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The Seven Churches Ages: Difference between revisions
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<youtube>https://youtu.be/pbGUzTI3u-8</youtube> | <youtube>https://youtu.be/pbGUzTI3u-8</youtube> | ||
William Branham taught that the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3 were actually a prophecy of seven specific ages that the church would go through prior to the coming of the Lord. But does the Bible teach this? | |||
=What the Bible says= | |||
The Bible clearly does not state that the letters to the seven churches were describing seven chronological ages. Revelation 1:11 states that the letters were to seven churches that physically existed in Asia: | |||
:''...What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches '''which are in Asia'''; unto [[Ephesus]], and unto [[Smyrna]], and unto [[Pergamos]], and unto [[Thyatira]], and unto [[Sardis]], and unto [[Philadelphia]], and unto [[Laodicea]].'' | :''...What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches '''which are in Asia'''; unto [[Ephesus]], and unto [[Smyrna]], and unto [[Pergamos]], and unto [[Thyatira]], and unto [[Sardis]], and unto [[Philadelphia]], and unto [[Laodicea]].'' | ||
:''The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.'' | :''The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.'' | ||
:::<small>Revelation 1:11b, 20</small> | :::<small>Revelation 1:11b, 20</small> | ||
==The problem of Revelation 1:19== | |||
In Revelation 1:19, John tells us he was instructed as follows: | |||
:''Write, therefore, what you have seen, '''what is now''' and '''what will take place later'''.<ref>The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Re 1:19.</ref> | |||
So the book of Revelation consists of 2 parts: | |||
#what is now; and | |||
#what will take place later. | |||
"What is now" refers to the letters to the seven EXISTING churches in Asia. These are contained in Revelation 2-3 | |||
"What will take place later" refers to the prophecies in Revelation 4-22. This is confirmed by the wording of Revelation 4:1 | |||
==The Problem of Revelation 4:1== | |||
:''After this I looked—and there was a door in heaven, standing open! The voice like a trumpet, which I had heard speaking with me at the beginning, spoke again. ‘Come up here’, it said, ‘and I will show you '''what must take place after these things'''.’<ref>Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone, For Everyone Bible Study Guides (London; Louisville, KY: SPCK; Westminster John Knox, 2011), 41.</ref> | |||
Revelation 4:1 says that what follows was going to take place AFTER what was written in Revelation chapters 1-3. But William Branham taught that content of the seven seals started again chronologically after the resurrection. This cannot be the case based on the plain wording of Revelation 4:1. | |||
=Where did William Branham say he got his teaching from?= | =Where did William Branham say he got his teaching from?= | ||