Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO
The conflicts of all seven churches are evident in
the struggles of this church against the Nicolaitans,
“those who call themselves apostles but are not.”
2. Smyrna: Judgment on the False Israel (2:8-11).
The Smyrnaeans are suffering from the opposition
of “those who say they are Jews and are not, but are
a synagogue of Satan.”
3. Pergamum: Judgment on the Evil King and False
Prophet (2:12-17). This church is experiencing
persecution and temptation from the first-century
counterparts of “Balak” the evil king of Moab, and
the false prophet “Balaam.”
4. Thyatira: Judgment on the Royal Harlot (2:18-29).
The leader of the heretics, who entices God’s
servants into idolatry and fornication, is named
after Jezebel, the adulterous queen of ancient Israel.
The cycle now begins over again, so that these first four
messages are “recapitulated” in the last three, but with
attention to different details. To understand this, we
must start from the first message again. St. John’s
descriptions of Christ in the preamble to each message
are drawn from those in the vision of the Son of Man
in Chapter 1. But his order is chiastic (that is, he takes
up each point in reverse order). Thus:
The Vision of the Son of Man
A. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and His feet were
like burnished bronze (1:14-15).
B. Out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword
(1:16).
C. I am the First and the Last, and the Living
One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive
forevermore, Amen; and I have the keys of
death and of Hades (1:17-18).
D. The mystery of the seven stars that you
saw in My right hand, and the seven
golden lampstands (1:20).
The Letters to the Seven Churches
D. Ephesus The One who holds the seven
stars in His right hand, the One who
walks among the seven golden lampstands
(2:0.
C. Smyrna The First and the Last, who was
dead, and has come to life (2:8).
B. Pergamum The One who has the sharp twoedged
sword (2:12).
A. Thyatira The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame
of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze (2:18).
D. Sardis He who has the seven Spirits of
God, and the seven stars (3:1).
C. Philadelphia He who is holy, who is true,
who has the key of David, who opens and no
one will shut, and who shuts and no one will
open (3:7).
C. Laodicea The Amen, the faithful and true
Witness, the Beginning of the creation of
God (3:14). 4
The repetition of the overall pattern is reinforced by
other points of similarity. The parallel between Smyrna
and Philadelphia can be seen also in that both deal
with the “synagogue of Satan”; and the association of
the “seven lampstands” of Ephesus with the “seven
Spirits of God” of Sardis is accounted for in the
following chapter, during St. John’s vision of the
heavenly Throne: “And there were seven lamps of fire
burning before the Throne, which are the seven Spirits
of God” (4:5).
4. We would have expected St. John to pattern the Laodicean Preamble after B (or perhaps even A) rather than C; for some reason, he chose not to make the
structure symmetrical.
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