The Revelation of Saint John

The book of Revelation was written to seven churches that existed in the mid to late 1st century AD. This sounds obvious to anyone who has been a student of the book or even just read it casually but it is a central point to the book. Each of the churches have listed attributes in the book; some good, mostly bad attributes.

What Does Smith Do With These Churches?
Like most allegorizers of the Book of Revelation, Chuck Smith has a fanciful way of understanding the churches. This way of understanding them is outside of the historical context of the letters. For instance, in his article Answers for Today, Smith writes about two of the churches:

The unrepentant church of Thyatira. which had gone into spiritual "fornication" (idolatry and saint-worship), was to be cast into the Great Tribulation unless, the Lord said, she repented. 2. To the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:10 Jesus said, "Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation which is coming to try them who dwell upon the earth."

Smith writes these things to support his belief in the pre-tribulational rapture but they prove way too much for Smith's position. What they prove is that the first century saw events which will never be repeated in human history with the destruction of the Jewish people in 67-70 AD and their being carried off into the nations. What these texts don't prove is some future tribulation period.

Why Do These Churches Matters?
Smith, and other teachers like him, have to allegorize or spiritualize the seven churches out of their historical context. Otherwise they can't read these passages as referring to a future tribulation period. You see, these churches no longer exist in their forms they once did, although according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there is still a church in the city. Thyatira, for instance, is the modern Islamic city of Akhisar.

The situation was purely a mid to late first century AD situation. WHen the passage talks about "great tribulation", Smith re-reads that as "the great tribulation". Since for Smith the great tribulation is future, then the churches have to be allegorized. They are no longer actual churches. Some take them to be various churches today and others see them as ages of the church. Smith credits his own church as being Philadelphia and of course other churches are the apostate churches listed at the beginning.

What justifies this reading of the text?
Certainly people like Smith can read the Bible any way that they wish. It's a free country after all. But should they be teaching it this way? Of course they should not.