Read: Revelation 1-2
Revelation is the revelation OF Jesus Christ. It is also the book of the Church of Jesus Christ and its purpose was to show what was to take place until the end of the world. It is the history of the Gentile Church. It is written by John to the seven churches. Each church stands for a different church age in history and tells us the future of the church. Revelation is insight into something that is not visible to the human eye or has not happened yet.
The first thing Jesus reveals to John is Jesus, himself in his glorified state. He is the seven spirits of God mentioned in Isaiah 11:2, “And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. The Lord himself is the seventh spirit - the middle candle in the menorah.
Jesus commands John to write in a book the messages to the seven churches. In his declaration of who he is, Jesus tells us that he has the keys of hell and of death. He also explains that the seven stars that he holds in his hands are the angels of the seven churches and the candlesticks are the churches themselves.
The angel, or messenger of the first church represents Paul who was the father and apostle of the churches. The first church is Ephesus which was one of the largest and fastest growing churches at the time. It was begun by Paul in about 53 A.D. and was located in a very wicked city where they worshipped the goddess Artemis which is Dianna or classical mythology. The church there started out being on fire and powerful. After time, they had let the doctrine of the Nicolatians (see yesterday’s post) slip in and caused them to lose their first love for Jesus. Jesus told them to remember their salvation and where they began and repent. This church age lasted till 100 A.D.
The next church was the church at Smyrna. It started in 100 A.D. and lasted till about 312. This was the persecuted church and no rebuke was given it… only encouragement. Persecution leads to repentance. There were two churches that had emerged. One was the real church - the persecuted one. The other was the established church that had fallen into rituals. Liturgies, hymns, baptism, the teaching of the Eucharist and certain Bible reading had replaced the spontaneous move of the Spirit of God. To control the people from heresy they established bishops or presbyters. There was a split between the Jews and the Christians during this time. Many godly men lived during this time but the messenger might have been a man named Irenaes. He was militant against formalized religion and lead and taught in spirit-filled churches that allowed the gifts to flow.
The third church was Pergamos. Its church age was from 312-606 A.D. Pergamum was the capital city of Asia and was completely given over to Greek idols. Satan had learned that the church only grows stronger in persecution so he tried a new tactic. Constantine was the emperor of Rome so Satan gave him a sign in the sky of a fiery cross and spoke to him saying, “in this sign, conquer”. Constantine took this to mean that if he made Christianity the state religion, they would win in battle. He had Bibles printed and gave money to the church and all seemed well. The blessing turned into a curse. They added the mystery of their gods and goddesses to Christianity and the rosary, celibacy of priests and nuns became a requirement of service. Prayers for the dead, making the sign of the cross, worship of saints and angels, mass, worship of Mary, exaltation of the priest, extreme unction, doctrine of purgatory, praying to Mary, and services in Latin all emerged during this time. Despite all the controlled rituals of organized religion, the true church grew during this time.
Martin, was believed to be the messenger of the church during this time. He was militant against idolatry. God’s message to them was to repent. Great rewards were waiting for those who stood strong for truth.
The last church for today was Thyatira. This was the known as the pagan church. It lasts from 606 till 1520.
During this time the first Pope was named - Boniface 111. They started such heresies as kissing his foot, worshiping images and relics, holy water, canonization of dead saints, fasting on Fridays and during Lent, prayer beads, the sale of indulgences and a list of other things. The Apocryphal books were put in the Bible, and the Jesuit order was founded. The Pope was declared infallible and Mary was proclaimed the Mother of the Church. How did such heresy happen? They took the Bible from the people and they had no truth to compare it to. In John’s time there was a literal woman who was leading them astray, but over the church age, that woman became a spirit of error and apostasy. The answer to them was to have spiritual ears to hear what God was saying. The messenger is thought to be Saint Columba who was a powerful missionary to Scotland, Ireland, and Northern Europe. He taught the pure gospel and began a school to teach others to be ministers of the Word.
I don’t have time to explain all this at length but I encourage you to study further on your own.
Lord, help us to live with eyes wide open to the age we are in. May we stand true to the hope we are called to.
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