The Revelation
Revelation was taught by Dr. James Modlish

Chapters Two-Three

THE SEVEN CHURCHES

Intro:

Revelation two and three deal with a message from the Lord Jesus Christ to seven churches. Because there are three applications to this scripture (as any scripture) many people get this passage confused. To receive a correct interpretation we will deal with all three applications.

 

I. THE HISTORICAL APPLICATION

An examination of the historical leads us to two conclusions. The first is the obvious-there were seven actual historical churches in Asia Minor that the Lord addressed. These were churches that represented a variety of problems and some victories. The second conclusion is that these seven churches represented seven different time frames during the church age.

They are as follows:

Ephesus-(33-200 A.D.)    Smyrna-(200-325 A.D.)    Pergamos-(325-500 A.D.)    Thyatira-(500-1,000 A.D.)    Sardis-(1,000-1,500 A.D.)
Philadelphia-(1,500-1,900 A.D.)    Laodicea-(1,900-? A.D.)

It's interesting to note that the listed characteristics of the churches line up exactly with the general attitude of Christianity during the time frames listed above. 

II. THE INSPIRATIONAL APPLICATION

Since all Scripture is "profitable" (2 Tim. 3:16) there is inspirational profit from studying these churches. Perhaps one of the best studies is an examination of the things God commended and condemned.

Genesis 49:1 7- The tribe of Dan is called a serpent.

Deuteronomy 33:22- Dan is called a lion's whelp. The tribe of Dan is like unto a lion and a serpent. If you know your Bible, you know who this typifies. Satan is called a serpent in (Gen. 3 and a lion in I Pet. 5).

Judges 18- The tribe of Dan gets a young man to be a priest for its tribe.

Judges 18:18-19- This priest is called "father." Judges I 8:20- This "father" takes care of idols and uses them as an aid to worship.

Judges 18:28- The tribe of Dan settles up near Zidon and Tyre on the Phoenician coast.

Judges 18:30,31- They (Dan) are in total apostasy for nearly one thousand years. Up by Zidon, where the Phoenicians live, we find the tribe of Dan mixing with the heathen, and with - priests called "father," who use idols as an aid to worship. Nobody had any doubt about Zidon. In (Gen. 10: 19) you are told that Hamites (Canaanites) settled in this part of the country, and set up Baal worship.

I Kings 16:29-33- Ahab takes over, marries the daughter of the king of the Zidonians, and serves Baal, the Phoenician god. Here is Jezebel, herself, in the same passage.

I Kings 18:26- If that weren't enough, in this Baal worship carried on in Phoenicia, connected with the tribe of Dan, we find that these people worshipped from 10 (or 11) in the morning to 12 noon.

I Kings 18:24,25- They worshipped the fire of the sun; they worshipped the sun god, on his day -"Sunday."

I Kings 18:28- These black-robed priests called "father," mutilate themselves and do penance to pay for their sins. They mutilated their bodies to try to get what they want from God.

2 Kings 10:22- These black-robed, Baalite priests, called "fathers," who are in the tribe of Dan, who conduct the Phoenician Baal worship for Ahab and Jezebel, wear long robes called vestments. Consequently, they have vestries and vestry men for the vestments.

Jeremiah 10:1-5- These people, who worship Baal, the sun-god (on December 25 as his birthday), worship him with a tree cut out of the forest by the hands of the axeman, and "deck the halls with boughs of holly, tra Ia Ia Ia Ia Ia Ia."

Jeremiah 44:1 7,18,19,25- They bake cakes to a female deity whom they call, quaintly (exactly what Paul calls her!), "the queen of heaven," clearly identifying the Phoenician Baal worship for what it is.

Phoenician Baal worship from North Africa, through the sons of Ham, with its black-robed priest called "fathers," connected with the tribe of Dan, worships Sun-day from 10 or 11A.M. to 12 noon and observes Christmas. These are the origin worshipers of the Antichrist. They are the Devil's crowd. This is not a Dark Age superstition, or Protestant bigotism. This is scripture with scripture, without anybody interpreting anything. All you have to do is read the passage. This is the woman, Jezebel. 

III. THE DOCTRINAL APPLICATION

To doctrinally apply the passage to the church age saints is a theological disaster. Everyone of the seven churches are reminded of the necessity of overcoming (See 2:7,11,17,26; 3:5,12,21). If someone is insistent upon doing so they should be reminded that the Christian is already an overcomer in Christ. (I Jn. 4:4, 5:4) Even though these scriptures can give the "works" crowd a fit, it doesn't totally deal with the problem.

According to the text "overcoming" is necessary if someone will have the right "to eat of the tree of life" (2:7), "not be hurt of the second death" (2:11), have the opportunity to "eat of the hidden manna" (2:17), have "power over the nations" (2:26), "not be blotted out of the book of life" (3:5), "be made a pillar in the temple of God" (3:12), and to sit with Christ in his throne (3:21). It would be extremely difficult to match these verses with any in the Pauline Epistles. On the other hand they match well with verses that are obviously in other dispensational settings. For example:

Tree of life (2:7) - Rev. 22:14 (eternity)
Second death (2:1 I)- Rev. 20:14 (Great white Throne of judgment, at which no church age Christian will appear.)
Hidden manna (2:17) - Mic. 7:14,15; Jer. 50:9-21; Eze. 20:35; 1 Sam. 25:2 (Tribulation-God will miraculously provide Israel with bread as He did before.)
Power over nation; (2:26) --Matt. 25:34 (Millennium)
Book of life (3:5)-Rev. 16:15; Matt. 24:42-51 (Tribulation)
Pillar in temple (3:12) - The next temple of God is in the Millennial kingdom (Eze. 40-48)
Sit with Christ in his throne (3:21)-Matt. 19:28 (Millennium)

Doctrinally, these are Tribulation churches who in fact have to overcome to be provided with the above mentioned promises. The commandment is the same when Tribulation saints are told to endure unto the end (Matt. 24:13).

The New Testament Christian does not ever have to eat of the tree of life, for he is part of the tree (Jn. 15:5). Praise God!

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