable difference between Paul's letters and these, however, is that in his epistles normally doctrine precedes practical exhortation, but in Revelation practical exhortation precedes teaching about future events.
"The letters are not structured in strict epistolary form; they are special messages addressed to the seven churches. The book as a whole is in the form of a letter."69
The messages of these seven letters are applicable to individual local churches and to the Christians in them today. Furthermore there is a remarkable parallel between conditions in these seven local churches and conditions in the universal church as history has unfolded from the first century to the twentieth. Their order has proven prophetic though there is no statement in the text that God intended them to be prophetic.70Nevertheless the situations these churches faced represent characteristic situations the church has faced at any given time in various geographical locations. Each letter is applicable to the church today to the extent that local churches find themselves in similar circumstances.
"The pointed message of Christ to each of these churches is the capstone to New Testament Epistles dealing with the practical life of those committed to the Christian faith."71
". . . they are more like prophetic oracles than formal epistles. The likeness extends to form and content {cf. Amos 1-2]."72
John recorded the rest of this book to reveal those aspects of the future that God wanted His people to know (cf. 1:19). He revealed the events in chapters 4-18 to enable the readers to understand events leading up to Jesus Christ's second coming.
"The closest modern parallel to this mode of communication is the political cartoon, which has gained an established place in the popular press all over the world."194
Scholars have proposed many interpretations of the remaining chapters (4-22), but the only ones that make much sense of the text are those that see them as predicting events yet future. This is the futuristic approach. Other approaches are the following. The idealist(or allegorical) approach sees these chapters as containing the story of the conflict between God and Satan in the present age with a symbolic presentation of God's ultimate victory. The preteristapproach sees these chapters as a picture of conflicts that took place in the early history of the church. Some preterist interpreters see these chapters as a symbolic revelation of God's principles of dealing with humankind throughout history. The historicalapproach interprets these chapters as a history of the church from Jesus Christ's first advent to His second advent. A major problem with the approaches just named is that their advocates do not agree with one another on the interpretation of individual passages. Only the futuristicapproach has resulted in consistency in the interpretation of the major interpretive problems. This approach also has the support of 1:19 that promises a revelation of things yet future.
Whereas chapters 4-18 present events culminating in Jesus Christ's second coming, there are clues in the text that not everything in these chapters is in chronological order. I will point out these clues in the exposition to follow. There is also evidence in the text that as the time of Christ's return approaches predicted events will occur more closely together. The revelation of these events becomes correspondingly fuller. Jesus' second coming is the true climax of this section of the book and is the true climax of history on planet earth.
In this final section of the book John reported concluding information and instructions that God gave him. He did this to comfort and caution his readers and to affirm the authority of this book.
"The concluding paragraphs of the Revelation sum up and press home on the reader's conscience the foremost practical lessons of the book."780
This section consists of verbal exchanges between an angel and John, and between Jesus and John. Three emphases mark this epilogue.781First, this prophecy is genuine (vv. 6-7, 8-9, 16, 18-19). Second, Jesus will return imminently (vv. 6-7, 10, 12, 20). Third, the unfit should beware, and the faithful should take courage (vv. 11-12, 15, 17-19). The whole epilogue is very similar to the first chapter in many ways.
