Part 3 - the Seven Epistles to the Assemblies in Rev. 2 and 3

EV 2:1-3:22{
Introduction
Rev. 1:19 tells us the book of Revelation has three divisions and reads as follows: "Write the things which thou past seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter [or after these things]." These divisions are chapter one, chapters two and three, and chapters four through twenty-two. Rev. one gives the things John had seen and which he describes in that same chapter. Rev. two and three consist of seven epistles written to seven assemblies then existing and located in Asia Minor. Rev. 4 through 22 give the things that will take place "after these things"—that is, after the things concerning the assembly as covered in Rev. 2 and 3.
In this section of this paper, we shall, with the Lord's help, focus on what is covered in the second division of the book alluded to above—that is, Rev. 2 and 3. In these chapters, beginning with Ephesus and going on through Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, the seven local assemblies in Asia Minor are addressed. They were seven actual assemblies existing at the time in what is known today as Turkey.
These epistles bear three distinct characters. First, each one addresses the outward and inward conditions prevailing in the assembly to which it is addressed. Second, they have their moral voices for our own hearts and consciences in the day in which we live. They give the progressive stages in the moral decline our own souls may take if we are not watchful. Third, together, the seven epistles give us the assembly's moral history from the end of the first century to the end of its earthly sojourn at the rapture.
As to the structure and components of these epistles, each one opens with an address to the angel of the assembly to which it is written and closes with a word of encouragement to the overcomer in its midst, as well as a word of admonition to hear what the Spirit says to all the assemblies. Between its opening and its closing, the Lord commends what He can and outlines the moral conditions prevailing in the assembly He is addressing and prescribes what is needed in view of those conditions. The "angel" of a given assembly is, doubtless, a personification for the assembly itself and, perhaps, for any responsible individual in its midst. The "overcomer" is one who rises above the moral conditions prevailing in that assembly. In every way then, these epistles hold great interest for our hearts and are most instructive as we consider their moral content.