The End of the Matter
The Churches of Revelation
Part 1
Matthew 24:3:
“Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’”
Doomsday scenarios, alien landings, DNA manipulation, so on and so on. Listening to the chatter on the internet, the so-called documentaries, and what is supposed to be investigative journalism on cable TV, one would think all of this is about to happen. A one world government, the Illuminati, and conspiracy theory, after conspiracy theory, after conspiracy theory!!!!!
What is the truth of the matter, what are the answers to the questions the disciples of Yahoshua asked Him so long ago; what will be the sign of Your coming and the end of this age?
Before we can answer these questions there are certain things that first must be done and understood.
1. The bible is a story about the tribe of Israel. How they came to be, what happened to them while they were in their homeland, and what will be their fate?
2. The only time other people are mentioned in the bible is when they come into contact with Israel.
3. God plans to use Israel as a beacon of hope for all the nations.
4. God rewards Israel when they obey His commandments, and He punishes Israel when they break His commands.
5. When Israel worships other gods they become as a prostitute or a harlot to Him, and they are put into slavery by the very people of whom gods they have been worshiping.
6. Whenever Israel is put into slavery they are there for an appointed time, and then a Nazarite is sent to rescue them.
7. God eventually forgives them and they are restored to their homeland.
These are some main points that must be understood if you are to understand Biblical prophecy. Also you must try to rid your mind of any preconceived notions you may have about bible prophecy. This is a very difficult task, and I ask that you pray on this subject because it cannot be understood unless preconceived notions are discarded.
This is the story of Israel. This Is the Story of the Bible, and it is told over, and over, and over again. There might be different people involved throughout the times, but the same story is told over and over again. Israel disobeys God. Their disobedience always leads to the worshiping of idols and other gods. The Creator sends prophets to warn them to repent, the people do not listen and they usually kill the prophet, so God sends them into captivity by the hand of the very people with whom they were associating, and whose god they were worshiping. This is the story of the Bible. There is no other, and it is in this context, and only this context, that the above questions can be answered and prophecy understood.
The bible is full of prophets, but only a few prophecies, many prophets, same message. Yet it seems that for every denomination or every ministry there is a different interpretation of these prophecies. Three of the main books which deal with the prophetic questions of “Christ Return” and “The end of this Age” are Ezekiel, Daniel, and the book of Revelations. In this series we will attempt to answer, through these books of the Bible, these two questions:
When will Christ return, and what will be the sign of the end of this age? We will begin with the book of Revelations.
The book of Revelations as with every prophetic book that is in the bible tells the story of Israel, and as with every prophetic book it tells the same store over and over again. In order to understand this let us go through a chapter by chapter analysis. We shall begin with chapter one and continue to the end. Due to the length of this article I will not be posting every verse that I comment on, so I ask you dear reader please have your bible handy and pray that the Yahoshua will open your mind to His truth.
The first thing we must understand is that this is the revelation of Yahoshua. The father revealed the meaning of this vision to Him. Yahoshua then sent this revelation by an angel to His servant John.
Amos 3:7:
“Surely the Lord God does nothing; unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”
Revelation 1:1-3:
“The Revelation of Yahoshua the Anointed {Jesus Christ}, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Yahoshua the Anointed {Jesus Christ}, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
He begins by telling his servant John about the things which must shortly take place, in other words things which must take place in the future. We must remember a day to the Lord is as a thousand years to us.
2 Peter 3:8:
”But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
He also gives a blessing to those who understand the words of this book and those who do the things that are written therein.
Revelation 1:4-8:
”John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Yahoshua the Anointed { Jesus Christ}, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’”
These verses are the context for the entire book of Revelations. It tells us:
1. Who the message is for:
The Churches
1:4: “……. the seven churches which are in Asia….”
2. Who the message is from:
The Father
1:4: “….from Him who is and who was and who is to come….”
The Son
1:5: “…. and from Yahoshua the Anointed {Jesus Christ}, the faithful witness,..”
The Holy Spirits
1:4 “….and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne…”
They are spirits. They are before the throne of the Creator. This makes them Holy Spirits.
3. And it tells us:
Our destiny
1:6: “….” and has made us king and priests to His God and Father”
How that destiny will come about
1:7: “….”Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him….”
Verses nine through ten reveal that John is a scribe. He is simply writing down what he is being shown. He is not revealing anything; he is simply recording the vision that he sees, and writing the words that he is told. And his vision is about “The Day of the Lord”.
Revelation 1:9-10:
”I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Yahoshua the Anointed { Jesus Christ}, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Yahoshua the Anointed. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet.”
Versus eleven through twenty repeat the fact that it is Yahoshua who is revealing all these things and that the message is to the seven churches.
Revelation 1:11:
“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last’, and ‘What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.’”
Who are these churches and who or what do they represent? This is a very important question because John is giving them a message from Yahoshua their /our High Priest.
Hebrews 4:14:
”Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Yahoshua the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”
Each message is specific for that particular Church. As we continue it will be shown that the churches are the incarnation of certain periods of time . These churches are put in order as they go through the ages; each church being specific to its time period. From the very first church which began in the book of Acts on the day of Pentecost, which is represented in Revelation by the Church of Ephesus, to the very last Church, which will be on earth at the time of the end, which is where represented by the church of Laodicea.
Some of these churches may still exist upon the earth in some form or another, but their period of growth, of knowledge, and of new revelation is over. When the Father has finished with a particular Church He moves on to the next phase of his plan; this then falls to the next church, and continues until the end.
An example of this can be found in Matthew. John the Baptist was upon the earth with his ministry. The Father was using John to prepare the way for His son Yahoshua who was also upon the earth at this time.
Matthew 3:1-3:
“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’”
When it was time for Yahoshua to begin his ministry he was baptized by John given the Holy Spirit and He then went into the desert and fasted for 40 days and 40 night. It was during this fast when he had his confrontation with Satan. Once this ends the first thing Yahoshua hears is that John had been put in prison. Once John had been put in prison what does Yahoshua do?
Matthew 4:17:
“From that time Yahoshua began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The ministry of Yahoshua did not begin until the ministry of John ended. John was still on the earth when the Messiah began his ministry. They were on the earth together, but John had finished his purpose and it was time for the Messiah to begin His.
So it is with the churches of Revelation; each one having their appointed time upon the earth. Once their mission ends a new church is raised up to continue with His plan.
We are now beginning with chapter two.
These are the specific messages to each church. Before we start it must be understood:
The Messages are the Vision!!!
At the end of this article I have included a chart that lays out the message to the churches.
The messages to the churches are made up of a five parts.
1. The specific Church to whom the messages for.
2. The specific message to that Church.
3. The works the church does that Yahoshua loves.
4. The works the church does that Yahoshua hates.
5. The rewards for overcoming their sins.
As we read through each one we will see that the messages are consistent. They only changes are dependent upon the behavior of an individual Church. I will go through the messages that each church was given, but because of the length of this article I will not quote all scriptures.
Ephesus
Revelation 2:1-7
The first church which is called Ephesus was the first incarnation of the Church. This is the church which began in acts during the Feast of Weeks or as is sometimes called the day of Pentecost.
Acts 2:1-4:
“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
This church is in all Israelite church. It was made up of only Israelites. This was the Church prior to the conversion of the Gentiles. His message to them was that He knew their works and that they hated the deeds of the Nicolotians. {For more detail and clarification refer to the chart below}.
We will see that these people referred to as the Nicolotians will be a continuing stumbling block throughout the history of our faith.
The next part is the works of the church that Yahoshua loves. Again I will not go through the whole thing please refer to the chart below for more clarification. One thing He did love was that they tested those who said they were apostles. You can find an example of this in the book of Acts chapter eight verses fourteen through twenty-five. False apostles and false teachings were already beginning to infiltrate the Church.
The next part of the message is the thing he hates. We find that the main problem He had with them was that they had left their first love. Yahoshua is the first love of the Church. How did they leave Him; through the keeping of the Mosaic Law. I’m not speaking of the Ten Commandments but the physical laws of sacrifices and circumcision. This was an Israelite church and they had kept the physical laws even after their conversion. The physical laws were to remind the Church of the coming of the Messiah and the suffering He would go through. You can read more about this inthe letters of Paul. This was the sin of the first church. This is how they were losing their first love.
The reward for the church overcoming their sins was eternal life.
Smyrna
Revelation 2:8-11
This church is given the same type of message. Smyrna is in Israelite and Gentile church. This was the Church which began with the conversion of Cornelius, we read about that in the book of Acts chapter 10.
The church was beginning to grow throughout the region, but the majority of the growth was from the Gentile converts not Israelites. Again we see that as one Church goes another is raised up. Israel is losing its first love. {Romans chapters 10 and 11}.
The main message of Yahoshua to Smyrna is that there are those who say they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan. The church is going through a time when a great deception is beginning to take place. There are people who are calling themselves Jews; they are claiming to be natural born Israelites. They are saying that they are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but they are not. Let us put this subject on hold for a moment and come back to it.
The next item is the works of the church that Yahoshua loves. There really isn't much here except that He is letting them know that they’re going to suffer. There are no works He hates, and the reward for their overcoming is eternal life.
The church of Smyrna has a somewhat unique message. As we continue we will see that there is another church similar to Smyrna in the message that they receive.
Now let us get back to the deception. which is beginning to take place.
Something very serious is taking place in the church during this time. The Israelite church is dying and the Gentile church is being raised up. There is tribulation and death. Yet Yahoshua does not necessarily consider all these to be bad thing. The one thing He is most concerned about during this time is the blasphemy of those who are calling themselves Jews.
What is going on here?
We must take a break from the messages to the churches and look at this phenomenon. Unless one understands who these people are and why they’re calling themselves Jews you cannot understand prophecy or the story of Israel.
The Israelites who were living during the time Yahoshua walked the earth are the descendants of those who came back from the captivity of Babylon. We can read about this event in the book of the Nehemiah. Prior to this Israel had been warned and warned again by the Creator that if they did not obey His laws and follow His commands they would be taken into captivity. During this time the tribes of Israel had split into two camps. One camp was made up of the tribes of Benjamin, Judah, and Levi, they were referred to as Judah. The other camp contained the nine other tribes of Israel and was called Israel. You can read about this in the book of Kings. Neither the camp of Israel nor the camp of Judah was obedient to God, and He eventually placed both of them into captivity. The tribes which made up the camp of Israel were the first ones to be driven out of their homeland. They were taken captive by the king of Assyria. We can read what happened in 2 Kings beginning in chapter 17.
2 Kings 17:6-8:
“In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.”
Taken into captivity; Israel was driven from their homeland. Remember we are speaking of the tribes which made up the camp of Israel, not the tribes which made up the camp of Judah. They would be taken away to Babylon a few years later .
2 Kings 17:9-23:
These verses tell why the Creator sent Israel into captivity. They committed the same sin they always did and do.
2 Kings 17:22-23:
“For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.”
Israel was carried off into captivity and what happened to their land and all their possessions?
2 Kings 17:24:
“Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria “instead of the children of Israel”; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.”
When the Israelites were taken away, the king of Assyria sent other people to live in their land. Gentiles began to occupy the land of Samaria, not Israelites. These were the people, Gentiles, who lived in this land during the time of Christ.
2 Kings 17:25:
“And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.”
The, they, in the above scripture refers to the Gentiles who settled in the land. They did not fear the Lord or follow His commandments so the Lord began to kill them. We find dropping down to verse 28 that the King sent a priest of Israel back to the land to teach the people, who were now living there, the proper way to worship the Creator. Remember the people living there are Gentiles not Israelites. Gentiles were being taught to worship the Creator as if they were Israel.
2 Kings 17:28:
“Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.”
And what happened because of this?
2 Kings 17:33:
“They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.”
So now we see the deception. These people were taught to the serve God of Israel as if they were the tribe of Israel. The descendants of these Gentiles lived in the same area during the time of Christ, and they kept the same practices. I recommend that you continue to read the entire chapter but to sum up I will quote one more verse.
2 Kings 17:4:
”So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day."
We can read how deep this deception had taken root in the minds of these Gentiles in the book of John. Here we read about a Samaritan woman. She was a descendant of the people who had been brought into the land after Israel had been driven out. She, this Gentile woman, encounters Yahoshua as at Jacob’s well.
John 4:7-9:
“A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Yahoshua said to her, ‘Give Me a drink’ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”
The reason Jews had no dealing with the Samaritans is because the Samaritans were Gentiles, and Jews had no dealings with Gentiles.
John 4: 10-11:
“Yahoshua answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than “our” father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?’”
Hear Yahoshua is letting the woman know that she has no idea who she is talking to. After listening to Him she asks Him a strange question. She asks Him if He thinks He is greater than “our” father Jacob. Jacob was the father of Israel. His name was changed from Jacob to Israel. He had 12 sons and each son fathered one tribe of Israel. The well, where this conversation takes place, is the well that the father of Israel {Jacob} dug for his children. The woman claims that Jacob gave "Us" a well. The woman with whom Yahoshua is speaking is a Gentile not an Israelite; yet she claims that Jacob is her father. She says to Yahoshua, “Jacob our father”, not “Jacob your father”.
Clearly this woman is wrong, but that does not stop her from making the claim.
The people living in that area were Gentiles who believed they had a part to the inheritance of Israel. It is because their ancestors were taught the ways of Israel, and through the hundreds of years that they inhabited the land they began to believe they were Israel; even though they were Gentiles. They began to call themselves Jews even though they were not. This point you must be understood in order to understand the prophecies.
This is the blasphemy that was going on during the time of Smyrna. The Gentiles of the land during that time began to claim to be the natural born children of Jacob, while the church, the spiritual body of Yahoshua, was being taken over by the Gentile converts. So now we have Gentiles claiming to be the the natural born children of Israel while at the same time the Gentile converts were becoming the spiritual body of Israel. One church is dying and another being raised up.
And so my friends it is with great sorrow that I must end at this point. I pray that this information will help you, and be a blessing to you. And please remember the words of our savior,
Revelation 22:12:
”And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work.
Peace
I am sorry the chart did not paste as well as i had hoped. For a better version follow the link.
http://www.thegospelofthecomingkingdomofgod.com/the-churches-of-revelation-part-1.php
All scripture referenced comes from The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All emphasis added is mine. The name Yahoshua is added by me.
