But another thing, and a very special one, characterizes the Philadelphians to the eye of Christ: they have been, through grace, kept from "the error of the wicked," and have not given up "the promise of his coming;" therefore He says, "Because thou halt kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."
Christ, in whom "all the promises of God are yea, and Amen, to the glory of God by us," sits at the right hand of God in heaven, and there all true believers know Him- know Him as the One who, "when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Heb. 1:33Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3).) But He sits there, too, according to the word spoken to Himself, in answer to His own faithfulness on earth, "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." (Psa. 110:11<<A Psalm of David.>> The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (Psalm 110:1).)
In this way believers in Christ are connected with heaven, and with the hopes that attach to Him who is there; "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world," He says of them, adding, "and for their sakes I sanctify myself [sets Himself apart in heaven], that they also might be sanctified through the truth." (John 17:16,1916They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:16)
19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (John 17:19).) Christ sits at the right hand of God awaiting the fulfillment of the promises made to Himself, when He shall come, put down all evil, and take His kingdom; for this all His people wait with Him; they keep, however feebly, and it may be unintelligently, the word of His patience. As of others, in the day of His rejection on earth amid Israel, He, as it were, says again, "Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptation." To our eyes were they entitled to have this said of them, but He said it- His grace thus clothed them, and so now. They belong to heaven because they are His, as believing in Him during the day of His rejection, and they are associated with Him in the patience of hope that connects itself with His present position. In keeping with this, the apostle Paul prays that the Thessalonians, and thus all saints, might have their hearts directed "into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ." (2 Thess. 3:55And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. (2 Thessalonians 3:5).) So, too, John, associating himself with all believers, says, "I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." (Rev. 1:99I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 1:9).)
It is not the rapture, but His appearing that is here in question, and before this appearing, which all saints necessarily love, takes place, a time of terrible trial will come upon the whole world to try them that dwell on the earth; from this His own people, who are not dwellers on the earth, but pilgrims and strangers, having their citizenship in heaven, shall be kept- taken out of the world to be with Himself before it even begins. Nothing is said as to how far they are walking according to this hope, but they keep it, do not give it up, and His word of comfort and encouragement has reference to this fact, though doubtless the happy assurance of being kept from the hour of temptation will depend upon the degree in which the word of His patience fills the heart and forms the path; still it is pure grace that gives any a part in this hope- "the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." And it is important to remark here that, whatever the special comfort any faithful heart may have in this promise, this being kept out of the hour of temptation is in effect the rapture of the saints, and hence, necessarily includes all true believers, just as the dwellers upon the earth include all mere professors. There are but these two classes in view at the moment of which the Lord speaks, and "them that dwell upon the earth" are a class distinguished all through the book of Revelation as being under Satan's delusion, and the special subjects of judgment; no true saint is so described.
But while the coming of the Lord, however dimly apprehended, is the hope of every true believer, this hope needs to be roused into a living anticipation, and into active energy; so the Lord says, "Behold I come quickly: hold that fast which thou halt, that no man take thy crown." This is a word of mingled encouragement and warning that must not be overlooked or unheeded. All on the side of His grace is secure, but there is danger, and a danger of no ordinary character. A subtle and mighty foe has to be withstood and overcome, and to be worsted on this battle field- is to lose crown, and with it everything else. (Compare Rev. 2:10,1110Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall 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 a crown of life. 11He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. (Revelation 2:10‑11): "the crown of life," and "not hurt of the second death.") They are to hold fast that which they have- His word, His name, His coming; to give these up were to lose all that keeps the soul with God, and thus in blessing. The danger here is not failure in walk, or the yielding up of a true christian position; nor is it the passing from the Philadelphian state to that of Laodicea, but something far more serious- it is apostasy. To possess nothing that Christ can own, and to be warned and invited to receive at His hands what He can own, is one thing; but to already possess what He can own, and to be warned not to give it up is quite another. Now, although no true believer can be lost, he is yet responsibly in a position of danger, hence the warnings and ifs that run through scripture, and addressed to believers with reference to the blessings that they are in the possession of, so "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." (1 Cor. 10:1212Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12).)
The promise in Philadelphia to the overcomer- the one who holds fast what he has, is very full and complete; believing in and following Christ during the day of His rejection, and thus associated with Him in shame and loss in this world (compare Rom. 8:1717And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17)), above all, despised by that which, covered with earthly glory and filled up with human riches, claimed, though falsely, to be His church and witness on earth, he is fully and openly associated with Christ in heavenly blessedness; shares with Him all the glory that He has acquired by His life of faithfulness to God on earth. He acquired it, but He gives it to His people. "The glory which thou hast given me I have given them," He tells His Father in John 17 So here, He says, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God; and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name."
The peculiar blessedness of all this is the complete association of the overcomer with Christ Himself in all He specially delights to call His own. "In the temple of my God"- the one weak, and disowned on earth by a false church, shall be a pillar of strength. That temple, too, shall be the dwelling, from whence shall never remove, the one that here had been a pilgrim and stranger for His name's sake. "The name of my God"- His Savior God, shall be written on him who, refusing man's salvation, was held by man to be outside God altogether. "The name of the city of my God"- the new and heavenly Jerusalem, shall be publicly stamped on him who, refusing man's church and authority (Babylon), was accounted to be without place or portion in God's kingdom, and to have no link with heaven. And he who had no name on earth at all that man would own, content to be simply a Christian, and boast no name but the name of Jesus, shall have "my new name"- that name of heavenly glory given Him by the Father, which prophets have not declared, and no one after the flesh can know. What more can love say to encourage? What more can grace bestow? Himself and all He has, as man, is the Philadelphian overcomer's portion and reward.
The brief and imperfect sketch we have given of the essential and characteristic features of Philadelphia and Laodicea cannot, we think, fail to establish our position, that the one is the contrast of the other, and, in the view we have taken of what this contrast really involves, the one cannot be the sequence of the other, in the sense of Philadelphia becoming Laodicea, nor do we think that Laodicea even collaterally develops out of Philadelphia.
Before closing our subject we would call attention to a few noteworthy facts as to these two churches. In both of them the angel and, those he represents all go together—no distinct class is distinguished; in Philadelphia there is no bad class; in Laodicea, no good class. Now, in the other churches the Lord distinguishes those whom He approves from those whom He disapproves. This is very marked in Thyatira, where He addresses "the rest" separately even from the angel. In Philadelphia all is approval and unqualified encouragement. In Laodicea all is unqualified disapproval, without one word of encouragement: He rebukes, threatens, calls to repentance, promising blessing on repentance, nothing more. We cannot but express our conviction that in Philadelphia all are viewed as converted, while in Laodicea all, at least ostensibly, are viewed as unconverted. That grace pleads with these latter up to the last moment, after judgment has been unconditionally pronounced, makes no real difficulty, and we quite believe that to Christ's eye, amongst the judged mass, there may be elect objects of His love who will hear His voice, and, by doing so, cease really to belong to Laodicea before He spues it out of His mouth.
The difficulty, where it exists, arises, we believe, out of making these two last churches, church positions instead of regarding them as two distinct states of soul in which all professing Christians come under the eye of Christ at the close. States that together really cover the whole ground of the church up to the end; here discriminated, put side by side and depicted characteristically. With this view it is a question of a true or a false profession, with the consequences that attach respectively to it, that Philadelphia and Laodicea represent. We have the analogy of this in the book of Malachi. C. W.