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  (POWER FROM ON HIGH) 27. THE SPIRIT
  by A.B. Simpson
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"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches." Rev. 3: 22. The seven letters of the Lord Jesus to the seven
churches of Asia contain the last message of the Holy Ghost to the
Churches of the Christian age. These messages were not addressed to the
Apostolic Church; for all the apostles except John were already in
heaven, and the first two generations of Christians had passed away. In
a very peculiar sense these epistles represent the message of the risen
Savior and the Holy Ghost to the Churches of the last days and our own
times. While they are the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, they are also
represented, in that perfect unity which the Scriptures constantly
recognize between the Spirit and the Son, as the words which the Spirit
saith unto the Churches.

A short circuit through the western part of Asia Minor would take one in
the order of these epistles from Ephesus to Smyrna, and thence to
Pergamos, Thyatira, and the other cities mentioned. It has been supposed
by many thoughtful interpreters, that these Churches represent in
chronological order the successive conditions of Christianity from the
time of John to the end of the age. This is doubtless true to a certain
extent.

Ephesus, strong in its orthodoxy, zeal and Christian work, represented
the Church immediately after the apostolic age. Smyrna, persecuted and
suffering, represented the next epoch of persecution and martyrdom. Then
came the reaction of Pergamos, the prosperous and worldly Church with
its greater perils and temptations representing the period of
Constantine, when Christianity was the established religion of the
State, and the world had ceased to oppose and exchanged her persecuting
frown for the fawning smile of seductive pleasure.

The Church at Thyatira represents the next stage, the rise of spiritual
corruption, and especially of the Romish apostasy. This is naturally
followed by Sardis, a condition of entire spiritual death, which well
represents the darkness and death of the middle ages.

Philadelphia follows, feeble, but true, loyal to Christ\

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/ab-simpson/power-from-on-high-27-the-spirit/
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