Expert: Todd Tyszka - 9/8/2010

Question
Hello again, Mr. Tyszka,

The last question I had for you was about salvation and abuse.

I recently watched a series by Chuck Missler called, "The Rapture" on YouTube. It was a very interesting 12 part series. In part 11, Mr. Missler underlines the seven churches that Jesus speaks to in Revelations.

In his diagram he says that Thyatira is representative of the medieval church, a.k.a. as the Catholic church and says that they will endure the great tribulation. He mentions Sardis as the denominational churches, a.k.a. the protestant church. How does he come to identify these churches with our modern day churches?

Previously, I had believed that the Catholic Church was the harlot of Revelations. I'm still not sure. But when I read Jesus' letter to Thyatira, he referenced "Jezebel" and how they tolerate her. As per Mr. Missler's summation of Thyatira, is "Jezebel" the worship of the Virgin Mary?

I reread my bible to find out what Jesus said to Sardis. I also read a writing about Sardis by John McArthur on Google. I thank you for your time and comments in advance.

Sincerely,

David

Answer
Hi David,
Thanks for the question and I'm glad to hear you are continuing to study the Bible in depth.

I cannot comment on Chuck Missler or that video because I haven't seen it, and do not know what Chuck believes on this subject, but I do know that this is not a new idea or one that Chuck came up with. We know that these seven churches were real churches, and it is widely believed in Christian circles that the seven churches are also symbolic of church periods, also called dispensations. People that believe in dispensations are called dispensationalists, but not everyone looks at it that way. It is a very subjective thing and it's not clear where these church periods begin and end. I am sure in your research you found the tables/charts that show the various churches and time periods. Many people who believe the rapture will happen before the tribulation believe in these periods/dispensations. It is widely thought that we are in the last period (the Apostate period represented by Laodicea) and once the Church makes it through this period, the true Church will be raptured. I don't know to what degree we can take these churches and try to apply them to periods or modern churches (e.g. Catholic or Protestant) and would caution taking it too far. Is Jezebel symbolic here of the veneration/worship of the Virgin Mary? We do not know for sure but it could be. That is why there is a lot of debate and disagreement on some of the interpretation of Revelation.

I encourage you to continue to study Revelation as it is a fascinating book to study. Just understand that there are limitations to how precise we can interpret certain things, and in this example, we may be trying to make something fit that wasn't intended to. What we know is that these were real churches and they are perhaps more symbolic of all churches throughout history than individual ones today (e.g. Catholic or Protestant). We just don't know.

Thanks again for the question!

Best,
Todd