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In this lesson we will continue to see the prophecies in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 concerning the stages of the church.
The fourth epistle in Revelation, to the church in Thyatira, prophetically describes the apostate Roman Catholic Church, from the establishment of the papal system in the latter part of the sixth century to Christ’s coming at the end of this age (2:18-29). Thyatira in Greek means “sacrifice of perfume,” or “unceasing sacrifice.” This apostate church is full of sacrifices, as demonstrated in her unceasing mass.
To the church in Thyatira the Lord said, “I know your works and love and faith and service and your endurance and that your last works are more than the first” (v. 19). This prophesies that the apostate church has many works and services, and her works in the last days are even more than those in the past. According to church history, in the Middle Ages the majority in the Roman Catholic Church were apostate and disapproved by the Lord, but there were still many faithful ones among them. They were “the rest in Thyatira” (v. 24), who rejected heresies to the uttermost, faithfully loved the Lord, and were willing to suffer for the Lord. They did not have the evil teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, nor did they know the deep things of Satan. Their works, love, faith, service, and endurance were acknowledged and approved by the Lord. Thus, the Lord reminded them, “Nevertheless what you have hold fast until I come” (v. 25).
The Lord rebuked the church in Thyatira for tolerating Jezebel, the woman who called herself a prophetess and taught the Lord’s slaves to commit fornication and to eat idol sacrifices (v. 20). The prophetess Jezebel referred to in this prophecy was the pagan wife of Ahab, the king of Israel (1 Kings 16:31). She urged Ahab to worship and to serve Baal, promoted idolatry among the children of Israel, and sought to kill the prophets of the children of Israel (21:25-26; 18:19; 19:2). Jezebel is also the woman prophesied by the Lord in Matthew 13:33, the woman who added leaven—signifying evil, heretical, and pagan things—into the fine flour—signifying Christ as the meal offering for the satisfaction of God and man. She is also the great harlot in Revelation 17 who mixes abominations with the divine things.
According to church history Jezebel the prophetess, as prophesied in Revelation 2, is undoubtedly the apostate church, the Roman Catholic Church. On the one hand, the apostate church mixes heathen, pagan things with the worship of God by His people. She helps God’s people to worship God, but she does not do it in God’s way; rather, she does it in a heathen, pagan way. The Roman Catholic Church has leavened everything related to Christ. The Roman Catholic Church does have Christ, the fine flour, but she has put leaven into the fine flour, thereby fulfilling the prophecy of Matthew 13:33, “the whole was leavened.” On the other hand, the apostate Roman Catholic Church is also a self-appointed prophetess, a person who presumes to be authorized by God to speak for God. She demands people to listen to her more than to God. Her adherents are drugged by her heretical, religious teachings and thus do not care for Christ as their life and life supply (Rev. 2:7, 17).
The apostate church in Thyatira is not willing to repent, and the Lord causes her to be sick in bed (vv. 21-22). This indicates that the apostate church is incurably sick and will remain so until the judgment at the Lord’s coming.
The Lord said to the apostate church, “Behold, I cast...those who commit adultery with her, into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works; and her children I will kill with death” (vv. 22-23). Tribulation here is the particular portion of affliction that the Lord will cause the Roman Catholic Church to suffer when He judges her. To kill her children with death may refer to the destroying of the Roman Catholic Church by Antichrist and his followers during the three and a half years of the great tribulation (17:16-17; 19:1-3). By this the churches will know that the Lord is He who searches the inward parts and the hearts (2:23).
The fifth epistle was written to the church in Sardis (3:1-6). In Greek Sardis means “the remains, the remainder,” or “the restoration.” The epistle to the church in Sardis is a prophecy concerning the Protestant church from the time of the Reformation to the second coming of Christ. According to church history the Reformation in the sixteenth century was a reaction to the apostate Roman Catholic Church, signified by the degraded church in Thyatira. The Reformation was accomplished by a minority of believers, the remainder. Hence, it was a restoration by the remainder. What the church in Sardis signifies is the Protestant church produced after the Reformation.
The Lord said to the messenger of the church in Sardis, “I know your works, that you have a name that you are living, and yet you are dead” (v. 1). The Reformation was the direct work of the Holy Spirit, but the Protestant church after the Reformation is a human organization. The Protestant church is considered by many to be living, but the Lord says that she is dead. Hence, she needs the living seven Spirits and the shining seven stars (v. 1) to recover from the condition of having lost her power and life. The Protestant denominations seem to be better than the Roman Catholic Church prefigured by the church in Thyatira, but they have lost the vitality of life and are living in name only. The frequent revivals in the history of the Protestant denominations are a proof of their being dead.
In Revelation 3:2 the Lord asked the church in Sardis to “establish the things which remain, which were about to die.” The things which remain are the things that were lost and then restored by the Reformation, such as justification by faith, the gospel of grace, and the open Bible. Although these things were restored during the Reformation, they were about to die. Hence, they needed to be revived.
The Lord also said, “I have found none of your works completed before My God” (v. 2b). Nothing that began in the Reformation has ever been completed by the Protestant churches. In the eyes of God there are no completed works in the so-called reformed churches. Even though they recovered the open Bible and gained many precious truths, they still hold on to their creeds and rituals. They left the organization of the Roman Catholic Church, but they produced many more state churches, which are joined to politics, and independent churches, which uphold partial truths; they have not returned to the proper ground of the church as revealed in the Bible. Hence, even though many servants among them have been greatly used by the Lord, their works are not complete in God’s eyes.
Therefore, the Lord charged them, “Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and keep it and repent. If therefore you will not watch, I will come as a thief, and you shall by no means know at what hour I will come upon you” (v. 3).
The sixth epistle was written to the church in Philadelphia (vv. 7-13). Philadelphia in Greek means “brotherly love.” The church in Philadelphia prophetically depicts the church of brotherly love, that is, the recovery of the proper church life. The church of brotherly love was a reaction to the dead, reformed church. It started in the early part of the nineteenth century, when the brothers were raised up in England to practice the church life outside the system of sects and divisions, and it will continue until the Lord comes back.
One outstanding feature of the church in Philadelphia is that she has a little power and has kept the Lord’s word (v. 8). According to church history the brothers raised up in the early part of the nineteenth century did not care for tradition; they strictly kept the Lord’s word.
In Revelation 3:8 the Lord also said that the church in Philadelphia did not deny His name. The brothers raised up by the Lord in England in the early part of the nineteenth century did not take any name other than the Lord’s name. They called themselves Christians only, that is, those belonging to Christ. They not only returned in a full way to the Lord’s word but also abandoned all names other than that of the Lord Jesus Christ. They belonged to the Lord absolutely, having nothing to do with any denominations (any names). The church, as the pure virgin espoused to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2), should have no name other than her husband’s. All other names are an abomination in the eyes of God. By taking names other than the Lord’s name, the Protestant church has committed spiritual fornication. Deviation from the Word to heresies and the exaltation of so many names other than that of Christ are the most striking signs of degraded Christianity. Returning to the pure Word from all heresies and traditions and the exaltation of the Lord’s name by abandoning every other name are the most inspiring testimonies in the church of brotherly love. In the church in Philadelphia there is only the pure word of the Lord and His unique name.
In Revelation 3:8 the Lord said, “I know your works; behold, I have put before you an opened door which no one can shut.” The Lord is the One who has the key of David and who opens a door which no one will shut (v. 7). He has given to the church in Philadelphia an opened door which no one can shut. Since the recovery of the proper church life began in the early part of the nineteenth century until now, a door has always been opened to the recovered church all over the world. There is no way for organized Christianity to shut this door because the key is in the hands of Christ, the Head of the church.
The Lord promised the church in Philadelphia: “Because you have kept the word of My endurance, I also will keep you out of the hour of trial, which is about to come on the whole inhabited earth, to try them who dwell on the earth” (v. 10). Trial in this verse undoubtedly denotes the great tribulation, which is about to come on the whole inhabited earth (Matt. 24:21). Hence, this promise refers to the rapture of the overcomers before the great tribulation. Since the church in Philadelphia has kept the word of the Lord’s endurance, the Lord promises to keep her out of the hour of trial; that is, she will be raptured before the great tribulation.
The seventh epistle was written to the church in Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22). As a sign, the church in Laodicea prophetically signifies the degraded recovered church. Less than a century after the Lord recovered the proper church in the early part of the nineteenth century, some of the recovered “assemblies” (called such by the Brethren) became degraded. The degraded recovered church, signified by the church in Laodicea, will exist until the Lord comes back.
Laodicea means “the opinion, judgment, of the people” or “of the laymen.” This indicates that the degraded recovered church is full of human opinion. Christ is the Head of the church, His Body, and the believers are the members of the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 12:27). When the recovered church no longer holds Christ as the Head, no longer receives the discipline of the Holy Spirit, no longer remains in the position of brothers, and no longer honors God’s word but instead does things according to fleshly human opinion, she becomes Laodicea in her degradation.
The Lord rebuked the church in Laodicea, saying, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spew you out of My mouth” (Rev. 3:15-16). Even though the degraded recovered church is living, she is not burning. She pursues spiritual knowledge but has lost her zeal toward the Lord. Dead, vain knowledge and doctrinal forms have made the degraded recovered church neither cold nor hot. Being neither cold nor hot, the degraded church is in danger of being spewed out of the Lord’s mouth, that is, losing the enjoyment of all that the Lord is to His church. Hence, she needs to repent of her lukewarmness and be zealous, boiling, burning, that she may regain her enjoyment of the reality of Christ (v. 19).
The church in Laodicea thinks that she is rich (v. 17). According to church history the degraded recovered assemblies boast of their spiritual riches, thinking that they are rich and thus are in spiritual pride. However, in the eyes of the Lord they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (v. 17). They boast of their riches in doctrines and knowledge but are poor in the experience of Christ. They care mainly for vain knowledge but scarcely care for the living experience of Christ. This is real poverty; it is the poverty that makes the degraded recovered church wretched and miserable. Besides, even though the church in Laodicea has some amount of knowledge about spiritual things, she does not have true spiritual insight. Thus, she is blind in genuine spiritual things. She is naked, mainly due to the lack of the subjective experience of Christ, that is, the lack of living by Christ and living out Christ to be her subjective righteousness as another splendid robe.
The Lord said to the church in Laodicea, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (v. 20). This door is not the door of the gospel but of the church. The Lord as the Head of the church is standing outside the degraded church, knocking at her door. This shows that the degraded recovered church in reality is Christless. This church has some knowledge and has the name of Christ, but there are too many objective doctrines and too little subjective truths. Hence, she does not have the subjective presence of Christ. The Lord desires that she open the door: “If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me” (v. 20). The Lord desires that all the objective doctrines of the church in Laodicea would become subjective experiences so that she can dine with Him, that is, to have intimate fellowship and joy.
The Lord’s word to the church in Thyatira is a prophecy concerning the apostate Roman Catholic Church, which began with the establishment of the papal system in the latter part of the sixth century and will continue to Christ’s coming at the end of this age. The apostate church has works, love, faith, service, and endurance, and her last works are more than the first. But she mixes heathen, pagan things with the worship of God by His people. She is also a self-appointed prophetess, one who presumes to be authorized by God to speak for God. Those who commit adultery with her will suffer tribulation, and her children will be killed with death. Since the apostate church is not willing to repent of her adultery, the Lord causes her to be sick in bed until the judgment at the Lord’s coming.
The Lord’s word to the church in Sardis is a prophecy concerning the reformed church, which is the Protestant church from the time of the Reformation to the second coming of Christ. She has a name that she is living, and yet she is dead. Many things were recovered in the Reformation, such as justification by faith, the gospel of grace, and the open Bible. However, these restored things were about to die and needed to be revived. Furthermore, in the eyes of God there are no completed works in the so-called reformed church. Therefore, the Lord charged her, “Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and keep it and repent” (3:3).
The Lord’s word to the church in Philadelphia prophetically depicts the church of brotherly love, that is, the recovery of the proper church life, which began in the early part of the nineteenth century when brothers were raised up in England to practice the church life outside the system of sects and divisions and continues until the Lord comes back. She has kept the Lord’s word and has not denied His name. The Lord gives her an opened door and promises to keep her out of the hour of trial, which is about to come on the whole inhabited earth; that is, she will be raptured before the great tribulation.
The church in Laodicea prophetically signifies the degraded recovered church life from the nineteenth century until the Lord’s coming. The degraded recovered church is full of human opinion. She has works, but she is neither cold nor hot; hence, she is in danger of being spewed out of the Lord’s mouth. She also thinks that she is rich, but the Lord said that she is wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. This church has some knowledge and has the Lord’s name, but there are too many objective doctrines and too little subjective truths. She keeps the Lord outside her door and thus does not have the subjective presence of Christ. The Lord desires that she open the door so that He can dine with her.
