1“And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write:
“He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says these things:
“I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which you were about to throw away, for I have found no works of yours perfected before my God. 3Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If therefore you won’t watch, I will come as a thief, and you won’t know what hour I will come upon you. 4Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that didn’t defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
7“To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write:
“He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:
8“I know your works (behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn’t deny my name. 9Behold, I make some of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie—behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown. 12He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. 13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
14“To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write:
“The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these things:
15“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. 16So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. 17Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing,’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked; 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. 19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with me. 21He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.”
The term "Phrygia" (literally, parched, dry, barren) geographically refers to a vaguely defined interior region of central-western part of what is now Turkey, or ancient Asia Minor. The term may lack precise geographical boundaries for two reasons - the geographical limits changed dramatically from the original migration of the Phrygians until biblical times, and the term originally referred to a people, not a place. Josephus alleges that this people group originally descended from Japheth, through his son Gomer and grandson Togarmah (Gen 10:3; cf. Ez. 27:14). According to Herodotus, this people group migrated from Thrace, where they were called Bryges, through the Hellespont, as allies of Troy, into a vaguely defined zone in central-western Asia Minor, where they came to be called Phrygians. The exact era of the original migration is not known, but is before the 12th century B.C. The Phrygian language is similar to Greek. Plato, for example, noted the similarity of Greek and Phrygian words in Plato's Cratylus (401a). Neo-Phrygian clearly utilizes the Greek script.
The Phrygians reached their zenith in approximately the 8th century B.C., with the reigns of Gordion and Midas. Midas is depicted in Greek mythology as having the ears of a donkey, and gifted by the gods to turn whatever he touched into gold, including his own children. Later conquered by the Kingdom of Lydia, the region came under Persian control under Cyrus, through Cyrus' defeat of the Lydian King, Croesus, in 546 B.C. Alexander then took the region in 334 B.C., which remained under Alexander's general Seleucus and his descendants' control until the Peace of Apamea in 188 B.C. where Pergamum, under Eumenes II (197-158 B.C.) as an ally of Rome, took control of the region from Antiochus III. The last king of Pergamum ceded his entire kingdom and territories, including Phrygia, to Rome in 133 B.C.
Phrygia, centered around the Lycus River valley, includes the sites of three nearly adjacent cities significantly named in Scripture - Colossae, Laodicea (Rev 3:14-22), and Hieropolis (Col 2:1; 4:13; modern Pammukale).
Three times the term Phrygia appears in the Bible, in Acts, 2:10, 16:6, and 18:23. Additionally, a subscript appended to 1 Timothy 6:21 appears in the Textus Receptus (upon which the KJV derived, hence its appearance in the KJV) stating that 1st Timothy "was written from Laodicea, which is the chiefest city of Phrygia Pacatiana." Pacatiana refers to Phrygia Prima, whose chief city was Laodicea, in distinction to Phrygia Secunda (Salutaris). These two provinces comprised Phrygia as a whole under the Roman imperial administrative rezoning of provinces under Diocletian in about A.D. 295.
Acts 2:10 describes the presence of Phrygians at Pentecost, hearing in their "own language the mighty works of God." During the second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-18:22), Paul passed through Phrygia and Galatia in Acts 16:6. Paul's third missionary journey (Acts 18:23-21:16) begins with his orderly excursion through "all the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples" (Acts 18:23).
Significantly, there was a thriving Jewish population in Phrygia, making the region a logical missionary target for the Apostle Paul (cf. Acts 13-22), who began church-planting enterprises by preaching Christ in the synagogues (as per Acts 13:15). Even in Obadiah's time (cf. vs. 20), around the time of the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C., Jewish exiles resided in the Lydian capital of Sardis (an Aramaic inscription in Sardis matches the Hebrew transliteration of "Sepharad" of Ob. 20). Josephus reports that Seleucus I (312-281 B.C.) granted "full civic rights" to Jews, and moreover, Antiochus II (261 B.C.-246 B.C.) planted Jewish colonies in Ionia, while Antiochus III (222–187 B.C.) ordered his satrap (regional governor) Zeuxis to allow 2000 Jewish families to settle in Phrygia with free cultivable lands and a tax-free status for ten years. Jews of the region paid their half-shekel "temple tax" to support the Temple of Jerusalem, until it was confiscated by Lucius Valerius Flaccus in 62 B.C. (it was reinstituted under Flaccus' successor). The amount of money confiscated by Flaccus indicates a quite large Jewish population in the region. In A.D. 2-3, even Augustus posted a full declaration of Jewish rights in this part of the Empire in Ancyra, the capital of Galatia. Accordingly, Paul targeted a center of Jewish presence and prosperity in his missionary enterprises (cf. Rom 1:16; 9:3).