Do the 7 churches represent 7 ages of Christian church history?
In Rev. 1:4-6 John addresses his prophecy to the seven churches in Asia. It is obvious from the descriptions that follow (chapters 2-3) that he definitely has these actual churches in mind. The notion propagated by Uriah Smith and Ellen White that these represent seven phases of the spiritual history of the church is a mere fiction, with no objective evidence; and it is quite arbitrarily and selectively applied. There are at least three fallacious presuppositions held by those who advocate this doctrine: • First, the seven ages doctrine presupposes that Revelation covers all of Church history, from beginning to end. Who says the Book of Revelation covers Church history? John certainly does not. His only claim is that the prophecy covers the things that must shortly take place (1:1), and that the time of which it speaks is near (1:3). Thus, the most basic presupposition of the seven ages view is utterly false. • The second presupposition holds that the Church will end in defeat and apos
