A brief history of the Church renders us Signs of Christ’s Return and the rise of the ministry of the Bride and her hour of waiting.

It is clear from the message which the Father gave to Jesus and which Jesus penned in His letters to the seven churches some fifty or sixty years after his first coming, which in turn were delivered to the Church at large by the apostle John in the Book of Revelation, that the Christian life and the Age of the Church would be exemplified by the spirit of ‘overcoming’ and repentance from corruption and spiritual vices, such as idolatry, rebellion, worldly lusts and alliances and stubborn pride with arrogance and disrespect for the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ. There would be trappings and pitfalls, times of trouble and doubt and times in which Satan would undermine the faith of the Church to the extent that true faith in the Full Gospel would almost become extinct. Whether it was temptations, evil, sin, idolatry or onslaughts of the Devil intended to rob, destroy and kill, overcoming would be one of the keynotes of the Church Age and its battle to ‘win Christ’ Phil 3, esp. vs. 8 and walk in the health and happiness that is salvation. There would be times of birth and glory, shame and infamy, revival and counter-reformation; but all could be graded and judged according to the ability and reality of the Church as overcomers of Satan, the World, and the carnality of their own ‘flesh’. Refer to: Bride is Overcomer of Three Great Enemies. In these final hours of Church history just before the return of Christ, it would be wise for every Christian to take a close and objective view under Truth’s single eye of the progression of Church doctrine and faith. Where it conforms to Biblical truth one should emulate those who held fast as true forerunners of right faith. Where it diverted one should pray for deliverance from the infestation of crooked ways, no matter how long and widely they have been accepted by Christendom even if by the hands and works of well-meaning but imperfect shepherds. The Bible has told us things would be different, that there would be a Church among the churches which would be pure before the Lord, even one which would be so adorned with faith, hope and love that Christ would make her His eternal Bride. The other churches which attain the promises of repentance and submission will reign with Him, live in His ‘Holy Mount’, eat from His eternal garden, and more; but only one church-at-large will be His Bride due to her perfection and purity of Spirit. She will have the so-called ‘keys of David’, for she will have been ‘after God’s own heart’. Church history is the story of fulfilled prophecy and its relationship with the World and Antichrist Spirit during the time of the Age of Grace (The time between the First and Second Comings of Christ). Church history as indicated by prophecies and blessings of Jacob, Balaam, Moses, Joel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Zechariah … and the rest of the Bible’s Old Testament prophets and by Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, Peter and Paul, Jude and Gospel parables all buttress the prophistory of the Church given in The Book of Revelation and dramatically in the letters to the Churches addressed to His people by Jesus Himself. Therefore the Bible records the history of the Church so that we may learn and be wise in these last days before His return; we may rightly coin the term prophistory and apply it to the most important matter of the Church and its relationship with Christ and His Gospel (or, God’s Truth). God has given us the history of the Church written before the fact. Perhaps the greatest single prophistorical passage of all is the letters to the churches.

The church was warned, that all those who live godly lives in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. To offer comfort to the beleaguered and weary, and for impetus to continue on in the faith and promote the spirit of overcoming, Jesus presented the Church with its history before the fact. This is what may be termed ‘prophistorical’ form. Using individual churches and their characteristics, and exposing their problematical sin to them in order to typify predominant conditions which would characterize seven major successive church epochs (Seven is the number God typically uses to depict a completeness or fullness, thus seven letters to depict the full history of the church in prophetic form).

God made good on his promise that he would keep His people informed via the prophets, before He does anything at all. Amos 3:6 In the case of exposing Church difficulties and sin, God preferred to do it directly through the ministry of the greatest prophet, Jesus – Son of Man/Son of God. The purpose of this pre-recorded history is to alert us to the nature of the spiritual battle so “we can draw near to Him in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water[water of the Word] And let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.” Heb. 10:22, 23

It was Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians who clearly declared that there was a complete history, including a ‘falling away’ of faith in the Church (from the purity of the Gospel that would overtake the Church during its middle epochs before Christ’s return).

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him,
   That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
   Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
   Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
   Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
   And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
   For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way.
   And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
   Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
   And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
   And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
   That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
   But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
   Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
   Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
   Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given [us] everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
   Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.” 2 Thess 2

Paul’s words in 2 Thessalonians would seem to include the surfacing of the actual Antichrist person which must precede the actual Return of Christ to earth on the day of Armageddon. In hindsight we can readily detect that the subsequent history and course of the Church Age proves the prophecy of a great falling away, and gives credence to the suggestion that the Antichrist person must appear upon a world stage within a handful of years before the Second Coming. This, of course, does not include the Rapture for we know not the day, nor the hour of Christ’s appearing in the clouds which will precede the Second Coming by an unknown, but relatively short interval of time, probably a decade or less. The course of this age is, however, directly charted by the meaning attached the character of the individual churches and shows the course of Church history to be consistent with the way in which the Church at large grew over the centuries. History confirms the character of the churches in the seven letters to be a mapping of Church history.

The Church was established in enthusiasm for good works, persecuted by the Roman Empire and once it had become the accepted religion of the state she descended into ignorance and faithlessness and lusted after a kingdom on earth, something which God never promised the Church in this Age of Grace. Then after many years a general revival took hold and marched gradually on until this very day, the days prior to and contemporaneous with the appearance of the Antichrist on the world stage. This course is also charted in the three chapter prophecies of the book of Joel where the corruption of the Church and its revival in the last days is perfectly depicted in historical context by spiritual terms. The course, from initial enthusiastic zealous birth through descent into the abyss of faithless ignorance and finally to a clash in the Church between the spirit of faith and the spirit of worldliness at the end, runs its course and is symbolized in the successive letters. Understanding the basic specifics and areas to overcome for each individual church archetype, can best be primed by the following simple one word list for each church which can also be seen as representing successive epochs in church history. Each church is listed as follows:

1. Enthusiasm  –    (Ephesus)
2. Persecution  –    (Smyrna)
3. Compromise –  (Pergamos)
4. Apostasy    –      (Thyatira)
5. Reform      –        (Sardis)
6. Revival     –    (Philadelphia)
7. Clash      –        (Laodicea)

The most slender of historical knowledge about the Church Age unearths the sorry truth that the Church has not always been the ‘overcomer’ it should be. Sometimes it has. Either way, each phase of Church history could have stood as a sign of the veracity and infallibility of God’s word for those who had eyes to see it in their day, even in the darkest days of Church apostasy. As with all the ‘Signs of Christ’s Return’, each epoch of Church history was constructed in such a way as to shed light on the singular promise to the world that Jesus Christ will indeed return. That Jesus will first appear to ‘rapture’ the faithful, and then later at His Second Coming at Armageddon, is the hardest thing to have an active living faith for. Jesus’ appearance and return stands alone, bolstered by many great and unrelenting signs of its certainty to show all lover’s of Scripture that they are in the waning moments of this Age of Grace. Everything the world offers, everything the unbelieving Church will spout off about tries to obscure the signs of Christ’s Return so that the faithful or the would-be faithful would be subverted from their faith. Peter says in his second letter chapter 3.

“I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
   That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:
   Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
   And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
   For this they willingly are ignorant of…”

Every true believer must overcome the forces that would deter them from their faith in Christ’s promise to return. …

THE CHURCH AS A SIGN OF THE END

1. FORMATION, CORRUPTION AND THEN REVIVAL:
The Church when it has run its prophistorical course, stands as a herald of the soon return of Christ. The Church is declared to be so primarily in The Book of Joel where it definitely declares that she would be corrupted then revived by the pouring out of the Spirit. This being one of the great signs of Jesus’ return just before the tribulation of the last days of the Age of Grace.

2. FALLING AWAY AND ANTICHRIST REVEALED:
In 2 Thessalonians 2 by Paul who wrote of the Great Falling Away and that the Antichrist must be revealed before either the Rapture or the Second Coming, or perhaps both.

3. THE SEVEN LETTERS AS OUTLINE SKETCH OF CHURCH’S HISTORY:
The Seven letters by declaring things which are, were and are to come: the history of the Church outlined in the letters of Revelation 2&3 – present, past and future.

4. DANIEL’S UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S KINGDOM AT THE END:
The Book of Daniel says that there would be no understanding about the end until the end. The stone that comes out of heaven, to crush the Antichrist Kingdom and blow it away was for end-times believers to comprehend. Some will be righteous and shine and the rest will not. The great Clash of the end involves Satan and those of the world with God, His people the Jews and the Church, in particular what the Old and New Testament term the Bridegroom (Messiah/Christ) and His spotless Bride.