Reading 1
THE first thing to notice is, that the seven churches are " the things which are."
John had seen Christ standing in the midst of the golden candlesticks; chap. I. Then "the things which are" follow (chapters 2 and 3); from chapter 4 and onwards, we have " the things which shall be hereafter," or after these.
There is the divine character of Christ, and also the ecclesiastical character of Christ. He is seen here in judgment, not in blessing flowing down in gifts and so on. He forms His own judgment of the state of the churches, and He gives promises to overcomers. He is judging their state, with His garment flowing down to the feet, not tucked up to serve.
Another thing to note in connection with this, is, that we have not any directions given by the Spirit of God to guide the church as to what it is to do, save as listening to the judgment of Christ about the church; but that is not direction to the church. We have the express judgment of Christ about the church: " I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick," etc.
Ques. What is " seven "?
" Seven " gives the history of all, at distinct periods; it is a general history from the first decay until the final judgment, and the Lord's estimate of this.
We do not find particular directions given as to what people are to do inside the church, but we have His estimate of what the church is doing, and the state of the external profession.
He is a Judge; a divine Person walking on the earth as a Judge and His feet burning with fire. He is saying, you are this, and you are that, and you are the other, but He gives no instructions as to how the church is to act within her borders. Quite true, I may draw some conclusions from it all.
The character of the book is prophetic, not evangelical; we find therein prophetic statements, not exactly New Testament instructions.
Some have said there is no direction to do this or that, but we do get the description of Rome, as a condition to be avoided by the saints of God. The external thing is the professing church, with Jezebel; but by " within," I mean that which comes under the express instruction of the Spirit of God in the place in which the Lord is dealing with it. The assembly is the idea here, and this assembly is the body, and it is also the house; but when God formed the assembly, then, instead of the synagogue being the scene of excommunication and judgment, the church comes in: " If he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." This holds good irrespectively of the ruin.
Those owned as Christians in the assembly, the assembly has to judge, but them that are without, God judges.
Ruin has nothing to do with duty, except as it may incapacitate me, as a matter of fact, from carrying it out. No failure alters the character of responsibility, though the Lord may in mercy say, He will be satisfied, if we will but act up to what we have got. But no direction of Scripture becomes invalid by reason of the state of ruin. The directions touching " tongues " are applicable as much as ever, only we cannot apply them.
As for " putting out," if there is " yourselves," you can " put out from among yourselves."
The moment it is a matter of obedience which can be done, then it must be done. The commandment has not lost its authority.
It was the grand question with the Irvingites; they held that power must come in before obedience. And they said further, that evil must be left alone until the Lord comes back again. I say, no, I must obey always.
We have Christ, then, judging in the midst of the professing church. It may be as well to see a little what the "angels" are. Though the epistles were written to the angels, we have the certainty that the Spirit is speaking to the churches, so that the angel is the vessel of communication.
We find in the body of the epistles, "the rest in Thyatira," "cast some of you," giving the certainty that the assemblies as such are addressed, and I have no doubt that the angel stands as the mystic representative of the church. It might have been one man or half a dozen godly men found amongst them.
The epistles are addressed to those in responsibility among them, whoever they might be. Of course, all are really responsible, and if they failed in it, the candlestick, not the angel, would be taken out of its place; this makes it clear that the church is responsible. In those days it might have been an official elder, but if so, we have the strongest proof that it was not in that way he was the angel, or he would have been called " elder."
Ques. Why is the symbol of " stars " used here?
They carry the thought of subordinate authority. People get floundering about from not taking the abstract meaning of symbols; they take the symbol of a white horse, and say it must be Christ, but it is no such thing; or they think the sun must be Christ, but further on in the book we find the sun is scorching people. Christ holds these stars, i.e., these authorities, in His right hand, the hand of power.
Sometimes I have thought the " angels " might have come to John in Patmos as messengers, and that John took them up as a kind of representatives of the churches.
In the first three churches are found the characteristics of Christ that John had already seen. In these, too, the responsibility of the church is viewed in connection with its original position, but not afterward. When we come to Thyatira, this original position had been already lost.
There are two grounds of judgment: (1) the not maintaining what God had set up at the first, and (2) unfaithfulness as to the hope of meeting the Lord at the end.
The first fault specified is, " Thou hast left thy first love," and so on, in the first three churches. Christ is walking in the midst, and various things are referred to accordingly. Afterward, none of His original characters is found; but He is still holding His place in the church, and He does not give up His authority. Popery pretends to His place now.
Ques. Why is the title of " Son of God" found in Thyatira?
Because Thyatira has been totally unfaithful, and He is going to cut it off. And so, too, the kingdom is here substituted for the church, the question of " power over the nations " being introduced. That which marks Popery is "Jezebel." Idolatry had been taught before this, but it has now become the state of the church.
Ques. Is not Sardis the result of the operation of the Spirit of God at the Reformation?
Well, yes; when man departs from what God has given, this latter then becomes just what man makes out of it; we never find God judging His own work. Sardis had a name to live, and was dead; that was not the operation of God. First love was God's work, but they had left that, and then formality came in. In the Thessalonians, we find three things, the work of faith, the labor of love, and the patience of hope; work, patience, and labor followed faith, hope, and love. Here, however, though everything was going on outwardly, the spring of power had been lost. Much there was that was excellent, but there was the beginning of decay. The Lord might work, and did work, but still, if the church did not return to its first love, God would cut it off. The church is therefore put upon the responsibility of reformation.
Very solemn this! Man in responsibility ought to answer to what God has given him in a certain way. What a failure it is!
In Ephesus, we have the general character of Christ; the two things which constitute this being the seven stars, i.e., authority in His right hand, and His walking in the midst of the seven candlesticks.
The promise to the overcomer is that he should eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. The first Adam-place being lost, he gets the second Adam-place. The church, however corrupt, never loses its responsibility, therefore these are held to be candlesticks still. Rome will be judged as a church, even though it is what it is. Though so much commendation is found here, yet the candlestick is to go.
Ques. Was the Reformation, then, a restoration?
No. There was the setting up of individual salvation and of the authority of the word of God, but the true height of the church was lost. It was corrupted before, and it was lost then, but the Reformation did recover individual salvation and justification by faith, truths which had been totally set aside. In Sardis, there were the things that remained, and there are even now the things that " remain."
Ques. Will Rome absorb the different denominations after the true church has been taken up?
I do not know that it will do so.
Ques. How do you regard the woman riding the beast? Well, the beast is not everything; the woman—Rome—may govern the kings of the Roman empire, that is all.
Ques. Would you say that Babylon is confined to Rome? She has her daughters; strictly speaking, it is Rome, she is mother of them all.
Ques. Is there not an effort now to unite the three great professing churches?
Yes, but that does not say they will succeed. Rome still sits as a queen, and her power is growing. You may level up or level down, she will have her way in either case. True, the Lord is allowing infidelity to arise, and this, in measure, is a check to Rome's power. Protestantism has ceased to be a power, and so now it is infidelity that exercises any check, for if we had Romanism unchecked, we should not be allowed to sit here. The Bible has wrought all around us, just where God meant it to work.
As for Italy, since the Austrians have been driven out, the Bible is less cared for than it was before. Before this event took place, it was reckoned that there were some fifteen thousand people earnestly reading the Bible, though I do not say these were all converted; but now they have got their way, they do not trouble themselves at all about it. There is not half the interest in the Scriptures that there was when Italy was oppressed. We commonly find more faithfulness where there is persecution.
In Ephesus, the " deeds of the Nicolaitanes " are spoken of, i.e., departure from moral integrity.
Ques. Who were they?
Those who professed a doctrine that allowed them to do wrong—Antinomians—but here, it is their deeds. " Nicolaitanes " is their historical name.
Notice, too, that the overcomer comes after the calling to hear, i.e., the church is addressed before the individual is warned to overcome; but after Thyatira, the overcomer is first separated out from the church, and then comes, " he that hath an ear, let him hear."