Food for thought
——
Every single church in Revelation is a church, with believers in it. That’s what makes it a church. Buildings do not a church make. The false dispensationalist idea that Laodicia has no believers is just that … utterly false. Jesus himself declares it a lampstand (church), says he holds its star/angel/pastor in His hand and walks among it like He does the others.
No, the church isn’t perfect. But it’s a Church. The man-made myth of 2,000+ years of church history in chapters 1-3 from the “literal” camp, complete with names and dates, does not exist in the inspired text, anywhere. (just like nuclear war, helicopters, tanks, etc. don’t exist in Ezekiel’s Gog/Magog war … speaking of literal things. It’s horses, bucklers, shields, swords, and arrows.) It’s as mythical as the idea that the whole church is seen in heaven in chapters 4 & 5, where we see only 24 elders in massive contrast to the obvious congregation of believers later on in the book. And yes, Jesus mentions His coming to first churches like He does the last, quite blatantly to #1 and #3. These are not “ages.” These are 7 churches, just like the text says.