“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these, things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”—Rev. 22:16, 1716I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. 17And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:16‑17).
I wish to speak of what appears to me to be especially on the Lord’s mind at the present time. How little one apprehends it; still we ought to be occupied with it. It may be that something good occupies us; but it does not follow that it is the right thing at this present time.
It is important we should see that we are at the end of our journey, and that not simply individually, but that church history is at the end. Nevertheless, the Lord has not left us without a thought from Himself now.
The knowledge of Scripture is not sufficient without knowing what the Lord is doing at this moment. “Henceforth. I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” I trust every heart here bows to it. What is the prominent thought in my Lord’s mind at this moment? I believe many a person would be set straight in his course if he were in the secret of the Lord’s mind, and that you never can get, if you are not with Him. Gideon never told the multitude the order of battle, but to the three hundred that could stand the earthly favor, tie water, he comet fitted the secret, “as I do, so shall ye do.” It is simple devotedness that qualifies one for receiving this wonderful favor. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Well, if you would die for the saints, He would tell His mind to you. Tell me what is really your love for the people of God Christ’s interests? Are they dear to you because they are Christ’s? I believe it would be immense blessing to us all, if in the very smallest circumstances we had before us what he is doing. I might be occupied with a very useful line of Scripture, and still not be in His mind. I find there was always some one thing peculiarly before Him. One finds continually people are not up to it. The disciples, however true and faithful, were not traveling in company with His mind at all; and what He seeks is, to lead them to it. They do not understand Him, but it is the thing He is leading them to. He told them of His death, and they did not enter into it; neither did they follow Him as to His resurrection; they were weeping because He had died. After His ascension the Holy Ghost was the great thing before His mind. After Pentecost the Church was the prominent thing. What was the cause of their trouble? They had not His mind, they were not in the secret of his working.
I turn to the end of the third chapter of Revelation. The Lord leads His people to what He is about to do and doing. When I am watching for His mind what He would do, I am not guided by circumstances. Supposing I heard of a great number of conversions I should be thankful for it, but if I am in His mind I am not carried away by it, because I know there is another thing more prominently before Him. Sincere people can go on in a great way of usefulness and yet be apart from His mind, and therefore they are not told “the thing that I do.”
I see here at least four phases of decline. First, Ephesus, with zeal in non-toleration of evil, but forgetting Christ, while they were exemplary in discipline—they had left their first love. The second is Pergamos — mixing with the world. The third, Thyatira—idolatry. The last is indifferentism, no discipline at all, —that is Laodicea. There is the danger of oscillating between the first and the last. You will find in all the dispensations, before there is a setting aside of that which God set up for Himself on earth, there is a revival. You will find in the ways of God there is always revival even though removal be determined on. No restoration, but a last revival. There is a revival of the original standing before the final crash, before the entire removal of the dispensation. The snare then is settling down with self-congratulation as to one’s advantage or blessings, a separation between them and responsibility. Jacob at Shechem has got back to the land after twenty years absence, and after the night of wrestling, he seeks to enjoy his blessings, but forgets his calling. The children of Israel, after all that terrible journey from Babylon to the land, when opposed, for sixteen years discontinue building the temple. The house of the Lord lieth waste. They are satisfied with their standing; they become indifferent to their responsibility. “Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye ran every man into his own house.”—Hag. 1:99Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. (Haggai 1:9).
The revival in Church history has come. Philadelphia is the revival. What follows? Laodicea, —which is boastfulness of the standing while slighting the responsibility to Christ, in which alone it could be maintained. To live Christ was the cardinal thing that should mark them. “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting.” The closing hour has come. Are our hearts seeking to learn what is the mind of the Lord at this closing hour? In my judgment Philadelphia is waning. It is not that there are not many in the grace of it, but its moral influence with greater pretension is not what it was with a fewer number.
When the cry, “Behold the Bridegroom” was first begun to be heard, satan attempted to neutralize it in a most malicious way; namely, some of the most ardent and foremost of those presenting the truth of the immediate coming of the Lord, preached and pressed that as believers had not the gift of the Holy Ghost they could not meet the Bridegroom, and therefore they should pray for the descent of the Holy Ghost, thereby diverting the minds of the saints from the coming of the Lord to the descent of the Holy Ghost. From this grievous subtlety, many were preserved or restored by the simple truth that the Holy Ghost had come down, and that every believer coming to Christ did drink of Him.
The cry came and the grace to answer it— “I am He that is holy and He that is true.” What was the practical effect of the answer to the call? Some were exercised others were afraid to look into it. Many hold dispensational truth now without affecting them practically. The truth has lost its force for them. Laodicean indifference has set in. I believe the great thought on the Lord’s mind now is, to save and extricate His people from indifference, from the wave of Laodicea, which has set in. Church barriers are relaxed or disregarded; no church order is now insisted on, except by Romanists, as indispensable. The truth has lost its force on souls. It is not that the truth itself is weakened, but a wonderful amount of truth can be accepted without effecting any change.
The Lord in His address to Laodicea sets forth the truth needed for this time. “I am the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God.” Man in his natural condition (see John 2:11And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: (John 2:1)) is irreparable. John 41When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (John 4:1) is the antithesis to John 21And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: (John 2:1). The Lord begins with a new creation. There is a great deal of truth current at this time, but it is so weak that it does not address the conscience. I am always thankful when a word lays hold of me. There is a certain effort abroad to make the Word pointless, and to reduce it to a mere matter of opinion. It is said, “You may state that as an opinion, but do not state it as a truth, for then it dictates to the conscience, and then it is resisted.” How then does the Lord work at such a time? He says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock.” The knowledge of Himself personally is now the great thing that goes alcove all dispensational truth, which reaches and affects souls when the other has been inoperative; and when He is personally known now, it is not only that He presents Himself as the Morning Star, but as the Bright and Morning Star. He is more attractive as the Coming One. He draws out our affections more to Himself. The one answering to it is getting ready for Him, as the day becomes darker here, The Lord, I believe, does not confine His knocking to any company of saints, but everyone who opens to Him is learning from Him to be ready for Him, and walking in Philadelphian ways here. We have failed in maintaining Philadelphian ways characteristically; that is, we have failed before men. We have not collectively presented Christ to the world, still we can and should cultivate affection to Christ. “The Spirit and the Bride say Come.” We should be like the widow in Luke 211And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. (Luke 21:1) in heart and ways banded together, to give up all for Christ. The Church may be lost in the mass of Laodicean profession, but she should have her heart occupied with and governed by the Bright and Morning Star; and as we are looking out for the Bridegroom, and ready for Him, we shall be in Church order here. Many a zealous servant who puts one to shame, would not go on with what he has embarked in, had he known what the Lord is doing. Servants get instruction as to their course, either from the necessities of man or from following the Lord. The philanthropist cannot go beyond human benevolence. Divine love cares for the object eternally, even where the object has no need. The philanthropist only cares in time.
I believe there is a very distinct action going on around. We ought to be in the current of that action. He is teaching us what He is personally. The closing phase has come. It is not now any particular church testimony, though there would be the Philadelphian separation and ways, which the Bride’s raiment or adorning morally must entail. Rev. 21 furnishes one with the moral character of the Bride, for she suits Christ. It is the Bridegroom that forms the Bride. I get into the very things that would suit Himself, because it is association with Himself that makes me learn of Him.
Many are making evangelization the chief thing; it is part of the work which Christ is doing, but it is not all that He is doing. The order of this verse (Rev. 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)) is the true order. From occupation with Christ and the saints, as we come from that we can truly descend. “The Spirit and the Bride say Come.” I want all the saints to join. The heart full of affection can put no object between it and Christ. The very greatness of the object delights and captivates the heart. “The Spirit and the Bride say Come; and let him that heareth say come; and let him that is athirst come.” Do you think a man would be a worse evangelist because he goes with his heart full of what Christ is? “Let him take of the water of life freely.” That is evangelizing in its fullness; and it may be a very small work in appearance—nothing to show.
The Lord lead our hearts to understand this wonderful thing now: and to answer to what His mind is set on. Amen.
J.B.S.