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An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages: Difference between revisions
An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages (view source)
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=The concept of "church ages"= | =The concept of "church ages"= | ||
Someone in the message recently asked this question - "''How can you deny that In His hands were 7 stars, one star for each age? You are in Laodicea and you are refusing to find the star. Remember the wise men? They followed the star and the star always points to the Word. How can you read the Bible, preach the bible and plainly refuse that there are 7 stars?''" | |||
William Branham did not come up with the idea that there were "seven church ages." | |||
Some early dispensationalists (such as [[Plagiarism#Clarence Larkin|Clarence Larkin]] from whom William Branham copied the idea, including the dates of the ages) interpreted the seven churches of Asia (Rev. 1:4) symbolically as seven “church ages,” or stages of church history, though few hold this view today outside of [[The Message|the message]]. For the following reasons, this line of interpretation is no more feasible than allegorizing the churches addressed in Paul’s letters: | |||
#There is '''no reference''' in the book of Revelation that would suggest that the seven church are seven church ages. The Bible does not use the word "age" or "ages." This is a construct of early dispensationalists which William Branham copied. | |||
#Abundant evidence suggests that Revelation addresses seven literal church communities, including items of local color that fit each of the seven letters (see [[Seven Churches In Asia]]). | #Abundant evidence suggests that Revelation addresses seven literal church communities, including items of local color that fit each of the seven letters (see [[Seven Churches In Asia]]). | ||
#A map shows that Revelation addresses the seven churches in the very sequence that a messenger from John, arriving first in Ephesus near the sea, would travel to each of the cities listed, presumably along the main roads of Asia. The average distance between each city was about thirty to forty-five miles. | #A map shows that Revelation addresses the seven churches in the very sequence that a messenger from John, arriving first in Ephesus near the sea, would travel to each of the cities listed, presumably along the main roads of Asia. The average distance between each city was about thirty to forty-five miles. | ||
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The burden of proof is clearly upon William Branham to show that these local letters are successive "ages" or "eras". | The burden of proof is clearly upon William Branham to show that these local letters are successive "ages" or "eras". | ||
==Proof that the "church age" concept is incorrect== | |||
Notice the following from the first chapter of the Book of Revelation (emphasis added): | |||
:''John to the seven churches that are in Asia... | |||
:''...“Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” | |||
:''Write therefore '''the things that you have seen, those THAT ARE ''and'' those THAT ARE TO TAKE PLACE AFTER THIS.'''<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 1:4–19.</ref> | |||
In Revelation Chapters 2 & 3, John writes all of the things he was commissioned to say to each of the seven churches, with Laodecia wrapping up the end of chapter 3. | |||
Now, read carefully the first verse of Chapter 4 (emphasis added): | |||
:''After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you '''what must take place AFTER THIS'''.”<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 4:1.</ref> | |||
Notice carefully that in Revelation 1:19 John is to write about two things: "those things that are" AND "those that are to take place after this." | |||
We see that Revelation 2 & 3 were "those things that are" as the messages to the seven churches refer to things, people and places that existed at the time John had his vision. Revelation 4 and the following chapters deal with those things "that are to take place after this." The text clearly tells us that itself. | |||
As a result, we can state with certainty that Revelation chapters 2 & 3 were never meant to be prophetic of "church ages" that were to occur in the future. | |||
=Critique on specific comments in Branham's book= | =Critique on specific comments in Branham's book= | ||