The Seven Churches

In the first chapter Christ is seen as the Son of Man, not in the character with which the Apostle was familiar, but clothed for judgment (Rev. 1:13-16). John sees Him in the midst of seven candlesticks, which are the seven assemblies to whom the portion is addressed, presented here in responsibility as light bearers (Rev. 1:20).
In chapters 2 and 3, each assembly is addressed in turn. The choice of seven (completeness) and the language used throughout (Rev. 2:25; “hereafter” in Rev 4:1) cause us to understand that an historical outline of Christendom is being presented, not simply seven letters to first century churches.
The first three assemblies describe successive periods. Ephesus, the church of the first century, is characterized as having left her first love (Rev. 2:4). Smyrna is the persecuted church of the second and third centuries, which Satan as a roaring lion sought to devour. In Pergamos we see the activity of the deceiving serpent. Under Constantine, Christendom united with the pagan political world.
At Thyatira—that system over which Rome holds sway—there is a change. We now have the exhortation to “hold fast till I come” (Rev. 2:25), and “he that hath an ear” is no longer addressed to the church as a whole (Rev. 2:26, 29). The final four churches represent successive overlapping states that continue until the Lord’s coming. Thyatira is followed by protestant Sardis. Philadelphia is a moral state; they have kept His Word and have not denied His name (Rev. 3:8). The hope of the rapture has been restored, for they are kept “out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world” (Rev. 3:10 JND). Laodicea describes the moral state of Christendom today; claiming to be rich and in need of nothing, its wretched condition is exposed. The Lord is seen as outside the assembly knocking (Rev. 3:20). Apostate Christendom will ultimately be spued out of His mouth.