The 7 churches are not you?
This blog of mine is not only here to give exhortation but
to also share my Scriptural learning curve. Lately, I have been trying to
better understand the Book of Revelation which is written to the “seven
churches[ekklēsia—assembly;
called out gathering] which are in Asia”.
Even though I knew that the Book of Revelation covered the period
when the God of Abraham would turn towards the salvation of the Jewish nation,
I just could not understand who these seven churches were. Today I learned that
these seven assemblies are not the Body of Christ but are Jews who began the
work of the Kingdom. This is why the Spirit of Christ told me years ago (when I
asked about these churches) that not all ekklēsia are born again (see Who
are the Tribulation Saints?)!
Matthew McGee’s article, The Seven Churches of Revelation, gives an excellent explanation of how God has TWO types of EKKLESIA or CALLED OUT ASSEMBLIES:
Traditionally, the Apostle John's
writing of the book of Revelation has been dated around 96 AD, 26 years after
the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans in 70 AD. Thus, the doctrine given to the seven
churches in chapters 2-3 of Revelation has been taught as though it was written
to believers in this present dispensation of grace, rather than being properly
understood to have been written to Israel as doctrine for the kingdom
dispensation, which God put into abeyance in 70 AD when Jerusalem and the
temple were destroyed. This has resulted in some misapplications of that
doctrine to the church in this present grace dispensation. It has served to
mislead some Christians into thinking that they may be forced to go through the
great tribulation, robbing them of the comfort of their blessed hope.
From the Conclusion section of his article:
We have seen scriptural evidence
from Hebrews and First Peter and historical evidence from Josephus which
support the theory that the seven churches of Revelation were composed of Jews
who believed in Jesus Christ who were scattered into Asia from Judea during the
early to mid-60's. These
Jews were not natives of Asia who had received the mystery doctrines which the
Apostle Paul had presented to the mostly Gentile assemblies for this present
dispensation. Rather, under great persecution and hardship, they had been
scattered into Asia and the surrounding areas from the land of Israel between
60 AD and 70 AD. Thus, the doctrinal background for these assemblies came, not
from Paul, but from the twelve apostles of the circumcision, from their
headquarters in Jerusalem.
. . . The abundance of scriptural evidence detailed in
the third section makes it very clear that Revelation is doctrine for Israel,
which was written to Jews who believed in Jesus Christ, by an apostle of the
circumcision, for direct application in the prophetic "kingdom"
dispensation. At the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, God placed that
dispensation in abeyance in 70 AD, to be resumed in the future tribulation. The
entire book of Revelation, including chapters 1-3, is deeply rooted in Old
Testament prophecy. It is doctrinally aligned with the epistles of Peter,
James, John, and Jude, all of whom were apostles of the circumcision, as well
as to the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Hebrews, and the Old Testament.
The dispensation of grace in which we now live is revealed in Romans through
Philemon, our Apostle Paul's letters to the Gentiles, with Acts being the book
of transition between the two dispensations.
I encourage you to read ALL of Matthew McGee’s article!
Like the Old Testament, the Book of Revelation is not
written to the Body of Christ but to the Jews and is for our
learning only:
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written
for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope. - Romans 15:4 KJV
In dispensational theology, the Kingdom dispensation refers
to the period when God’s covenant with Israel was active, centered on the
earthly kingdom of God under the Mosaic Law. The Grace dispensation (or
Church age) began with the apostle Paul’s conversion in Acts 9, when God
revealed the “mystery of the church” as the body of Christ to Gentiles. The Kingdom dispensation is
expected to resume after
the rapture of Those in Christ, during the seven-year tribulation, and will be fulfilled in
the 1,000-year millennial reign of Christ. Source
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| PEACE & SAFETY and a dream of THE REVELATION 12 MAN CHILD |
What About the Rapture of the Revelation 12:5 Man Child?
The first five verses in Chapter 12 of Revelation illustrate
a “great wonder” or sign that foretells the birth of a “man child”:
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars:
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and
pained to be delivered.
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a
great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his
heads.
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven,
and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was
ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all
nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and [to] his
throne. Revelation
12:1-5 KJV
Just because the Book of Revelation is not written to those
who are Spirit-sealed believers in Christ doesn’t change what Revelation 12
teaches us:
Child is Caught Up
It should be noted that the Child is “caught up”—a phrase that is translated from the Greek word harpazo. This same phrase is translated raptus in the Latin Vulgate which is where we get the term “rapture”.
The Greek word harpazo means: "to seize, carry off by force; to seize on, claim for one's self eagerly; to snatch out or away" [source: Blue Letter Bible]. It also means "to seize up out of danger" (Click here to learn more about the abducted Bride.)
So the male child of Revelation 12 is seized up out of danger and the danger is the wrathful dragon!
And his tail drew the third part
of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood
before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as
soon as it was born. - Revelation
12:4 KJV
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and [to] his throne. - Revelation 12:5 KJV
Jesus was an adult when He ascended to God and His throne and not a child. Nowhere in Scripture does it describe Him as being harpazo-ed—seized and carried off by force—His return to God and the throne is referred to gently as ‘ascended’ (John 20:17).
These observations lead me to
speculate that it IS possible that Revelation
12:5 is referring to the rapture of the born again believers in
Christ.
The above excerpt is taken from my Study
of the ‘Man Child’ Part 1 of Is the September 23 Event the Revelation 12 Sign?
As I wrote in that article, five days after I posted my article on the subject
Unsealed posted additional confirmation of who the male child of Revelation
12 is from Galatians Chapter 3 in Major
Discovery Concerning Revelation 12.
Chapter 12 of Revelation goes on to explain the war in Heaven where the Archangel Michael casts Satan down to earth.
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth,
he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man [child]. - Revelation
12:13 KJV
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make
war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of
God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. - Revelation
12:17 KJV
The Dragon, of course, represents the multi-faceted Satanic
Beast System which Christ rescues His Bride from. The Bride are those sealed
with the Holy Spirit that are part of the Body of Christ who also identify as
the Revelation 12 “man child” because they have the Spirit of Christ in them
which allows them to be grafted into the promise of Abraham.
The “remnant of her seed” is referring to those left behind
after the Rapture who come to believe on Christ—especially the Jews! THIS IS
WHERE THE KINGDOM DISPENSATION PICKS UP WHERE IT LEFT OFF as Matthew McGee
explained— The Kingdom
dispensation is expected to resume after the rapture of Those in Christ, during the seven-year
tribulation!
Damascus, Aliens, & the Rapture!
Israel365news.com reported how Trump
demanded Abraham Accords expansion in the Iran deal but Arab leaders responded
with silence.
“Peace and safety” were declared when the Gaza Peace Plan was signed October 13, 2025, the 7th Day of Sukkot, Hoshana Rabbah, when the worshippers shake their lulav and etrog. But it seems more likely that world peace (so-called) will be proclaimed even louder sometime after Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords.
A completed Abraham Accords will
mean the completion of the 10 kingdoms. . . Once the 7th kingdom is established
through the Abraham Accords, however, the son of perdition will emerge
quickly. [From WHEN
LIFE GIVES YOU ETROGS—Look for a 2026 Spring Rapture? (Part 2 of 2)]
I join those who believe these Middle East dealings are the foundation
of the Daniel 9:27 “covenant with the many” that the Antichrist will “confirm”.
. . . The Abraham
Accords-based 20-Point
Peace Plan is an agreement that will be built upon and strengthened—gabar or geber in
the Hebrew—by the Antichrist:
The Great Shaking is likely
associated with the Two-State Solution which I believe will be announced
pre-Rapture then (according to Daniel
9:27) be confirmed post-Rapture by “the prince of the people” (or the
“little horn” better known as the Antichrist according to this commentary).
This covenant will most likely allow for the rebuilding of the 3rd
Temple.
And he shall confirm[gāḇar] the
covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause
the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of
abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that
determined shall be poured upon the desolate. - Daniel
9:27 KJV
Gāḇar refers
to confirming or strengthening something that already exists as in the waters
that prevailed in the flood:
And the waters prevailed,[gāḇar] and
were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the
waters. - Genesis
7:18 KJV
The waters were already there
but increased. Therefore, it is my understanding that Daniel
9:27 means the Antichrist strengthens or makes more firm an already
agreed upon covenant.
I believe the covenant that will
already be in place is an agreement incorporating the Two-State Solution.
[Excerpt from Lo, He Comes!]
If you read through the 20-Point Peace Plan,
you see that Israel’s control of the Gaza region (land that is Biblically
theirs) is stripped from them with the goal towards it becoming a state of
Palestine. . . Will
the Rapture Dominoes Fall THIS Fall?
This has not deterred Israel from taking back their ancient
lands as Bill Salus reported (see The
Shaking then Exodus Pattern). This all contributes to the configuration of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture
for I believe first we will see the Jeremiah 49 Elam prophecy come to pass then
the Isaiah 17 Damascus prophecy then the Rapture!
BubbaNews addresses the Elam question in his recent
17-minute video, Israel’s
Air Defenses are being Dismantled--Bible Prophecy Update.
I believe this Middle East War will lead to Isaiah 17, which
led me to look again at a study I did of that chapter and shared in a September
2, 2020, article--Events
Before the Rapture. In that little study of Isaiah, I saw prophetic foreshadowing linking JACOB’S
TROUBLE and the END OF THE SUMMER HARVEST with the demise of DAMASCUS and
perhaps a link between the fall of DAMASCUS and BABYLON. So America
could be bombed around the same time that Damascus is destroyed. In Pre-Rapture
events by Pastor Phillip Barnett (which is part of the Azovmena
prophecies given to this man of God) Phillip Barnett lists events that
are to occur prior to the Rapture which includes the bombing of Damascus just prior to the Rapture. (Related:
Supernatural
Destruction of Damascus this Fall THEN the Dominoes to the Rapture?
And I have told you what Stan Deyo believed—that global
alien disclosure (when the fallen angels are cast down and appear as “aliens”
in UFOs) is to occur as D@m@scu$ is
demolished (related: The
Weird Reason Why the Euphrates River and Alien Disclosure are Connected.)
Just as the Book of Acts transitioned us into the Time of
Grace so too will the Great
Shaking to Awaken transition the world into the Time of Jacob’s Trouble and
the return to the Dispensation of the Kingdom!
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