7 Churches - Prophecy

Format of the Messages

 1. Address – Angel (messenger) in the church
in_______
 2. The words of …
– Description of Jesus Christ
 3. Appraisal of the church
 4. Words of counsel
 5. Listen to what the Spirit says
 6. Promise to the overcomer
 Ephesus
 3rd wealthiest city in Roman Empire
 Temple of Diana
– Treasury of safe deposit
– Wonders of ancient world
– Temple prostitutes
– Right of asylum
 Magical arts, Acts 19:19
 Ephesus
 31-100 AD
 New Testament church persevered, did
good works, and preached the gospel in
many new places
 Rejected false teachers
 Model for all reform movements
 However, abandoned first love
Ephesus
Ephesus Library
Amphitheater at Ephesus
Paul in Ephesus
 Nicolaitans
 Irenaus – 2nd Century minister near Ephesus
 Claimed to be Christians, but they
considered it “a matter of indifference to
practice adultery, and to eat things
sacrificed to idols.”
 Christians that don’t obey 10
commandments
 Smyrna - Izmir
– Seaport
– Cultural center for science, medicine,
politics, religion
– Wealthy and beautiful
– Center of emperor worship
 Smyrna
 100-313 AD
 Main thing Christ commended Smyrna for was
their endurance under persecution
 Rev. 2:9 – Jews “who say they are…but are not” –
during that time there were many Christians
known as ‘Gnostics’ that rejected many Bible
truths
 Ten days – 303-313 AD, Diocletian persecution
 Persecution sporadic during this time
Smyrna - Izmir
Smyrna Port
 Christianity 100-313 AD
 Expressed Christianity in Greek
philosophical terms
 Centers of Christianity developed –
Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Rome
 Works of “church fathers” respected
 Gradual usage of images in worship
 Theological disagreements began to arise
 Pergamum
 Compromise, church and state (Jesus
has double-edged sword)
 313-538
 Capital of Roman province in Asia
– Religious center, 4 temples to pagan gods
– Government, cultural center
– Imperial cult of emperor worship
– Center of healing
Altar of Zeus – Berlin Museum
Asclepius – God of Healing
Asclepion – Place of Healing
 Pergamum
 Vs. 13 Throne of Satan
– Zeus – king of the gods
– Asclepius represented by a serpent
– Rev. 12:9 Satan the ancient serpent
 Vs 13 Antipas my faithful witness
– Christian martyr
– Tradition - burned to death
– You remained true-holding the teachings
 Pergamum (313-538)
 Christ is pictured as
having a “two-edged”
sword – Bible (Eph.
6:17)
 During this time the
church began to stray
from the teachings of
the Bible
 Pergamum (313-538)
 Balaam (Numbers 25:1-
9, 31:16)
 Was going to curse Israel
for a bribe from king of
Moabites
 Led the Israelites into sin
 Got involved in politics
and business
 Pergamum (313-538)
 Constantine became
a Christian and
made the Roman
Empire “Christian”
 Became political –
example: Sabbath to
Sunday for political
convenience
 Pergamum (313-538)
 God calls them to
repent
 Otherwise He will
come and fight against
them with “the sword
of my mouth”
 Reward: Manna, white
stone with new name
 Thyatira
 Middle ages to 1500’s
 Non-biblical religious practices
 Smallest, least important of 7 churches
– Trade guilds, not wealthy city
– Royal purple and woolen goods
– Lydia from Thyatira, Acts 16:14
 Thyatira
This church did do many
good works – better at the
end than at the beginning
Most hospitals,
orphanages and schools at
the time were sponsored by
the church
 Thyatira (538-1560)
 However, Christ has
eyes “like a flame of
fire” and is walking
among the churches
 He knows the true
condition of the
church
 Thyatira (538-1560)
 Church tolerated Jezebel
(1 Kings 16-21)
 Pagan queen that
married Ahab and
became queen of Israel –
brought her own priests
and led the Israelites to
practice pagan rituals
 Thyatira (538-1560)
 Christian church during this time:
1. Made pope “God on Earth”
2. Changed Sabbath to Sunday
3. Legalized worship of images
4. Gave indulgences for forgiveness of sin
5. Taught eternally burning hell and purgatory
6. Didn’t publish Bibles for common people
7. Got seriously involved in politics
8. Sanctioned torture as legitimate tool of church
 Thyatira (538-1560)
 2:21 – “time to repent” – 1260
years of Daniel 7
 Calls for reformation were made
through general councils,
monasteries, Francis of Assisi,
Huss, Waldenses, and finally
Martin Luther
 Council of Trent (1545-1563) –
some changes made, but
basically same theology
remained as in Middle Ages
 Thyatira (538-1560)
 2:22 – “sickbed”
 1320 – biggest famine of
Middle Ages in Europe
 Black death – 1350’s – 40% of
Europe died
 100 year War – 14th-15th
England – France – introduced
modern weaponry
 1618-1648 – 30 Year’s War –
Catholics and Lutherans – 10
out of 18 million people in
Germany alone died!
 Thyatira (538-1560)
 2:23 – Jesus talks about
the judgment – which is
soon to start
 2:24 – Not all held to
these doctrines – they
needed to just remain
firm (Huss, Wycliffe,
Milic, Waldenses, etc.)
Fight Against With “Sword of
Mouth”
 Contributions of Muslims –
Middle Ages
 1. Called Christians to return to simple act of
worshipping God – “spirit of compassion” –
said some were “apostate”
 2. Saved ancient Greek and Hebrew: Bible
 3. Provided refuge for dissident Christian
groups
 4. Aided Protestant movement
 5. Had culture of learning, education
 Thyatira (538-1560)
 Reward: the people
that overcome during
this time will RULE
with Christ – they
will have power over
those who
persecuted them
Sardis
Sardis
Sardis
 Sardis 3:1-6
 Protestant reformation to loss of fervor
– 1500-1700s
 Lifeless church
 550 BCE Sardis had been a great city
– King Croesus “as rich as Croesus…”
– Vitality, a force in the world
– Now living in the past, not the present
 Sardis
– Temple dedicated to Cybele
– Restore the dead to life
– Oracle of Cybele – answers to questions
 No commendation for Sardis
 Vs 2 Wake up, strengthen what remains
– Spiritually dead, Holy Spirit is absent
– Church with no answers
– Your works are not complete
 Sardis
 1560-1740
 From 1520-1560 – there
was a huge renewal of
knowledge of the Bible
in Germany and all over
Europe that stemmed
from the ministry of
Martin Luther
 Sardis (1560-1740)
 However, after Luther’s death they became
lifeless and stagnant and mainly argued
about theology
 Melancthon, Luther’s closest friend, was
glad to meet death to escape the “rage of the
theologians” - 1560
 Sardis (1560-1740)
 They had a “name” but were largely “dead”
 They needed the Holy Spirit (3:1)
 People only attended church and emphasis
was on the ‘correctness’ of belief, not on
practical Christianity
 Sardis (1560-1740)
 Example: England in early 1700’s –
amusements were vile, illiteracy
widespread, law savage in it’s enforcement,
jails were centers of disease and iniquity
and drunkenness was more widespread than
at any other period in its history.
 Sardis (1560-1740)
 3:3; If they don’t
repent, Jesus will
come like a thief –
sign of the
approaching of the
second coming and
judgment
 Sardis (1560-1740)
 3:4 – There are some that have
not soiled their clothes
 John Calvin and his followers
-Reformed Christians (Central
Europe)
-Huguenots (France)
-Puritans (England and America)
 Sardis (1560-1740)
 3:5 – Is a picture of
the approaching
judgment – Christ
will give us His
righteousness and
be our advocate in
the judgment
 Philadelphia Rev. 3: 7-13
 Late 1700s through 1900s
 Protestant awakening
 Youngest of 7 churches
– Prosperous city on the imperial road
– Gateway to the east
– Exported Greek culture and language
 Philadelphia
 3:8-10 Church with great opportunity
– Open door for preaching the gospel
– Little power (of yourself)
 Zech. 4:6 Not by might, nor by power, but by
my Spirit
– Kept my word, did not deny my name
 No compromise or apostasy

 Vs 10 patient endurance, Rev. 14:12

 Philadelphia
 1740-1850 AD
 Have kept God’s Word, not denied the faith,
and have endured patiently
 This was a time of religious revival in
England, parts of Europe and America
 Philadelphia (1740-1850)
 John and Charles Wesley – Methodists
 George Whitefield – Great Awakening –
Baptists
 France reacted against French Revolution
 William Carey – missionary to India
 Most mission and Bible societies were
started during this period
 William Miller, James and Ellen White
 Philadelphia (1740-1850)
 3:8 - Open door which
no one can shut
 1844 – Daniel 8:14 –
Jesus went into the
Heavenly sanctuary to
begin the investigative
judgment
 Philadelphia (1740-1850)
 3:9 – False “Jews” – it
was during this time that
the 1260 day prophecy
ended and the Catholic
church turned into an
almost extinct church
 Protestantism had won
 Philadelphia (1740-1850)
 3:10 – They will be
kept from the hour of
trial – Jesus is
coming soon
 This period would
end right before the
very end of time and
the second coming
Market in Laodicea
Heirapolis across the Lycus
River Valley
White Cliffs at Heirapolis
Sacred Pool
Terraced Pools
Plutonium – entrance to Hades
Water pipes from Heiraplois
 Laodicea Rev. 3:14-22
 End time church
 Commercial and financial center
– Black wool in garments and carpets
– 60 CE city devastated by earthquake
– City refused help and rebuilt itself
– Medical school – treatment of eye diseases
 Eye slave
 Laodicea
Jesus is a faithful witness and he won’t lie
There is nothing good about this church!
They think everything is fine – but it is
actually just the opposite – they are about to
die
 Laodicea
 Vs. 15 Neither cold (icy) nor (hot)
– Hierapolis mineral hot springs 6 miles away
 Used for sick

– Aqueduct to Laodicea – lukewarm

 Bath in it, not good to drink or for the sick
 Vs 16 Spit (vomit) you out of my mouth
– Vs 15 I wish you were hot or cold!
 Laodicea
 Not condemned for apostasy or heresy
– No serious sin
– No compromise
– No persecution
 Vs. 17 I am rich, wealthy, need of
nothing
– Self-satisfied
 Laodicea
 God’s view - wretched, miserable, poor,
blind, naked
 Vs 18 Remedy – Buy!
– Isa. 55:1 Buy without money
– Give up their self-sufficiency and pride
 Gold refined by fire

 White garments

 Eye salve
 Laodicea (1850-present)
 During this time period – the zeal of the
original reformers faded
 Materialism crept in
 Bible knowledge decreased
 Strange new doctrines about 2nd coming
 Hostility to 7th day Sabbath
 Evolution was half-hearted accepted
 Laodicea
 Gold refined by fire
– 1 Peter 1:7 Faith which has been tested and
purified
 White garments
– Rev. 19:8 Righteous deeds of the saints
– Rev. 7:14 Robes washed in the blood of the Lamb
– Isa. 61:10 He has wrapped us with a robe of
righteousness
– Christ’s saving righteousness
 Eye Salve
 Eye salve to see
– Ps 119:18 Open my eyes that I may behold
– See true condition
– John 16:8-11 Holy Spirit convicts of sin,
righteousness, and judgment
– Luke 11:13 Holy Spirit given to those who
ask
– Gal. 5: 22, 23 fruit of the Spirit
 Discipline and Invitation
 Vs 19 Those whom I love
I reprove and discipline
 Vs 20 I stand at the door
and knock
– Open our lives and eat a
companion meal
– Develop a relationship
– Laodicea had put Christ
outside of their lives and
the church
 To Rule With Christ
 Vs 21 May sit with Christ on his throne
– Eph. 2:6 God has seated us with Him in the
heavenly places with Christ
 Laodicea (1850-present)
 2 Tim. 3:1,5 – “last
days” there would be
people “having the
form of godliness,
but denying the
power of it”
 Matt. 25:1-13 – ten
virgins
 Laodicea (1850-present)
 Luke 18:8 – When
the Son of man
comes, will He find
faith on the earth?
 Do you want to sit
on the throne with
God in His new
kingdom?