“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. 20Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. 24Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): 25Only hold on to what you have until I come. 26To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— 27’He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery’— just as I have received authority from my Father. 28I will also give him the morning star. 29He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.‖ – Revelation 2:18-29 Thyatira stands for a dark period of the Church from about AD 476 (The fall of the Western Roman Empire) until the time of the Reformation, which began in 1517. During this time such unfortunate historical events, as the inquisitions and the Crusades demonstrated the deepening lack of spirituality of the Church. It was also the time when indulgences were sold, whereby people could pay money to supposedly have their sins removed. This led to the posting of Luther’s 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church and the beginning of the Reformation. The Thyatira church received at least a mild commendation for doing some things right, but it also was given a stern warning about the toleration of Jezebel whose practices included false prophecy, immorality, and eating food offered to idols. It seems unlikely that Jezebel was an actual person during this period of time. This is more likely another of the many symbols in the book. Jezebel, an Old Testament queen, was an incredibly wicked person who was known for her idolatry, immorality, and hatred of the true prophets (1 Kings Chapters 18 through 21 and 2 Kings 9). This would then symbolize the Church hierarchy with its growing spiritual unfaithfulness and idolatry that eventually caused the splitting of the Church at the Reformation. It also prefigures the specter of the Woman Riding the Beast in Revelation 17. The promise to overcomers is to give authority over the nations. This stands in contrast to the deep secrets of Satan, which may be a reference to the unholy alliance between the Church and various governments. God was not pleased with Papal influence over the nations, but he will be pleased to allow his righteous followers to rule and reign with Christ when he returns as King of Kings (Revelation 19:11-16). The overcomer will also receive the Morning Star. Jesus calls himself the Morning Star in Revelation 22:16
To Sardis – Revelation 3:1-6
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 4Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.‖ – Revelation 3:1-6 The Sardis church represents the Reformation period from 1517 until the mid-1700’s when the great revivals and modern missions movement began. This was a time when the Church had a reputation for being alive, but, as God saw it, they were really dying. History reveals that, though the churches of the Reformation did break away from problems in the Roman Catholic Church, they still did not return to thoroughly biblical practices, and had many problems of their own, including the union of church and state and the persecution of other reformers such as the Anabaptists who practiced believer’s baptism and were pacifists. The Reformation churches did not in general deal with the faulty eschatology held by the Roman Church since early times. Jesus reveals himself to this church as the one who holds the Seven Spirits, and the seven stars, identified earlier as the angels of the seven churches. These images indicate his sovereignty and his right to tell them to repent and change their ways. The overcomer will be given white garments and his name will not be blotted out of the Book of Life. It seems that each person’s name is already in the Book of Life, but those who are not true believers will have their names blotted out. This book is also mentioned in Revelation 20:12 where those not found in it are cast into the Lake of Fire.
To Philadelphia – Revelation 3:7-13
“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. 10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. 11I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. 13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” – Revelation 3:7-13 Philadelphia is the missionary church. It began in the mid 1700’s with the great revivals and the modern missions movement, and it gradually lost much of its power during the 1900’s. Philadelphia means ―brotherly love.” It is this love that causes the desire to evangelize others (Romans 5:5). Jesus is seen as having the keys of David. He was of the line of David, and thus eligible for the throne of Israel. The key is for opening the door of opportunity for missions. No one can close what he has opened. No one can open what he has closed. There is no warning to this church, but many promises including these: “I am coming soon.”, and a promise to keep them from the hour of trial that is coming on the world. These are definite allusions to the rapture and to its timing: before the trials of The Tribulation. There is also a warning not to let anyone take their crown. This refers to one of the believers’ crowns: possibly the crown of life that was promised to the overcomers of the Smyrna church above. To the overcomers of this period there is a promise of a new name and permanent residence in the New Jerusalem.
To Laodicea – Revelation 3:14-22
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” – Revelation 3:14-22 The Laodicean church is the last church of the seven, and stands for the last of the Church periods. The name Laodicea means “rule of the people.” It is a picture of a church controlled by the people instead of being controlled by God. It is the church of the Apostasy, or the great “falling away” of believers. Jesus reveals himself as ruler of all creation, and as the faithful and true one in contrast to the unfaithfulness of the Laodiceans. He says they are neither spiritually hot nor cold, but lukewarm, and that he will spit them out of his mouth. This is shocking news to a people who have a very good feeling about themselves. They say they are rich, but they are poor and wretched and blind. If they were spiritually “hot” they would be like the flaming evangelists of the Philadelphia church. If they were “cold” perhaps they would recognize their spiritual plight. But they are active in their church work, doing what they want instead of what God wants. They are like those about whom Jesus warned–they call him Lord, but he never knew them (Matthew 7:21-23). Jesus counsels them to buy gold, symbolic of faith (1 Peter 1:7), white garments, which are like the linen of imputed righteousness with which the Bride of Christ is dressed (Revelation 19:7-8), and eye salve, showing dependence on God’s spiritual healing for their blinded eyes. To this church Jesus says he is standing outside the door, knocking. If they will open the door, he will come in. This is a church full of so-called Christians who have never really given their hearts to Jesus. Since it comes at the end of the Church Age, it is easy to see that there will still be many who call themselves Christians left behind when the rapture takes place. Still, there are overcomers even from this church. Those who will open the door to Christ will be overcomers. To them, Jesus will grant the right to sit with him on his throne. This is undoubtedly a reference to the future privilege of believers to reign with Christ. Many Bible commentators note that the seven churches are representative of various congregations that can be found on the earth at any one time during the entire 2000 year history of the Church. These distinctively different congregations each have strengths and weaknesses, and each has a core of faithful believers within them–designated by the word “overcomers.” Also, each of the seven churches has enjoyed its season of prominence as the dominant church during a given period of time. Most scholars who hold to this view believe we are now moving, or have already moved, out of the Philadelphian age into the Laodicean age. This is the final stage of church history before the rapture. Having considered the progress of the Church during these past two thousand years, we should now look at the gradual preparation for a final evil world empire that will fulfill the prophecies of the Book of Daniel and its New Testament counterpart, the Book of Revelation.
