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add Introduction section
Those primarily of the [[Preterist]] view postulate that the writing describes a period of persecution in the early church either during the reign of [[Nero]] (54 - 68) or [[Domitian]] (81 - 96) and therefore the events have already taken place.
Those primarily of the [[Preterist]] view postulate that the writing describes a period of persecution in the early church either during the reign of [[Nero]] (54 - 68) or [[Domitian]] (81 - 96) and therefore the events have already taken place.
==Introduction==
Chapter 1 is John's introduction to the book.
John explains that he was exiled to Patmos for preaching the Gospel. While in the Spirit on the Lord's Day (Sunday) Jesus Christ appears to him with a countenance bright as the son, walking in the midst of seven golden candlesticks holding seven stars, with a two-edged sword proceeding from His mouth. John is instructed to "[w]rite the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter" (verse 19) and send them to seven specified congregations located in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey): the congregations at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea
==Letters to the Churches==
==Letters to the Churches==
Chapters 2 and 3 consist of seven letters written to congregations located in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey): the congregations at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
Chapters 2 and 3 consist of seven letters, one each to the seven churches listed in Chapter 1.
Four of the seven churches (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira) are commended for their actions but also warned that if they did not repent of certain deeds done, punishment would come upon them. The church at Philadelphia is commended only and not admonished; the churches at Sardis and Laodicea are not commended at all but only admonished (the wording for the Laodicean church differs from the others in that they are either told or warned of impending punishment—the KJV says that he "would spew them out of his mouth", while other translations state that it was a warning of future punishment—then told to repent).
Four of the seven churches (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira) are commended for their actions but also warned that if they did not repent of certain deeds done, punishment would come upon them. The church at Philadelphia is commended only and not admonished; the churches at Sardis and Laodicea are not commended at all but only admonished (the wording for the Laodicean church differs from the others in that they are either told or warned of impending punishment—the KJV says that he "would spew them out of his mouth", while other translations state that it was a warning of future punishment—then told to repent).