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
