The Book of Revelation, in chapters 2 and 3, describes seven different churches located in what is known as an actual “mail route” in Asia Minor during New Testament times ( in Turkey today). Archeological and written records can attest to the veracity of the places mentioned here. [For some major highlights of these churches, click on this link: http://www.herbert-armstrong.org, click ENTER HERE , select “Books & Booklets” and scroll down to the booklet titled, “A True History of the True Church.”]
In these two chapters of Revelation the apostle John wrote down the messages to these seven churches given to him through a vision by the glorified Jesus Christ, who identifies Himself as “the Alpha (beginning) and the Omega (end), the First and the Last” (Revelation 1:11) and as “He who lives, and was dead and” — having resurrected from the grave, is now — “alive forevermore” (Verse 18). [See: The True Christ.]