Seven Churches of Asia (by Dr Peter Wee - March 22, 2026)
SEVEN
CHURCHES OF ASIA
Text: I
am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last: What thou seest, write
in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia
(Rev 1.11,19). (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia,
Laodicea)
- Things which thou hast seen
- Things which are
- Things which shall be hereafter
(a)
Importance of the Seven Names
HA Ironside
states: "The Second Division, 'the Things Which Are' (Rev1.19,20)
the things which are now in progress, has to do specifically with the Present,
the Church Period. The 7 lampstands are said to symbolise the 7
Churches of Asia, but there was a mystery connected with them.
“Devout students
of Scripture and Church History, believing that the Lord has given a prophetic
history of the Church for the entire Church Dispensation, compared the first
part of the Church's history with the letter to Ephesus. Here it fitted
perfectly. They went on and compared the letter to Smyrna with the 2nd
part of the Church's history, and the agreement was most marked.
They went on right down to the end, and when they came to Laodicea they
found that what is written to the Church of Laodicea answers exactly to
the condition of the Professing Church in the days we live.”
"The very
names are significant. It would be impossible to reverse any of these
names. If the order were changed they would not apply. Ephesus means
'desirable', such a term as a Greek applied to the maiden of his choice.
Smyrna means myrrh, used for embalming the dead. It had to be crushed
in order to give out its fragrance. Pergamos means marriage and
elevation. Thyatira means continual sacrifice. Sardis means a remnant.
Philadelphia is brotherly love. Laodicea means rights of the
people."
(b) Features
of the Seven Messages
JR Ecob
states: "The seven letters of Revelation chapters 2 & 3 are
from the Lord Jesus to Seven Churches located in Asia, or western Turkey
as we know it. These Churches existed in John's day, but the message
to each goes far beyond the local congregation. The last four Churches
continue to the Rapture, and the unsaved within those Churches will
pass into the Great Tribulation.”
"Each of
the seven letters records the Lord Jesus Christ's:
a. revelation
to that Church.
b. commendation
for that Church.
c. condemnation
of that Church.
d. exhortation
to that Church.
e. appreciation
for overcomers (the saved remnant) within that Church.”
"The
Churches are Professing Churches, or what we call Christendom.
All Churches profess to represent Christ in the world, but not all
individual members are saved". So we distinguish the True
Church, which the Lord will Rapture, from the False Church,
which the Lord will cast into Great Tribulation.”
(c) Church
History Through the Centuries
Numerous
books have been written on the 2000 years of Church History, such as
KS Latourette's two enormous volumes, AM Renwick's very readable work, Miller's
Church History, EE Cairns, EH Broadbent's Pilgrim Church, R Coad's Brethren
History, HA Ironside, JR Ecob, J Allen. Many will stir your interest and
whet your appetite for more knowledge of what our Lord Jesus Christ has
built from Pentecost to the Soon-Coming Rapture- His
Church, built upon the Eternal Rock- Himself, God Almighty.
i. Apostolic Age AM Renwick
notes: "In the Apostolic age some functions in the Church were temporary
and others permanent. To the first class belonged apostles and
prophets; to the second, the office of elder or bishop
('elder'- spiritual maturity and wisdom- and 'bishop' or 'overseer'- the
function of watching over the Lord's flock, not theirs)- referred
to the same person; and deacon, referring to all others, brothers
and sisters, serving the Lord in different capacities. Apostles
were a unique class appointed by Christ; their supernatural gifts and
authority were such that they left no successors. New Testament
prophets disappeared after the 2nd Century."
ii. The Worship of the Early
Church was simple, following the Lord's teaching of all being
brethren, Himself being present in the midst of gatherings of two or
three, Breaking Bread every Lord's Day, and following apostolic
teachings of gatherings, brothers participating orally, heads uncovered;
sisters silent in the meeting, heads covered, the headcovering being
the symbol of glory. Every believer served the Lord with the gifts
given by the Triune God (1 Cor ch11 to 14; Rom12;1Pet4.8-11).
iii. Early Church Separations
Church historians
mention problems and challenges, many heretical teachings that the early
'Church fathers' encountered, and how early Church Councils formulated
creeds- eg, Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Chalcedonian Definition- to
establish 'Trinitarian Truths', 'Christology', 'Deity, Humanity and
Hypostatic Union of Christ', but how these divided the Professing
Church; churches further divided on views regarding Assemblies'
Independence or Central Episcopal Control, with many separations.
iv. Church History Seen in Rev
2&3
The
realisation that the Lord Jesus was giving His Church its total complete
future history dawned upon students of Scripture only after many
centuries had elapsed, for believers to recognise the remarkable
correspondence between the Seven Churches and Seven Distinct Periods of
Church History reflected in the exact un-alterable sequence of the 7
Churches of Rev 2&3.
As J Allen
observes: "The prophetic truths foreshadowed in these messages
could come to light only as the centuries passed. It is only looking
back over the history of Church testimony… that devout Bible students…
agree that the last or Laodicean era has been reached… and that we are
now living in the final era of the Church".
v. Departures from Apostolic
Doctrine
They arose soon
after the apostles died. The first was Nicolaitanism (Gk meaning 'ruling
over the people') in the (1) Ephesian phase of Church history, when
believers who should all be equal brethren became divided into 'clergy'
ruling over 'laity', the first false doctrine the Lord warned the Church
against (Rev2.6,15). This is the beginning of clericalism and
hierarchicalism.
Many
believers in the (2) Smyrnan stage, like Polycarp, Iraeneus, Tertullian,
Blandina, defended the faith with their lives, persecuted by Rome
for 200 years, until Constantine, but heresies continued, and Church
Councils were held in the (3) Pergamum Church to deal with
theological controversies. Decrees were issued, causing divisions into Roman
Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, with their hierarchical
popes and patriarchs; and many independent Assemblies adhering to New
Testament principles led by Scriptural elders, all being simply and equally
brethren. Persecution of the independent assemblies of believers, now by
ruling state churches, spread from the 4th Century.
EH Broadbent
mentions numerous independent Assemblies of believers severely persecuted ---
Donatists, Priscillianists, Paulicians, Waldensians, Albigenses, Nestorians,
Bogomils, Beghards and Beghines, Thonraks, Moravians, Bohemians, Hussites,
Mennonites, Anabaptists, etc. Also numerous heresies were vigorously
combated, such as Gnosticism, Unitarianism, Monarchianism, Sabellianism,
Arianism, Universalism. And the (4) Thyatiran Church became
hierarchical, idolatrous, immoral, and evil, tolerating the false
prophetess, Jezebel, symbolising the False Church which the Lord will cast into
Great Tribulation.
In the 16th
Century, the (5) Sardis period, Protestant Churches, following
Luther and Zwingli's Reformation, separated from the Roman Catholic
Church. The mainline Protestant Churches are: Swiss Reformed,
Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Baptist, Methodist- many
teaching Reformed or Replacement Theology and Calvinism. By this time all mainstream
churches had abandoned the truth of the Second Coming of Christ, following
the teaching of Aurelius Augustine, who had written 'City of God', postulating
the kingdom of God was already ruling on earth through the Catholic Church.
vi. Recovery of Scriptural
Doctrines
JR Ecob
states: "About the year 1700, many independent groups of
Christians came to an understanding of the prophetic significance of the
seven letters to the seven churches, as they compared Church history with
the Lord's 7 Letters. And it is a fact of history that during the 1700s and
1800s the teaching of the Lord's Second Coming was revived. The (6)
Philadelphia Church around 1700 saw the prophetic interpretation
of the Seven Churches of Asia. During the 1800s and early 1900s men
such as JN Darby, CI Scofield, Gaebelein, W Lamb, and many more, began to
proclaim God's separate plans for Israel and the Church. It was God's
intention to unseal the prophetic Scriptures as the end draws near, and
that is precisely what has been happening since the Philadelphian era of
history".
vii. Ready for Rapture!
Today we are
within the (7) Laodicean stage, of apostasy. This final stage of Church
history sees the Professing Church embracing evolutionism, denying God's
creation, producing confusing versions of the Bible based on
the NU-Westcott and Hort Greek text (1881) derived from the unreliable,
ignored, and corrupted 4th Century Codex Sinaiticus (about to be burnt as
refuse, and Tischendorf rescued it from a wastebasket in Mt Sinai monastery!);
and Codex Vaticanus (stored in library, never consulted); attempting
to replace the King James Bible based on original manuscript-texts used for
centuries from which Erasmus (1516) printed the Greek Textus Receptus.
This period also
saw the emergence of Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventism,
Pentecostalism and the Charismatic movement, Christian Scientism, Freemasonry,
Mormonism, Ecumenism, One-World Church movement, all of which distort
essential Bible doctrines such as the Deity of Christ, the work
of the Holy Spirit, and doctrines of the Church. Apostasy has
practically reached its peak, and RAPTURE must soon take place, to be
followed by Great Tribulation.
To GOD be the
Glory,
Dr Peter Wee
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