The Church and Her Walls: Parallels for the Modern Church from the Book of Revelation

By Rev. Daniel A Kolke

The mission of the Church is to propagate the name of Jesus as mankind's only hope of salvation. But somehow, the Western Church has lost sight of this mission. Unless it can regain it, the Western Church faces certain death. In this penetrating study, Dr. Daniel Kolke reveals the forces that have diverted the Church from its mission. He writes: "The basic difficulty with Western churches is that they are hemmed in by all sorts of walls. These walls stem from the Churches in Asia of the first century A.D. The Book of Revelation makes mention of seven Churches that had enclosed themselves with seven different walls. It is the purpose of our study to identify these barriers that hindered the mission of the Churches then and today." The comparison proves to be startling. Today's Churches, like their predecessors, have been culturalized, politicized, nationalized, and secularized. As a result, the Western Church is dying. Dr. Kolke issues an appeal for a new revival in the Western Church to win over the individual to Christ. Without such a revival, he predicts that the Western Church will die in order to give birth to a new Church elsewhere. Readers will find The Church and Her Walls to be a timely and relevant book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 1, 2025
• ISBN: 9781300718536

Book preview

Abbreviations

AV      American Version of the Bible

IB      The Interpreter's Bible

IDB      The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible

ISBE      The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

IQH      Psalms of Qumran

IQM      War Scroll of Qumran

IQS      Manual of Discipline of Qumran

IQpH      Habakkuk Commentary of Qumran

LXX      The Greek Version of the Old Testament (Septuagint)

NEB      The New English Bible

RSV      Revised Standard Version of the Bible

TWNT      Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament

TDNT      Theological Dictionary of the New Testament

Introduction

The Church is a bridge between the spiritual and the natural, or between God and man. Her authority comes from Jesus the Christ. And her mission is to propagate the name of Jesus as man's only hope in the world. In order for her to remain true to her mission, the Church must abstain from becoming culturalized, nationalized, or even secularized. Unfortunately, the Church has not been immune to these forces.

In the past, the Church has been absorbed and edged out of existence. For instance, the Church began in Asia, moved to Africa, Europe, and last of all to America. While she moved westward, she was edged out in Asia and Africa. Then she became a nationalistic religion under Rome and later under the Franks, the Spaniards, the Austrians, the Germans, and the British. Whenever the Church became fully identified with a particular culture or nation, new movements sprung up and moved to other parts of the world. This is how the Christian faith came to America, the last frontier.

In America, the Church had the good fortune of growing under religious liberty. As a result, no single denomination has thus far become a nationalistic religion. But this has not kept the Churches as a whole immune from the culturalization and secularization process. In fact, the western culture which prospered immensely has emptied the Churches of their original content and practically replaced it with a modern western materialistic and capitalistic religion. And it is this religion that has taken hold, not just of America, but throughout most of the world.

Jesus himself no longer fits into the type of prosperous religion. As Fyodor Dostoevsky so aptly portrays, he has become a prisoner of his own Church, and has been forbidden to interfere with western customs and traditions.² If his influence is to be felt again, he must go outside our Western Church-world and find a home, perhaps in Africa or China from where the Jesus religion can again move westward.

The basic difficulty with Western Churches is that they are hemmed in by all sorts of walls. These walls stem from the Churches in Asia of the first century A.D. The Book of Revelation makes mention of seven Churches that had enclosed themselves with seven different walls. It is the purpose of our study to identify these barriers that hindered the mission of the Churches then and today. Our objective is to rediscover the mission of the Church as a whole.

The Church and Her Walls

Part I - The Loss of Missions

The Church in Ephesus was involved in building a wall of theology; as a result, she lost her mission. All her time was spent in defending the name of Jesus and her own morality. Outside her walls, there was dead silence as far as the gospel was concerned. In our study, we shall note how theologizing can cause a Church to become stagnant, secluded, and walled in. To us, Ephesus is a prototype of a theology centered Church that has lost her mission.

The Text

To the minister of the Church in Ephesus write: This says the one who holds the seven ministers in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven precious Churches. I know your efforts and your struggle, and your endurance, and that you are able to withstand evil, and detect those who are self-made apostles through their falsehood. Your ability to outlast and your persistent defence of my name has not left you weak—but I have against you that you have given up on your primary mission. Remember, therefore, what you have lost and return to your first obligation. If you do not, I will come to you and will remove your Church from where it is now, that is, if you have no change of heart. But this you have in your favor, that you vigorously dislike the works of the immoralists, which I also reject. He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches! And he who will regain the lost mission, to him I will grant the privilege of fellowship and to live forever in the presence of God. (Revelation 2:1-7)³

Ephesus

Ephesus, situated at the mouth of the Cayster River and at the crossroads of Asia, had a glory all its own.⁴ It was renowned for its commerce (Revelation 18:12-13) and wealth. We can somewhat compare Ephesus with many of our major cities of today. The city attracted merchants and pleasure-hunters from all over the world. Somehow all roads seemed to lead to Ephesus.

The city of Ephesus prided herself as a free metropolis ruled by a democratically elected body (Acts 19:1-41). Even Rome granted the city assize⁵ privileges and had its governor spend considerable time within its gates. Here some of the most important cases were tried. In addition, the city held the Panionian Games. Athletes from all over assembled during the month of May to match their skills.

Perhaps the highlight of Ephesus, to which every traveler was drawn, was the Temple of Diana. In itself the edifice was one of the seven wonders of the world and a great tourist attraction. Its fame was such that Alexander the Great failed to obtain the privilege of engraving his name on one of its pillars. Within the temple there was a great black image of a many-breasted woman representing the goddess of fertility. In the innermost shrine behind the image there was a carved idol of Diana herself. Here, only the priestesses had access. No male dared to enter her holiness in order not to fall under her vicious sexual spell.

The Temple of Diana had a functional value. Its boundaries were off limits to the government and Mafia of its day. There was a superstition about Diana's magical influence. Her tokens and charms were sold and worn for good luck and protection. Many of the rich entrusted their wealth and precious possessions for safekeeping to Diana. The goddess had become a chaperone of the superstitious and rich, and the temple, a Wall Street in its time.

In addition to guarding the wealth of the rich, the temple had a lucrative business of prostitution. Thousands of female priestesses entertained all kinds of delinquent and hedonistic males who had found asylum in the temple. The vice and immorality were such that Heraclitus, the Ephesian philosopher, had nothing good to say about his own city. His constant tears over the deplorable morality of his society earned him the title the weeping prophet. As a whole, the Ephesians even regarded themselves proudly as temple sweepers of Diana. After all, Diana was the pulse of life in their city. And anyone who sought to disrupt the Ephesian way of life was not only regarded as an intrusion but also as a threat. Christianity, in particular, was a deadly enemy to the religion of Ephesus.

In all likelihood, it was to this city that Paul the apostle had come on his return from his second missionary journey (Acts 18:18-21). It was also here where Priscilla and Aquila made their home after they had been exiled from Rome. And it was here, where the eloquent defender of the Christian way of life, Apollos, met the Jewish couple and received further instruction concerning the baptism of Jesus (Acts 18:24-28). When Paul returned to Ephesus, he urged that the followers of Apollos be rebaptized in the name of Jesus. The Gentile apostle spent two years at Ephesus and built up a substantial congregation (Acts 19:1-20).

His success provided a threat to the silversmiths, merchants, and profiteers of temple business. They staged a violent demonstration against the Christians and caused Paul to terminate his ministry (Acts 19:23-20:1). However, he left behind a Church fully grounded in the faith. The letter addressed to the Ephesians reveals an enlightened audience of readers which may well have lived in a city like Ephesus where many of the distinguished and educated citizens had become exposed to the gospel.

After Paul some thirty to forty years elapsed. During this period the Church experienced some drastic changes. The constant infiltration of immorality and false apostles who denied the name of Jesus led the Christians to abandon their missionary outreach or first love. Instead they began to concentrate on themselves and to erect a theological wall. Even though the intentions were good, the results proved negative; for the wall was excluding the world from entering the Church, and Christ from entering the world.

At the turn of the first century A.D., a prophet by the name of John, imprisoned on the island of Patmos, recognized the rising of numerous walls around different Christian groups and began to tear them down. It was his purpose to level all walls and have the Churches rediscover their true gospel mission. No doubt his task was enormous.

First, the enemies of Christianity prohibited him from talking plainly. To avoid complications, John resorted to apocalyptic imagery. Thus he speaks of seven stars or angels (the ministers of the Churches) and seven lampstands (the seven Churches).⁶

Second, John intended to restore the image of Christ in the different Churches. As we shall note throughout our study, it was an image intended to break down the different walls which the Churches had built. And each congregation required a particular view of Jesus Christ—the Christ who again demanded to be released to the world.

And third, John was anxious to have the Churches of Revelation return to a dynamic course of missions. It was a course by no means easy. For some it required that they break loose from the idea that they were safely clustered in their Savior's hand (Revelation 1:20). No matter how secure a Church might have felt, her mission was, nevertheless, outside her walls. And for others it meant that they had to protect the Christian message, as well as the bearers of the message, from becoming paganized or secularized. Those Churches that followed the second course of action found themselves building walls rather than reaching out.  The first Church in our study, namely Ephesus, had built such a wall. It is a wall that Christ himself could remove. Hence, we begin our study with the image of Christ in the Church of Ephesus.

Christ and the Church

If the image of Christ in Revelation means anything, then it teaches Christ's presence among his Churches. We read:

To the minister of the Church in Ephesus write: This says the one who holds the seven ministers in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven precious Churches. (Revelation 2:1)

To begin with, the Church in Ephesus is included among the seven lampstands in gold. The word seven represents a sense of wholeness or completeness.⁷ Here Ephesus, along with the other Churches, is part of God's people. All the Churches have equal claim on the divine guardian. There is no wall between them as far as Christ is concerned. All the different groups in Christendom belong to his fold. And if anyone removes part of his body, then the universal Church not only suffers but also weakens her mission. One way of disrupting the wholeness of the Church is by building a wall of theology. Ephesus erected such a wall and became a seclusionist society. Throughout the history of the Church, she had been fragmented by such walls. In our day of ecumenicity, we are still violating the completeness of Christ by our walls of theology.

In addition, the purpose of the Church is that of a lit up lamp.⁸ Literally, the word means a lampstand or a lamp and it is symbolic of the Christian message. In essence, it holds up the light which lightens the world with the good news. The Ephesian Church was intended to be such a light in a dark world. Christians too are reminded that they are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). By letting their lights shine, the Father in heaven will be glorified (Matthew 5:16). The parable of the ten virgins vividly portrays the quality and necessity of burning lamps (Matthew 25:1-13). An extinguished lamp has no functional value. It does not provide the light for those who seek to meet Christ in a bustling and confused city such as Ephesus or one of our modern⁹ metropolises. And as one reads the letters to the seven Churches, one cannot help but sense the lights on each lampstand grow dimmer. The one in Ephesus, which was to give love to the world, had completely died. Therefore the second indictment is against the Church. She must repent before she ceases to exist as a Church. The loss of love meant the loss of life or existence. To state the matter differently, the neglect of love outweighs all the other objectives which a Church may have. The Ephesian Church was called upon, in the midst of animosity and persecution, to project the message of love into the world. Her failure to do so threatened her very existence.

Lastly, the Church is not a worthless religious organization. In the eyes of her Master, she is precious. That is, the Lord compared her with the most precious metal the world had at its disposal, namely gold. The Church is a priceless possession in the Book of Revelation. It was for her that the Lamb of God had shed his blood (Revelation 5:9-10; 7:13-14).

The writer of the Apocalypse has a deep reverence for the different Churches. In fact, he regarded himself as unworthy even to communicate his Lord's message to them (Revelation 1:17). And it is for this reason that the one who walks among the Churches guards and watches them. He has entrusted the mission of the Churches to messengers, but not their safekeeping. The word among literally means in their midst or within them. To this we must add the words who walks. In the Old Testament we have the concept of God walking among his people.

The connotation there is that he tabernacled or lived in their midst. In the minds of the Hebrew nomads, God had pitched his tent; namely the tent which contained the Ark of the Covenant, in their midst. A similar imagery is found in the kingdom idea of the New Testament. There too Jesus announced the kingdom as being in the midst of men (Luke 17:21). That is to say, the divine will of God was being manifested in the words and deeds of Jesus. In Revelation 2:1, the phrase who walks is definitely a reference to Jesus the Lord of the Church. Here he pitched his tent within the walls of the Church in Ephesus. Thus, the first image of Christ is that of a traveler who has made his camp among his people. He has become one of them. Christ's presence is further demonstrated by the role he plays within the walls of the Church. He is depicted as the one who holds the ministers in his right hand. Once more, all seven ministers are meant. In their official capacity, they are stars or witnesses.¹⁰ He holds them securely in his right hand.¹¹ The phrase to hold is indicative of the Master's sway over his disciples. Implied is the idea that a minister does not run his congregation according to his whim but according to the teaching of his Lord.

To hold also means a force or a power.¹² This agrees with the right hand of the Master which is all powerful. The word right in the Greek is used without the word hand, which is nevertheless implied. With regard to Christ, it stands for Jesus' elevation to a partnership with God. The minister however, is not Jesus' partner, but rather his tool. That is, he is in his Lord's hand for protection as well as for missionary use. Thus there is no need for