WHY SEVEN CHURCHES AND SEVEN SEALS IN REVELATION?

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We know that Revelation reveals what happens in the last seven years before Jesus returns. It is the 70th week of Daniel’s 70 Weeks Prophecy (Daniel 9:24-27). Could the seven seals relate to what is unfolding in each of the last seven years and what about the churches could they reveal what is unfolding in the church during each of the seven years? For example only one church is told it will be kept from the wrath of God (the Church of Philadelphia) and God said to one church that He would spit them out of His mouth.(the church of Laodicea). What about the other churches? Could the names of the churches be significant (e.g. the fourth church, “Thyatira” means “graveyard on a hill.“ The fourth seal and fourth horse (green) signifies death. Why isn’t this taught by pastors? Watch Nelson Walters video and discover the amazing answer. Each of the seven churches reveal what the church will face in each of the last seven years before Jesus returns. They line up with the seven seals which also reveal what is unfolding in each of the last seven years of Revelation.

Watch this and Nelson’s other recommended teaching on the seven churches and seven seals.

MEANING OF THE LETTERS TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES IN REVELATION

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This post follows my previous post: Purpose of the seven letters to the Churches in Revelation. It proposes that each of the Seven Churches represents the Church in one of the seven years of the 70th week of Daniel. The first letter is to the Church during the First Year of the 70th Week of Daniel, the second letter is to the Church during the Second Year, etc. Scripture provides multiple other “pictures” of these seven years, particularly the seven seals and Jesus Olivet Discourse. Studying these other scriptures provides a stunningly consistent Pattern of Seven Events: 1) Deception by False Messiahs, 2) War and Bloodshed, 3) Famine, 4) Abomination of Desolation, 5) Martyrdom and Apostasy, 6) Celestial/Earthly Disturbance and Rapture, and then the 7) Wrath of God/Day of the Lord.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE LETTERS

Not only do the letters match the seven-year pattern. they also all have a somewhat complex internal structure consistent among each of the seven letters. This internal structure shared by all the letters helps the reader to compare and contrast how the environment surrounding the Church is changing during each year and how the Church reacts to this changing environment. Let’s look at the basic elements of these seven letters. Each of the church names has a symbolic meaning. Each letter is addressed to an angel in the church. John is commanded to write to the angels. Angels who stand before God himself have no need to have a human write to them. Human messengers need divine revelation, so this highly favors an interpretation that the “angels” are human messengers that relay God’s instructions to his churches. According to Nelson Walters the “angels” of each church are those that bring the message of “overcoming” to the Christians during each year of the 70th Week of Daniel. Many will die and be martyred, so the “angels” may differ from year to year in each of the churches. Each of the letters includes a call to listen, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” This call to listen is a favourite phrase of Jesus that he included at the end of many of his parables (Matt. 11:15, 13:9, 13:43; Mark 4:9, 4:23; Luke 8:8, 14:35). The extended Parable of the Sower in Luke 8 seems to give the best understanding of this phrase. I believe this is the primary reference Jesus was giving us when he used this phrase in each of the seven letters. By quoting the reference to this parable in each of the letters, Jesus is telling us that only a portion of the Christians will have a receptive heart (good soil) for his message. Notice those with good soil will hear, retain, and persevere. By quoting from this parable (Luke 8:5-8) in each of the seven letters, Jesus is warning us there will be those in each year of the 70th Week that “fall away,” and for Christians to be mindful of the snares the devil will set. Now that we have examined the two common elements—-they are all addressed to an “angel” and they all have the same “call to hear”—-let’s investigate each of the individual seven letters.

If the letters are prophecy, then the name given to each church may be symbolic of the general condition facing believers during that respective year of the 70th Week of Daniel, and the purpose of all of Revelation is to prepare and equip believers to overcome this time of trial.

Concerning the first letter, Ephesus means “the desired one.” This name is highly reflective of the immense spiritual battle about to take place. God and Satan both desire the souls of believers. All of the 70th Week of Daniel will revolve around this battle. In year one Satan’s counterfeit messiah and False Prophet will burst upon the world scene. The conflict for the souls of believers will be between the false messiahs and the true Messiah, Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. The battle lines are drawn for the “desired one.”

The attributes of Jesus’s appearance mentioned in the letter to each church is symbolic. The description of Jesus to the church in Ephesus is: “The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:” (Rev. 2:1) Jesus himself has defined both of these aspects of his appearance for us. The seven stars are the angels of each church. Human messengers delivering Jesus’s instructions on how to overcome the 70th Week of Daniel. Jesus holds these angels in his right hand. The right hand is the hand of blessing. God’s right hand is also a place of power, “Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power, Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy” (Exodus 15:6). Jesus will use these angels to help shatter his enemies by the revelation of His Word, and he will bless these human messengers. The seven lampstands are the seven churches. The Seven Churches are all pictures of the one true Church (as there was only one lampstand in the Tabernacle). Also, it says that Jesus walks among the lampstands. Jesus will be right there with us as we endure and overcome.

In all Seven Letters after the address and the description of Jesus’s symbolic appearance, he briefly describes the Church. For most of the seven years, Jesus provides both positive and negative feedback. This is what our Lord says will be the positive aspects of the church in the First Year of the 70th Week of Daniel: “I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary.” Revelation 2:2-3

The primary condition of the world during this First Year will be deception by false messiahs. It appears from this passage that the Church is initially able to test and then recognize the false messiahs and false prophets as liars. Jesus also commends the Church for hating the works of the Nicolaitans: the word “Nicolaitans” means “overcoming the people of God” and it is tied to the actions of the rider of the white horse whose “conquering” in Rev. 6:2 is a spiritual overcoming. By this, we determined the Nicolaitans here are the followers of the Antichrist, most likely Muslims. Jesus also commends the Church for their perseverance. The Greek word for perseverance is HUPOMONE which is also sometimes translated endurance. This is the identical Greek word we just saw in Jesus’s explanation of the Parable of the Sower which is critical to understanding Jesus’s call to hear: But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance (HUPMONE). (Luke 8: 15. Bearing fruit in the coming trial will require endurance. Additionally, the trial will help produce this endurance, “We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance (HUPOMNE)” (Romans 5:3, emphasis mine). This is one purpose of Daniel’s 70th Week—refining the Bride of Christ.

Jesus has one rebuke for the Church, and it’s a big one: But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent” (Rev. 2:4-5). Bringing the Bride of Christ back into a love relationship is the main purpose of the 70th Week of Daniel. Jesus is clear that the Church will cease to be the Church if they don’t repent and act accordingly. They will fall away and apostatize.

Entering the trial, the Church will do “works” and will “toil,” for the Lord says, “I know your deeds and your toil” (Rev. 2:2). The Church will be expending effort, but it will not be done through the love of Jesus. Just a few verses later, we learn the Church’s works are not adequate. Jesus wants the Church to “do the deeds you did at first” (Rev. 2:5). Even though Jesus is aware of the effort the Church is expending in “good deeds,” these deeds are not done in the right spirit.

Next post we will look at the church in the second year of tribulation, the church at Smyrna. Nelson Walters’s video is excellent but you will need 2 hours and 51 minutes to watch it.

THE TIMING OF THE RAPTURE

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Jesus promises that in the end times, there will be tribulation, even great tribulation before His return but believers will be kept from the wrath of God that is poured out on unbelievers at that time.

Dr. Baruch Korman of Love Israel Ministries (www.loveisrael.org) explains the timing of the rapture and the wrath of God is poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements. What happens and who is involved when the seven seals are opened and the four horsemen are released is enlightening.

Christians will be on Earth for six years of the final seven. The Wrath of God with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements will take one year and ten days which just happens to be the same time as the time God poured out His wrath the first time with Noah’s flood. Why one year and ten days? The length of a year before a Jubilee year is always one year and ten days on the Hebrew calendar.

CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SEVEN SEALS AND SEVEN CHURCHES OF REVELATION

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In Revelation, the seven seals tells us what unfolds in each of the seven years prior to Jesus returning to this earth to rule and reign during the Millennium. Also, I believe that what Jesus tells us about each of the seven churches reveals to us the actions and state of the church in each of the last seven years prior to His return and it correlates to the events of the seven seals. It also reveals which church is protected from the wrath of God (Raptured) and which church is left behind to fact the wrath of God, thereby revealing the timing of the Rapture. Read for yourself and see how it fits so well. For more detail please check out Nelson Walters book: Revelation Deciphered

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In the first year when the first seal is opened the Antichrist comes on the scene (rider on white horse).

The Church at that time in the first year (Ephesus): The church is doing some good things but “you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent… He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7

In the second year when the second seal is opened, the Antichrist is permitted to take peace from the earth and people slay one another (rider on red horse).

The church at that time (Smyrna): “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested” Revelation 2:10

In the third year when the third seal is opened, famine comes over the earth (rider on black horse).

The church at that time (Pergamum): “you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans (eat food sacrificed to idols (take the Mark of the Beast in order to get food?) and practice sexual immorality). Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 2:15-17

In the fourth year when the fourth seal is opened a fourth of the earth is destroyed with the sword, famine and pestilence (rider’s name Death on pale horse).

The church at that time (Thyatira) “I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols… those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.” Revelation 2:19-20, 22-23

In the fifth year when the fifth seal is opened, John sees under the altar the souls of the martyrs (not yet resurrected) that have come out of the great tribulation and they are told to wait awhile longer until their numbers a complete – more Christians to be martyred on earth. The Rapture has not occurred at the fifth seal so a Pretribulation Rapture is not possible.

The church at that time (Sardis). “You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.” Revelation 3:2-4

In the sixth year when the sixth seal is opened. John sees the signs in the sky which immediately precede Jesus coming to rapture the Saints and to pour out His wrath upon an unrepentant earth. “I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale… Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

The church at that time (Philadelphia) ““‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name... Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.”

The Philadelphian church obviously represents the church that is raptured.

At the start of the seventh year when the seventh seal is opened there is silence in heaven for about a half an hour. Just prior to the seventh seal being opened or at the same time there is a trumpet blast and the dead in Christ are raised first and then the Saints alive on earth are taken up to meet Jesus in the clouds.

The church at that time (Laodicea): We are given a picture of the church which is left behind: “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” Revelation 3:15-17 Whilst they are left behind and will be recipients of the wrath of God, Jesus still says to the church at Laodicea: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” They are still able to repent and be saved but will experience the wrath of God.

The wrath of God will last for 1 year and ten days (to do with the Jewish year and timing of the Festivals). During the days of Noah the wrath of God was also poured out for 1 year and ten days so the events of the “end times” will be like the days of Noah for a number of reasons just as Jesus told us it would be.