Good News/Bad News. Book of Revelation.

 

We are living in the era of the sixth church, Philidelphia, and the sixth seal will be opened soon; the signs we studied in chapter one of this book prove it.  Will you be holding fast to the truth of Jesus or will you be tested and perhaps fail to turn to God?  On which side will you be standing when the seventh church era begins and the seventh seal is opened?  Can you be sure you will choose to be on Jesus’ side before your probation ends?

I know you are probably ready to read about the seventh church and the seventh seal; ready to find out what is going to happen at the end of the world.  We could do that, but we would understand only part of what we are reading about if we did that right now.  You see, what has happened in the past has brought us to where we are now; and what has happened in the past is going to happen again.  Therefore, it is important to spend some more time learning what happened to a couple of churches in the past so we will know what to expect when it is our turn to go through times of trouble.

Did you ever have to give someone bad news?  If you loved that person and cared about his or her feelings, you probably tried to soften the blow by giving some good news first, or at least tried to find something positive to ease the pain of what was to follow.  Our God is a merciful God, and when Jesus was giving John visions of what was to come, he made sure to give John good news before giving the bad news, which would give hope to those believers who would read Revelation and go through the troubles described.  Jesus followed the pattern established with Daniel and the visions about world empires – successive visions with each vision adding more detail than the last.  So what we have in the remaining chapters of Revelation are words and visions of hope followed by more and more detail regarding the times of the churches – including the seventh and last church.  But we are going to follow the story chronologically, so as we discuss each topic you will find we are jumping from vision to vision, collecting the pieces and putting them together into one continuous storyline.  At first we will skip parts of the good news, or the words of hope, because they refer to the end of the story.  We will address them in their proper time.

In Ezekiel 3:1 we find that Ezekiel, a prophet for God, was told to, …eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.  In Revelation Chapter 10, before John is given more information as to what will happen to two of the churches we looked at in the last chapter of this book, an angel holds a book and John, also a prophet of God, is told to take the book and eat it.  He is also told that, …it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. (Verse 9)  This confirms what we discussed in the previous paragraph where our merciful God mixes good news with the bad news that John must relate. 

Now we are ready to read what John was shown.

 Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.  Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.  Rev. 11:1, 2

Since 70 CE, when Titus and his army destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, no other temple has been built to replace it, and the New Jerusalem does not have a temple (Rev. 21:22), so we can eliminate both of these as the holy city that will be trod on for forty-two months (1260 years, see Appendix 2). 

 In the previous chapter of this book we saw that a woman stands for a city, which stands for a group of people that have something in common.  In 1 Cor. 3:16 Paul says that Christians are the temple of God.  So what we learn here is that true believers will be safe spiritually even though they may be harmed physically (trod under foot). Jesus said, Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.  Matt. 10:28

 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.  These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands that stand before the Lord of the earth.  Rev. 11:3, 4

We saw in Revelation Chapter 1 that the seven churches are represented by the seven lamp stands surrounding Jesus– one lamp stand for each successive church.  So why are only two lamp stands mentioned in Rev. 11?  What happened to the other five?  There are only two lamp stands in this vision because the events that are being described apply to only two of the churches – Thyatira and Sardis.  These two churches existed during the 42 months, the 1260 years, mentioned above in Rev. 11.  This time span lasted from the time the Bishop of Rome achieved undisputed authority in 538 CE until the Pope was put in prison in 1798 CE. 

 The two olive trees are the Holy Spirit and Jesus (see Appendix 2) and they are with the churches throughout their experiences.  Even though they have the power to …devour their enemies…to shut up the sky…and to strike the earth with every plague… (Rev. 11:5, 6) they do not do so during this time.  Why not?  Because whenever true believers were brought to trial and forced to defend themselves, they became powerful witnesses for God’s truth.  Some who saw their bravery and heard the truth in their words became believers themselves.

 

Religious Freedom is a Novel Idea. The Book of Revelation.

 Did you ever have a best friend?  Someone with whom you had a lot in common; someone you hung out with constantly; someone you would trust with your most important secrets and possessions?  John, the guy who wrote down what became the book of Revelation in the Bible was, and had, a best friend – Jesus.  When Jesus was on this earth John was his closest buddy and as Jesus was dying on the cross he trusted John enough to ask him to take care of his mother Mary as if she were his own mother. (John 19:26, 27)  And when it came time to reveal (the definition of Revelation) the end time prophecies, Jesus once again turned to John, someone he could trust.

In the first chapter of Revelation, we learn that John was in exile on a little island called Patmos because he refused to stop preaching the Gospel of Jesus to anyone who would listen.  By this time John was an old man and one Sabbath morning, while he was praying, a loud voice behind him made him turn around and there was Jesus, his old friend.  Jesus was clothed with the glory of heaven and was standing amid seven lamp stands while holding seven stars in his right hand.  Jesus explained to John that the seven lamp stands were the seven churches in Asia and that the seven stars were the angels of the seven churches.

            Who are the seven stars, or angels, of the seven churches?  Some say they are literal angels assigned to guide and watch over the churches, but because the messages sent to the churches contain reprimands, we have to conclude that the seven angels/stars cannot be perfect heavenly beings.  The stars must represent flawed humans, so the logical conclusion is that they represent church leaders such as priests, pastors, elders, etc.  And what are the seven churches?  Jesus himself lists them in Revelation 1:11:  Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. 

             As we have seen in previous studies, prophecies often have a dual application.  The characteristics of the literal seven churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) parallel the spiritual characteristics of the Christian church as a whole throughout its history.  So as we study what Jesus says about the seven churches, we will be applying it to the history of Jesus’ true followers for the past 2000 years.

 But that is only half the story.  Along with the spiritual characteristics of the church at different times, we will also learn what worldly experiences the church went through.  In Revelation Chapters four and five we are shown something that occurs in heaven.  God, on his throne, is holding a book with seven seals securely closing it.  The Lamb of God – Jesus – takes the book from God.  The Lamb has …seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.  (Rev. 5:6)   Jesus is the leader, the horn, of all seven churches, and the Holy Spirit (the eyes) watches over and guides the seven churches through their experiences. (See Appendix 2) 

We will now begin with the first of the Seven Churches.

Ephesus:  Apostolic Age           First Seal:  Purity        31 CE – c. 100 CE  

 Spirituality     

 I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.  But I have this against you; that you have left your first love.  Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first…To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.  Rev. 2:2-7

 The early church, from Jesus’ ascension into heaven until the death of those who knew Jesus personally, is often called the Apostolic Age.  Here they are commended for their work and tenacity that was motivated by love for Jesus.  But as time went on their motivation changed and was replaced by something else, perhaps a sense of duty.  Jesus’ promise to them is that they will be in paradise. 

 Experience     

 …the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and…I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.  Rev. 6:1, 2  (see Appendix 2 for an explanation of horses in prophecy and in visions)

 The white color of the horse denotes the purity of the early church, and the rider represents the apostles spreading the word and conquering paganism.