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Transcript 470D
The Seven Churches and the Seven Seals
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I wanted to ask you a question on Revelation. And it's about the seven churches talked about in Chapter 2, and also the seven seals that are in Chapter 5. I was wondering, do they mean anything today, the seven churches?
HC: The question is, do the seven churches that we find discussed in Revelation 2 and 3 have any bearing on us today? Does it have any meaning? There are those who say that the seven churches are to be understood in a chronological fashion, that actually we are living in the age of the last of the seven churches.
But actually, there's no intimation, no suggestion in the Bible, that we are to understand these seven churches in any kind of a chronological fashion. That would be sheer speculation, because there is nothing in the Bible that suggests this. These were seven churches that actually did exist at the time the apostle John was writing. And as we study these seven churches we get insights as to the nature of the organized church of the Lord Jesus Christ as it has stood throughout the New Testament period. Any church today will find characteristics of itself as they read about these seven churches. I don't find anything chronological here at all.
Now insofar as the seven seals are concerned, which is also asked about here, the seven seals have to do with the presentation of the Gospel throughout the world. The first seal has to do with the fact that Christ goes forth conquering and to conquer. The picture is of a rider on a white horse with a bow. And it's a figure taken from Psalm 45:4 & 5, where it speaks about God riding triumphantly, conquering. It is the Gospel as it goes forth.
The second seal, where the rider is on a red horse and peace is taken from the earth, is a picture of the fact that as the Gospel goes forth there will be great persecution. Satan will persecute. He will kill. He will do everything possible to frustrate the Gospel.
The third seal has to do with the black horse, and the pair of balances in his hand. And when we really check this out in the light of other passages in the Bible, we find that it's a warning to the church that if they are not faithful, then God is going to take the Gospel away from them. God is going to bring judgment upon them.
And then in the fourth seal we see the rider on the black horse, or on the pale horse, rather. And it is a picture of the fact that indeed God's judgment does come upon the church, because it will not remain faithful. Eventually the Gospel will be silenced.
The fifth seal really gives us an insight into what happens to those who are persecuted, who are born again believers. And they are seen in Heaven under the blood of Christ, or under the altar. That is, they are covered by the blood of Christ. They are redeemed. And they're crying out for God's vengeance to come, for God's justice to be satisfied.
And then the sixth seal gives us a picture of Judgment Day itself.
The seals are quite unrelated to the seven churches, except that we find certain warnings in the language of the seven churches that relate to these six seals, that God will bring judgment upon them if they are not faithful, that the church is used of God to send forth the Gospel, to conquer the forces of evil, and that finally God will take away the authority of the church if they are not faithful, which is akin to judgment coming upon the church.
CALLER: What actually do the churches mean? Are they seven churches throughout the whole world?
HC: The seven churches that we read about, actually, the number seven in the Bible is a figure signifying the perfection of God's plan. Now it is God's plan that throughout the New Testament period, beginning with Pentecost in AD 33, God would be represented upon earth by various denominations and congregations throughout the world. And these would be the official stewards of the Gospel. They would be the places where the born again believers would be found. And they would be sending forth the Gospel into the world.
And the seven churches we find recorded for us in Revelation 2 and 3 are really a figure or a picture of the organized church of Christ as it has gone forth in the world throughout the New Testament period, not in any chronological order, however. They simply are in total a picture of the perfection of God's plan to have His congregations throughout the world.
CALLER: Oh, I see. Okay. I want to thank you very much.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night