Revelation - Chapter 1:4

⁴ John,

To the seven churches in the province of Asia:

John specifically and deliberately indicates that he is writing a letter to seven churches in the province of Asia.  These churches are named in the yet to come verse 11.  This revelation is for them.  This prophesy is to them.  This can lend itself to be important from a learning perspective. 

Biblical Hermeneutics is the study of the principles and methods of interpreting the text of the Bible.  In simple definition, it uses three laws.  1) The Bible should be interpreted literally.  It has a plain meaning and when it can, it should be taken for what it says.  2) The Bible passages must be interpreted historically, grammatically, and contextually. Interpreting a passage historically means we must seek to understand the culture, background, and situation that prompted the text.  And 3) Scripture is always the best interpreter of Scripture.  We always compare Scripture with Scripture when trying to determine the meaning of a passage.  The second law of hermeneutics is particularly interesting and can lend itself to great eye-opening perceptions of what the written Word might have also implied.  However, there can be a danger with this law and it is important to always realize that this method of interpretation must also be balanced with the literal interpretation of verses where possible and further supported by other Biblical text.  Yet with visions, symbols and figures of speech being used in text it isn’t possible to be completely literal in interpretation so it becomes crucial to understand the context of the writing at that time and to also see how other Bible text supports the possible meaning of visions, symbols and figures of speech used.

For example, a Hebrew perspective of a Biblical narrative can be interpreted differently than a typical American or Greek type of trained learning perception.  We, being American, are very factual in our learning.  What is the date that ties to an event – memorize it.  What are the facts – use them to calculate solutions.  Hebrew schools, while factual about events, are very story oriented.  For further example, when describing Goliath, anyone from a Western culture wants a description of how tall was he, how big was the armor and how long was his sword.  List the details and we then are quick to put a size to him.  We translate that he was about 9’-9” tall, his armor weighed about 125 pounds and his iron shaft weighed about 15 pounds (1 Samuel 17:4-7).  Anyone from a Hebrew culture might tend to see the same descriptions differently.  They would see 6 cubits tall as 6.  They would see the 600 shekels his iron point weighed as 6.  It would not be too difficult for them to see 666 and a description of his armor as scales to indicate that Goliath was Satan, the snake, the one who opposes God.  Then they would further read that David collected five stones, the number of the writings of Moses and that David planted that Word into Goliath’s forehead and it crushed him.  The narrative they would read is that David threw God’s Word at Satan and God’s Word crushed or bruised him in defeat. 

As it is evident, there is a difference in how cultures can “see” a written story.  We tend to see the story as the power of God in a person who is brave and courageous enough to stand in front of a giant all simply based on putting the fight into the hands of God.  We know just how big the giant was and how overwhelming the situation was for young David.  So we know that it was God who provided the victory.  Others might see the story of the fight as only between God and Satan and it was God crushing Satan.  David was used, as was Goliath, but the story is God wins and crushes the enemy of all man.  Overall, there is a lot to be gleaned from either view and the views are not too different and also supporting of one another.  In fact, working to see each aspect tends to help one gather the whole picture.  We already know there is a spiritual world and war going on that we can’t see.  I tend to believe that gathering the perception of this Hebrew view helps provide some insight into that world, but it should not be the only law used in interpreting Bible text.  Each method of interpretation should support one another.

All that being described, it is important to realize that the revelation is for the churches in Asia.  We must seek to understand what was going on historically and culturally in those churches at that time and what meaning the visions and symbols might have specifically meant for them reading the text and finally, how that applies to us today.