The Seven Churches and Historical Eras

Understanding Scripture's Metaphors

Scripture consistently uses metaphors, analogies, and principles to help us develop a more accurate worldview. The principle of "you reap what you sow" appears throughout Scripture, and we can see this principle play out in real life situations around us. In this season, there is a particular metaphor that stands out: new wine and new wineskins.

This speaks to God doing something new—making ways in the wasteland, making rivers in the desert, doing unexpected things in unexpected places. There is goodness, fulfillment, and significance ahead. This should create anticipation, excitement, and a positive outlook. Some of you are stepping into the greatest season you've ever had with Christ. The proof is in the tasting: Christianity must be put to the test, and our God is good.

The Four Readings of Revelation

There are four primary theological camps for reading the Book of Revelation:

1. Prism - Everything in Revelation is behind us; we shouldn't read it with anticipation for the future.
2. Idealism - The book is entirely metaphor and analogy; you can make it mean whatever you want. This approach is problematic because the question becomes "What does this mean to me?" rather than "What does the text actually mean?"
3. Historicism - Much of what we read can be recognized throughout human history and continues to play out. Some is still ahead of us. This camp views the seven letters as representing seven historical eras within church history.
4. Futurism - Our church adheres primarily to this camp, though we also have strong appreciation for the historicism perspective.

The Seven Church Historical Eras

According to the historicism view, the seven letters represent seven distinct eras of church history:

1. The Apostolic Church (30–300 AD) - The letter to Ephesus. The church is birthed and immediately begins its story.
2. The Martyr Church (300–314 AD) - The letter to Smyrna. The church faces persecution; adversity becomes part of the story.
3. The Compromising Church (314–590 AD) - The letter to Pergamum.
4. The Roman Catholic Church (590–1517 AD) - A noticeable historical period. Constantine converted in the fourth century, and suddenly the church had rights, power, and resources. However, corruption was also present.
5. The Reformation Church (1517–1700) - The letter to Sardis. Martin Luther sparked the Reformation. For Protestants, we are the byproduct of this moment in church history, adhering to the gospel of justification by faith in Christ alone through grace.
6. The Revival Church (1700–1900) - The letter to Philadelphia. The late 1900s, particularly the 1980s and 90s, may represent the pinnacle of evangelicalism in America.
7. The Worldly Church (1900–The Rapture) - The letter to Laodicea. This is the era we are living in now.

Where Are We Now?

If we adhere to the historicism perspective, we are living in the final era. While I do not possess confidence in predicting the exact year, month, week, or day of Christ's return, I am confident we are in the final era. You can make a sound case for this without being overly dramatic.

When you examine all seven letters, one thing stands out: every single one of these churches was living under severe pressure. Each received a letter from God addressing their current circumstances and how He seeks to work in and through their lives.

The Three Forms of Pressure

Institutional Pressure

The Roman Empire itself—referred to symbolically in Revelation as Babylon—represented institutional, governmental, and administrative pressure on the church.

Social Pressure

Every city where these churches existed had its own origin, traditions, belief systems, values, and cultural norms that predated the gospel. From day one, Christians lived in a culture fundamentally at odds with their faith. The very culture stood in contradiction to what the community of believers was to represent. This created immediate social pressure.

Physical Pressure

The churches faced literal physical persecution. Much of what is lost on the American church is our failure to recognize that the majority of Christians around the world face life-and-death persecution daily. While this may not be our current reality, we should acknowledge it.

In our current situation, we recognize the top two forms of pressure—institutional and social—clearly.

The Three Effects of Pressure

Logical Dysfunction

Pressure produces bizarre, unproductive thinking within the community of faith. Jesus addresses churches that have given themselves over to false truth, false teachers, and false prophets. He refers to certain groups as "the synagogue of Satan"—people being pastored by the father of lies.

We have become far too casual in our open-mindedness. We are allowing things to so fundamentally change the way we think, the worldviews and paradigms we have been rooted in, that we are now tampering with what we should hold firm. What comes into your mind will eventually come out through your life. Those who don't learn to manage the space between the ears have a hard time managing their years and their life.

Have you felt tripped up in your thinking over the past few years or even recent months because of pressures you're dealing with? The answer is yes—we just need to think about it more neutrally.

Sexual Immorality

A second effect of pressure manifests in our sexuality. One of the biggest blind spots in the local church is that we have conveniently dismissed and excused all heterosexuals from the sexual immorality conversation, as if there is no filth in that camp. We must understand that pressure fundamentally and almost immediately creates symptoms: managing our minds correctly and stewarding our sexuality well.

Whether you are a Christian or not, understand this: your mind and your sexuality shape the trajectory of your life. They have massive influence. If you do not learn to manage these things well, your life will not go well. Everyone owes it to themselves to give strong consideration to what you adhere to in your mind and how you steward your sexuality.

Relational Breakdown

When we mismanage our minds and mismanage our sexuality, we mismanage our relationships. In a culture defined by polarization and division—a summary of relational mismanagement—we allow things in our character to be compromised, and this comes out into our relationships.

The Message to Laodicea

The Lukewarm Church

If you read the Book of Revelation and it doesn't put hope in your heart, a smile on your face, and steel in your spine, you're not reading it well. Here is what Jesus says to the church in the final era, the church facing institutional and social pressures:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other. So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

It is remarkable that Jesus makes this wish. The original language for "spit" means to vomit. Jesus writes to this final-era church with such firmness that He expresses this visceral rejection.

He continues:

You say, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing." But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

This is a devastating combination of descriptors—a solid jab, a right hook, an uppercut, an illegal roundhouse kick. It is a complete knockout.

The Counsel and Invitation

Then Jesus offers counsel:

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

He continues with a crucial phrase:

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

Notice what He does not say. If you had to complete the phrase "Those whom I love, I ___," you might say encourage, bless, serve, provide for, be gentle with, or be patient with. But Jesus says: "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline." This is the nature of His love.

Then comes His invitation:

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Christ works by invitation, not invasion. He will not force His way into your life. You must welcome Him in.

Finally:

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Self-Assessment: Are You Lukewarm?

How do you discover if you're lukewarm? How do you make this self-assessment? Healthy, wise people embrace brutal facts, not blind spots.

You could evaluate yourself on a spectrum from 1 to 10 as an annual exercise. Don't overthink this. Consider these basic areas of Christian living:

1. Communal Worship - How consistently do you gather with a body of believers? Online is a supplement but never a substitute. You cannot neglect the gathering of the saints.

2. Genuine Fellowship - Are you growing in sincere relationships with those in your faith community? Your spiritual journey will be marked, accelerated, and enriched by relationships with others in the body of Christ.

3. Biblical Stewardship - Do you steward your resources the way God instructs? Tithes refer to the tenth—10% of income—acknowledging that God owns all things. Offerings are what you give beyond that.

4. Faithful Servanthood - In Scripture, the route to significance is marked with service. Are you serving others?

5. Sexual Purity - Are you living a pure life?

6. Intentional Prayer - Do you have focused times in your day where you have a reverent conversation with the Creator of your life? Not just passively acknowledging God's greatness, but genuinely saying, "God, I need you. I am fully dependent on you."

7. Responsible Student - Are you developing discernment? In the world we live in, you will not be able to follow Christ if you do not become a student yourself. You cannot neglect developing discernment.

Understanding Spiritual Blindness and Healing

Every person is walking around this world viewing everything through the filters of pain. We see the church, marriage, school, relationships, and peers all filtered through pain. People from different categories trigger us because we view situations through those pain filters.

Jesus says to those who are lukewarm: "I will put salve on your eyes." The question becomes: what does He want us to see?

The Difference Between Healing and Fixing

There's an important distinction in how we understand Christ's offer. He doesn't say, "I will grab a wrench and fix your eyes." Rather, He says, "I will grab salve and heal your eyes." Eyes need to be healed—not mechanically fixed. When He heals our eyes, He's addressing the fundamental way we perceive reality, not just correcting a mechanical problem.

Receiving Rebuke as an Act of Love

Christ says: "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline." We don't naturally think of rebuke and discipline as an act of love. Why? Because none of us know anyone in our life who will give us only unadulterated feedback without hidden motives.

We're accustomed to people with agendas, people trying to shape our lives for their own gain. So we assume God has hidden motives too. When God rebukes us, we think He's being abusive like others in our lives, or holding us back from our potential like insecure people who influenced us.

But that's not what God's rebuke is. As God heals your eyes and you begin to see clearly, you will understand His rebuke and discipline as pure acts of love. When God rebukes you, the proper response is appreciation.

The Earnest Life of Repentance

What we're missing in the repentance conversation is the earnest emphasis. It's not just a transaction—it's an earnest thing. As a pastor, I can say: there were times in my life where distractions bumped me off rhythm with my spiritual disciplines. I'm so thankful that God's word kept pressing in, rebuking, disciplining, and calling me back to an earnest life of repentance.

Seeing Ourselves Clearly

Once your eyes are healed, Christ wants you to see the truth of verse 17: "You are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked." Yes, you want to receive that with appreciation. Once your eyes are truly healed, you certainly will.

Living with Faith Through Pain

I believe God still heals. There are many people carrying deep pain that's shaping their entire outlook on life. Some of you know that my daughter battles seizures. Recently she had a difficult seizure, and at a scan this week, she was wearing a hoodie that says Jehovah Rafa—"My God heals."

I don't know what your situation is. I know we all have things that mark our vision with pain. But in our house, we still believe that my God heals. We still believe our God is faithful. We still believe God does amazing things even through the pain and agony of life.

The Courageous Question

What is the courageous question for us this week? Am I the type of person who receives with appreciation a rebuke from God? May we all humbly ask ourselves this question.