Seven Church Eras
The book of Revelation records seven
messages to seven churches that existed in Asia Minor toward the end of the
first century A.D.
These churches -- Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos,
Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea -- were located along one of the
mail routes of the old Roman Empire.
Riders would follow the route --
carrying messages from town to town.
The messages to the seven churches
have words of both encouragement and correction and they clearly show the
dominant characteristics of each of the congregations at that time.
But
these messages were intended for a wider audience than the Christians in these
small towns.
They are a series of remarkable prophecies, by which the
future of the true Church was foretold in outline form, from the day it began on
Pentecost, A.D. 31, until the Second Coming of Christ.
The history of
the Church would fall into seven distinct eras -- each with its own strengths
and weaknesses and its own special trials and problems.
Just as a
message could pass along the mail route from Ephesus to Laodicea, so would the
truth of God be passed from era to era.
It was like a relay race -- in
which the baton is passed from runner to runner, each one doing his part, until
the finish line is reached.
Some time during the early decades of the
second century, the baton was passed from the Ephesian era to the people that
God had called to the Smyrna era of his Church.
Powerless, often
persecuted, and rejected as heretics, the world lost sight of them. Instead,
there emerged from the lost century a church that was steadily growing in
popularity but growing further away from the gospel that Jesus taught.
Persecution continued at various times under the Romans until the fourth
century, when Constantine recognized the degenerate Church of that period as an
official religion of the empire.
But the Church that he recognized was
by now very different from the Church that Jesus founded. The doctrines and
teachings that he had taught his apostles were now buried amid the trappings,
ceremonies, mysteries and rituals of a church that called itself by the name of
Christ. It was essentially the Babylonian Mystery religion, now being called
Christian, accepting the doctrine of grace but turning it into license. In other
words, it was the old pagan Babylonian Mystery religion wearing a new cloak:
"Christianity."
Once Constantine recognized them, this Church threw
renewed energy into taking its message to the world. Teachers and preachers went
to all parts of the Roman Empire with a message about Christ. Thousands -- maybe
millions -- heard this gospel and believed it. But it was not the gospel Christ
preached -- his prophetic message of the coming kingdom of God.
Emperor Decreed Doctrine of False Church
What
happened to the true Church during those centuries in which the gospel was
suppressed?
Emperor Constantine died in A.D. 337, just over 300 years
after Christ was crucified. He had given his blessing to a church that claimed
to be the one that Christ founded.
Now that they were free from fear of
oppression the persecuted became persecutors. Those of the true Church who dared
to disagree with their doctrine were branded as heretics, worthy of punishment.
In about A.D. 365 the Catholic Council of Laodicea wrote in one of its
most famous canons: "Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but
must work on that day, rather, honouring the Lord's Day. But if any shall be
found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ." This was a virtual
sentence to torture and/or death. The false church did not herself put true
believers to death, but caused them to be put to death (Rev. 13:15). This decree
of A.D. 365 definitely shows that there were true Christians observing the
Sabbath.
The small remnant of Christians of the Smyrna era fled once
more -- to seek the religious freedom they needed to practice their beliefs.
They left few records. Occasionally they appear as a footnote of
history, rejected as heretics, ridiculed, and hounded by their enemies. But
their strongest testimony comes from Jesus himself, in his words of
encouragement to the Church that was at Smyrna. "I know your works, tribulation,
and poverty .... Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer
.... Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Rev.
2:9-10, Revised Authorized Version).
And so the baton passed from the
Smyrna Christians to those of the Pergamos era.
These had been called to
carry the truth through one of history's most difficult periods -- the Dark
Ages.
The power and influence of the great universal church spread far
and wide, driving those who clung to the truth of God ever further into the
wilderness.
But they were never far from threat of persecution and
martyrdom.
And so very few of the Pergamos Christians remained faithful.
One thousand years after Jesus had founded his Church, the exhausted remnant of
the Pergamos era handed over the baton.
The Thyatiran era got off to a
vigorous start, preaching repentance throughout the Alpine Valleys of Southern
France and Northern Italy. Many heard and were converted.
The religious
authorities quickly reacted to this challenge. Leaders of the true Church were
arrested. Some were martyred. After the death of its first leaders, the Church
went into a temporary decline -- but emerged once more under the dynamic
leadership of Peter Waldo. For several years in the 12th century, these
Waldensians flourished in the Alpine Valleys, preaching what truth they had.
Booklets and articles were written and copied by hand. This was still before the
days of printing.
As Jesus prophesied of the Thyatiran era, they had
faith and they worked hard. Their latter works were greater than the first.
But once again, persecution followed, as the full force of the
Inquisition was felt in the peaceful valleys that had once provided a safe haven
for the work of God.
Many that remained began to adopt the customs and
traditions of the world around them.
Europe now had many scattered
groups of people calling themselves Christians.
Meanwhile, the world was
changing. Printing had been invented -- and knowledge began to be increased. The
Protestant Reformation broke the monopoly of the Church of Rome.
As
religious wars swept across the European continent during the Middle Ages, many
refugees fled to the relative safety and tolerance of England. Among them were
members of the true Church. They brought with them their doctrines and beliefs,
especially the knowledge of the Sabbath.
The strict Sunday-observing
Puritans resisted, but in spite of a rising tide of opposition, in the early
17th century, there were several small Sabbath- keeping congregations in
England. Jesus was raising up the fifth era of his Church -- Sardis.
Protestant England became increasingly intolerant of dissenters,
including Sabbath keepers.
The true Church in England withered. But
across the ocean, men were beginning to discover a New World.
Stephen
Mumford, a member of a Sabbath-keeping church in London, left England for
Newport, Rhode Island, in 1664. Rhode Island was the smallest of the American
colonies, and had been founded by Roger Williams, a Baptist fleeing persecution
from the Puritans of Massachusetts.
Rhode Island was the first place in
the world to guarantee freedom of religion as a basic tenet of its constitution.
Finding none who kept the Sabbath, Mumford and his wife began to fellowship with
the Baptist church in Newport. He did not proselytize, but quietly maintained
his own belief. Several members of the Sunday-keeping congregation became
convinced that they, too, should observe the Sabbath.
They became the
first Sabbath-keeping congregation in America. At first they met in private
homes. In the historical museum at Newport, their record book is preserved
containing names -- their contributions -- even records of their ordination
services.
Also preserved is the simple, but elegant, meeting hall that
they built in Newport in the early years of the 18th century. Others joined them
in their belief, as God began to call more to his work in the New World.
A second congregation was established at Hopkinton. This soon became a
thriving church of several hundred. A bridge today marks the spot where their
meeting house once stood. Several thousand were baptized here on the banks of
the Pawkatuk River. Then spiritual decline set in.
By the mid-1800s,
vigorous new Sabbath-keeping congregations, raised up as a result of the
preaching of William Miller, 1831-1849, could be found throughout the American
Midwest.
At Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1860, many thousands were
persuaded to accept the beliefs of the followers of Ellen G. White.
They
departed from the true name -- the Church of God. Instead of the true gospel,
the kingdom of God, they substituted doctrines of Ellen G. White, called "the
shut-door policy," "the investigative judgment," a "2,300 day" doctrine and "the
spirit of prophecy," identifying Mrs. White as the church's prophet who actually
set the church's doctrine.
They adopted the name Seventh-day Adventists,
by which name they are known to this day. But those who remained of the true
Church of God refused to accept these teachings and doctrines and restored
certain truths that had fallen into neglect in the previous century.
They moved their headquarters to Marion, Iowa, and then to Stanberry,
Missouri. A magazine, The Bible Advocate, was published. Their efforts bore some
fruit -- small congregations sprang up across the nation.
And so it was
that some time in the 19th century, a small congregation of the true Church of
God was established in the peaceful Willamette Valley in Oregon.
They
were farmers, without formal education. They lacked trained ministers to teach
and guide them. But they had the name, Church of God, and they faithfully kept
the Sabbath day.
God's Church had come a long way across the turbulent
centuries since the day of Pentecost.
It was weak, and lacked influence.
Years of persecution and compromise had taken their toll. Much truth had been
lost. But they had stayed the course.
In the Willamette Valley, they
waited. It was nearly time for the baton to change again -- into the hands of
those God would call to do his end-time work.
Restoration of
God's Truth to Church
From the year 1931, exactly 1,900 years
(a century of time cycles from the foundation of the Church, this small remnant
of the original true Church of God began to take on new life as the Philadelphia
era. It had come to the "time of the end." A new spiritual vitality was infused
into it. The time had come for Jesus' prophecy of Matthew 24:14 to be fulfilled
"this gospel of the kingdom shall be [proclaimed] in all the world for a witness
unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Such vital truth that had been
lost was gradually revealed and proclaimed.
This Philadelphia era is
described in verses 7 to 13 of Revelation 3. The Sardis era (Rev. 3:1-6) was by
this time spiritually dying and had become impotent in spreading the true gospel
of Christ. Indeed they had by this time lost knowledge of the true meaning of
that gospel. They knew they were approaching the Second Coming of Christ, but
they had no knowledge of what would happen during the thousand years millennium,
further than the fact Christ would rule.
Of the Philadelphia era of
God's true Church we read: "To the angel of the church ...." This word angel
translated from the Greek aggelos means messenger or agent. This is not
necessarily always referring to a spirit angel but can refer as well to a human
agent. It is possible that God's principle of duality may apply here. It may
apply to an actual spirit-composed angel that has been assigned as an overall
agent or helper of this particular era of the Church. Or it may also apply to
the human messenger or agent God has raised up to lead this era of his Church.
At the same time another principle of duality may apply to verses 7-13.
It may apply to the Church of this era as a whole, and also it could apply to
the human leader God had raised up to this era of his Church.
Continue
with verse 8: "I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door,
and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word,
and hast not denied my name."
This era of the Church was to produce
fruit. To this era -- or to its human leader -- God had set before it an open
door. It is recorded in II Corinthians 2:12 and also Acts 14:27 how Christ
opened the door for Paul to go into other countries to preach the gospel. This
Church and/or its leader had but little strength. Neither were of great and
powerful stature in Satan's world but those of this era were faithful to the
Word of God. Though much of the original gospel truth, imparted to the original
apostles by Jesus in person, had been lost, it was restored through the Bible to
this era of God's Church who were faithful in keeping it.
It is revealed
in Malachi 3:1-5 and 4:5-6 that God would raise up one in the power and spirit
of Elijah, shortly prior to the Second Coming of Christ. In Matthew 17:11 Jesus
said, even after John the Baptist had completed his mission, that this
prophesied Elijah "truly shall first come, and restore all things." Although it
is plainly revealed that John the Baptist had come in the power and spirit of
Elijah, he did not restore anything. The human leader to be raised up somewhat
shortly prior to Christ's Second Coming was to prepare the way -- prepare the
Church -- for Christ's coming, and restore the truth that had been lost through
the preceding eras of the Church. Also a door was to be opened for this leader
and/or the Philadelphia era of the Church to fulfill Matthew 24:14: "And this
gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all
nations; and then shall the end come."
It was to be at a time when, for
the first time in the history of mankind, the weapons of mass destruction were
produced that could erase all humanity from the earth (Matt. 24:21-22). This
also was to occur just before the Second Coming of Christ (verses 29-30).
These prophecies have now definitely been fulfilled. The true gospel has
been restored and has now gone in power into every nation on the face of the
earth.
The Church has taken on a new Spirit-empowered life. All the
technological advances and facilities are being employed.
First radio
was used, beginning on one of the smallest-powered stations in Eugene, Oregon.
Then the printing press. This started with an old secondhand Neostyle, ancestor
to the mimeograph. In due time the printing press was used. The advent of
television came in 1945 -- immediately after the end of World War II. The Church
began using television in the summer of 1955.The true gospel, for the first time
In 1,900 years, has finally been proclaimed and published into all nations of
the earth. The Church has grown. For the first 25 years it grew at an average
rate of 30 percent per year.
The first apostles would be astonished to
see the size and scope of the work now. The means of communications the
technology and the modern resources that God has given to his end-time work
would indeed be strange to those men who first received the commission to take
the gospel to the world nearly 2,000 years ago.
But some things would
not be strange -- the Sabbath and Holy Days, the name, the Church of God, and
the gospel of the kingdom -- these they would recognize -- handed down through
the ages from the time of Christ to the time of the end.
Taken from Chapter 6 of Myster of the Ages by Herbert W. Armstrong
