Revelation Chapter 3
VERSE 7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”
HOW THE SIXTH CHURCH ANTICIPATES THE SEVENTH
“The relationship between the sixth and seventh stages of the Church seems unique. In all of the chapters dealing with the sixth Church, the sixth Seal, and sixth Trumpet, there are fingers pointing forward to the seventh or last stage of the Church. This is likely because the Time of the End begins in the sixth stage and continues into the seventh. Even though the seventh introduces many new things, it must also deal with the consummation of the things which only had a beginning in the sixth stage. Realizing this can help in the interpretation and the understanding of several of the prophecies describing the sixth Church, Seal and Trumpet.”
This stage of the Church covers the period from A.D. 1517, the beginnings of the Reformation, to the end of A.D. 1877, i.e., up to the beginning of the Gospel Age harvest.
“AND TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA WRITE…”
“The angel or messenger to Philadelphia is almost certainly Martin Luther. Some, who do not like parts of Luther’s teachings and beliefs, insist on searching for another angel. But it is a great mistake to think that these messengers to the Churches are perfect or inspired. They are not. They are TIMELY and FAITHFUL deliverers of the meat due at that season.
Luther has one of the main prerequisites for the seven messengers: He and his teachings are well-known far beyond his immediate sphere of influence. There is no denying that it is he, and he alone, who successfully split the Church. This is a gigantic and necessary accomplishment. No one else can take the credit. His primary doctrine of Justification by Faith is enormous in its import and impact. Lutherans frequently state that they wish Luther had died ten years sooner since his last decade is marked by strange reversals and uncomfortable statements. Could it be that he Luther had Alzheimer’s Disease? What a testimony this would be to God’s ability to use someone faithfully —even if that person’s flesh later succumbed to the common ailments of the race. This would not harm Luther or his ministry.”
See How to study the book of Revelation, Part 36, for more insight on the qualifications of the Seven Angels.
A little history around Martin Luther
“Soon after the Papacy’s humiliation at *Avignon, the popes regained much of their power, so that at the beginning of the sixteenth century, as Mosheim said, “No danger seemed to threaten the Pontiffs.” Even the revival of learning, which followed the invention of printing in 1440 and awakened in many the love of truth and liberty, apparently did not make the heads of the apostate Church uneasy. The reason for this fancied security was that none dared to resolutely attack the supposed canonical authority of the Roman bishops. Education had not yet become general, and the great masses of people, still ignorant and superstitious, reverenced the pope as Christ’s vicegerent. With such power at their command, the pontiffs were able not only to punish and coerce the refractory element but also to buy off their more dangerous enemies with honors and rich emoluments.
In 1492 the conclave of cardinals elected a “monster of a man” to the papal throne. This pope, Alexander VI, is justly called the “Nero” of pontiffs because of his horrid crimes and villainies. He died suddenly in 1503 by inadvertently taking poison he had prepared for others. His successor, the belligerent Pope Julius II, was almost as villainous; noted for his “intemperance and licentious excess,” for his arrogance and vanity, he also had a mad passion for war. As Fisher states, “Old man that he was, he took to the field [of battle] himself in the dead of winter.” Moreover, he was responsible for a “horrible massacre of Christians.”
Although many good men strove against the dreadful corruption, they were powerless to stem the downward course. Papacy only laughed at any attempt to shake its power, which even the early reformers—Marsiglio, Wycliffe, and Huss—and all their helpers had been unable to curb for long. Nevertheless, the sun, temporarily obscured with clouds, was soon to shine forth and flood the world with light. Soames, in his preface to Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 3, remarked:
“When the sixteenth century opened, Rome had apparently regained much of the ground she had lost at a former period. But this appearance was delusive. A temporary calm had come over the religious world, leaving all the materials for a mighty storm in full, though concealed activity. By that very calm was the explosion hastened.”
While the Roman pontiff thought everything was safe and settled, and all pious men were near despair over the religious reformation they so earnestly desired, a certain obscure and inconsiderable monk in Saxony, a province of Germany, suddenly opposed the power of Rome single-handedly with incredible resolution. This monk was Martin Luther, the messenger to the Church of Philadelphia. It was not until Luther’s day that the false claims of Antichrist were so fully exposed.
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*Avignon “The Avignon Papacy: Babylonian Captivity of the Church 1309 – 1377
Continued with next post.
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