Revelation 1:11 - Exposition

On ample evidence ( א , A, C, and all versions), "I am Alpha … the Last; and" must be omitted; also "which are in Asia." Write in a book ; literally, into a book ( εἰς βιβλίον ) . Over and over again, twelve times in all, St. John reminds us that he writes this book by Divine command (verse 19; Revelation 2:1 , Revelation 2:8 , Revelation 2:12 , Revelation 2:18 ; Revelation 3:1 , Revelation 3:7 , Revelation 3:14 ; Revelation 14:13 ; Revelation 19:9 ; Revelation 21:5 ; comp. Revelation 10:4 ). The seven Churches . The order is not haphazard. It is precisely that which would be natural to a person writing in Patmos or travelling from Ephesus. Ephesus comes first as metropolis; then the city on the coast, Smyrna; then the inland cities in order, working round towards Ephesus again. In short, it is just the order in which St. John would visit the Churches in making an apostolic circuit as metropolitan. With the exception of what is told us in these chapters, the history of the Churches of Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis in the apostolic or sub-apostolic age is quite unknown. It was an ancient objection to the Apocalypse that in Thyatira there was no Church (see on Revelation 2:18 ).