Corporate Repentance - Robert J. Wieland

churches, appropriate to God's people in all
generations. Human nature is the same the world
over and in all generations, so that spiritual
principles apply to all. But the messages to the
seven churches reveal a progression of victorious
overcoming that will enable the last generation
finally to reach a maturity of faith and
understanding. "The harvest of the earth" will at
last be "ripe" (Revelation 14:12-15). Heart
acceptance of truths in all the appeals to "the
angels of the seven churches" will be necessary for
this eventual ripening of the "full corn in the ear …
when the fruit is brought forth" (Mark 4:28, 29).
But for the last-day church to return to Philadelphia
would be to set the clock back to a previous
generation and violate the prophetic symbolism.
The messages to the six churches have prepared
multitudes of believers for death; repentance on the
part of Laodicea prepares a people for translation.
The message to Laodicea parallels the time of
the cleansing of the sanctuary and the work of
Christ in the Most Holy Apartment. The obvious
intent of the Revelation symbolism is to relate
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