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  A FIRST CENTURY MESSAGE TO TWENTIETH CENTURY CHRISTIANS
  by G. Campbell Morgan
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Morgan's exposition of the messages to the seven churches of Asia Minor in
Revelation chapters 2-3, applying Christ's commendations, warnings, and promises
to the modern church. He analyzes the symbolic vision of the risen Christ among
the golden lampstands and draws practical lessons for contemporary Christianity.

  Chapters: 10

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    0. A First Century Message to Twentieth Century Christians
    1. Part 1
    2. Part 2
    3. Part 3
    4. Part 4
    5. Part 5
    6. Part 6
    7. Part 7
    8. Part 8
    9. Part 9

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  CHAPTER 0: A FIRST CENTURY MESSAGE TO TWENTIETH CENTURY CHRISTIANS
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  CHAPTER 1: PART 1
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CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY In order to a proper understanding of the purpose of the
letters to the churches of Asia, it is necessary that some words should be
spoken concerning the book in which they are to be found. This book contains the
last messages of Christ to men. In some important ways, it differs from any
other book in the Divine Library.

John did not receive it by the inspiration of the Spirit in the ordinary sense
of that expression, but directly from Jesus Christ, as He appeared to him while
in exile in Patmos. The usual title, The Revelation of Saint John the Divine, is
misleading, as the opening words of the book will show, which read, The
Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show unto His servants.
Perhaps no book has been more neglected than this Revelation of Jesus Christ,
and yet it the only one that opens with a distinct and threefold blessing
pronounced, a blessing first, upon those who read, secondly, upon those who
hear, thirdly, upon those who keep these things that are written therein.

There must be some deep significance in this introductory pronouncement, and
because of the difficulty of interpretation, the Church has no right to neglect
her Master's last message. Yet while it is true that no book has been so sadly
neglected, it is also true that around no book has there waged more persistent
controversy. So keen has that controversy been that we find Christian people
divided into distinct schools of thought about it, and we hear of preterist,
presentist, futurist, and spiritual interpretations.

These differences have no detailed place in our present discussion. Our business
lies only with the messages to the churches. That we may see their place, some
word must be said about the general character of the book.

The book of Revelation is not primarily a book of Church truth. It is a book of
judgment, in the broadest sense of that word. Judgment, that is, as the method
and government of God.

It reveals the consummation of the world's history, and gives a panorama of
God's final dealings with the earth. We find ourselves largely back in the realm
of Old Testament truth. Jehovah is introduced in language in keeping with the
thoughts suggested by that name to ancient Hebrew people.

Him which is, and which was, and which is to come. The Holy Spirit is spoken of,
not as the unified personality that men came to know through the work of Christ,
and who appears in the epistles of the New Testament. He is seen, rather, as
seven spirits, that is, in the perfection of activity, and these spirits,
moreover, are before the throne.

Jesus is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the
kings of the earth. While the church, loved and loosed from sin, is a kingdom of
priests, perfected in their number, and save in the early chapters, occupying a
place in glory. Thus God is revealed as supreme in the government of the
universe, the spirit as the light and activity of that government, and Jesus as
the faithful witness, and as ruling the kings of the earth.

The outlook of Revelation is larger than the church of Christ. It deals, not
with the relation of God as father to the company of saved in the church, but to
his larger relation as king and governor of the whole earth. There has been a
great deal of cloudy thinking and teaching on these subjects.

Many seem to imagine that the church and the kingdom of God are one and the same
thing. The fact is that the kingdom of God is infinitely larger than the church,
and includes that whole realm over which God is king, and in which that kingship
will finally be established. Today the church recognizes and submits to that
kingship.

The time will come when all nations shall recognize and submit. The church is an
instrument to that end. And yet she is a complete entity within herself, having
her specific vocation in future ages.

The whole book of Revelation reveals the final stages in the work of God with
humanity. No one has perfectly understood all its teaching. Its great principles
are evident.

It shows the final overthrow of evil and the setting up of the eternal kingdom
of God. It moreover teaches us that that overthrow and that setting up will be
realized through Jesus, the anointed king. In all probability, the key to the
division of the book is to be found in the words, Write therefore the things
which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall come to
pass hereafter.

This first divides the book and marks the subjects upon which John was
commissioned by Jesus to write. 1. The things which thou sawest. 2. The things
which are.

3. The things which shall come to pass after these. The first of these
undoubtedly has reference to the vision of glory that John looked upon, the
second to the condition of things existent as described in the seven letters to
the churches, and the things after these are the final things, the chronicle of
which commences in chapter 4 verse 1. Let it be noted that in chapter 1 verse 19
the word hereafter is a translation of the two words peroravra, and in chapter 4
verse 1 after these things is a translation of the same two words. Thus
evidently the third division begins at the fourth chapter and from there to the
end we have unfulfilled prophecy.

With this section of the book we have now nothing to do. Our particular subject
is the second division, the things which are. Of this there have been three
interpretations.

First, that the epistles were actually written to seven churches at the time
existing in Asia. Second, that the epistles contain an unfolding of the
condition of the church in successive stages of its history. Third, that the
epistles give a picture of seven conditions of church life to be found
continuously in the history of the church of Christ.

My own conviction is that all these are true. I propose, however, to consider
them in light of the first and third, that is to say, as letters written to
actual churches and as having perpetual application to some phase of church
life. While there is very little doubt that they do reveal a process in the
history of the church, upon that phase of their teaching I do not intend to
touch.

We shall first look at the vision which arrested John in the isle of Patmos,
then at the seven epistles, endeavoring to gather their message to the age in
which we live so that we are to give attention to a first century message to
20th century Christians. In dealing with each of the epistles we shall notice
four distinct matters. 1. Christ's title.

2. Christ's commendation. 3. Christ's complaint. 4. Christ's counsel.

These will not always be in this exact order, for in some cases either
commendation or complaint is omitted, but for these as main points of interest
we shall look in our studies. End of chapter 1


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  CHAPTER 2: PART 2
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Chapter 2 of A First-Century Message to Twentieth-Century Christians by G.
Campbell Morgan. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
Marianne Spiegel.

Chapter 2. The Vision and the Voice. And I turned to see the voice which spake
with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, in the midst of the
lampstands, one like unto a son of man, clothed with the garment down to the
foot, and girt about at the breast with a golden girdle. And his head and his
hair were as white as white wool, white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of
fire, and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a
furnace, and his voice as the voice of many waters.

And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp
two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. The
mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven
golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the
seven lampstands are seven churches.

Revelation chapter 1 verses 12 to 16 and verse 20. When in the loneliness of
Patmos John heard a voice behind him, he turned to see, and having turned he
saw. The vision that fell upon him was present during all the messages he
received for the churches, lending value and emphasis to these messages.

If we, therefore, are to understand, we must also see the vision. Let us take a
general survey, note the first impression produced, and then proceed to a
careful examination of the central figure. Having turned, he saw seven golden
lampstands, one like unto a son of man.

He had in his right hand seven stars. He first beheld seven golden lampstands.
Lampstand is a better translation, and far more perfectly conveys the true
symbolism.

A candlestick presupposes a kind of light which is self-consumptive. A lampstand
presupposes a light which may be perpetually fed by oil, and in Scripture, oil
is constantly emblematic of the Holy Spirit. Of these lampstands, the master
himself gives the interpretation.

The seven lampstands are seven churches. Thus each individual church is seen as
a center of light. Then, in the midst of the lampstands, he saw one like unto a
son of man.

Thus Christ is seen in all human sympathy, presiding over the churches in the
exercise of their function. He, moreover, notices that in the right hand of the
son of man were seven stars, and here again we have the interpretation of the
Lord. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.

The first impression produced by the vision is peculiar, and apparently
contradictory. It is evidently a night scene, as witness the lampstands and the
stars, and yet it is a day scene, for, behold, the countenance of the son of man
is, as the sun shineth in his strength. John beheld as in a vision, the church
in its present relation and responsibility to Christ and the world.

The night all around is the world's darkness. The only light shining upon that
darkness is that which comes from the lampstands. The vision of Christ's face is
that of the sun, is a revelation of what he is to his people.

To them it is daytime, for ye are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are
not of the night nor of darkness. The church is here seen as the light bearer,
with Christ as unifying center and directing authority.

Christ himself in the midst of the seven lampstands creates their unity. The
unity of the church consists in the common relationship of each church to the
Lord himself who is present in the midst. In his right hand he holds the
messengers, and herein is revealed the true position that ministry occupies in
the Christian church, whether it be the ministry of authoritative teaching as
given through the apostles, the ministry of prophetic utterance, the ministry of
evangelization, or that of the pastoral office.

Christ the truth, the angel his messenger, the church that to which truth is
made known by the messenger, and in which truth is embodied, that its light may
fall upon the surrounding darkness. No man can be a messenger of the master and
the church save as he is held in the right hand of Jesus and interprets not his
idea concerning the church's well-being, nor the church's wish concerning its
function, but the will of the master. The messenger has no authority in himself,
no authority which he derives from the church over which he presides.

His authority is the communicated authority of the Son of Man, who is Lord and
Master of the whole. In the midst of the world's night, the church unified by
the presence of the Lord, diversified in the seven lampstands, is a light
shining in a dark place. This perfectly sets forth the one responsibility of
every church of Jesus Christ.

It is to be a medium through which the essential light of the world shall shine
upon the world's darkness. The most important principle to be perpetually borne
in mind by those who would fulfill the highest function of church life is that
the world waits for light, and the church's only capacity for shedding the light
is that she should live in the day which the face of Christ creates for her. No
church, and no individual member of a church, can fling across the darkness one
ray or gleam of light, save as that church, or that person, lives in the
sunshine created by the shining of his face.

When the master was here, he said, I am the light of the world. That light was
eclipsed in the darkness of Calvary's cross, but from behind the dense cloud it
broke again to shine upon all those who receive life by the way of that cross,
and through them to flash upon the night of the world. Thus having seen the
general scheme, before passing to a close consideration of the central figure,
we pause for a moment to look again at the lampstands and at the stars.

Let it be emphasized that the lampstands are not the sources of light, but the
bearers of light, also that their number is seven, and that they are golden. So
that if they do not in themselves create light, it is evident that the medium
upon which the light is to rest, and from which it is to flash upon the
darkness, must be heavenly and perfect. While we have no light of our own with
which to help men in the darkness, for God's light must shine upon and through
us, we must, in order to that shining, know what it is to partake of that nature
which is symbolized by the gold of the sanctuary.

Thus we have a symbolism of function and a symbolism of character. The stars
held in his right hand are symbols of the fact that ministry, to be effective,
must be of a heavenly character, revolving solely around the central sun. In
reverently examining the central figure, we notice first his position.

He is, in the midst of the lampstands, unifying them into one whole and
directing them by individual messages, showing his intimate acquaintance with
the details of each. His general appearance is that of the son of man. It is
important to remember that this phrase often occurs in the gospel narratives
with regard to the master, eighty-five times, and of these, Christ himself makes
use of it eighty-three.

The first detail of the vision is a symbolism of function, and the second a
symbolism of character. His function is suggested by his robing, clothed with
the garment down to the foot and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle.
Two things are suggested by this double figure.

The garment to the foot suggests the right to govern and to judge. It is the
robing of judicial authority, not the robing of the priest. He is here seen as
the central authority in all church life, having sole right to pronounce verdict
and sentence upon all the service that the church renders.

The girdle is frequently mentioned in Scripture. Sometimes it is the girdle of
the loins, and sometimes the girdle of the breasts. The former is the symbol of
activity and power, the latter that of faithfulness and affection.

In this case, the girdle is at the breasts, showing the fidelity of his love.
This robing of the son of man reveals his judicial position among the churches,
and that all the exercise of judicial right is based upon the faithfulness of
the eternal love. A remarkable scripture in the prophecy of Isaiah will serve to
throw light upon the robing.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the
son of Helkiah, and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy
girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand. And he shall be a father
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the houses of Judah. There is, of
course, no immediate connection between the subject dealt with in Isaiah and the
one now under consideration, but we refer to it that we may have light upon the
symbolism of the robe and the girdle in our vision.

Jesus moves amid the churches with the robe reaching to his feet, marking the
fact that he is the sole governor of his people, having the right to pass his
verdict upon their service, and reward or punish them as he will. The golden
girdle about the breast reveals the fact that every judgment he pronounces, and
every sentence he passes, is based upon his infinite love and faithfulness.
Christ is the one supreme head, ruler, governor among his people, and all his
headship, his rule, and his government are based upon his infinite and unfailing
compassion.

Passing from the symbolism of function to that of character, we have the most
marvelous and entrancing vision of Jesus Christ contained in Scripture. We can
do no more than pass rapidly over, attempting to indicate the significance of
the sevenfold glory revealed. His head and his hair were white as white wool,
white as snow.

His eyes were as flames of fire. His feet like underburnished brass, as if it
had been refined in a furnace. His voice as the voice of many waters.

In his right hand seven stars. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged
sword. His countenance was as the sun that shineth in his strength.

Here are seven points to which our attention is directed. His head, his hair,
his eyes, his feet, his voice, his hand, his mouth, his countenance. Let us take
them in their order.

His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow. Two facts are
symbolized by this language. His purity and his eternity.

The description is remarkably similar to that in the book of Daniel, describing
the Ancient of Days. The hair white as wool is the mark of age, and yet of age
that is not aged. This whiteness is moreover the symbol of purity, and these two
facts are, in the last analysis, but one, for all eternal things are pure, and
only purity can be eternal.

The doomed things are the base, the impure, the unholy things, and in the
glorious vision of the royal head of the Son of Man, shining like some
snow-capped mountain peak, far elevated, we see him as Son of God also, his
purity as the basis of his eternity, his eternity the crowning of his purity.
His eyes were as a flame of fire. Here the suggestion is that of infinite and
infallible knowledge, eyes that pierce and penetrate, from which no secret thing
can possibly be hidden, eyes that being as a flame of fire, seeing through and
through, detect all that is hidden from ordinary sight, separating with unerring
accuracy the alloy from the pure gold.

Thus the Son of Man amid the churches is revealed as the one from whom nothing
can be hidden. There's no detail in the doings of a church, or in the life of an
individual member, that he is not perfectly acquainted with. He has seen and
rightly valued every deed of lowly service, which the earthly records of the
church have found no place for.

The steady, searching eyes of the great Son of Man are ever upon the churches
that bear his name, and absolutely nothing can be hidden from that gaze. His
feet, like underburnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. The
feet are the symbols of procedure, and indicate the continued activity of Christ
among the churches, and through the churches, as he marches, the leader of the
hosts of God, toward his ultimate victory.

These feet are of brass, as though they burned in a furnace. Brass is invariably
the type of strength, and the furnace of fire is symbolic of purification. Thus
the Son of Man is seen moving amid the churches ever toward the consummation
upon which heart of God is set, with such absolute purity that he can never be
contaminated with the evil upon which he treads, and with such tremendous
strength that he can never be prevented by the opposition raised against him.

His Voice as the Voice of Many Waters This exquisitely beautiful statement I
think I never appreciated, until for the first time I stood near the mighty
falls of Niagara, as the water sweeps from height to depth in calm, persistent
majesty, with a cry that excludes all other sounds, possesses all your soul, and
yet fills you with a deep peace and quiet. The mighty music of the many waters
impressed me as nothing else, and as I listened there came to me with new
meaning the words, His Voice as the Voice of Many Waters. The suggestion is very
beautiful.

What is the Voice of Many Waters? It is a perfect concord of diverse tones, many
waters, one voice. God, having of old spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by
diverse portions and in diverse manners, hath at the end of these days spoken
unto us in his Son. His Voice as the Voice of Many Waters These waters have come
from the hills of long ago in single streams, all their courses bent toward him.

In him they mingle and they merge, and in him is discovered the perfect harmony
of the thousand melodies of the past. Close attention by a trained ear will
detect each a separate value, and it will be found that there is no subject upon
which he has not something to say. He speaks to art, to music, to science, to
literature, to all life, to each separately, and yet to each in its relation to
all the rest.

Many waters, many messengers, many messages, yet one voice, one word, one
revelation. So moving amid the lampstands, with hair like wool, telling of his
purity and eternity, with eyes as a flame of fire, searching and knowing every
detail of all the life of the churches, with his feet like brass that burned in
a furnace, moving toward the consummation, he speaks, and the infinite music is
a perfect harmony of all the tones of the Voice of God. He had in his right hand
seven stars.

In all the symbolism of the old economy the right hand is the mark of
authoritative administration, and here has the same significance. In the center
of that hand of power rest the seven stars which are the angels of the churches,
the place of perfect rest, perfect power, perfect protection. O blessed, blessed
place of rest for the Master's messengers! O high and holy honor to lie in that
right hand, and listen while he speaks, and still from the same vantage ground
to repeat the words of his will.

Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. We have heard the voice of
many waters that speaks of revelation, of his uttering of the deep things of
God. Here is symbolized another aspect of his speech to men, that namely of his
pronouncement on the things of men.

While he was yet on earth, he distinctly affirmed that by his words men should
be judged, and the value of this symbolism will be better understood as we hear
his verdict concerning the churches amid whom he moves. It will then be seen how
sharp that sword is, and how its double action condemns the fault and approves
the excellence. His countenance as the sun shineth in his strength.

The countenance is the sum total of all the features of the face. The dome-like
splendor of the forehead, crowned by the white hair, the flashing glory of the
wondrous eyes, the marvelous expressiveness of the mouth, from which proceeds
the sword-like speech, and the sound of the voice of many waters. Take all
these, and other things not described, in culmination, and the result is a sun
of light and glory, shining in strength.

God is a sun, and the merging of the features of humanity into the perfect
impression of the countenance, reveals in might and majesty the deity of the
man. Take this picture, and look at it again and again, until the vision holds
you in its marvelous power. His head and his hair white like wool, his purity
and his eternity, his eyes like a flame of fire, his intimate knowledge
penetrating and piercing, his feet like burnished brass, signifying the
procedure of strength and purity, his voice like the voice of many waters, a
concord of perfect tones, in his hand seven stars, his administrative right,
power and protection, from his mouth a sharp two-edged sword, keen and accurate
verdicts concerning his people, his whole countenance as the sun, creating day,
flashing light, bathing all the landscape with beauty.

Such was the one who moved amid the churches in the vision of the saint at
Patmos, and such the one who still unifies the churches into the church by his
presence and precedence. Thus the Lord is seen in all the fullness and the
functions of his glory, presiding over the witnessing of the church in the midst
of darkness. And we now turn to study the messages he delivers, ever keeping
this vision before us.

End of chapter 2


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  CHAPTER 3: PART 3
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CHAPTER III. THE EPHESUS LETTER To the angel of the church in Ephesus write,
These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, he that
walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. I know thy works, and thy
toil and patience, and that thou canst not bear evil men, and didst try them
which call themselves apostles, and they are not, and didst find them false.

And thou hast patience, and didst bear for my namesake, and hast not grown
weary. But I have against thee that thou didst leave thy first love. Remember,
therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or
else I come to thee, and will move thy lampstand out of its place, except thou
repent.

But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also
hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
To him that overcometh, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is
in the paradise of God.

REVELATION CHAPTER II. VERSES 1-7 At the time of the writing of the Epistle,
Ephesus was the metropolis of Ionia, and undoubtedly a great and opulent city.
All kinds of people were gathered there, the wealthy and the learned, as well as
the poor and the illiterate.

The general condition of life was that of a wealthy, cultured, and corrupt
community. So far as the history of the church is concerned, we have a most
interesting account of its planting and progress in the Acts of the Apostles.
This account lies almost completely within chapters 18-20.

Paul, on his journeyings, arrived in the city accompanied by Aquila and
Priscilla. As his custom was, he went into the synagogue, and spoke to the
assembled people of the one theme ever on his heart. Passing on his way, he left
behind him these two people.

Thus was first spoken the message of the risen and crucified Christ, and from
such an apparently hurried commencement there came eventually a strong and
remarkable church. The next event of note was the arrival of Apollos. He had
learned of Jesus through the ministry of John, and was a man of splendid mental
equipment and great oratorical power.

In Ephesus he declared all he knew of truth with result that a little group of
men, attracted by the story he had to tell, imperfect though it was, were
baptized with the baptism of John. Beyond that they made no progress. There were
in all about twelve in number.

Then came a crisis. Paul returned to Ephesus, Apollos having passed on to Achia
and Corinth. In the nineteenth and twentieth chapters of the Acts, we have,
briefly stated, the work he accomplished during a period of about three years.

It is very interesting to notice the growth. He found twelve disciples,
imperfectly instructed, not yet having received the Spirit of God, men who were
followers of Christ so far as they had light. Apollos had preached the baptism
of water to repentance as preparatory to entrance upon the kingdom over which
Jesus was to preside.

Paul found them ignorant of the very essentials of Christianity, and asked them
evidently in a tone of surprise and inquiry, Did you receive the Holy Ghost when
you believed? And they replied, Nay, we did not as much as hear whether the Holy
Ghost was given. This called for further inquiry as to the nature of their
baptism, and finding that they had been baptized with John's baptism, he led
them into further light. How much they had gained from obedience to the light
received is revealed by their readiness to obey the new light that fell.

They were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus, and the apostle, laying his
hands upon them, they received the Holy Spirit. Then Paul began to teach in the
synagogue, and it is a remarkable fact that they suffered him to do this for
three months. The effect of the preaching was as always.

To those who were disobedient there came hardness, and a spirit of opposition
was aroused. The apostle saw that the time had arrived for the outward formation
of a church. He gathered the disciples out of the synagogue, and securing the
school of Tyrannus, he began preaching there.

During two years the church grew until it became a great center of missionary
operations. The word of God sounded out through all Asia as a result of the
teaching in Ephesus. Then mark what followed.

Imitators arose, men desiring to accomplish the same results, but lacking the
necessary power. Some of these took upon themselves the work of casting out evil
spirits, using the name of Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul
preacheth. But the demons were not so to be deceived.

And the startling answer came, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?
And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and mastered both of
them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of the house naked and
wounded. Attempts to imitate the work of the spirit through the servants of God
always ends disastrously to those who make the attempt. From this experience the
work blazed out again in new power.

Fear fell upon all, and those that practiced magical arts brought their books
together and burned them. Then followed new opposition against Paul, the reason
being that he had endangered the craftsman's art. Then Paul left Ephesus and
journeyed through Macedonia.

Passing back through the same region, he paused at Miletus, that he might there
meet the elders of the church at Ephesus, and as he was to be no more with them,
he gave them parting instructions. It is more than probable that at this time
John came down and took oversight of the church. How long he remained it is
impossible to decide.

In all likelihood the message of Jesus to the church of Ephesus was sent about
thirty-five years after Paul's departure. It reveals the changes that have been
wrought. To it we now turn our attention.

The Lord introduces himself as, He that holdeth the seven stars in his right
hand, he that walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. Here, as
always, there is a very remarkable fitness of selection. It is evident that the
church at Ephesus is fulfilling the true ideal of church order.

Christ is seen as the unifying center and director of the church, walking still
amid the seven golden lampstands, and holding in his right hand the seven stars.
No other things in that descriptive vision are mentioned concerning him. The
true church order is still maintained.

The ministry is in its proper and rightful place. Outwardly everything is as it
should be. There is no flaw, no failure in organization, in work, in attitude,
so far as any visiting apostle could have discovered it, or so far as the world
was concerned in watching it.

Then follows our Lord's commendation, a commendation so remarkable that I
venture to think a careful consideration of it will leave us inclined to ask,
Can there be anything wrong with this church? Had we visited it, in all
probability we should have reported that it was the most remarkable church we
had ever seen. The commendation is sevenfold. I know of thy works, and thy toil
and patience, and that thou canst not bear evil men.

And it's try them which call themselves apostles, and they are not, and it's
find them false. And thou hast patience, and it's bear for my name's sake, and
hast not grown weary. One is startled at the completeness of the commendation.

Consider it closely. I know thy works. This has reference to actual service
being rendered.

The church is not a comfortable club for the conserving of the life of a few
saints. It was an active and aggressive congregation of the saints. I know thy
toil.

This word lies deeper, having reference to the effort that produces work even at
the cost of pain. There are those who boast that their work and their gifts cost
them nothing. Wherever that is true, the work is worthless.

The people at Ephesus could make no such boast, for behind the works lay the
toil. They were not offering to the master, to the church, to the world things
worthless because costless. They were working at the price of toil.

And thy patience. That is the attitude of persistence in the toil that produces
the work. These first three words are closely linked.

Works, toil, patience. All the words are the more wonderful, as we remember that
they fall from the lips of Jesus. It is not merely the opinion of an apostle or
stranger.

It is the definitely expressed verdict of the Lord, of the church. The one who
with eyes of fire scans every detail. I know your works, and behind them there
is the toil that speaks of pain, and enveloping that there is the patient
endurance that makes work perpetual.

And, I know that thou canst not bear evil men. There is no impurity condoned
within the borders of this church. It has no complicity with the evil things in
Ephesus.

They had guarded the fellowship of the saints against the unholy intrusion of
impure men. They had not been lax in their discipline as to life. Thou didst try
them which call themselves apostles, and they are not, and didst find them
false.

The church had been careful about its doctrine, careful about what it listened
to, characterized by discernment and judgment of false teachers. Not only had
their discipline been perfect as to the life of their members, but they had
refused to tolerate false teachers that had come to them. And yet, thou hast
patience and didst bear for my name's sake.

Their persistent fidelity had not been in circumstances that were always easy.
Persecution had raged around them, and yet they had maintained their works. And
then the last and most remarkable word, thou hast not grown weary.

They had a great reserve of strength. All the achievements had been under the
impulse of, and in the power of unswerving fidelity. This description is surely
most remarkable.

The church at work, laboring at the work, patiently persistent in the labor that
produced the work. The church refusing to have fellowship with evil men,
observing the false philosophy of certain teaching and rejecting it. The church,
persistent in its faithfulness and unwearying in its service.

If the master, visiting the church to which we belong, uttered such words as
these, should we not feel that they constituted the highest commendation that
could possibly be passed? And yet once again, after the complaint which he
makes, he adds something more to the commendation. But this thou hast, that thou
hatest the work of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Some doubt exists as to
the peculiar views of the Nicolaitans.

Some light may be thrown upon the subject by reference to the letter to
Pergamum. I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that
hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before
the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit
fornication. So hast thou also some that hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans in
like manner.

My personal conviction is that the Nicolaitans were persons who excused certain
forms of impurity and made the grace of God a cloak for lasciviousness. I
believe the heresy was that known in latter days as antinominalism, which
declares that grace is sufficient for salvation, and that life is of little
moment. This heresy will be dealt with more fully in considering the letter to
Pergamum.

So wonderful a commendation seems to leave nothing to be desired. No eye but the
penetrating eye of fire, which is the eye of love, would ever have detected the
failure of the church at Ephesus, at this point. Subsequently that failure would
have been detected even by the outsider.

The living Lord was conscious of the incipient disease which others could only
know as it manifested itself in the externalities. Light focused in a camera has
revealed the presence of disease in the face of a child long before any symptoms
appeared which a physician could have detected. So the searching light of the
eyes of fire detected the absence of an essential quality in the life of the
church.

I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love. That is all. No
other sentence.

No other word. Immediately he passes to the council which he has to give to the
church. And yet how much he has said! Seeing the church now in the light of his
declaration, all the radiance of the former things is overshadowed.

What is first love? And what is it to lose first love? First love is the love of
espousal. First love is marital. In writing to the Corinthian church, Paul said,
For I espoused you to one husband that I might present you as a pure virgin to
Christ.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness,
your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward
Christ. That is first love. I espoused you to one husband that I might present
you as a pure virgin to Christ.

And this is the loss of pure love. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your mind should be corrupted from the
simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ. The elements of first love,
then, are simplicity and purity.

Now think for a moment of what this same man wrote to this church at Ephesus.
After dealing with the relation of husbands to wives and wives to husbands, he
pens this marvelous statement, This mystery is great, but I speak in regard of
Christ and of the church. Now what is the mystery to which he refers? It is the
mystery of love which has its most radiant revelation in the marriage
relationship, and the apostle declares that that relationship is the most
perfect symbol of that existing between Christ and his bride.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church. Thus it is
evident that Christ's love for the church is typified by the love of husband for
wife. Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.

Thus the love of the church to Christ is typified by the love of the wife for
the husband. What, then, is the love of Christ to the church? Unselfish love.
Love in which there is no single thought of self.

What, then, is the church's love for Christ? The response of love to the mystery
of love. The submission of love to perfect love. First love is the love of
espousal.

Its notes are simplicity and purity. Marital love. The response of love to love.

The subjection of a great love to a great love. The submission of a self-denying
love to a love that denies self. First love is the abandonment of all for love
that has abandoned all.

First love defies analysis. It loves, it knows not why, save that the lover has
by love attracted love, and the responsive love is pure, unselfish, ardent,
humble. The church at Ephesus had had its first love, the love of espousal, the
love of simplicity, the love of singleness, the love in which no low motive
lurked.

First love is fair as the morning, bright with the promise of hope, aflame in
the presence of which all other emotions and enthusiasms are included. It was
this the Master missed. No soul can try to love him.

When you felt your need of him as Savior, and there dawned upon you the vision
of his perfect love, you found that the perfect salvation he offered was himself
given to you. Your raptured soul was bound to him by the excellency of his own
character. In the consciousness of the infinite love of his heart your love was
born, and the first flush of that young love of yours was pure, unselfish,
humble, ardent, burning like a flame, consuming everything in its fervor and its
fire.

Now think of the infinite pathos of that one sentence of complaint, Thou didst
leave thy first love. The emotion and the enthusiasm and the energy are lacking.
Jesus recognizes this.

Had Judas been a member of this church he would have found nothing to criticize.
He criticized Mary of Bethany. And why? Because the love of Mary of Bethany was
the love that overstepped all the bounds of prudence and regularity.

Love cannot be weighed in scales or measured with a foot rule. It overleaps the
channel you cut for it, and laughs its way into meadows, leaving behind it the
track of fertility and the fragrance of flowers. You cannot compress it into
mathematical formulae.

It sings in poetry and forgets calculation. It worships in abandonment and
oversteps arithmetic. It is a vestal flame.

It is the crowning consciousness of life. The church at Ephesus was still a
remarkable church, but it lacked the element of that enthusiasm, which in the
eyes of the calculating worldling is important. There are some people who
imagine that this lack of enthusiasm is an advantage.

May God have mercy on such. I pray the day may never come when the heroisms and
enthusiasms of first love shall cease. Christ stands confronting this great
church, and he says, in effect, There is much of excellency, but I miss the
first love.

I do not hear the song at the unusual hour. I wait in vain for the aroma of some
new box of spikenard. The church has become faultily faultless, icily regular,
splendidly null.

After Christ has spoken, we begin to reconsider the commendation, and even in
that commendation now it is possible to detect omissions, things he did not say
which he might have said, had they not left their first love. In Paul's first
letter to the Thessalonians, we have inferentially a picture of a church in its
first love. There were many irregularities of doctrine and of conduct, but there
was a great enthusiasm.

The apostle describing their condition says, Remembering without ceasing your
work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here are the same things that Christ commends in Ephesus, and yet how different.
In the full rush of first love, the apostle says of the Thessalonians, Work of
faith, labor of love, patience of hope.

But speaking to the church at Ephesus, Jesus says, Work, labor, patience. What
are the missing things? The faith, the love, the hope. In first love it is work
of faith.

First love lost, it is work. In first love it is labor of love. First love lost,
it is labor.

In first love it is patience of hope. With first love lost, it is patience. The
externalities remain, but the underlying sources have been weakened.

Faith, out of which work grows, is faltering. Love, the principle of toil, is
waning. Hope, the inspiration of perpetual patience, is dimmed.

Now these three—faith, hope, and love—alike center in the person. Where faith in
Him is strong, works abide. Where love for Him is full, enduring toil continues.

Where hope toward Him is perfect, patience is perpetual. As yet the outward
manifestations are not, but the Master has discovered the inward backsliding. He
says, in effect, You have lost your first love.

Your works run on, but your faith in Me is not what it was. Your labor is still
evident, but your love is weakened. Your patience is still evident, but your
hope does not burn so brightly.

And presently He will mark the full meaning of this. Unless you repent and get
back to these first things, you will lose your lampstand. When the flame of love
flickers, then its sisters, faith and hope, grow faint, and presently the
outward light will burn low, and the surrounding darkness will be unilluminated.

In the light of these statements, moreover, other parts of the commendation may
be reconsidered. Is it not more than likely that their very opposition to false
men and doctrine partook of the nature of lack of love? I would speak very
cautiously at this point, for the Lord commended these things, and they were
right, but I am quite sure that there may be right things done in a wrong
spirit. I seldom find men strenuously fighting what they are pleased to call
heterodox teaching, and in bitter language denouncing false doctrine, without
being more afraid for the men denouncing than for the men denounced.

There is an anger against impurity, which is impure. There is a zeal for
orthodoxy, which is most unorthodox. There is a spirit that contends for faith,
which is in conflict with faith.

If men have lost their first love, they will do more harm than good by their
defense of the faith. Behind the denunciation of sin there must always be the
tenderness of first love, if that denunciation is not to become evil in its
bitterness. Behind the zeal for truth there must always be the spaciousness of
first love, if that zeal is not to become narrowed into hate.

There have been men who have become so self-centered in a narrowness that they
are pleased to designate as holding the truth, that the very principle for which
they contend has been excluded from their life and service. All zeal for the
Master that is not the outcome of love to him is worthless. His love is so
perfect that nothing can take the place of love as a return.

He who woos the bride can never have his heart satisfied with a servant.
Activity in the king's business will not make up for neglect of the king. He who
has lost his first love cannot satisfy with work and labor and patience and
hatred of sin and orthodoxy.

The Master waits for love. Your church may pass muster as one of those amid
which he walks, but he, walking there, pines for your love, and nothing
satisfies him but love. O the pathos of the picture! Christ in all his glory
seeks amid the churches first for love.

As he looks over the outward perfections of Ephesus, he discovers that the
spirit, the tone, the temper of the church is altered. No eye but his could have
detected that the bloom was brushed away, and that the flame was less ardent.
Surely this message needs to be repeated to all churches today.

Your work, your labor, your patience are all evident. Never were you busier.
Never were your organizations more complete.

But where is your first love? A friend of mine some years ago had a little
daughter whom he dearly loved, and at the time of my story she was between ten
and eleven years of age. They were great friends, and were always found in each
other's company. But about this time there seemed to come some estrangement
between them for which he could not account.

He was not able to get her company as he had been. She seemed to shun him, and,
if he went for a walk, excused herself for she had something she must do at
home. He grieved about it and could not understand it, and yet hardly cared to
mention to her what was apparent to him.

One day his birthday came, and in the morning of that day she came into his
room, with her face wreathed in smiles, and said, Father, I have brought you a
present. She handed him a parcel, and, unfastening it, he found an exquisitely
worked pair of slippers. He said, Darling, it was very good of you to buy these
for me.

Oh, Father, said she, I did not buy them, I have made them for you. Then looking
at her he said, Oh, now I think I understand. Is this what you have been doing
for the last three months? She replied, Yes, Father, but how did you know how
long I had been at work at them? He said, Because for three months I have wanted
much of you, but have not been able to have it.

You have been too busy. My darling, I like these slippers very much, but next
time, buy the slippers, and let me have you all the days. I would rather have my
child than anything she can make for me.

That story has ever been weighted for me with spiritual value. Some of us are so
busy here and there about the business of the Lord that He cannot get us much
for Himself. There's so much to be done.

Do not misunderstand me. We are perfectly sincere in our devotion, and yet it
seems to me as if sometimes He would say, I know your works, your labor, your
patience, but I miss the first love. Do you remember your first love, with its
great thrill, when all nature seemed to sing a new song, and when your chief
delight was to be alone with the Lord, to look into His face and, in silent
adoration, sit while you listened to His voice? Oh, if that old-time delight has
passed, nothing can make up for it to Him or to you.

And now briefly notice the counsel He gives to this church—an injunction, a
warning, and a promise. The injunction may be expressed in three words—Remember,
Repent, Repeat. These, of course, are not the exact words that the Master used,
but they will help us to bear in mind the terms of His counsel.

Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen. Go back and think of the
freshness of first love. Remind your heart of the light that never was on sea or
land when you began to love Him.

Go back to the rising of the springtime. Remember. Oh, the tenderness of that
word of Christ! Do not be satisfied any longer with the dead level of your
orthodoxy and your mechanical precision in service.

Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and then repent. Turn back in
heart and purpose of the old attitude, the attitude of simplicity and purity,
the abandonment of everything for love, the love of a spousal, the first love
that leaves father and mother and house and lands and everything for the loved
one. Go back to that.

Return and do the first works. And what are the first works? Let Jesus tell us.
This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.

Christ said in effect to these people, Your lack of love proves your failure of
faith. You do not believe in Me as you did, or you would love Me as of old. You
have lost confidence.

And absolute confidence always blossoms into a perfect love. And if the fruit of
your love be smitten, it is because at the root of your faith is some disease.
Then finally mark His solemn warning.

Or else I come to thee, and will move thy lampstand out of its place, except
thou repent. What is this He says? Remove thy lampstand? Yes, notwithstanding
all the perfection of your work, and your labor, and your patience,
notwithstanding your cold and icy purity, notwithstanding your orthodoxy, unless
you love, that lampstand must be removed. It is impossible to witness for Christ
in the darkness of the world except in the power of first love.

It is not abundant works, nor even passionate determination to witness against
the sin of the world that serves Him. Unless there be first love, the lampstand
must be removed. It is a solemn warning.

Oh, that we might rightly understand it, and see that it is not merely a
capricious threatening, but the statement of an inevitable sequence. Loss of
first love to Christ will inevitably issue in loss of love to the brethren, and
cannot fail to dry up the rivers of compassion toward the outside world. It is
the first love of the saint that is the true light that shines in a dark place.

When men outside the church can look at its community and say, See how these
people love, then they will be attracted to the center upon which our love is
set. Without first love, we may retain ceaseless activity, immaculate purity,
severest orthodoxy, but there will be no light shining in a dark place. It is
not our doing that lightens the world.

It is not our ceremonial cleanness that helps men. It is not our correctness in
the holding of truth that helps a dying race. It is our love first for the
Master, then for each other, and then for the world.

Then notice the graciousness of the closing promise. To Him that overcometh, to
Him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. And
how may a man overcome? By remembering, repenting, and repeating, by coming back
to the beginnings.

Then shall he have to eat of the tree of life. See how the great words gather
together—life, light, love. They are the very words that Jesus came to bring us,
and it is only as we have life that we have love, and only as we love that we
shed forth light.

The supreme lesson of this study for today is that for the maintenance of our
position as light-bearers, our communion with the Master in all the abandonment
of first love must be maintained. If I speak with the tongues of men and angels,
but have not love, I am become a sounding brass, or clanging cymbal. And if I
have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I
have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be
burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. End of chapter 3


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 4: PART 4
========================================================================

Chapter 4 of A First-Century Message to Twentieth-Century Christians by G.
Campbell Morgan. This slipper-box recording is in the public domain. Recording
by Marianne.

Chapter 4. The Smyrna Letter. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write,
These things saith the first and the last, Which was dead and lived again. I
know thy tribulation, and thy poverty, that thou art rich, and the blasphemy of
them which say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about
to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have
tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the
crown of life.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that
overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Revelation, Chapter 2, verses
8 to 11.

Smyrna has been for long centuries a prosperous city. Originally an Ionian
settlement, it passed for a period into obscurity. It was rebuilt by Alexander
the Great and Antigonus, and almost immediately it became noted and wealthy.

We have no account in Scripture of the planting of the church there, but history
tells the story of the persecution of the church, and chronicles the fact of the
martyrdom of Polycarp in his 90th year. History, moreover, clearly states the
cause of the persecution, showing that it arose from the clamor of the pagan
population, excited and incensed by the Jewish community. This statement is
valuable as throwing much light upon some of the things incidentally referred to
in the epistle itself.

The master addressing the church speaks of himself as the first and the last,
which was dead and lived again. These words are a repetition of those which he
had addressed to John when, smitten with great fear in the presence of his
glory, he had become as one dead. This church is in the midst of a great sorrow,
and the Lord announces himself as the living one who has passed through death
and therefore possesses the keys of death and of Hades.

In approaching a people dwelling in the region and shadow of death, some of
their number having already suffered martyrdom, others of them most certainly
approaching the place of death through their loyalty to him, he reminds them
that he is master of these darker matters also, and holds in his own hand the
keys. The description is intended for the consolation of the afflicted people,
and indeed, out of this description, by which our Lord introduces himself to
their notice, flows all the comfort that follows. They are in the midst of
sorrow, and he first declares to them that he has been to the uttermost reach of
it and is alive again.

They are under the shadow of death, and he tells them that he has been dead and
is alive forevermore. They are almost certainly in the midst of those
perplexities and questionings which come to men when surrounded by sorrow. He
tells them that he, having been dead, is now alive, and, moreover, that he holds
the keys of death and of Hades, the symbols of solution and authority.

He has unlocked the problem and is now master of the situation. The Master's
method in commending this church at Smyrna is remarkable. He offers them no
solution of the problem of their pain, and it may be said that the commendation
is contained in a silence and a parenthesis.

His approval of the church is manifest not so much by what he said as by the
fact that he had no complaint to make concerning them. Added to the silence
there is one brief phrase, parenthetically interjected, A careful investigation
will show the value of this phrase, and who would not rather have that
illuminative flashlight than all the eulogy that fell from his lips on the
church of Ephesus? Here, as ever, the value of the statement depends upon the
fact that it was Christ who uttered it. We shall only be able to understand the
silence of Jesus and this parenthetical commendation by careful examination of
the surroundings.

Let us endeavor to see it as he reveals it. Of it he says, I know three things,
Let us mention these separately. Tribulation, poverty, reviling.

These are the words which reveal the desperate condition of the church at the
moment when the Master sent his message to them. First, This is a strong word
not very often made use of. It signifies a pressure of persecution.

Jesus did not say, the occasional testings of faith, those experiences which are
common to all the saints and necessary for their perfecting, but thy
tribulation. Our word tribulation suggests the stripe of the Roman whip, but the
word that the Master used suggested rather the pressure of the stones that grind
the wheat or that force the blood out of the grape. It is a word that throbs
with meaning.

These people are being pressed, even to death, on account of their loyalty to
Christ. And as he looks at the church, he says in tones of infinite tenderness,
I know thy tribulation. And yet again, I know thy poverty.

And the word indicates actual beggary. Here it has no reference to a poverty of
spirit. In all probability, these people had suffered the loss of all things in
the persecution that had broken out against them, loss of trade, loss of social
position, loss almost of the bare necessities of life, reduced to beggary.

I know thy poverty. And once more, I know the blasphemy of them which say they
are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. The use of the word
blasphemy is somewhat peculiar here.

Evidently, the Lord uses the word not in its specific sense as against God, but
in its simplest sense, that of vilification or reviling. Here the Master reveals
his intimate knowledge of the causes from which all the trouble has proceeded.
In all probability, the vilifying of the church by the synagogue had issued in
the beggary of the little band of Christians by the pagans of Smyrna.

The members of the Jewish synagogue, hating the Christian disciples, would
publish libelous statements concerning them as to their character, their
purpose, and their modes of life. The stories told had aroused the pagan
population, and in all likelihood there had followed the confiscation of their
goods which had reduced them to the point of actual want. It is profoundly
interesting to notice the wonderful symmetry existing between the experience of
these people at Smyrna and the experience of the Lord himself.

The consciousness of this seems to lie within the phrase which is alive again.
Before beginning to speak to them, he reminded them of his own experience, and
declared to them that he, having passed through it, has found it to the gate of
life. That through which they are passing is in many senses almost identical
with that through which he passed.

The force which encompassed his death was the blasphemy of the Jews, acting upon
a pagan nation that stripped him of all he possessed and gave him only death.
The persecution that culminated in his own passing had begun with the synagogue,
at the very center of supposed religion, and had proceeded along the line of
pagan power to its terrible issue. Thus addressing these people, he says, I
know.

And the force of the word is not merely that he knows by watching, but by his
own experience, not alone by observing their suffering, but by having himself
passed through the same experience. I know, for I have experienced the pain of
vilification, and the want of poverty, and the final tribulation. I know all
these to their deepest depths.

Thus he would comfort them with a declaration of his consciousness of their
condition and his experimental sympathy therewith. With what summary,
conciseness, and startling force, he sums up in a sentence the truth concerning
the condition of the Jews in Smyrna. They are a synagogue of Satan, and these
are they that have persecuted his people.

Mark the contrast. The church in Smyrna, a synagogue of Satan. The ecclesia of
the living God, the gathered-out people.

A synagogue of Satan, the gathered-together forces. It is a terrible indictment,
called forth by the fact that they had vilified his people, and so had proved
themselves under the leadership of the slanderer whose perpetual aim it is to
degrade our God and his Christ. Thus he identified himself with them in their
sorrow and suffering, and thus in a sentence uttered the most severe
condemnation of those who were causing the trouble.

Now let us mark the commendation. First the silence, and what can be said
concerning silence. It is more eloquent than all language.

He has no word of complaint to utter. The character and conduct of the church at
Smyrna was such as perfectly to satisfy the heart of the Lord, and how wonderful
it is when we remember that tribulation and poverty and reviling make more
terrible demands than any other circumstances upon the spirit of those passing
through it. There is no profounder proof of grace of character than that of
being able to suffer wrongfully and yet to manifest a gracious spirit.

How often have we all fallen at that very point, repeatedly in the midst of
suffering for righteousness' sake we have manifested unrighteousness of
character and conduct. Is not that the whole story of the failure of God's
wonderful servant Moses? He spake unadvisedly with his lips, and yet the people
were doing wrong. There was no possible defense of their action, but in the
presence of their wrongdoing he did wrong in that he manifested a provoked
spirit.

Christ watched these saints at Smyrna, persecuted, beggared, vilified, and yet
had no fault to find with them. Their spirit under tribulation was such as to
satisfy the heart of Christ. The finer graces of the Christian character are
only revealed under bruising and pressure, as the fragrance of fine spices is
only obtained through crushing.

Christ preeminently became a sweet-smelling savor to God through the terrible
experiences of the cross. His unprovoked and tender spirit was most perfectly
seen amidst the circumstances that were provocative of anger and resentment. So
with these loved ones in Smyrna, though under press and conflict, he found
nothing to condemn, and in the silence there lies the highest eulogium.

Of such value is this teaching that I pause to make a passing application. Some
child of God, whelmed with great and crushing sorrows, is longing for the sound
of his voice, and there is nothing but silence. It may be that silence is a sign
not of disapproval but of approval.

Do not be cast down. If in the midst of tribulation and suffering there is no
voice, it may be that the silence of the Lord is his highest commendation. There
is an old and beautiful story of how a nun dreamed that she saw three other nuns
at prayer.

As they kneeled, the Master approached them. As he came to the first of the
three, he bent over her with tender solicitude and smiles full of radiant love,
speaking to her in words of softest, tenderest music. Leaving her and
approaching the next, he only placed his hand upon her head and gave her one
look of tender approval.

But the third woman he passed almost abruptly without word or glance. The woman
in her dream said to herself, How tenderly the Lord must love this first of his
children, the second he is not angry with, and yet for her he has no endearments
like those bestowed upon the first. She wondered how the third had grieved him
so that he gave her no look, no passing word.

As in her dream she attempted to account for the action of the Lord, the Master
himself confronted her and addressing her said, O woman of the world, how
wrongly thou hast judged. The first kneeling woman needs all the succor of my
constant care to keep her feet in the way. The second has stronger faith and
deeper love.

But the third, whom I seem to pass abruptly by, has faith and love of finest
fiber and her I am preparing by swift processes for highest and holiest service.
She knows and loves and trusts me so perfectly as to be independent of words or
looks. Do not, therefore, be surprised if you have no vision.

It may be that the vision granted is after all but proof of weakness. Peter,
James, and John were taken to behold the vision of Transfiguration. The common
interpretation of this is that they were special apostles being prepared for
special service, and while unable to contradict that, I should not personally be
surprised in the perfect day to discover that the reasons for the Master's
special attention were to be found in their weakness rather than their strength.

Not a word of commendation did he speak to the church at Smyrna, but a great
silence as they passed through the fire proved his approval of the rightness of
their spirit. And yet there was more than silence, just that one word, that
flash, that gleam of light, but thou art rich. It is as though he bent over them
and whispered the great truth, Smyrna counts thee poor, I count thee rich.

The blasphemy of the Jews and the persecution of pagans have robbed thee of
everything, but thou hast lost nothing. I know the pinch of poverty, I know its
pain, and yet I never lost the riches of spiritual wealth. While I was still
upon the earth a man, I was a beggar, and yet my father was with me.

I know thy poverty, but thou art rich. The words recall to our mind the Lord's
conception of riches as revealed in his parable concerning the rich fool, he
said to himself, I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for
many years, as though a life could be fed with goods, and yet the only place of
worship for many is a dry goods store. Dry goods indeed! At the close of the
parable Jesus said, So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich
toward God.

Of goods these Smyrna saints had none, but they were rich toward God. I know thy
poverty, thou hast no barns, no storehouses, but thou hast all wealth. Again one
calls to mind the word of James, the practical, far-seeing apostle.

Did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith? This
also is what the Master meant. I know thy poverty, you are poor as to the world,
they have taken everything from you, but you are rich in faith, in the principle
that possesses the unseen and imperishable things. And yet again the words of
Paul recur.

His conception of his own position perfectly harmonizes with the Lord's estimate
of the people and Smyrna. As poor, so poor that he had to make tents to live, so
poor that when someone is coming to see him he has to ask them to bring that old
cloak to protect him from the cold and to keep him warm, yet making many rich,
so rich that he is able to minister through tent-making without cost, so rich
that he is more anxious about the parchments than about the cloak, especially
the parchments, as having nothing, he writes, and yet possessing all things. I
know thy poverty, says Christ, you are poor, you have nothing, but you are rich,
enriching others, possessing all things.

All this is intensely interesting, but we have not yet touched the deepest note
of exposition. Read again the old familiar words concerning the Master from the
writings of Paul. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty
might become rich.

The words used are exactly the same, the same for rich and the same for poverty.
He became poor. I know thy poverty.

He was rich. But thou art rich. I know.

I know your poverty. I have been poor with the actual poverty of beggary, but
you are rich, for through that poverty of mine you have entered into that wealth
of mine, and even in the midst of all your poverty you possess the abiding
wealth. I know your poverty, for I have shared it.

I know your wealth, for I have given it. It is well to remember that the word
rich in all these cases is the actual word which we use of the world's wealth.
It is the root word from which we derive our word plutocrat.

According to Christ, then, wealth is enrichment of character, not possession of
gold. He said in effect to these suffering people in Smyrna, You are the poorest
people in Smyrna. You are the plutocrats of Smyrna.

Others have the wealth of the world, the fullness of material things, but you
have the true fullness. I love to think of this estimate of Christ, and to
remember that the saints of God are the true aristocrats and plutocrats of every
age. An aristocrat is a man of best strength.

A plutocrat is a full man. The best strength of a nation is ever to be found in
the saints of Christ. True fullness of the nation is to be reckoned by the
number of its men and women who are living in fellowship with God.

The riches of the saints are the riches that abide. The things the Christians of
Smyrna had lost, they must have left behind them ere long, when they had passed
from the stage of earthly action. The things that they possessed became theirs
in the fullest measure only through that passing.

True wealth is the wealth that never tarnishes, never decays, never fades. O
glorious parenthesis of Jesus, a great silence of commendation, and a
parenthesis of approbation! What words of counsel, then, has he to speak to
people passing through such circumstances? Mainly two. First, Fear not, and
secondly, Be thou faithful unto death.

In reading this epistle, I think the most startling thing to me was to discover
that there is not a single promise to them that they should escape their
suffering. Nay, he rather tells them that heavier trials are to come upon them,
and the Fear not is a preparatory word in advance of the present consciousness
of need. He does not say, Fear not the things which thou hast suffered, but,
Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer.

There is no promise of succor. He does not say, Never mind, these things will
soon be over. He comes rather with an announcement of another sorrow.

O the comfort of knowing that he is acquainted with the things that are yet to
be, and that facing them he says, Fear not. There is no sorrow waiting for them
that he is not acquainted with. I know thy present tribulation.

I know thy present poverty. The present blasphemy, I know. I know more.

I know what lies hidden in the womb of the future, that the devil is about to
cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have
tribulation ten days. Fear not these things, then. The persecution will
increase.

The fearsome darkness will deepen. Tribulation will be more severe. The pressure
will be yet heavier.

Fear not, and let the first comforting thought against fear be that I know, and
that I have told you. Then, Be thou faithful unto death. Live upon the principle
of faith, even to the bound of death.

The word faithful here is from the root which means to be convinced. Fidelity is
born of conviction, and conviction must have a groundwork and foundation. What
then is this faithfulness enjoined? The faithfulness of the saints is the
assurance of the faithfulness of Jesus.

A deep conviction of His fidelity produces their fidelity. Wherever a man,
woman, or child, under any circumstances of pain or testing, is deeply convinced
of the fidelity of Christ, they are immediately and necessarily faithful
themselves. It is as though He had said to them, You are going to be cast into
prison.

The devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried. Be
faithful. Believe still.

Live within the limit of a great assurance. Don't question Me. Don't doubt Me.

Depend on Me. The Lord did not mean, Gather yourselves up and go through. He
simply meant, Trust Me.

He did not intend to advise them to gird up their loins and be determined that
they would see the business through. That is ever a poor and sorry way of
attempting to pass through times of testing. He meant rather, Trust Me.

Let Me be your courage. I am alive, and I was dead. I have gone to the limit of
this matter.

There is no depth I have not fathomed, no darkness I have not penetrated. Be
faithful. Follow Me, not in the effort of a strenuous determination, but with
the ease of a simple trust.

Then the gracious promise, I will give thee the crown of life. And the word is
very full and very rich. This crown that He promises is the crown of royalty.

It is more. It is the crown of royalty victorious. It is still more.

It is the chaplet that adorns the brow of the victor who comes laden with
spoils. The crown of royalty, the crown of victory, the crown of added wealth.
It is the crown of life, life which reigns because it has won, and reigns
moreover in possession of spoils obtained through conflict.

The life is the crown. What wondrous light this flings back upon the process.
This pressure of tribulation is not accidental and capricious.

Out of tribulation we shall have our triumph. Out of the darkness we shall come
to light. That is the whole philosophy of suffering.

This may be a message to some saints who are being sorely tried. And yet are you
not already, as the mists clear from the valleys, finding your crown of life? I
think today I see the meaning of past mysteries in my own life. Out of the
pressure of tribulation we extract the new wine of the kingdom, and out of the
deep, dark death experience in which the devil sifts and tries, there breaks a
new capacity, an enlarged outlook, a new meaning in life, a new tone in the
speech.

Almost imperceptibly, and yet surely, through the process of pain God is putting
the horizon further back in broadening and deepening the experience of life.
That is the present value of pain, but its ultimate value is the fullness of
which all this is but the foretelling. When presently all the tribulation is
past and the painful processes of the little while are over and the last grim
pressure ceases, then we shall be crowned with life and we shall know the
meaning of life.

All this must ever be emphasized by the perpetual memory of the words with which
Christ addressed his suffering saints. Emphasizing his experimental acquaintance
with the philosophies, he declares, I was dead, and behold, I am alive. I know
thy tribulation.

Think of his tribulation. I know thy poverty. Think of his poverty.

I know the revilings of them which say they are Jews and they are not. Think of
the revilings heaped upon him by them which said they were Jews. Fear not.

Think of his unswerving faith in God. Be thou faithful unto death. See him
faithful unto death.

I will give thee the crown of life. See him crowned with life on the
resurrection morning. This is the heart and center of the great truth delivered
to the suffering saints at Smyrna.

I am your companion in distress. I am your comrade in the darkness. I know, and
I am with you, and just beyond I will be with you still, leading you to the
fountains of living water.

Then there was his added promise, He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the
second death. It always seemed to me as though this were an inferential note of
warning and threatening against the persecutors. These men of Smyrna would die,
saints and sinners alike, but beyond death is death.

The persecutors of Smyrna would pass through death to death. The believers of
Smyrna, being faithful to death, through death will find no second death, but
instead thereof, life. The saints are rich in poverty.

They walk through darkness into light. They live beyond all death. As Christ
holds the keys, we see through open doors things as they really are.

The great and wealthy men of Smyrna were not the persecuting pagans and the
blasphemous Jews, but the suffering, tried, poverty-stricken saints, for they
were wealthy in essential things and would pass through the pressure of death to
the realization of endless life. Let all Smyrna face death, but only those whose
principle of life is faith in Christ will pass unafraid through the first to
find the second abolished. Of this epistle there can be no immediate application
to the majority of those who hear these words.

Sometimes it seems as though the very reproach of Christ has almost ceased. I am
not sure that this is a healthy sign. It is doubtful if many people really
suffer much today for Christ's sake.

I often hear men speak of the difficulties of their position in business, of the
taunts and sneers of certain opposing ones, but are they really serious when
they mention these things? When we think of the actualities of the persecution
in Smyrna and of the early days of the Christian era, ought we not to blush to
speak of suffering today? And yet is there not a sadness in this very fact of
absence of persecution? Is real godliness more popular today? Or is not that
which is popular a kind of hybrid Christianity? I leave these questions for
personal asking. And yet there is a sympathetic application of the epistle.
During the Armenian massacres and the martyrdom of native Christians in China,
how one has thanked God again and again for the letter to Smyrna.

Surely the one walking amid the lampstands said to all these, as robbed of
earthly possessions and brutally deprived of life, they were still faithful to
his name. I know, but thou art rich. I think I hear the voice of the thorn
crowned sounding in cadences of Swedish music over the hills of the valleys of
Armenia.

And I think I hear that self-same voice, like the voice of many waters,
breathing these words of strength to all his witnesses in China. Surely he met
them at the portal of death and crowned them with life. And yet there is an
immediate application to all those who suffer for his namesake.

From the mediation, let us gather one or two lessons of general import. First,
outward adversity of a church or a people or a person is not proof of essential
poverty or weakness. It is not always the wealthy church financially that is the
rich church.

The material wealth of members does not create the true riches of the church.
How often it has been that some struggling company of believers, fighting with
poverty, contending for very existence, has been the truly rich and prosperous
church. Then, secondly, let us gather the inexpressible comfort that comes from
this revelation of Christ's identification with all his suffering saints.

Wherever the church passes through tribulation, he stands and says, I know. And
lastly, let us ever rejoice in his assertion that he holds the keys of all the
things that most affright and oppress us, of the last foes, of death and of
Hades, and the keys in his right hand are symbols of solution and authority. As
we pass to the valley of the shadow, he approaches, holding these keys, and
saying, Fear not.

I have unlocked the problem. I have solved it. I have been into the deepest
darkness.

I know it. I have not borrowed these keys. They belong to me.

I have them for unlocking and for locking. O suffering saints, and all who
approach the shadow land, fear not. Fear not.

Trust him utterly. Be faithful, confiding, even unto death. And through the dark
chambers of death and of Hades, he will lead to light.

Christ never tells us not to fear until he himself has fathomed all the mystery.
I say to my child, Do not be afraid, while yet in my own heart lurks a great
fear that I dare not tell him of. This Christ never does.

He has not fear, and therefore I need not fear, but may sing with the psalmist,
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. He has
probed the shadow and the pain.

Let him lead on, even through tribulation and through death, to the life and the
crowning that lie ahead. End of chapter 4


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  CHAPTER 5: PART 5
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CHAPTER V. THE PERGAMUM LETTER And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write,
These things saith he that hath the sharp two-edged sword, I know where thou
dwellest, even where Satan's throne is, And thou holdest fast my name, and didst
not deny my faith, Even in the days of Antipas my witness, My faithful one, who
was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against
thee, Because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, Who taught
Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, To eat things
sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also some that hold
the teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner.

Repent therefore, or else I come to thee quickly, And I will make war against
them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh, to him will I give of 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.

Revelation, Chapter 2, verses 12 to 17. Pergamum was an illustrious city of
Mysia, given over almost entirely to wealth and fashion. Unlike Ephesus and
Smyrna, it was not a center of commerce.

Aesculapius, the god of medicine, was worshipped there under the form of a
serpent, and the special aspect of this worship was that of the study of the
secret springs of life, and like all nature worship, sincere as may have been
the beginnings thereof, it had issued in corruption. This fact may serve to
throw light upon some of the statements that occur in the letter. We have no
account whatever of the planting of the church, and therefore can only look at
it as seen in the epistle now under consideration.

Christ speaks to the church as the one that hath the sharp two-edged sword. That
sword, as we have seen, is the symbol of the discerning and executive power of
truth. The fitness of this lies in the fact that the church is harboring error.

Not the fact that the church has self-adopted the teaching, nor that she has, as
a corporate whole, committed herself to these heresies, but she has become
guilty of broad churchism, attempting to find room within her pale for all sorts
and conditions of men and faith. Approaching the church as the one from whose
mouth proceeds the sword, he comes to deal with the false teachers within it.
First let us notice his commendation.

I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne is, and thou holdest fast
my name, and didst not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my witness,
my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth. The Lord
recognizes the peculiar dangers and difficulties surrounding these people. The
underlying suggestion of the commendation is that it is an honorable thing to
have held fast his name, and not have denied his faith.

The inference is that if there was any place that it might have been probable
that people should have ceased to hold his name, it would have been in these
peculiar and difficult circumstances, in which the church at Pergamum found
itself at the time. The commendation consists in the twofold statement, Thou
holdest fast my name, thou didst not deny my faith. My name, my faith.

And the emphasis of the commendation is discovered by consideration of the
peculiar perils threatening these people. I know where thou dwellest. That
statement in itself is full of comfort.

In every circumstance of trial and tribulation, and persecution and peril, we
may hear the words of the Master, I know where thou dwellest. In this case the
place is described by the startling phrase, where Satan's throne is. Satan has
ever some base of operation, some central place for his throne.

It is very difficult to refer to Satan without wanting to say a great deal about
him, and much needs to be said in these days. And in a study of this epistle it
is necessary to pause for a little upon this subject. Wasting no time over
arguments concerning the personality of Satan, but accepting that as an
established fact, there remains certain co-related facts, which need
restatement.

First, Satan is not God, and therefore neither has he any of the essential
powers of Deity. He is neither omniscient, omnipresent, nor omnipotent. He does
not know as God knows.

He is not everywhere, as God is everywhere. He is not all-powerful, as God is
all-powerful. He is a fallen angel.

Lucifer, son of the morning, how art thou fallen? In his fall and degradation he
has retained all the essential capacities of his unfallen state. The wisdom, the
possibility of locomotion, and the marvelous power, which were his before he
fell, are his today. But he is not God.

He dragged with him in that awful fall hosts of the bright ones, and with the
marvelous wisdom of the unfallen nature, now prostituted to base uses, he
marshals them for the doing of his work. To state the case bluntly, if the devil
is here, he is not there. If the devil is there, he is not here.

His messengers cover all countries, and include all ranks of life in their
operations, and these ramifications of evil are under the supreme control of
Satan, who is the prince of the power of the air, the God of this world, the son
of the morning, fallen as lightning from heaven. For the carrying out of his
enterprises in the world, he has somewhere a place where his throne is, a base
of operations. It may be that he has more than one such center, and he himself
will pass from point to point with rapidity of lightning.

He is ubiquitous, as we use the word of a general who, on the field of battle,
seems to be here, there, and everywhere. Only more so. He is not omnipresent as
God is, without motion and without effort.

At the time of the writing of this letter, for some strategic reason of his own,
he had his seat at Pergamum. The master knew it and indicated it. Truly the
devil manifests a great deal more wisdom than Christian people very often.

His throne will be at some strategic point from which he can best use his
influence. Almost invariably that throne is at the center of worldliness and
worldly greatness. Wherever his throne is, is a place of peculiar peril.

As it has been forcefully said, in the greatest centers of worldly power, there
his eye more peculiarly watches, his energy more peculiarly acts, his influence
more peculiarly emanates. Now this was the peril of the church at Pergamum. In
Smyrna it was a synagogue of Satan.

In Pergamum it is the throne of Satan. In Smyrna opposition to the Christian
church was veiled behind religion. The devil operated through the Jewish
synagogue, and Christ with infinite scorn and contempt spoke of that religious
center as the synagogue of Satan.

In Pergamum it is quite a different matter. Satan's throne is there, and the
peril that threatens the church is not so much that of direct opposition as that
of patronage. Where Satan's throne is, the saints are in peril of entering into
alliance with the forces under his control.

The history of evil, I think, will prove the assertion that Satan loves to have
his seat in the midst of worldly wealth, and all that stands for the feeding of
the flesh life in men. The master did not say to men what we often say, you
cannot serve God and the devil. I do not question the accuracy of that
statement, but it is worthy of notice that the master said, you cannot serve God
and mammon.

Thus he revealed the antithesis between the two great forces which govern human
lives, God and mammon. God governs man through the spiritual side of man's
nature, and man can only be governed in the highest aspects of his life when he
is so governed. Mammon, which stands for all the worldly power and worldly
greatness, the things which the men of the world value, as a governing force
issues in the degradation of man, proving he cannot be perfectly governed in
flesh by the things that minister to flesh.

The devil lurks behind mammon, sets his throne up at the point where it gathers
its force, and from there rules men. If you think to-day for a single moment of
the great evils that are blighting our lands, and if you take time to think far
enough back in the history of these things, you will discover that the
invariable impulse of evil is mammon and the love of gold. Behind the drink
traffic, behind the unholy and iniquitous crowding of the poor into dwellings of
which our cities ought to be ashamed, behind the breath of vile impurity that
spoils life as it passes across it, is mammon, the love of gold, and behind
that, using and manipulating it, the devil sits upon the throne of power.

The peril which ever threatens a church situated in such a city is that it may
enter into alliance with mammon, and so pass under the control of Satan.
Pergamum was perhaps the wealthiest city of the seven, and there was Satan's
throne, the base of his operations, the place from which he governed the goings
of evil in that whole district. If you ask me where Satan's throne is in
England, I do not hesitate to say that it is in London.

If you ask me where his throne is in America, it would be difficult to answer,
for there seem to be several places, one in the east at least, one in the middle
west, a strategic point, and others there may be on the far west coast, where
the gates are opening toward yet further enterprises. Be sure of this, that
where the excellencies of God's earth create special possibilities for man's
abuse, there the devil sets his throne. Having recognized this peril, let us now
notice the commendation, Thou holdest fast my name.

Christ's name is ever the symbol of his nature, and this first word of
commendation declares that the church at Pergamum has been loyal to the person
of Christ. There had been no denying of any part of that strange and mystic fact
of his personality, that personality that can be compared to nothing, and that
can have nothing compared to it. His name stands for a person utterly separated
from all others, and utterly unlike them in its totality, while akin to God and
man in its duality.

Christ says, You have not denied my name. You are loyal to the central fact of
Christianity. Thou holdest fast my name, which is the sign and symbol of my
nature.

Again, Thou didst not deny my faith. Note specially that he does not say, You
have not denied your own faith, but my faith. In the letter to the Hebrews the
writer speaks of Jesus as being the author and finisher, not of our faith, but
of faith.

That is to say, he lived and wrought upon the principle of faith, and through
his victory was the author or the file-leader, as the word literally is, and
perfector or vindicator of faith as a principle of life. The faith of man
exercised in his victory is response to his faith. The fact that the church at
Pergamum had not denied the faith indicates that they were loyal, not only to
the person of Christ.

The fact that the church at Pergamum had not denied the faith indicates that
they were loyal, not only to the person of Christ, but that they evidently
rested in his accomplished purpose. His faith had operated to perfect
realization of a divine purpose of redemption. Their faith operated in him for
the appropriation of that redemption.

The redemption was that of regeneration as justification, renewal as
sanctification, realization as glorification. The force that was sufficient to
bring him to victory was that of his faith in God and his faith in men—faith,
that is, in the wisdom and the love of God, and in the possibility of man
brought under the influence of that wisdom and that love. This was the mighty
principle that bore him up and carried him on, until his faith, triumphant even
over death, became the life principle for ruined men, and their faith centered
upon his victory appropriated the value of his faith.

His faith would have been denied by their lack of faith in him. On the other
hand, his faith is affirmed by that confidence in him which created their
character and issued in conduct. Thou holdest fast my name is the commendation
of Christ upon the loyalty of men of Pergamum to his person, the peculiar,
separate, unique person of Jesus Christ, the one and only person of his order
that the world has ever seen.

The name of Jesus stands for his personality, for the human and the divine, for
the divine and the human, for that strange, mysterious combination that has
baffled the theology of every successive century, and concerning which no final
word has yet been said, because no final word can ever be said, because no
finite mind can grasp the infinite mystery of God incarnate. To that name these
men had held fast. Thou didst not deny my faith indicates their confidence in
his mission, confidence in his atoning work.

His name marks the glory of his person. His faith marks the perfection of his
purpose. It was a wonderful testimony that the master bore to this church at
Pergamum where Satan's throne was, the center of wealth and power, the home of
mystic thought and occult study.

The church had been loyal to the person of Christ, more mysterious than the
mysteries of Pergamum, loyal to the faith of Christ, bringing men to the true
springs of life which these dwellers in the wealthy city were professing to give
themselves over to discover. Now mark his complaint. But I have a few things
against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teachings of Balaam,
who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat
things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.

That is one thing. So hast thou also some that hold the teachings of the
Nicolaitans in like manner. That is the second thing.

Let us examine them, for they reveal one great fact to which the Lord objects in
this church at Pergamum. It is necessary that we note carefully what is here
said. A very tender and delicate distinction is drawn between the church and
certain persons within the church.

He has something against the church, but he is careful to show that it is not
that the church holds the false doctrine, but that she is in fellowship with
those who do. Not, I have a few things against thee, because thou holdest the
teachings of Balaam, but, I have a few things against thee, because thou hast
there some that hold the teaching of Balaam. The church was loyal to the mission
of Christ, and did not deny the faith, but what he had against them was that
they were tolerating false views.

What the church lacked was discipline. What cursed the church was a false
charity. For the emphasis of this point, notice the closing words of the Master.

Repent, therefore, or else I come to thee quickly, and I will make war against
them with the sword of my mouth. With great delicacy and fine distinction, he
draws the line between the and those holding the false doctrine, and yet he now
declares it as being against the whole church, that it tolerates these people
within its borders. What then is the doctrine which is being tolerated, and to
which our Lord takes objection? Some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who
taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat
things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.

What is this teaching of Balaam? Let us look very carefully at the structure of
the statement. I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some
that hold the teaching of Balaam, and then there really follows a parenthesis,
who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel. Omit
the parenthesis and then read the statement.

I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the
teachings of Balaam, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit
fornication. Now is it to be understood that the master meant that Balaam's
teaching was that men were to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit
fornication? I think not, although they are the exact things which logically
followed the teaching of Balaam, and exactly the same perils which threatened
the church at Pergamum. May we not reverently attempt to paraphrase the words of
Christ, so that their meaning may be clear to us.

It is as though he had said, This is what I have against thee. You have people,
who in order that they may eat of the things sacrificed to idols, and in order
that they may indulge in the sin of fornication, are holding a doctrine which
excuses the actual wrong. The wrong thing is the sacrificing to idols and the
fornication, but behind the wrong conduct is the wrong creed, and they are
holding the doctrine of Balaam in order to excuse or justify conduct which is
wrong.

If this be the interpretation, then it remains that we should ask, What was the
teaching of Balaam which made possible such awful conduct? The story of Balaam
is contained in the Book of Numbers, chapters twenty-two to twenty-four, and at
the end of the twenty-fourth chapter it would appear as though that story is
concluded, but it is not. Let me in a few words epitomize the whole story.
Balak, the king of Moab, a man under the influence of the sophistries and
incantations of a certain class of men, sent for Balaam.

He wanted Balaam to curse the nation that had come up out of Egypt, believing
that a curse pronounced would work ruin upon Israel. We do not know who Balaam
was. When Balak sent for him, it was that he might hire him.

That word, hire, must be carefully remembered in the study. He offered him
reward if he would curse Israel. Now what happened? God appeared to Balaam and
warned him not to go.

Balak sent his princes back to Balaam, offering him silver and gold and honors
if he would come. Balaam, lured by the hire, started, and on his way encountered
that remarkable incident of the appearance of the angel and speech of the dumb
ass. The result of Balaam's conversation with the angel was that the angel
warned him not to go.

Balaam, terrified, offered to go back, but now the angel said, You must go
forward. He came to Balak, and on a high mountain seven sacrifices were offered,
and he opened his mouth to curse and instead spoke words of blessing. Balak took
him to yet another mountain, with like result.

He hoped that a third place might bring the desired cursing, and again the
sevenfold sacrifice was offered, and Balaam spoke. There are, however, no
prophecies in the whole book of God more wonderfully beautiful than the things
that fell from his lips. The anger of Balak was naturally then kindled, and he
said, I called you to curse, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them
these three times.

He rid himself of Balaam, who returned home. So ends the twenty-fourth chapter.
What, then, is the doctrine of Balaam? Now the fact is that it has not appeared
at all in the story as contained in these chapters.

To discover it we must pass into chapter twenty-five, and there we read these
startling words. And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit
whoredom with the daughters of Moab, that is, with the daughters of this king
Balak and his people. Now specially note, for they, that is the children of Moab
and the daughters of Moab, called the people unto sacrifices of their gods.

And the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself
unto Baal-pur, and the angel of the Lord was kindled against Israel. Now this is
the strangest thing possible.

Balaam, instead of cursing the people, had blessed them, and the next thing we
read is that these very people Moab wanted to destroy are enticed to the lewd
feasts of Moab, and to all the awful corruption that follows upon such a
proceeding. How has this come about? The answer is to be found by passing still
further into the twenty-third chapter of the book of Numbers, and the sixteenth
verse. And in the words therein contained, the whole mystery is solved.

Moses is speaking, and he says, Behold, these, that is, the women of Moab,
caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass
against the Lord, in the matter of pure. Here we touch the secret of the whole
thing, and it is a startling revelation. It is evident that when Balaam utterly
failed to curse, he went home with the lust of higher still in his heart, and
began to corrupt Israel.

This he did by persuading them to social alliances with Moab, saying that
according to the prophecy he had been forced to utter, Moab would be unable to
harm them. The doctrine of Balaam, broadly stated, was undoubtedly that seeing
that they were the covenant people of God, they might with safety indulge
themselves in social intercourse with their neighbors, for no harm could happen
to them. Both Peter and Jude refer to Balaam, and they both tell us that the
motive of his teaching was that of higher, but neither of them declare what the
teaching was.

There can be no reasonable doubt that in effect his declaration to the children
of Israel was that their covenant with God was so sure, as would witness the
blessing he had been compelled to pronounce, that they need not be anxious about
their conduct. His teaching issued, as Jesus says, in the eating of things
sacrificed to idols, and the committing of fornication. It was the perilous and
damnable heresy that sin cannot violate a covenant.

Then a second fact in the complaint. So hast thou also some that hold the
teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner. What that doctrine was I do not
profess to know, but I know its issue, and I am not sure that the in like manner
do not refer to the similarity between the teaching of the Nicolaitans and that
of Balaam, rather than to the fact that men held that doctrine as well as the
other.

Technically there may have been a difference. The issue of both was the same.
What then was the danger in the church at Pergamum? There were persons
associated with the church, who held a doctrine which gave them license to
indulge in sins which were the special peril of all life in Pergamum.

There was the splendor of a great temple worship, with its seductive feasts, and
impure gaieties. This question of things sacrificed to idols, and of fornication
had arisen long before, and had been remitted to a special council of the church
at Jerusalem. The story of that council is recorded in the Acts, chapter 15.

Its decision was that while they did not desire to insist upon the right of
circumcision, they charged the Christians dwelling in these Asiatic cities, that
they should not eat things sacrificed to idols, nor commit fornication. In the
first letter to the Corinthians, beginning with the sixth chapter, the apostle
deals with this very subject of fornication, and of things sacrificed to idols,
and he distinctly forbids them on apostolic authority, not merely to the one
church accord, but to all the churches of the district. For note well these
words, And so ordain I in all the churches.

Thus that church had the definite teaching of the apostle, that it was wrong to
eat the things sacrificed to idols, and yet it was tolerating persons who were
finding a way to excuse these popular sins of the city. They held fast the name,
they did not deny the faith, but they put false emphasis upon the value of the
name, and false application of the force of the faith, claiming that these
things were of such value, and such force, as to cover, and make of no vital
importance, certain forms of popular wrongdoing. Thus there was heresy in the
church at Pergamum, the heresy which has come to be known in latter days as the
antinomian heresy, the heresy which says, You are so safe in the name and in the
faith, that it matters little about your conduct.

You may mix with the sinners of Pergamum, and follow their habits, and yet share
the benefits of the covenant. This is the teaching of Balaam, and it had its
recrudescence in the church at Pergamum. The Lord is terribly severe in His
denunciation.

The church at Pergamum, in its corporate capacity, had not indulged in these
forbidden sins, neither endorsed the teaching of Balaam. Its fault lay in its
lack of discipline, in that it tolerated within its borders those holding the
doctrine. The whole church did not hold the doctrine, but for some mistaken idea
of expediency and policy, these people were permitting those who did hold it, to
remain in fellowship.

Said Christ, Thou hast them there. Thou art tolerating the people who hold the
doctrine, which can only issue immoral corruption. Turn now to the counsel.

Repent. This word is addressed not to the people holding the doctrine, but to
the church and to the angel. In what sense can they repent? The only repentance
possible to the church was that of the exclusion from its fellowship of the
persons who held the pernicious teaching.

That doctrine must not be tolerated. The warning is very solemn. I will make war
against them with the sword of my mouth.

Unless you exercise your discipline as a church, and exclude these people, I
will come and fight against them. What an inference of love lies behind this
threat! It is as though the Lord would say, Discipline these people, for the
judgment will be swift and heavy if they are not excluded. For the sake of the
men that hold pernicious doctrine, they should be excluded from the churches.

There are men in the borders of our churches, to whom we are doing incalculable
harm by allowing them to remain there. We allow them to remain, and they imagine
that they are in a place of safety, when they are in the place of death. We are
sometimes inclined to treat this warning as though it were not alarming, but I
want to say that it is one of the most solemn in all the epistles.

It is a warning that the Lord Jesus will come, and by exercise of righteous
judgment, will remove what the church itself refuses to remove. The supreme
illustration of the solemnity of it is to be found in the letter to the church
at Corinth, where disorders had arisen, and Paul wrote words which must have
made men tremble before them as to what should be done with the wrongdoers. In
that same epistle, you will find that the apostle marks this solemn fact, that
Jesus Christ, in dealing in judgment with the church, has before now had to
remove by death the wrongdoers for the purification of the church, and for the
making possible for its testimony of light in the midst of the darkness of the
age.

If, therefore, I understand this message of the letter to the church at
Pergamum, it is as though the Lord had said, Unless you repent and deal in
discipline with these men, I must fight against them with the sword of my mouth,
and that sword will not be found to be a method of argument or a new enunciation
of truth. It will be a judgment swift and sure upon the evil workers, in order
that the church itself may be free and may be pure. Then the Lord, in whose
heart there was a tenderness even toward the evildoers, utters his promise, To
him that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna.

That is the first half of the promise, divine sustenance. And why did Jesus
speak of it as manna? Because manna was divinely supplied, and yet had to be
humanly gathered. Hidden manna, the word of God upon which man lives, as against
the doctrine of Balaam, in accepting which man perishes.

The true bread, the bread of life. The applicability of this promise to these
people is seen when it is remembered how the very heart of the false religion of
Pergamum consisted in the attempt to feed upon secret mysteries of life. Those
who overcome these subtle temptations, the Master promises that they shall feed
upon hidden manna.

And then the other portion of that sweet promise, To him that overcometh, I will
give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one
knoweth but he that receiveth it. The suggestiveness of that white stone is not
perfectly clear. There have been many interpretations.

Personally, I would be inclined to think that they all have some value. From
them let me select four. The white stone was given to a man who after trial was
justly acquitted and went forth clear from condemnation.

The white stone was given to one who, returning from battle, having won
victories, bore his triumphs with him. It was the reward of victory. The white
stone was sometimes given to a man as a token that he was made a free man of the
city.

It indicated his free citizenship. And yet there is one other meeting, perhaps
the more beautiful than all, very sweet and tender. There was the white stone
known as the terra hospitalis.

Two men, friends, about to part, would divide a white stone into two, each
carrying with him half, upon which was inscribed the name of his friend. It may
be that they would never meet again, but that stone in each case would be
bequeathed to sun, and sometimes generations after, a man would meet another,
and they would find that they possessed the complementary halves of the one
white stone, and their friendship would at once be created upon the basis of the
friendship made long ago. All these seem to me to be probably suggested by this
white stone.

First, the white stone of acquittal, which is justification. The white stone of
victory, being triumph over all foes. The white stone of citizenship, which
marks the freedom of the city of God.

And then the white stone of unending friendship, my name written on his half,
his name written on mine. The central lesson of this study is a very solemn one.
The Church of Jesus Christ must not tolerate within her borders those who lower
the standard of truth's requirements.

This is not a question of holding the truth. The Church at Pergamum was
orthodox. It is a question of the right application of truth.

The error of these men is one that in subtle form threatens all churches even
until this hour. It is that if a man's creed be right, his conduct does not so
much matter. Truth never excuses sin.

All forms of sin are to be treated with ruthless and pitiless severity. And if a
man holding any form of teaching should attempt to excuse sin, he is to be
excluded from the fellowship of the saints. Purity of doctrine has its danger.

A man may be so loyal to the name and the faith that almost before he knows it,
his zeal for these things may make him blind to the presence of teaching which
will undermine their value. The test of doctrine is purity of conduct and
character. The seal of the Master has two sides, on each an inscription.

On the one side the words are graven, The Lord knoweth them that are his. On the
other side these words, Let him that nameth the name of the Lord depart from
iniquity. Any attempt to efface the second side of the seal is blasphemy, an
error to be banished with exclusion from the fellowship of the church.

God's order is the order of peace. But it is always peace based upon purity, for
the wisdom that is from above is first pure and then peaceable. End of chapter 5


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  CHAPTER 6: PART 6
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CHAPTER VI. THE THYATIRA LETTER And to the angel of the church in Thyatira
write, These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of
fire, and his feet are like unto burnished brass. I know thy works, and thy
love, and faith, and ministry and patience, and that thy last works are more
than the first.

But I have against thee that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, which calleth
herself a prophetess. And she teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit
fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. And I give her time that she
should repent, and she willeth not to repent of her fornication.

Behold, I do cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into
great tribulation, except they repent of their works. And I will kill her
children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he which
searcheth the reins and hearts. And I will give unto each one of you according
to your works.

But to you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this
teaching, which know not the deep things of Satan, as they say, I cast upon you
none other burden. Howbeit that which ye have, hold fast till I come. And he
that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the ends, to him will I give
authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the
vessels of the potter are broken to shivers.

And as I also have received of my Father, and I will give him the morning star,
he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
Revelation 2 verses 18 to 29 Thyatira was a small city in Asia Minor. While we
have no certain account of the planting there of the Christian church, it may be
it was an indirect result of the influence of Lydia.

We remember how she, the seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, was one at
the prayer meeting held on the banks of the river. There her heart was opened to
receive the truth and obey it, and she and all her household were baptized and
received into the fellowship of the church. They belonged to Thyatira, though at
the time they were living near Philippi.

This, of course, is pure conjecture. Nothing has been definitely revealed.
Therefore again we are confined for our knowledge of the church to what appears
of it in this letter of Jesus.

In addressing the angel, the Lord announces himself as, The Son of God, who hath
his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet like unburnished brass. The Son of
God. This is the first time that he has made use of this description of himself
in these letters.

And it marks the assertion of power and authority. He is the infallible one to
whose speech the church must pay attention. When John turned to see the vision,
he beheld, one like unto a son of man, but yet the glory of the vision spoke
also of the fact that he was son of God.

And now, in this central letter of the seven, he makes use of the title of
supreme authority. From the complete vision he selects two facts concerning
himself, which indicate the special meaning and value of the message he is about
to deliver. His eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like unburnished
brass.

The eyes of fire suggesting his intimate knowledge, his penetrating vision
concerning the church, so that in the sentence he is about to pronounce, there
can be no mistake, for his understanding of all the conditions is a perfect
understanding. The eyes of fire pierce all the deeps of darkness, and know the
profoundest secrets. He is also the one who hath his feet like unburnished
brass, and by these statements he practically announces the fact that he is
coming in judgment, which is strong and pure.

His eyes like a flame of fire. He sees perfectly and understands accurately. His
feet like unburnished brass.

He marches to judgment. The king amid the seven golden lamp stands, and the
track of his coming is the track of fire. Righteous, pure, and final are all his
judgments.

Within the church at Thyatira there is an evil for which no remedial measures
are sufficient. It is not one that admits of correction. There is nothing for it
but destruction.

It has permeated the whole fellowship. Nothing but judgment remains, and so he
comes to definite and immediate dealing with this evil. His commendation
commences with the usual words, I know.

The general statement is, I know Thy works. Then follows an analysis, and Thy
love and faith and ministry and patience. And lastly, Thy last works are more
than the first.

Three things are indicated by this commendation. First, the works of the church.
Secondly, the forces that lie behind the works, Thy love and faith and ministry
and patience.

And lastly, that those works have not decreased, but increased. He thus approves
the activity of the church, the principles upon which it is based, and the fact
that in true order it increases. His first approbation is of the church's work,
the things that are seen, his second of the hidden facts that lie behind the
outward manifestation.

Thirdly, he approves that which is always a sequence of such condition, that the
last works are more than the first. I know Thy works. He does not name or
tabulate them.

He declares his acquaintance with them. He also recognizes that behind them lie
the love and fidelity, the ministry and the patience, and the fact that because
these works have these principles behind them, the last works are more than the
first. Notice principally, though briefly, the principles he recognizes as lying
behind the works of the church, I know Thy love.

This is a statement of the church's character. It is the fact that lies at the
root, and out of which all springs. Underlying all the works there was a
principle toward God and man which the Master had declared to be the sum and
substance of the law of God.

It was a church character. There was no breach, no division, no schism, but a
wonderful manifestation of love. I know Thy faith.

Again, the force of the word is Thy fidelity. Faith is here mentioned not as the
principle out of which an attitude grows, but rather the attitude of fidelity
that grows out of the principle of confidence. I know Thy steadfastness.

I know that in Thee is manifested the opposite of fickleness. Too often works of
love are alike, occasional and spasmonic, but here they were characterized by
constancy. In this case the love was not an accident, it was a habit.

I know Thy ministry. And herein is a tender and beautiful touch. He was
conscious of love in action, of deeds done because of love to God and man.

There is a difference between this ministry and the general works already
referred to. They are the peculiar and special activities of the church of Jesus
Christ in its church capacity. The ministry referred to here is rather that of
unofficial kindnesses and tendernesses of the members as amongst themselves, and
in all probability toward the outsider also.

It is possible to have a church characterized by works, and yet sadly devoid of
this particular kind of ministry. There have been officials constantly zealous
concerning all official work, and yet lacking the thousand tender touches which
fulfill this highest ministry. So many men are ready to spread a banquet, and
slow to give a cup of cold water.

But to this church, the Master says, I know Thy ministry as well as Thy works.
All the outpouring of the life in untabulated service. I know Thy patience.

This is a great word upon which the Master seemed to set much value. He spoke of
it to the church at Ephesus, and now again to this church at Thyatira. May we
not define this patience as the spirit of peace under pressure? Surely Milton's
words may be taken as a perfect exposition of true patience.

Yet I argue not against heaven's hand or will, nor bait a jot of heart or hope,
but still bear up and steer right onward. Patience is the capacity for being
still when all around is tempest-tossed. Patience is the flower of fidelity.

If fidelity is the activity of faith, patience is the condition of character
resulting therefrom. It is that peace of heart under pressure of life which is
so fair and fragrant a thing to us, and ever seems to give the heart of the Lord
satisfaction and joy. And yet again, I know that Thy last works are more than
the first.

There has been progress and development resulting from this intermediate group
of facts. The outward and evident activity of the church had broadened and
deepened. Such was the Master's commendation, and very beautiful it is.

How tenderly the Lord recognizes all the best facts in the life of the church!
How excellent a thing it would be if when, for any reason, we are called upon to
criticize some assembly of the saints, we might take our Lord's pattern and
utter first our commendation. This He always did unless there was no word of His
commendation that could be uttered. In His messages we ever discover His
recognition of excellent things.

But now we pass to the solemn words of this mysterious epistle, the words of
complaint. But I have against thee that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel. That
is all.

Nothing more. There is no other complaint against this church. The whole
paragraph which follows from the middle of the twentieth verse to the end of the
twenty-third contains simply the statement of the facts of the case, which
demonstrate our Lord's right to complain against the church for suffering the
woman.

It cannot be overemphasized that the sin of this church consisted in the fact
that she raised no protest against the woman Jezebel, that she allowed an
outsider to promulgate under her shelter the most terrible doctrine with the
most disastrous results. Jezebel did not belong to the church. She may have been
a member of the congregation, even perhaps enrolled in the earthly list of the
fellowship, but she had no living relation with the church because she did not
belong to Christ.

The church incurred a terrible responsibility by suffering her. Not the
teaching, nor the result of the teaching did the Lord charge against the church,
save as she becomes responsible for what she suffers. The wrong of this false
toleration may be gathered from an examination of the woman, her work, and her
judgment.

In attempting to consider the woman Jezebel, we are at once found in the
presence of all kinds of questionings and doubts and interpretations. Is the
whole language figurative? Did Jezebel stand for an idea, or was she actually a
woman, exerting evil influences through pernicious teaching in Thyatira? These
things perhaps cannot be finally or satisfactorily answered. The greatest
probability is that there was an actual woman.

The marginal rendering of the message to the angel is, Thou sufferest Thy wife
Jezebel, and there are those who believe that this woman was indeed the wife of
the angel of the church. Whether this be so or not, there can be little doubt of
the existence of an actual woman. Whether her real name was Jezebel may be
doubtful.

It is probable that when the master named the woman, he borrowed a name from the
Old Testament in order to light up the fact of her character and the influence
she was exerting. Turn from these things that are doubtful, and let us examine
the actual words of Christ. Thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, which calleth
herself a prophetess.

What is a prophetess, and why is the statement made in this form, She calleth
herself a prophetess? There can be very little doubt that the woman claimed to
be an inspired woman who had received some new revelation. Some vision or
enlightenment had been granted to her, denied to the apostles, and she was
promulgating this new teaching. The result is carefully stated by the Lord in
the words, She teacheth and seduceth.

The result of the teaching was the seduction of the servants of God, and the
teaching was made forceful because the woman claimed that she was an inspired
messenger. The name that the master uses in referring to her suggests an analogy
with her Old Testament prototype. Let us think for a moment of the Jezebel of
old.

She was a daughter of the king of Tyre and Sidon, avowedly a teacher and
worshipper of Baal. This worship of Baal was nature worship, and as is the case
with all nature worship, it had become utterly degraded. Coming into
relationship with the king of Israel by marriage, we learn from the ancient
history of God's people that she was not only his consort, but that she was
associated with him in the government, with the result that she said in effect,
Let us also set up the worship of Baal.

I do not ask that the worship of Jehovah should be set aside, but by the sight
of it let us have opportunities for nature worship. Her method was that of
uniting the two worships. The purpose in her heart was that of the setting aside
of the worship of Jehovah for the worship of Baal.

Of all the women seen in Old Testament history, none was more brilliant, more
daring, more unscrupulous than Jezebel. The name of this woman in the church at
Thyatira drives us back to this woman of the old economy, and of her the Lord
declares that, She teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornication, and
to eat things sacrificed to idols. What was it that she was teaching? Nothing at
the moment seems to be said on the point, but presently when the master is
pronouncing his judgment, he gives us a clue to the character of the teaching.

But to you, I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this
teaching, which know not the deep things of Satan, as they say. What did the
Lord mean by this, as they say? He evidently refers to a claim set up within the
teaching of Jezebel that she had discovered some new deep, hidden philosophy of
life. Christ called it the deep things of Satan.

This new revelation by inspiration, the end of which was to show how in the
heathen systems were deep philosophies, and the result of which was to seduce
the servants of God into complicity with the outward corruptions of heathendom,
Christ characterizes as the deep things of Satan. It was evidently an attempt to
graft onto Christianity as revealed in the church, the mysteries of darkness by
which Christianity was surrounded in that district. As there was the germ
principle of antiomanism, dealt with in the church at Pergamum, so here there is
the germ principle of the heresy of Gnosticism in the woman of Jezebel.

Here was an attempt made to fathom deep and underlying and unrevealed mysteries
of life, and to make application of them under the name and sanction of the
church, and the issue of the whole business was corruption. Truly, there is
nothing new under the sun. The latest of all heresies which names itself by
conjunction of words, Christian and science, of all the facts concerning which
it is profoundly ignorant, is but the galvanizing of a mummy under the
inspiration of yet another woman calling herself a prophetess.

This latter-day manifestation, dealt with philosophically, might be treated as
the amusement of a passing hour, but the terrible effect it is producing among
the servants of God should call the church to new attention to our Lord's
message to Thyatira, and the estimate it contains of His view of a church that
suffers such awful teaching. What then, according to the master's estimate, was
the result of this woman's teaching? It was a lowering of the standard of
separation between the church and the world. One uses the word with bated
breath, for it is a terrible word.

She teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornication. In the prophecy of
Hosea there is a startling revelation of the nature of spiritual fornication. It
is God's estimate of the sin of those who were betrothed to Him when they
returned to the things from which they had turned to Him.

People who should be satisfied with Christ, wholly possessed by Him, led by Him,
taught by Him, are playing the harlot with the things that are against Him. The
influence of the teaching of Jezebel was that the separated children of God,
redeemed from the present evil world, called to separation from that world, were
forming new alliances therewith, and the spirit of worldliness was spreading
because of the toleration of the teaching of Jezebel. The members of the church
at Thyatira were finding their way to the feasts in the heathen temple, eating
the things sacrificed to idols, and ascending even to the depth of the vices
that ensued.

The teaching which made this possible for them was not the teaching of Balaam,
which said that the covenant was so sure and strong that sin could not break it.
This denied the sinfulness of sin, affirming that within the things that seem to
be evil are things of good. It was a practical denial of evil, in that it
advanced union between the deep things, or mysteries of the outside world, and
the mysteries which are the revelations of the Christian church.

And so the servants of God had become seduced by the teaching. First, the false
teaching concerning the deep things of Satan, and then the seduction following.
His people went over to the forces which were against him, and committed
harlotry and fornication in the spiritual realm by using freedom bestowed by him
for the violation of his will.

His charge against the church was that notwithstanding these terrible facts, she
was silent and tolerant. Then mark his words of judgment. These are introduced
with the declaration of his patience.

And I gave her time that she should repent. Then follows a statement that
reveals the speaker, reveals him as the Son of God, and reveals him as the one
whose eyes are as a flame of fire. She will not to repent of her fornication.

No one else could have said that. He who knows even these deep things of Satan
declares that the will is hardened and set against repentance, and then, and
never until then does he pronounce judgment. There is first a personal
visitation.

Behold, I do cast her into a bed. The symbolism is graphic and forceful and
terrible. It suggests that the woman who has taught and seduced his servants
shall find her destruction in the midst of the very corruption which she has
created.

More than that cannot be said. Then follows the fact that others will share in
the doom, and them that commit adultery with her unto great tribulation except
they repent of her works. The only way to escape the tribulation which he
pronounces upon those who have been seduced is that they shall repent of her
works and turn altogether from the things resulting from her teaching.

And then the last and final word in this connection. I will kill her children
with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he who searcheth the reins
and hearts. This description of the woman, her sin and her judgment, lies in a
paragraph in the midst of the epistle recording our master's reason for
disapproval.

The church's wrong was that this woman had been permitted. Some of the children
of God had been seduced, and yet no protest had been raised. It was a false
charity, permitting the teaching of the woman somewhere and somehow under the
patronage of the church itself.

The whole church was not contaminated with the doctrine. Of it he said some of
his sweetest and strongest things. But in a false charity the woman Jezebel had
been suffered.

The church had not, with sufficient clearness, announced the fact that she had
no dealing with the heresy taught, that between the inspired truth of which the
church was the pillar and the ground, and the hysterical teaching from the
self-styled prophetess, there was no complicity and could be no union. Let us
turn now to our Lord's words of counsel, full of encouragement and gracious
promise. But to you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira.

Thus to those who had not been influenced by the teaching, nor consented to its
toleration, he said, I cast upon you none other burden, howbeit that which ye
hold, hold fast till I come. Did he mean that they were to hold fast the burden
until he came? Assuredly he did. What then is the burden? The truth as once for
all delivered to them.

And by saying, I cast upon you none other burden, he meant, do not be led away
by any new mysteries, or new perplexities, or new revelations. I have laid upon
you the burden of truth sufficient for the moment. I cast upon you none other
burden.

Any new revelation that men claim as from me, receive it not. Any new philosophy
of life that fails to harmonize with that declared, reject. Howbeit that which
ye have, the truth is revealed.

My law of life, that hold fast. Do not suffer anyone to teach something which I
forgot to say. I will cast upon you none other burden.

Carefully note this. There seems to be almost a play upon the words in what
Jesus said. There's certainly familiarity with their root meaning.

He says, those of you who have not this teaching, that know not the deep things
of Satan, that word, deep things, is the word pathos, that is, the profundities
of Satan. And he then says, I cast upon you none other burden. That word,
burden, is the word beros, which means an impression made.

Both pathos and beros spring from the original root, beos. It is evident that he
was speaking with an intimate knowledge of the history of the words, and
indulging in a play upon them. It is as though he had said, these people are
professing to discover some new deep things which they will lay upon you.

I cast upon you none other deep things. Herein is a great principle for the
government of our intelligent life as Christian people. The thing claiming to be
new is therefore to be doubted.

The message he has delivered is complete. The doctrine is enunciated. The
mysteries are revealed.

And whosoever, man or woman, would claim to reveal a new mystery is the
messenger of Satan. And yet again, hold fast till I come. How often this
reference to his coming, and almost wherever found, it has some fresh light and
meaning.

It is as though he would say, wait for the deeper things until I come. When I
come, I will unlock the mysteries. I will reveal the profundities.

If I have not told you of them, it is because you cannot bear them yet. There
are deep mysteries of life, and great and marvelous secrets, but you are not
ready for their understanding. I cast upon you none other burden.

You have all you can bear. Howbeit that which ye have, hold fast till I come.
And then we shall know as we are known, and the mysteries, attempting to fathom
which to-day we can find corruption only, will flame with light, and lead in the
way of truth.

The closing promise and the crowning statement follow. And he that overcometh,
and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give 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 have also received of my father. Notice the
contrast.

Them that commit adultery with her integrate tribulation, except they repent of
her works. He that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works. This is the promise
of coming authority, and authority to be delivered to the saints, when they have
held fast to the trust committed to them, until God's moment of consummation
arrives.

I will give him the morning star. We shall often walk in darkness. There will be
many mysteries perplexing us.

The burden we have is sufficient for the building of our character, for our
growth in life, and ministry, and works. The other things will wait. Presently
he will give us the morning star.

That expression only occurs three times in Scripture. In the book of Job, in the
language of God, when he is causing his glory to pass before the astonished
vision of his servant, he tells Job of the wonder-working age, when he laid the
beams and wonders of nature, and he says, when the morning stars sang together.
This was the song of the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, as
they wrought in the spaces of new creation.

I go to the end of the library, and I find that Jesus says, I am the bright and
the morning star. He is the prince of creation. He is the firstborn.

And if we will but wait, and not follow the last prophecy of impertinent attempt
to discover hidden things, he will give us the morning star. We shall know the
secrets of life, the deepest problems, and discover his lordship in all. How
often has the church of Christ imperiled her safety by giving undue heed to some
new voice.

I am growing afraid of the men or the women who have seen a vision and now feel
called upon to declare it. Do not misunderstand me. I believe in visions.

But let us before we speak of the vision be perfectly sure that it is not
nightmare. The probability is that if you have a vision, you will not say much
concerning it, but men will know that you have seen by the light that lingers on
your face. Perfect light has shined upon man in Christ.

With the shining of that light, all symbols and signs of the old covenant have
passed, and the visions and the dreams have largely ceased. The lower orders of
material miracles have given place to the higher in the realms of spiritual
triumph. Let us ever be careful how we give credence to a new voice.

We must be loyal to Christ, and loyalty to Christ is loyalty to the inspired
word and its mighty teachings. To deny Christ is to deny atonement and to deny
sin, and the only voice that denies these has learned its language and caught
its tone in the deep things of Satan. Is not the voice of Jezebel to be heard in
our churches today in more ways than one? Is there not sounding all around us a
cry as against separation? Is there not a terrible tendency in church life to
deny that the Master calls us to places of peculiarity and loneliness in our
loyalty to Him? We may still retain our church relationship and our name
Christian, and because of some new voice, each of things sacrifice to idols
without defilement and have easy absolution, not by blood, from the filth of
fornication.

Is it really popular today to call church members into the place of separation
from worldliness? Is there not a greater eagerness than ever to find some
doctrine by submission to which we can be rid of sin while still keeping it? Yet
surely the New Testament is perfectly clear. Come ye out from among them, and be
ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you,
and will be to you a father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the
Lord Almighty, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of
this present evil world. If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the
things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God, who
gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto
Himself a people for His own possession.

Be ye yourselves holy in all manner of living. Through the whole New Testament
the call is to separation, to peculiarity, to a clear line of demarcation
between the church and the world. I fear that the voice of Jezebel is yet
tolerated, and that the children of God are being seduced.

Things at which our fathers shuddered are today being introduced as necessary to
the social and financial success of the church. In the name of God and humanity,
let us keep the line clear and sharp, and know on which side we stand. Any
doctrine, any philosophy, that makes it easy to sin, whether by excusing it,
minimizing its enormity, or denying its existence, is of hell, and not merely
are those held guilty who teach the doctrine and practice the sin, but that
church also which is not clear and outspoken in its protests against sin.

The church that suffers the woman is guilty. End of chapter 6


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  CHAPTER 7: PART 7
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CHAPTER VII. THE SARDIS LETTER. And to 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 thou art dead. Be
thou watchful, and establish the things that remain, which were ready to die.
For I have found no works of thine fulfilled before my God.

Remember, therefore, how thou hast received, and it's tear, and keep it, and
repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou
shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. But thou hast a few names in
Sardis which did not defile their garments, and they shall walk with me in
white, for they are worthy.

He that overcometh shall thus 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 before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the churches. REVELATION CHAPTER III.

There is a marked change in our Lord's method of address to the church at
Sardis. Hitherto he has commenced with words of commendation. Here he commenced
with words of condemnation.

In the other churches evil had not been the habit, but rather the exception, and
therefore it was possible first to commend. Here the case is reversed, and no
word of commendation is addressed to the church as a church. The Lord addressed
the church as, He that hath the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.

And this commendation marks those aspects of his personality which characterize
his dealing with a church in such condition. He that hath the seven Spirits of
God. This description indicates his fullness of power and also his fullness of
wisdom.

The church, for lack of life, is full of unfulfilled works, and the Lord
approaches them in all the plenitude of his power and his wisdom. He that hath
the seven stars. The symbol is suggestive at once of the perfection of ministry
which he places at the disposal of the churches, and also therefore of his
knowledge of all such ministry as the churches have received.

His complaint is startling and terrible. I know thy works, that thou hast a
name, that thou livest, and thou art dead. With what changed emphasis we read
the words, I know.

The whole tone of it has been full of tenderness and comfort. Now it is a
trumpet blast of terror. I know thy works.

The church at Sardis is not devoid of works. Indeed, it is so full of them as to
give it a name of being alive. In all probability there was full and correct
organization.

The ordinances of the church were regularly observed. They gathered upon the
first day of week for worship. They contributed systematically to the
necessities of the work.

In brief, it is most likely that to all outward appearances they fulfilled the
description of the early church in the Acts of the Apostles, in that they
continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine, in the breaking of bread, and
in fellowship, and in prayers. Thou hast a name that thou livest. There can be
but one signification of this statement.

Nothing is lacking as to external manifestation. And yet Christ says, Thou art
dead. He who seeks first for the inward life finds nothing to satisfy his heart
in this church.

Scaffolding is of no value to him if the building be making no progress behind
it. The whiteness of a sepulcher does not attract him if within there be nothing
but dead bones. He seeks always for the inward, and only for the outward as it
continues to be the expression of the inward.

The breaking of bread is nothing save as there is the spiritual feeding upon
himself. The meeting for worship is valueless save as through the externals the
soul passes into communion with him. Gifts are not accepted when they are the
mere observation of a duty, and not the expression of the heart's adoration.

The life which expresses itself in love was absent, and so the church lacked
what would be acceptable to Christ, and would satisfy for all the toil he had
endured to win it for himself. Thou art dead. Flowers there may be, but of wax,
poor imitations of the flowers of God which grow and bloom and shed their
fragrance.

The form of manhood may be there, and the garments in which the form is draped
be gorgeous, and the trappings speak of royalty, and yet the body be loathsome
to Christ, for the eye lacks luster. The arm is nerveless, the heart is still.
Death reigns, and corruption is already holding high carnival.

Thou hast a name that thou livest, that is to say, that there was everything in
Sardis that would satisfy the outside observer. And thou art dead, that is to
say, there was nothing in Sardis that could satisfy the heart of Christ. This
seems difficult to comprehend, but the explanation is to be found in the further
words of Christ.

I have found no works of thine fulfilled before my God. There was great promise,
but no result, that is, nothing fulfilled before God. Was there no prayer? On
earth there were prayers, but they did not reach the heavens.

Were there no songs? In all likelihood, the music was correct and elaborate, but
no harmony was heard in the heavenly temple. Were there no gifts? In all
probability gifts were bestowed with unfailing regularity, but they were not
registered in the treasury of the inner sanctuary. Everything stopped short of
the inner temple.

All kinds of committee meetings attended, but nothing done, nothing finished,
nothing fulfilled. Resolutions and promises, and a great showing upon paper, but
nothing reaching fruitage before God, nothing that satisfied the divine heart,
nothing that answered the divine purpose. Outward forms, ceremonies,
organization, but death reigned.

The essence of worship is that while it begins in the church, it takes hold upon
heaven. If the hymn is simply a musical expression of pleasant feeling, there is
no worship in it. But if upon the wings of sacred song our spirits find their
way into the holy of holies, then that song is fulfilled before God.

If the prayer we utter is a compilation of sentences spoken for the fulfillment
of duty, it is not prayer. But if the prayer, expressing a sense of need, finds
its way above the myths and the mysteries of life, to the throne, it is
fulfilled before God. If our gifts are bestowed that we may be kept square with
duty, they are utterly refused in heaven.

But if they express a sacrifice and a sympathy, though they be but small
according to the arithmetic of men, they are counted of great worth in the
temple where gifts are valued according to the givers. In the church at Sardis
there were plans, schemes, programs, but nothing fulfilled before God, no growth
into the likeness of Christ, no enlargement of the church through the
propagation of the Christ life, no compassion for souls, no fellowship with the
sufferings of Christ. There were many things fulfilled before men.

Indeed, the church had come to the place where it lived before men rather than
before God, more anxious in all probability about their reputation in Sardis
than their reputation in heaven, more desirous for the good opinion of
neighboring churches than for the commendation of the head of the church. Thou
hast a name, everything that will satisfy the craving for reputation, and thou
art dead, nothing that gladdens the heart of God. Having thus in one swift
sentence revealed the church's lack, he continues in words of gracious counsel,
Be thou watchful, and establish the things that remain, which were ready to die,
for I have found no works of thine fulfilled before my God.

Remember, therefore, how thou hast received, and didst hear, and keep it, and
repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou
shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. And then, O many, the next
verse, He that overcometh shall thus 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 before his angels.

His words of counsel contain, first, advice to the church, secondly, an
incentive to obedience, and a warning, and lastly, his promise to the overcomer.
Establish the things that remain. If the church was dead, what things remained?
The unfulfilled things.

The very forms and ceremonies which had given the church its name to live,
Christ did not suggest that these people should put aside any of their
externalities, but that they should fulfill them. They were not to cease
assembling for worship, but they were to worship. They were still to send their
help, and give their gifts, but these were to be the expressions of their
devotion to the Lord, and not the price they paid for the good opinion of
others.

The forms were not wrong. They needed to be filled with power. The dry bones
were necessary, but they needed to be clothed with flesh, and become instinct
with life.

The organization must not be neglected, but it should act in the power of vital
force. There can, I think, be no other understanding of this expression, the
things that remain. He cannot have reference to a faint life that need a
revival, for he distinctly says, Thou art dead.

This part of the message is not for the few in Sartis, for to them he has a
special word. No, it is rather that in tender grace he recognizes the outward
symbol, the unfulfilled things, the very forms and ceremonies that have been
earthbound, and he says, Strengthen them, establish them, fill them to the full,
be no longer satisfied with externals. That is ever Christ's message to the
formalist.

He does not ask that outward forms should be given up, or helpful rite
abandoned. He will not suggest the setting aside of any form or ceremony that in
itself is helpful. He has no criticism for these things.

He permits the music and the methods, always providing that they are expressive
of the deeper fact of life. These things he hates when they become the grave
clothes wrapped about death. The true idea of worship is that of man communing
with God.

Through what forms that worship expresses itself is of little moment. Christ
does not call the church at Sartis to abandon these, but to establish them by
making them instinct with life, especially mark the significance of the words
that follow, Which were ready to die. This is a solemn note of warning.

It indicates the fact that even these outward forms will cease, unless there be
behind them the throb of life. They are ready to die, as all that is merely
outward perishes. The very things that remain, the outward forms and ceremonies,
which give the church a name to live, are ready to perish if the heart and life
have passed away.

It is always but a step from formalism to rationalism, and if external things
lack internal force, they themselves will crumble to decay, and presently there
will remain in Sartis not even a church having a name to live. No man can live
long on ritual. How often has the church had proof of this? Stretching over the
hillside yonder is a forest of mighty oaks, and among them I see one necessarily
attracting attention by the magnificence of its form and the splendor of its
outward appearance.

It is easily the king of the forest, but presently under stress of sweeping
storm that tree is bowed and broken. We approach in wonder, to discover the
reason, and find that through processes we did not observe, which were secret
and silent in operation, an inward decay had long been at work. The life-forces
within had been weakened, and in the rush of the tempest the outward appearance
was destroyed.

So also with the church. When its inward life-force has ebbed away into orthodox
organizations, it is ready to die, to perish. In the sight of Christ it is dead
already, though it has yet a name to live.

And when dead in his sight, it will surely soon be seen to be dead even by those
among whom for the moment it has a name to live. What is true of the church is
equally true of the individual. No man can become absorbed in the external to
neglect of the inward and spiritual without being in danger of losing the
external manifestation also.

How often have we seen it? Men leave the plain and simpler forms of worship for
outward magnificence of manifestation, hoping by these things to compensate for
lack of spiritual power, and the next thing we hear of them is that they have
abandoned their outward relation to the church also. It is of little importance
what the outward form may be, providing that the inner life is there, and that
through the externalities it is finding full expression. Works unfulfilled
before God must sooner or later manifest their emptiness before men.

Therefore let the things that remain, which were ready to die, be established.
As an incentive to obedience, the Lord utters a solemn warning. If, therefore,
thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour
I will come upon thee.

How differently the promise of his coming sounds under different circumstances
of church life and church character. When sacred things lose power, precious
things lose blessing. When faith is dead, hope becomes dread.

In the early first love of Christian experience, the thought of the advent of
Christ is a thought of hope. When that love is lost, and death reigns, that
which is the brightest star in the firmament to the trusting heart becomes a
dread of darkness. The promise which produces a thrill of joy becomes a thought
of terror to the men who have fallen out of harmony with the Lord and Master.

In scripture, the advent of Jesus is constantly described under two aspects. The
last prophecy uttered before his first advent has the same recognition of dual
significance. For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace, and all the
proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble.

And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, and it
shall leave them neither root nor branch. What a terrible announcement! But yet
listen again, for the prophet proceeds without break. But unto you that fear my
name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye
shall go forth and gamble as calves of the stall.

What a contrast! On the one side a day of burning and destruction, on the other
the sun rising with healing in its light. Are these two different advents? No,
the difference is created by the condition of the people at the dawning of the
day. To those who work wickedness the day will be one of burning and destructive
heat.

To those who fear his name the day will be of healing, the dawning of the
morning, the breaking of light. The sun has two effects. It will burn up the
parched ground until it becomes like a cinder.

A plant in such ground, devoid of water, will be killed by the heat. But if a
tree be planted by the rivers of water, and its roots go down and take hold of
the springs of life, the sun will be the messenger of health and growth and
advancement. So also with regard to the second advent.

The Church's attitude toward the doctrine is always a revelation of the Church's
spiritual condition, and the attitude of the individual soul toward the thought
of the Lord's return is always a revelation of that soul's condition before God.
If I have a name to live while I am dead, then his announcement, I will come, is
a thought of tear. But if I have life and love and loyalty, the promise of his
coming is the promise of daybreak.

In referring to the second advent, the apostle of love wrote, And now, my little
children, abide in him, that, if he should be manifested, we may have boldness
and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Two attitudes toward his coming are
here revealed. Boldness.

Ashamed before him. The difference is created by the condition of those who wait
for him. If abiding in him, then at his coming we shall have boldness.

If not abiding in him, we shall be ashamed before him. This is a very searching
test of our personal condition. If, when we hear the coming of Jesus spoken of,
it is as the voice of music in the soul, then we are fulfilling our works before
God.

If, on the other hand, the mention of the possibility of his approach creates
the desire to postpone that coming, it is because our relation to him is formal
rather than living. The soul that lives in Christ, and works with him amid the
defilement of a decadent age, never hears his message, Behold, I come quickly,
without answering, even so come, Lord Jesus. This announcement of his coming
gives force to the word, Remember, therefore, how thou hast received, and didst
hear, and keep it, and repent.

If the church hear his warning, and repent, and watch, and establish the things
remaining, the promise of his coming will have in it no terror, but be a
veritable gospel of hope. But if the church abide in the realm of formalism,
having a name, but lacking life, then the declaration that he will come can
produce nothing but fear. To the overcomer the Master says, He that overcometh
shall thus 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 before
his angels.

The man that overcomes is the one who remembers and repents. To such he promises
the final robing, he shall thus be arrayed in white garments, and a recognition
in the final roll call, I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life,
and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. The robing
in white garments is symbolic not of the purity of Christ, but of the
manifestation of the works of the saints, works purified by Christ, and revealed
in the light of the Father's house.

And the names of such Christ will confess in the presence of his Father and of
the holy angels. Then there is also that tender word of commendation, almost a
parenthesis, not spoken to the whole church as describing it, but of a remnant
that have not passed under the condemnation. But thou hast a few names in Sardis
which did not defile their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for
they are worthy.

In the midst of the formalism of the many, there were a few who lived and
fulfilled their works before God, who did not defile their garments, and to
these the Master says, They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. In
Scripture the robing of the saint is ever an expression of the saint's own
service and character. In the description of the white-robed multitude in
Revelation, it is said that their white robes are the righteousness of the
saints, not the righteousness of God, but the righteousness of the saints.

That is to say, that fidelity of character and of service shall presently have
its outward manifestation. Is not some very beautiful light thrown upon the
thought by the fact of the transfiguration of Jesus? On the holy mount his
raiment became white and glistening, and the glory which the wandering disciples
beheld was that of the outshining of his own perfection, which made even the
homely garment that he wore flash with the splendor of heaven's own whiteness.
Those who on earth did not defile their garments shall finally walk with him in
white.

They shall come to the time when there shall be manifested in outward glory
their inward loyalty to Christ. The chief thought of the church in Sardis has
been that of popularity, of having a name. A few have been supremely anxious to
be approved of him, and concerning them he says, one day they shall be
manifested in the glory of their own fidelity.

That which is visible now to the eye of Christ shall finally be seen to be
beautiful by others. There is an awful possibility threatening the life of all
of our churches, and the church at Sardis is an example of warning concerning
it. It is a possibility, so subtle and insidious, that almost before knowing the
church may have drifted into the peril.

It is that of a dead orthodoxy, a dead correctness. There may be flourishing
finances, large numbers attending the services, varied and ever-increasing
organizations, correct expositions of truth, and yet the church may be dead. It
may have a name to live.

It may be such as will always be spoken of as a living church. Surrounding
churches may flatter it, and it may even be deceived itself. And yet Christ may
find in it no element of value.

Such a statement as that, such a solemn and awful statement, should lead us to
ask in all seriousness, what are the true signs of life in the churches of Jesus
Christ? If the presence of life may not be judged by these things, how may we
know whether the church is living or dead? The evidences of life are at least
fourfold. In a living church there will be growth, compassion, union, and
emotion. There will be growth.

The principle of life makes stagnation impossible. Growth in the individual
character of the members, and growth in the membership of the church, not merely
by accretion from without, but by expansion from within. That church is in a
sorrowful condition that has added nothing to its membership through the
propagative life forces of its own communion.

The membership that only grows by the accident of removals and letters of
introduction is in a terrible condition. If none are born again directly through
the working of the church, we may almost certainly say that the church is dead.
I say that in all seriousness, and without apology.

I would be afraid to remain as pastor or member of a church if for any length of
time there were none added to its fellowship upon confession of faith. In this
matter, the minister cannot be held wholly responsible. He may travail in birth
for souls, but unless the church is in cooperative and living sympathy with him,
there will be no result.

But where the whole communion is serving in the power of a great life, then
through the Sabbath school, through the varied agencies, through the living
influence of individual members, the life will be propagated, and men and women
will be gathered into the fellowship upon confession of faith. Whatever else may
be true concerning the church, if there be no additions by new birth, the church
is dead, though it have a name to live. Life is always propagative, and that is
nowhere so actually and forcibly true as in the realm of Christianity.

Another sign of life is that of compassion. The true consciousness of the church
is the consciousness of the Christ, and the consciousness of the Christ is that
of love. That church which has no heart of compassion for the lost is dead.

The suburban church that attempts to buy off its own personal responsibility by
making donations to send men down to work in slums, which it does not care
itself to touch, is dead. Such responsibility can never be delegated. A church
into which only one class or caste of persons gathers for purely selfish
preservation is a libel upon the very name of Christ.

Every church should be an asylum for the lost, a refuge for the broken-hearted,
a home of welcome for the harlot and the publican. In God's name let us take
down the signs that label us churches of Christ if we have no compassion for
such, and we have no compassion if it be not strong enough to overcome
sentimental prejudices which result from the mere accident of birth. A girl of
good family and excellent opportunities, of much culture and refinement, once
said to me when I asked her to visit in a neighborhood characterized by
suffering and sin, I really could not do it.

I am so sensitive. It makes me ill. God have mercy on such idle pretense.

Can any be more sensitive than Jesus the Savior? Can any refinement be superior
to that of the perfect one of Nazareth? I blush with shame at a sensitiveness
which proves an absence of compassion. It is only as we find our pride and
prejudices whelmed in the strong sweep of His great love that we shall ever be
prepared to touch the depraved. We are dead indeed if we lack compassion.

If the love of Christ is shed abroad in the heart, and the church is swept by
that love, there is utter forgetfulness of all things that are objectionable.
Refinement that refuses to relieve is nothing more than cultured paganism. If
there be love, there will also be union.

Disintegration is a sign of death. If the church be filled with sections and
parties, and there be strifes and schism, it is because of the lack of the life
element. The prevalence of caste, and the existence of division within the
borders of the church, is a sure proof of its lack of life.

In the full tide of divine love, there is a constant consciousness of the unity
of the Spirit. And yet again, where there is life, there is emotion. Sometimes
it seems as though the day has come when the highest type of life is supposed to
be that which is most free from the possibility of emotion, and yet how false is
the idea.

When I am alive, and because I am alive, I weep, I sing, I laugh, I mourn. It is
the dead that have no tears, no laughter, no music, no mourning. I have no
patience with the man who boasts that his religion lacks emotion.

The church without tears and laughter Christ has little use for. I put these
things together, for they are together. You cannot have tears without laughter.

You never found a man capable of humor that was not also capable of sorrow. And
no church that lacks joy has compassion. The church that lives thrills with
emotion, is full of laughter, and full of tears, perpetually breaks into song,
and is silent again in the silence of pain.

The experience of the individual members is realized within the great union. If
these things be lacking in the church, it is dead indeed. The signs of life are
growth, compassion, union, and emotion.

These being absent, there may be very many other things that give the church a
name to live among men. But Christ, walking amid the lampstands, counts as
nothing worth the externalities, and hungers for the growth, the compassion, the
union, and the emotion that prove the life. End of chapter 7


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  CHAPTER 8: PART 8
========================================================================

CHAPTER VIII. THE PHILADELPHIA LETTER And to the angel of the church in
Philadelphia write, These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that
hath the key of David, he that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth,
and none openeth. I know thy works.

Behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which no one can shut. And thou
hast a little power, and didst keep my word, and didst not deny my name. Behold,
I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them which say they are Jews, and they are
not, but do lie.

Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I
have loved thee. Because thou didst keep the word of my patience, I also will
keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole
world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. I come quickly.

Hold fast to that which thou hast, and no one will take thy crown. He that
overcometh, 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 mine own new name.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit sayeth to the churches.
Revelation chapter 3 verses 7-13. This is the second epistle which contains no
word of complaint.

To the church at Smyrna, suffering amid persecution and tribulation, his message
was wholly of his own love and strength. Again to the church at Philadelphia, he
has nothing save commendation, and the announcement of preservation from the
period of calamity and trial which is coming to the whole earth. The church
being in true relationship to its Lord, he approaches it in his rightful
character of the Supreme One who directs the activity of the church.

These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of
David, he that openeth and no one shall shut, and that shutteth and none
openeth. Thus he announces three facts concerning himself, concerning his
character, he that is holy, he that is true, concerning his official position,
he that hath the key of David, concerning his administration, he that openeth
and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth. Between these things
there is a close connection.

His character of holiness and truth is his right to kingship. He is, moreover,
king by the official act of God as witness his holding of the key of David. And
because he is king in character and by appointment, he exercises his kingly
office and administers the affairs of his kingdom.

The relation between these facts must be remembered. First let us consider the
kingly character. He that is holy, he that is true.

The first marks the essential fact, and the second the relative. Holy in
character, true in action. Holy in himself, true in his government.

The two statements give us two sides of the one essential fact. These two
statements constitute the complete whole which creates the true kingliness of
Christ and gives him what all other kings have lacked, the divine right of
kingship. These two facets of the one fact are constantly revealed in New
Testament thought.

In the prophecy of Zacharias chronicled in Luke, in referring to the result of
the coming of Christ it is said that he should establish the people in holiness
and righteousness. Holiness, the hidden fact. Righteousness, its outward
manifestation.

The rightness of character and conduct. He that is holy, that is, right in
character. He that is true, that is, right in conduct.

Holy and therefore in himself royal. True and therefore making others loyal. By
his holiness of character and truth of conduct, he creates a consciousness which
demands the loyalty of those who find him as their king.

It is always impossible to be loyal, in all the broadest sense of the great
word, to that which is other than royal, also in the broadest sense of the word.
No man who loves purity can be loyal to impurity. No man who has his heart set
upon holy things can be loyal to that which is unholy.

Loyalty must be the outcome of royalty. The royalty of earth is created by the
accident of birth or by the questionable right of conquest and expresses itself
in trappings and dwellings. Christ's right to kingship rests upon the bedrock of
character.

He and he alone is king by divine right. Because he is holy, he is true. The
second psalm announces the fact of God's appointment of a king.

Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will tell of the decree. The
Lord said unto me, Thou art my son.

This day I have begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. The
twenty-fourth psalm reveals the character of the king.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy
place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his
soul unto vanity, and hath not sworn deceitfully, he shall receive a blessing
from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. I have set my
king upon my holy hill of Zion. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, he
that hath clean hands and a pure heart? This God-appointed king comes to the
church at Philadelphia, and speaks of the deepest fact which constitutes his
right to kingship.

I am he that is holy. And then he declares the necessary sequence. He that is
true.

He then proceeds to announce that his position is official. He that hath the key
of David. In Isaiah's description of Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, already referred
to in another connection, it is written, I will clothe him with thy robe, and
strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand,
and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of
Judah, that is, government based upon life and upon resource.

It is then added, And the key of the house of David I will lay upon his
shoulder, and he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none
shall open. From that prophecy the Lord quotes the words, He that hath the key
of David, and thus claims its fulfillment in his own person. He it is to whom
God has committed his government, of which fact the key is the symbol and the
sign.

And then in the last place he declares the fact of his administration. He that
openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth. Let it be
most particularly noted that Jesus did not say, He that can open, and none can
shut, and that can shut, and none openeth.

That is obviously true. But he said something far stronger. He did not make a
declaration of ability, but of activity.

Not merely that he held an executive position, but that he was executing the
work. He that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth.
This is not a distinction without a difference, but a difference with a
distinction.

Philadelphia was a church like the other churches of the time, existing in the
midst of the corruption of paganism, and surrounded by forces which perpetually
threatened to overwhelm these assemblies gathered around the Risen One. To it,
however, the Lord comes, announcing himself in all the kingly majesty of actual
administration, He that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and
none openeth. These words should bring to us a great sense of confidence and
safety, notwithstanding all the appearances which appall us.

He is God's King today, and though for a while man rejects Him, He nevertheless
holds the reins of government, sitting upon the holy hill of Zion. King by right
of character, King as witness the key of office which He holds, He moreover acts
in perpetual administration. He opens today, and He shuts today.

Amid all the fret and restlessness of the age, He is moving toward the final
order, and that through the mysteries that enwrap us. Presently the crisis will
arise, and then the process will be vindicated. Let us ever comfort our hearts
also with the threefold truth, of His character, that He is holy, that He is
true, of His official position, that He hath the key of David, and of His actual
administration, He that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and
none openeth.

In examining the commendation, a little care must be taken to notice the
structure. I know thy works, and behold, I have set before thee a door opened,
which none can shut. And thou hast a little power, and it's keep my word, and
it's not deny my name.

The words, Behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut,
being in parenthesis, must be omitted from the commendation. Of course these
words cannot be altogether omitted, neither would it be wise to place them
anywhere but where the Lord has placed them. The commendation, then, consists in
this statement, I know thy works, that thou hast a little power, and it's keep
my word, and it's not deny my name.

Now in the parenthesis, in the middle of that commendation, comes the
declaration concerning the opened door. The question arising is as to whether
the Lord meant to say, that because they had kept His word, and not denied His
name, He had opened a door, or that, having opened the door, they had kept His
word and had not denied His name. Without desiring to dogmatize upon what must
be a somewhat difficult matter, let me say that I hold the latter view, that the
opened door is not a reward for fidelity, but the opportunity in which this
church has proved its faithfulness.

The statement of reward comes further on in the epistle. It is as though the
Lord had said, I set before you a door opened, which none could shut, and I know
your works, you had a little power, and it's keep my word, and it's not deny my
name. He opened the door in front of them, and they passed through it, and
filled the opportunity.

He opened the door, and they, though having but little power, were yet true to
His word, and loyal to His name. It is evident, then, that the commendation must
be considered wholly in the light of statement concerning the opened door. What
this door was locally, it is impossible to state.

We cannot go back and examine in detail the opportunity which the Lord gave the
church. In all probability, however, it was some special opening for a
missionary enterprise. There is almost certainly a connection between the
announcement of the kingly character of Christ and His opening of the door.

It is, He that holdeth the key of David, which is the insignia of kingship, who
has opened the door, and the suggestion is that of a passport given to His
dominions for the transaction of His business. In the second psalm already
quoted of the announcement of the appointment of the king, the divine promise
concerning the king is made, Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for
thine inheritance, all the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. The
key opens the territory of the king.

He who held the key has set before the church a door opened. He has given them
entrance to some other of His dominions for the transaction of His business. The
opening of the door is the king's governmental preparation of the pathway, along
which his messengers are to run to do his bidding, to herald his gospel, to win
his dominion for himself.

The opening of the door is the exercise of his executive right. Turn for a
moment from the immediate and local application of these words. Let us think of
them as the statement of a great principle.

How wondrously in every successive century has the king opened the doors before
his church. In spite of human opposition, and human hatred, he has unlocked and
flung wide open the doors of opportunity before his faithful people. Never has
this been more conspicuous than in the past century.

It is not for us here to stay to illustrate the truth. Those who would follow
the thought should obtain Dr. Arthur T. Pearson's book, The Modern Mission
Century, one of the most thrilling romances ever written since the first chapter
in the history of the open doors, called The Acts of the Apostle. The message of
the book will cheer the heart and nerve the arm.

What the particular opening for the church at Philadelphia was, we have no means
of knowing. The fact of value revealed is that there came to a church which was
neither great nor strong an opportunity which the church recognized and filled.
But who are these that enter through the open door? Mark well his description.

Jesus did not say to this church at Philadelphia, Thou art strong, but Thou hast
a little power. They were faithful to the opportunity in that they kept his word
and did not deny his name. That is the true principle of success in Christian
service.

The greatest rewards that will ever come to churches or to men will be bestowed
not according to the greatness of the strength they had or the greatness of the
opportunity as it appeared to men, but according to fidelity to opportunity and
full use of the measure of strength possessed. The measure of strength was
small. But entering the open door, the church made use of all in loyalty to his
word and in maintaining the honor of his name.

In this twofold statement there is a revelation of the secret of success in all
service, the keeping of the word, and loyalty to the name. Of the first of these
there is a double explanation. The word of Christ is not kept merely by
defending its letter, but by realizing its spirit and obedience to its teaching.

No man keeps the word of Christ in duty unless he keeps it as doctrine, and yet
no man keeps the word of Christ as doctrine unless he possesses it in all the
details of duty. If life is to be according to the will of a king, there must be
knowledge of his teaching. Knowledge of the teaching is only evident as life
harmonizes therewith.

There is great force in the word, keep. The other phrase marks the fact which is
correlative. Thou didst not deny my name.

Holding the word of Christ must issue in unswerving loyalty to his name.
Wherever there has been a tendency to undervalue the word, there has resulted
the peril of insulting the name by degrading the personality. During recent
years there has gone forward within the church a certain kind of criticism of
the words of Christ, until we are not surprised, while strangely startled, that
today the name of Jesus is being assailed by those who are questioning the
essential facts concerning his person and his nature.

One hears of those who suggest that perhaps after all the story of miraculous
conception is mythic. This is the necessary corollary of speaking of his words
as partaking of the ignorance of his age, and such failure to keep the word and
maintain the name inevitably reacts upon the church in her fitness for service.
His claim of kingship is inseparably bound up with the miracles of his nature,
and the authority of his speech.

To deny these is to neglect the open doors. Infinitely better to have a little
power and use it within the doors he opens in loyalty to his teaching and
himself, than to have much power and use it as abetting the work of those who,
robbing him of his dignity, hinder his coming into his kingdom. In passing to
the Lord's counsel to this church, we notice that he emphasizes his
administration.

Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them which say they are Jews and
they are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before
thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Recognizing the difficult
conditions under which this church has borne its witness, he declares his
administrative activity first with regard to the synagogue of Satan.

This reference is of interest inasmuch as it closely resembles the Lord's
reference in his other epistle, without complaint, that to the church at Smyrna.
He then said, I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty, and the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. In
writing to Philadelphia, there is no such detailed declaration, but the passing
reference creates the idea that there were conditions calculated to hinder the
church at Philadelphia, similar to those which hindered and brought to relation
to the church at Smyrna.

There the Jewish synagogue had stirred up a pagan population to oppose the work
of the church. It is likely that something of the kind had also happened in
Philadelphia. Concerning such, he announces that the synagogue of Satan is yet
to be compelled to recognize the church.

I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have
loved thee. This is not the language of a great anger, nor that of vindictive
administration. His ancient people, who are hindering the work, and yet to be
brought to the feet of the church, to learn how he has loved her.

These administrative facts all lie in the realm of that great crisis, his second
advent. To the church he says, Because thou didst keep the word of my patience,
I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon
the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Recognizing the
faithfulness of his people, he promises them exemption from the tribulation
which is to come.

While that promise may have had its partial fulfillment in the escape of the
church at Philadelphia from some wave of persecution that swept over the
district, its final fulfillment will undoubtedly be realized by those who, loyal
to his word, and not denying his name, shall be gathered out of the world at his
second coming before the judgment that must usher in the setting up of his
kingdom on the earth. I come quickly is the great announcement which unlocks the
meaning of this promise of exemption from coming tribulation. There can be no
interpretation of the administration by which he shall bring the synagogue of
Satan to the feet of the church, or of the churches being saved from
tribulation, save the thought contained in the announcement, I come quickly.

In these words the Lord does for the church at Philadelphia what he has done for
the church again and again. He directs their attention to his second advent as
the goal and crisis of victory. Through all the years of service the church
should ever wait for him, hearing constantly the sound of his voice, I come
quickly.

In view of that promise, consider the Master's declaration of the present
responsibility of the church. Hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take
thy crown. To the church at Sardis he said the same thing, and yet how different
the value and application of the announcement.

To them it was a warning, to these it is a promise. To the church that was dead
it was a proclamation, calculated to startle them into obedience. To the church
exercising its little strength in fulfillment of his gracious will it was a
declaration calculated to comfort them in obedience.

Thus again it is evident that the doctrine of the advent of Jesus affects
persons according to the condition of their life. One church is threatened,
another is comforted by the announcement of his coming. In the little while that
lies between the present moment and his advent he marks their responsibility in
the words, hold fast that which thou hast.

What had they? A little power, his word, his name, his promise of return. These
they were to hold fast, and the reason, that no one take thy crown. The crown
referred to was that of reward for service.

He had opened the door. They in little power had entered in and had fulfilled
his will. He knew their works, that they had kept his word and did not deny his
name.

He had no complaint to make of them. He himself was coming, and at his coming
they would have their crowning. Not the crowning, but the conflict is for today,
but so surely as the conflict is maintained and the things now possessed held
fast, the crowning must come.

Then lastly notice his promise to the overcomer. He that overcometh I will make
him a pillar in 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 mine own new name.

The overcoming referred to in this case is not that of some evil in the church,
but of the forces which were outside, and these will finally be overcome at his
advent. As he has been speaking of that advent as the crisis at which all the
rewards he promises will be bestowed upon the church, his promise to the
overcomer is here, that of those conditions of life to which they shall pass
beyond that advent. First he promises them position.

I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. That is finality. The Bible
does not speak of men as being pillars in his temple while on earth.

Sometimes we have prayed for our children that they may become pillars in the
house of God, and that will be by and by, always providing that here they are
trees of the Lord's planting by the rivers of water. Then yonder they will have
a position, conspicuous and abiding, based upon the fact of their approximation
to the character of God. Then, secondly, I will write upon him the name of my
God.

This is indicating the fact of likeness and the reason of the position of
prominence. And yet again, a definite and specific reward. I will write upon him
the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of
heaven from my God.

Those who have the right within that city of permanent dwelling upon the basis
of character are not to be there as foreigners or aliens, but as those who have
the city's freedom, that freedom being the recognition of their overcoming. And
yet once more, I will write upon him mine own new name. What strange and
mystical statement is this? In the nineteenth chapter of this book of Revelation
there is another reference to it.

He hath a name written, which no one knoweth but he himself. There are yet
honors for Jesus unrevealed, and these are signified in that new name. This,
then, is the name that he will write upon the Overcomer.

He will share with him all his honors and rewards. There is to be the most
perfect oneness between the Overcomer and the King. To suffer with him will be
to reign with him o'er all the territory.

To enter the door he opens to-day is to walk with him in all the spacious realms
over which he yet must reign. In this great and gracious promise to the
Overcomer, mark the reiteration of Christ's personal pronoun. 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 from heaven from my God.

He came to do the will of his Father. He became the King upon the basis of the
perfections of that will. And even in the unutterable anguish of the hour of his
forsaking, there was still marked the relationship between him personally and
his Father, for even then he said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? As
he looks on to the ultimate triumph, all for him lies in the fact of his
relationship to God, and this is marked by that gracious word, my God.

To those who in little power yet fulfilled his purpose, he will give, as the
reward of service, association with himself in that union with his Father, which
is the full glory and the final center of perfect government. From this study
there are certain abiding lessons to be remembered. The first is a word of
comfort, the word that reminds us of the present administration of Christ, O,
that we may turn back to our work with the music of that thought ever sounding
in our hearts.

Our crowning may depend upon our fidelity, but God's ultimate victory depends
upon the King whom he has set on his holy hill. Let there be no moment in which
we imagine that he has either lost ground or abandoned any part of the territory
committed to him. He cannot fail nor be discouraged till he have accomplished
the uttermost purpose of his God, and though at times our eyes may fail to trace
the method of his administration, let our hearts be ever comforted by
remembering, He openeth and none shall shut, and he shutteth and none openeth.

If we are not able to see how he opens or how he shuts, it matters little. The
fact is full of infinite and inexpressible comfort. God's anointed King, though
for a time hidden from the eyes of men, is carrying on his government.

As of old, David the anointed King of Israel was for a time exiled from his
kingdom and took refuge in cave Adullam. So for today Christ is earth's rejected
King, but he is still God's anointed King. The story of Adullam is full of
significance.

David, refused by his people, went up to the fastness in the mountains, and
there three classes of people gathered round him—men in debt, men in danger, and
men that were discontented. Not much of count in the eyes of the nation. In all
probability it was looked upon as a happy exodus when they left for the cave.

And yet how wonderful the story of their relation to David and its results.
Contact with him turned them into mighty men. The story of David and his mighty
men is indeed a romance.

The raw material was surely as poor as ever gathered to a man, but then the
finished product there has seldom been anything finer. In process of time the
glad day dawned when David left Adullam and came to his crowning. Concerning
that crowning a statement full of significance is made.

These all came to Hebron of one heart to make David King. Our Lord is now
rejected, and by the world disowned, by the many still neglected, and by the few
enthroned. But he is gathering to himself a company of people in debt, in
danger, and discontented.

And those who have thus gathered to him in the days of his rejection are by that
contact and comradeship being transformed into his mighty men. And presently the
morning will break when we shall gather with one heart to make Jesus King. O,
take heart! Let there be fewer dirges sung in the sanctuary, and more paeans of
praise.

Let us have done with the lamentations of hope deferred, and putting on our
garments of beauty, rise from the dust and believe in our King. He at this
moment holds the reins, and swaying the scepter, administers the affairs of the
kingdom of God. Such is the comfort to be gathered from this epistle.

Then there follows a solemn word, marking our responsibility. Hold fast that
which thou hast. Opposition is not over.

Satan still has a synagogue. Open doors! And never had the Church such open
doors as she has at this moment. Open doors do not make strenuous fidelity
unnecessary, but more than ever necessary.

One of the most terrible facts of the present moment is that the Master is
unlocking the doors all around, but the Church is not entering them as she
should. Blindness to the fact is utter folly. A great door and effectual is open
before the Church in India, that land of fascinating problems and splendid
opportunity.

There we have undermined the false faiths by educational methods. At the present
moment there are multitudes of men in that land who have discovered the falsity
of the faith of their fathers, and are now waiting for something else, and the
Church is slow to bring them to the evangel of the risen Christ. How terrible a
thing it is to have taken away a faith, and yet not be ready immediately to
supply the lack.

And India is but one instance. Surely never was it so true that the fields are
white unto harvest, but the laborers are few. The Church should stand ready
before every door, so that the moment it is open she may occupy the territory
for Christ.

When will those who prosecute the commerce of heaven manifest the same witness
as that of the merchant princes of the earth? If the Church is thus to be ready
and responsive to the call of the King, she must hold fast his word and not deny
his name. Alas, that we have too often allowed things essential to be neglected,
while we have been dealing with things of minor or of no importance. Back to the
word, back to the name.

Then will the Church be what God intends she should be, fair as the moon, clear
as the sun, terrible as an army with banners. The final word of value from the
study is that the test of the Church's loyalty to Christ is not the measure of
her manifestation before men, but her fidelity to the opportunity her Lord
creates. Infinitely better to have a little power only, all used for Christ,
than much strength bestowed in other ways.

If he have opened the door, then let us go through in all the strength we
possess, remembering that our all, with the all of all the rest, shall make his
all, that is, the nations for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for his possession. End of chapter 8


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  CHAPTER 9: PART 9
========================================================================

Chapter 9 of A First-Century Message to Twentieth-Century Christians by G.
Campbell Morgan. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
Marianne.

Chapter 9. The Laodicea Letter. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea
write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning
of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot.

I would that thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm and neither hot
nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and
have gotten riches, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art the
wretched one, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, I counsel thee to
buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich, and white
garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and the shame of thy nakedness not be
made manifest.

And I salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I
reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. He that
overcometh, 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.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
Revelation chapter 3, verses 14 to 22. This last of the letters to the churches
is in some sense the saddest of them all, yet in other respects it is most full
of exquisite beauty.

In every other epistle we find some word of commendation. Here there is
absolutely none. This very fact seems to account for some of the tenderest and
most wonderful words uttered by the Lord in the whole series.

It is impossible to study this message without seeming to feel the heartbeat of
the Son of God, and in none of the letters has there been more evident the
yearning compassion of the divine heart. Very little is known of the church at
Laodicea. We have no account of its planting, but there are certain references
to it in the New Testament which may throw some light on its history.

It is certain that the church was known to Paul, and it is most probable that he
visited it. The latter position is of course open to question, very much depends
on the view taken concerning his imprisonment. If the confidence expressed in
the letter to the Philippians was fulfilled that he would again visit his
children, it is quite probable that among the rest he would see Laodicea.

The references he makes to the churches are most interesting in the light of
this message of Jesus. In his letter to the church at Colossae there are no
fewer than four references to the church in Laodicea. First, in the second
chapter, verses 1 to 3. For I would have you know how greatly I strive for you,
and for them at Laodicea, that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit
together in love, and unto all riches of the fullest assurance of understanding,
that they may know the mystery of God, even Christ in whom are all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge hidden.

It is thus evident that while writing to the church at Colossae, he has in mind
the church at Laodicea. In the fourth chapter of the same epistle, in referring
to Epaphras, the Apostle says, For I bear him witness that he hath much labor
for you, and for them in Laodicea. It is well to remember in passing that the
labor of Epaphras was that of prayer.

In the fifteenth verse of the same chapter he writes, Salute the brethren that
are in Laodicea. And yet again in the sixteenth verse, And when this epistle
hath been read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the
Laodiceans, and that ye also read the epistle from Laodicea. Now these
references show us clearly one or two things.

The Apostle was acquainted with the church, and undoubtedly was interested in
it. There was some kind of connection between it and the church at Colossae. In
all probability they were geographically contiguous.

It is quite conceivable that they were related to each other as mother and
daughter, the church at Colossae founding the church, at Laodicea, or being
founded by it. It is moreover evident that there was interest and fellowship
existing between them, so that when Epaphras, a member of the church in
Colossae, labored in prayer, that they of the fellowship might stand perfect and
complete in all the will of God, he also included in his petitions the sister
church at Laodicea. Moreover, it is probable that the Apostle wrote to the
church at Laodicea a special letter, which has not been preserved, having most
likely no perpetual value, for he distinctly charges the church at Colossae that
the letter to the church at Laodicea is to be read to them also.

The Apostle's interest in the church at Laodicea is marked in the first place by
his prayer for them, as for those at Colossae, that their hearts may be
comforted, they being knit together in love and unto all riches. The one great
peril threatening the church at Laodicea was its wealth, and it may safely be
inferred that the Apostle saw the peril, and prayed that, their hearts might be
comforted, they being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full
assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, even Christ.
That is to say, he desired for them that they might have the true wealth,
knowing as he probably did, that they were already possessed of much earthly
wealth.

In the authorized version we have another reference to the church at Laodicea,
which has been omitted from the revised. It occurs at the close of the first
letter to Timothy, and is of the nature of a note, the first to Timothy was
written from Laodicea, which is the chiefest city of Phrygia, Beccatiana. That
note, of course, presupposes that Paul was set free from the imprisonment during
which he wrote, and that he visited this church.

And while among them wrote to Timothy, who subsequently joined him, having been
left in charge of the church at Ephesus. Our revisers have omitted that
statement, believing that there is no sufficient authority for it. This much,
however, is certain, that the church at Laodicea was known to the Apostle, that
he was deeply interested in it, and that it had some intimate fellowship with
the church at Colossae.

In addressing himself to this church, the Lord uses descriptive words, which at
once arouse interest and arrest attention. These things saith the Amen, the
faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Here is nothing
which symbolizes his manifested splendor.

This is rather a declaration of his essential glory. The description creates a
contrast. To abject failure he addresses himself as the one incapable of
failure.

The statement is threefold, positive, relative, and declarative of authority. It
is a profound proclamation of authority based upon the facts which are the cause
and reason of all things. First, the positive statement.

These things saith the Amen. Secondly, the relative declaration. The faithful
and true witness.

Thirdly, the authoritative proclamation. The beginning of the creation of God.
He that is the Amen.

This word has come from the Hebrew without translation, and to understand its
value we must seek to know its original meaning in that language. The root
meaning is that of nursing or building up, and the derived meaning in perpetual
use today is that of something established, built up sure, positive. The word
therefore takes us back to God as the nursing mother, and expresses the truth of
the absolute stability and actual correctness of everything that God has
thought, spoken, and done.

It is an essential word, the Amen. All truth lies within its compass as to
certainty. As a title of Christ, it is equivalent in value to the statement
which he made when he said, I am the truth.

It must ever be remembered that he did not say, I teach the truth, nor, I
declare the truth, nor, I explain the truth, but, I am the truth. Here we have
the same thought put in a form almost more august and splendid. He that is the
Amen, the essential truth, truth expressed in a person, truth from which there
can be no appeal.

The Amen is the conclusion, because it is the finality of nourishment, the
perfection of edification, the last word, the end, to which nothing can be
added. So Christ approaching this church declares in the first phrase of
declaration that from him there can be no appeal. This is the certainty, the
finality, the ratification, the ultimate authority, the Amen.

Then follows the relative statement of the same great fact. He is the faithful
and true witness. He is that, because he is the Amen.

He is that, because he is the truth. He is the Amen, even though he never speak.
He is the truth, if he utter no word.

But now that the truth has been spoken by him, it is a faithful and true witness
that he has born. He is the faithful and true witness of God and of the church.
When he speaks, there is no exaggeration and no minimizing.

What he says is faithful and true, because he is faithfulness and truth. What he
says will be exactly true, because he is in himself absolute truth, and there is
nothing beyond him in all the realm of truth. The witness concerning all things
in him will be faithfulness and truth.

He is the only one through whom this perfect witness can be spoken. The church
at Laodicea had failed in witness. Its condition had eclipsed the essential
light that should have been shining in the darkness around, and the master comes
to it and addresses it as the faithful and true witness.

He is about to strip it of all the false appearance which deceives the eyes of
many, but which cannot deceive him. As in the old economy, by its last
messenger, Jehovah said he would be a swift witness against the sorcerers and
evildoers, the witness of truth against evil, the one who would drag the evil
into the light of truth. So here, as he comes to unmask the failure of the
Laodicean people, he announces himself as the one who will neither exaggerate
the condition nor permit anything of it to remain hidden.

Then the last phrase brings us back into the sublimity of majesty. As we read
it, we are impelled to worship. The Beginning of the Creation of God.

Having noticed the reference to Laodicea in Colossians, it becomes interesting
to read Colossians in light of Laodicea, and to notice how this very expression,
the beginning of the creation of God, is one of the pillars upon which the truth
of the Colossian epistle rests. In that sublime and matchless statement
concerning the glories of Christ, occurring in the first chapter of Colossians,
verses 15 to 18, these words occur, Who is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of all creation, for in him were all things created, in the heavens
and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or principalities or powers, all things have been created through him
and unto him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together,
consist.

This betokens rank and right lying behind all other. If the heart ever questions
the deity of Christ, it is well to go back and ponder this great statement. It
is impossible to retain this in the Bible if Christ be anything less than God,
and all the sublimity of these declarations lies in the suggestion within this
title.

Approaching the church at Laodicea, he comes as one whose rank is infinitely
beyond that of priest, prophet, or king. He speaks with the authority of cause
and creation. Wherever the eye rests, or whatever the mind is conscious of, is
as to first cause the work of Christ.

His footprints may be tracked through all creation. Every blush of beauty
reveals the touch of his finger. There are no flowers but have in them witness
to him.

No marvelous and majestic landscape entrancing the vision of men, but that sings
the solemn anthem of his power and beauty. In all the precision of created
things, the rolling seasons, the dawn of day, and the westering of the sun, in
the emergence of spring from its garment of winter, its procedure into the
splendor of summer, and its gorgeous robing in autumnal glory, is to be
discovered the power of the Christ. Thus coming to a church conceited because of
its wealth and independence.

He sublimely announces his wealth and independence. If this church had but ears
to hear, how it must have blushed with shame as the tawdryness of its wealth
became apparent in the blinding splendor of his, and as the blasphemy of its
independence was manifest, as the only one of independence declared himself as
the origin of all things. He speaks to them not as the king of a section, not as
the one who enunciates laws for one realm of the universe, but as the beginning
of creation, the cause and the creator, who is king of all creation, and
enunciates for all the laws which condition life.

To the church at Laodicea, lifeless, indifferent, cool, he speaks as the one who
is the source of all life, the infinite energy, the beginning of the creation of
God. In this capacity of infinite majesty, he speaks no single word of
commendation. Many are the words of hope, he utters.

He has not lost all hope even for this fearful failure at Laodicea, but there is
no commendation. His counsel and complaint run close together, alternating
through all the message. Let us select the complaint, considering it first, and
then passing attention to his counsel.

Three brief statements indicate the Lord's complaint. First, Thou art, and then,
Thou sayest, and yet again, Thou art. In the first he describes the general
condition of the church, in the second he describes the church as the church
thinks it is, in the third he reveals, in minute and detailed truth, the
actualities.

First, his vision of the church as to its spirit, and not as to its
externalities, then a revelation of the church's belief concerning itself, and
then the contrast, terrible and startling, of his view of the church, even as to
details. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. Such is the
spiritual condition as he declares it.

Thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing. That
was their consciousness. Thou art the wretched one, and miserable, and poor, and
blind, and naked, and thou knowest it not.

That is their detailed condition, in contrast with their supposed condition.
These descriptions form our Lord's complaint. Thou art neither cold nor hot.

Thou art lukewarm. Let us take these words and attempt to see what they really
indicate. Cold.

Frozen. The thought of temperature lowered by evaporation lies within the word.
Thou art not frozen.

The church was not characterized by utter indifference. Hot. Boiling.

Thou art not boiling. The church was not characterized by fervent heat. It was
not utterly indifferent.

It had no fervent zeal. What then is the condition? Lukewarm. And we may with
perfect accuracy render the word tepid.

Thou art not frozen. Thou art not boiling. Thou art tepid.

If there is anything abhorrent to the heart of Christ, it is a tepid church. He
would rather have the church frozen. I did not say that.

He did. I would thou wert cold. He would rather have the church boiling.

I would thou wert hot. But this condition of being tepid is utterly repugnant to
Him. No emotion, no enthusiasm, no urgency, no passion, no compassion.

I am not sure that the condition of the church might not be expressed in a
phrase I once heard fall from the lips of one who called himself a Christian.
Said he when raising a protest against evangelistic work with a very evident
assumption of superiority and self-complacency. You know, I am thoroughly
evangelical but not evangelistic? Exactly.

Tepid. Evangelical but not evangelistic? It is a lie. No man is evangelical
without being evangelistic.

A man tells me that he is evangelical, that he believes in the ruin of man and
redemption provided by Christ and in man's responsibility, and yet is not
evangelistic. Then he is the worst traitor in the camp of Christ, and that is
why Christ hates tepid men and tepid churches. It was that condition that drove
John Wesley into the lines of irregular itinerancy, which became the regular
march of the armies of God.

It was that same condition that drove William Booth out into the work of
Christian mission, which developed into the Salvation Army. I remember him once
telling the story how he was made an enthusiast for salvation. Said he, I was
made a red-hot salvationist by an infidel lecturer.

That lecturer said, If I believed what some of you Christians believe, I would
never rest day or night telling men about it. That sentence was the great
sentence. William Booth heard, believed, acted.

It was like a fire in his bones, and drove him out from that which was tepid to
that which was boiling. Tepid is that condition in which conviction does not
affect conscience, heart, or will. The cross is not denied, but it is not vital.

The cross may have been worn as an ornament, as, alas, it is too often worn
today. But these sleek saints had never themselves been nailed to a cross. The
silver cross, the golden cross worn as an ornament upon the breast, creates a
pleasant sensation.

A wooden cross, and iron nails, and agonizing death is a different matter. When
the cross is an ornament there is no death in it, but then there is no life in
it. When the cross ceases to be an ornament and becomes the death, then there is
a passion that eventuates in contagious life.

Sin? Oh, certainly the fact of sin was admitted, but there is no hatred of sin.
They would speak of sinners as persons to be pitied, but no finger would be
lifted to save them. They would speak of sin as something objectionable, perhaps
as a moral defect, or an obloquity of vision, but never as a damnable poison,
rotting the foundations of life and bringing down into awful cataclysm all fair
and lovely things.

They were tepid, lukewarm in their creeds, and neither hot nor cold in their
conduct. Is it any wonder that Christ sighed over them? Ay, would thou wert cold
or hot! In the light of this pronouncement, the declaration of the Church's
opinion of itself is terrible. Hear the language as Christ construed it,
remembering he was the faithful and true witness, and this is no exaggeration,
but inward conviction.

I am rich, possessing abundantly. I have gotten riches, the language of perfect
self-satisfaction. I have need of nothing, independence.

If we had visited the Church at Laodicea, in all probability they would have
shown us the Church premises. They would have told us how much they paid for the
property, how much the Church cost. They would have said, whatever we want, we
have.

If we require new premises, we build them. We are independent. Did you suggest
some form of service that would create new spiritual power? They would have been
astonished.

Did you propose a mission? No, certainly not. We do not want a mission here. We
have need of nothing.

A series of meetings for the deepening of spiritual life? Oh, no. Hold them in
some other district. We have need of nothing.

A time of special humiliation and prayer? We have no need of humiliation. We
have need of nothing. That was the condition.

They needed nothing because they had everything. Now listen again. Christ gives
his view of their condition.

Thou art the wretched one, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. First,
wretched, and the simple meaning of the word is oppressed with a burden. The
burden they carried was the very wealth which they imagined carried them.

Instead of wealth helping and lifting them, it hindered and grated. As he with
eyes of fire looked over the churches, of the one that was perhaps the
wealthiest, he said that it was a heavenly burdened one. How different from the
popular estimate! We have often heard of a church being heavily burdened with
debt, but the Master speaks of one heavily burdened with wealth.

Again, thou art miserable, and the word here means pitiable. The heart of the
Lord was moved in pity toward them. He had no congratulation to offer them.

His feeling toward them was one of commiseration. Thou art poor, and the word
means poor, as a pauper by the highway side is poor. From his standpoint of
wealth, the church was a cringing beggar, possessing nothing worth the having.

Thou art blind, that is opaque, seeing nothing clearly, seeing nothing afar.
Nearsighted is the word which perhaps most accurately expresses the thought,
lacking vision, lacking light, devoid of the sense of the far distances,
confined within narrow limits. And thou art naked, nude, stripped of the
clothing of glory and beauty, which ought to adorn the church as the bride of
Christ.

To other churches he has spoken of white raiment. This church has none.
Presently the garments of purple and the jewels of gold will become moth-eaten
and tarnished, and the church will be seen in the light of the eternities with
no robe of purified service to cover it.

Let it be specially noted that all these words which Christ uses to describe the
church are words of pity. There is not an angry word among them. He is not angry
with the condition of the church.

All that he is able to remedy. His anger is that they are satisfied with these
things. Read the words yet once again, and note how they pulsate with the pity
of his heart.

Wretched, the condition that ever appeals to the sympathy of the tender-hearted.
Miserable, in such a condition as to touch a sympathetic nerve. Poor, a beggar
by the highway side, to whom you can hardly refuse help.

Blind, one groping the way, stretching out hands that seem to compel you to
stretch out yours in guiding kindness. Naked, making you long to fling some
garment of warmth around the denuded form. Such people are saying, We are rich,
and have gotten our riches, we do not need anything.

And in that very fact lies the deepest note of misery that calls most loudly for
a yet deeper compassion. I believe that Christ's attitude to the church was one
of profound pity. It was Keith who wrote of this church.

Sooner would a man in Sardis have felt that the chill of death was upon him, and
have cried out for life, and called for the physician, than would a man of
Laodicea, who would calmly count his even pulse, and think his life secure, when
death was preying on his vitals. This is a true picture of Laodicea. I am rich.

Thou art poor. I am increased with goods. Thou hast nothing.

I have need of nothing. Thou art pitiable, blind, naked. O the revealing Christ!
With what heart-searching does the infinite light of His infinite love fall upon
the assemblies of His people? Now turn to our Lord's counsel to the church, and
in it even more supremely is His heart revealed.

First, His wish expressed, I would thou wert cold or hot. Secondly, His declared
intention, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Lastly, His immediate advice, By of
me.

His wish expressed, I would thou wert cold or hot. Is that not a strange thing
for Him to say? We could have understood it better if He had said, I would thou
wert hot. And yet a deep abhorrence of the condition is revealed more forcefully
by what He actually said.

He would rather have had them cold. There is infinitely greater chance for
someone who is cold than for someone who is lukewarm. There is more hope of the
man outside the church, in all the desolating dreariness of the coldness which
is lack of life, and therefore of love, than for the man within the church, who
is near enough to its warmth not to appreciate it, and far enough away from its
burning heat to be useless to God and man.

A greater chance for the heathen who has not heard the gospel, than for the man
who has become an evangelized heathen, if he disobeyed the claims of the
evangel. It is impossible to read this epistle without a sense throbbing through
the heart of the wail of, I would. We have heard Him say it before.

While yet upon the earth, with a voice full of emotion, as He looked on
Jerusalem, He cried, How often would I have gathered thy children together, and
ye would not? I would thou wert cold or hot. He would infinitely rather have to
do with a frozen people, clamoring for warmth, than with this crowd of lukewarm
rich folk, which having everything, had need of nothing, and having nothing, had
need of everything. Then follows His declared intention, I will spew thee out of
my mouth, or very literally, I am about to spew thee out of my mouth.

This is not a question of casting a Christian from relation to himself. It is
the casting out of a church from her position of witness bearing. Christ amid
the lampstands is speaking to the churches in their capacity of light bearers in
the darkness of the night, and He says, I am about to reject thee from this
work, about to spew thee out of my mouth, about to put thee away from the place
of witness and testimony.

In the form of this statement there is at once a declaration of a decision
arrived at, and the intimation of a possible escape from the judgment
pronounced. I am about to do it. It is a sentence pronounced, it is a doom
descending.

I am about to do it. It is not yet done. The blow has not fallen, the light is
not yet extinguished.

All this lends urgency to the actual words of counsel, as he now utters them. I
counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich,
and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy
nakedness be not made manifest. And I sath to anoint thine eyes, that thou
mayest see.

He now addresses himself to the church as he sees her, not the church as she
thinks she is, and he confronts her in all fullness as the one possessing all
she most sadly lacks, and in his counsel there is a declaration of the way by
which all that is objectionable to their condition may be corrected. You are
poor, buy my gold, that you may be rich. You are naked, buy my white raiment,
that you may be clothed.

You are blind, buy my eye salve, that you may see. The church says, I am rich,
and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing. He says, Thou art miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked.

Buy gold from me, that you may be rich. They say, We have gotten all we need.
And he says, You are naked, buy of me the white garments, that you may clothe
yourselves.

They say, We have need of nothing. He says, You are blind, buy my eye salve, and
anoint your eyes, that you may see. The Lord would teach the church that the
true wealth, the true raiment, the true wisdom, the true vision is himself
possessed in all the aspects of his perfection.

As Paul had intimated in that letter to the Colossian church, which he desired
to be read to the Laodiceans also, that their hearts may be comforted, they
being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of
understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, even Christ. If they would
be wealthy, they must buy of him gold refined by fire, they must be rich with
what he is. If they would be clothed, they must be with white garments, which
are woven out of loyal service rendered to him, and in the strength of his love.

If they would have wisdom, they must seek from him the eye salve, by which they
may see things in their true values and perspective. So he approaches the church
that he is about to spew out of his mouth in disdain, and opens before them the
storehouses of his infinite riches, and says, If you are only conscious of your
poverty, I have riches. If you are but conscious of your nakedness, I have
clothing.

If you are but conscious of your blindness, I have eye salve. All that can
hinder the church will be continuance in the vain delusion that she is rich and
increasing with goods and has need of nothing. The way back to blessing will be
that the church should get down into the dust, into the place of humbling, into
the place of heartbreak, into the place where she shall indeed say, I am poor,
and miserable, and blind, and naked.

Then he will comfort with his own heart's love, and enrich with his own untold
wealth, and clothe with his own white raiment of reward, and anoint with his own
inspiration and vision. How graciously he offers to supply the need, and yet
with what tender irony, mingled with mighty compassion, the statement of his
ability confronts their false notion of their sufficiency. They said, We are
rich.

He said, Buy my gold. They said, We have need of nothing. He says, Seek all from
me.

Then, as in a flash, straight out of his heart of infinite love comes a
statement, As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. If he had not loved the
church at Laodicea, he would have let her alone. He loved them notwithstanding
all their failure, and his love was the reason of his rebuke and of his counsel.

And then words follow, full of a great urgency, Be zealous and repent. It is as
though the master would do anything to arouse them from their lethargy. He calls
them to zeal and to repentance.

But how can these people come back? They have not far to travel, though their
distance be great, for he is close at hand. Hear the words, the gracious words.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If any man hear my voice, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he
with me. What startling revelations lie within the compass of these words.
First, he is excluded.

They have everything in the church at Laodicea, except Jesus Christ. He is
outside the door. We should ever remember that while we have often preached the
gospel from this text, and I do not think it is wrong, that the words are first
told to the church, and not to the individual.

Behold, I stand at the door, the door of the church, and knock, outside it. Oh,
this excluded Christ, excluded from his world, for they crucified him, excluded
from his church, for he is outside the door knocking. Yet he waits.

And for what? For one man to let him in. He is not waiting for a committee to
pass a resolution. Then, indeed, the case might be hopeless.

He waits for a man. If any man hear my voice, I will come in to him, and will
sup with him, and he with me. I will be his first guest.

I will sup with him. He shall be my guest, and he with me. I will sit at the
table which his love provides, and satisfy my heart.

He shall sit at the table which my love will provide, and satisfy his heart.
Supposing a man in Laodicea opened that door, saying as he did so, I am
convinced of our poverty, we have everything but Christ. I will admit him, and
spread the table for him.

What would happen? The moment a man should open the door to Christ, the excluded
Christ, and Christ should pass to communion and fellowship with that man, then
that man in communion with Christ would excommunicate the church. We have often
heard of churches excommunicating men. It is quite possible for one man to
excommunicate the church by passing into the place of communion with the Lord.

Then how may the church return to fellowship? By joining Christ and that man.
Just as the one man came into communication with Christ, so also must the
church, by including him who so long has been excluded. In the Old Testament
there is a remarkable illustration of this truth.

There was a day when Moses, by taking up the tabernacle of the Lord of hosts,
and pitching it without the camp, excommunicated the whole nation from the
covenant. To that new center he called those who sought the Lord into a new
position of separation, and as the people returned around that center in
obedience, they were received back into fellowship. There came a day when Christ
excommunicated the whole Hebrew nation, and the whole world.

It was the day on which he suffered without the camp. Passing outside the camp
he rent the veil and called men to the inner place of worship by calling them
back to himself. Those following him entered the holy of holies.

So this man in Laodicea, who should open the door to Jesus, would set up a new
standard of life and power, and the only way for the excommunicated church to
return would be to take the same position as that man. It is a solemn and awful
crisis in the history of a church when in response to the patient calling of the
excluded Lord, one man shall open the door, and including the Christ, exclude
those that have lost their loyalty to him. There is but one way for such to
return, and that is by coming to that man's position.

We read once in the life story of Jesus of how they excommunicated a man. So
angry were they with the testimony that he bore to Jesus that they cast him out
of the synagogue. When Jesus heard of it, he found the man and said, Dost thou
believe on the Son of God? And the man said, And who is he, Lord, that I may
believe on him? And the reply fell with strange strength and sweetness upon the
listening ear of that excommunicated man.

Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that speaketh with thee. And the man said,
Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him. They cast him out of the synagogue, the
place of worship, but he found the one center of worship.

It may be that the Laodicean church will exclude the man who includes Christ.
Then let that man have no sorrow in his heart save for the folly of the church.
If there be no other way to find Christ than by leaving the Laodicean church,
then the it be left, the better.

To find him is to find gold refined by fire, and clothing, so that there may be
no shame of nakedness, and eyesalve, which broadens the outlook and creates all
visions. O, behold the vision! Apostasy confront with fidelity, falsehood
confront with truth, decorated poverty face to face with infinite wealth,
lukewarmness and hypocrisy with compassion and devotion. Behold I stand at the
door and knock.

What dost thou want, O crowned one, knocking? A man, one man who will open the
door that I may come in and sup with him, and he with me. The last thing to be
noticed is a promise to the overcomer. For these people the hardest battle had
to be fought, and therefore the greatest reward is promised.

The Lord seems to recognize that the difficulty of such life in such a church as
Laodicea is the most terrible the saint ever has to fight, and so he makes to
them the most gracious and remarkable promise. He that overcometh 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. Beyond this promise neither hope nor imagination can go.

Is there not a suggestion here of the peculiar temptation that Jesus had to
meet, as I also overcame? How did he overcome? What can he mean? A hundred
answers come to our thoughts, but do they fit the occasion? There seems to be
but one that unlocks the mystery. He is talking to people whose supreme wrong is
that they are attempting to take everything easily. They have no compassion, no
enthusiasm, and he says to them, Overcome, as I also overcame.

Is there not here every evidence of his remembrance of the subtlest temptation
that came to him? The enemy in the wilderness said, All these kingdoms will I
give thee by an easy way, without the cross, without the passion, without
crucifixion. His own disciple brought to him the same suggestion, Spare thyself.
What need for all this outpouring of life in a great passion and compassion? And
even in Gethsemane we catch the echo of the tempter's voice.

I say this with all carefulness, ever remembering that temptation is not sin. I
speak only of the echo of temptation as I seem to hear it in his prayer, Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. The enemy was ever saying to him
in one way or another, Spare thyself.

Why this strenuous life? Why set your face like a flint toward Jerusalem, and be
determined to tread the Via Dolorosa? But he overcame, and sat down with his
father in his throne, having taken the only pathway that could issue in the
crowning, and now with all the mighty meaning of that fact, he says to the
church at Laodicea, to this self-complacent, self-satisfied, lukewarm and tepid
crowd, overcome as I also overcame, be zealous, be hot, and you shall sit down
with me in my throne. Very few words are necessary by way of application of the
message of this letter to the age in which we live. The lessons are
self-evident.

I propose to do little more than gather them up, indicating each in brief
sentences. Lukewarmness is in itself a contradiction of all we profess to
believe. I do not think, in the whole scheme of these letters, there is anything
of greater importance or anything more needing emphasis today than this truth.

The things we profess to believe are of such a nature that we cannot be lukewarm
without practically denying them. Better to be cold, be frozen. Better abandon
all profession of interest in sacred things than to pretend to believe them and
sing about them and yet be lukewarm.

We work far more harm to our age by tepid character than by open denial of
Christ. It is not the people who are frozen, utterly indifferent, but the people
who pretend to love Christ, those, forsooth, who are evangelical, but not
evangelistic, who are hindering the progress of his kingdom. Men who theorize
around the atonement and quarrel over the forms in which they express the truth
and never stretch out the hand to save the lost souls—these are the men who are
cursing the church—men who love to split hairs about election and free will and
yet let the millions drift and do nothing to rescue them.

All the wrath of my heart could not equal the words of Christ to such as are
lukewarm. I am about to spew thee out of my mouth. He loathes the impassioned
regularity of the man who professes to believe the facts which constitute
evangelical faith and does not yield himself to the great claims lying within
these truths.

Lukewarmness is the worst form of blasphemy. Let the tepid churches call
themselves clubs, and we shall know how to deal with them. Let tepid men leave
the churches.

Let them say they do not believe in Christ, for that is the true statement. Let
them say there is no sin, for of that position their actions prove their
acceptance. Anything to be rid of the insolent indifference which to Christ and
men is calculated cruelty.

And yet another thought, appalling and awful, abides with us as we turn from
this study. It is that of the excluded Christ. O, how he has suffered, and how
he suffers still! Of his own gracious will he was excluded from heaven for the
redemption of lost men, and then excluded from his nation by the blindness of
that nation, and then excluded from his world by the apparent victory of the
forces of evil, and now, alas, so often excluded from his very church by the
tepid indifference of those who imagine that they have everything while they
have nothing.

And yet once more, O the matchless tenderness and patience of this selfsame Son
of God! He is the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the
creation of God. And in this letter where he speaks from the standpoint of these
primal facts, more than in any other, is revealed the unquenchable love of the
heart of God, insulted, excluded, and ready to spew out of his mouth that which
is utterly loathsome. Yet he waits, knocking still at the door, willing to enter
into new fellowship with one man.

To that simply stated fact, nothing that proves tenderness can be added. Yet we
learn, moreover, that the only cure for lukewarmness is the readmission of the
excluded Christ. Apostasy must be confronted with his fidelity, looseness with
conviction born of his authority, poverty with the fact of his wealth, frost
with the mighty fire of his enthusiasm, and death with the life divine that is
in his gift.

There is no other cure for the loneliness of heaven, for the malady of the
world, for the lukewarmness of the church, than the readmitted Christ. Let us
listen to the Son of Man as he walks amid the lampstands. Let us beseech him to
say to us all he has to say.

What he says to us shall be the truth, for he will preface it with the, I know.
And so true will be the statement following that initial word, that we shall be
compelled to say, This is the word of truth. If he has commendation for us, the
uttering of it shall be our chief reward.

If he speak words of complaint, heeding them, let us find our way to true and
deep repentance. Let us listen principally for his words of counsel, and hearing
them, without reserve, let us yield to him our quick obedience. He also says to
all the churches, I will.

It is the word of his judgment. It is the word of his promise. This we know,
that what he wills is best.

So to his chastisements we render ourselves that we may find his great reward.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/a-first-century-message-to-twentieth-century-christians/
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