Doctrine Of Seven Church Ages

The Seven Letters to the Seven Churches of the Revelation Do They Refer to Seven Church Ages? There is a popular theory that teaches that the seven letters that John wrote to the seven churches in Asia somehow set forth a Divine plan of the Church Age. According to current authors Gary G. Cohen and Salem Kirban, the church ages may be identified by the following scheme.       

Ephesus Smyrna Pergamos Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia Laodicea

Apostolic Church Persecuted Church State Church Papal Church Reformed Church Missionary Church Apostate Church

30 100 313 590 1517 1790 1900

-

AD AD AD AD AD AD to

100 313 590 1517 1790 1900 present

To their credit the authors of Revelation Visualized do admit that, "Both learned and unlearned Bible scholars and students debate whether this Prophetical Theory is or is not true" (p. 68). To say the least, the concept of a Divine Plan of the Ages is a very arbitrary division of history and does set dates. The arbitrary division of church history is reflected by the different schemes that other authors have set forth such as Clarence Larkin who wrote a modest work entitled The Greatest Book on Dispensational Truth Ever Written. According to Mr. Larkin the ages predicted by the various letters to the churches may be identified in the following manner.  Ephesus  Smyrna  Pergamos    

Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia Laodicea

The Backslidden Church The Backslidden Church to Constantine From Constantine to the Crowning Of Boniface III As The Universal Bishop From Boniface III To The Reformation

70-AD 170 170-AD 312

312-AD 606 606-AD 1520 1520-AD 1750 1750-AD 1900 1900-to present

If John really saw seven church ages and if we really are now in the Laodicea Church Age of Apostasy then the end of the world is very near indeed! Perhaps the saddest repercussion of this whole prophetic scheme is that there is no hope for any great positive changes to be made in the church.