“And unto 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 art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Revelation 3:1-61And unto 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 art dead. 2Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. 4Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. 5He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Revelation 3:1‑6)).
In the first chapter of Revelation we find the meaning of the seven stars: “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches” (Revelation 1:2020The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. (Revelation 1:20)). A star lights up the night during the absence of the sun. In scripture, a star is representative of authority (for example, Daniel 8:1010And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. (Daniel 8:10)). Our English word for angel is from the Greek angellos, an angel or messenger. The Hebrew word can also mean a messenger or ambassador (2 Chronicles 35:2121But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. (2 Chronicles 35:21)). In the letters to the seven churches, the stars are types (symbols) of the representative authority of the assembly. Where does the church gain its authority? At Ephesus the seven stars are held in Christ’s right hand; church government was directed according to His hand. During the long reign of Jezebel (Thyatira) the Church governed the world. At Sardis, we find Christ still has the authority but the stars are no longer held in his right hand. Christ is no longer the sole resource for church government; in fact, the world very much governs the church. Civil leaders become involved and even take up arms to defend the church. We do not see the free exercise of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12-14) under the Lordship of Christ (Ephesians 4). Rather, we see men come between Christ and his church, quenching the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Battle of Cappel
By 1527, the Reformation was firmly established in the Swiss cantons of Zurich, Berne and Basle. Seeing that the reformation would ultimately divide the Federation, Zwingle proposed a confederation of reformed cantons. Not understanding the difference between Israel and the Church, he believed that the military could defend the gospel. As a result of this confederation, the five forest cantons (Lucern, Zug, Schwietz, Uri, and Unterwalden), all strong supporters of the Holy See, entered into a alliance with their former enemy Austria.
By 1531, war was inevitable. The Catholic cantons, taking up arms to defend the Holy See and what they saw as the desecration of the churches, declared war against Zurich, the home of Zwingle. On the evening of October 9th, the council of Zurich was called, but the members were undecided. It was not until noon of the next day that seven hundred men marched from Zurich to Cappel, Zwingle among them. Outnumbered eight to one, the men of Zurich were overpowered, and there, on the battle field of Cappel, Ulric Zwingle died.
The League of Smalcald
Luther was opposed to the policy of carnal resistance: he felt Christians ought not to resist the Emperor, and if he required them to die they were to yield up their lives. Nevertheless, with the final decree of the diet of Augsburg against the reformers, the Protestant leaders on the 22 of December 1530 met at Smalcald in Upper Saxony and laid the groundwork for a league — Luther having been won over by legal arguments. On the 29th of March, 1531, a second assembly was held at Smalcald, and the league was extended to include the kings of France, England and Denmark. In December 1545, after many years of indecision, the Pope’s long-promised council assembled at Trent. The concealed purpose of the council was, however, to return Germany back to the Roman church.
In the early hours of February 18th, 1546, Luther died in peace at Eisleben, his birthplace. With Luther in the grave and events turning against the Reformation, the league of Smalcald prepared for war. Protestantism had taken on a thoroughly political character. However, by 1547 the league had dissolved and Charles was the triumphant Emperor. Again, we see the mingling of politics with Christianity, weakening, not strengthening, the hand of the Reformation. When Luther stood alone, the mighty Holy Roman Empire was unable to touch him. When the princes formed a political union and took up the sword they became divided, indecisive, and were ultimately conquered.
Taking up Arms Against the World
Politics became the stumbling block of the Reformation. Instead of converting the world, the Reformation was transformed by the politics of the world. The Christian is saved by grace, he stands by grace, and he ought to be the witness of grace, and that, under all circumstances.
The church does not take the place of Israel as a nation. Israel was to drive out the heathen nations before them. Israel received temporal blessings in an earthly country. The Church has received “spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3)). The Church is the bride of Christ. The Bridegroom has been rejected by this world. He will not be united to His bride in this world, but in heaven (Revelation 19:1010And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10)). All the hopes of the church are heavenly.
Our citizenship (politeuma) is in heaven. As a Christian we enjoy life with all the benefits thereof, as citizens of heaven! We could also say that our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens. We don’t need an earthly federation.
We do not seek to establish a Christian nation to gain strength or protection. The Lord is our strength.
The Lord will establish His kingdom when He comes in judgment; but even then, the Church will come as His heavenly bride, not to rule on the earth, but over the earth.
As ambassadors for Christ, and good soldiers of His regiment, we do not entangle ourselves with the affairs of this life.
Scripture never sanctions rebellion against authority. If we are directed to do something directly contrary to the Word of God, then we ought to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:2929Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29)). But even in that, we do not take up arms, but rather, we are instructed to “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and [be] ready always to [give] an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:1515But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (1 Peter 3:15)).
The reformation was not the work of man; it was clearly of God. The gospel burst forth like a fresh spring breeze throughout Europe. When Luther nailed his thesis to the door of the cathedral at Wittenberg in October 1517, Zwingle was already preaching the gospel in Switzerland.
While the work of the Spirit resulted in a striking unity in the gospel, the national differences resulted in independent churches everywhere. The mind of Christ as to the character and constitution of His church appears to have been entirely overlooked by the reformers. Worse still, the reformers looked to the civil authorities, as we have seen, to govern the church. Again, whereas Rome ruled the world, the world now ruled the church.