The Substance of a Lecture delivered August 15th, in Kensington Hall, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.
As it will be expected, beloved friends, from the advertisement announcing this lecture, that I should say something on the present position and prospects of the Church, as taught in Scripture, I have read the epistles to Philadelphia and Laodicea. In the picture here given of Philadelphia, we see the true position of the Church, or assembly, that would be a witness for Christ in the present day. In Laodicea, we see that which follows it, and grows out of it. We could not have had the lukewarmness of Laodicea from the deadness of Sardis. There must be heat as well as cold to produce lukewarmness.
But before entering on the details of these two epistles, it may be well to take a glance, though rapidly, at the previous five which are associated with them. The number is significant; seven being the perfect number. It is like a, complete circle, and may embrace, in the mind of God, the entire period of the Church’s responsibility, as a vessel of testimony on the earth. The number seven is often used in this book as signifying spiritual completeness; and elsewhere as the symbol of a complete revolution in time; such as the seven days of the week, and the seven feasts of Israel.
Many who have examined this portion of Scripture most carefully, have come to the conclusion, that these seven pictures of the state of the Churches which were then in Asia, have also a more enlarged application. They are considered, by such, as a successional picture of the professing Church in general, from the beginning to the end of her history on the earth — that is, from the days of the apostles to the rapture of the saints.
It would appear then, beloved brethren, that there are three things to be borne in mind, in our meditations on the seven Churches: 1. That these seven Churches were actually existing in Asia, and in the condition here described, in John’s day. There were others, we know, there may have been many, but, in the wisdom of God, seven are selected. They are characterized as “the things which are.” 2. The moral instruction therein given, is for the guidance and blessing of individual Christians in all ages of the Church. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.” 3. That they have an extended application from John’s time to the close of the Church’s existence on the earth. We never read of the Church, or of churches, as on the earth after the close of the third chapter. This view, you will observe, agrees with the general character of this book, which is prophetical. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy.”
In these seven epistles, then, we have what may be fairly called, an inspired history of the Church, though prophetically given. But what a charm this gives to Church history, properly so called! We see God’s hand and interest in it, and surely everything that interests Him ought, to interest us. Besides, in reading about the dear suffering ones in past ages, we are reading about our brothers and sisters who loved the blessed Lord and His word more than their lives. And, on the other hand, what can give us such a true idea of the real spirit of the world, as to see it persecuting and killing unoffending men and women, just because they love the Lord that died for them? But this is what we have to expect from the world, whether it appears in the garb of heathenism, or under the cloak of the christian name and profession. “For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.” The blessed Lord Himself found as little sympathy in the Jewish Synagogue as in the hall of Pilate.
When persecution first began for a difference of opinion on religious subjects, it was more cruel and unrelenting than under the heathen Emperors. We may well blush to acknowledge it, but the sword and the miter have been most pitiless and desolating. Oh! what is the world! What is Christendom! we may well exclaim. It is a perfect relief to the mind to turn away from both, and read, in the light of holy Scripture, the history of each.
Ephesus. Falling from first love is the charge against Ephesus. Already the Church had sadly declined; in heart at least. Outwardly they were going on very well. I dare say, had we seen them, we should have thought them most zealous, godly, and devoted. “I know thy works,” says the Lord, “and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them that are evil.” But, alas, the heart was away from Him. And you will observe that He does not say, “works of faith, labors of love, and patience of hope” as in the case of the Thessalonians. The words, “faith, love, hope” are awanting. This makes all the difference. The three christian graces are not in exercise. This was what grieved and disappointed His heart. In His sight, however fair outward appearance might be, Ephesus was fallen. “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.”
These sorrowful complaints, beloved brethren, show us how strongly the Lord feels the slipping away of our hearts from Him, even when good works are kept up. But some may be disposed to ask, “What is falling from first love, when good works are maintained?” I believe it is our ceasing to find all our delight in Christ Himself. So long as He has His right place in our hearts, our love can never decline. We all know that love begets love, and that only love in return can satisfy love. If we are dwelling on Christ’s love to us, and on His great work for us, as the manifestation of His love, ours must grow exceedingly. But if we lose the sweet sense and enjoyment of His love, ours soon cools down; but His never does, blessed be His name. It is like the water mark on your river, which remains at the same height whether the tide ebbs or flows. But how soon you can tell from this standard when the water begins to fall. You may see it gradually decline. Oh! beloved brethren, what feelings of distress should such thoughts awaken in our minds! If the river of your love or mine falls a single hair’s breadth, His eye sees it— His heart feels it. Were His love to cool down as fast as ours, the difference would not be seen. Oh! what grace and patience to bear with us, and to love us all the same, and never grow weary in seeking to win us back to our first love. Oh! that He might see in us that which would refresh and delight his heart.
Amongst the innumerable evils that flow from the heart slipping away from Christ, the want of spiritual discernment and sound spiritual feelings are most manifest. Evil had crept into the Church. Such a thing should never have been allowed there. The Church ought to have been the power and manifestation of holiness in the midst of evil, but never associated with it. It is described by Paul to his beloved son Timothy, as “the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” Here we are told that the assembly of God is His dwelling place; and the support and display of the truth. Surely, then, beloved brethren, the assembly of God ought to study what suits Him, not themselves — what is due to His character and claims, not their own. You will observe that the Lord speaks in strong terms when He refers to the evil that is in the Church. “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.” Discipline is not the question here, that we have elsewhere; but He tells us in plainest terms, that He hates evil. Surely that should be enough for all our hearts. The Lord enable us by His grace to keep the house clean enough for Him.
We may just notice, in passing, the great difference in the style of the address to the Church of Ephesus in this epistle, and in that on a former occasion by Paul. There, the saints are addressed as “the faithful in Christ Jesus.” Here, they are addressed not directly, but through their angel, or representative. A certain distance and reserve are maintained. There, Christ is presented as the Head of the body, ministering nourishment to the members. Here, He is seen in the capacity of a Judge, holding the seven stars in His right hand and walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. There, in short, we see the Church in all the fullness of heavenly grace; here, in responsibility on the earth; but, alas! as an unfaithful witness. Nevertheless, His love is unchangeable, and His eye sees the faithful few in the midst of a general decline, and meets them in special grace. “To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”
Smyrna. The state of the Church in Smyrna, evidently foreshadows the period of her suffering under the Roman Emperors. The Lord permitted her to pass through the furnace, though His love counted and defined the days of her tribulation. He loved her as much then as He did the day He died for her. But His heart was grieved because of her failure, and He suffered her to fall into the hands of the enemy, that she might be brought back to Himself. “Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days.” Some have thought that the “ten days” refer to ten distinct persecutions under Rome Pagan; others, to ten years under Diocletian. What a fearful thing it is, beloved brethren, to be allowed to fall into Satan’s hands. Oh! that we may be kept so near to the Lord as never to need such chastening! He suffered this trial to come upon them, that they might feel the bitterness of getting away from Him; and, perhaps, to prevent them from going farther.
But observe here, the grace and tenderness of His heart, in the way He comes before them. “These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive again.” As if He had said, “I have gone through great tribulation for you; fear not to go through it for me — I died for you; be faithful in death for me.” “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Need we wonder at the quiet firmness and joy of many of the martyrs of Jesus when suffering for Him! The heathen used to be astonished at the way they met death in its most frightful forms. “Death is no punishment to these Christians,’’ they used to say, “for they die singing hymns, and declaring that they are going home to one Jesus, whom they believe to be in heaven,”
“Strange conquest, where the Conqueror must die,
And He is slain that wins the victory.”
Pergamos. In approaching Pergamos, we feel as if the faithfulness and glory of Smyrna had departed. Here Christ presents Himself in an entirely different character to that of Smyrna. “These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges.”
The sword is the symbol of the word of God. The Church has not only slipped away from the Person of Christ, but she is now drifting away from the authority of His word. The frightful doctrines of Balaam and the Nicolaitanes are taught. Hence the Lord says, “Repent: or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”
Surely, beloved brethren, it is not difficult to see, that the state of things in Pergamos shadows forth the alliance of the Church with the State under Constantine. “I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is.” Now she has got right into the world and associated with the very throne of Satan there. The Christian must ever be in one of two places — either separated from the world and suffering, or associated with it and unfaithful. If we look at this sad change in the light of worldly advantage to the Church, we may call it a happy change; hut if we look at it in the light of spiritual loss, we shall pronounce it as the most sorrowful day in her entire history. Does not the apostle say of Christians, “I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ?” And now what has she done? She has listened to the flatteries of the world — accepted its offers, and placed herself under its patronage. Yes; she who was in the days of her youth affianced to the Prince of heaven, has yielded to the seductions of the prince of this world. Many good men, I know, have written and spoken of Constantine, as if he had been the Savior of the Church; I take an entirely different view of the unhallowed union, and believe it was the day of her deepest fall, and deepest degradation. I would rather, a thousand times, see her dwelling in the catacombs, than in the emperor’s palace. But persecution by the world seems not to have answered the end which Satan had in view, and he thought he would try something else.
Under the spirit of persecution from without, the saints of God seem to have increased in numbers, spirituality, and unworldliness. Besides the immense numbers who suffered at the stake, modern industry has discovered something like seventy thousand epitaphs in the catacombs. There, the followers of Jesus, of all ranks, were content to live, die, and be buried, rather than conform to the ways of the world. But seduction has always been more fatal to the Church than persecution. She has been more blessed through her martyrs than her doctors. Still, there were those even in Pergamos who could not go with the multitude; and rich and sweet are His promises to them. “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” The manna may represent the lowly Jesus on earth — the hidden manna, the exalted Christ in the holiest of all; and the white stone and the new name, the secret link of personal communion, and of His entire approbation.
Thyatira. It is not difficult, I think, beloved friends, to see, what are called “the middle ages,” in the dark picture here given of Thyatira. Those who have read the history of these dark ages, will be at no loss to trace the likeness; especially from the eighth to the thirteenth century; and down to the dawn of the Reformation. The temporal dominion of the papacy dates from the eighth century. What centuries these were, for wickedness of every kind! That which was allowed and openly practiced in the professing Church, is unfit to be named in a public lecture, or be transferred to the pages of a christian magazine. “Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.” Corruption, idolatry, and persecution characterize these dark ages. But you may always rest assured, that wherever you find Balaam, Jezebel is not far off. The prophet and the prophetess go together. He seduces the people of God to join with the world, but she is the mother of children like herself. She nurses in the bosom of the Church, its vilest and most deadly foes. But the Lord hath said of such, “I will kill her children with death.” This judgment shall be fully executed when Christ smites the nations with a rod of iron. But dark as that period is, He sees all that is going on. “These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire; and his feet are like unto fine brass.”
What we find in Thyatira, is but the natural consequence of the unholy alliance of Pergamos. The only true place of the Church in this world is separation from it —the witness of its ruin, and of the love that gave an only-begotten Son to be the Savior of the world. When she gives up this place she gives up everything as God’s witness on the earth. Let us never forget, beloved brethren, that our testimony should be according to the life we possess — the holiness we are partakers of, and the grace in which we stand.
But as it was when Jezebel sat queen in Israel, so it is here. The Lord has many in Thyatira who have not bowed the knee to Baal. In this Church, the remnant is distinctly marked from the great body of mere professors. And here, too, we have set before the overcomers as their blessed hope, the coming of the Lord — dominion over the nations; and as a present, realized joy, “the Morning Star.” “But unto you I say, and unto the rest (the remnant) in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star.”
Sardis. The difference between Sardis and Thyatira is most manifest. No one can fail to see that a great change has taken place. Balaam and Jezebel, those standing types of corruption and violence, are no longer before us. The condition of the professing Church in Protestant countries after the Reformation, answers to Sardis. Outwardly, everything is greatly improved, the idolatry, assumption, and persecution of the Church of Rome have disappeared. Still, the state of Sardis is a deeply solemn one. “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” Could anything be more solemn than this? “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” Christians, of course, are not dead. But the system they are in has no vitality. This is what some have called the visible and the invisible Church; or the living ones in a system of dead formalism. True, the energy of evil has departed, but spiritual death has taken its place — an orthodox creed, and a cold, lifeless formalism. It is truly awful to think of such a state of things, and that we are in the midst of it.
But the character in which the Lord presents Himself tο Sardis, not only reveals its state, but cheers and encourages our hearts. “These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God. and the seven stars.” The sevenfold fullness of spiritual life, and power are with Him. We must look to Christ, and to Him alone. The fullness of inward light and outward power remain with Him. For centuries before the Reformation, the Church ruled the world: after, the world was allowed to rule the Church; but some, not satisfied with either, said, the Church should rule itself, and be the depository of all needed gifts and supplies. But in none of these has Christ His right place, therefore all are wrong. The seven spirits of God, and the seven stars are still with Him. He has not given any of them up. Even Timothy was instructed to commit truth, not power, to faithful men; that always remains with Christ the Head in heaven. Hence, we find that in His address to this Church, He calls them back to His truth and grace. “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard; and hold fast and repent.” Remember whose word thou hast heard — whose grace thou hast received. Hold fast truth and grace, and repent of thy formalism.
The faithful remnant is here spoken of as “a few names.” The Lord knows them by name. They have not defiled their garments with worldliness; and they shall walk with Christ in white; and their names shall be publicly confessed before His Father and His angels. Who would not like to be an overcomer amidst the deadness of Sardis!
Philadelphia. The Reformation was a great and blessed work of God’s Spirit; but the blessing was more individual than corporate. The great Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone, was the means of delivering many souls — glory be to God — His name have all the praise. But many of the leaders of that blessed work, dear men of God though they were, and ever worthy of all honor, fell into the mistake of connecting the work of God’s Spirit with human governments. The result was, that the professing Church soon sank into a worldly, dead state. This is evident, not only from all history, but from the word of God. “If, therefore, thou shalt not watch,” says Christ to Sardis, “I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know at what hour I will come upon thee.” This is the way the Lord will come upon the world, and take it by surprise. “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” (1 Thess. 5:2, 32For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:2‑3).) If the professing Church will associate itself with the world, it must share the world’s doom.
In Philadelphia, we have the picture of a fresh work of God’s Spirit, since the Reformation; and which, I believe, applies to the present time. In the presence of a great professing body, a feeble few are faithful to Christ and to His word. This makes the epistle to Philadelphia exceedingly interesting. At the same time, all the previous states of the Church, may be also applicable in modern times, to the Church in general. Declension from first love, as in Ephesus, alas, alas, is but too manifest everywhere. Persecution from without, as in Smyrna, may still be felt by faithful ones. The seductions of Balaam, and prophesying for gain, as in Pergamos, still go on. The tyranny and corruptions of Jezebel, as in Thyatira, may be bitterly experienced today, in certain quarters; and the deadness of Sardis, we must confess, prevails on every side.
(The remainder to follow D. V., next month)