Truth Matters 91 (July 12-16)

Hello I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis and I want to thank you for listening to Truth Matters. Over the last couple weeks we have covered the book of Revelation and particularly in our last session we covered the church of Laodicea, the last church in the series of the seven churches of Asia Minor. I have to admit we have taken a deep dive into each church. We have examined the forest by looking at each tree.

Today I want to take a broad look at the forest. I'd like to get into church history and try to synthesize the first three churches of Revelation as a whole. What I call this session is the interlude, the history of the church age, a summary of Revelations chapters one through three. Let me begin by saying that Revelation is a self outlined book. In Revelation chapter one verse 19, it says write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this. We have studied Revelation from the first two perspectives mainly, the things which you have seen and which are, and that is the first three chapters. John saw Jesus in chapter one and the things which are was the letters that were inspired by Jesus to be written by John to the seven churches of Asia Minor. As we know after the third letter, the fourth letter comes to the church at Thyatira, and this is known as the fourth stage of church history, which is labeled that woman Jezebel. If you remember the letter to Thyatira, it is covered in Revelation chapter two verse 20. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. This timeframe is AD 500 to 1500, which is 1000 years. And we know Jezebel is the woman who married King Ahab and brought in pagan adulterous practices into Israel.

She became the power behind the throne and relentlessly persecuted the people and prophets of God. This is known as a period of time known as the Dark Ages, where the church was headquartered in Rome, but Rome fell in 476. A new movement called monasticism started, which was mainly monks and hermits.

A famous monk, Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, was alive at the end of this era. Let's move on to the fifth letter of Sardis. As you know, Sardis had a name but was dead. This is known as the stage five of church history, a name but dead. And this is covered in Revelation chapter three, verse one. And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, these things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

I know your works that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. This timeframe is covered in AD 1500 to AD 700, which is a span of about 200 years. The condition of the church at the time was under the papal authority of Rome. But when that became unbearable, Martin Luther initiated a reformation in 1517. This came known as the Protestant Reformation, which is from the root word protest. Martin Luther was well known for his 95 Thesis, a document listing various oppressive and unbiblical practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the father of the Protestant Reformation.

Also, at this critical time in history, the printing press was invented in 1440. Martin Luther had two main beliefs. The Bible, not the church, was ultimately in authority. And salvation is by God's grace alone, not works. He became the father of the Protestant Reformation, which is known as the protesting church. The Protestant church had a difficult time breaking free from the ritualism it inherited from Rome. The church had a name, but little life. However, the printing press is critical, as now the Bible is able to be reproduced and not held in the hands of the priests, who are the only ones that have access to the material and also are the only ones that can read. Thank you for listening to Truth Matters. I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis.