The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

However, it would seem that we may not be positive in fixing an exact date when the
periods represented by these messages begin and end; and this is especially true of the
last, the Laodicean period. The fact as to when the period is reached, is made known to
watchful Christians only; and this by the fulfillment of the events predicted. Exact dates of
the ending of chronological periods may not be known so positively. This seems to have
been the thought of the writer just quoted:
"We may not read the time features with the same absolute certainty as doctrinal features;
for time is not so definitely stated in the Scriptures as are the basic doctrines. We are still
walking by faith and not by sight. . . . If in the Lord's providence the time should come
twenty-five years later, then that would be our will."
The view here set forth is the one this writer expressed regarding the different epochs
referred to in these messages, as we read:
"We are not to think of the different epochs represented in the messages to the various
Churches as being exact periods, as though there was a particular instant of beginning and
a particular instant of closing. Rather we are to understand each to be a general period,
which laps over the one on the other."
Two facts seem to stand out prominently in the teaching of the two above quoted
expositors--one with reference to the Philadelphian period, and the other concerning the
Laodicean. The first is that at some time when the Laodicean conditions would be
prevailing, the Second Advent would take place; and there is implied the fact that when
this event had occurred, it would be known only to a comparatively few. The second is
that Laodicea seems to represent or picture what we see all around us--the failure and
apostasy of Protestant Christianity--the same condition that the reformers in Sardis saw,
just previous to the sixteenth century in Roman Catholic Christianity. In other words,
Laodicea seems to depict the complete failure of Christendom a second time; the first time
being that of Romish Christianity just before the Reformation and necessitating what
might be called a new beginning. It is an indisputable fact that Protestantism sprang out of
the bosom of Romanism, as Philadelphia conditions out of the bosom of Protestantism.
Other visions of the Revelation that apply to the close of this latter period, which will be
considered later on, depict a great, a general falling of stars (teachers) from heavenly to
earthly things, and the shaking of the powers of the heavens, the ecclesiastical systems.
Laodicea and its messenger seem to represent the culmination of this--that is, both the
clergy class (stars) and laity class, (lampstands, churches), fallen from grace, judged, and
found wanting. While there were some few notable exceptions in both these classes, and
still are even at the present time, this, however, seems to be the general picture presented
and described in the Laodicean message.
In our consideration of the preceding messages it has been our thought, as will have been
noted, that these stars or messengers apply to a ministering class of teachers, rather than to
seven particular individuals; and that the words of commendation, as well as the rebukes
and reproofs, are as applicable to the stars as to the Churches themselves. Accepting, after