The Church by C. S. Longacre

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 4, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 30.

The Church

By C. S. Longacre

V. The True Church in Prophecy

By C. S. Longacre

GOD who knows the end from the beginning, and who declares “from ancient times the things that are not yet done;” He who has minutely delineated the history of the nations of the world, has also outlined and unveiled the future history and experiences of the true church from the days of her birth to her final triumph. All this He has done for their edification and comfort.

Christ predicted much trouble and tribulation for His true followers. They were to be as sheep among wolves. The world was to hate them; but sadder still, their brethren were to apostatize and link arms with heathen Rome, and turn and persecute the faithful in the name of the Christian religion. A great schism was predicted—a great falling away—and this apostate church was to persecute the true church as Jezebel persecuted the true worshipers in the days of Elijah. Yea, all this was to be done in the name of Christ, as He Himself prophesied—“The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” John 16:2.

Papal Supremacy

In outlining the history of His true church, He said that they were to pass through “great tribulation,” such “as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” Matt. 24:21, 22. How many would have been the days of their persecution if those specified days had not been shortened? The answer is found in the book of Revelation. “And the woman [the church] fled into the wilderness

where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” Rev. 12:6. This period was the exact number of years that antichrist was to reign supreme “over all kindreds and tongues, and nations” before he was to be “led into captivity.” He it was that was “to make war with the saints, and to overcome them” for “forty and two months,” or literally twelve hundred and sixty years. Rev. 13:5-10. The great Reformation of the Middle Ages shortened the Papacy’s reign of persecution of the chosen of God—“the elect.” The Papacy reigned supreme as the corrector of all heretics from the establishment of Justinian’s decree in 538 A.D. to the dethronement of the Roman hierarchy by the French Directory and French army under General Berthier in 1798, when the Papacy lost its temporal power. This deadly wound was to be healed, and the true church, “the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” were to experience another mighty conflict, just before the end of all earthly scenes, with the combined powers of apostasy and the “kings of the earth and their armies.”

During the reign of the Papacy in the days of “the great persecution” there were martyred myriads of the saints of God, as faithful citizens as the Roman Empire ever possessed, and for what? And they “were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God.” Rev. 20:4. The true church never persecutes. But the Roman church was the greatest persecutor that ever domineered over the consciences of men.

The future history of the church, both true and false

was clearly set forth in the message of Christ in the book of Revelation “unto the churches,” in his seven epistles to “the seven churches,” or seven epochs of church transition. The true church is divided into seven distinct epochs and phases of history, covering the whole Christian dispensation. The false church is mentioned in this connection several times incidentally, as will appear in a later article. The following outline clearly presents these important periods, establishes the dates and characteristics of these specific church periods. The dates are all A.D., but generally only approximate.

The Seven Church Epochs

Begins	Ends
31, Ephesus (purity or desirable) to	...100
100, Smyrna (sweet-smelling offering) to	323
323, Pergamos (perched on a pinnacle) to	538
538, Thyatira (sacrificed for contrition) to	...1529
1529, Sardis (that which remains) to	..1798
1798, Philadelphia (brotherly love) to	..1844
1844, Laodicea (judging of the people) to the end.

The First Church

The faith that was delivered to the saints by the Lord of heaven was a pure faith. The believers dwelt in union and harmony—a desirable state. As long as the apostles lived, down to the close of the first century, they contended for purity of doctrine and life.

Persecution by Rome

The second church suffered great persecution from the hands of the heathen world, and about 5,000,000 martyrs presented their lives a “sweet-smelling offering” unto the Lord. When Constantine was nominally converted to the Christian faith, the Christian church changed its headquarters from Jerusalem to Rome, and Constantine offered his throne of universal empire to the chief bishop of the waning church, just as Satan had offered it unsuccessfully to the real Head of the church just three centuries before. This time, however, the scheme carried, for the pope accepted the terms of the throne. “The dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Thus the church was seated “where Satan’s seat is,” and was clothed with authority to correct all heretics, and bring them into harmony with the established church. From thence, the true church had to flee “into the wilderness.”

Persecution by the Papacy

Two women (churches) are now seen, one on the throne, “where Satan’s seat is,” and the other “woman fled into the wilderness” for “a thousand two hundred and three-score” years. The one is a pure virgin, clothed with the glory of the sun and crowned with twelve stars; but the other is likened unto the wicked “Jezebel,” who seduced God’s people, and is called “a harlot” and “mother of harlots,” “having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication,” “and I saw the woman drunken with the blood of saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” The pure woman is represented as fleeing into the wilderness to escape the unrelenting persecution of the threatening “Jezebel,”

who sits upon the seven-headed monster of the great apostasy power. Fifty million souls, according to reliable statistics, were “sacrificed for contrition,” for being a contrite people, as the name “Thyatira” signifies, during the reign of papal supremacy.

The Papacy reigned unmolested, and subjugated every opposing element with a tyrant’s hand until A.D. 1529, when Protestantism prevailed at the Diet of Spires through the protest of the princes of Germany. Thus the days of persecution were shortened, according to the Saviour’s prediction, and the elect were saved from utter destruction. Matt. 24:21, 22. The faithful who survived this exterminating process, whom God had preserved in the wilderness, but who were now given a new power and liberty, were called the Church of Sardis, signifying “that which remains.”

The Advent Movement

After the former church lost its spiritual power, the church of “brotherly love” was developed and called out by the great advent movement which culminated in A.D. 1844. After 1844, at the termination of the 2,300-year prophecy, the heavenly sanctuary was to be cleansed, the work of “judging the people” was to begin, as the word “Laodicea” signifies. Thus we are now living in the great antitypical day of atonement, or the investigation of the books before the heavenly tribunal when our sins will “be blotted out” or retained. The message to Laodicea describes the true condition of the last and true church before her “reproach” is taken away and she comes forth “a glorious church.” May this church accept the Lord’s counsel to her and triumph as an accepted bride with her glorious Lord.