God is not oblivious of how the Gospel will go through the ages, or how the people will handle the Faith. Thus, He pictured it in the letter He gave to John on the isle of Patmos to the seven churches selected in Asia Minor. Dive in with me, as we examine ourselves in the mirror of God’s word, in respect to each church’s message.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
~ Revelation 1:3
TEXT: Revelation 1:9, Revelation 1:1-3, Revelation 2:1-11, Revelation 3:14-22
The Seven Churches
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
There are more than seven churches in Asia minor, but God selected these seven churches (which these letters will go to), upon certain characteristics that these churches possess, which would reflect in the ages unto the consummation. It is not sacrilegious to say that God knows the end from the beginning, and by His foreknowledge, He already revealed to us this quintessence in the seven churches.
Here is it, the Gentile time is divided into seven dispensations, and the characters that each would produce was reflected in the seven churches that Jesus wrote to. And this is what we want to examine, for their messages is written to us. Yes, we are in the last church age, but the messages of the six churches before, is still valid today, and it is very much for us.
Jesus had in His right hand as seen in Revelation 1, seven golden candlesticks and seven stars were in His right hand. What are these? These can’t be taken literally, but symbolically. We don’t need to bog our minds on how to interpret what we read, the Spirit of God is able to interpret His word and reveal it to us. The Bible explained what these mysteries are in Revelation 1:20
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
The First Church Age
Revelation 2:1-7
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
The first thing we can note here is that Jesus was walking in the “midst of the seven golden candlesticks” which means that He was the Lord of the church, controlling it by His word. Since He is the Owner of His Church, He rules and reign in her midst. Amen! Also, He held the Seven Stars in His right hand. These are the messenger to the seven churches whom God speaks through to their age. Each age has a messenger!
The Ephesian Church Age was the standard of all, that was when God first brought the light of the gospel to the Gentiles, using His servant, Paul, after Peter had opened the door for the Gentiles at Cornelius’ house. It was a time of the planting of the word of God. The heart of the people loved the word of God, to the extent that they veted those who called themselves apostles before allowing them on their pulpit, or listening to them. The word of God was dear to them than any man’s word, they would rather cross check what they’ve heard by the Bible instead of correcting the Bible because they heard a professor preach. Their lives were worthy of the gospel, they couldn’t bare evil in their midst. Their labour was second to none, they were zealous for God and His works. Place yourself in that balance and see if you measure up!
This, nonetheless, God had something against them:
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Can you flash back to when you believed the gospel, and how you were not just regular in church services but also punctual? Can you remember how much you read your Bible day and night, and communed with God? It looked as though a year’s service of everyday fellowship cannot satisfy your hunger and thirst. The question now is, do you still have that same spiritual passion, or you have left your first love? Do you now patch what you once hated as sins to now be your new normal? God wanted the Ephesians church’s love to rather increase instead of diminished, but alas, reverse was the case -they forsook their first love, just like you.
At that point, there were a few people coming up with suggestions and opinions of how the church should be governed, they wanted to set up hierarchies in the church, where you have a General Overseer who oversees all the churches, and everyone submits to him, instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead His Church. This is what is referred to as the deed of the Nicolaitan.
“Nico” means to “Conquer”, and “Laity” means “The Church”. They wanted to subject the church under rules and human governorships, and that, Christ hates. Sadly, today, we have embraced that which Christ hated. We have set General Superintendent and Overseers to oversee all the churches, and all branches submits to the headquarter. Any church in this mess is not of God. The Holy Spirit wants to rule His church by Himself, and not by computerised means. This was just an opinion in the first church age, but now, a stronghold in our time – that is all you see around. God commended the Ephesian Age for hating this deed, but it was already on ground as thoughts and what some men wanted to do.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
The words were for them and for us as well, for God has one church on earth. The bride will come from the seven church ages. So, their messages although for their age, is still valid for us today.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
The Second Church Age
And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
The second church age was a persecuted church, and a terrible time for the believers. A day that today’s Christianity may not be able to survive because of her love for materialism. The Smyrna church era was an ear of tribulation, poverty and suffering. All for the sake of the gospel. They had ten years of torment from the government of that time.
In this church, people had begun to implement the deed which God hates in the first church age, but those who loved the truth stayed away from them, and they became the minority. Since dignitaries and men who loved applause of people are claiming to believe the gospel, they formed their cactus also where they would have the liberty to practice their anti-Christ religion -having Arch Bishops, Right Reverend, Most Reverend and all terrible titles that cannot be found in scriptures. They began to build churches of headquarters, having provinces and branches, they call themselves Jews (believers) but they are the synagogue of Satan. These became the majority, persecuting the minority who are standing for the truth.
Check how you handle God now and answer if you’ll be able to survive that age. Christ did not even prevent them from trouble, instead, he told them to be faithful in the ten years of suffering they would undergo. But today, we have believed a gospel of ‘flowery bed of roses’, no preacher preaches about the tribulation we must partake as our inheritance in Christ, it must be ‘for better for better’, not ‘for better for worse’. We believe God for our personal accomplishment, and not because we love Him. What a shame on today’s Christianity! It is obvious we have not gotten it yet -the true meaning of Christianity. We are only practicing a religion.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
Yes, there is a second death, for those who are not regenerated in heart and mind, -those who refuse the second birth. If you are born once, you will die twice, but if you are born twice, you will die once. For those who would overcome, they will not partake of the second death. Amen.
The Third Church Age
And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
How quick are you to deny your faith amongst your friends of the world, a lot of your co-workers don’t even know you to be a Christian, because you hide your faith from them, and flow with them when they are doing their things and come to church to act Christianity. You should be pitied! The saints in the Pergamos age, even in the place where Satan was dwelling, they held fast to Christ’s name. They did not allow glamour to carry them off, they will not forget that they are Christian just because of money. They will not travel to Rome and become Romans. They maintained their identity as followers of Christ. They did not deny their faith, you have all these qualities to check in your life and adjust if they are not there.
Let me say here that the church age overlap, there is no fixed time when we left a church age to resume the next. Thus, the suffering in the previous age may not end in that age, in fact, it didn’t. it continued through. The separation of the cold formal majority and the spiritual minority was still through the age. Gradually, the light of God was fading off, only a few minorities held unto it. Of course, God would not leave Himself without a witness.
Those who conceived and carried out the deed of the Nicolaitan grew even more worse by the time we got to this church age, they were completing running on the opposite direction of God’s word.
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.
They now have added personal gain and profit to their preaching of the gospel. People whose god is their belly, using the name of God to commit lots of atrocities. They imbibed the culture of Balaam, selling the gospel to people, casting stumbling block before God’s people, and giving them idolatrous food (this is talking about the doctrines they preach).
That is what become the prosperity gospel of today, people are now made to believe that money or success is an evidence that God is with you. That’s a lie!
Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
The Seventh Church Age
The Laodicea Church Age is the last, and this is the culmination of all that has been ongoing through other ages. This is the end of the ages, where all that was sown would have grown and there would be a clear line of divide.
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
By this time, both the cold formal church and the little spiritual church had mixed because of the deceit of the anti-Christ’s spirit, and they would produce nothing close to what Christ could condone. Your age which is this Laodicea church age has no single commendation. They neither are ready to hold on to God’s pure truth nor are they ready to deny the world. They want to have the two, that put them in a state of lack of identity -not cold, not hot.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
This is the age you see them competing with material things, the church has been grossly organized by men in authority to the extent that Christ had completely been pushed out of His own Church. He now stands at the door, knocking to enter. They believe they are rich (rich enough to not need God).
The word of God had completely been lost, no purity, no righteousness, no moral virtue. What we see in today’s church, could that be what Christ sown at the beginning? Certainly not! What a condition! But Christ still shows us His love if we would take it:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
We have been called to a renewed life in Christ. That is why God sent a Prophet Messenger to us, to restore us back to the faith of the apostles, so that Christ would not come and smite us with a curse. He CRIED at the church world against their mess, although they hated him and called him all sort of names, those who humbled themselves are enjoying the blessedness of Christ’s love today. His demonstration of Love towards us is His correction. That is why He is calling us out of all traditions of men so that He will not spue us out of His mouth.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Here is a call for you, and this is your opportunity. The lifeboat soon is coming to gather the Jewels home. Be ready before it is late.
Shalom!