God gives us three views of Church truth, as we shall see in our study of the seven church letters. First, they were seven literal churches at the time when John wrote. Second, they show us conditions that exist at any point in history. Third, the word “mystery” would lead us to see the main thrust of their meaning, namely, seven successive stages of Church history from Pentecost to the Advent.
Thus Ephesus represents the apostolic age of the Church; Smyrna, the age of Roman persecution; Pergamos, the Church married to the world by Constantine; Thyatira, the religious domination of the Roman church; Sardis, the Reformation period; Philadelphia, revival of truth and effort; and Laodicea, the great apostasy of the last days.
In this respect, their history follows the history of religion in the Old Testament. Paradise and the tree of life, mentioned in Ephesus, links this church with Eden and the fall of man. Smyrna in the fires of persecution may align with Israel in the brick-kilns of Egypt. Pergamos, fed with manna and opposed by Balaam, points to Israel in the wilderness. Thyatira, with her Jezebel, is linked to Israel in the land. Sardis, with its register of names, brings us to Israel in Babylon. When tested, some of these could not find “their names written.” In Philadelphia we have the return of the remnant. Laodicea, with its mixture of good and bad, is well mirrored in the book of Malachi. It is a picture of religious deterioration until it goes beyond recovery. But “they that feared the Lord” opened the door, and with them He supped.
There is also a parallel between the seven parables of Matthew 13 and the seven churches. The beginning of declension is seen in the first parable and the first church. Because the enemy sowed tares among the wheat, the Lord permitted persecution to come, as seen in Smyrna. The mustard seed is like Pergamos, where the worldly church becomes the nesting place of every unclean bird. In the parable of the leaven, we see a woman corrupting the meal, and in Thyatira, we see a woman corrupting the church. The treasure hid in the field corresponds to the few names in Sardis which had not defiled their garments. The pearl of great price and Philadelphia are linked where the truth of the Church is recovered. The dragnet is like Laodicea with its mixture of good and bad (the bad are cast away, spued out of the mouth of the Son of God).
As we study the letters to these churches, we note that every church stands on its own base, responsible to the Lord alone. No amalgamation of assemblies is ever hinted at, neither here nor anywhere in the New Testament. The autonomy of each assembly is clearly taught in the Word. God in His wisdom planned this so that the enemy could not destroy the Church with one blow. The Church’s unity is invisible, bound by seven bonds (Eph. 4). This is what we are to endeavor to keep in view.
The prerogative for removing a lampstand is in the hand of Him who walks in the midst. He alone could say, “I will remove thy lampstand unless…” Had these principles of Church truth been obeyed, what heartaches the assemblies would have been saved!
In this religious deterioration, we may discern the losses the Church sustained. The loss of the first love was the beginning of other losses. The divine idea of the Church was lost: we read of “synagogue.” This was a gathering with no obligation to authority. A church is a gathering, too, but in His Name, that is, subject to His authority (Mt. 18:20).
The divine superintendency of the Holy Spirit was lost; we read of a clerical cast called “the Nicolaitanes” and the “Balaamites.” The first denied the headship of Christ over the Church, while the second denied the supremacy of the Spirit over the members of the Church. The first led to ritualism, in which “the clergy conquered the people”; the second led to spiritual adultery with the world. The truth of separation was lost. Pergamos means marriage, for the church became married to the world, and aimed to be great in the world, no longer content to be God’s “little flock.”
The voice of God was lost to the voice of the Church. Jezebel becomes the teacher, instead of the Church interpreting what God says. There is a fixed inflexibility about God’s truth which ill suits the designs of those who need pliant principles, principles that please and amuse the declining church.
One significant thing may be noticed: in the first three churches no mention is made of the Second Advent, but it is mentioned in the last four. Would this suggest that the apostasy seen in the last four churches develops rapidly at the end of the age and paves the way for the manifestation of Antichrist? Certainly what is left of Laodicea when the Church is taken up will merge into Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, who will ride the Beast until he turns and destroys her (Rev. 17).
The portrait of Christ in chapter 1 with its ten beautiful colors is broken down in chapters 2 and 3, and according to the need of each church, the truth about Christ is applied. This means that the ministry of Christ is God’s remedy for any condition among the saints to the present day.