The Lord’s address in the third chapter of Revelation was to the church ages of Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. The Sardisean Church Age was from A.D. 1520 to A.D. 1750, the Philadelphian Church Age from A.D. 1750 to 1906, and the Laodicean Church Age from 1906 to the present. The messengers to these final three ages were Martin Luther, John Wesley, and William Branham.
The spread of the Gospel throughout the world during the seven church ages would follow the movement of the sun from East to West according to Matthew 24: 27: For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. The Gospel had moved out from Israel under the apostles and would eventually reach the west coast of America in the Azusa Street Revival. The Light of the Gospel is going full circle, and will return back to Israel again under the ministry of the two Jewish prophets (Revelation 11: 3), who will preach Christ to the Jewish people, of which 144,000 of them will receive It and be sealed by the Holy Spirit (Revelation 7: 2 – 4).
The Bible having been taken away from the people and all dissention readily stomped out, a deep spiritual darkness pervaded over the European continent. But then in 1517, a young German monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed his 95-Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany. The document conveyed Luther’s doubts about the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church. This one act would trigger the start of the Protestant Reformation which posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and the authority of the Catholic Church. Having already visited Rome and seen the futility of the church’s imposed works that were to bring salvation, the Word of God struck home to Luther’s heart, that the just shall live by faith! (Romans 1: 17).
The Reformation rapidly reshaped the religious landscape of Europe as Protestantism became more widespread. Luther’s preaching of justification by faith would later develop into the teaching of sanctification or holy living under the ministry of John Wesley in England. The nation of England experienced a tremendous revival under Wesley and others, so much so, that when France fell in revolution, the great Wesleyan revival kept the revolution away from Great Britain and saved her to be an instrument in the hand of God for many glorious years. The age of the open door (Revelation 3: 8) was a result of the revival in England, whereby many missionaries travelled from its shores to spread the Gospel throughout the world.
Although specific dates have been assigned to the church ages, each one would actually phase in and out of the other. But the last age of Laodicea is the only age to begin spontaneously as a result of the restoration of the gifts by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Azusa Street, Los Angeles. This would spark the Azusa Street Revival that continued unabated for three years, from 1906 to 1909. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Azusa Street would also begin the Pentecostal movement, that lasted the space of forty years, from 1906 to 1946, when some of its early leaders died.
It was in 1946, as the Pentecostal movement died down, that the prophet of God would step onto the world stage under a divine commission from God ministered to Him by the Angel of the LORD. The prophet’s ministry began with a tremendous healing revival, but he would ultimately restore the lost truths which had been taken away from the people during the church ages.
The true Church of each age is represented by the moon, which reflects the Light of the S-O-N during His physical absence from the earth. As the church ages progressed, the Light of the Gospel that the true Church reflected so strongly at the beginning, gradually waned, and almost disappeared entirely during the Dark Ages because of the intense persecution brought against the Christians by the false church. But with the Reformation under Luther and Wesley, a little more light returned as Protestantism gained ground. However, by the last age, the S-O-N Light was completely overshadowed by the worldliness of the modern church. For this reason the prophet would call a Bride out of Laodicea, and restore Her back to the original apostolic teaching of the Gospel that existed in the first age.
Laodicea is an age of total darkness where Christ was rejected by the modern church. He is seen standing on the outside of the church in Revelation 3: 20, knocking on the door with His Voice, calling to them by the voice of the seventh angel (Revelation 10: 7), which is the message of the prophet. But this age does not want Christ and has removed Him from society, politics, and religion. It is because Laodicea is when Lucifer enthrones himself as god of this evil age. Where in Heaven Lucifer had expressed his jealous ambition with five “I wills” (Isaiah 14: 13 – 14), now in the last age Lucifer would realize his evil desires by getting into the flesh of the Laodiceans, who would say, “I AM rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing! (Revelation 3: 17).
The ages of Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea are represented by the growth of a grain of wheat that Jesus spoke of in John 12: 24: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. The Church birthed at Pentecost was the original grain of wheat that would eventually go into the ground and die during the Dark Ages. But the grain would live again by springing forth as a blade, stalk, tassel, and a husk, in which the grain of wheat would form before being expelled from the husk, after which the ripened wheat grain can be harvested.
As the wheat seed had to have a carrier to bring forth multiplied wheat seed, even so there had to be a church which would be the carrier of the life of Christ. The blade, stalk, tassel, and husks were the carriers for the seed but were not the seed itself. So the church corporate through the ages has been the carrier of the true seed though it was not the seed itself.
The blade and stalk came up under Luther, the tassel came up under Wesley, and the grain of wheat was formed inside the husk under the Pentecostal movement. But as the husk would eventually expel the grain of wheat, so the Pentecostal movement eventually rejected the prophet, who was the first ripe grain of many grains of elect wheat seed to be ripened. When the completed wheat plant has come to its maturity or adoption (Galatians 4: 1 – 7), then it will be gathered into the presence of the Lord in the great translation of the saints.
Proceed to Revelation Chapter 4