Meditation on the Placement of Revelation 2:29

Jesus places the charge, “Let he who has an ear hear what the Spirit says to the churches,” after the promise to the victor in the structure of the last four letters (beginning here), though this charge comes before the promise to the victor in the structure of the first three letters. Having established that all the churches should heed the message that is given to each church– that the message to each particular congregation is applicable to every believer– the repeated charge to heed the word is now more of an afterthought. However, Jesus continues to include this charge at the end of every letter so that no believer can mistakenly conclude that the message to any church is not relevant in his or her life.