the 7 churches

I believe the seven churches were birthed down through the ages...

Ephesus - Messianic - Beginning with the Apostle to the Circumcision, Peter
Smyrna - Martyr - Beginning with the Apostle to the Un-Circumcision, Paul
Pergamos - Orthodoxy formed in this time... Pergos is a tower... Needed in the dark ages
Thyatira - Catholicism formed in this time - The spirit of Jezebel is to control and to dominate.
Sardis - Protestantism formed in this time- A sardius is a gem - elegant yet hard and rigid
Philadelphia - Wesleyism formed in this time - To be sanctioned is to acquire it with love.
Laodicea - Charismatic movement formed in this time - Beginning with DL Moody, the first to make money off of ministry

Seven stars - Seven groups of Christians, all held in the right hand of Christ
Seven candlesticks - The seven churches
Seven seals - Sealing each Christian and each church.

1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. - Revelation 5

If this not the lambs book of life, sealing each Christian church and all Christians within their congregation, then why all the ado?

As you have always heard, and can see on this forum,
most everyone thinks it is churches.

It is not.
It is Ekklesia.
The church (es) is not even mentioned nor talked about in the Apocalypse.

It is not worth the time and etc that would be needed here to go into any more ....

If anyone truly wants to find out about this, Yahweh will eventually make it known to them who are His.....

I only mention this , to let those ones know, don't worry, only a little while longer.... hang on! Don't let go ! Never give up !

Jenniferdiana said:

ha ha this is going to be a really weird question because i don't know how to explain it but is it possible the 7 churches in revelation represent one church who represents those 7 churches? i don't know when i was reading it ..something hit me and it seemed really familiar to me and sounded like a representation of that one true church. and what about those seven candlesticks? ok you have 7 churches and 7 candlesticks LOL dont they represent that one thing.. no seriously look, read it closely..and could the seven stars represent a crown or something like the seven seals!! lol..i dont know..seems really profound and mysterious...

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First and foremost, the 7 churches in Revelation are 7 first century churches -- not 'churches' in the sense of one building/one congregation -- but churches of seven areas; 7 regions/cities of Asia Minor.

To see the 7 churches as "the whole church during different periods of history" (as has been pointed out above) is SECONDARY, though some may say that view is as or more important than the 7 local churches in Asia Minor - those 7 1st century churches are the plain sense of scripture.

In our current vernacular the words ‘churches’ might be best understood as congregations or parishes and yes those ‘assembled believers in Christ’ would see themselves as one church. From my study the 7 ‘lampstands’ were traditionally understood to be the particular pastor of each of those congregations in each city. I think its fine by extension to apply the specific attributes associated with each congregation to our own situations as a way to examine ourselves but all the while being careful not to get to dogmatic about it.

rockytopva said:

I believe the seven churches were birthed down through the ages...

Ephesus - Messianic - Beginning with the Apostle to the Circumcision, Peter
Smyrna - Martyr - Beginning with the Apostle to the Un-Circumcision, Paul
Pergamos - Orthodoxy formed in this time... Pergos is a tower... Needed in the dark ages
Thyatira - Catholicism formed in this time - The spirit of Jezebel is to control and to dominate.
Sardis - Protestantism formed in this time- A sardius is a gem - elegant yet hard and rigid
Philadelphia - Wesleyism formed in this time - To be sanctioned is to acquire it with love.
Laodicea - Charismatic movement formed in this time - Beginning with DL Moody, the first to make money off of ministry

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Hi; I think it's possible also that these tendencies can manifest themselves (and have done so) at various times.

Jenniferdiana said:

ha ha this is going to be a really weird question because i don't know how to explain it but is it possible the 7 churches in revelation represent one church who represents those 7 churches? i don't know when i was reading it ..something hit me and it seemed really familiar to me and sounded like a representation of that one true church. and what about those seven candlesticks? ok you have 7 churches and 7 candlesticks LOL dont they represent that one thing.. no seriously look, read it closely..and could the seven stars represent a crown or something like the seven seals!! lol..i dont know..seems really profound and mysterious...

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Hi; it's interesting that each candlestick seems to have had its own base, rather than being linked with another. There is a sense in which the responsible element in each local church is responsible directly to the Lord Jesus as its head; this seems to be the pattern also in Acts 20, where Paul exhorts the Ephesian elders.

faroukfarouk said:

Hi; I think it's possible also that these tendencies can manifest themselves (and have done so) at various times.

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The times and the seasons match the definition of the Laodicean congregation. You never heard of preachers getting rich off of ministry before DL Moody.

Jenniferdiana said:

ha ha this is going to be a really weird question because i don't know how to explain it but is it possible the 7 churches in revelation represent one church who represents those 7 churches? i don't know when i was reading it ..something hit me and it seemed really familiar to me and sounded like a representation of that one true church. and what about those seven candlesticks? ok you have 7 churches and 7 candlesticks LOL dont they represent that one thing.. no seriously look, read it closely..and could the seven stars represent a crown or something like the seven seals!! lol..i dont know..seems really profound and mysterious...

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I see the 7 as the different types of Churches we have in the world.What's more important is the two Christ had no fault with and why.

faroukfarouk said:

Hi; I think it's possible also that these tendencies can manifest themselves (and have done so) at various times.

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In some congregations in their glory days, it would have been an insult to them for you to have been non-denominational and you would have been persecuted for it.

faroukfarouk said:

Hi; it's interesting that each candlestick seems to have had its own base, rather than being linked with another. There is a sense in which the responsible element in each local church is responsible directly to the Lord Jesus as its head; this seems to be the pattern also in Acts 20, where Paul exhorts the Ephesian elders.

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Their own base... Wow! I never thought of that! Learned something new today... Thanks for sharing!

rockytopva said:

Their own base... Wow! I never thought of that! Learned something new today... Thanks for sharing!

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Could it be....

Ephesus - Based on Peter
Smyrna - Based on the Apostle of the Gentiles, Paul.
Pergamos - Based in Constantinople
Thyatira - Based in Rome (I am not anti-Catholic)
Sardis - State based churches
Philadelphia- Based on Wesley
Laodicea - Based in America

They were Eastern (Orthodox) Churches in Asia (Turkey).

Any preacher who studies Revelation and prays over his material is going to expound such material differently and you will learn something new. I don't believe there is an Orthodox interpretation of the book.

Read all about the seven churches and then see which one relates to YOU as an individual Christian. This can get really spooky.

rockytopva said:

Any preacher who studies Revelation and prays over his material is going to expound such material differently and you will learn something new. I don't believe there is an Orthodox interpretation of the book.

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What is there to interpret, it says what it means...they are the 7 churches in Asia...

Historicism has been criticized by the Eastern Orthodox. Historicists take a greatly oversimplified view of church history. Since dispensationalism is Protestant in origin its 'Church history' is strictly Western. The dispensations take into account almost nothing of Orthodox history after the period of the early councils.

Yeshua HaDerekh said:

What is there to interpret, it says what it means...they are the 7 churches in Asia...

Historicism has been criticized by the Eastern Orthodox. Historicists take a greatly oversimplified view of church history. Since dispensationalism is Protestant in origin its 'Church history' is strictly Western. The dispensations take into account almost nothing of Orthodox history after the period of the early councils.

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If I were Orthodox I would keep those churches in Asia as well. I believe the Laodicean church is American and, word for word, we need to heed the prophecy given her.