I recently ran across this from a friend. The more I look at it, the more sense it makes to me, but I thought I'd solicit opinions here.

Rev 1:10-11 “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, ‘Write in a book what you see, 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.’” (NAS)

In looking at these verses, there are a few things that stand out to me:

1. These seven churches actually existed in John’s time and they were just as John describes them.
2. Throughout the Christian Era there have been churches spiritually like each of those churches.
3. Those were not the only churches in Asia Minor. They were chosen by the Lord and written about in a specific order for a reason. What was that reason?

If you look at a map of the middle east at that time, you will see something striking about these churches. All of the churches are listed in order of a clockwise circle and there are other cities nearby that are not mentioned in this passage. Remember that John is "in the spirit" meaning that this is a prophetic vision, and though the churches were most likely in the condition given by John in chapters 2 and 3, I think it is bad theology to pull a strictly literal understanding from a prophetic vision. That goes against our rule of not confusing figurative and literal language.

Though there were three other cities nearby to whom Paul had written epistles (Thessalonica, Philippi and Colosse). They were not included in this prophetic vision to the future church because they did not address the future church's condition.

The parallel began in Ephesus and continued on to the various cities in the order given in Revelation 2-3.

Let's look at that listed order of churches again: From “Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

Amazingly, that exactly matches the spiritual condition of the Church over the last 2000 years.

32-95AD     Ephesus..........“Lost your first love...” Rev 2:4, Mar 12:29-30 [Heresy enters church: Marcionites, Gnostics, Nicolaitans, etc.]

95-321AD    Smyrna...........“Persecuted 10 days...” Rev 2:10 [Ten major persecutions under ten Roman Emperors: (1) Domitian (2) Trajan (3) Hadrian (4) Antonius Pius (5) Marcus Arelius (6) Septimus Severus (7) Maximin (8) Decius (9) Valerian (10)Diocletian]

321-450AD   Pergamum......“Where Satan's throne is...” Rev 2:13 [Constantine makes Christianity state religion. Church hierarchy begins.]

450-950AD   Thyatira.........“That Woman Jezebel...” Rev 2:20 [Beginning of Mary worship. Idols brought into the churches. Bishops rise to power.]

950-1450AD  Sardis............“But you are dead...” Rev 3:1 [Dead Catholic formalism. Bible taken from the people. Persecution of the brethren intensifies.]

1450-1948AD Philadelphia...“You have kept My Word...” Rev 3:8 [The Reformation, Protestant churches rise, the Puritan movement, foreign missions founded.]

1948AD-? Laodicea........ “You are neither hot nor cold...” Rev 3:15 [Lukewarm church of today. Great “so-called works,” but spiritually lukewarm.]

Look at a few of the statistics that I can find on the Internet:

1) Less than 3% of Europeans still claim the Christian faith. Their great cathedrals have been turned into tourist attractions.

2) 30,000 people a week are leaving mainline denominational churches around the world.

3) More people in Britain worship in mosques than in the Church of England.

4) It’s difficult to find a church open anywhere in Scotland.

Reading Revelation 3:14-22 breaks my heart when I look at the condition of our modern churches! Let's look at the last church, which reflects the condition of the Church in this last age:

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
   Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

As Christians, we hear, with righteous indignation, about the courts removing the Ten Commandments from the courtrooms, removal of prayer from our classroom, the bridling of the teacher's tongues who would teach creation, congress creating laws to protect sexual abominations to the Lord, hate crime legislation use against pastors for preaching the Word of God, and RIVERS of blood from MILLIONS of innocent unborn babies lawfully slaughtered. And the list goes on and on...

The churches lay claim to the heritage of Jesus Christ, but where are the actions that go with that heritage? I cannot say whether we should or should not fight these battles in the legislation, but it is my firm belief that we WILL eventually lose every one of those battles. Every year, Satan gains ground, the battles become more difficult... more abundant... and the faithful become fewer and fewer. And even when we win a battle, what have we gained? A battle won to ensure that prayer is protected in the classroom only exposes your child to prayers that go to a god or god's that we recognize as Satan or his dominion. Allah, buddah, or even the god of Mormanism. Is that what we want?

We have taken our focus off of what was important. The war is not won in the halls of legislation, the war is won in the hearts of men. If your child is in a classroom where the teacher, the students, the administration and the school board are faithful Christians, there is NO BATTLE over prayer to our God (YHWH) in the classroom!! If we elect Godly men and women as our legislator, there are NO BATTLES over the definition of marriage, protecting life of the unborn, or what constitutes a crime!! If we elect a Godly president, there is no worry over whether a war is just or what possible horror the next executive order will bring!! 

Americans are not acting upon the Christian faith that a majority of the people say they believe and we are trembling at the consequences.  We are sickened by the words of Presidents Obama and Clinton saying America is not a Christian nation.  Yet, there is truth in what they say because today the Church doesn't live or vote according to God's Word. 

But why can we not do this simple thing? Because we are lukewarm! The "church" will be spewed out of the mouth of God as if it were bitter vinegar because of its lukewarm conviction for the things that count!

While  we (the Church) are in an extremely sad state, it was prophesied long ago and our current actions are consistent with what the Apostle John saw in the vision given to him by Jesus Christ! But all is not lost. There is a remnant of the Church faithful to Christ. Mat 25:1-13 is a parable (figurative language) of the ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom. We are the virgins, Christ is the bridegroom. Are your lamps filled with oil? Are you doing all that Christ has commanded?