07.04. PROMISES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES

4. PROMISES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES

Let us recall again that the Lord adapts His titles, exhortations, threats, and promises to the varied conditions of the churches. In no two cases are they alike. This chapter is devoted to the promises. All these promises are connected with one word "overcometh" ¾ Greek "nikao." The details of these promises are given in even distinguishing series in the second and third chapters, and the sum of them expressed in Revelation 21:7, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things" ¾ or better, "These things" referring back to the things enumerated in Revelation 21:1-6.

Let us group into one sentence all the detailed and distinguishing promises of the seven series: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God" ¾ and "He shall not be hurt of the second death" ¾ and I will give to him the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it" ¾ and "I will give him authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers; as I also have received of my Father: and I will give him the morning star" ¾ and "he shall be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father and of my God, and he shall go out thence no more; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name" ¾ and "I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne" (see Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 2:26-28; Revelation 3:5, Revelation 3:12, Revelation 3:21).

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE PROMISES 1. They are all clothed in the most sublime imagery.

2. Their character, multitude, and magnitude are overwhelming, outshining any galaxy in the natural skies. The mind is dazzled by their blended brilliance. The hand of apprehension looses its grip in trying to grasp them and comprehension must wait for understanding until the realization of postjudgment experience.

3. Yet even now unstaggering faith receives them, and hope lives in their radiance. They reverse gravitation because they draw upward; they pull toward heaven and uplift.

They stimulate more than wine until one is intoxicated with the Spirit. They awaken desire, develop strength, and inspire zeal.

4. Laying aside all dogmatism, comparing scripture with scripture in exceeding humility, praying fervently for spiritual guidance, let us attempt an interpretation. Inasmuch as all these promises are to him that "overcometh," our first concern is to know the meaning and sweep of this word, and just what or whom must be overcome, and with what means we may overcome.

Evidently the word "overcometh" is not limited to one definite transaction, but has a continuous meaning ¾ a sweep beyond a single event. What are its terminals? When does the overcoming commence and where does it end? It commences with justification and ends at the death of the body with complete sanctification of the soul. "He that endureth unto the end shall be saved" ¾ "Be thou faithful unto death, and thou shalt receive a crown of life." John elsewhere supplies the object of the verb. Twice he says: "Ye have overcome the wicked one" (1 John 2:13-14). Three times he declares the world as the object to be overcome (1 John 5:4-5). Only those "born of God overcome the world." The means of overcoming is "the blood of the Lamb"; the instrumentality is faith ¾ "and this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4). Satan, his emissaries and the world that lieth in him, must be overcome. By faith the child of God goes on from victory to victory ¾ from grace to grace ¾ from strength to strength ¾ from glory to glory.

Let us now look separately at the promises themselves:

1. Access to the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7) Here, evidently, there is allusion to the Genesis story. The purpose of the tree of life in the original garden was to eliminate the mortality of the body. So that, in unfigurative terms, this promise is the glorification of the body to be experienced without death by all Christians living when our Lord comes, and by all Christians who have died, after their resurrection. We may count the glorification of the bodies of the two classes as practically simultaneous, since the righteous dead are raised before the righteous living are changed, and together they are caught up to the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). The promise means everything set forth in Paul’s words (1 Corinthians 15:42-49, 1 Corinthians 15:51-58): ¾ incorruption, glory, power, a spiritual body in the image of the Second Adam; or in his other words, "Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be like the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself" (Php 3:21). Or as John elsewhere puts it: "We know that if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him" (John 3:2). Hence the psalmist: "I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." This title to access to the tree of life arises from cleansing by the blood of the Lamb, effected in us when in regeneration and sanctification the Spirit applies the blood. After Adam’s fall he was expelled from the garden lest he eat of this fruit and live forever in a body of sin (Genesis 3:22), but a throne of grace and mercy was established at the east of the garden where the sword flame, or Shekinah, dwelt between the Cherubim to keep open the way to the tree of life through vicarious sacrifices (Genesis 3:24; Genesis 4:4; Hebrews 11:4).

2. "Shall not be hurt of the second death." (Revelation 2:11) The meaning of the second death is the casting of both soul and risen body into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14-15). It is the final decision of our Lord at the judgment, and fixes forever the status of the lost. The lake of fire is a metaphor, of course, but expresses a reality not less fearful than the figure. Into this torment the soul of a lost sinner goes immediately after the death of the body ¾ see the parable of Dives and Lazarus, Luke 16:1-31. But from this disembodied state of torment the soul is called to the judgment, where it is united to its risen body ¾ "Death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them" (Revelation 20:13), i.e., the body came from the grave and the soul from its place in torment. Then on the sentence of the judge the lost man, soul and body, is cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death. While both memory and conscience will afflict the lost forever, the lake of fire is punitive, and not the remorse of conscience, which is only consequential. That this final sentence is punitive appears from Matthew 25:41; Matthew 25:46, and 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9. It is further described by our Lord as a destruction of soul and body in Gehenna, and directly contrasted with the first death, or the death of the body: "And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Greek Gehenna). This promise was specially precious to the church at Smyrna, at that time undergoing persecution unto death. The devil, through his agents, might kill their bodies, the first death, but these martyrs should not be hurt of the second death.

3. "I will give to him the hidden manna." (Revelation 2:17) The "hidden manna" is an allusion to the memorial pot of manna hidden in the ark of the covenant. This represented Christ as the bread of life, sent from heaven ¾ see the great discussion, John 6:27-59. Whosoever by faith appropriates the body and blood of Christ has eaten food which nourishes unto eternal life. An eater of the manna in the desert did not escape death, but the believer in Jesus Christ, antitype of the memorial manna hidden in the ark of the covenant, shall never die. This promise is on a line with the preceding one, and particularly appropriate to Pergamos, whose heretics were eating the meat offered to idols, following Balaam, which was a food unto death, but whose faithful ones are promised the bread of life.

4. "1 will give him a white stone and on the stone a new name written which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it." (Revelation 2:17) Observe that this is the second promise to the church at Pergamos. To the same person is given both "the hidden manna" and "the stone," whose inscription is hidden to all but the recipient. There appears to be a connection of thought between the two promises which may be helpful toward an interpretation of the white stone. Let us follow up this clue.

Satan’s throne was at Pergamos. That is, he completely dominated the municipal government. This was a Greek city, subject to Greek method of judicial procedure. A test of loyalty to the government would be a participation in the idolatrous feasts. We know from Paul’s letter to the Greek city of Corinth that a Christian might not eat at both the Lord’s table and the devil’s table, nor drink of both the Lord’s cup and the cup of devils. So refraining from the heathen idol feasts was a test of loyalty to Christ. And so the same Satan who inspired Balaam to spring this test on the Israelites inspired the later Balaamites to compromise on this open communion between the two religions, and inspires the municipal government to demand like compromises of the other members of the church. Fear may have prompted the tempted to this compromise, and fear may have inspired the church to refrain from disciplining the heretical and immoral members, especially after their pastor, Antipas, was murdered for his fidelity. A Greek city expressed judgment on persons arraigned by a kind of ballot, using shells as at Athens, or pebbles here whose significance declared for acquittal or condemnation ¾ white for acquittal or black for guilty. Following this line of thought the promise would mean: If the devil-prompted city condemns your loyalty to Christ by a ballot of black pebbles, He will acquit you by the white stone of justification. This view gathers force from the title of our Lord when addressing the church: "These things saith he that hath the sharp two-edged sword." (Revelation 2:12) In the vision, Revelation 1:16, this sword issues from His mouth, and hence represents His word of judgment. It is a judge symbol (Hebrews 4:12-13). Moreover, the inscription on the white stone can be made to harmonize with this interpretation. It is a "new name" unknown to the heathen judges, but well known to the recipient. If this be our Lord’s own new name as later revealed in the book (Revelation 12:1-17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 16:1-21) it is intensely significant in the connection: "Word of God," "King of kings and Lord of lords," i.e., the earthly judgment condemns, the divine judgment acquits, the condemnation is from earthly lords ¾ the justification from the Lord of lords. The expression "known only to him who receives it" means the assurance of divine acceptance, the witness of the Spirit, bearing witness with His own spirit, which, being entirely a matter of personal experience, cannot be known to any one except the recipient.

5. "And I will give him authority over nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter are broken into shivers." (Revelation 2:26-27)

More than any one of the other promises does this one need careful exposition. Its misinterpretation has been productive of monstrous evils in the Christian centuries, and the end is not yet. It is quoted to support the Romanist pretension that all nations are under the absolute jurisdiction of the Papal hierarchy, in the exercise of which continents have been bestowed upon favorite monarchs, kings have been dethroned, subjects absolved from allegiance, crusades preached, property confiscated, cruel persecutions waged, marriages annulled, family ties dissolved. The record of these evils constitutes the bloodiest volumes in the annals of time. Nor has its misuse been limited to the Romanists. The evils are not less evil when flowing from Protestant or Greek Catholic misapplication. They have prevailed whenever and wherever religious sectaries of any name have usurped control over states. "The mad men of Munster," the Cameronians of Scotland, the Fifth Monarchy men of Cromwell’s day, the Muggletonians and Mormons of this country, all belong to the same category. In order to correct interpretation we must first understand the terms employed and their biblical usage.

(a) First of all, the promise, whatever it means, is not to any religious denomination or ecclesiastical organization, but only to the individual Christian who overcomes: "To him that overcometh I will give" ¾ it is not a grant of power to any one of the seven churches, nor to all of them combined. This is a capital, fundamental, crucial, vital fact, essential to correct interpretation.

(b) The promise is not "power" ¾ Greek dunamis ¾ but "authority" ¾ Greek exousia.

(c) The verb "shall rule" is not basileuo, but poimaino, which means "to shepherd" ¾ "he shall shepherd them."

(d) "The rod of iron," Greek rabdos ¾ rod of correction ¾ is the shepherd’s rod, iron-tipped at one end, and with a crook at the other end. See the Septuagint for the Shepherd Psalm: "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." The shepherd does not carry two things, one a rod, and the other a staff, but the same thing is either rod or staff according to its use. See the author’s sermon on Psalms 23:4.

(e) The "breaking into shivers as a potter’s vessel," is not necessarily for ultimate destruction, but may look to reconstruction (see Jeremiah 18:4-10). It becomes destructive only when impenitence becomes incorrigible (Jeremiah 19:1-11), and even then applies not to all the nation but only to its hostile elements. In other words, we miss the mark if we construe all this rule as punitive. The primary intent looks to correction and salvation; as the shepherd goads the wandering sheep with the iron-tipped end of his staff into a safer path, or draws him back from a precipice with the crook at the other end, or sets up the staff as an ensign for rallying the flock together in time of danger, or with it counts them each morning and evening as they, one by one, "pass under the rod" in leaving the fold for pasturage or returning to it for shelter, or in using it as a weapon of offence against the enemies of the flock.

(f) This rule, or shepherding, so far as exercised mediately in time by him that overcometh, is not executive, but instructive and declarative. When God, in time, "hews a nation by a prophet," the prophet simply declares, but does not execute the divine threat. As Jonah was sent, not to overturn Nineveh, but merely to declare "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown" (Jonah 3:4). And the case of Nineveh will show the merciful intent of Jeremiah’s illustration of the potter’s vessel: "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation or kingdom to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy it, if that nation concerning which I have spoken turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them" (Jeremiah 19:7-10). The overcoming Christian, like the ancient prophet, is God’s mouthpiece to the nations:

"Behold! I have put my words into thy mouth: see this day I have put thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy, and to overthrow, to build and to plant" (Jeremiah 1:9-10).

Even in the prototype of our passage (Psalms 2:8-12), where the nations are given to our ascended Lord for an inheritance, and where it is said: "Thou shalt break them with an iron rod, and shalt dash them into pieces as a potter’s vessel," the verses which follow show the merciful and instructive intent of the threat. Which passage naturally leads to our last thought in this connection: The authority promised is derivative and limited, and not inherent and absolute, and arises from the overcoming Christian’s unity with Christ and His representative function of acting mediately for Christ. This is evident from the modifying clause: "even as I have received from my Father" (Revelation 2:27).

Here it is quite important to understand the meritorious ground of Christ’s own authority, how received and to what end, since what He received is that which He imparts and certainly to the same end, and which so imparted must be exercised as He Himself used it. The authority in question does not rise from His Sonship in eternity, but from His Sonship in the flesh. It is expressly said to be derived from the voluntary humiliation and vicarious expiation of sin in the flesh. See particularly Php 2:6-11. Hence, historically, He was invested with universal sovereignty after His resurrection. The author insists that you carefully study this proof: Daniel 7:13-14; Psalms 2:1-12; Psalms 110:1; Acts 2:33-36; Acts 4:25-27; Revelation 5:12-14. In times antecedent to His actual historical sacrifice for sin, when sin is remitted to a penitent believer or rule exercised over a nation, it is by anticipation of that sacrifice, God accepting His promise to die for man as if already it had been done, so that as this book later puts it: "A Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." In His exalted and glorified humanity He was made "head over all things to his church." It is to this He refers as the predicate of His Great Commission: "All authority in heaven and on earth is given unto me. Go ye, therefore, disciple all the nations" (Matthew 28:18). And from this passage we gather both the method and the end of "shepherding the nations." The method is not a carnal one, by fire and sword, as rule is enforced by worldly kingdoms, but spiritual. The primary end is not destruction, but salvation. The exercise of this authority, whether by Himself directly, or mediately through His people, is to promote the interest of His spiritual kingdom. Hence the proximate result of its exercise is expressed in Daniel 2:44; Psalms 72:5-17; Revelation 11:15, and its ultimate result in Revelation 21:23-27.

6. "And I will give him the morning star" (Revelation 2:28). This is the second promise to the faithful in Thyatira. The meaning of this symbolism is obvious. As the morning star is the herald of the coming day, so to the faithful our Lord will give a premonition of the final glorious triumph. This, of course, is the inward assurance by the Spirit realized in personal experience, just as the white stone symbol of acquittal bears an inscription equal to internal assurance, known only to the recipient. As Peter expresses it, we have the surer word of prophecy shining as a lamp in the night: "until the day star arise in your hearts." Paul (1 Thessalonians 5:3-4) declares that in the day of our Lord, which comes as a thief in the night, the destruction of the wicked is sudden, and adds by way of contrast: "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." There is no question that the final advent of our Lord to raise the dead and judge the world will be personal, visible, audible, palpable, and that this advent is the great event of the future, as His first advent was until His incarnation. Nor is it questioned that this book, as others of the New Testament, clearly discusses it. But it is equally clear, in this and other New Testament books, that signal time events, as the coming of the Spirit, and particularly great judgments ¾ as the destruction of Jerusalem, or the removal of a candlestick, or death to an individual, are called "a coming of the Lord." In this sense He is always coming. He is only a tyro in biblical interpretation who insists that every scriptural reference to a coming of the Lord must be construed as an allusion to His final advent. The promise of the gift of the "morning star" applies as much to these time comings as to His final advent, e.g., He gave to His elect a premonitory sign which enabled them to escape the wrath of His coming in the destruction of Jerusalem.

7. "He shall be arrayed in white garments" (Revelation 3:5). This is the first promise to the overcoming few in Sardis who "had not defiled their garments." In order to a correct interpretation of this passage we must collate it with the following correlative passages: The "wedding garment" of Matthew 22:12; the "white robe" conferred on the souls of the martyrs, Revelation 7:9; Revelation 7:13-14; the fine linen or wedding garment of the Bride at the marriage of the Lamb, Revelation 19:7-8; and the "washed robes" that entitle to the tree of life, Revelation 22:14. Once in my early ministry, before preaching a sermon on the "Wedding Garment" of Matthew 22:12, I read Dr. Broadus’ comment on the passage interpreting the wedding garment to mean righteousness in character and life, adding: "But to bring in the Pauline conception of imputed righteousness, and understand the parable to teach that, we must put on the wedding garment of Christ’s imputed righteousness, is altogether out of place." Then, I read Dr. Gill’s comment, taking the opposite position, insisting that we must interpret the wedding garment to mean the imputed righteousness of Christ. Whereupon a lawyer of my congregation whispered to another lawyer: "When Broadus points one way and Gill another way this darky is gwine to take to the woods." The other replied: "Before taking to the woods, let’s hear the pastor." So I say now, before taking to the woods on this promise, hear the author, for there is a middle road agreeing in part with both Broadus and Gill, and following neither altogether. Both are right in interpreting the wedding garment to mean righteousness, or holiness, rather, but this holiness is not limited, as Gill would have it, to justification, nor to character and life as Broadus has it. But Dr. Broadus is nearer right than Gill in this that the wedding garment righteousness refers not at all to the salvation done for us ¾ that is to say, in its legal aspects as accomplished by redemption, justification, and adoption ¾ but altogether to the salvation wrought in us by both regeneration and sanctification. Every redeemed, justified, and adopted man is at the same time internally cleansed from the defilement of sin by the Spirit’s application of Christ’s blood. This is the first and an essential part of regeneration. Regeneration consists of (1) cleansing from the defilement of sin by the Spirit’s application of the blood of Christ, and

(2) of renewing. Both of these integral parts of regeneration come at justification. Then the work of internal cleansing, begun in regeneration, is carried on through sanctification, which is completed at the death of the body, so that of these disembodied saints we may say with Hebrews 12:23, "The spirits of just men (justified) made perfect," or with Revelation 6:11, "And there was given them to each one a white robe" ¾ i.e., to the soul of each martyr underneath the altar, as revealed at the opening of the fifth seal. The cleansing part of regeneration was typified by the sprinkling with a bunch of hyssop, of the liquefied ashes of the red heifer, or water of purification (Ezekiel 36:25; Hebrews 9:13-14). This is "the washing of regeneration" in Titus 3:5, referred to also in 1 Corinthians 6:11, "Such were some of you, but ye were washed." And, if you are able to bear it, this is the "born of water" in John 3:5, which Nicodemus, a teacher in Israel, was rebuked for not understanding, so clearly was it taught in the Old Testament. In the same way was the cleansing of sanctification applied to the penitent backslider David (Psalms 51:2; Psalms 51:7), "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin; purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." And to the cleansing of both regeneration and sanctification does Paul refer in Ephesians 5:26-27, "That he might sanctify it, haying cleansed it by the washing of the water with the word, that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not haying spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." The grace of this cleansing, whether in regeneration or sanctification, appears from its efficient cause, the blood of Christ: "And one of the elders answered saying unto me: These that are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and whence come they? And I say unto him, My Lord, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they that come out of great tribulation, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." "Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life and may enter in by the gates into the city.

Now, this internal cleansing, this perfecting in personal holiness, is symbolized by the white robe, or wedding garment: "And it was given unto the Lamb’s wife that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints." Note the plural "righteousnesses," which does not mean as the Revision puts it "the righteous acts of the saints." This would flatly contradict the regeneration part of this righteousness (see Titus 3:5). And so it would contradict the many cleansings of sanctification ¾ "Christ being made unto us sanctifications," every time as in David’s case, the Spirit applies the same cleansing blood.

It is true enough that the regenerated man, progressing in sanctification, acquires personal character, exhibited in life and good works. But this is not what is meant by the wedding garment of Matthew or the white robe of Revelation, which is the same thing. The white robe means holiness, as God is holy. The means of the cleansing is Christ’s atoning blood. This is applied by the Spirit and apprehended by faith. The whole of it is God’s work and is of grace from the first cleansing in regeneration to the last cleansing of sanctification. That it is not character on earth is evident from Revelation 6:2, where it is bestowed after death. So with the teaching of Revelation 7:13-14; Revelation 19:7. The glorious result is expressed in Ephesians 5:27 ¾ "that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." It will also be forever true that the elect are immune from any law charge because wrapped in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us when by faith we are espoused to Christ. And also forever true that the white robe of the marriage is another thing, being personal holiness wrought in us by the Holy Spirit in regeneration and sanctification. It is therefore respectfully submitted that Dr. Gill is in error when he expounds the wedding garment to be Christ’s righteousness imputed to us, or anything done for us in the legal acts of redemption, justification, adoption, and equally so that Dr. Broadus is mistaken when he interprets it to mean our character or life as the embodiment of deeds done by us, no matter how much they may have been the fruits of grace. But it means personal holiness wrought in us by the Holy Spirit:

(1) By the cleansing of regeneration when the blood of Christ is applied by the Spirit. Ezekiel 36:25; Hebrews 9:14; first clause of Hebrews 10:22; Titus 3:5, first clause; 1 Corinthians 6:11, first clause.

(2) By the continued cleansing of sanctification until holiness of spirit is perfected ¾ as in the cleansing of backslidden David (Psalms 2:2; Psalms 2:7); in the continual changes into Christ’s image (2 Corinthians 3:18). That both the cleansing in regeneration and the subsequent cleansing of sanctification are meant is evident from that one supreme proof text, Ephesians 5:26, compared with Revelation 6:11, first clause, and Revelation 7:13-14; Revelation 22:14. The plural "righteousnesses" in Revelation 19:8, refers therefore not to acts of the saints but to the Spirit’s acts in the saints.

8. "1 will in no wise blot out his name out of the book of life" (Revelation 3:5). This is the second promise to the faithful at Sardis. Two questions are:

What, then, is the book of life? By its very name it is a register of immortals. "He that believeth in me shall never die" ¾ shall never come into condemnation ¾ "but hath eternal life." The nature of this book may be considered from one of two views:

(1) A list of all His elect as God saw them before the foundation of the world. This would be the list of the original divine purpose. This view has been supported largely by an interpretation of Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8; but this interpretation is very doubtful, since it makes the phrase "from the foundation of the world" modify "written in the book" rather than the "Lamb slain." Your Standard Revision supports this view.

(2) A much safer view is that it is a register of judicial decisions, each name written when the owner is justified (Isaiah 4:3). It has this meaning in Revelation 20:15; Revelation 21:27, and Daniel 12:1. And because this judicial decision is irrevocable, it explains the ground of joy in our Savior’s words to the seventy (Luke 10:20), and the fact that no indictment can be drawn against God’s elect, since it is God that justifies (Romans 8:33). See also Php 4:3, and Hebrews 12:23. On the meaning of this book and its use at the judgment (Revelation 20:15) is written this hymn: When thou, my righteous judge, shalt come To take thy ransomed people home, Shall I among them stand? Shall I, who sometimes am afraid to die, Be found at thy right hand?

Oh, can I bear the piercing thought:

What if my name shall be left out?

What then is the exact force of not blotting out the name? In all Greek cities, and later at Rome, there was an enrollment of citizens as distinguished from the general population who had no rights of citizenship. Citizenship could be forfeited during life by adjudged infidelity to the city, decided by a vote of the unaccused citizens, followed by erasure of the name. Some of the best citizens were thus, by prejudice, ostracized, as Greek history shows. A Christian citizen of Sardis might thus lose citizenship on account of loyalty to Christ. Of course, death ended this earthly citizenship. It is the object of the promise to contrast the enrolled citizenship in the heavenly Jerusalem with the enrolled citizenship in Sardis. The point of contrast lies between two citizenships, the two enrollments, and particularly in the fact that heavenly citizenship, after once being enrolled, was never forfeited: "I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life." Many commentaries miss the point in supposing that the heavenly enrollment is a probationary list, subject to erasure, and that this implication inheres in the promise as well as in the threat of Revelation 22:19. Your author is fully persuaded that this position is untenable. He not only admits, but contends, that citizenship was forfeitable not only in Greek cities and in Rome, but also in the Jewish state, but utterly denies it of the heavenly citizenship, and that this very fact is the essence of the promise.

9. "I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name" (Revelation 3:12).

Perhaps the most imposing, most ornamental, if not the most useful parts of a great edifice are its pillars. Only the wealth of a king could supply even one of the pillars of the temple of Diana at Ephesus. The surviving pillars in the ruins of ancient temples and cities yet challenge the admiration of the world as masterpieces of human skill and genius. It marked the prominence and importance of James, Cephas, and John to be "reputed as pillars" in the Jerusalem church (Galatians 2:29), and glorified the church when called "the pillar of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). To be made, therefore, an everlasting pillar in the heavenly temple is an expression of the highest honor. This honor is enhanced by the inscriptions on it by the divine architect Himself - the name of God, the name of the new Jerusalem, the new name of the architect Himself, to wit: "Faithful and True ... KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:11; Revelation 19:13; Revelation 19:16).

10. "I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father in his throne" (Revelation 3:21). This is not the throne of ruling, expressed in a previous promise, but the throne of final judgment. On the last great day, earth’s supreme assize, the faithful ones are placed at the Lord’s right hand, i.e., on His judgment throne (Matthew 25:31; Matthew 25:33), and shall participate with Him in passing judgment on wicked men and angels. Jesus had already promised to His apostles that in the world’s regeneration (palingenesia, i.e., the time of the restoration of all things), they should sit on the twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:29). And Paul had said: "Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" (1 Cor 6:23). What a reversal of earth condition when the Sanhedrin that tried Peter and

John shall be judged by them! When Gallio, Festus, Agrippa, and Nero shall stand before Paul’s tribunal. What poetic justice when job and Peter shall judge the devil.