John Thiel mp3
Scripture Reading: Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
Jesus launched out a church of pure doctrine. His disciples were under His tuition for three years. Now they were to go forward in the outpouring of the latter rain – Pentecost. They were to go and teach everything He had taught them. Notice what He said. He is speaking to them:
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
As they multiply, that Christian church as they launched out, He is going to be with them till the end of the world. Carefully consider that church.
What Is That Church?
1 Timothy 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
“I want you to go and preach everything I have taught you. This is my church that is the pillar and ground of truth.”
The church that Jesus has launched is to continue to the end of the world. That church and is to be the pillar and ground of the truth. A pillar is being upheld holding the roof. It is the foundation of the church.
1 Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, (the church that Jesus launched out) whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many.
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew? Go and baptise after you have taught them. This is the body of Christ; the church. As you come to the study of the seven churches, I will remind you of this. The church is the body of Christ. What is the book of Revelation? The revelation of Christ. Which is the revelation of the body of christ which is the revelation of the church; the pillar and ground of the truth.
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
These are the important benchmarks to understand that the subject of the seven churches that the church is one body that Jesus commenced by the apostles, and it is the doctrine of these. The book of Revelation is a book of prophetic symbolism.
Revelation 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Revelation 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
What does this all mean? Revelation 12 illuminates our appreciation in this era of multiple Christian churches with all their confusing doctrines of teaching, God has his one faithful church. We are considering everything we have read form our scripture reading in Matthew 28 – I am with you even unto the end of the world. It is the pillar and ground of the truth, the body of Christ. It’s the woman.
God has his faithful church all through history. I’m going to be with you the faithful church through to the very end. What was the faithful church? It was the church that had taught the pure doctrines in. They were to go and teach the nations. The pillar and ground of the truth that reaches to the very end; I’m going to be with you to the vcery end. Let us reflect on the meaning of Revelation 12. We read this woman:
Revelation 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
This is very important. Let us get it clear from the bible. What is the woman? In prophetic symbolism, are we sure who she is?
Jeremiah 6: 2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. 3 The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
Does this remind you of the hymn “O Tell Me”? The church is Gods people. Let us go to what he means with Zion.
Zion
Isaiah 51:15 But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name. 16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
When we read in Jeremiah 6 that He has likened the daughter of Zion as a delicately and comely woman, Zion are His people. His church. You can make reference to this in the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
What is Zion? The church of the firstborn written in heaven. That is what Jesus said to the disciples. That was His church.
In Revelation 12 we are reading about that woman; the faithful ones, the church of the living God,-few as their numbers may be, are represented as the “woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” It is the closing of one era, the age of types and shadows, which, like the moon, reflect the light of the true. The moon is under the feet of the church, and the glorious sunrising of a new day is ushered in. The paler light of the moon seems dim in that more glorious day. The types and ceremonies of the sanctuary service, which had been a shadow of the real, were passing away; for type met antitype in the Child that was born. Every sacrifice from the Garden of Eden to the cross, shadowed forth the great Sacrifice, and taught the everlasting Gospel. By faith, the sinner confessing his sins over the head of the innocent lamb, saw the real Sacrifice, and the light from Calvary reflected from the sacrifice shone into his heart. This service typified the Gospel in its fullness. This is the foundation upon which the church stands. It is not a stone slipping away, a sliding foundation, but a solid foundation upon which the living church rests. To-day the record of that typical service, emits light to the one who will search it. True, it does not have the full blaze of sunlight like the record of the antitypical Offering, but there is a mild and gentle light emitted from it that well repays the searcher after truth. SSP 212.3
It’s the moon.
Around the head of the church clustered twelve stars, representing the twelve apostles, who became the fathers of the Christian church, their names are also on the twelve foundation stones of the New Jerusalem. SSP 213.1
The followers of Christ are the special objects of care in the courts of heaven, and there never was a time when the interest was more intense than when the fullness of time was at hand, and the Son laid aside His God form, and clothed Himself in human flesh,-flesh subject to all the weaknesses of the frailest child on earth. Into the territory of Satan, into the nation which was the very essence of all untruth and deceit, the deepest, strongest compound of error, Christ came as a helpless child to show the power of truth and love. SSP 213.2
The woman is the church, and the twelve stars are the twelve apostles, and she is dressed in the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ in the sun. there she stands, a pure church. The twelve apostles continue from the twelve tribes. The Old Testament was the church of the twelve tribes, but that church became replaced by the Christian church; the twelve apostles. Jesus launches them out. He spends time with them teaching them. the Bible seminary was twelve apostles attending that Bible preparation so they then would go forth as His ministers, the pillar and ground of the truth.
Matthew 28; that church, He is going to be with right through to the end. This pure church witt the pure doctrine, fresh from Jesus and the experience of this church is described through the centuries. The pillar and ground of the truth.
The Apostles Doctrine
Acts 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
The pillar and ground of the truth is dependent on the apostle’s doctrine.
I want to ask you a question, as we arrive at this our present time, remember Jesus said I’ll be with you till the end of the world, to them He launched out the pure doctrines of heaven. Arriving at our time, after all the years of the dark ages, persecution, the changing of hands, we finally arrive in our time. What does the bible show in regards to our time and the many, many years of the church of the apostles?
Song of Solomon 6:8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. 9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. 10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?
Is this another picture of the woman of Revelation 12? After a period of time where there are myriads of churches, that one church that Jesus said I’m going to be with you, has left behind many different church organisations. That’s the picture. My dove, my undefiled is but one. His church that he launched out in the beginning, coming to our time where he says I’m with you. All power is given unto me and you are to go forth and preach the pure truth to the nations. Baptising them and teaching them whatever I have taught you. This is His church at the end as well. The same church. It is one. It is His dove. Hid undefiled. My question was, would you be interested to find this woman? Christ’s dove? His undefiled?
Did you understand what you were singing? This is the very thing that we were singing; “O tell me, Thou life and delight of my soul”. Here is a Christian who is delighting in his Saviour. Where does the flock of thy pasture feed?
1 O, tell me, thou life and delight of my soul,
Where the flock of thy pasture are feeding:
I seek thy protection, I need thy control;
I would go where my Shepherd is leading.
2 O, tell me the place where the flock are at rest,
Where the noontide will find them reposing;
The tempest now rages, my soul is distressed,
And the pathway of peace I am losing.
Can you see a Christian trying to find the pure church here? I want to find a place where there is perfect rest in Jesus.
3 And why should I stray with the flocks of thy foes,
In the desert where now they are roving;
Where hunger and thirst, where contentions and woes,
Where fierce conflicts their ruin are proving?
Isn’t that what we see in the churches of today? Conflict, arguing. Everyone claiming ot have the truth and arguing with the next one who claims to have the truth.
When shall my woes and wanderings cease,
And the follies that fill me with weeping.
I’m struggling, I want answers.
Oh Shepherd of Israel, restore me that peace.
Thou dost give to the flock thou art keeping.
There is a flock that is safe and secure. What was the answer?
A voice from the shepherd now bids me return,
By the way where the footprints are lying.
No longer to warnder, no longer to mourn.
And homeward my spirit is flying.
The footprints. This is the study of the seven churches. If you study the seven churches, you will see the footprints of that pure church all the way through. Just one church, the church that Jesus launched out. We come to our time and we want to know, all these other churches. Some of you have come from the catholic church, others have come from other protestant churches, Pentecostal churches and they are all over the place. Even sadly, the modern Seventh Day Adventists today. Where do we turn, where is the truth?
The Woman’s Journey
The detail of the woman’s journey leading up to the wilderness of verse 6 to 14. This is the church that has gone through the years after Jesus left and was persecuted by pagan persecution and ended up going through period of a church lifted up with great glory and how it became darkened and there was persecution under papal persecution. All through those ages through the wilderness.
Revelation 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
1260 days
Revelation 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
The woman was going through a wilderness experience for a period of time. According to Bible prophecy we understand and I’m not going through any proof texts. The period of verses 6 and 14 is the same period. 1260 days equals 1260 years. In Gods terms one day equals a year. For 1260 years, the church was in a wilderness persecution experience in darkness, in the wilderness not knowing where she was.
She knew what she believed but she was being persecuted. This was the 538 AD period to 1798 – 1260 years of papal confusion in which the church wanted to stand on the pure truth as the doctrines of the apostles had been laid. Notice as she emerges out of the period of time from 1798 through to the coming of Jesus where he says I’m going to be with you coming right through to that time, we read verse 17. Notice who they are; how they are identified.
Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
That was the church of the apostles. They kept the commandments of God. They kept the pure doctrines. They had the testimony of Jesus. There you see that picture of Matthew 28; go and teach all nations and span through the whole period to the very end, I’m going to be with you to the very end He says.
We will do exactly that. Travel through Revelation 2 and 3 – The seven churches. God has that one church that goes through that period of time through to the very end. Why seven churches? Why seven churches if there is only one church?
Seven is a number in prophecy that symbolises completion. Seven is a symbol of one. One faithful. Let us follow that thought through. Seven represents one.
Gods One Church
Revelation 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
There is the introduction. Seven churches with their ministers.
Revelation 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
The seven lamps represent the seven churches and the seven spirits of God.
Revelation 5: 6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Seven spirits, seven churches, seven candlesticks. Let us examine how many Spirits exist when it comes to the spirit of God. When it says seven spirits, what does it mean?
Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
How many spirits? One Spirit. The seven golden candlesticks represent one. One spirit. It represents one church. That is scriptural clarification. There is one church as we read it in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13. Many members but one body. One body is Christ. Christ is the body, he is the head of the church. There is one church, not many. Seven churches represent the one church that go through seven periods of time. I will verify that in a moment. That church that Jesus launched out when he launched out the apostles, he commenced His church. His one church running through the whole period of time.
Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Are there various different teachings or is there one pure doctrine? Is there one pure truth? The pillar and ground of the truth. One church, one body and one spirit. Even as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Not a seventh day Adventist faith and a Pentecostal, catholic and presbyterian faith and so on and so on. There is only one that God sent Jesus to communicate and send out that one church. One pure doctrine, that golden candlestick that represents one spirit and one church.
The names of the seven churches are symbolic of the church in different periods of the Christian Era. The number 7 indicates completeness, and is symbolic of the fact that the messages extend to the end of time, while the symbols used reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world. AA 585.3
As we proceed therefore, we are going to go through these seven periods and examine Gods one church in it’s experience as it travels through the experiences of seven periods. Remember, Jesus said I’m with you, right through to the end. These are important statements that will keep on playing back at us again and again. I am speaking to you, I know your works. When you read the seven churches, he is speaking to his church. I want us to bare in mind, the principle of that one church running all the way through.
In Revelation 12:17 we finally arrive at the end where Satan was angry with the woman but he goes and makes war with the remnant of the woman’s seed. This is important. Remember what Stephen Haskell expressed? It’s a minority int eh time of Christ and It’s always through the years a little company that remains faithful. What is this church?
God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His commandments. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church, UL 315.5
He was with the twelve disciples, wasn’t he? Only twelve. I could read you many quotes where if there were only ten people on earth, only ten who were faithful, they would do a far greater work than the entire denomination with it’s differences of opinion.
for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church. UL 315.5
Where two or three are present who love and obey the commandments of God, Jesus there presides. UL 315.6
That’s the body of Christ. That is who he is.
…let it be in the desolate place of the earth, in the wilderness, in the city enclosed in prison walls. The glory of God has penetrated the prison walls… UL 315.6
Those few faithful ones all through history was Gods one church that is to be discovered right now in these last days just the same. What we have to expect all the way through the history and to this point in time, is that God is still doing the same thing as he did in the time of Christ because the church that claimed to be Gods church at that time, what did they do to Jesus?
As the light and life of men was rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every succeeding generation. Again and again the history of Christ’s withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers preached the word of God, they had no thought of separating themselves from the established church; but the religious leaders would not tolerate the light, and those that bore it were forced to seek another class, who were longing for the truth. In our day few of the professed followers of the Reformers are actuated by their spirit. Few are listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in whatever guise it may be presented. Often those who follow in the steps of the Reformers are forced to turn away from the churches they love, in order to declare the plain teaching of the word of God. And many times those who are seeking for light are by the same teaching obliged to leave the church of their fathers, that they may render obedience. DA 232.2
The leaders of the church rejected Jesus. Can you see the body of Christ rejected by the majority again and again through the history? Jesus as Jesus was rejected, his body is going to be rejected all the way through. A guise of insignificant little people. The twelve apostles were twelve insignificant people but the Lord launched his church out through them.
Those who are the sheep trying to hear the Shepherds voice, are drawn out of the churches they thought were the right churches and come and follow the true church; the one church. That meditation is further enlarged this is what we need to have as a back drop as we go through the seven churches.
The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the word of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities. But, if these in turn do not purify their lives from every wrong action, if they do not establish pure and holy principles in all their borders, then the Lord will grievously afflict and humble them and, unless they repent, will remove them from their place and make them a reproach…. UL 131.3
A remnant of the woman’s seed. All through history, the same repetitious experience took place. The leaders of the recognised churches couldn’t tolerate the faithful leaders. The people looking for the right ministration of the doctrines had to leave their churches to follow them. This is the important understanding as we go through the seven churches. This is what we need to understand as we go through each successive generation. We will go over that ground several times as we go through each period of the seven churches. God grant us his life so we can stand in the pure church today.
Amen.
