Commentaries about the Seven Churches

I recently studied several dozen commentaries on Revelation, preparing myself for my own commentary.  I noticed some commentators view the letters to the seven churches as prophetic of church history.  Many do not, but some do.  Those who do not consider the letters prophetic view them as pastoral letters to all Christians.  Martin Luther viewed them as pastoral.  So did Billy Graham etc.  After my own study, I consider the letters as pastoral.

Five authors who consider the letters prophetic are: Clarance Larkin, Tim LaHaye, Jerry Falwell (Editor of Liberty Bible Commentary), H.M Morris, and Hal Lindsey (see Bibliography for complete references).  I thought an article describing their thoughts might be of some interest.

The five authors mentioned hold similar views about the successive stages in Church history, which stages can be summarized as follows:  Ephesus covers the condition of the Church during Apostolic times.  Smyrna predicts the early persecutions by Rome (A.D. 100 to 313).

Pergamus predicts the Church entering into error during the years A.D. 312 to around 600 606. This phase of Church history is given similar names by the authors: "licentious church" (Larkin, p. 21); "indulged church" (LaHaye, pp. 37-40); "church of worldly alliance" (Falwell, p. 2661); "infiltrated (imperial) church" (Morris, p. 56); and "church merged with state" (Lindsey, There's a New World Coming, p. 54).

Thyatira predicts the Church era from around A.D. 600 to the Reformation.  Larkin names this era "the lax church" (p. 29).  LaHaye calls it "the pagan church" (LaHaye, pp. 43-8), but LaHaye claims the time period is A.D. 606 to the future tribulation, making this phase co existent with some of the later phases.  Falwell (on page 2662) calls it "the church of continued sacrifice and clerical domination."  Morris (on page 59) calls it "the adulterous church."  And Lindsey (on page 58) calls it "the counterfeit church of image worship, superstition, and priestcraft."  They are all referring to the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages.

Sardis covers the Reformation until 1720, which era is named as the "dead church" (Larkin, p. 25 & LaHaye, op. cit., pp. 49-50); "the church of empty profession" (Falwell, p. 2664); and "the church of empty ortho¬doxy" (Lindsey, p. 62 & Morris, p. 67).  These authors are all referring to the original Protestant churches.  Some of these authors are members of various dissenting sects branched off from the original Protestant churches.

The letter to Philadelphia covers the years 1750 through the nineteenth century.  This is the era of the "favored" or "loved" church because of the missionary activity during that period, and finally Laodicea, the church in the twentieth century, the "lukewarm" church.

All five of these commentaries, as do many others, predict a future "rapture", and "tribulation."  During the rapture and tribulation, the Jews will convert and preach the Gospel to those who do not believe.  Some will believe and be saved.

Those who cannot believe will organize behind a political leader (the beast from the sea  the antichrist) and a false religious leader (the beast from the land  the false prophet).  The tribulation will end with a climactic battle between antichrist (leading those who rallied behind him) and Jesus Christ (who descends from heaven with the raptured saints).

Christ and the raptured saints rescue the tribulation saints (those converted during the tribulation), destroy antichrist and his followers, and bind Satan for one thou¬sand years.  In premillennial interpretations, Christ then starts the millennial kingdom, and he and his saints rule during the millennium.

In this view, the sea beast is the modern equivalent of the medieval Holy Roman Empire, and the land beast is the modern equivalent of the Catholic Church.  Luther had previously identified the Holy Roman Empire as the sea beast and the Catholic Church as the land beast (Luther VI, p. 483).  He named the visible heads of these two organizations as the antichrist and the false prophet.

This article is a condensed and rewritten portion of a chapter in my book “Apocalypse: Four Horsemen Three Woes” covering an overview of many commentaries and millennial groups starting with Victorinus in A.D. 300 and ending with modern commentaries.  The book is available as a free download on lulu.com/maurice-williams.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
LaHaye, Tim, Revelation Illustrated and Made Plain (Grand Rapids:  Zondervan, 1973)

Larkin, Clarence, The Book of Revelation (Glenside: The C. Larkin estate, 1919)

Liberty Bible Commentary, ed. Jerry Falwell, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983)

Lindsey, Hal, There's a New World Coming (Santa Anna:  Vision House Publishers, 1973)

Luther, Martin, Works of Martin Luther: Translated with Introduction and Notes, volume VI of a six volume set.  (Philadelphia: A. J. Holman and The Castile Press, 1916)

Morris, H. M., The Revelation Record: a Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophet¬ic Book of the End Times (Wheaton, IL:  Tyndal House, 1983)

Williams, Maurice A., Revelation and The Fall of Judea (Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2003)