_THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY._
REV. ii., iii.
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write; These things saith He
that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, He that walketh in
the midst of the seven golden candlesticks: I know thy works, and
thy toil and patience, and that thou canst not bear evil men, and
didst try them which call themselves apostles, and they are not, and
didst find them false; and thou hast patience and didst bear for My
name's sake, and hast not grown weary. But I have this against thee,
that thou didst leave thy first love. Remember therefore from whence
thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I come
to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou
repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh, to
him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise
of God. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things
saith the first and the last, which became dead, and lived again: I
know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the
blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and they are not, but are
a synagogue of Satan. Fear not the things which thou art about to
suffer: behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison,
that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be
thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the
churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write; These things saith
He that hath the sharp two-edged sword: I know where thou dwellest,
even where Satan's throne is: and thou holdest fast My name, and
didst not deny My faith, even in the days of Antipas My witness, My
faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I
have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that
hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a
stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things
sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. So hast thou also
some that hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner.
Repent therefore; or else I come to thee quickly, and I will make
war against them with the sword of My mouth. He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that
overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give
him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no
one knoweth but he that receiveth it. And to the angel of the church
in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath His
eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like unto burnished
brass: I know thy works, and thy love and faith and ministry and
patience, and that thy last works are more than the first. But I
have this against thee, that thou sufferest thy wife Jezebel, which
calleth herself a prophetess; and she teacheth and seduceth My
servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to
idols. And I gave her time that she should repent; and she willeth
not to repent of her fornication. Behold, I do cast her into a bed,
and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation,
except they repent of her works. And I will kill her children with
death; and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth
the reins and hearts: and I will give unto each one of you according
to your works. But to you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira,
as many as have not this teaching, which know not the deep things of
Satan, as they say; I cast upon you none other burden. Howbeit that
which ye have, hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and he
that keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give authority
over the nations: and as a shepherd he shall tend them with a
sceptre of iron, as the vessels of the potter are they broken to
shivers; as I also have received of My Father: and I will give him
the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith to the churches. And to the angel of the church in Sardis
write; These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and
the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou
livest, and thou art dead. Be thou watchful, and stablish the things
that remain, which were ready to die: for I have found no works of
thine fulfilled before My God. Remember therefore how thou hast
received and didst hear; and keep it, and repent. If therefore thou
shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know
what hour I will come upon thee. But thou hast a few names in Sardis
which did not defile their garments: and they shall walk with Me in
white; for they are worthy. He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed
in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the
book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and
before His angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the churches. And to the angel of the church in
Philadelphia write; These things saith He that is holy, He that is
true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and none shall
shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth: I know thy works (behold,
I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut), that
thou hast a little power, and didst keep My word, and didst not deny
My name. Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them which say
they are Jews, and they are not, but do lie; behold, I will make
them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have
loved thee. Because thou didst keep the word of My patience, I also
will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come
upon the whole inhabited earth, to try them that dwell upon the
earth. I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one
take thy crown. He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the
temple of My God, and he shall come no more forth: and I will write
upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the
new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and Mine
own new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith to the churches. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea
write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness,
the Beginning of the creation of God: I know thy works, that thou
art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So because
thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of
My mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches,
and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched
one, and miserable and poor and blind and naked: I counsel thee to
buy of Me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and
white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame
of thy nakedness be not made manifest, and eyesalve to anoint thine
eyes, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I reprove and
chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the
door and knock: if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will
come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. He that
overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne, as
I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne. He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches
(ii., iii.).
The fortunes of the Church are to be traced in the Revelation of St.
John; and the first thing necessary therefore is that we shall learn
what the Church is. To accomplish this is the leading aim of the second
and third chapters of the book. An object precisely similar appears to
determine the arrangement of the fourth Gospel. The Introduction or
Prologue of that Gospel is found in chap. i. 1-18; and there can be no
doubt that we meet there, in brief and compendious form, the ideas
afterwards illustrated and enforced by its selection of incidents from
the life of Jesus. After the Prologue follows a section, extending from
chap. i. 19 to chap. ii. 11, in which it is obvious that that struggle
of Jesus with the world, together with His victory over it, which it is
the chief purpose of the Evangelist to relate, has not yet begun. The
question thus arises, What is the aim of that section? and the answer
is, that it is to set forth the Redeemer with whom the Gospel is to be
occupied as He enters upon the field of history. Thus also here. The
first chapter of Revelation is the Introduction or Prologue of the book,
containing the ideas to be afterwards illustrated in the history of the
Church. The struggle of the Church with the world does not yet begin,
nor will it begin until we come to chap. vi. In the meantime we are to
see in chaps. ii. and iii. that Body of Christ the struggle and victory
of which are to engage our thoughts.
These chapters consist of seven epistles addressed to the churches of
the seven cities of Asia named in chap. i. 11, and now written to in
the same order, beginning with Ephesus and ending with Laodicea. Each
epistle contains much that is peculiar to it, but we shall fail to
understand the picture presented by the two chapters as a whole if we
look only at the individual parts. General considerations, therefore,
regarding the seven epistles first demand our notice.
Each epistle, it will be observed, is addressed to the "angel" of the
church named. The object of this commentary, as explained in the
prefatory note, renders an examination of the meaning of the word
"angel" here used a point of subordinate importance. A few remarks,
however, can hardly be avoided. The favourite interpretations of the
term are two: that the "angels of the churches" are either the guardian
angels to whom they were severally committed, or their bishops or chief
pastors. Both interpretations may be unhesitatingly rejected. For as to
the first, there is a total absence of proof that it was either a Jewish
or an early Christian idea that each Christian community had its
guardian angel; and as to the second, if there was, as there seems to
have been, in the synagogues of the Jews, an official known as the
"angel" or "messenger," he occupied an altogether inferior position, and
possessed none of the authoritative control here ascribed to the several
"angels" mentioned. Besides this, both interpretations are set aside by
the single consideration that, keeping in view what has been said of the
number seven in its relation to the number one, the seven angels, like
the seven churches, must be capable of being regarded as a unity. But
this cannot be the case with seven guardian angels, for such a universal
guardianship can be predicated of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Head
of the Church, alone. Nor can seven bishops or chief pastors be
reasonably resolved into one universal bishop or the moderator of one
universal presbytery. The true idea seems to be that the "angels" of the
churches are a symbolical representation in which the _active_, as
distinguished from the passive, life of the Church finds expression. To
St. John every person, every thing, has its angel. God proclaims and
executes His will by angels.[24] He addresses even the Son by an
angel.[25] The Son acts and reveals His truth by an angel.[26] The
waters have an angel.[27] Fire has an angel.[28] The winds have an
angel.[29] The abyss has an angel.[30] On all these occasions the
"angel" is interposed when the persons or things spoken of are
represented as coming out of themselves and as taking their part in
intercourse or in action. In like manner the "angels of the churches"
are the churches themselves, with this mark of distinction only,--that,
when they are thus spoken of, they are viewed not merely as in
possession of inward vigour, but as exercising it towards things
without.
The interpretation now given is confirmed by the fact that the
"angels," as appears from the words of chap. i. 20, "The seven stars
are the angels of the seven churches," are not different from the
"stars," for it is the province of the star, instead of hiding itself
in some secret chamber, to shine, and from its place in the firmament
to shed light upon the earth. The uniformity of treatment, too, which
must be claimed for the number seven when used both with the churches
and the stars, is thus rendered possible; for if the former may
represent the universal Church in what she _is_, the latter will
represent the same Church in what she _does_. Thus, then, in the seven
"golden candlesticks" and in the seven "stars" or "angels" we have a
double picture of the Church; and each of the two figures employed
points to a different aspect of her being. It is possible also that
the double designation may have been chosen in conformity with a rule,
often observed in the Apocalypse, which leads the writer to speak of
the same thing, first under an emblem taken from Judaism, and then
under one from the wider sphere of the great Gentile Church. The
"golden candlestick" burning in the secret of God's Tabernacle gives
the former, the "star" shining in the firmament the latter.
Such then being the case, the seven epistles being addressed to the
seven churches, and not to any individual in each, the following
particulars with regard to them ought to be kept in view:--
1. They are intended to set before us a picture of the universal
Church. At first sight indeed it may seem as if they were only to be
looked at individually and separately. The different churches are
addressed by name. In what is said of each there is nothing out of
keeping with what we may easily suppose to have been its condition at
the time. There is as much reason to believe that each epistle
contains an actual historical picture as there is to believe this in
the case of the epistles of St. Paul to Rome, or Corinth, or Ephesus,
or Philippi. Any other supposition would convey a false idea of the
principles upon which the Apocalypse is framed, would destroy the
reality of the Apostle's writing, and would compel us to think that
his words must have been unintelligible to those for whom, whatever
their further application, they were primarily designed. The question,
however, is not thus exhausted; for it is perfectly possible that both
certain churches and certain particulars in their state may have been
selected rather than others, because they afforded the best typical
representation of the universal Church. Several reasons may satisfy
us that this was actually done.
(1) We have good ground for believing that, besides these seven
churches of Asia, there were other churches in existence in the same
district at the time when the Apostle wrote. One of the early fathers
speaks of churches at Magnesia and Tralles. It is also possible that
there were churches at Coloss?and Hierapolis, although these cities
had suffered from an earthquake shortly after the days of St. Paul.
Yet St. John addressed himself not to seven, but to "the seven
churches which are in Asia," as if there were no more churches in the
province.[31] More, however, there certainly were; and he cannot
therefore have intended to address them all. He makes a selection,
without saying that he does so; and it is a natural supposition that
his selection is designed to represent the universal Church.
(2) Importance must be attached to the number seven. Every reader of
the book of Revelation is familiar with the singular part played by
that number in its structure, and with the fact that (unless chap.
xvii. 9 be an exception) it never means that numeral alone. It is the
number of unity in diversity, of unity in that manifoldness of
operation which alone entitles it to the name of unity. Such
expressions, therefore, as the "seven Spirits of God" or the "seven
eyes of the Lamb," are evidently symbolical. The same idea must be
carried through all the notices of the number, unless there be
something in the context clearly leading to a different conclusion.
Nothing of that kind exists here. Were these two chapters indeed out
of harmony with the rest of the book, or had they little or no
relation to it, it might be urged that they were simply historical,
and that no deeper meaning was to be sought in them than that lying on
the surface. We have already seen, however, that their connexion with
the other chapters is of the closest kind; and we cannot therefore
avoid bringing them under the scope of the same principles of
interpretation as are elsewhere applicable. Their number--seven--must
thus be regarded as typical of unity, and the seven churches as
representative of the one universal Church.
(3) The nature of the call to the hearers of each epistle to give heed
to the words addressed to them leads to the same conclusion. Had each
epistle been designed only for those to whom it was immediately sent,
that call would probably have been addressed to them alone. Instead of
this it is couched in the most general form: _He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches._
(4) The character in which the Saviour speaks to each of the seven
churches is always taken from the vision of the Son of man beheld by St.
John in the first chapter of his book. It is true that in the case of
one or two of the particulars mentioned this is not at once apparent;
but in that of by far the larger number it is so clear that we are
entitled to infer the existence of some secret link of connexion in the
mind of the sacred writer even when it may not be distinctly perceptible
to us. The descriptions, too, of the epistles are no doubt fuller and
more elaborate than those of the vision; but this circumstance is easily
accounted for when we remember that the seven different delineations of
our Lord contained in the second and third chapters are in the first
chapter combined in one. Keeping these considerations in view, the main
point is incontestable that the germ of the epistolary description is
to be found in every case in the preliminary vision.
Thus to the first church--that of Ephesus--Jesus introduces Himself as
_He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, He that walketh in
the midst of the seven golden candlesticks_[32]; and the description
is evidently that of chap. i. 12, 13, 16, where the Seer beheld "seven
golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the candlesticks one like
unto a Son of man; and He had in His right hand seven stars." To the
second--the church of Smyrna--Jesus introduces Himself with the words,
_These things saith the first and the last, which became dead, and
lived again_[33]; and the description is taken from chap. i. 17, 18:
"I am the first and the last, and the Living One; and I became dead,
and behold, I am alive for evermore." To the third--the church of
Pergamum--the introduction is, _These things saith He that hath a
sharp two-edged sword_[34]; and the original of the description is
found in chap. i. 16: _and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp
two-edged sword_. To the fourth--the church of Thyatira--the Saviour
begins, _These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like a
flame of fire, and His feet are like unto burnished brass_[35]; and we
see the source whence the words are drawn when we read in chap. i. 14,
15, "And His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto
burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace." Of the
latter part of the salutation to the fifth church--that of
Sardis--which runs, _These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits
of God, and the seven stars_,[36] it is unnecessary to speak; but the
first part is more difficult to trace. Comparing chap. v. 6 and chap.
iv. 5, we learn that the seven Spirits of God are the possession of
the Redeemer, and that they are symbolized by seven lamps burning
before the throne of God. Turning now to chap. i., we find the Seer
speaking in ver. 4 of "the seven Spirits which are before the throne,"
those very spirits which in chap. v. 6 he tells us that the Redeemer
"hath." This latter thought therefore he is accustomed to associate
with them; and though in chap. i. 4 he does not expressly say that the
seven Spirits there referred to are the possession of Jesus, this view
of them is obviously a part of his general conception of the matter.
In chap. i. 4, therefore, the source of the words addressed to Sardis
is to be found. To the sixth church--that of Philadelphia--it is said,
_These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the
key of David, He that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth,
and none openeth_[37]; and we can have no difficulty in recognising
the germ of the extended description in chap. i. 14, 18, where we are
told that Jesus Christ, in token of His holiness, hath "His head and
His hair white as white wool, white as snow," and that He hath "the
keys of death and of Hades." Lastly, we have the introductory address
to the seventh church--that of Laodicea--_These things saith the Amen,
the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of
God_[38]; and the origin of it is to be seen in chap. i. 5, where we
are told of "Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness, and the
first-born of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth." Each
salutation of the seven epistles is thus part of the description of
the Son of man in the first chapter of the book; and it is a
legitimate inference that the contents of the epistles are, like the
salutations, only portions of one whole.
(5) Many expressions are to be met with in the seven epistles which
find their explanation only in those later chapters of the book where
a reference to the Church universal cannot be denied. The _tree of
life_ of the first epistle meets us again, more fully spoken of, in
the description of the new Jerusalem.[39] The _second death_ mentioned
in the second epistle is not explained till judgment upon the Church's
enemies is complete.[40] The writing upon believers of the _new name_,
promised in the third epistle, is almost unintelligible until we
behold the hundred and forty-four thousand upon Mount Zion.[41] The
_authority over the nations_, and more especially the gift of _the
morning star_, referred to in the fourth epistle, cannot be
comprehended until we are introduced to the vision of the thousand
years and the last utterances of the glorified Redeemer.[42] The
_white garments_ of the fifth epistle can hardly be rightly understood
until we see the white-robed company standing before the throne and
before the Lamb.[43] The mention in the sixth epistle of _the city of
My God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My
God_, remains a mystery until we actually witness her descent.[44]
And, finally, the _sitting in Christ's throne_ of the seventh epistle
is only elucidated by the reign of the thousand years with Him.[45]
(6) It is worthy of notice that the descriptions of our Lord given in
the first and last epistles have a wider application than to the
churches of Ephesus and Laodicea, to which they are immediately
addressed, thus making it evident that, while each of these epistles
has its own place in the series, it is at the same time treated as the
first or last member of a group which is to be regarded as a whole.
To the church of Ephesus the Saviour describes Himself as _He that
holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, He that walketh in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks_[46]; and the description has
no more reference to Ephesus than to any other of the churches named.
In like manner to the church of Laodicea He describes Himself as _the
Amen, the Witness faithful and true, the Beginning of the creation of
God_.[47] The first of these appellations is no doubt derived from
Isa. lxv. 16, where we have twice repeated in the same verse the
formula "God Amen;" and the meaning of the name as applied to Jesus
is, not that all the Divine promises shall be accomplished by Him, but
that He is Himself the fulfilment of every promise made by the
Almighty to His people. The second appellation reminds us of John
xviii. 37, where Jesus replies to Pilate's question in the words, "To
this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world,
that I should bear witness unto the truth." His whole mission is
summed up by Him in the idea of "witnessing." He is the perfect, the
true, the real Witness to eternal truth in its deepest sense, in its
widest and most comprehensive range. The third appellation, again,
cannot be limited to the thought of the mere material creation, as if
equivalent to the statement that by the Word were all things made. It
would thus fail to correspond with the two appellations preceding it,
which undoubtedly apply to the work of redemption, while at the same
time the addition of the words "of God" would be meaningless or
perplexing. Let us add to this that in chap. i. 5, immediately after
Jesus has been called the "faithful Witness," He is described as the
"first-begotten of the dead," and we shall not be able to resist the
conviction that the words before us refer primarily to the new
creation, the Christian Church, that redeemed humanity which has its
true life in Christ. It may not indeed be necessary to exclude the
thought of the material universe; but, in so far as it is alluded to,
it is only as redeemed, in its ideal condition of rest and glory, when
the new Jerusalem has come down out of heaven, and when the Church's
enemies have been cast into the lake of fire.[48] The three
appellations, it will be observed, have thus a general rather than a
special aspect; and the salutation containing them is to be
distinguished from the salutations of the other epistles, all of
which, with the exception of the last, exhibit the closest possible
connexion with the contents of the epistles to which they respectively
belong. It is no mere fancy, therefore, when we say that we have in
this a proof that the first and last epistles are not simply members
of a continuous series, the last of which may leave the first far
behind, but that they are binding terms which gather up all the
members of the series and group them into one.
(7) It ought to be noticed that all the cities to which the seven
epistles are addressed were situated beyond the boundaries of the Holy
Land, and that the Christian Church in each was certainly composed, at
least in large measure, of Gentile converts. These churches cannot
therefore represent the Jewish Church alone, but must embody that wider
idea of the Christian Church which was brought in when the middle wall
of partition between Jews and Gentiles was broken down, and when both
were reconciled in one body by the Cross, becoming one Church in the Son
and in the Father. Were we dealing with the Jewish-Christian Church, we
should unquestionably find it located in Jerusalem or in some of the
cities of Palestine. When we are taken to heathen soil, and to churches
known to have been at least for the most part Gentile, it is a proof
that we have before us that great Gentile Church in the very conception
of which lies the thought of universality.
(8) The view now taken is confirmed by the general nature of the
Apocalypse. That book is symbolical. It begins with a symbolical
representation in the first chapter. Symbolism, by the admission of
all, is resumed in the fourth chapter, and is continued from that
point to the end. Now it is certainly possible that between these two
groups of symbols a passage only strictly historical might be
introduced. But if there be reason on independent grounds to think
that here also we have facts used at least to a certain extent to
serve a higher than a simply historic thought, it cannot fail to be
allowed that the general unity of the book is thus preserved, and that
a completeness is lent to it which we are entitled to expect, but
which would be otherwise wanting.
The seven churches then of chaps. ii. and iii. are thus intended to
represent the one universal Church. The Seer selects such particular
churches of Asia and such special features of their condition as
afford the best illustration of that state of God's kingdom in the
world which is to be the great subject of his prophetic words. He is
to keep in view throughout all his revelation certain aspects of the
Church in herself and in her relation to the world. But these aspects
were not merely in the bosom of the future. Still less are they an
ideal picture drawn from the resources of the writer's own
imagination. To his enlightened eye, looking abroad over that part of
the world in which his lot was cast, they were also present, one in
one church, another in another. St. John therefore groups them
together. They are "the things which are," and they are types of "the
things which shall come to pass hereafter."[49]
The universalism of the Apocalypse is from the first apparent.
2. A second characteristic of the epistles addressed to the seven
churches demands our notice, for these epistles are clearly divisible
into two portions, the first consisting of the first three, the second
of the other four. Every inquirer admits the fact, the proof resting
upon the difference of place assigned in the two portions to the call,
_He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the
churches_. In the first three this call comes in as a central part of
the epistle, immediately before the promise to _him that
overcometh_[50]; in the last four it closes the epistle.[51] There is
a still more interesting difference, though the Authorised English
Version conceals it from view. According to the best attested
readings of the original, the second and third epistles--those to
Smyrna and Pergamum--omit the words, found in all the others, _I know
thy works_. The circumstance is at least remarkable, and it seems to
admit of only one explanation. In the mind of the writer the first
three epistles were so closely associated together--more closely
perhaps than even the seven or the last four--that these words
occurring in the first epistle were thought by him to extend their
influence over the second and third, much in the same way as the
description of the exalted Lord in the same epistle sent its voice
forward, and that in the last epistle its voice backward, through the
rest. At all events, it is impossible not to see that the first three
epistles and likewise the last four, to whatever extent they form
parts of one whole, constitute in each case a special unity. What, we
have now to ask, is the ground of the distinction? In what light is
the Church viewed in each of the two portions spoken of?
There are two aspects of the Church which may be said to pervade the
whole Apocalypse: first, as she is in herself, in her own true nature;
and secondly, as she is engaged in, and affected by, a struggle with
the world. The distinction between the two may be traced in the
grouping of which we speak. The first three epistles lead us to the
thought of the Church in the former, the remaining four to the thought
of her in the latter, aspect. In the first three she is the pure bride
of Christ; in the last four she has yielded to the influences of the
world, and the faithful remnant within her is separated from her
professing but unfaithful members.
The numbers into which the two portions of the seven epistles are
distributed illustrate this. Three is the number of the Divine; four,
as appears from many passages of this book, is the number of the world.
The simple fact that we have a group of three as distinguished from one
of four epistles is sufficient to lead to the impression that, in one
way or another the thought of the Divine is more closely associated with
the former, and the thought of the world with the latter.
This impression is confirmed when we look at the contents of the
epistles. Let us take the first three, and we shall find that in not
one of them is a contrast drawn between the whole Church and any
faithful remnant within her borders, that in not one of them is the
Church represented as yielding to the influences of the world. No
doubt she has evil in her midst; and evil always springs from the
world, not from God. But she is not yet conscious of the sin by which
she is surrounded. She has not yet begun to traffic with the world, to
accommodate herself to it, or to lust after what it bestows. The great
charge against the church in Ephesus is that she has left her first
love.[52] She has passed out of the bright and joyous feelings which
marked the time of her espousals to the heavenly Bridegroom. But from
sin the Church as she actually exists in the world can never be wholly
free; and, so far in particular as the Nicolaitans are concerned, she
shares in Ephesus the feelings of her Lord, and views them with the
hatred which they deserve. No reproach is directed against the church
in Smyrna. She is rather the object of her Lord's perfect confidence;
and He is only preparing trial for her in correspondence with the law
by which He trains His people: "Every branch that beareth fruit, He
cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit."[53] Remarks of a similar
kind apply to the church in Pergamum. There is no charge against the
church there that she is allowing the world to gain dominion over her.
She has certainly persons in her midst who hold the teaching of the
Nicolaitans, but they are few in number; they are no more than
"some,"[54] and she lends them no countenance. On the contrary, though
dwelling in the place where Satan has his throne, she has remained
true to her Lord, and has been purified in the fires of persecution
then raging even unto death. In none of the three cases is the church
perfect, but in none is she really faithless to her trust. She is in
danger; she needs to be perfected by suffering[55]; by suffering she
is perfected: but she knows that he who will be the friend of the
world is the enemy of God, and the enemies of God are her enemies.
When we turn to the second group of the seven epistles, we at once
breathe a different atmosphere; and the contrast is rendered more
striking by the fact that in the first of the four we have the very
sins spoken of which have already twice crossed our path in the
epistles to Ephesus and to Pergamum. According to the best critical
reading of chap. ii. 20, the charge against Thyatira is, "_Thou
sufferest_" (Thou lettest alone; thou toleratest) "_thy wife
Jezebel_." Jezebel was a heathen princess, the first heathen queen who
had been married by a king of the northern kingdom of Israel. She was
therefore peculiarly fitted to represent the influences of the world;
and the charge against Thyatira is thus that, in the persons not of a
few only, but of her united membership, she tolerated the world, with
its heathen thoughts and practices. She knew it to be the world that
it was; but notwithstanding this she was content to be at peace, or
even to ally herself, with it. The church in Sardis is not less
blameable. There are a few names in her that have not defiled their
garments; but the church _as a whole_ has deeply sinned. She has
reproduced the Pharisaic type with which the Gospels have made us
acquainted, substituting the outward for the inward in religion, and
then yielding to the sins of the flesh to which she has thus given the
supremacy. The church in Philadelphia, like that in Smyrna, is not
blamed, and it is well that there should be one church even in the
midst of the world of which this can be said; yet even Philadelphia
has only _a little power_,[56] while the exhortation, _Hold fast that
which thou hast_,[57] appears to indicate that she has been losing
much. Lastly, no one can mistake the willing identification of herself
with the world on the part of the church in Laodicea. She says that
she is _rich_, that she has _gotten riches_, that she has _need of
nothing_.[58] Her members are well-to-do and in easy circumstances,
and they have found so much comfort in their worldly goods that they
have become blind to the fact that man needs something better and
higher for his portion. In all these four churches, in short, we have
an entirely different relation between the Church and the world from
that set before us in the first three. There is not simply danger of
decay within, and the need of trial with the benefit resulting from
it. There is actual conflict with the world; sometimes, it may be, a
victory over it, at other times a yielding to its influences and an
adoption of its spirit. In the first three churches all, or all with
few exceptions, are on the side of Christ; in the last four the
"remnant" alone is true to Him.
Attention to the promises _to him that overcometh_ in the different
epistles seems to confirm what has been said. There is a marked contrast
between the tone of these promises as they are given in the two groups
of epistles; and even where a certain amount of similarity exists, the
promises in the second group will be found to be fuller and richer than
in the first. At Ephesus, at Smyrna, and at Pergamum "he that
overcometh" is rewarded much, as one still in a simple and childlike
state would be. The first promise made to him is that he shall _eat of
the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God_[59]; the second, that
he shall _not be hurt of the second death_[60]; the third, that he shall
_eat of the hidden manna_, and be like the high-priest in the innermost
recesses of the sanctuary.[61] All is quiet. The appeal of Him who
promises is to the gentler susceptibilities of the soul. The privileges
and enjoyments spoken of are adapted to the condition of those who have
not yet experienced the struggle of life.
When we turn to the second group of epistles there is a different
tone. We enter upon rewards conceived in bolder and more manly
figures. The first promise now is, _He that overcometh, and he that
keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the
nations: and as a shepherd he shall tend them with a sceptre of iron;
as the vessels of the potter are they broken to shivers_.[62] This is
the reward of victory after well-fought fields. The warrior thus
crowned must have braved the strife and won with difficulty. The
second promise is not less marked in its character. _He that
overcometh_ shall not simply, as in the case of Smyrna, receive the
reward of not being "hurt of the second death;" he shall be _arrayed
in white garments_, and Jesus will _confess his name before His
Father, and before His angels_.[63] The third promise is at least a
large extension of that given to Pergamum, for of _him that_ now
_overcometh_ it is said, _I will make him a pillar in the temple of My
God, and he shall come no more forth_--that is, shall come no more
forth to a struggle with the world similar to that in which he has
been engaged--_and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the
name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out
of heaven from My God, and Mine own new name_.[64] Finally, the fourth
promise is the noblest of all: _He that overcometh, I will give to him
to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down
with My Father in His throne._[65] All the promises of the second
group of epistles are clearly distinguished in tone and spirit from
those of the first group. They presuppose a fiercer struggle, a hotter
conflict; and they are therefore full of a more glorious reward.
Such seems to be the relation to one another of the two groups into
which the seven epistles naturally divide themselves. In the first
group the Church has stood firm against the world. She is full of toil
and endurance; in her poverty she is rich; and the troubles of the
future she does not fear. She holds fast the name of Christ, and
openly confesses Him. Seeds of evil are indeed within her, which will
too soon develop themselves; but she has the Divine life within her
in as much perfection as can be expected amidst the infirmities of our
present state. She walks with God and hears His voice in her earthly
paradise. In the second group the evil seed sown by the enemy has
sprung up. The Church tolerates the sins that are around her, makes
her league with the world, and yields to its influence. She rallies
indeed at times to her new and higher life, but she finally submits to
the world and is satisfied with its goods. There are many faithful
ones, it is true, in her midst. As in the Jewish Church there was a
"remnant according to the election of grace," so in her there are
those who listen to the Saviour's voice and follow Him. Yet they are
the smaller portion of her members, and they shall eventually come
forth out of her. It is the same sad story which has marked all the
previous dispensations of the Almighty with His people, and which will
continue to be repeated until the Second Coming of the Lord. That
story culminates in this book of the Revelation of St. John, when the
bride, allying herself with the world, becomes a harlot, and when the
Seer hears "another voice out of heaven, saying, Come forth, My
people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that
ye receive not of her plagues."[66]
We have considered the epistles contained in these chapters as a unity
representative of the universal Church in the two main aspects of her
condition in the world; but before leaving them it will be well to
look at them individually, and to mark the peculiar condition of each
Church addressed.
1. The first epistle is that to Ephesus, the central or metropolitan
city of the district to which all the seven churches belonged, and with
which the almost unanimous voice of antiquity associates the later years
of the pastorate of St. John himself. Hence, in part at least, as we
have already seen, the general nature of the salutation with which the
glorified Lord presents Himself to that church. He does not merely hold
its star in His right hand, nor does He merely walk in the midst of it
alone. _He holdeth the seven stars in His right hand. He walketh in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks._ He is present in every part of
His Church on earth. To every part of it He says, "Lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the consummation of the age."[67]
The church at Ephesus is faithful as a whole. _I know_, is the language
of her Lord to her, _thy works, and thy toil and patience, and that thou
canst not bear evil men, and didst try them which call themselves
apostles, and they are not, and didst find them false; and thou hast
patience and didst bear for My name's sake, and hast not grown weary_.
The tribute is a noble one. The church is not only working, but toiling,
in her Master's service; she is firm amidst trial, whether from within
or from without; she views with abhorrence all workers of iniquity; she
tries, only in order to reject, those pretended messengers of Christ who
would have preached another gospel than that the power of which she
knew. Amidst all the speciousness of their claims, she had "found" them
false. Then she turned again to her steadfast endurance until it became
a settled principle in her life, and it could be said to her, with the
strong force of the word in the writings of St. John, that she "had" it.
The spirit of all this, too, had been found in the "name" of Jesus, the
revelation of the love and grace of God given her in Him. Finally, she
had not grown weary. Seven marks of faithfulness appear to be mentioned;
and, if so, the fourth--her judgment of false teachers--occupies the
central position. Nor does it seem fanciful to say this when we notice
that of all the seven points the fourth is the only one returned to, and
that in a more specific form, at a later point in the epistle: _But this
thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also
hate._ In other words, doctrinal faithfulness was the peculiar
distinction of the Ephesian church. She knew that the revelation of God
in Christ must be kept pure, or toil would lose its spring, patience its
encouragement, shrinking from evil men its intensity, and perseverance
its support. Therefore she valued the doctrinal truth which had been
committed to her, and held fast the "form of sound words" which she had
received, for the sake of the life to which it led.
Amidst all this the church at Ephesus was not wholly what she _ought_
to have been. _I have this against thee_, had to be said to her, _that
thou didst leave thy first love_; and she needed words of exhortation
and warning: _Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and
repent, and do the first works; or else I come to thee, and will move
thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent._ The church had
declined from the bright and joyous feelings of her first condition.
Might her very zeal for the purity of Christian doctrine have had
anything to do with this? It is not impossible. Eager defence of truth
against error, notwithstanding its importance, is apt to shift the
centre of the soul's inner life. The strifes of theologians and the
cry "First purity, then peace," translated into "Purity without
peace," have been in every age the scandal and the weakness of the
Church. Well might even David speak of it as one of the most signal
instances of God's goodness to them that fear Him, "Thou shalt keep
them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues;"[68] and
never, alas! have tongues been sharper or more contentious than in the
maintenance of the faith. There is something without which even zeal
for truth may be but a scorching and devouring flame; and that is the
"first love," the love ever fresh and tender for Him who first loved
us, the love which teaches us to win and not to alienate, to raise and
not to crush, those who may only be mistaken in their views, and are
not determined enemies of God.
Possessed of this spirit, we shall _overcome_; and the first love will
meet its first reward. _To him that overcometh_, says the Lord,
recalling the blessedness of Eden, _will I give to eat of the tree of
life, which is in the Paradise of God_.
2. The second epistle is that to Smyrna, a rich, prosperous, and
dissolute city, and largely inhabited by Jews bitterly opposed to
Christ and Christianity. Here therefore persecution of those leading
the pure and holy life of the Gospel might be peculiarly expected, as
indeed it also peculiarly appeared. The church at Smyrna thus becomes
the type of a suffering church, the representative of that condition
of things foretold in the words of Christ, and constantly fulfilled in
the history of His people, "A servant is not greater than his lord. If
they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you."[69]
It will be observed that at Smyrna the church is still faithful, and
that against her no word of reproach is uttered. Hence the aspect under
which the Redeemer presents Himself to that church is purely animating
and consolatory, the same as that which, in the introductory vision in
chap. i., followed the action of the Lord when He laid His right hand
upon the Apostle, who had fallen to the ground as dead, and when He said
to him, "Fear not."[70] So now: _These things saith the first and the
last, which became dead, and lived again._ Death and resurrection are
the two great divisions of the work of Christ on our behalf, and the
Gospel is summed up in them. Just as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
when he would remind them of the substance of his preaching in their
midst, "For I declared unto you first of all that which also I received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that
He was buried, and that He hath been raised on the third day according
to the Scriptures,"[71] in like manner here the same two facts include
all the truth which Smyrna held fast, and with which come the life that
conquers sin and the joy that triumphs over sorrow.
The state of the church is then described: _I know thy tribulation,
and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blasphemy of them which
say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan._
Tribulation, persecution, the blasphemy of men calling themselves the
only people of God and denying to Christians any portion in His
covenant, are alone alluded to, though the church is at the same time
cheered with the remark that if she had no share in worldly wealth
and splendour, she was _rich_. "God had chosen them that were poor as
to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He
promised to them that love Him."[72]
The church then was in the midst of suffering. Was not that enough; and
shall she not be told that her sufferings were drawing to an end, that
the night of weeping was gone by, and that the morning of joy was about
to dawn? So we might think; but God's thoughts are not as our thoughts,
nor His ways as our ways, and we are like children bathing on the shore,
Buried a wave beneath;
The second wave succeeds before
We have had time to breathe.
How often does it happen in the Christian's experience that one burden
is laid upon another, and that one wave succeeds another, till he
seems left desolate and alone upon the earth. Yet even then he has no
assurance that his sufferings are at a close. The consolation afforded
to him is, not that there shall be a short campaign, but only that,
whether long or short, he shall be more than conqueror through Him
that loved him. Thus our Lord does not now say to His church at
Smyrna, Fear none of those things that thou art suffering, but _Fear
not the things which thou art about to suffer: behold, the devil is
about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye
shall have tribulation ten days_. It is hardly necessary to say to any
intelligent reader of the Apocalypse that the "ten days" here spoken
of are neither ten literal days, nor ten years, nor ten successive
persecutions of indefinite length. In conformity with the symbolical
use of numbers in this book, "ten days" expresses no more than a time
which, though troubled, shall be definite and short, a time which may
be otherwise denoted by the language of St. Peter when he says of
believers that "now for _a little while_ they have been put to grief
in manifold temptations."[73] Encompassed by affliction, therefore,
those who are thus tried have only to be _faithful unto death_, or to
the last extremity of martyrdom. He who died and lived again will
bestow upon them _the crown of life_, the crown of the kingdom,
incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. _He that overcometh shall not
be hurt of the second death._
3. The third epistle is that to Pergamum, a city at the time devoted
to the worship of ?culapius, the god of medicine, and in particular
largely engaged with those parts of medical science which are occupied
with inquiries into the springs of life. That the wickedness of the
city was both greater and more widespread than was common even in the
dark days of heathenism is borne witness to by the fact that the first
words addressed to it by Him _that hath the sharp two-edged sword_
were these: _I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne
is._ The word "throne" (not, as in the Authorised Version, "seat") is
intentionally selected by the Seer; and its use affords an
illustration of one of his principles of style, the remembrance of
which is not unfrequently of value in interpreting his book.
Everywhere it is his wont to see over against the good its mocking
counterpart of evil, over against the light a corresponding darkness.
Thus because God occupies a throne Satan does the same; and inasmuch
as in Pergamum sin was marked by a refinement of greater than ordinary
depth, Satan might be said to have his "throne" there. This
circumstance, combined with the promise to the Church contained in the
seventeenth verse, _To him that overcometh, to him will I give of the
hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a
new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it_, may
help us to understand the main thought of this epistle as
distinguished from the others. We have seen reason to believe that
there was some secret mystery of evil in the city; and, contrasted
with this, we have now the promise of a secret mystery of life to the
faithful church. The Church then in the secret of her Divine
preservation is here before us. She lives a life the springs of which
no one sees, a life that is hid with Christ in God.
It will be observed, accordingly, that, whatever may be said against the
condition of the city, nothing is said against the church within it.
There is no hint that she has yielded to the influences of the world.
She has certainly evil-doers in her midst; but these, though in her, are
not of her: and the Christianity of the great majority of her members
remains sound and sweet. Let us listen to the words of commendation:
_And thou holdest fast My name, and didst not deny My faith, even in the
days of Antipas My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you,
where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou
hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to
cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things
sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also some
that hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner. Repent
therefore; or else I come to thee quickly, and I will make war against
them with the sword of My mouth._ Those who are described in these words
as "holding the teaching of Balaam" and those who are here called "the
Nicolaitans" are the same, denoted in the first instance by a
description taken from the history of Balaam in the Old Testament, and
in the second by a word formed in Greek after the fashion of Balaam's
name in Hebrew. That the church in her corporate capacity had not
yielded to the sinfulness referred to is manifest from this, that they
who had done so are described as "some," and that in the threatening of
the sixteenth verse it is not said, I will war against "thee," but I
will war against "them." The sin therefore found in the bosom of the
church was not, as we shall find it to have been at Thyatira, with her
consent. She failed, not because she encouraged it, but because she did
not take more vigorous steps for its extinction. She did not
sufficiently realize the fact that she was a part of the Body of Christ,
and that, if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.
Believers in her community were too easily satisfied with working out
their own salvation, and thought too little of presenting the whole
church "as a pure virgin to Christ."[74] Therefore it was that, even
amidst much faithfulness, they needed to repent, to feel more deeply
than they did that "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,"[75] and
that in the Church of the Lord Jesus we are to a large extent
responsible, not only for our own, but for our neighbours', sins. By
keeping up the Christian tone of the whole Church the tone of each
member of the Church is heightened.
We thus reach the close of the first three epistles "to the churches;"
and we see that, while each is accommodated to the particular
circumstances of the Christian community to which it is sent, the three
taken together present to us the three leading considerations upon
which, when we think of Christ's Church in this world, we naturally
dwell. First, she is in the main true to her Divine Master, even when
compelled to confess that she has left her first love. Secondly, she is
exposed for her further cleansing to many trials. Lastly, she is
sustained by the unseen influences of Divine love and grace. She eats of
the hidden manna. She has within her breastplate a white, glistering
stone, upon which is inscribed the new name which no man knoweth saving
he that receiveth it. She dwells, like the high-priest of old at the
moment of his greatest dignity and honour, in the secret place of the
Most High. She abides under the shadow of the Almighty. As a child she
has entered into the garden of the Lord; and yet, in all the simplicity
of her childhood, she is both king and priest.
Such is the Church of Christ in Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamum. Happy
days of innocence and bliss! We may well linger over them for a
little. Too soon will they pass away, and too soon will the Church's
conflict with the world and her yielding to it begin.
4. With the fourth epistle we enter upon the second group of epistles,
where the Church is brought before us less as she is in herself, than as
she fails to maintain her true position in the world, and as that
separation between a faithful remnant and the whole body which meets us
at every step of her history, throughout both the Old Testament and the
New, begins to show itself. Now therefore there is a change of tone.
The first of the four, the fourth in the series of seven, is that to
Thyatira; and to the church there the Lord presents Himself in all the
penetrating power of those eyes that as a flame of fire search the
inmost recesses of the heart, and in all the resistless might of those
feet that are as "pillars of fire:"[76] _These things saith the Son of
God, who hath His eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like
unto burnished brass._
The commendation of the church follows, what is good being noted
before defects are spoken of: _I know thy works, and thy love and
faith and ministry and patience, and that thy last works are more than
the first._ The commendation is great. There was not only grace, but
growth in grace, not only work, but work in Christ's cause abounding
more and more. Yet there was also failure. To understand this it is
necessary, as already noticed, to adopt the translation of the Revised
Version, founded on the more correct reading of the later critical
editions of the Greek. Even in that version, too, the translation,
given in the margin, of one important expression has to be substituted
for that of the text. Keeping this in view, the Saviour thus addresses
Thyatira: _But I have this against thee, that thou sufferest_ (that
thou toleratest, that thou lettest alone) _thy wife Jezebel, which
calleth herself a prophetess; and she teacheth and seduceth My
servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
And I gave her time that she should repent; and she willeth not to
repent of her fornication. Behold, I do cast her into a bed, and them
that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they
repent of her works. And I will kill her children with death; and all
the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and
hearts: and I will give unto each one of you according to your works._
In these words "Jezebel" is clearly a symbolical name. It is
impossible to think that the "angel" of the church was the chief
pastor, and that the woman named Jezebel, spoken of as she is, was his
wife. We have before us the notorious Jezebel of Old Testament
history. Her story is so familiar to every one that it is unnecessary
to dwell on it; and we need only further call attention to the fact
that the sentence in which her name is mentioned is complete in
itself. The sin of the church at Thyatira was that she "suffered" her.
In other words, the church tolerated in her midst the evil of which
Ahab's wife was so striking a representative. She knew the world to be
what it was; but, instead of making a determined effort to resist it,
she yielded to its influences. She repeated the sin of the Corinthian
Church: "It is actually reported that there is fornication among
you.... And ye are puffed up, and did not rather mourn, that he that
had done this deed might be taken away from among you."[77] The world,
in short, was in the church, and was tolerated there. Of the
threatened punishment, the "bed" of tribulation and sorrow instead of
that of guilty pleasure, nothing need be said. It is of more
consequence to observe the change in the manner of address which meets
us after that punishment has been described: _But to you I say, to the
rest that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this teaching, which
know not the deep things of Satan, as they say; I cast upon you none
other burden. Howbeit that which ye have, hold fast till I come._ For
the first time in these epistles we meet with those who are spoken of
as "the rest," the remnant, who are to be carefully distinguished from
the great body of the Church's professing members. The world has
penetrated into the Church; the Church has become conformed to the
world: and the hour is rapidly approaching when the true disciples of
Jesus will no longer find within her the shelter which she has
hitherto afforded them, and when they will have to "come forth out of
her" in her degenerate condition.[78] It is a striking feature of
these apocalyptic visions, which has been too much missed by
commentators. We shall meet it again and again as we proceed. In the
meantime it is enough to say that the moment of withdrawal has not yet
come. The faithful "rest," who had rejected the false teaching and
shunned the sinful life, are to continue where they were; and the Lord
will _cast upon them none other burden_. Well for them that they had
such a promise! Their burden of suffering was heavy enough already.
Hard to contend with under any circumstances, suffering rises nearer
to the height of the sufferings of Christ when the Christian is
"wounded," not by open foes, but "in the house of his friends." "It
was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it:
neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me;
then I would have hid myself from him: but it was thou, a man mine
equal, my companion, and my familiar friend. We took sweet counsel
together; we walked in the house of God with the throng."[79]
The trial was great; so also is the consolation: _And he that
overcometh, and he that keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I
give authority over the nations: and as a shepherd he shall tend them
with a sceptre of iron, as the vessels of the potter are they broken
to shivers; as I also have received of My Father: and I will give him
the morning star._ It was a heathen element that clouded the sky of
the church at Thyatira. That element, nay _the nations_ out of which
it springs, shall be crushed beneath the iron sceptre of the King who
shall "reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients
gloriously."[80] The clouds shall disappear; and Jesus, "the bright,
the morning star,"[81] having given Himself to His people, He and they
together shall shine with its clear but peaceful light when it appears
in the heavens, the harbinger of day.
5. The fifth epistle is that to Sardis, and in the superscription He
who sends it describes Himself as One _that hath the seven Spirits of
God, and the seven stars_. Both expressions have already met us, the
former in chap. i. 4, the latter in chap. ii. 1. A different word from
that used in the address to Ephesus is indeed used here to indicate
the relation of the Lord to these stars or angels of the churches.
There the glorified Lord "holdeth the seven stars in His right hand;"
here He "hath" them. Like every other change, even of the slightest
kind, in this book, the difference is instructive. To "hold" them is
to hold them fast for their protection; to "have" them is to have them
for a possession, to have them not only outwardly and in name, but
inwardly and in reality, as His own. Thus Christ "hath" the Holy
Spirit, who in all His varied or sevenfold influences is, as He
proceedeth from the Father and the Son, not only God's, but His. Thus
also Christ "hath" the seven stars or churches, here spoken of in
immediate connexion with the Spirit, and therefore viewed chiefly in
that spirituality of feeling and of life which ought to be the great
mark distinguishing them from the world. It was the mark in which
Sardis failed. Let her take heed to Him with whom she has to do.
_I know_, are the words addressed to her, _thy works, that thou hast a
name that thou livest, and thou art dead. Be thou watchful, and stablish
the things that remain, which were ready to die: for I have found no
works of thine fulfilled before My God. Remember therefore how thou hast
received and didst hear; and keep it, and repent. If therefore thou
shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what
hour I will come upon thee._ The world had been tolerated in Thyatira,
the first of the last four churches; in Sardis, the second, it is more
than tolerated. Sardis has substituted the outward for the inward. She
has been proud of her external ordinances, and has thought more of them
than of living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit. True piety has
declined; and, as a natural consequence, sins of the flesh, alluded to
in the immediately following words of the epistle, have asserted their
supremacy. More even than this, Sardis had a _name_ that she lived while
she was dead. She was renowned among men. The world looked, and beheld
with admiration what was to it the splendour of her worship; it
listened, and heard with enthusiasm the music of her praise. And the
church was pleased that it should be so. Not in humility, lowliness, and
deeds of self-sacrificing love did she seek her "name," but in what the
world would have been equally delighted with though the inspiring soul
of it all had been folly or sin. A stronghold had been established by
the world in Sardis.
Yet there also the Good Shepherd had His little flock, and there again
we meet them. _But thou hast a few names in Sardis which did not
defile their garments._ These were to Sardis what "the rest" were to
Thyatira. They were the "gleanings left in Israel, as the shaking of
an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough,
four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree."[82] They
were the "new wine found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it
not; for a blessing is in it."[83] To them therefore great promises
are given: _They shall walk with Me in white; for they are worthy. He
that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in
no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his
name before My Father, and before His angels._ It is the glorified
Lord who, as the High-priest of His Church, "walketh" in the midst of
the golden candlesticks; and, as priests, these shall _walk with_ Him
in a similar glory. Upon earth they were despised, but beyond the
earth they shall be openly acknowledged and vindicated. They shall be
arrayed in those garments of glistering purity which were with
difficulty kept white in the world, but which in the world to come
Divine favour shall keep free from every stain.
6. The sixth epistle is to Philadelphia; and the remarkable circumstance
connected with this church is that, though spoken of as having but "a
little power," it is not seriously blamed. In this respect it resembles
the church at Smyrna in the first group of these seven epistles. What
has mainly to be noticed, however, is that it is not simply, like that
at Smyrna, a suffering church. It has been engaged in an earnest and hot
struggle with the world, as the superscription, the commendation, and
the promises of the epistle combine to testify.
The superscription is, _These things saith He that is holy, He that is
true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and none shall
shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth_. The figure is taken from
the Old Testament; and both there and here the context shows us that
it is neither the key of knowledge, nor the key of discipline, nor the
key of the treasures of the kingdom that is spoken of, but the key of
power to open the Lord's house as a sure refuge from all evil, and to
preserve safe for ever those who are admitted to it. "I will call My
servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah," says the Almighty by His prophet,
"and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy
girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall
be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of
Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder;
and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none
shall open."[84] Whoever be our adversaries, we know that in the
hollow of the Lord's hand we are safe.
The commendation of the epistle tells the same tale: _I know thy works
(behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut),
that thou hast a little power, and didst keep My word, and didst not
deny My name._ The Church had "a little power," and she had shown this
in the struggle.
So also with the promises: _Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan,
of them which say they are Jews, and they are not, but do lie; behold,
I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that
I have loved thee. Because thou didst keep the word of My patience, I
also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come
upon the whole inhabited earth, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy
crown. He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of
My God, and he shall no more come forth: and I will write upon him the
name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem,
which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and Mine own new name._
How fierce the struggle of Philadelphia had been with the world we
learn from these words, in which the enemies of the Church--"Jews"
they call themselves, the people of God, but "they are not"--are
brought before us like vanquished nations at her feet, as she sits in
the heavenly places, paying homage to her against whom they had so
long, but vainly, struggled. It is impossible not to see the
difference between this church and that at Smyrna. No doubt there had
been "blasphemy of them which say they are Jews" in the latter case,
but worse trials were only spoken of as about to come. Here the trials
have come, and the church has risen triumphantly above them. Therefore
will the Lord admit her to His heavenly mansions, and will make her a
pillar in His Father's house, whence she shall come forth no more. He
Himself "went forth" from His Father that He might be the Captain of
our salvation and might die on our behalf. He returned to His Father,
and never again "comes forth" as He came in the days of His flesh.
Having died once, He dieth no more; and they who have borne His cross
shall wear, when victors in His cause, His crown of victory.
7. The seventh epistle is to Laodicea, and here there can be no doubt
that we have the picture of a church in which the power of the world
carries almost all before it. The church is addressed by Him who
describes Himself as _the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the
Beginning of the creation of God_, upon which immediately follows a
charge as to her condition in which there is no redeeming point. Only
later do we see that there is hope. _I know thy works, that thou art
neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So because thou
art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of My
mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and
have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one,
and miserable and poor and blind and naked: I counsel thee to buy of
Me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white
garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy
nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes,
that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be
zealous therefore, and repent._ To interpret the boasting of the
church given in these words as if it referred to spiritual rather than
material riches is entirely to mistake the meaning. Worldly wealth is
in the writer's view. The members of the church generally have aimed
at riches, and have gotten them. Possession of riches has also been
followed by its usual effects. The seen and the temporal have usurped
in their minds the place of the unseen and the eternal. Perhaps they
have even regarded their worldly prosperity as a token of the Divine
favour, and are soothing themselves with the reflection that they
have made the best of both worlds, when they have really sacrificed
everything to one world, and that the lower of the two. The last
picture of the Church is the saddest of all.
Yet is Laodicea not altogether without hope. _Behold_, says He whose
every word is truth, _I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear
My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with
him, and he with Me_. Even in Laodicea there are some who, inasmuch as
they have fought the hardest battle, shall be welcomed to the highest
reward. _He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with Me in
My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His
throne._ Beyond that neither hope nor imagination can rise.
The epistles to the seven churches are over. They present the Church to
us as she appears on the field of history. They set before us the
leading characteristics of her condition partly as she was in "Asia" at
the moment when the Apostle wrote, partly as she shall be throughout all
time and on the widest, as well as the narrowest, scale. These
characteristics may be shortly summed up as--in the first group of
three, love to the Redeemer, yet love liable, and even beginning, to
grow cold; persecution and trials of many kinds; preservation by the
secret grace of God and in the hidden life: in the second group of four,
yielding on the part of the majority to sins associated with unchristian
doctrine; formalism in religion; weakness in the midst of trial, even
though not accompanied by faithlessness; and lukewarmness, springing
from a preference of the things of time to those of eternity. To these
characteristics, however, have to be added, as more or less
accompanying them, many of the active graces of the Christian life:
labour, and patience, and faith, and charity, and works, whatever makes
the Christian Church a light in the world and the object of her Lord's
care and watchfulness. In reading the seven epistles, we behold a lively
picture of the Church of Christ in her graces and in her failings, in
her strength and in her weakness, in her joys and in her sorrows, in her
falls under the influence of temptation and in her returns to the path
of duty. The characteristics thus spoken of are not peculiar to any
particular age, but may mark her at one time less, at another more, at
one time individually, at another in combination. Taken as a whole, they
present her to us in her Divine ideal marred by human blemishes; we are
prepared to acknowledge the necessity, the wisdom, and the mercy of the
trials that await her; and we learn to anticipate with gladness her
final and glorious deliverance.
One brief concluding remark ought to be made. The epistles now
considered ought to be sufficient in themselves to show that the
Apocalypse is not a series of visions intended only to illustrate one
or two ideas which had taken a strong hold of the Apostle's mind, or
one or two great principles of the Divine government in general. St.
John starts from the realities around him as much as any writer of the
New Testament. It is true that he sees in them _eternal_ principles at
work, and that he rises to the thought of ideal good and of ideal
evil; but he is not on that account less true to fact, less impressed
by fact. On the contrary, his very depth of insight into the meaning
of the facts makes him what he is. He who would write a philosophy of
history is not less, but more, dependent upon the facts of history
than he to whom a fact is valuable simply in its individual and
isolated form. It is _the present_ therefore that stirs the writer of
this book, but stirs him the more because he beholds in it principles
and issues connected with Him who was, and is, and is to come, the
covenant-keeping God, the Judge of _men_, the unchangeable I AM.
Hence also the mistake sometimes made of thinking that the purpose of
unfolding the principles of the Divine government could not be a
sufficient motive to St. John to write.[85] Every cruelty to the
saints of God which he witnessed, every cry of oppression which he
heard, supplied a motive. We may not feel these things now, but the
iron of them entered into the soul of the disciple whom Jesus loved.
We need more prophets like him to make it ring in the ears of selfish
wealth and of ease indifferent to the ills festering around it, "For
the spoiling of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I
arise, saith the Lord."[86]
FOOTNOTES:
[24] Chaps. vii. 2; viii. 2; xiv. 6, 8, 9; xv. 1, 6.
[25] Chap. xiv. 15.
[26] Chaps. i. 1; xx. 1; xxii. 6.
[27] Chap. xvi. 5.
[28] Chap. xiv. 18.
[29] Chap. vii. 1.
[30] Chap. ix. 11.
[31] Chap. i. 4.
[32] Chap. ii. 1.
[33] Chap. ii. 8.
[34] Chap. ii. 12.
[35] Chap. ii. 18.
[36] Chap. iii. 1.
[37] Chap. iii. 7.
[38] Chap. iii. 14.
[39] Chaps. ii. 7; xxii. 2, 14.
[40] Chaps. ii. 11; xx. 14.
[41] Chaps. ii. 17; xiv. 1.
[42] Chaps. ii. 26, 28; xx. 4, 5; xxii. 16.
[43] Chaps. iii. 5; vii. 9, 14.
[44] Chaps. iii. 12; xxi. 2, 10.
[45] Chaps. iii. 21; xx. 4. Comp. Trench, _The Seven Epistles_, p. 37.
[46] Chap. ii. 1.
[47] Chap. iii. 14.
[48] Comp. Rom. viii. 21, 22; James i. 18.
[49] Chap. i. 19.
[50] Chap. ii. 7, 11, 17.
[51] Chaps. ii. 29; iii. 6, 13, 22.
[52] Chap. ii. 4.
[53] John xv. 2.
[54] Chap. ii. 14, 15.
[55] Comp. Heb. ii. 10.
[56] Chap. iii. 8.
[57] Chap. iii. 11.
[58] Chap. iii. 17.
[59] Chap. ii. 7.
[60] Chap. ii. 11.
[61] Chap. ii. 17.
[62] Chap. ii. 26, 27.
[63] Chap. iii. 5.
[64] Chap. iii. 12.
[65] Chap. iii. 21.
[66] Chap. xviii. 4.
[67] Matt. xxviii. 20.
[68] Ps. xxxi. 20.
[69] John xv. 20.
[70] Chap. i. 17.
[71] 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4.
[72] James ii. 5.
[73] 1 Pet. i. 6.
[74] 2 Cor. xi. 2.
[75] 1 Cor. v. 6.
[76] Chap. x. 1.
[77] 1 Cor. v. 1, 2.
[78] Comp. chap. xviii. 4.
[79] Ps. lv. 12-14.
[80] Isa. xxiv. 23.
[81] Chap. xxii. 16.
[82] Isa. xvii. 6.
[83] Isa. lxv. 8.
[84] Isa. xxii. 21, 22.
[85] Dods, _Introduction to New Testament_, p. 244.
[86] Ps. xii. 5.