Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: They say prophecy is history written in advance. Today we'll be looking at a remarkable series of prophecies in the book of Revelation that outlines 2,000 years of church history, all predicted centuries before it ever happened. Stay tuned as Dr. Gary Hedrick discusses the mystery of the seven churches, right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the Scriptures from a distinct first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Today Dr. Gary Hedrick is teaching on the mystery of the seven churches in Revelation chapters two and three. I'll be back at the close of the program to tell you about two special resources we're making available during this series, so be sure to have a pencil and paper ready. Now with today's study, here is Dr. Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: All right, thank you. And welcome, listening friend, to another edition of the program. We're glad you're on board today as we continue this series of studies on the mystery of the seven churches. So far we've seen that the Lord commended the believers at Ephesus for four things: first, for their good works; second, for their spiritual discernment; third, he commends them for their perseverance; and fourth, for their zeal. He says, "You have labored for my name's sake and have not fainted" (Revelation 2:3). They were zealous for the Lord.

But we said there were also problems in the Ephesian church. Look at verse four. He says, "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." Verse five: "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless or except ye repent."

And then he gives the remedy in three steps, verse five. Number one, remember. Number two, repent. And number three, return. Remember how it was before. Then repent, and return to doing those first works. Rekindle the fires of your first love for Jesus Christ.

Now look what he says in verse six. He says, "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate." Now this is a very interesting passage because there has been all sorts of speculation over the years about who these Nicolaitans were. You can consult five different Bible dictionaries and get five different interpretations. But I think the best interpretation is the one Dr. Criswell gives in the footnote of his Study Bible.

He says the key to the identity of the Nicolaitans is found in the Greek meaning of their name. Nicolaitan is a compound of two Greek words: first, nikao, which means to conquer; and second, laos, which means people. Nikao laos. The word Nicolaitan literally means to conquer or to rule over the people. So Dr. Criswell says the Nicolaitan movement marks the beginning of a form of priesthood in the church.

It was an effort in the early church to create a priestly class that would rule over the people. And the Ephesian believers are commended by the Lord for steadfastly resisting the efforts of the Nicolaitans. Because the New Testament doesn't establish any priestly class. What it actually says is that we are all priests. We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, Peter says, an holy nation, and a special people (1 Peter 2:9).

And the New Testament says that we ordain elders from among our midst to provide the spiritual leadership of the church. Those are the pastors. The elders or the pastors are the ones who have rulership in the church, not some priestly class or holy order. So this Nicolaitan movement was another effort to Judaize the early church. Just like the Judaizers in the book of Galatians, who were telling Gentile believers that they had to convert to Judaism in order to be saved. They had to be circumcised and they had to submit to the Law of Moses.

So there was a strong movement in the early church to Judaize the church, to turn it into a kind of neo-Judaism. And what was so bizarre about it was that the people who were doing this were themselves Gentiles. So that's what the Nicolaitans were doing. They saw the church as an extension of Judaism. So we should have a priestly class, like Israel did, in the Kehunat or the priesthood. And the priesthood should be separate from, and should rule over, the laity, the lay people.

But it's all based on a fallacy, my friend. Listen, the church is not just an extension of Judaism. We're not just another Jewish denomination like we've got Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews, Reform Jews, and then we've got the Messianics or the Christians, just another form of Judaism. You see, this is where a lot of this replacement theology business comes from. They say that Israel has been replaced by the more highly evolved church.

But that's nonsense. Israel and the church are two distinct entities in the Bible. They're not the same. It's like Isaiah 43:19 where God says he's doing a new thing. He's not just making modifications to Israel and then calling it the church. He's doing something completely new. It's not the Mosaic Covenant of Law, but the New Covenant of Grace.

In fact, theologically, the church is more closely related to the Abrahamic Covenant than it is to the Mosaic Covenant because the Abrahamic Covenant, which was the original covenant God made with the Jewish people, the Abrahamic Covenant was an unconditional covenant of grace. It was a relationship of love rather than a relationship of law.

Listen, the church is Jewish, but she's not Israel. The church is Jewish because her roots are Jewish, her origins were Jewish. The first church in Jerusalem was Jewish and it was made up of Jewish believers. So the church is Jewish. Christianity is Jewish. But Israel and the church are two entirely different entities.

And by the way, if you want to find out what God has to say about Gentile believers who think they want to convert to Judaism and place themselves under the Law of Moses, just read the book of Galatians. What did Paul say? "Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1).

So the Lord commends the Ephesian believers for the fact that they haven't been deceived by these Nicolaitans. He says, "Thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate" (Revelation 2:6). It was never God's intention that his people be ruled over by a professional class of so-called holy men. God says he hates the works of the Nicolaitans because their plan is contrary to his plan.

You see, God never intended for Christianity to be a spectator sport. We're not supposed to have the clergy over here on one side and the laity over here on the other side, and the clergy does the work of the ministry while the laity just shows up once a week to give their money and to have a church service. Listen, in biblical Christianity, we all work together. We're a team. Each of us has been endowed with certain spiritual gifts and we're all involved in the work of the ministry.

One time when we were in Israel, we were touring a certain exhibition and the Israeli guide said, "Do we have any priests in the group?" I said, "We're all priests." And then she said, "Well, what I meant was are any of you ministers?" I said, "Ma'am, we're all ministers." And we are.

But what was happening back there in the early days of church history was that the seeds were being sown for a pagan counterfeit version of Christianity, where the clergy would be kept separate from the laity, and the clergy would exercise control over the lay people because only the clergy could forgive sins. Only the clergy could administer the sacraments. Only they could give absolution. Only they could interpret the Bible.

And for centuries, it was only the clergy who could even read the Bible because they did not want it written in the language of the common people because that would diminish their control, you see. Did you know that there were people in medieval times, Christian people in medieval times, who were burned at the stake because they tried to get the Bible to the people in the common language? And the religious powers that be wanted it only written in Latin, the Vulgate, so that no one but them could read it.

Check it out for yourself, my friend. Read about men like John Wycliffe and John Huss, who were killed because they refused to submit to church authorities they believed were unscriptural. Actually, Wycliffe died of a stroke, but years later they dug up his body out of the church graveyard and burned it at the stake because the Pope said he was a heretic. Look it up. See if I'm telling the truth.

You see, the issue has always been control. It's power and greed and manipulation. And do you know what God says? He says he hates it. When spiritual authority is misused and abused and lorded over God's people, he says he hates it. Because it was never his plan.

So that was the church at Ephesus, commended for their good works, their discernment, their perseverance, and their zeal. But the Lord had something against them: they had lost their first love. Now do you remember we said that each of these seven churches typifies a period of church history? So this is the Ephesian period, the first of those seven periods.

This period extended from the close of the apostolic era after the destruction of the temple in AD 70 up to about the middle of the second century, or about 170 AD. This is where we find church organization beginning to supersede the spiritual mission of the church. Evangelism and missionary expansion began to wane. That's the Ephesian period, the first century or so of church history.

Well, that's all of our time for today. On the next program, we'll look at the second of these seven churches, representing the second period of church history. By the way, I hope you've already ordered the tape and the chart so you can follow along with these discussions. Mr. Larkin's chart is absolutely wonderful and makes the whole thing so clear. I know you'll enjoy it. And in case you haven't ordered it yet, we'll give you that information right now. Until next time, this is Gary Hedrick saying God bless you. Take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. If you liked what you heard today, you'll be pleased to know we've taken all of the programs in this series and placed them on one convenient CD entitled The Mystery of the Seven Churches. It's available for your contribution of just $6 or more to help us keep this program on your station.

Also available is the companion chart, adapted from the original drawn by Clarence Larkin in the early 1900s entitled The Messages to the Seven Churches Compared with Church History. This interesting chart shows how the messages to the seven churches in Revelation correspond to the seven successive periods of church history. It's the perfect companion for this series of studies on the mystery of the seven churches.

So that's the CD for $6 and the chart for $3, or both for a total of $9. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, PO Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292.

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I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on the mystery of the seven churches, right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the free-will contributions of our listeners in this area.