New Testament Prophecy
The first specific mention of the Church in prophecy is found in the New Testament in Matthew 16:18 where Jesus is recorded as having said: “Upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.” The context of this statement makes it clear that the “rock” Jesus was referring to was Peter’s confession of Him as “the Christ [Messiah], the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).
This prophecy has, of course, been fulfilled throughout history since the time Jesus spoke those words. Satan has tried in every way possible to destroy the Church, first through persecution, and then through internal corruption. But Jesus has sustained His Church to this day and continues to do so today in the midst of growing apostasy and increasing worldwide persecution.
I believe Jesus prophesied rather specifically about the future of His Church in the seven letters that He dictated to the Apostle John in Revelation, Chapters 2 and 3. The letters were directed to seven churches located in the area of western Turkey today. There were many more churches than these seven. I think Jesus selected the ones He did because they were representative of seven types of churches and seven periods of church history. In each period, all seven types of churches would exist, but one type would predominate.
The church at Ephesus is representative of the apostolic period from 30 A.D. to 95 A.D., when the Church was concerned about organization and doctrine to the point that it became legalistic.
The church at Smyrna represents the persecuted church or the martyr church that existed from 95 A.D. to about 312 A.D. It’s the Church that existed at the time that the book of Revelation was written.
Then we have the liberal church of Pergamum representing the apostate church that existed from 312 to 590 A.D. This period developed after the Emperor Constantine was converted and the Church and the state were welded together. As is always the case in such unions, the state began to corrupt the Church.
The church at Thyatira represents the dark, pagan period from 590 to 1517 when the papacy developed and the Church became full of Babylonian occultic practices.
When we come to the Reformation in 1517, we think of it as a time of life. But it was only partially so. The Reformation produced the Protestant state churches of Europe—churches that had a reputation for being alive but were really dead because of their union with the state. So the church of Sardis, the dead church, with the reputation for being alive, represents the post-Reformation period from 1517 to about 1750.
The opposite of Sardis is the church at Philadelphia, the alive church. It represents the period of church history from about 1750, when the Church began to send missionaries out all over the world, until about 1900, when the German School of Higher Criticism invaded seminaries worldwide and destroyed many people’s faith in the Word of God. As a result, people began to look upon the Bible, not as the revealed Word of God, but as man’s search for God, and therefore they decided it was full of myth, legend and superstition.
The Church of today is represented by the church of Laodicea, a church that says to the world, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” (Revelation 3:17). But Jesus says to that church, “You are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (3:17). It is a worldly, apathetic, apostate church that will not even let Jesus in the front door (3:20).
The best summary of these letters I have ever encountered is the one penned by John Stott in his book, Basic Christianity. He sees the message of Jesus as threefold in nature. To a sinful Church, He is saying, “I know of your sin, repent!” To a doubtful Church, He is saying, “I know of your doubt, believe!” To a fearful Church, He is saying, “I know of your fear, endure!” Repent, believe, and endure—that’s a very relevant message for the Church today.
End Time Prophecies
The Bible contains both negative and positive end times prophecies related to the Church. On the negative side, the Church was warned of:
- Apostasy, as “many will fall away” (Matthew 24:10) and “men hold to a form of religion but deny its power” (2 Timothy 3:5)
- Cultism, with many following after deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, and even falling away from the faith (1 Timothy 4:1)
- Heresy, as people will refuse sound doctrine but will want to have their ears tickled by teachers to satisfy their own desires (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
- Worldliness, the inevitable result of a Church compromised and corrupted by the world (Revelation 3:14-22)
- Judgment, as God reproves and disciplines those He loves (Revelation 3:19). This is one end times prophecy most Bible teachers are eager to ignore.
Not all the prophecies about the Church in the end times are negative in nature. In fact, there are many more positive ones—some seen today and some still anticipated—and their glorious nature more than overshadows the negative ones.
- Outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the promise of a great outpouring of God’s Spirit in the end times to empower those who are receptive to stand against the onslaught of Satan (Joel 2:28-30 and cited by Peter in Acts 2:14-21)
- Rapture, Jesus’ promise to appear in the heavens at the end of the Church Age—resurrecting the dead in Christ and snatching away all living believers, then giving them all glorified, eternal bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
- Rewards, based on service in this life (2 Corinthians 5:9-10 and 1 Corinthians 3:13-15; 4:5)
- Celebration, as the Church (Bride) experiences union with Jesus (our Bridegroom) at the marriage feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9)
- Second Coming, when the Church will return to Earth with Jesus and will witness His triumph over the Antichrist and his forces (Revelation 19:11-21)
- Coronation, we will witness Jesus crowned King of kings and Lord of lords after He enters the Eastern Gate and begins to reign from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (Psalm 24:7-10, Isaiah 2:1-4)
- Millennium, when glorified Christians will reign with Jesus for a thousand years as the Earth is flooded with peace, righteousness, and justice (Revelation 20:1-10 and Isaiah 11:9)
- Eternal State and New Jerusalem, our “forever home” that Jesus has been preparing and will be placed on the New Earth at the end of the Millennium (John 14:1-4), where the Redeemed will live forever with their Creator and Savior (Revelation 21:1-7 and Revelation 22:1-5)
So, as you can see, there is both bad news and good news for the Church in the end times. But the good news is so much better than the bad—so incredibly glorious—that the Apostle Paul was motivated to declare: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).
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