What Jesus says to the Churches

After studying the seven churches of Revelation, we begin to see that there is not much different from the churches of Asia Minor of the First Century compared with all churches throughout history. We have faced the same trials and tribulations in different seasons and different waves. That is because we are the church militant. That is - the visible church here on on earth. But one day that will, all give way to the church victorious- the heavenly church, where we will all be in a perfect eternal state. Until then we are still in this "present evil age" Gal. 1:4. Therefore there is much we can apply from our study.

In the latest news; Youcef Nadarkhani (a Christian pastor) is facing the death penalty in Iran for the charges of apostasy. After the news media began to publish stories about this, and it soon became a human rights issue, Iran has now changed their story and said he is guilty of rape. Clearly the Iranian government is hostile to Christianity and those who dare convert to Christianity find themselves facing serious charges -even death. About 2000 years ago a small church Turkey, in the small city of Smyrna found themselves in a similar predicament. They were facing severe "tribulation" and were being "slandered" by their opponents. Then we turn here to the US and we find churches that are preaching the doctrines of Balaam and Jezebel much like Pergamum and Thyratira, and even worse some churches are dead or lukewarm. All this to say- not much has changed since the Lord spoke to John his message to the churches.  His message is just as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago.There are churches today that appear to be poor and are rich and appear to be rich and are poor. There are apostate churches, and churches where few remain faithful. There are churches experiencing great times of revival, and churches experiencing times of great collapses. Yet in all of this, the Lord's church has not ceased to exist. While Satan has worked overtime to destroy churches both from within (apostasy and false teaching) and without (persecution), the truth remains the same "I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it" Matt. 16:18.

The Jews tried to destroy the church, even Paul himself tried to destroy the church only to be converted and become second to Jesus in his influence in building the church. The Romans tried to destroy it- and soon Christianity became the official state religion. The Church of Rome tried to destroy it through tradition and legalism, only to be overturned by the Reformation. The church was then challenged by the thinkers of the Enlightenment, only to be humiliated by the great working of God in the great awakening movements! The liberals tried to destroy it and their churches today are nothing but rotting corpses. And today we are fighting against the wave of secularism, post-modernism, and militant Islam. So should we fret? No. The church will continue its mission as the body of Christ and be the light and salt of the earth until Christ himself returns. Will we face threats, and problems, and feel sometimes we are the underdog? Of course. But we also have hope that although we may be shaken for a moment, Christ has redeemed the future for his saints, and his church militant will one day become the church victorious!

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  (Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV)