The Church Militant

Stephen Terry

 

Commentary for the March 19, 2016 Sabbath School Lesson

 

“I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars…” Revelation 1:12-16a, NIV

The introduction to the messages to the seven churches and the messages themselves are well known, not only to Seventh-day Adventists, but throughout Christendom. Although the validity of including the Book of Revelation within the biblical canon continued to be debated all the way to the 16th century when Luther wanted to exclude it from his Bible, its authenticity is no longer questioned in most modern denominations. This does not mean that there are not issues, however. But those issues tend to be around how to interpret the material in the book rather than regarding its authenticity.

One of those interpretive “dust ups” comes concerning the significance of the messages to the seven churches. While most understand that there were actual physical churches at the locations identified in the messages, the relation of those messages to those churches may not be entirely clear. Some have worked very hard to find parallels between what may have been going on in those churches with the strengths and weaknesses identified within each message. But because we do not have perfect knowledge regarding those ancient churches and their activities, this often degenerates into a guessing game with a fair number of assumptions being made. Perhaps because of this difficulty, some feel driven to offer other interpretations regarding these messages. After all, Revelation is a book filled with prophetic symbols. Why wouldn’t these messages be symbolic in some way as well? This can place us on tenuous ground because it can be very difficult to find what is at times can be a nearly invisible line between what is literal and what is symbolic. Recognizing this, some have advocated a position of these passages being both messages to the literal seven churches as well as prophetic messages to the church through the ages and into the present. This approach has been commonly used for prophetic writings found elsewhere in the Bible as well. But even with this approach there are different interpretations.

Some see the symbolic aspect of the messages as being a timeline of the history of the church with each message representing a different period in the linear progression of church history. While this may seem perfectly suited to those of us living a few thousand years later and believing we are in the last days before the Parousia, it might negate the possibility of these messages being for earlier audiences. With our 20/20 hindsight, we can more or less arbitrarily assign the various messages to various churches based on our partial knowledge of church history and make it seem to fit, but several problems arise with that approach. First it may negate the applicability of those messages to the churches in the time and place when the book was written. After all, if these represent epochs of church history of several centuries in duration each, how does the church of John’s day relate to that when they apparently believed that the Parousia was an imminent event?[i] Likely they simply thought the messages were simply letters to address what was going on in their day in those churches. Maybe that could be instructive to us regarding how to understand these messages.

Another problem with seeing this as presenting a timeline to the second coming is that those who live in the imminence of that event will tend to always see themselves as the church of Laodicea. Whether reading these messages today or from the perspective of second century Christianity the church would necessarily have to be the lukewarm one or the Christians of that era would be tempted to abandon the idea of a soon return for Jesus. After all, if they were not the final church, His coming could not be so near. Therefore in order to preserve the idea of imminence, they would be led to conclude they were Laodicea if our present perspective was common to theirs. Although they felt the signs were adequate for that return, we can look back today and see they were wrong. But do we commit the same errors when we make the same assumptions and call ourselves Laodicea? Sadly, we sometimes take this a step further and enter into a circular reasoning that can be hard to break out of for some. We feel that the church right before Jesus’ return is the Laodicean church. Therefore since Jesus is coming soon, our present church must be Laodicea, and because we impose Laodicea on the present church, we see from this self-identification that Jesus must be coming soon, and the circle goes round and round.

Perhaps part of what creates these issues is the tendency of modern literature to develop following a specific linear plotline. While there are exceptions, stories, both fictional and non-fictional tend to build tension toward a denouement. When we impose that pattern of thinking here, the obvious denouement is the Parousia, and each chapter up to that event builds toward it with increasing tension. While what is in these messages may lend itself to some degree to that approach, it is not a perfect fit. For instance, if we see each church as a period of history where each message historically follows the previous one and yields to the one following until the denouement promised in the Laodicean message, then we have a problem with Thyatira. For in Thyatira the message indicates that that church will remain until the Parousia and so is not replaced chronologically by those following.[ii] Perhaps this is a clue that there is a better way to look at these messages.

Instead of following modern methods of literary composition we might do well to consider the literary habits of those more ancient times. Many places in the Bible we find chiastic structures used in both obvious and subtle ways. I have always appreciated the subtle beauty of the Creation Story of Genesis, chapter 1. In that account, we find the events of the first day to be necessary for what is to come on the fourth day, the events of the second day for those of the fifth and the events of the third likewise for those of the sixth. The beauty of this poetry of ascents spiraling upward to the Sabbath focal point inspires me to no end, especially when I consider the parallel in nature between the spiral strands of our genetic material that seem to mimic this literary device.

Is it possible that what we have taking place in the messages to the seven churches is something similar? If so, then perhaps just like Creation, each church is manifest in the present and in every age in both their strengths and their weaknesses. In that event, it may not be a progression of historical epochs but rather each church is a further enlightenment defining the church. Instead of considering ourselves the Laodicean church and relegating those other churches to the dusty halls of ancient history, perhaps we are to recognize them as alive and well. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea may all be present in the modern church and may have always been with us from the time John penned those messages.

We see clues to this viewpoint in some of the imagery we are given. For instance, Jesus is not portrayed as walking from one lamp to the next, but rather as among all the lamps at the same time. He is not seen as holding the stars representing the messengers to the seven churches one after the other but rather He is holding them all simultaneously. We also see clues in the rest of Revelation, because even there if we try to impose a linear progression through the various symbols, we eventually get to the point where there is no way to do so without doing a little backtracking due to the somewhat chiastic parallels we encounter. Applying sequential interpretations to the messages to the seven churches may disassociate us from very important messages to the earlier churches in favor of the message to the last one, messages that may be meant to prepare us for the return of Christ. Perhaps it is not enough to ask if we are lukewarm. Have we preserved our love for God? Are we faithful when challenged for our faith? Do we weaken the church by encouraging those things that would tempt others to fall as Balaam did? Do we tolerate the spirit of Jezebel within the church? Have we allowed faith to die? Have we wrongly encouraged those in our midst who claim to be what they are not? Have our deeds become tepid?

Perhaps rather than these churches representing an inevitable, historical progression to the lukewarmness of Laodicea, they are each identifying the various symptoms that have in the past and continue today to challenge the church. In recognition of those challenges we may find the militancy that will through the grace of God bring about the church triumphant. It is only through understanding our failings that we may find repentance, and only through repentance that we may find restoration with God through Jesus. Perhaps it is necessary to not only find our personal restoration but to seek a corporate restoration as well.

 

 



[i] Revelation 22:20

[ii] Revelation 2:24-25

 

 

 

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