Wednesday Bible Study: The Seven Churches Finale

 

To close this out, It is on my heart to look at the Jesus who spoke to each of the seven churches.  And also to make a few other observations.

First, there are a lot of scholars much wiser than I that feel that the churches represent eras in the life of the overall Church.  One such way to look at it is:

The Church in Ephesus: Apostolic Church (A.D. 33–100)

The Church in Smyrna: Era of Persecution Under the Ten Caesars (A.D. 100–312)

The Church in Pergamum: Era of Church-State Union (A.D. 312–590)

The Church in Thyatira: Era Spanning the Middle Ages (A.D. 590–1517)

The Church in Sardis: Protestant Reformation (A.D. 1517–1750)

The Church in Philadelphia: Era of Revival and Great Awakening (A.D. 1750–1925)

The Church in Laodicea: Era of “Higher Criticism” (A.D. 1900–Tribulation)

I'm not sure that I totally buy into that.  Did the Apostolic Church lose its first love?  How was the Reformation (and counter-reformation) dead?  Did the Church after John truly have no other burden than persevere through persecution?  I don't know.  But I think in this case, we HAVE to look at the priorities of Christ, not the imprint of history.

Are there such easily defined lines?  Every letter closes with one admonition:

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Not 'this church', but all churches.  And if these are not individual Churches, but TYPES- then there are different types of churches, different strokes for different folks, and the Roman Catholic insistence that the mere existence of different denominations is a sin is shown false.  In Paul's day, a church was whoever could fit into somebody's house for worship and exposition.  And while Paul mentioned certain things that he ordained as a rule across the churches, he never left them a hard and fast "Ten Commandments" that had to be followed to the letter.  Sadly, many people on both sides of the divide use this as an opportunity to bash Paul than submit to what he said- despite the fact that they 'venerate' Peter as the first human leader of the Church, and HE said, Paul's letters were Scripture.  Many people have used the analogy of God weaving His plan like a carpet, one you can't see the beauty of in its completeness from this side.  If every individual, every church, is a thread, I hate to tell my Catholic brethren- it's not all one color on the good side...

Anyway, let's take a look at the Christ of each Church.

EPHESUS

Rev 2:1  "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 'The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 

This is one of two mentions of the stars and lampstands, of which Christ explained in the previous chapter that the stars were the angels (pastors) of the churches, and the lampstands were the churches themselves.  Here, he walks among them. He holds them.  He is in charge, and He knows where they/we fail.  And in part one, I talked about their losing of their first love- which I take to be the zeal of bringing their neighbors into the fold.  Telling those around you is SO important, Christ threatened to take away their lampstand if they didn't return to the first works.  A pastor who doesn't evangelize might lose his church; a church that doesn't share might lose its place.

SMYRNA

Rev 2:8  "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: 'The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. 

To a church that was facing persecution, the greatest comfort they could have is to know their deaths led to something better.  How much more comfort could you have than to know your Master had already beaten death?  This concept was so important- and IS important to churches like Niger and Burkina Faso, China and Iran- that He includes it in their reward:  The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.' 

PERGAMUM

Rev 2:12  "And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: 'The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. 

The sword, remember, is sharp-  piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).  This is a Christ who can see through double motives and discern what is true worship and what isn't.  Their were 'some' in this church that had money and sex as their first loves.  Here's where we see in true relief that these letters are directed at the pastors, the leaders of these type of churches:  Rev 2:16  Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.  "War against THEM", He says- He'll rip them out of His Church like the cancer they are, and won't be gentle about it.  A lot of pastors who don't take this to heart have been in the news of late.

THYATIRA

Rev 2:18  "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 'The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 

This is Christ manifesting Himself in power.  And He is about to show that power to the counterfeit church that they "put up with"- they let it be, let it grow right beside them, without calling it out.  It is not with their works or their perseverance that Christ is angry with; however the counterfeit church had better wake up, because their end will be an example to ALL the churches.  What does this mean in the here and now?  Look up, "Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker".  Look up, "International House Of Prayer".  And one day, I believe we'll be looking at Rome.  Again, this is to the pastors, and the examples I gave above refer to the pastors.  The Pope and his cohort should take this to heart.

SARDIS

Rev 3:1  "And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: 'The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. "'I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 

Notice that, in this second mention of the stars and lampstands, He no longer walks among, He no longer HOLDS them. He merely HAS them. The lampstand has been REMOVED.   One commentator said a very pertinent thing about the phrase in verse 2 about their works not being complete )or perfect) before God:

perfect — literally, “filled up in full complement”; Translate, “complete.” Weighed in the balance of Him who requires living faith as the motive of works, and found wanting.

And my mind immediately goes to Daniel 5:

Dan 5:26  This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 

Dan 5:27  TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; 

Dan 5:28  PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." 

Not a pleasant complement to ponder, as "pastor " Belshazzar died screaming.

PHILADELPHIA

Rev 3:7  "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. 

This is Christ at His highest, His most sacred.  And because this church holds Him in this regard...

Rev 3:8  "'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. 

The true evangelical, missionary Church holds Christ in the loftiest position- which means they have to hold themselves in the lowest, and "Many who were last shall be first" (Matt. 20:16)- and they will attain the highest position in the world to come- The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and 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 from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.  As you see Christ, Christ will see you.  That finger is pointing at ME, mister!

LAODICEA

Rev 3:14  "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. 

Here, Christ is the Truth that blows away self -deception.  You cannot truly know who you are until you know Jesus.  And that, in the end, might be the greatest lesson we can take from this study.