The History of the Local Churches

2. The Churches in Asia

Among the final first-century local churches to be raised up were those in Asia Minor. In his epistles to the seven churches in Asia in the book of Revelation, John addresses the condition of each of these local churches before God. Witness Lee observes that all of these were local churches, each in its respective city:

In [Revelation] 1:11 the voice said to John, “What you see write in a book and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” This verse is composed in a very important way. Here we see that the sending of this book “to the seven churches” equals sending it to the seven cities. This shows clearly that the practice of the church life was that of one church for one city, one city with one church. In no city was there more than one church.

(Witness Lee, Genuine Ground, 128)

Revelation 1:4 says, “John to the seven churches which are in Asia.” Asia was a province of the ancient Roman Empire in which were the seven cities mentioned in 1:11. The seven churches were in those seven cities respectively, not all in one city. Revelation does not deal with the universal church, but with the local churches in various cities. We have seen that the church is firstly revealed as universal in Matthew 16:18 and then as local in Matthew 18:17. In Acts the church was practiced in the way of local churches, such as the church at Jerusalem (8:1) and the church at Antioch (13:1) and the churches in the provinces of Syria and Cilicia (15:41).

(Witness Lee, Genuine Ground, 127)

Revelation speaks of the seven lampstands which represent the seven churches. There is not one lamp with seven branches, but seven lampstands. The local churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea were no bigger than their respective localities. A local church cannot be subdivided into smaller units, nor can it be united to form bigger units. There were seven churches on the earth, and there were seven lampstands in heaven. In other words the number of local churches on the earth was represented by an equal number in heaven.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 43, 574)

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Two Aspects of the Church

Who is the Church?

Local Churches in the N.T.

Degradation

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