The 7 Churches of Revelation: A First Century Community

With the theme John had developed for the Feast here of community, I thought that what I can talk to you about tonight can fit that theme as we look at the subject of the seven churches from the book of Revelation. And tonight we are only, I'm only going to go into three of those congregations, where we will not have the time to go through the messages to all seven of those congregations.

But I've chosen to talk about the last three of those which are Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

A little bit of a background. I mentioned that I've been kind of immersed in this.

About a year and a half ago, I took my son, my youngest son, and we made a trip to Turkey, which is, of course, the site of the churches is in Turkey, what was called at that time in the first century Asia Minor. And I'll go ahead and bring a slide up here to show that to you. And this part that is called Asia Minor is what is known today as Turkey, or Turkeye, as they have begun to call themselves. So you may run across that. But about a year and a half ago, I made a trip over. I teach the book of Revelation and the book of Acts at our Ambassador Bible College every year to students. And I'd always wanted to see this area had never been to Turkey. And so I learned, I read about a conference that was being held in the modern city of Izmir, Turkey, which is the site for the ancient city of Smyrna, where the church at Smyrna was located, modern Izmir. So my son and I flew to Izmir and attended a, I think it was a seven-day conference on the churches conducted by some of the top New Testament Bible scholars that were kind of rounded up by a Turkish tour agency. And they put on this seminar and we visited all of those sites. And we had lectures from these gentlemen on that, and it was very informative. And I made an acquaintance with one of them, a gentleman by the name of Mark Wilson, who has written the definitive book on biblical Turkey today, same title, Biblical Turkey. And I learned that this past April, he was having another tour of part of these churches, but also along the southern route of Turkey that went along the route of the Apostle Paul's first journey. So back this past April, my wife Debbie and I went back, I went back for the second time in just a few months to Turkey and took a two-week tour with Mark Wilson and some other teachers. And we visited a few of the sites of the churches, but also more along the southern Turkey where Paul and Barnabas made their first journey. And that was very helpful for me. And my studies are also in my teaching of the Book of Acts. And so we're not planning for me a third trip to Turkey this next April. I'll be conducting the tour this time with a busload of our members and some of our graduates from Ambassador Bible College. And we will go back and we will do the seven locations of the seven congregations, plus the island of Patmos where John was exiled and received a revelation. And we'll do a tour of a couple of days in the city of Istanbul. And so I'm looking forward to that. And hopefully that particular trip happens to be full at this time. And I do have a waiting list. I know some might have expressed an interest in that. This goes well, God willing. Maybe the following year we'll do another one and we'll announce that. And if anybody's interested in that, just save your money and we'll see what happens if that happens. But we'll be taking a busload of people over there next April. 7. The topic of the seven churches in Revelation.

I think all of us are familiar, at least in general, with that. This particular map shows that. I'll blow it up here with the next slide that shows you the location of these congregations that are addressed by Christ in chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation. And beginning with the first one at Ephesus. The progression of the letters follows what they feel was a mail route at that time to Smyrna, to Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and then the seventh congregation address is that of Laodicea. Only seven churches are addressed. There were more than seven congregations of the church of God in the first century at that time. Two of them are located on this map and take note of that. And this one right here, Colossae, to whom the letter of the Colossians was written by Paul. And if you remember the book of Philemon addressed to an individual, Philemon lived in the city of Colossae. So there was a church there, but it did not fall into that list of seven. There's also a city pointed right here called Heropolis. There was a congregation of the church there. They are referenced in the book of Colossians. And so that gives us nine congregations, and there were more. We know that there was one in the city of Magnesia, which is about right here along the Meander River, not too far from Ephesus. There's no surviving letter to them. There is a later letter of the early first century to the Magnesians from another individual, but not any that made it into the canon. There were likely other congregations, but seven were chosen for this message from Christ. Each of these congregations having distinct personalities and issues that were facing them in the mid-90s AD, near the end of the first century AD. All of these congregations were very likely started off of the ministry of the Apostle Paul when he spent three years in the city of Ephesus, as recorded in the book of Acts chapter 19. Paul had a very productive ministry during that period of time when he came to Ephesus and began to preach in the synagogue and then set up his own school, if you will, in what is called the School of Tyranus in Acts 19. And he probably just leased or rented space there. And then he trained people he taught. And many of those people then probably came in from these regions or went out to that. And it's by those disciples that Paul trained that these congregations that we read about were very likely started. How much Paul may have been involved? Did he visit them? Probably did at some point. We don't have any record of that. But we can discern that it was during that period of time that these were started in the early 50s AD. So by the time we come to the mid-90s when we feel that the book of Revelation was given or was written by John, as Christ gave him the Revelation, we are talking about congregations of the church that have been around for more than four decades. And that's an important point to keep in mind as many of us have been in the church of God for that many decades and more. Six decades, seven decades in some cases. And if we look back at our own history of all that we have had to deal with and work through and trials and challenges to our faith, both personal and otherwise, then we can begin to understand the things that happen over a 40- or 50-year period with what we have lived through, transfer that back, and what they were going through are many of the same things. And we'll talk about that as we go along here tonight and understand. These congregations were part of a, let's say, a community. And how much they communicated among themselves, we don't really know. I think it's fair to understand that there was a, would have been a level of communication.

Certainly through mail, through letters. There's a very interesting book that was written, read it a few years ago. The Lost Letters of Pergamum. Pergamum was this congregation right up here. And it's one of these fiction based on fact biblical stories, Lost Letters of Pergamum. And it told the story of a correspondence between members, or congregations, in Pergamum and Ephesus. And the story that developed around that. Did they visit back and forth? That couldn't very well have been done as well. The road system was good. And there was trade and all sorts of opportunity for that. Perhaps not as much as with the ease that you and I are used to traveling back and forth and visiting each other.

But I think that they had a communication. And I think that they, it's safe to say that they developed their own culture and community in Western Asia Minor during that first century and knew of each other's triumphs and trials and what they were facing. And these letters that were given did make their way to them. And the revelation was read to them. And so there was a mail route. There was that communication. And so they were learning about each other. And they were also learning of Christ's concern, His care, and His ultimate love for their spiritual warfare as they listened to these individual letters read to them in their own congregations on any given, at least a initial time when that letter would have come to them. And that's very interesting just to think about. When I was in Laodicea, I don't have a picture of this, but they have uncovered a very nice home. And the Turkish archaeologist is making a claim that that is the, it was a possible site of a first-century house church. The church in the first century, the book of Acts, those churches, many of them met in houses of members that had a home large enough to hold 20, 30, 40 people. And they've uncovered such a home, or they think, in the city of Laodicea. And you can look at it, and there's a very large room there. There's a lot more proof that needs to be brought forth before that probably could be accepted by most scholars, but it at least gives you a place to envision. And since I mentioned the school of Tyrannus, which was in the city of Ephesus, there's a location there that one of the scholars that was on our tour, the first one I made, he told me he pointed out a room to me in a set of what were, in effect, luxury condominiums, high-rise luxury condominiums in the city of Ephesus in the first century. And there's this very large room that they have uncovered, and it was a ballroom, or a banquet-type room, late in the first century. And this one scholar was making the claim that he says that could very well be the school of Tyrannus mentioned in Acts 19. And again, one thing you find out about biblical scholars, you might have three biblical scholars with five different ideas, and they disagree among themselves and debate back and forth. That's part of their business and their role, and whether or not that particular room in this very nice, luxurious home was the school of Tyrannus, you see places like that, and they give you something to think about, at least, something to visualize as to what it could have been like, and whether or not it was or not is irrelevant. But you can, at least by visiting these sites, begin to picture life there and the biblical text, and at least for me, being a visual learner, that does help me a great deal as I teach it and try to explain it to everyone. Let's talk now for a few minutes about what they were facing and the challenges to this church community in the first century. It was well into the period of the Roman Empire.

John was exiled on the island of Patmos at the time that this busts a gentleman, was reigning the empire as the Caesar. He was the emperor Domitian, and that is what they feel is a head of a statue uncovered there in Ephesus. You can see that in the Ephesus Museum. Domitian was the one who exiled John. Domitian did something that the other his predecessors had not done in their lifetime, and that was Domitian claimed to be a living God. Now, all the previous Roman emperors, back to at least Augustus, and even including Julius Caesar, whose life was cut short by assassination, after their death, they were deified and worshipped as gods. But none of them, they were smart enough, first of all, to know they weren't gods, but smart enough to know not to claim to be a god while they were living. You can only go so far when you make god-like claims, then as opposed, and even now. But Domitian claimed to be a living God, wanted to be worshipped as such, and he was deposed very early into his reign and didn't last as long as he would have liked to.

The Romans, again, they had their limits as to what they could accept there. But the idea of the cult of emperor worship was something that was very much popular at the time of the Book of Revelation. It all began with the founding of the empire by the emperor named Augustus.

Augustus was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. After Caesar's assassination, the empire, or it wasn't really an empire, but the Roman Republic erupted into civil war that lasted several years, and Julius Caesar's nephew Octavian came out the winter. And he was then renamed Augustus, and Augustus founded the Roman Empire, what we call the Roman Empire, in the 30s BC.

It is Augustus who was the Caesar when Jesus Christ is born in Bethlehem. That's why he's important from a biblical point of view, but also in that with his death, then he became deified, the divine Augustus. In fact, he was looked upon as more than just divine, but he was a savior. Augustus was actually termed a savior because he saved Rome.

He saved the Roman people, the Roman Empire brought order to the empire and to the world that it ruled at that time. And that idea of a savior is very important as we recognize. Jesus Christ is our savior. We worship Him as our Lord and our Savior. Christ was born when this man was being worshipped as a savior. The world was already set up to have a counterfeit savior when Jesus was born, and you're looking at Him. This particular statue has Augustus depicted as Zeus, the God. Zeus, he is holding in his left hand a thunderbolt, which the God Zeus in depictions of him, he's holding a thunderbolt and a spear in his right hand. Augustus is also portrayed semi-naked. Only the Greek or Roman gods had statues depicting them as naked. And by putting Augustus in a semi-naked roll here with a lightning bolt in his left hand, they're saying he is divine and worthy of worship. Another image of Augustus here, this time seated again semi-naked in the same way. This idea of Augustus being worshiped as a savior was actually embedded in the literature, the poetry of the period of his reign.

The reason we even have the month of August is named after Augustus, which was actually a religious title within the pagan cults of Rome that was then assigned to him. That's where the name Augustus comes from. But of course, we have the month of August named after him. And the reason that that happens, he was born in that month. And at a late point in his life, they had a kind of a contest throughout the empire to honor the still living Augustus. And the governor of one province came up with the idea, well, let's rename the month of his birth after him in honor of him because he saved the empire and he's our savior. That's how we come to even the month of my birth, August, and for some of you as well. But he was looked upon in that way as a savior. And he had his cults and his temples of worship. This is the remains of a temple to Augustus in the city of Antioch in Pisidia. It is in Asia Minor. I visited this and took this particular picture this past year. That is what is left of what was a monumental temple to Augustus in the city of Antioch in Pisidia. Now, those of you that know your book of Acts, you will know that the apostle Paul and Barnabas came to Antioch in Pisidia in the 13th chapter of the book of Acts. Paul goes into a synagogue and he gives a sermon there. And in that sermon, he refers to a savior. From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a savior, Jesus. Paul gave the sermon just a short distance from this site in the city.

Paul was in the Roman synagogue. And by him even mentioning the word savior and applying it to Jesus would have run him afoul of the Roman authorities had they chosen to prosecute him. It would have been treason because Augustus was the savior that they looked to. But Paul was making a statement. And this is why understanding, let's say, the physical setting of these cities and their locations were these events that we read about in the book of Revelation and in the book of Acts and the letters of Paul. Understanding that helps us to appreciate even deeper some of the many of the things that are said and what Paul was actually saying. And in this case, he was attacking the cult of emperor worship that was quite prominent at the time. This is a scale model of what that temple to Augustus could have looked like in the first century. It was quite large, quite ornate. It was not the only one in the empire, but this was quite a large one in Antioch. A number of Roman legionaries had been retired to Antioch, and there was a very rabid, strong cult of Augustus there. And all of this had an impact upon the church because what was required of every Roman citizen every year was to go into a temple like this and to make an offering to the cult of the emperor. It was almost like paying your taxes down at the county clerk's office every year, which we do. It was your patriotic responsibility. And you're a good Roman citizen. You do that for, you know, to get along, to go along, to not be singled out.

It's what you do. And if you are a believing pagan Roman, you do that to curry the favor of the divine Augustus or any of the other deities that you might be doing an offering for, as I was talking this morning about the way people approach their pagan deities. But this was done. Now, you're a church member in the city of Antioch or in the city of Sardis or Philadelphia, and you don't go and do that. You don't go and do your civic duty every year. You're going to be singled out. This was the problem, in part, that the church, the community of the church, was facing.

And a very strong, massive government, the Roman government, that encroached into every atmosphere of the daily life of the citizenry. And you come to worship Jesus as your Savior, and you turn from gods that are not gods, and you stop the idolatrous worship. It impacts your standing in the community. It impacts the way you do business, because when you fully understand it all, if you were, let's say, a carpenter, your carpentry guild, Reed Union, had a patron deity.

And every year you would have a meal, sacrificial meal, in the temple to that deity, and you were expected to be there to keep your card paid up so that you got contracts, so that you knew what was, you were in the crowd as the deals were made within the city.

These were the matters that people were facing at that time as they turned from these paganism and began to worship the true God, His Son Jesus Christ.

And so this was the pressure facing every one of these congregations. And so think about that. The alienation from families as they turned from these pagan cults and began to worship God on the Sabbath at His festivals and the way that they would have kept them at that time. You see the challenges they had, and you multiply that through the years, and then you turn to the pages of Revelation 2 and 3, and you begin to read what then Christ is saying to those churches, and it helps us to begin to appreciate that. The second big thing that was a problem was the internal issues. These were the external society, government, its morals, its pressures, continual encroachment. But then you have the internal issues of people who claim to be apostles and were not, that the people in the church at Ephesus successfully thought off.

Wolves in sheep's clothing that Paul warned would come in, and other issues of people internally were creating teachings that allowed the members to compromise and say, well, you could go down and do this sacrifice and begin to work into all kinds of compromises, which we do know with the church at Thyatira, they actually had one woman, it is labeled as Jezebel, but there seems to have been a woman who was propagating teaching members how to compromise and to get along.

Jesus had some very strong things to say about that to the church at Thyatira. So these external and internal pressures were working along. So that gives you a little bit of a setup to the challenges to the community there. And I think we can relate to that in our own lives, and even in some things that we are beginning to see the leading edges of in our society in America, even today with the events of the last two years, the growing government policies and procedures and intrusions into life in many different ways that are growing, and not only government, but technology and business and others that are beginning to change the order of life that we have been used to, and it's being done in a very rapid way.

So I might tend to go into all of that tonight, but those are some of the parallels. And as we look at at least three of these letters, we should be able to help draw some lessons from the teachings of Christ that can help us today to deal with our own faith and make sure that it is strong and that we are hewing to the line.

So what I want to do is begin with the church at Sardis. And this is the fifth church, the fifth letter, beginning in chapter 3 of Revelation. And I would encourage you to go ahead and turn there. And I know it's a little bit dark out there for you. I will have a few scriptures on the slide here, not every one, not the full letter. We won't have the time to go through all of each of the letters. But I want to begin with Sardis. As I said, I've picked Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. And the reason being is that the things that are said to these churches have a particular resonance to us, I think, today in our age and in our time.

And I'll talk a little bit more about that as we go along as to why I chose these. And even in our own internal interest, let's say Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea always have had an interest. Personally, I tend to look at Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamos as a little bit, in some ways, very interesting. They're all interesting. But the stories and the background to those are fascinating as well, particularly Ephesus. But I chose these for tonight, and maybe another time we can go through there.

But in chapter 3 of Revelation, the angel of the church of Sardis write, These things as he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know your works that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Now, this is, again, a very familiar statement and description of the church in the city of Sardis. I know your works, you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. The seven spirits and the seven stars that are mentioned here can best be understood in terms of the power that Christ Himself has in His hands.

He has those. The total power of the Spirit of God, seven is a number of completion and perfection in Scripture, and the seven stars and the fullness of the power of God is what is being brought out here in this letter to Sardis. This is a picture that is taken looking at a mountain that dominates the view that you have or the place where you go when you go to the site of the city of Sardis. And I'll talk about that here a little more here. He says, but to look at what he says here, I know your works that you have a name that you're alive, but you're dead.

Now, that seems contradictory. That you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

Sometimes we might read this and say, well Sardis was dead. Well, they weren't dead, but they were dead. But they says that you are alive. How can you be alive and dead? Well, the best way I've been able to understand that and to explain it to my students, especially when I go through Revelation, is with that classic line from the movie, The Princess Bride.

Well, he's not dead. He's just mostly dead.

Some of you know what I'm talking about. Okay. Young people, they know that when I'm right off and it explains it. One of the characters. He's just mostly dead. Sardis was in kind of a comatose state. They had a name. They were the church, but they had some real problems here. In verse 2, here Jesus says, Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.

There's... they're at a tipping point that if they don't repent and wake up and strengthen what remains, they're going to just flicker out. But they haven't flickered out. They're still there.

He says, Be watchful. Now, the term to be watchful carries with it the idea of being alert, being in a state of readiness, constant readiness. This word is used here in connection with not just here, but in other places, particularly in 2 Thessalonians 5, where Paul talks about being watchful and not being caught unawares, lest the day of the Lord come as a thief in the night. That's 1 Thessalonians 5, 2. And there Paul talks about being in a state of alert readiness. In verse 6, Paul says, Let us watch and be sober. And Jesus says to the church at Sardis to be watchful and to strengthen what remains. And so it's used at other locations in Scripture to be watchful and in readiness in anticipation of the events of the end of the age or the day of the Lord.

And that's a very important application. It also can be understood to be watchful in regard to your own personal life, your spiritual state of life, that we are spiritually alive, spiritually alert, spiritually targeting ourselves, and not being caught unawares, as Paul says.

And the statement here that Jesus is making to the church at Sardis is a very clear picture of a divine inquiry that is being made, that He has looked at them and assessed them. He tells them as He goes on, I've not found your works perfect before God, which mirrors the picture elsewhere that we find of the scene before the throne of God, especially in chapters 5 and 6 of Revelation, where John is taken up into this vision of the heavens. And the activity of what is almost portrayed like a court-type setting with God on His throne and 24 elders, and that's seen there. But to the church here at Sardis, Jesus is giving them a very strong admonition of a state of warning here as He monitors the affairs on earth, and particularly the affairs within His church. And the members in Sardis are being told that they've been examined, found lacking.

When we look at, turn that back on ourselves for a modern application, we certainly could ask ourselves at any time, what's our spiritual condition like? As we prepare to take the Passover every year, we know we go through a period of examination. But as each of the festivals come around, that's also a good time to be examining ourselves and looking at our state of spiritual preparation, that we are watchful and that we are not caught unawares.

The church at Sardis would have understood this particular statement in a unique historical illusion. I'm showing you a picture here of some columns that have been put up there in the city.

And if you look at that, the background, you'll see a mountain. That is the site overlooking the plain in front of Sardis, where in the ancient times in the fifth century and sixth century, the kingdom of Sardis had a mountaintop fortress right there.

And there was a very famous king in the sixth century BC, a king of Sardis named Croesus, C-R-O-E-S-U-S, King Croesus. It is Croesus who gives rise to the legend of the legendary King Midas. The King Midas, remember, who had the golden touch. The gold was found in that ancient time quite prevalently in this area where Sardis was located. But King Croesus was a literal king and he was a very powerful king. In fact, he basically ruled over all the area covered by these seven congregations there in western Asia Minor. King Croesus decided at one point that he'd heard coming out of the east was the rise of a very powerful kingdom called Persia, whose leader was a man named Cyrus the Great. Or at least Cyrus at the time. He wasn't so great at that time, but he was on the rise. And Croesus consults the oracle at Delphi, shall I go to war? And she said, the message came back, if you cross the packless river, a great empire will fall. And Croesus interpreted that to be the Persian empire. So he crossed the river, engaged Cyrus in an inconclusive battle, and retreated back into his mountaintop fortress.

Winter was coming on. Cyrus, being potentially great, as he came to be known in history, didn't decide to go into winter quarters, and he marched his troops to Sardis. Croesus was in the mountaintop stronghold walled in, thinking that they were impregnable.

Cyrus's army figures out a way to breach the walls. It's an interesting story that the Greek historian Herodotus tells. Cyrus and the Persians defeat King Croesus, and the kingdom of Sardis comes under the control of Cyrus. Within the year, Cyrus has marched on Babylon, and year 539, and Babylon falls. And that story was known through the years. And so when Jesus says to the church at Sardis, be watchful. Strengthen what remains.

That story of Croesus would have been in their ears and their minds as well.

Don't be complacent. Don't think that you will always stand, or that you can't slip.

This is behind the story here, that in the message that Jesus gives to the people at Sardis, as times increase, be watchful. I'm going to come quickly. This is what he says here to them. He says, strengthen what remains. Sometimes we look around ourselves and we see a need to strengthen what is here, make sure we are teaching pure doctrine, holding to God's truth, strengthening the lives of individual members, taking care of each other, caring for the disciples, which is our mission. Strengthening what remains as we continue to preach the gospel and push forward as well. But Jesus warns them here that if they don't listen, He will come quickly. And as He says to all the churches in verse 6, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And in verse 5, He says that he who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments. As I said, I'm not going to have the time to explain every aspect of these. I should mention to you that I just completed the seventh Beyond Today program. I've done a series on the seven churches. That's why one reason I've been immersed in this for a period of time. And I just finished Leah to see them. But we've done eight programs now on these churches in Beyond Today. You've seen some of those. A few years ago, the Beyond Today presenter team, Gary Petty and Steve Myers and I, we did a Bible study series going through each of these as well. And those are on our website to go deeper into this. If you haven't done so, I would encourage you to tune in order to make a thorough study of this. I think you'll find it very, very helpful. But I've just completed the last one. We have the idea to do a documentary, maybe a one-hour documentary on all of these, which we're going to get some footage. When we go to Turkey here in April, we're taking a couple of cameramen. And we'll film the whole trip, but we also want to get some footage that we hope we can put into a kind of a one-hour documentary or maybe a couple of series covering these with a unique point for a different type of distribution in the church. So hopefully that will happen here. But this is Sardis. Now, the next message goes to the church at Philadelphia. And let's turn our attention to that here in the city of Philadelphia. I might mention, if you go to the site where the city of Philadelphia anciently was in the church there, this is about all you see. There are two places, Philadelphia and Thyatira, where you really don't see anything. That's because archaeologists have not been able to uncover. There are a modern city over the ruins. And at least in Philadelphia and in Laodicea, it seems the city fathers are not interested in Christian tourism coming over. And so they have not authorized the uncovering of much of the ancient ruins of the city. This is actually not even from the time of the first century. These are columns out of a Byzantine church, which dates to the fifth or sixth century AD, several hundred years after the time of the book of Revelation. And that's about all you see. There's one site that you can go to and see a little bit more, but typically they don't take you there. And you see a few large columns out of a Byzantine-era church. But the message to Laodicea is quite interesting. To the angel of the church, sorry, in Philadelphia, write, these things says, He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens. Now, Philadelphia is a unique message. There are no glaring problems like the other six have.

But they receive a message as well. They are a faithful church. They are encouraged to overcome, like all the other six churches in verse 12 of Revelation 3, He who overcomes.

They are also admonished in verse 13 to lend their ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. But they were holding to the faith. They were enduring, and it seems doing overall a better job than the other six congregations. But what is said to them has interest to us that we should note. And I want to take a moment to go a little deeper into it here, with what is said here when He says, He who is true, He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David and who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens. This phrase, the key of David, is only mentioned here in the New Testament, and it's only mentioned once in the Old Testament. You have to go back to the book of Isaiah, chapter 22, to find the other reference to the key of David in the Bible. And when they heard this message in the city of Philadelphia, the church, those that knew their Bible, they would have recalled something from the scroll of Isaiah, chapter 22 as we know it today, that dealt with this. And what is that? It's an interesting story back in Isaiah 22. It is during the time of Hezekiah, the king of Judah. Remember that Judah, King David was of the tribe of Judah. His dynasty endured in Jerusalem after the split of the tribes of the nation of Israel. Hezekiah was a descendant of David. The story in Isaiah 22 is this. Hezekiah had a servant who was the equivalent of what we would, what let's say the king or the president of the United States would call a chief of staff, private secretary to the now king of England. But in America, the top official right under the president who controls his budget, I mean not his budget, but his calendar, access to the office, is the chief of staff. He runs the entire White House staff. And there was an individual in the time of Hezekiah whose name was Shebna. Shebna. He's mentioned in Isaiah 22. Shebna was the equivalent of the chief of staff to the king Hezekiah. Shebna got to thinking too much about himself and of himself in his position, and it went to his head. And Shebna decided to have built for himself an elaborate tomb in the valley where the other kings were buried. But Shebna was not of royal blood, but he presumed too much. And so he is told in the prophecy there that you've gone too far, stepped over a line. Shebna, you're going to be shunted off to a remote location, and there you will die. And you will not be buried in this tomb that you've had built for yourself by your pride.

And you're going to be replaced by another man named Eliakim. And Eliakim will have a different nature, the story is told there. And he will have the office and the authority that Shebna had, but he will be given something else. And it says in Isaiah 22, verse 22, he will be given the key of the house of David, the key of the house of David. This is Isaiah 22, 22.

Now, what is he talking about here? Well, as Isaiah uses it, it's a metaphor for power and authority. And the chief of staff does have power and more authority than, let's say, others do, but not the top authority. But Eliakim will know how to use it. And he will have the key to the house of David. And he will provide the access of people to the king and manage his affairs. And only Eliakim can close or deny access to people because he has that key. And of course, it says that Christ says that he has the key. He will open and no one's shut and shut, no one opens.

Now, if you look at what Jesus says here, notice what's most important.

Jesus is the one who has the key of David. What was Jesus' lineage?

Jesus was of the Lion of David. He was born of the tribe of Judah. The genealogy accounts in Matthew and Luke show that. In Luke's account, when Jesus returns, it says He is going to set on the throne of His father David. And so, Christ has that key of David. Christ has the key that has the access, if you will, to the ultimate power and authority, which is that of God, because He is God. And He sets at the right hand of the Father today. He is the head of the church.

He is making this address to the seven congregations. He's the rightful heir to the house of David. And He acknowledges that the members here are His own. The church is the spiritual Israel of God. That church has as part of its mission to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Jesus said in Matthew 10, Jesus actually sent His disciples on a short mission to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And in Matthew 15, as He was speaking with a Gentile woman from Phoenicia, He told her that He, Jesus, was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What's the meaning? Well, clearly Jesus in His time delegated, He spoke and part of His mission was to go to the house of Israel to preach the gospel. He delegated it to His disciples. He delegated it to His church.

The church has as part of its mission to preach the gospel to the nations.

We know from other scriptures, especially in the book of Revelation, we could turn to Revelation 7 and 14. In chapter 7, we read of a group of people called 144,000, 12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel. And whatever they are, and you can find any number of different speculations and teachings about 144,000, and I'm not going to go into all of that tonight here, but whatever they are, God knows who they are. God knows what He means. It is Jesus speaking even that part of the book of Revelation, giving it. It's a marker. It has to be a marker of the time of the end of the age, which is what the book of Revelation is about, and whatever the fulfillment, we're being told of the importance of Israel.

Israel was important to God, beginning with Abraham and his descendants, and Jacob especially, to the nation. We find many places in the New Testament that Israel is very important to God, even to the end of the age and into the world to come. As I read to you from Malachi chapter 4 this morning, or Micah chapter 4, and Zechariah 14, in the millennium, the nations will go up to Jerusalem to the house of the God of Jacob, or Israel, whose name was changed to Israel, and he put that upon the sons of Joseph in Genesis 48.

And so whatever we're being told, about 144,000 in Revelation 7, we're saying that God's going to put His seal upon them in whatever way that means and whatever it means, but Israel has a role to play yet. I like to explain it this way. God has unfinished business with Israel. And if you read Romans 11 and you understand what is being said there about Israel being grafted in, and they're grafting back in as salvation for the world, God has unfinished business with Israel. And it's very clear from the New Testament, from the prophecies of the Old Testament, and even the book of Revelation, that there is something very important to the key of the house of David that Jesus Himself holds. And that's another topic for another time, but it is an important one. But Jesus is saying He has that key, and that key is about Him and His ultimate authority to give access to the Kingdom and to the ultimate throne. And that is part of the promise that is here to the church. And ultimately, as we've been seeing as we rehearse the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles, to all nations to come as they go to learn of the ways of God, of the God of the house of Jacob. So Christ has that key, and it's about Him, and it's about His work and His creation. Christ's life, death, and resurrection is His embodiment in the realm of the Kingdom through His life and teaching, and it's the key that unlocks the door to eternal life.

Scholars debate about what that door, the door that Christ opens the door, no man can shut it, and He can shut, and no man can open that door. Another just a very quick in and out on what some feel that could have meant to the church in the first century. And I think that it is important and has understanding. At this point in the first century, the doors to the synagogues were shut and shutting quick to the church. The church of God in the New Testament formed out of the Jewish community. We see that very clearly. Christ was a Jew, the original apostles were the Judah. And in the opening pages of Acts, the church is almost indistinguishable from the Jews, at least to the Gentiles and to the Romans. But some of the Jewish leaders know that there's a big difference there, and they begin to persecute the apostles. But when Paul goes to preach the gospel to all these cities, his first stop in Ephesus and Berea in Philippi was always to a synagogue. Not in Philippi. There wasn't a synagogue, but Thessalonica and other places. He went first to the synagogue until he could no longer stay there. Then he'd have to go and find, set up quarters someplace else and preach with the people that would follow him out of the synagogue, the school of Tyranus and other places. And yet there was this closeness because the church kept the Sabbath, and they sprung from the story of Israel, or Judah as it was in the first century.

But as the years went along in the first century, and the persecution from Rome and various events, the Jews began to turn on the church and to shut the door to them.

The scholars that study this in the first century call it a parting of the ways between the church and Judaism. By the time we come to Jesus making this statement in the mid-90s, Jews are actually turning in Christians to the Romans and identifying them, which is why the synagogue of Satan idea is mentioned twice to these churches.

And those who say they are Jews but are not, they're losing their affinity in their brotherhood, and there's a betrayal going place, there's a shutting out. That has implications as we translate that into our modern time as well, to a parting of the ways that comes from following Christ and following the very truth that Christ embodies. We've all experienced that.

And so it's an interesting statement that is made there that has a historical application, but also some understanding for us as we look at it in our life today.

So He encourages them. He says, I know your works. I've set before you an open door.

No one can shut it. If you have a little strength and you have kept my word and you've not denied my name, the Church of Philadelphia had some very strong positive things. And I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie. Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you.

So with that historical background that I just gave you, it helps to understand at least what that statement meant in the first century's cultural setting to the Church listening to this letter being read to them initially because of the events that they were going through at that time. Because you have kept my command to persevere, I will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I'm coming quickly. Hold fast to what you have, let no one take your crown. Again, the setting that Jesus seems to portray for these congregations, at least these three, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, is, you know, I'm coming quickly. And even in an end time setting, if you look in verse 10 here, I will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world.

It's interesting to look at that because even scholars who study this and understand the Greek on this recognize that that phrase to the church at Philadelphia can only have an end time setting.

And that's interesting. One of the scholars I was with 18 months ago wrote a very good book recently on the messages to the seven churches. And though he looks at the messages as strictly a first century setting, in his own exegesis of verse 10 of chapter 3, he admits because the Greek, the hour of trial to come upon the whole world can only be an end time setting, which is interesting and heightens that message to us to understand and to apply to us today. But not just the message to Philadelphia. There's another message that we need to pay attention to as well, and that's the message to the church at Laodicea. We all know Laodicea.

It is the seventh. It's the bad boy church, right? It's the church that has certain problems.

In fact, there are a lot of problems and a very long message. And let's look quickly at what we are seeing here as we deal with the church at Laodicea. So, are we okay? We're good. Okay. But John was going to take over the Bible study with a microphone in his hand here.

To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, right, these things says the Amen, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish that you were cold or hot. Well-known statement to students of the book of message of Laodicea. Now, let me just read a comment. This is from a biblical commentator named John Walford. We use this comment that Walford makes about the message to the churches in our booklet on Revelation. And it's a quote from John Walford, the late John Walford. He says, many, quote, many expositors believe that in addition to the obvious implication of these messages, the seven churches represent the chronological development of church history viewed spiritually. They note that Ephesus seems to be characteristic of the apostolic period in general and that the progression of evil climaxing to Laodicea seems to indicate the final state of apostasy of the church. The order of the messages to the churches seems to be divinely selected to give prophetically the main movement of church history, the main movement of church history. End of quote. John Walford, his commentary on Revelation. We've included this in our booklet on Revelation.

Twenty-three years ago, we felt it was a pretty good explanation to frame all of these messages and to understand it. Look at what Jesus is saying to this church at Laodicea. If there is a movement spiritually through church history, then the message to Laodicea has something to say to us today, us in this room, any who claim to be a Christian, to be a part of the church of God. He's saying, I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. What does that mean? How should we understand it? Let me give you a little bit of understanding. And I will say that in Laodicea, they're quite busy, the archaeologists, they have done a great deal of work in recent years. When I was there with these scholars a year and a half ago, many of them had not been there since before COVID shut down and they were astounded at what has been done there in the last few years. They're very busy. A lot of money is being poured in to excavate the city, ancient city of Laodicea. And a lot of information has been gleaned and gained. I mentioned about the idea of a house church that was there at that time.

Jesus goes on to say, because you are lukewarm and you're neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Now, that's a pretty strong statement.

To understand it, we need to understand a little bit about the water supply of the city of Laodicea and the water supply of the cities around it, to understand why this is put this way. Here's a picture that shows the city of Heropolis from the city of Laodicea.

These ruins right here are the modern ruins of Laodicea. And about five to six miles in the distance are some calcified white deposits at the city of Heropolis, which I mentioned earlier was the location of a church. Heropolis had hot thermal springs like this. And you can go there today and you can see that. And these springs were there in the first century, and they have left behind calcified calcium deposits forming quite a scene. It's a World Heritage site today. A lot of tourists go there. Thermal hot waters.

That's the hot water that Jesus is referring to. And it was about five miles from the city of Laodicea to the north. To the south of Laodicea was another city that I showed you on the map earlier, Colossae. Colossae. And if you will see beyond here in the background, you'll see some mountains. And you'll see some snow-capped mountains back there.

Colossae sits at the foot of a series of mountains. Their water supply was from a runoff from those mountains, which was cold water. Now, originally people thought that cold water came from Colossae to Laodicea, and by the time it got there it was lukewarm. Hot water came from Heropolis, and by the time it got to Laodicea it was lukewarm.

They have found no archaeological evidence to support that idea. Laodicea got its water from another closer source, and it was water that was not very good, and it was lukewarm, is what they know now. And so when Jesus writes this letter and He says, I would that you were either hot or cold, but you're not. You're lukewarm. I'm going to danger vomiting you out of my mouth. He was not commenting on their spiritual condition. He was commenting on their ineffectiveness. Think about it. Hot water is very effective. We use hot water to clean, don't we? Unless you use cold water all, or tide, ladies. But normally we mix our soap in hot water and scrub a floor and wash the car, whatever it might be. Hot water. Hot water sterilizes. Sanitizes. Hot water is effective. Cold water speaks for itself as well. It refreshes. It's what you want on a July afternoon. Cold water renews and invigorates. Both hot and cold are effective. Both hot and cold are effective. Lukewarm water acts as an emetic. Makes you want to throw up. And that's why Jesus says you're in danger of being thrown out of my mouth in that sense. Vomited out. I would rather that be that you were cold or hot. And the word for Luke 1 there is only used one other time in the New Testament, and it's not used in connection with a spiritual condition. Jesus is saying you're not effective to that church. They were keeping the Sabbath. They were keeping the festivals. They had a name, but they were rich and increased in goods.

They thought they were in need of nothing. The attitude of the city had rubbed off on them. Laodicea was so wealthy that they did not need federal aid. They didn't need FEMA coming in when they would have an earthquake. They had one just a few years before the writing of that letter.

And the Roman government had as its policy to give aid to cities to help them rebuild. Laodicea refused government aid. Can you imagine that being done today? Well, they did because they were rich and increased in goods. They were on economic trade routes. They had a black wool. They had a salve. They had a lot going on there. In fact, they had so much going on that they had… And you go there today, and he says you're wealthy. You have need of nothing.

This is a recent excavation of an amphitheater in Laodicea. Every self-respecting Roman city of the time had at least one amphitheater where they had games and plays and productions and civic meetings and quite large. Laodicea had one. They had another one. They had two. This is the second one. It hasn't been excavated yet, and it's just a few yards away from this one. It was the equivalent of an ancient Cineplex. Two theaters side by side, and also situated with the sun so that you could set in one in the morning comfortably, and in the afternoon if you had the day off and the money and the time, you could set in the other one and you would be comfortable there as well. They would have had awnings over all of these, and they would have been very pleasant. Two amphitheaters. They also had a stadium for games. Laodicea indeed was quite wealthy. And when Jesus says to them what He does, I counsel of you to buy gold refined in the fire that you may be rich in white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed and anoint your eyes with eyesave. They had a product of an eyesave in that day that they marketed out of Laodicea that did help with eye problems. Eyesave that you may see. They were in need of buying something that their money couldn't buy, and that was a spiritual rejuvenation lest they be removed from the body. Notice what it says, though, in verse 19. He says, As many as I love. Christ loved the Laodiceans. Never forget that. He rebuked them. I rebuke and I chase them, but I love you. They were His church. They had His name, but they had some problems that they needed to repent of. Behold, I stand as the door and knock. And if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into Him and dine with Him and He with me. The church at Laodicea had a problem with its head. Jesus Christ. They were keeping Him outside, and they didn't have the intimacy and the closeness with Him that He was wanting to have. I stand. I'm knocking at the door. If you hear, if anyone hears, open the door. I will come in and do what? Dine with Him and He with me. I don't have the time tonight to do this, but normally in other presentations I'll turn to the book of Luke, chapter 24. And the great story there of the two disciples that were on the road to Emmaus on the morning after Christ's resurrection, who encountered Christ. He comes right alongside them, and they don't recognize Him. And they begin to talk, and He begins to converse with them, and they don't know that they're talking with their resurrected Savior. And they turn into their home, and they invite Him to go into their home with Him. And they sit down at the table, and when they break the bread, they recognize who they are eating with, and He disappears. It's a great story, Luke 24, disciples on the road to Emmaus. It connects to this. The church at Laodicea needed to bring their head into their room and to sit down and have a meal.

They needed to make community with Jesus. This is a unique part of all seven of the messages, and it's something that the church, any of the other six, certainly could have listened to as well. And Jesus is saying, you're not effective. And the reason is you need to commune with me. You need to sit with me. When we come to this part of the messages, and if this is talking about a condition of the church at the end of the age, and I think John Wofford hit onto something in the way he described these seven messages, showing a spiritual progression at the very least to the end of the age, then we have something to take from the message to Laodicea as well as the other six.

We can't afford, brethren, to hold the message at Laodicea at arm's length ourselves.

We need to look at it and say, are we in this? Is there something for us to learn?

We are in a very different world right now, a hostile world of pagan culture, continuing to build and grow a godless, unbiblical culture. More and more people are developing worldviews that do not include this book, even those who profess to be Christian. Even those who profess to believe this book do not have and hold a biblical worldview, as they have been confused by the issues that are a part of our growing world of LGBTQ and of other issues, abortion and matters that are upending the moral and natural order of life around us.

And all of this that has begun to develop, especially in the last two years. And those are knocking at the door of the church and the homes of a believer. And so we have to take note of that as we see a world that is growing increasingly hostile to the faith and to a faith that is based on the Bible. And it's only going to grow worse. It's only going to grow worse.

At the core of the way of life that we have been called to live is the power of God's Spirit, the power of the Spirit working within the individual. And that's what Jesus is telling the seven churches. He was their head. And through Him and Him alone was the effective work of the power of the Spirit going to be done to allow them to stand firm against the external forces and the internal forces that they were fighting at the time, the power of the Spirit.

That's what builds a godly community. That's the lesson that we in the 21st century can take from the story and the lessons given to the church in the first century. That's the solution.

It is the power of the Spirit of God to endure in faith, to nurture the faith, and to develop an environment where the fruits of the Spirit can flourish and grow in our lives. And that is the power base that propels the people of God to growth and to effectiveness. That's how we become the people to whom Christ will give the kingdom.

When that stone cut without hand smashes the image that we read about in Daniel 2.44 this morning.

The kingdom will not be left to other people, but those who have developed the fruits of God's Spirit and are listening to the head of the body, the spiritual body, its head, Jesus Christ.

We keep this feast of tabernacles to build a community that will last beyond the kingdoms of this age. To be a part of that community, that kingdom that will break in pieces the kingdoms of this world and bring it to an end. Which is why we have to have the confidence that why we are here keeping the festivals is the right thing to do, to build a community that is going to endure into the future. Christ will be doing that within us or it will not be built, unless the Lord shall build the house. The worry builders toil in vain and his Christ's power in us. The seven churches had to confront themselves through the messages that were given to them.

And in effect, each of these congregations had to come face to face with Christ across the table, setting with Him at that table, breaking bread with Him at that table.

That's what each of them had to do, and that's what we have to do as well.

I don't think we fully understand the spiritual body of Christ till we come to the message of Laodicea, a church in need of a wake-up call. And that wake-up call involves setting at the table with Jesus and communing with Him.

I conclude that we must all wrestle with the message to Laodicea. And if we do, and we come to that level of overcoming and repentance, we will then have the effectiveness to set with Christ on His throne. Because He does say to that church, in verse 21 of Revelation 3, to Him who overcomes, I will grant to set with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and set down with My Father on His throne. That is a double throne. That is understood to be a double throne, a two-seater, that we will set with Christ on His throne. The message to Laodicea is not one to dismiss, nor to misunderstand. I think we must all wrestle with that message. And if we do, brethren, we will come to the point where we will be overcomers, the message given to each of these seven congregations. This is from the city of Ephesus. This is a very prominently featured stone image of the goddess Nike in the city of Ephesus. Everybody has their picture made in front of this. The word to overcome in Revelation 2 and 3 is the Greek word, nikeos, and it means winter, or overcomer. And this image, if you see in her left hand, she holds a victory wreath, which was given to the winner of the race and of the games. And she was the goddess of those who were the victors. And Jesus uses this wording to tell us that we must be overcomers. I understand, brethren, that you've learned a visual message here before I came from one of the earlier speakers. Something like this, right? Is that right? Did I get that right?

You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. I want you to look at this. Look at this very carefully. You see a swoosh in there?

When the athletic supplier Nike wanted their branding put together, whoever did the job looked at this image, Nike, overcomer, winner, and they took the Nike swoosh right from that. So I'm going to give you another image here tonight for you to remember, and that's the Nike swoosh. You can go up with me and out with Mr. Weber. That is your big takeaway here for that. We all want to be overcomers. We want to be winners, and we can through Christ.

And that's the message for all of the churches. So I hope that's been helpful for you tonight to go through a portion of this and watch the videos that we've got on it. You can learn more. And if at some point we might all, some of us at least, take a trip to the sites of these locations, God willing, we might be able to do that and learn even more from that. But you've been a good audience, and I appreciate the time with you here tonight. Mr. Miller's already got his hand up, and I think he's going to take questions from the audience. That's fine. Why not?

Test, test. Okay. We didn't plan this, but I thought... No, we didn't. Do you take questions from students? Yes, we'll take one right ahead. Okay, so if anybody has a question, please raise your hand. I'll bring the mic to you. What did God expect the sins to do in order not to be lukewarm? To repent. To be either hot or cold. To be more effective. To recognize their wealth. The two-edged sword, a blessing, but also a curse that could dull their use, their ability to yield to the power of his Spirit. They had to do the same thing that each of the churches did, and correct their lives, to become more effective. In what way?

In what way? In what way? Like feeding the poor or what? I'm sorry? Like feeding the poor or things like that?

Well, charity obviously is very important.

I think by what he said to them there, where he said, you're keeping me outside the door, it came down to that intimacy of a relationship with him that is really seeing him through all of the Scriptures. If you go back, and I think the connection with the story of On the Road to Emmaus is very instructive to deepen our understanding of this. These were two disciples that had been with Jesus, but they didn't recognize the resurrected Jesus.

And it comes down to being yielded to God in all parts of our life to where we're developing the fruits of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit within us, that of love and joy and peace that we find there in Galatians. And it comes down to that inner contentment, inner conversion that allows a deeper expression of those fruits of the Spirit among themselves, among ourselves, and in a desire to share the gospel as far and wide as we possibly can. So I think it comes down to that deeper relationship with Christ and the power of Christ working within them in their lives beyond what had already been accomplished. That's one of the big things that I take away from it. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions?

I'm not seeing any. When in history did these, let's say, vibrant Christian churches in Asia Minor, when did they die or become extinguished? That is a good question. We have records of them continuing on into the second century and even as late as the fourth century. For instance, Laodicea is mentioned as still holding to the literal belief of the 1000-year reign of Christ in what is called the millennium, Revelation 20, as late as the fourth century. And so, the church, as whatever it was at that time, was still around and had developed. The church began to go through a number of upheavals into the second century. We have the record of the church at Sardis, for instance, to go back, not Sardis, but Smyrna, excuse me. We know from the middle of the second century AD of the stories of Polycarp and Polycrates. Polycarp was the bishop of Smyrna who was martyred. He came into conflict with the bishop at Rome over the issue of the Passover and Easter. The church at Rome was abandoning the Jewish Passover on the 14th day, and Polycarp goes to Rome, confers with the bishop whose name is Victor. They agree to disagree.

The churches in Asia that are following Polycarp are still holding to the 14th-day Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, the seven-day festival in the spring. Polycarp's disciple, Polycrates, about 20 years later goes through a similar episode with a different bishop at Rome and has to defend himself. We know from Eusebius's history that he was still keeping the Passover and the spring, the Days of Unleavened Bread. So that gets us into the late 2nd century. From the writings of a church father named Ignatius, we also read of his defense of the church against a number of heresies that were beginning to overtake the church as they had moved from the 7th day of the week to the 1st day of the week, for instance. That had already begun in the late 1st century in Rome. So we find these remnants of people who were holding to what Jude calls the faith once delivered from scraps of history through the 2nd century and into even the 3rd and into the 4th century before we seem to lose sight of a group of people holding to, let's say, the apostles' faith and what Christ taught and what Paul taught in the church.

They've already been overcome or pushed out even from their own churches by a growing church that is largely gentile and has brought in a mixture of other pagan beliefs and what some historians call a baptized paganism. So we can see those scraps through history of the remnants of these churches that we would study in the 1st century and the changes that are taking place. But their story dissipates into other lands and other regions after you get past the 4th century.

Hope that helps to understand that. But you trace a lot of that by their teaching, what they kept.

Sabbath, Passover. That 2nd century episode is well documented in history. It's known as the Court of Decimae controversy. One last question. Way back there.

I mentioned that that's why I kind of have an affinity with the Laodiceans. Let's not be too hard on the Laodiceans. In the 4th century AD, they are still holding to the belief in the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth as a literal event to take place. It hasn't been spiritualized away, for instance. The Council of Laodicea in the mid-4th century anathematized Sabbath keepers. So that was held right there. They have a plaque that lists all the different canons of the Council of Laodicea. It makes you wonder just how many people were still holding to the Seventh-day Sabbath in Laodicea, even in the mid-4th century AD. Do you have another one back there? Hi, I got a question about the scripture you mentioned where Christ had said that He had only come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Some people may understand that to mean that He's referring to the northern lost ten tribes. And my question is, do we see any evidence or what do you think the likelihood is of the people in these church areas having any lineage or being descendants of possibly those lost ten tribes? In these seven church locations?

Is that what you're asking? Yes, in any evidence throughout any of those churches. No, I can't point to any evidence in scripture that any from these would have been. Those churches would have been a mixture of Jews that had left the synagogue as well as Gentile converts that had come in. But there's no evidence, scriptural evidence to point to on that. Christ makes that statement to this Cyril Phoenician woman in Matthew 15, and He had sent His disciples. We have very little knowledge about that. He acknowledges their existence and their viability, but we don't have any scriptural evidence to connect that to them beyond that.

Secular history, yes, but not from the scripture beyond those statements.