Having considered the recovery of the church, we shall begin in this message to cover the stages of the church.
Revelation is a book of prophecy (Rev. 1:3; 22:7), for the revelation it contains is in the nature of prophecy. Most of the visions refer to things to come. Even the seven epistles to the seven churches in chapters two and three, in the sense of signs, are prophecies regarding the church on earth until the Lord’s coming back.
The seven epistles in chapters two and three of Revelation are the record of the actual situation existing in the seven churches of Asia (1:4) at the time these epistles were written. However, since this book is a book of signs with a prophetic nature, the situations of the seven churches are also signs, signifying prophetically the progress of the church in seven stages. The first epistle, to the church in Ephesus, affords a picture of the church at the end of the first stage, during the last part of the first century. The second epistle, to the church in Smyrna, prefigures the suffering church under the persecution of the Roman Empire, from the last part of the first century to the early part of the fourth century, when Constantine the Great brought the church into imperial favor. The third epistle, to the church in Pergamos, pre-symbolizes the worldly church, the church married to the world, from the time Constantine accepted Christianity to the time the papal system was established in the latter part of the sixth century. The epistle to the church in Thyatira depicts prophetically the apostate church, from the ordination of the papal system in the latter part of the sixth century to the end of this age, when Christ comes back. The fifth epistle, to the church in Sardis, prefigures the Protestant church, from the Reformation in the early part of the sixteenth century to Christ’s coming back. The sixth epistle, to the church in Philadelphia, predicts the church of brotherly love, the recovery of the proper church life, from the early part of the nineteenth century, when the brothers were raised up in England to practice the church life outside all denominational and divisive systems, to the second appearing of the Lord. The seventh epistle, to the church in Laodicea, foreshadows the degraded church life of the brothers in the nineteenth century, from the latter part of the nineteenth century until the Lord’s return.
If we study church history in the light of these seven epistles, we shall realize that these epistles present us a picture of the stages which the church has gone through and will go through until the Lord’s coming back. The sequence is marvelous, with each stage corresponding respectively to one of the seven churches. Therefore, the Lord’s seven epistles to the seven churches depict the stages of the church.
The church in Ephesus depicts the end of the stage of the initial church during the last part of the first century. Because there have been apostles not only at the beginning of the church but also later, it is better to speak of the initial church rather than the apostolic church. Ephesus depicts the church at the end of the initial period.
“Ephesus” in Greek means desirable. This signifies that the initial church at its end was still desirable to the Lord; the Lord still had much expectation in her.
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