I answer, In my humble opinion, they were.
Because, first, the book of Revelation does evidently contain a prophecy of things which did not concern those seven literal churches in Asia; for those churches have long since passed away and be come extinct; yet the book of Revelation contains prophecies which are daily fulfilling, and have been for eighteen centuries.
It is also said to be a revelation of things which must shortly come to pass.
Revelation 1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass.
Not things that have been. Yet if Christ is only giving ad monitory
advice to those seven literal churches, then He is only relating their characters as they then were, and so far as these churches were concerned it would cease to be a prophecy, and the very first verse in Revelation would be violated.
Again, vs.3 Blessed is he that reads and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand.
We see that it is called a prophecy in this verse, and must allude to the whole book; but who will pretend that the three chapters in the beginning of Revelation are a prophecy, if we understand them as relating the character of seven literal churches in Asia only?
None, none.
Again: the word seven is often used in the word of God as a mystical number, meaning the whole, as seven spirits, seven stars, seven angels, seven candlesticks, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials, seven thunders, seven plagues, seven mountains, seven heads, seven eyes, seven horns, seven crowns, seven kings, and seven churches.
All these are used in Revelation and apply to or concerning the whole Gospel period. If, then, the number seven is used so often in this book in a figurative sense, may we not reasonably suppose that it is so used in the dedication of this book to the seven churches in Asia, and the history of those seven churches be prophetic? for no scripture is given for any private interpretation, and surely the instruction in the introduction of the book carries us down to the coming of Christ in the clouds."
William Miller
