April 30, 2025 • 26 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Turning Point. Revelation opens with letters to seven
ancient churches in Asia Minor. But there's more to those
churches than meets the eye. Today, doctor David Jeremiah reveals
how each of those churches actually represents a unique period
of time in the overall history of the Church. From
(00:25):
Escape the Coming Night. Here's David with his message the
Church through the Ages.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, if you have been listening every day, you know
that we have just finished talking about the seven churches
to which John wrote his letters in chapters two and three,
and today is kind of a review of those churches
and an application of the messages that were sent to them,
an application of those very messages to our churches today
(00:52):
and actually to our own lives. We'll get to that
in just a few moments. But because we're beginning a
new month together, let me tell you that we have
a brand new resource just off the press. It's been
published by Thomas Nelson, and it's called sixty Days of Prophecies,
(01:13):
The Truth behind End Time Warnings, a one hundred and
forty four page paperback, and each day you'll learn about
a specific prophecy. You will learn how each prophecy relates
to the world in which we're living today. You will
take away scriptures and that will help you apply what
you've learned. And like all of our other resources, you
(01:35):
can get this book for a gift of any size.
When you ask for this resource, we'll send it to
you right away. Once again, the book is called Sixty
Days of Prophecies, a way for you to continue to
grow in your understanding of what's going to happen in
the future. Here's part one of the Church through the Ages.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
In the divinely inspired outline of the Book of Revelation.
Only three sections, and you may be surprised to discover
that we've already finished the first two and we only
have one left.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
But it's most of the book.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
The first part of the outline is write the things
which thou hast seen and the things which John saw
are the things which are written about in the first chapter.
The great vision of the glory of Jesus Christ and
that wonderful description that we studied in the first chapter
of the Lord Jesus standing in the midst of the candlesticks,
(02:34):
observing the churches with his penetrating eyes, looking past the
veneer and seeing the churches.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
For what they are.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
When John was on the isle of Patmos, he saw Jesus,
and he described what he had seen in chapter one.
The second part of the outline is to write the
things which are, and John then took up his pen
and wrote seven letters to seven churches of Asia Minor.
(03:02):
The third section begins with chapter four, write the things
which shall be hereafter beginning with our next message in
the Book of Revelation, we are now going to move
past the age of the Church and beginning with the
fourth chapter, from the Rapture all the way through to
the glorious Kingdom and the coming again of Christ. Another
(03:25):
outline that we have looked at in the Book of
Revelation is that the Book of Revelation is basically four revelations.
First of all, in chapter one we have the revelation
of God, and then in chapters two and three we
have the revelation of Grace, and then in chapters four
through nineteen, the revelation of Government, and then in chapters
(03:48):
twenty and twenty one, the revelation of Glory. As we
have looked at the seven churches of the Book of Revelation,
we have noted that they have several perspectives which we
must maintain. First of all, each of the letters that
we have looked at has a practical application, a practical truth,
(04:10):
And by that I mean that these are literal letters
written by John by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
to actual literal churches in Asia Minor. Asia Minor is
the modern day Turkey, one of the modern day dark
spots on the planet, but at one time it was
(04:30):
the brightest spot for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In
the time when these letters were written, there were scores
of churches throughout the region.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Today it is a dark area.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
John chose out of the many churches in Asia Minor
or modern day Turkey, to write to seven churches, and
it's important that we understand that these letters had a
practical application. In our minds eye, we can envision the
postman of Patmos taking ea letter one at a time
and delivering them to the actual churches whose name they bear.
(05:06):
We can see him going to the church in Ephesus
and delivering the letter to a church that had lost
its first love, and going from Ephesus to Smyrna and
delivering the letter to that actual church that was going
through great suffering. And persecution, and one by one the
letters around the circle in his journey, the postman of
(05:28):
Patnus delivered his letters. They were actual practical letters written
to actually individual historic churches. But there's another way that
we have tried to look at these letters, and that
is they were not only practical, but they are perennial.
By that I mean in every age, at every time,
(05:49):
there are churches that are symbolically represented by all the
churches in the second and third Chapter of Revelation, for instance,
in every age there are Ephesian type churches. In every age,
there are churches that go through persecution. There are Smyrnian churches.
In every age, there are churches like the Church of Pergamus,
(06:10):
or churches like the Church of Philadelphia, which had an
open door to serve God. So there is a perennial application.
And we pointed out at the beginning of the study
that as there is in every age representation of all
of the seven churches, there is also in every church
individuals who represent these churches by themselves. For instance, in
(06:34):
our church we have some Ephesian Christians, we have some
Christians who used to really be in love with God
and on fire for the Lord, but they've lost their
first love. In our church, we have some Syrnian Christians.
They've really been going through the fire and they're under persecution.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
In our church, we more than likely have some.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Laodicea in Christians who are not hot or cold, you're
just lukewarm. And in our church we probably have some
Philadelphian Christians who see the open door of service and
walk through that door to serve the lore. So in
the study of the Book of Revelation, as we look
at the seven Churches, there is both a practical application
and a perennial application. But I want you to notice
(07:17):
that there is thirdly a prophetic application. These seven churches
provide for us the entire ebb and flow of the
Church's history from the day of Pentecost until the rapture
of Jesus Christ he comes.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Back for his church.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
In other words, beginning with the church at Ephesus, and
going from Ephesus to Smurda, to Pergamus to Thiatyra t Sardis,
to Philadelphia to Laiadesea, we see one after another the
ages of the Church as they have unfolded from the
day of Pentecost, when the Holy spirit came down to
(07:57):
the rapture of the church when the church which goes up,
and chapters two and three you see represent the things
which are, and so we're going to see a panoramic
view of history all the way through.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And up until the day in which we now live.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Now, the key to this, if you study these letters,
is that each of the letters has within it a
key phrase that signifies the age which it represents.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Let me give you the key phrases.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
The key phrase for the Church of Ephesus is the
phrase thou art fallen chapter two and verse five. The
key phrase for the Church of Smyrna is tribulation ten
days chapter two, verse ten. The key phrase for Purgamus
(08:47):
is the doctrine of Balem chapter two, verse fourteen.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
The key phrase for.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Thiatyra is that woman Jezebel chapter two, verse twenty. The
key phrase for Sardis is a name but dead chapter three,
verse one. The key phrase for Philadelphia is an open
door chapter three, verse eight. And the key phrase for
(09:17):
Ladicea is thou art lukewarm chapter three, verse sixteen. Now,
if you didn't get all of those, I'll repeat them
as we go one by one through the churches.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Very quickly.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Here we have before us men and women, a capsule
history of the Church written from a prophetic viewpoint. Please understand,
this was written before any of the history I am
going to tell you about ever took place. It was
a prophetic rendering on the part of the writer, by
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, laying out beautifully the
(09:52):
entire scope of church history from the day of Pentecost,
when the Church was born, until the rapture.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Of the Body of Christ.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Now let's take a look first of all at the
first church. There is a period of time when there
is a church which seems to be upwardly moving, and
then it reaches a peak and it begins to descend,
with some minor opportunities at the end. But the picture
is one of seven stages of church growth. Now, the
(10:21):
first stage of church growth is the Church of Ephesus.
It covers a period in history of a d. Thirty
three to one hundred, or the first century of the church.
And the key phrase is the phrase thou art fallen,
Chapter two, verse five. This period of history was what
(10:41):
we call the post Apostolic church. In other words, it
was the church that was alive right after the Apostles
died off and went to heaven. It was the early Church,
the church of first and mostly second generation Christians. Now
not take long for error to creep into the Apostolic Church,
(11:05):
did it.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Air came in quickly.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Even in this age of the post Apostolic Church, already
they were having trouble. And the phrase thou art fallen
is a wonderful illustration of that. This church, which was
alive in its beginning, when Jesus came out of the
grave and the Apostles were heralding forth the truth of
the Gospel, this church, which had first generation Christians in it,
(11:32):
began to move away from the truth. In fact, the
word Ephesus itself is a word which means to let go.
And obviously the people of the Ephesian Church began to
let go of the things of God. Their love for
Christ began to fade, and dead works took its place.
(11:57):
And many of the New Testimony epistles which we read
and study today were letters that were written to the
churches of the first century, to the post Apostolic Church.
And what were those letters about, Well, you read them
for yourself. The Book of Galatians and the Book of Colossians.
What were they written to do to dispel the air
(12:19):
that had crept into the church in its very earliest
stages of growth. Letters like the Book of Hebrews and
Second Thessalonians written to try to straighten them out on
the doctrine of the second Coming of Christ, Second Peter
and Jude, and the Epistles of John. All of these
letters written by apostles to the Apostolic Church, because even
(12:42):
though it was the first century church, already error had
started to creep in to the church. That's stage number one.
We come now to the Church of Smyrna. It covers
from eighty one hundred to three hundred, or a period
of two hundred year years. It is the Smyrnian period
(13:03):
of church history. And the key phrase, if you remember,
is the phrase tribulation. Ten days, as we studied the
church at Smyrna, I reminded you that the word Smyrna
is a word which comes from the same root word
from which we get the word mrr, a burial substance
(13:24):
that was used in the time of the New Testament.
The Church of Smyrna, if you remember, was the suffering church,
and the phrase Tribulation ten days refers probably to the
ten periods of persecution in the Church. During the two
hundred year period of time, there were ten waves of persecution,
(13:48):
starting with the Emperor Nero and ending with Diocletian. For
ten waves of persecution came at the church, and they
tried to wipe the Church off the of the earth.
They only discovered that the blood of the martyrs became
the seed of the Church. During that period of time.
(14:08):
If you read the history books, you will discover that
the colosseums flowed with the blood of Christians, and terrible
things happened to the church as the followers of Christianity
were persecuted, and the last persecution under Diocletian lasted for
ten long years. When we read in the letter Persecution
(14:29):
ten days, it refers not only to the ten successive
periods of persecution, but to the last period of persecution,
which lasted for ten long years. And so the Church
is moving now through its pattern of history, as foretold
prophetically in the Letters of Revelation two and three, from
(14:50):
the post apostolic church represented by Ephesus, to the persecuted
church of the next two hundred years represented by Smyrna,
and that takes us to the third period of the Church,
which is the period represented by Pergamus, beginning in a d.
Three hundred and ending in five hundred AD. Now, the
(15:13):
key phrase for the Church of Pergamus write out of
the letter written to the church is the phrase the
doctrine of Balim. Now listen carefully to how this fits
in with the pattern of Church history. As you remember,
Balim was a colorful Old Testament prophet.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
He was a gentile.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
In fact, as far as I know, he was the
only gentile prophet to prophesy about the nation of Israel
and its future in the Old Testament scriptures. Balim, if
you remember the story from the Old Testament, was hired
by the King of Moab to curse the Israelites.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
The King of.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Moab got Balim, the prophet, the gentile prophet, and he
wanted to pay him money to curse the Israelites because
Israel was standing on the threshold of Moab's territory, ready
to engage them in war. And the Moabites had heard
about how Israel had conquered all their enemies, and they
wanted an advantage against them. And so they figured if
(16:17):
they could get Balem on their side, he could curse Israel.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
And maybe that would work. Well. You know the story.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Four times Balim tried to curse Israel, and every time
he opened his mouth to curse them, God put a
blessing in his mouth instead. And so the more he
tried to curse Israel, the more he blessed them. The
people that hired him were getting kind of upset with him.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Here.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
They had hired him to curse Israel, and every time
he opened his mouth he blessed them. And then Balem
came up with his devilish doctrine, and this is what
he said. He said, my lord king, if you cannot
curse them, then corrupt them. Entice the men of Israel
with the women of Moab, and God will judge Israel
(17:03):
and they will be destroyed. That was his idea. And
whenever in the New Testament you read about the doctrine
of Balim, you always can understand that what is talking.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
About is this.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It is the marriage of the world and godly things
together for the advantage that it provides to the world.
Balem's idea was, I can't curse Israel, so the way
I will do this is corrupt them. I will get
Israel's men to be seduced by the Moabite women, and
(17:37):
when they intermarry, God will judge them for their sin.
And of course that's exactly what happened now in this
period of Church history, in the Pergamus period, that is
what happened.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Let me tell you the story.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
The last Roman emperor was a man by the name
of Diocletian. And when Diocletian died, ultimately the emperor who
succeeded him was Constantine.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Constantine became a.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Quote unquote nominal Christian, a professing Christian, and all of
a sudden, under Constantine's leadership, the persecuting Caesars gave way
to the patronizing Caesars, and the world came into the
Church and Christianity became the state religion. Constantine had a
(18:25):
mass baptism and he baptized all the soldiers in his
army all at one time. You didn't ask, you didn't
come forward, you just were baptized, period and made a
part of the Church. Well, the result of that state
religion was that Rome and the Church were married. The
(18:45):
Roman Empire and the Church of Jesus Christ were brought together.
And isn't it interesting that the word pergamus is a
word which, being translated, means marriage. Rome and the Church
were married. And here's what happened, and carefully. Pagan temples
became Christian churches, Heathen priests became Christian clergy, Pagan feast
(19:10):
days became Christian festivals. Paganism was baptized, and the church
effectively corrupted, and the corruption continued as a long line
of church officials became high.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Officials in the Roman world.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
It was, indeed the doctrine of Balem, the marriage of
the world and the Church, the coming together of that
which is good and that which is evil. Once again,
we're back to a two hundred year period of time,
from a d. Fifteen hundred to seventeen hundred. And the
key phrase for Sardies from the letter written to Sardis
(19:51):
is the phrase a name but dead. Oftentimes when we
think of the rule of the Roman Church, we get
all excited when we start to talk about the period
of the Reformation. And I'm not going to try to
take away from your thoughts of history any glorying that
(20:11):
you may have in the Reformation, but I want to
tell you it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Let me share with you what I mean.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
When Martin Luther, on October thirty first, fifteen seventeen AD
nailed his ninety five thesis to the door at Wittenberg, Germany,
halfway up the Santa Scarlet, seeking absolution for his sins,
Martin Luther said that he suddenly heard the voice of
(20:41):
the Lord ringing in his soul, saying the just shall
live by faith. And he rose to his feet, dusted
off his robes, descended the stairs supposed to have been
Pilot's staircase, brought from Jerusalem to Rome by Helena, the
mother of Constantine. And he went down those stairs, and
(21:03):
he marched out of the building and out of Rome forever.
But it was almost as if the mighty movement that
he began with his marching out of.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Rome was still born.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
State churches took the place of the Roman churches, and
before long any further spiritual progress.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Was arrested.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
There were some good things about the Reformation in that
long two hundred year period. All of us who have
studied it know that it was during that period of
time that the scriptures were encouraged to be circulated up
until that time, Rome had a lock on them.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
They were sealed under Roman dominion.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
And you know that passage of scripture that says no
scripture is any private interpretation. That was a famous watchword
under the Roman rule. That meant nobody could interpret it,
but the priest or the pope. No individual had the
right to interpret scripture. Of course, we know that's not
what that passage means. The scriptures were unlocked. The doctrine
(22:11):
of justification by faith came alive during the Reformation period.
During the period of Sardis, the Reformers swept away much
ritualistic and doctrinal rubbish, but they failed to recover the
doctrine of the second Coming of Christ. It's interesting when
(22:32):
you read Reformation history, there is almost nothing written about
the second coming of Christ. Someone has said they turned
to God from idols, but not to wait.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
For his son from heaven.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
And during the latter part of the Reformation period, Rome
staged a counter Reformation under ignacious Leola in order to
try to regain the ground that had been lost in
the Reformation, and the sad spiritual state of the Church continued,
and it could truly be said of that period of time,
(23:06):
they had a name, but they were dead. Look around
you today at what's going on in the religious church.
Just put the Roman Church aside, put all the cults aside,
take the evangelical fundamentalist churches and put them aside, and
what do you have left? Basically, what you have left
is the result of the Reformation.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
The inability of the reformers.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
To totally subtract themselves from the ritualism and the paganism
that was so much married to Rome. And so we
have in the period of Sardis, the period of Reformation.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Well, we're going through these churches now and putting them
together in one message, one package, Part one today, part
two tomorrow, and then we'll get into the actual descis
discussions that are so well known in the Book of Revelation.
Let me remind you again that Turning Point has a
magazine that you will want to get if you're not
(24:10):
getting it. I just saw the latest issue, and I'm
just so surprised when each issue comes out at the
beauty and just the professional way this looks, and how
wonderful it is to have that every month coming into
your home to encourage and strengthen you. It has articles
about your faith. It has devotional content for every day
(24:31):
Monday through Friday, and a special one for the weekend,
and just all kinds of great things to add value
to your faith. Please ask for it when you get
a chance. Send us a note through the mail or
through the internet, and we'll get it to you as
soon as we can.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
For more information on Doctor Jeremiah series Escape the Coming Night,
please visit our website, where we also offer two free
ways to help you stay connected, our monthly Turning Points
magazine and our daily email devotional sign up today at
David Jeremiah dot org slash radio. That's Davidjeremiah dot org
slash Radio, or call us at eight hundred ninety four
(25:18):
seven nineteen ninety three ask for your copy of David's
timely and valuable new book, Sixty Days of Prophecy, The
Truth behind Endtime Warnings. It's yours for a gift of
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in the English Standard, New International and New King James
versions available in your choice of versatile and attractive cover options.
(25:41):
Get all the details when you visit our website Davidjeremiah
dot org, Slash Radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join
us tomorrow as we continue the series Escape the Coming
Night on Turning Point with doctor David Jeremiah
Welcome to Turning Point. Revelation opens with letters to seven
ancient churches in Asia Minor. But there's more to those
churches than meets the eye. Today, doctor David Jeremiah reveals
how each of those churches actually represents a unique period
of time in the overall history of the Church. From
(00:25):
Escape the Coming Night. Here's David with his message the
Church through the Ages.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, if you have been listening every day, you know
that we have just finished talking about the seven churches
to which John wrote his letters in chapters two and three,
and today is kind of a review of those churches
and an application of the messages that were sent to them,
an application of those very messages to our churches today
(00:52):
and actually to our own lives. We'll get to that
in just a few moments. But because we're beginning a
new month together, let me tell you that we have
a brand new resource just off the press. It's been
published by Thomas Nelson, and it's called sixty Days of Prophecies,
(01:13):
The Truth behind End Time Warnings, a one hundred and
forty four page paperback, and each day you'll learn about
a specific prophecy. You will learn how each prophecy relates
to the world in which we're living today. You will
take away scriptures and that will help you apply what
you've learned. And like all of our other resources, you
(01:35):
can get this book for a gift of any size.
When you ask for this resource, we'll send it to
you right away. Once again, the book is called Sixty
Days of Prophecies, a way for you to continue to
grow in your understanding of what's going to happen in
the future. Here's part one of the Church through the Ages.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
In the divinely inspired outline of the Book of Revelation.
Only three sections, and you may be surprised to discover
that we've already finished the first two and we only
have one left.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
But it's most of the book.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
The first part of the outline is write the things
which thou hast seen and the things which John saw
are the things which are written about in the first chapter.
The great vision of the glory of Jesus Christ and
that wonderful description that we studied in the first chapter
of the Lord Jesus standing in the midst of the candlesticks,
(02:34):
observing the churches with his penetrating eyes, looking past the
veneer and seeing the churches.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
For what they are.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
When John was on the isle of Patmos, he saw Jesus,
and he described what he had seen in chapter one.
The second part of the outline is to write the
things which are, and John then took up his pen
and wrote seven letters to seven churches of Asia Minor.
(03:02):
The third section begins with chapter four, write the things
which shall be hereafter beginning with our next message in
the Book of Revelation, we are now going to move
past the age of the Church and beginning with the
fourth chapter, from the Rapture all the way through to
the glorious Kingdom and the coming again of Christ. Another
(03:25):
outline that we have looked at in the Book of
Revelation is that the Book of Revelation is basically four revelations.
First of all, in chapter one we have the revelation
of God, and then in chapters two and three we
have the revelation of Grace, and then in chapters four
through nineteen, the revelation of Government, and then in chapters
(03:48):
twenty and twenty one, the revelation of Glory. As we
have looked at the seven churches of the Book of Revelation,
we have noted that they have several perspectives which we
must maintain. First of all, each of the letters that
we have looked at has a practical application, a practical truth,
(04:10):
And by that I mean that these are literal letters
written by John by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
to actual literal churches in Asia Minor. Asia Minor is
the modern day Turkey, one of the modern day dark
spots on the planet, but at one time it was
(04:30):
the brightest spot for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In
the time when these letters were written, there were scores
of churches throughout the region.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Today it is a dark area.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
John chose out of the many churches in Asia Minor
or modern day Turkey, to write to seven churches, and
it's important that we understand that these letters had a
practical application. In our minds eye, we can envision the
postman of Patmos taking ea letter one at a time
and delivering them to the actual churches whose name they bear.
(05:06):
We can see him going to the church in Ephesus
and delivering the letter to a church that had lost
its first love, and going from Ephesus to Smyrna and
delivering the letter to that actual church that was going
through great suffering. And persecution, and one by one the
letters around the circle in his journey, the postman of
(05:28):
Patnus delivered his letters. They were actual practical letters written
to actually individual historic churches. But there's another way that
we have tried to look at these letters, and that
is they were not only practical, but they are perennial.
By that I mean in every age, at every time,
(05:49):
there are churches that are symbolically represented by all the
churches in the second and third Chapter of Revelation, for instance,
in every age there are Ephesian type churches. In every age,
there are churches that go through persecution. There are Smyrnian churches.
In every age, there are churches like the Church of Pergamus,
(06:10):
or churches like the Church of Philadelphia, which had an
open door to serve God. So there is a perennial application.
And we pointed out at the beginning of the study
that as there is in every age representation of all
of the seven churches, there is also in every church
individuals who represent these churches by themselves. For instance, in
(06:34):
our church we have some Ephesian Christians, we have some
Christians who used to really be in love with God
and on fire for the Lord, but they've lost their
first love. In our church, we have some Syrnian Christians.
They've really been going through the fire and they're under persecution.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
In our church, we more than likely have some.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Laodicea in Christians who are not hot or cold, you're
just lukewarm. And in our church we probably have some
Philadelphian Christians who see the open door of service and
walk through that door to serve the lore. So in
the study of the Book of Revelation, as we look
at the seven Churches, there is both a practical application
and a perennial application. But I want you to notice
(07:17):
that there is thirdly a prophetic application. These seven churches
provide for us the entire ebb and flow of the
Church's history from the day of Pentecost until the rapture
of Jesus Christ he comes.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Back for his church.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
In other words, beginning with the church at Ephesus, and
going from Ephesus to Smurda, to Pergamus to Thiatyra t Sardis,
to Philadelphia to Laiadesea, we see one after another the
ages of the Church as they have unfolded from the
day of Pentecost, when the Holy spirit came down to
(07:57):
the rapture of the church when the church which goes up,
and chapters two and three you see represent the things
which are, and so we're going to see a panoramic
view of history all the way through.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And up until the day in which we now live.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Now, the key to this, if you study these letters,
is that each of the letters has within it a
key phrase that signifies the age which it represents.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Let me give you the key phrases.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
The key phrase for the Church of Ephesus is the
phrase thou art fallen chapter two and verse five. The
key phrase for the Church of Smyrna is tribulation ten
days chapter two, verse ten. The key phrase for Purgamus
(08:47):
is the doctrine of Balem chapter two, verse fourteen.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
The key phrase for.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Thiatyra is that woman Jezebel chapter two, verse twenty. The
key phrase for Sardis is a name but dead chapter three,
verse one. The key phrase for Philadelphia is an open
door chapter three, verse eight. And the key phrase for
(09:17):
Ladicea is thou art lukewarm chapter three, verse sixteen. Now,
if you didn't get all of those, I'll repeat them
as we go one by one through the churches.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Very quickly.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Here we have before us men and women, a capsule
history of the Church written from a prophetic viewpoint. Please understand,
this was written before any of the history I am
going to tell you about ever took place. It was
a prophetic rendering on the part of the writer, by
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, laying out beautifully the
(09:52):
entire scope of church history from the day of Pentecost,
when the Church was born, until the rapture.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Of the Body of Christ.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Now let's take a look first of all at the
first church. There is a period of time when there
is a church which seems to be upwardly moving, and
then it reaches a peak and it begins to descend,
with some minor opportunities at the end. But the picture
is one of seven stages of church growth. Now, the
(10:21):
first stage of church growth is the Church of Ephesus.
It covers a period in history of a d. Thirty
three to one hundred, or the first century of the church.
And the key phrase is the phrase thou art fallen,
Chapter two, verse five. This period of history was what
(10:41):
we call the post Apostolic church. In other words, it
was the church that was alive right after the Apostles
died off and went to heaven. It was the early Church,
the church of first and mostly second generation Christians. Now
not take long for error to creep into the Apostolic Church,
(11:05):
did it.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Air came in quickly.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Even in this age of the post Apostolic Church, already
they were having trouble. And the phrase thou art fallen
is a wonderful illustration of that. This church, which was
alive in its beginning, when Jesus came out of the
grave and the Apostles were heralding forth the truth of
the Gospel, this church, which had first generation Christians in it,
(11:32):
began to move away from the truth. In fact, the
word Ephesus itself is a word which means to let go.
And obviously the people of the Ephesian Church began to
let go of the things of God. Their love for
Christ began to fade, and dead works took its place.
(11:57):
And many of the New Testimony epistles which we read
and study today were letters that were written to the
churches of the first century, to the post Apostolic Church.
And what were those letters about, Well, you read them
for yourself. The Book of Galatians and the Book of Colossians.
What were they written to do to dispel the air
(12:19):
that had crept into the church in its very earliest
stages of growth. Letters like the Book of Hebrews and
Second Thessalonians written to try to straighten them out on
the doctrine of the second Coming of Christ, Second Peter
and Jude, and the Epistles of John. All of these
letters written by apostles to the Apostolic Church, because even
(12:42):
though it was the first century church, already error had
started to creep in to the church. That's stage number one.
We come now to the Church of Smyrna. It covers
from eighty one hundred to three hundred, or a period
of two hundred year years. It is the Smyrnian period
(13:03):
of church history. And the key phrase, if you remember,
is the phrase tribulation. Ten days, as we studied the
church at Smyrna, I reminded you that the word Smyrna
is a word which comes from the same root word
from which we get the word mrr, a burial substance
(13:24):
that was used in the time of the New Testament.
The Church of Smyrna, if you remember, was the suffering church,
and the phrase Tribulation ten days refers probably to the
ten periods of persecution in the Church. During the two
hundred year period of time, there were ten waves of persecution,
(13:48):
starting with the Emperor Nero and ending with Diocletian. For
ten waves of persecution came at the church, and they
tried to wipe the Church off the of the earth.
They only discovered that the blood of the martyrs became
the seed of the Church. During that period of time.
(14:08):
If you read the history books, you will discover that
the colosseums flowed with the blood of Christians, and terrible
things happened to the church as the followers of Christianity
were persecuted, and the last persecution under Diocletian lasted for
ten long years. When we read in the letter Persecution
(14:29):
ten days, it refers not only to the ten successive
periods of persecution, but to the last period of persecution,
which lasted for ten long years. And so the Church
is moving now through its pattern of history, as foretold
prophetically in the Letters of Revelation two and three, from
(14:50):
the post apostolic church represented by Ephesus, to the persecuted
church of the next two hundred years represented by Smyrna,
and that takes us to the third period of the Church,
which is the period represented by Pergamus, beginning in a d.
Three hundred and ending in five hundred AD. Now, the
(15:13):
key phrase for the Church of Pergamus write out of
the letter written to the church is the phrase the
doctrine of Balim. Now listen carefully to how this fits
in with the pattern of Church history. As you remember,
Balim was a colorful Old Testament prophet.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
He was a gentile.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
In fact, as far as I know, he was the
only gentile prophet to prophesy about the nation of Israel
and its future in the Old Testament scriptures. Balim, if
you remember the story from the Old Testament, was hired
by the King of Moab to curse the Israelites.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
The King of.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Moab got Balim, the prophet, the gentile prophet, and he
wanted to pay him money to curse the Israelites because
Israel was standing on the threshold of Moab's territory, ready
to engage them in war. And the Moabites had heard
about how Israel had conquered all their enemies, and they
wanted an advantage against them. And so they figured if
(16:17):
they could get Balem on their side, he could curse Israel.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
And maybe that would work. Well. You know the story.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Four times Balim tried to curse Israel, and every time
he opened his mouth to curse them, God put a
blessing in his mouth instead. And so the more he
tried to curse Israel, the more he blessed them. The
people that hired him were getting kind of upset with him.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Here.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
They had hired him to curse Israel, and every time
he opened his mouth he blessed them. And then Balem
came up with his devilish doctrine, and this is what
he said. He said, my lord king, if you cannot
curse them, then corrupt them. Entice the men of Israel
with the women of Moab, and God will judge Israel
(17:03):
and they will be destroyed. That was his idea. And
whenever in the New Testament you read about the doctrine
of Balim, you always can understand that what is talking.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
About is this.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It is the marriage of the world and godly things
together for the advantage that it provides to the world.
Balem's idea was, I can't curse Israel, so the way
I will do this is corrupt them. I will get
Israel's men to be seduced by the Moabite women, and
(17:37):
when they intermarry, God will judge them for their sin.
And of course that's exactly what happened now in this
period of Church history, in the Pergamus period, that is
what happened.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Let me tell you the story.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
The last Roman emperor was a man by the name
of Diocletian. And when Diocletian died, ultimately the emperor who
succeeded him was Constantine.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Constantine became a.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Quote unquote nominal Christian, a professing Christian, and all of
a sudden, under Constantine's leadership, the persecuting Caesars gave way
to the patronizing Caesars, and the world came into the
Church and Christianity became the state religion. Constantine had a
(18:25):
mass baptism and he baptized all the soldiers in his
army all at one time. You didn't ask, you didn't
come forward, you just were baptized, period and made a
part of the Church. Well, the result of that state
religion was that Rome and the Church were married. The
(18:45):
Roman Empire and the Church of Jesus Christ were brought together.
And isn't it interesting that the word pergamus is a
word which, being translated, means marriage. Rome and the Church
were married. And here's what happened, and carefully. Pagan temples
became Christian churches, Heathen priests became Christian clergy, Pagan feast
(19:10):
days became Christian festivals. Paganism was baptized, and the church
effectively corrupted, and the corruption continued as a long line
of church officials became high.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Officials in the Roman world.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
It was, indeed the doctrine of Balem, the marriage of
the world and the Church, the coming together of that
which is good and that which is evil. Once again,
we're back to a two hundred year period of time,
from a d. Fifteen hundred to seventeen hundred. And the
key phrase for Sardies from the letter written to Sardis
(19:51):
is the phrase a name but dead. Oftentimes when we
think of the rule of the Roman Church, we get
all excited when we start to talk about the period
of the Reformation. And I'm not going to try to
take away from your thoughts of history any glorying that
(20:11):
you may have in the Reformation, but I want to
tell you it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Let me share with you what I mean.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
When Martin Luther, on October thirty first, fifteen seventeen AD
nailed his ninety five thesis to the door at Wittenberg, Germany,
halfway up the Santa Scarlet, seeking absolution for his sins,
Martin Luther said that he suddenly heard the voice of
(20:41):
the Lord ringing in his soul, saying the just shall
live by faith. And he rose to his feet, dusted
off his robes, descended the stairs supposed to have been
Pilot's staircase, brought from Jerusalem to Rome by Helena, the
mother of Constantine. And he went down those stairs, and
(21:03):
he marched out of the building and out of Rome forever.
But it was almost as if the mighty movement that
he began with his marching out of.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Rome was still born.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
State churches took the place of the Roman churches, and
before long any further spiritual progress.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Was arrested.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
There were some good things about the Reformation in that
long two hundred year period. All of us who have
studied it know that it was during that period of
time that the scriptures were encouraged to be circulated up
until that time, Rome had a lock on them.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
They were sealed under Roman dominion.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
And you know that passage of scripture that says no
scripture is any private interpretation. That was a famous watchword
under the Roman rule. That meant nobody could interpret it,
but the priest or the pope. No individual had the
right to interpret scripture. Of course, we know that's not
what that passage means. The scriptures were unlocked. The doctrine
(22:11):
of justification by faith came alive during the Reformation period.
During the period of Sardis, the Reformers swept away much
ritualistic and doctrinal rubbish, but they failed to recover the
doctrine of the second Coming of Christ. It's interesting when
(22:32):
you read Reformation history, there is almost nothing written about
the second coming of Christ. Someone has said they turned
to God from idols, but not to wait.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
For his son from heaven.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
And during the latter part of the Reformation period, Rome
staged a counter Reformation under ignacious Leola in order to
try to regain the ground that had been lost in
the Reformation, and the sad spiritual state of the Church continued,
and it could truly be said of that period of time,
(23:06):
they had a name, but they were dead. Look around
you today at what's going on in the religious church.
Just put the Roman Church aside, put all the cults aside,
take the evangelical fundamentalist churches and put them aside, and
what do you have left? Basically, what you have left
is the result of the Reformation.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
The inability of the reformers.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
To totally subtract themselves from the ritualism and the paganism
that was so much married to Rome. And so we
have in the period of Sardis, the period of Reformation.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Well, we're going through these churches now and putting them
together in one message, one package, Part one today, part
two tomorrow, and then we'll get into the actual descis
discussions that are so well known in the Book of Revelation.
Let me remind you again that Turning Point has a
magazine that you will want to get if you're not
(24:10):
getting it. I just saw the latest issue, and I'm
just so surprised when each issue comes out at the
beauty and just the professional way this looks, and how
wonderful it is to have that every month coming into
your home to encourage and strengthen you. It has articles
about your faith. It has devotional content for every day
(24:31):
Monday through Friday, and a special one for the weekend,
and just all kinds of great things to add value
to your faith. Please ask for it when you get
a chance. Send us a note through the mail or
through the internet, and we'll get it to you as
soon as we can.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
For more information on Doctor Jeremiah series Escape the Coming Night,
please visit our website, where we also offer two free
ways to help you stay connected, our monthly Turning Points
magazine and our daily email devotional sign up today at
David Jeremiah dot org slash radio. That's Davidjeremiah dot org
slash Radio, or call us at eight hundred ninety four
(25:18):
seven nineteen ninety three ask for your copy of David's
timely and valuable new book, Sixty Days of Prophecy, The
Truth behind Endtime Warnings. It's yours for a gift of
any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible
in the English Standard, New International and New King James
versions available in your choice of versatile and attractive cover options.
(25:41):
Get all the details when you visit our website Davidjeremiah
dot org, Slash Radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join
us tomorrow as we continue the series Escape the Coming
Night on Turning Point with doctor David Jeremiah
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