Do the seven churches of Revelation represent ages of church history?
Scripture presents the seven churches of Revelation as real, literal congregations in Asia Minor, not as symbols for seven successive ages of church history.
The seven churches named in Revelation, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, were literal, fully operating congregations with real pastors and members living in Asia Minor at the time John received this vision. Jesus Himself gave the interpretation of the symbols involved: the seven golden candlesticks are the seven churches, and the seven stars are the angels, meaning the pastors or overseers, of those churches (Revelation 1:20). These were not future or symbolic realities but present realities, described as the things which are, in contrast with the things which shall be hereafter that begin unfolding from Revelation 4 onward.
A common teaching claims that each church represents a distinct dispensation or age that the Body of Christ would pass through over time. This is described as an improper and unfounded stretch of Scripture. The spiritual conditions, whether commendable or corrective, that Jesus addressed in each of these churches are not tied to a particular era. They are simply spiritual conditions and character traits that can be found in the Church during any generation, not a chronological map of church history.
There is also a view that while these churches were literal and their conditions historically real, the message carried a two-fold nature: it was both a biographical account of those congregations at that time and a prophetic word describing the futuristic condition of the body of Christ, understood as reflecting the present-day disposition of the Church. Even with this added dimension, the underlying churches themselves remain literal congregations rather than symbolic markers of separate time periods.
So when asked directly whether the seven churches represent successive ages of church history, the answer given is no. They are literal churches, and the conditions found within them, whether faithfulness, compromise, coldness or purity, are patterns that can appear in the Church in any age, not a fixed timeline of dispensations.
The scriptures
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
From the books
This answer is drawn from these passages in the Mary Banks Faith Library.