The Seven Letters To Seven Churches

Q. Can you tell me where the idea came from that the seven churches in Revelation are seven church ages, and does the word of God teach this?

A. The idea came from comparing the seven letters with the history of the Church.  In the order in which the letters are presented they give an uncanny summary of Church History.  While the Bible doesn’t expressly say to do this, seeing them as a overview of the Church Age greatly helps our understanding of the Church.

John was told to  “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.” (Rev. 1:19)

What John had seen was the Earthly ministry of the Lord, and His post-resurrection visit to John (Chapter 1).  What John was seeing, as are we, is the Church, on Earth and in Heaven (Chapters 2-5). What will take after the Church is the 70th Week of Daniel, the 2nd Coming and the Millennium (Chapters 5-22)

Remember, there are four levels of application for these letters.  In addition to being prophetic of the Church Age,  the letters are historical in that they were written to actual churches who were experiencing the problems the letters described.  They are also admonitory to all churches, and finally they’re meant to be applied personally.   At one time or another we all experience the problems identified in the letters.