The “refuge” church

Seven churches of Revelation tour

In 2013, Cathi and I went on a “Seven churches of Revelation” tour in southern Turkey.  Each one of the ancient churches is a prototype of the seven kinds of churches that will be in existence in the final days just before Jesus returns to this earth.  In his letters to the seven churches, Jesus urges all of them to become “overcomers.”  Most of the churches are reprimanded in some way because Jesus doesn’t want them to fail.  So they are urged to repent and to make some changes if they are going to survive and hold on until He comes.  However, there is only one church that takes refuge during the time of the Great Tribulation or time of God’s indignation and that is the Philadelphia church which means the “brotherly love” church.  It was founded by the king of Pergamum, King Attalos, who sent his brother Philadelphos there.  Philadelphia is the modern-day Turkish town of Alashehir and there are very few ruins to speak of.  The region was in a fertile valley and so grew some of the best grapes in Turkey. Philadelphia was famous for its wine.  The city must have been somewhat prosperous because it was known as “Little Athens” during the Roman period and also Neo-Caesarea after an earthquake in 17 A.D.

The city was a border town but it had no natural defenses.  You don’t get the impression that the Christians were particularly large in number or had a big influence.  It is a church that receives no criticism and hence no correction by Jesus.  It was a church that did what they could with what they had.  It wasn’t a rich mega-church by any means and it was quite insignificant.  I remember asking Cathi what was the most significant thing about Philadelphia? She couldn’t even remember the town.  All she could remember about the place was that we had time to sit down and have a coffee there and she got time to smell the roses at the Philadelphia archaeological site, hence the photo above.  And that is the point, there wasn’t much to see!  It was the least memorable site of all seven ancient churches listed in the book of Revelation that we toured. The town was fairly uninspiring. But an uninspiring church in an uninspiring town has the most inspiring promise which is spelled out in Jesus’ letter to the church in Rev. 3:12.

The “brotherly love” church

Make no mistake the Bible is clear that there is going to be a severe trial on the world and the church in the coming last days.  So severe in fact that unless those days were cut short there would be none left not even those of the faith.¹

But the “brotherly love” church will be rewarded because they have endured patiently and have kept Jesus’ word.  See, reward in God’s economy is not about results per se, it is about faithfulness and making the most of what God has given you.  Remember the widow who gave only two mites in the temple offering?  Jesus said that she gave more than anyone else because she gave out of her poverty.²

And so we must be found faithful with what we have been given and there will be great reward.  The reward for this church is that Jesus will keep them from “the hour of trial.”³

This hour is only 3 ½ years, the final 3 ½ years.  It’s not that Jesus won’t stop them from getting bruised and buffeted around a little (first 3 ½ years) but when things get really tough, He will take them out from the midst thereof.

The pre-tribulation theory is wrong

The small Greek preposition, “εκ” (ek) is very important here in Rev. 3:10.  It means out from the middle of.  In other words, it demands that you have to be in it before you can be taken out of it.  It doesn’t mean as the pre-tribbers demand that this church is the church that will escape the tribulation altogether.  That would need another preposition namely “απσ” (apo) which means beside or to bypass.  This is one verse alone is sufficient in helping me to understand that the pre-tribulation rapture theory is wrong.  It says that there will be a rapture before the seven years and every Christian will escape this trouble.  But what I have come to believe through my translation work and studies is that there are only three possibilities for Christians:  Christians will either be martyred for their faith, fall away or take refuge during the serious hour of trial that will come upon the whole earth.

We need to become the Philadelphia church

It seems as though there is only one church, the brotherly love church, who will take refuge at the time of God’s indignation.  And really what we need to become is a church that is willing to take refuge when the time comes.  We need to become the Philadelphia church!  We will need to become like refugees fleeing a war if we are willing to flee when the time comes.  If we do so, then the reward and the promise that Jesus makes is fantastic.

Holding fast to the end

Not only will we be protected for 1290 days in the wilderness in southern Jordan, Rev. 3:12 says that “overcomers” will be made pillars in the temple.  Interestingly if you go to the modern city of Philadelphia in Turkey today (Alashehir) the only thing remaining of the early church of St. Jeans are the pillars as in the picture above.  The city of God is the Christian’s final hope and we will have three names on us: God, Jerusalem, and Jesus’ new name.  There is no greater joy than being inscribed with God’s names and being His.  In contrast, those who remain and are not martyred will be inscribed with the name of the beast or his number.⁴  But we know that we have God’s mark if we are conquerors.  And that is the big “if.”  It is conditional on us holding fast our faith, sticking to the end, and following counter-intuitive instructions to flee and not stay in our homes that we are so used to.  It will mean getting out of our comfort zones.  It is so easy to start out well and have good intentions just like the disciples did when they were with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He asked them to watch and pray but they soon fell asleep.  And there will be no greater challenge for the church than the time of trouble at the end, the last seven years.

Most churches are going to fail

What do these seven letters to seven churches tell me?  They show me that most churches are going to fail when the crunch comes.  There is only one church that is delivered at this time and they are not raptured beforehand.  They will make their way across borders, sea, and land, across mountains, valleys, and deserts.  But just as God miraculously helped Israel to escape Pharaoh, so will He help those who are willing to obey.  We will be like refugees escaping war.  It sounds hard and almost impossible but the alternative will be turmoil and chaos.  But just as it says, God holds the keys and He will open and shut doors enabling us to make our way.⁵  We only have to be willing.  He will place before us open doors ⁶ to get to where we need to and He knows that we have little strength.  We just need to be overcomers and know that refuge will be available.  That is a promise!