Good evening tanakh,
Chapter 1 thru 3 = Church referred to, but not Saints
Chapter 4 onward = Saints referred to, but not the church
This is a God given clue, a deeper understanding of God's word. Throughout the rest of scripture, the word church and saints are used interchangeably. But here in Revelation, there is a distinction made between the two and that to demonstrate that the church is no longer present from chapter 4 onward. The saints that are referred to are those who come out of the great tribulation. It is no coincidence that the Holy Spirit used only the word Church throughout chapters 1 thru 3 and then never uses that word again during the entire narrative. Now if the words church and saints was used interchangeably throughout the entire book of Revelation, then it would be a non issue. But by making a distinction between them, God is giving us pertinent information here.
I beg to differ. This is an interpretation. If God was giving pertinent information he would have given such in plain language understood from the time of John until today. The book is not just about what would happen in the then distant future it was also a pastoral letter to seven real churches that were suffering persecution and tribulation under the rule of Diocletian who was the first Emperor to make Emperor worship compulsory under pain of death torture and exile. Johns exile was a lessor penalty. He was originally sentenced to be boiled in oil but God had other plans for him. Christ gave those churches comfort and exhortation to overcome during the terrible trials that they were experiencing and at the same time gave hope to Christians throughout the ages to follow. The visions John received were meant to apply symbolically to the whole of the Church age not just to the time of the end. Christ states that he was coming soon in a number of places and warned that he would remove lampstands that represented the seven churches and that his reward was with him this applied initially to the seven churches that he was addressing and all churches up until the second coming. Any other interpretation after an absence of over 2000 years makes no sense.