The land known to the Romans as Asia Minor and which now forms a large part of Turkey is a remarkable mix of culture, history and geography. There were large communities of underprivileged people who lived there, and in addition it was a place which had traditionally been home to very mixed ethnic and religious communities which had learned to coexist in tolerance or at least indifference. This combination of conditions meant that Christianity was able to spread easily in Asia Minor but certainly was not without its challenges. In Rome and the surrounding areas the anti-Christian sentiment was motivated largely by political factors, whereas in Jerusalem and the Holy Land religious and power factors were the motivation. Asia Minor, although a part of the Roman Empire, was remote from both these areas, and offered relative safety. In revelation 2 and 3 John recorded Jesus observations, encouragement, and corrections to this widely varying group of people.
In this series we will focus on the seven letters to the churches in Asia. we’ll try to look at these writings through first century eyes as if we were first-century people living in those towns. The original hearers would have been people who understood their city’s history and the culture of the world at that time. What would we have heard? What references to the culture or the cities history does Jesus make that our modern ears haven’t heard?
