DIAGRAM OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES
[CD-ROM Editor’s Note: actually on unnumbered page between pages 72 and 73.]
| A. D |
100. |
323. |
538. |
1798. |
1833. |
1844. |
| 27. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Pure. 73 Years. |
Bloody. 223 Years. |
Corrupt. 215 Years. |
Death. 1260 Years. |
Lack of Zeal. 35 Years. |
Love. 11 Years. |
Lukewarm. To the End. |
| ephesus. |
smyrna. |
pergamos. |
thyatira. |
sardis. |
phil-ad el-phia |
laodicea. |
| First, or Desirable. |
Myrrh, or Sweet-sm elling |
Height, or Elevation. |
Savor of labor, or Sacrifice of contrition. |
Song of Joy, or that which remains |
Brothe rly Love. |
A just people, or judging the people. |
| History in the New Testament. |
The Saviour prophesie d of this period. |
Parallel with the history of Balaam. |
Parallel with the history of Jezebel. |
History given from Father to Son. |
Present Generation |
The messages to the seven churches cover the period from the beginning of Christ’s ministry to His second coming. This line of prophecy follows the church from the purity of the first century, until it unites with the state and persecutes the true people of God, and finally emerges from the Dark Ages and separating from the world prepares to meet its Lord and Master in the clouds of heaven.SSP 73.1
The history of the first period is found in the New Testament, the second was plainly foretold by Christ. During the Pergamos and Thyatira periods the darkness was so dense that the historians of this period are unreliable, therefore the Lord gives the parallel history of the times of Balaam and Jezebel as guides for these periods. The history of the fifth and sixth periods can be received from the preceding generation, while the last period is present time.SSP 73.2
It is true that freedom was not always granted in those early days; for the very ones who crossed the ocean because of oppression at home, oppressed, in America, those who did not worship God in the prescribed way. Nevertheless, America was destined to be the home of Protestantism; and gradually, the shackles of the Dark Ages were dropped off, and the equal rights of mankind were acknowledged. The Constitution of the United States was the first document ever granting complete freedom of worship, and placing in the hands of the people the sole power of the government. It was a world-wide wonder, not the work of any man, but the culmination of those principles born in Germany in the sixteenth century. The Constitution was adopted in 1789; the sun was darkened in 1780. These events, taking place as they did, were as if God saw the end hastening on, and as a source of encouragement to His followers, placed the sign of His approval in the heavens. A few years later the papal power was completely broken, and then the countries of southern Europe, France, Spain, Italy, and others, were free to choose between the principles of the papacy and those of Protestantism. America responded with its free government. During the fifty years following the adoption of the principles of Protestantism in America, the various branches of the Protestant church had their period of probation. One by one the denominations arose, separating farther and farther from t1he physical, intellectual, and spiritual tyranny of the papacy. To each denomination was offered the law of God and the faith of Jesus. The time came when each had an opportunity to accept or reject, as seemed good to them; but the decision then made, decided their eternal destiny.SSP 73.3
In the early days of the nineteenth century God took a man, hitherto unacquainted with the Bible, and opened to him the beauties of the prophecies. As Luther found in Christ a Saviour, and with the light that entered his mind, attacked the papacy, so William Miller, in 1818, saw light in the books of Daniel and Revelation. He studied with care the twenty-three hundred days, spoken of by Daniel, and became convinced that the second coming of Christ was near at hand. He applied every test, but all pointed forward to the year 1843 as the time when the world must welcome its Saviour. The condition of the people at the first advent of Christ, was now repeated; when the time approached for the message of His second coming, the world lay in ignorance: and not the world only, but the church which bore the name of Christian. Nay, more! the very churches which in their zeal for truth had faced hardship and persecution, in protesting against the errors of the papacy,-these churches were quiet when great changes were right upon them. But unto the church of Sardis, John was bidden write: “These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”SSP 74.1
He, who walked among His churches, and who sought diligently for signs of life, searching among the seven stars,-the leaders of the churches,-found that, although Sardis claimed to have life, it was dead. Strange condition! So quietly had this life been lost, that, looking back upon the activity of the past, and priding itself upon what great things had been done by Protestantism, this church had allowed the very principles of the papacy to twine about it until its life was choked.SSP 75.1
There was a time in the history of Pergamos, when Christianity thought Paganism was dead; but in reality, the religion which was apparently vanquished, had conquered. Paganism baptized, stepped into the church. In the days of Sardis this history was repeated. Protestantism thought itself free from the principles of the Dark Ages; but the plant was sturdy and long lived, and although Protestantism reared itself aloft like a mighty oak, the rootlets of the papacy were planted with the oak, and soon the vine encircled the tree, and sapped its very life. Protestantism reared the structure, and the papacy is supported by it. “Be watchful,” says the divine message to Sardis, “and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.” There was, at the time this message came, some life still in the oak, but unless haste was made to “strengthen the things which remain,” death would follow.SSP 75.2
“Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.” The truths already received were indeed life; but a church, as well as an individual, must make constant progress, or they will suffer spiritual death. SSP 76.1
For nine years William Miller was convinced that he ought to give his message to the churches; but he waited, hoping that some recognized authority would proclaim the glad news of a soon-coming Saviour. In thus waiting, he but proved the truth of the message; there was a name that they lived, but they were fast dying. In 1831 Miller gave his first discourse on the prophecies. He was a member of the Baptist church, and in 1833, he received from this church, license to preach. This was the very year in which appeared another sign in the heavens,-the third spoken of by the Saviour in Matthew 24:29. In November, 1833, “the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” God was calling to the dying church of Sardis by the voice of man and by signs in the heavens. “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”SSP 77.1
As the time, which was supposed to be the time of the second advent approached, men of learning and position helped spread the message. The light of this message flashed throughout the world. “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments.” Three years after Miller was convinced of the near coming of Christ, that is, in 1821, Joseph Wolff, known as the “missionary to Asia,” began to give the same message. He visited Egypt, Abyssinia, Palestine, Syria, Persia, Bokhara, and India,-everywhere proclaiming the soon coming of the Messiah. In 1837 he was in America; and after preaching in several large cities, he visited Washington, where, in the presence of all the members of the Congress of the United States, he preached on the personal reign of Christ.SSP 77.2
In England the same message was given by Edward Irving, a minister of the Church of England. South America heard of Christ’s soon coming from the pen of Lacunza, formerly a Spanish Jesuit. Gaussen, finding that many mature minds claimed that prophecy could not be interpreted, gave the message of the soon coming of Christ to the children of Geneva. In Scandinavia, the truth was proclaimed by children; for God used child-preachers, when older persons were restricted by law.SSP 78.1
In 1838 Josiah Litch and William Miller published an exposition of the ninth chapter of Revelation, in which it was predicted that the Ottoman Empire would fall in 1840. The exact fulfillment of this prophecy on August 11, 1840, when the Turkish government surrendered its independence, and has since been known as “the sick man of the East,” was a startling proof to many that prophecy could be understood, and that men were living in the end of time.SSP 78.2
This message of the personal appearance of Christ was one of the most world-wide proclamations ever given. Every kindred, nation, and people were suddenly aroused from their lethargy by the cry,-“Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him.” This truth is inseparably connected with the wording of the message to Sardis. “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy.” The very sins of idolatry and fornication, which characterized the mother church in the days of Thyatira, were staining the garments of her daughters during the Sardis period. But “he that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment.” The white raiment is the righteousness of Christ,-“the fine linen clean and white.” “And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.” A most precious promise, and a most solemn warning, are combined in these closing words of the message to Sardis. The second coming of the Son of man had been proclaimed to all the world. To him that accepted truth, it was promised that his name should remain in the book of life, and should be confessed in the presence of God. The books of heaven are opened. Christ promises to witness for all who are true to His cause on earth. The church of Sardis lived in the period when Daniel saw “One like the Son of man [who] came ...to the Ancient of Days.” It was at the end of the twenty-three hundred days of Daniel 8:14, that Christ was brought in before the Father. He entered the Holy of Holies in the sanctuary above. “The judgment was set, and the books were opened.” Then there came before Him all who had ever named the name of Christ, and to those whose garments were unspotted, was given the fine linen of Christ’s righteousness.SSP 78.3
This great change in the heavenly sanctuary, corresponding to the entering in of the high priest in the earthly, or typical service, on the day of atonement, was made known to the church of Sardis. Those who opened the prophecies where this truth is made known, misinterpreted the cleansing of the sanctuary to be the second coming of Christ. Nevertheless, while mistaken in the event which transpired, they were not mistaken in the time; and the heart cleansing necessary to prepare a people for the beginning of the investigative judgment, which has been going on in heaven since 1844, is the same preparation necessary to welcome the Son of God in the clouds of heaven. Although Christ did not then come to the earth,-the outer court of the heavenly sanctuary,-but entered within the most holy place before the Ancient of Days, to act as mediator in the investigative judgment, the message to prepare for His coming, will continue to the end of time. Some of those who witnessed the signs given to Sardis and listened to the advent message, will see Him when He comes in the clouds of heaven. So near is Sardis to the end. SSP 80.1