38 The Revelation of Jesus Christ church· age. Therefore, most of chapters two and three, practically all of which were prophecy in the days of the Apostle John, are now history: for nearly two thousand years have passed since "this prophecy" ( 1:3) was uttered by the risen Christ to His exiled apostle on the Isle of Patmos. This is not speculation or fanciful interpretation, for no sum n1ary of church history that has ever been written by man can compare with these divinely inspired words in accuracy or comprehensiveness. This is all the more remarkable when we remember that God wrote them before they came to pass. But so also is all prophecy; for "known unto God are all his ·works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15: 18). Let us read these two chapters, not so much to note the details just here as to observe the remarkable way in which they outline for us all church history, from the days of the· apostles even until the end of this age, as described for us repeatedly in other portions of the Word of God: 1. The message to Ephesus-The apostolic church, 2:1-7. 2. The message to Smyrna .- The persecuted church, 2:8-11. 3. The message to Pergamos.-The church linked with the world, "where Satan's throne is," 2: 12-17. 4. The message to Thyatira-The church in the Dark Ages, filled with corruption, 2: 18-29. 5. The message to Sardis-The church of the Protestant Reformation, 3: 1-6. 6. The message to Philadelphia-The missionary church within professing Christendom, 3:7-13. 7. The message to Laodicea-The apostate church, with the risen Lord on the outside, entering into the hearts of individuals who will "open the door" to Him, 3: 14-22. All those who "let the Saviour in" during this, our own time of apostasy will one day hear His voice, saying, "Come up hither." (See 4:1.) In that moment, "in the twinkling of an eye" (I Cor. 15:52). the dead in Christ shall rise, and "we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord"
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker