Some 1900 years ago the omnipotent, future-knowing God gave the Apostle John a glimpse into the future of the church leading up to and including the final era which, according to the signs of the times, is the era in which we are living today. The first two chapters of the Book of Revelation reveal the history of God’s Church in time sequence from the first appearance of Jesus Christ to His second appearance at which time He will establish the Kingdom of God on earth and call His Very Elect saints to join Him there. Together they will rule and reign with Him on the earth for 1000 years. Following the second harvest of souls Jesus and His Very Elect will reign over the entire universe forever.  See the two series titled The Three Resurrections and God’s Very Elect–Future Caretakers of the Universe.

God told John to write letters to the seven churches in Asia, the area now known as Turkey. The churches were located in seven cities that had been establighed along a Roman mail route.  The letters contained God’s Words directed specifically to each of the seven churches beginning with the church that was established on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D.–the Ephesus Church era–and ending with the Laodicean era.  In each letter the Lord described the character of the people in that particular church. The character of each early church would be repeated later in the era named after that church.  The character of the future era of church history would be a reflection of the character in each of the churches found in along the Roman mail route.  Each church had both positive and negative characteristics which the Lord highlights in its letter. With one exception, the sins of the people of a church (later an era) would cause Him to destroy that church (era) and raise up another. This process would continue until the return of Jesus Christ.

In Revelation 1:2-16 Jesus is pictured standing in the midst of seven candlesticks holding seven stars. The candlesticks represented the seven churches; the stars represented the angels of those churches. Out of His mouth went a two-edged sword representing the Word of God (Eph. 6:17) by which He would rule His church and by which He would judge all who would ever live (Jn. 12:48). His presence in the midst of the candlesticks revealed that He was then in the church and would remain as long as the church era system existed.  As the letters to the churches will reveal, though He would always be “(present) in the church,” the vast majority of those in each church/era would never be “in (obedient to) Him,” with one exception. Those whom He would approve would be those who obeyed His sword–His Holy Bible–in letter and spirit. These, as the Scriptures proclaim, would be very few in number (Mat. 7:13,14).

Beginning with the establishment of the church in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D. until this day, God has always had a remnant of true believers (Rom. 11:5).  As each church (era) would come on the scene, flourish for a time, then fall away from Him in a state of apostasy, there were always a few faithful saints (His “Very Elect”) who would weather the storm of persecution and rejection from the majority who, resenting those who believed and obeyed God, would persecute them.  Within each church (era) would be found a  “little flock” who would believe and obey their Lord, who would speak truth to power while clinging to Him.  These few (Mat. 7:13,14) constituted His remnant, His Very Elect, His true saints who maintained their faith in and obedience to Him until the end of their lives.  These, and only these, Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:22, will receive salvation upon His Second Advent. They will have lived in obedience to him while maintaining the hope of eternal life (Titus 1:2), knowing that by obeying Him they were growing closer to salvation with each passing day (Rom. 13:11).

At this point I will inject a few words about the rebirth of God’s Very Elect. In Rev. 1:13-15 we find a description of what Christ’s spiritual brethren will look like following their born again experience (the instantaneous change from flesh to spirit). If you want to know what a born again person will look like, read this passage. Jesus was the first among His brethren to be born (as flesh) and born again (change from flesh to spirit).  In 1 John 3:2 the apostle tells us that when He appears the second time His true saints, having been born again, will look exactly like Him as He is depicted in Revelation 1:13-15.

The Ephesus Church era began on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D. in an upper room. Numbering only about 120 souls, this church began to gain disciples and quickly became a problem to both the unbelieving Jews and Israel’s Roman rulers. In His letter to the church at Ephesus, which was written some 40 years after her founding, the Lord praised her for her works and labors and for her rejection of evil people and the false prophets they followed. He also chastised them for having “… left your first love”–the spreading of God’s gospel (good news) of the Kingdom of God. The church was not preaching His kingdom gospel. Rather, she was preaching a false gospel.  This was not only happening in the Ephesus church, the churches in Galatia were also preaching a perverted gospel (Gal. 1:6).  Throughout the early church, God’s tiny remnant was being outnumbered many to few–with one exception. Jesus commanded the majority to “… repent and do the first works”–preach, believe and obey “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).  The majority in the churches refused to do so.  For this reason God destroyed each of those churches over time and established other churches. This cause and effect–obey or be destroyed principle has applied unto the present time.

As the Holy Scriptures reveal, the Lord established a church (Ephesus), blessed it with His power, taught it through His ministers whom the people were to obey.  During that era only a tiny remnant–His Very Elect–obeyed His commands and  were persecuted by the majority for doing so. The Book of Revelation was written as the Ephesus era was ending. Beginning with 2:8 and ending with 3:22 the Lord characterizes the church eras that would, over time,  arrive on the world scene, thrive for a while, fall away and disappear. This would be the order of church activity until His return.  Because God’s written messages to the ancient churches ended with chapter three, we must rely on the record of world history to see if what God said would happen (Rev. 2:1-3:22) did actually come to pass.  Students of history have found that the church did exactly what God said she would do–fail–with one exception.

Today, as in the past, God’s Very Elect number only a few thousand world-wide. As Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun. Just as happened in Old Testament times, New Testament times and the times in which we now live, GOD TOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT THOSE WHO ARE CALLED BY HIS NAME.  We will now begin to learn what the Lord said about the specific church eras that have come over the past 1900 years. L.J.