Letters to Seven Churches: in the Book of Revelation: a Background and Interpretation [first edition]

Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos. Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea - in these ancient cities the early Christian Church met many difficulties and setbacks. Pagan religions and customs, Caesar worship, persecution, slander of the Jews, internal heresy - all these had to be met and overcome by the small, struggling Christian churches. Chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation give Christ's judgments and messages of encouragement to these churches, expressed in language and symbols that were understandable to the people in the churches but not to outsiders. Deliberately phrased to be meaningless to those who would persecute the early Christians, the letters have also proved a source of much misunderstanding on the part of later readers. In Letters to the Seven Churches, Dr. Barclay describes the situation in each of the seven cities - its religious, geography, politics, and most important of all, its threats to the church. Then he provides verse-by-verse expositions of each letter, explaining words and phrases in the original Greek, their various interpretations, the symbolism they contain, and the risen Christ's promise to the faithful. In addition to explaining the historical meaning of these passages in the book of Revelation, Letters to the Seven Churches emphasizes the remarkably contemporary quality these letters have for Christians today.