“To the angel of the assembly in Ephesus write: “He who holds the seven stars in his right hand, he who walks among the seven golden lamp stands says these things:
“I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can’t tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false. You have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 7 The exordium wherein are contained the special praises of…
The exordium wherein are contained the special praises of Christ Jesus the Author of this prophecy, out of verses 16 and 13 of the first Chapter.
The former part of this book is comprised in a narration of those things which then were as S. John taught us, Rev. 1:19, it belongeth wholly to instruction and in these next two Chapters, containeth seven places according to the number and condition of those Churches which were named before, Rev. 1:11, figured verse 12, distributed most aptly into their Pastors and flocks, verse 20, which verse of that Chap. is as it were a passage unto the first part. Every one of the seven places hath three principal members, an Exordium taken from the person of the Author: a Proposition, in which is praise and commendation of that which is good, reprehension of that which is evil: an instruction containing either an exhortation alone, or withal a dissuasion opposite unto it, and a conclusion stirring unto attention by divine promises. And this first place is unto the Pastors of the Church of Ephesus.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–7 1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus…
1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
Ver. 1. Unto the angel] This was Timothy, as some think; who not stirring up the gift of God that was in him, had remitted somewhat of his former fervour. By the style here given him ("angel") he is monished not more of his dignity than of his duty. That angel at Bochim, Jdg 2:1, is thought to have been Phineas. And some interpret that of Solomon, "Neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error of the priest," Ecc 5:6. It is good counsel to ministers that one gives, Angelorum induistis nomen, induite et naturam, ne sit (ut digit nonnemo) nomen inane, crimen immane: Ye have put on the name, put on also the nature of angels; lest an empty name fill up the measure of your sins.
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Of the church of Ephesus] εφεσις or εφεσι. Languishing Ephesus hath not her name for nought; for she was so named of remissness or slackening her hold, wherewith she is here upbraided, Conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–7 Rev 2:1,
Rev 2:1,
These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars, Rev 1:16; Rev 2:8, The first and the last, which was dead and is alive, Rev 1:17,18; Re 2:12. These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges, Rev 1:16; Rev 2:18, The Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet like fine brass, Rev 1:14,15; Re 3:1. He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars, Rev 1:4,16; Re 2:7, He that hath the key of David, that is holy and true, that openeth, & c., Rev 1:5,18; Re 2:14, The faithful and true witness, Rev 1:5.
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Ephesus was the principal city of Asia the Less, it lay in the western parts of it, upon the Ionian Sea; a city of great riches and trade, but much given to idolatry and superstition, famous for the temple of Diana. Paul was there twice; at his second coming he stayed thereabouts three years, Act 18:1-20:38. He was by a tumult driven thence into Macedonia, and left Timothy there, 1Ti 1:3. It appears from Act 20:17, that there were more ministers there than one; but they were all angels, and from the oneness of their business are all called an angel.
These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand; that is, Christ, Rev 1:16,20, who hath put an honour on his ministers, showeth special favour to them, and will protect them.
Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; who hath a special eye to his church, being not an idle spectator, but present with his church, to observe how all in it walk and perform their several parts, and is at hand, either to reward or punish them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 5, 6, 7 Note here, 1. That the church of Ephesus, with…
Note here, 1. That the church of Ephesus, with the other six churches of Asia, were, at the time of St. John’s writing, very flourishing churches, favoured as much with the special presence influence of Christ as ever any churches were.
Note, 2. That these churches are written to as a sort of types of all the Gentile churches unto the end of the world, and patterns also which the Gentile churches were to take warning by, Christ hereby declaring what all other churches, offending and declining in the same manner, might expect.
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Note, 3. That the first church St. John is commanded to write unto, is the church of Ephesus, and what is written is directed to the angel, the bishop, the president and chief minister in that church, to be communicated to all in the church, both ministers and people, as that which nearly concerned them all.
Note, 4. That Christ in the beginning of every epistle doth notify himself by some one of those characters which he gave of himself in the former chapter, either as the faithful and true witness, or as the first and the last, or as having the seven stars in his hand.
Thus here, These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand.
Mark, he holdeth the stars in his hand, to show his power, supporting and directing them, for the good of his people. It is added, that Christ walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Which expression denotes Christ’s gracious presence with them, his strict observation of them, his tender care over them, his protecting and defending of them in doing their duty to him, his encouraging or reproving, his rewarding or punishing, as there should be cause: These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, and walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
Learn hence, 1. That the ministers of Christ are stars, yet but stars, they shine but with a borrowed light, with a light derived from the sun: they shine but for a time, the day hastens when these stars shall disappear for ever.
Learn, 2. These stars are in the right hand of Christ, in his power, and at his disposal; he appoints them their orbs where they shall shine, and appoints them also their time for shining.
Learn, 3. That the church is a candlestick, a golden candlestick. As a candlestick has no more light than what is put into it, and must by continually maintained by a new supply of oil, such is the state of the church; and as a candlestick is a moveable thing, remove the candlestick, and the light is removed with it: so when God removes the light of the gospel from a people, he unchurches them.
Farther, the church is called is called a golden candlestick, because as gold is the purest of metals, and excels other metals in preciousness, so God expects his church should differ as much from the world, as gold doth from common clay.
Learn, 4. That there is a special gracious presence of Christ with his church in all her adminstrations. He walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks; it denotes his presence with them, and this presence, and a joyous presence.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 We have here,
We have here,
I. The inscription, where observe, 1. To whom the first of these epistles is directed: To the church of Ephesus, a famous church planted by the apostle Paul (Acts 19), and afterwards watered and governed by John, who had his residence very much there. We can hardly think that Timothy was the angel, or sole pastor and bishop, of this church at this time, - that he who was of a very excellent spirit, and naturally cared for the good state of the souls of the people, should become so remiss as to deserve the rebukes given to the ministry of this church. Observe, 2. From whom this epistle to Ephesus was sent; and here we have one of those titles that were given to Christ in his appearance to John in the chapter foregoing: He that holds the seven stars in his right hand, and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, Rev 1:13, Rev 1:16. This title consists of two parts: - (1.) He that holds the stars in his right hand. The ministers of Christ are under his special care and protection. It is the honour of God that he knows the number of the stars, calls them by their names, binds the sweet influences of Pleiades and looses the bands of Orion; and it is the honour of the Lord Jesus Christ that the ministers of the gospel, who are greater blessings to the church than the stars are to the world, are in his hand. He directs all their motions; he disposes of them into their several orbs; he fills them with light and influence; he supports them, or else they would soon be falling stars; they are instruments in his hand, and all the good they do is done by his hand with them. (2.) He walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks. This intimates his relation to his churches, as the other his relation to his ministers. Christ is in an intimate manner present and conversant with his churches; he knows and observes their state; he takes pleasure in them, as a man does to walk in his garden. Though Christ is in heaven, he walks in the midst of his churches on earth, observing what is amiss in them and what it is that they want. This is a great encouragement to those who have the care of the churches, that the Lord Jesus has graven them upon the palms of his hands.
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II. The contents of the epistle, in which, as in most of those that follow, we have,
1. The commendation Christ gave this church, ministers and members, which he always brings in by declaring that he knows their works, and therefore both his commendation and reprehension are to be strictly regarded; for he does not in either speak at a venture: he knows what he says. Now the church of Ephesus is commended, (1.) For their diligence in duty: I know thy works, and thy labour, Rev 2:2. This may more immediately relate to the ministry of this church, which had been laborious and diligent. Dignity calls for duty. Those that are stars in Christ's hand had need to be always in motion, dispensing light to all about them. For my name's sake thou hast laboured, and hast not fainted, Rev 2:3. Christ keeps an account of every day's work, and every hour's work, his servants do for him, and their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. (2.) For their patience in suffering: Thy labour and thy patience, Rev 2:2. It is not enough that we be diligent, but we must be patient, and endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ. Ministers must have and exercise great patience, and no Christian can be without it. There must be bearing patience, to endure the injuries of men and the rebukes of Providence; and there must be waiting patience, that, when they have done the will of God, they may receive the promise: Thou hast borne, and hast patience, Rev 2:3. We shall meet with such difficulties in our way and work as require patience to go on and finish well. (3.) For their zeal against what was evil: Thou canst not bear those that are evil, Rev 2:2. It consists very well with Christian patience not to dispense with sin, much less allow it; though we must show all meekness to men, yet we must show a just zeal against their sins. This their zeal was the more to be commended because it was according to knowledge, a discreet zeal upon a previous trial made of the pretences, practices, and tenets of evil men: Thou hast tried those that say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars. True zeal proceeds with discretion; none should be cast off till they be tried. Some had risen up in this church that pretended to be not ordinary ministers, but apostles; and their pretensions had been examined but found to be vain and false. Those that impartially search after truth may come to the knowledge of it.
2. The rebuke given to this church: Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, Rev 2:4. Those that have much good in them may have something much amiss in them, and our Lord Jesus, as an impartial Master and Judge, takes notice of both; though he first observes what is good, and is most ready to mention this, yet he also observes what is amiss, and will faithfully reprove them for it. The sin that Christ charged this church with was their decay and declension in holy love and zeal: Thou hast left thy first love; not left and forsaken the object of it, but lost the fervent degree of it that at first appeared. Observe, (1.) The first affections of men towards Christ, and holiness, and heaven, are usually lively and warm. God remembered the love of Israel's espousals, when she would follow him withersoever he went. (2.) These lively affections will abate and cool if great care be not taken, and diligence used, to preserve them in constant exercise. (3.) Christ is grieved and displeased with his people when he sees them grow remiss and cold towards him, and he will one way or other make them sensible that he does not take it well from them.
3. The advice and counsel given them from Christ: Remember therefore whence thou hast fallen, and repent, etc. (1.) Those that have lost their first love must remember whence they have fallen; they must compare their present with their former state, and consider how much better it was with them then than now, how much peace, strength, purity, and pleasure they have lost, by leaving their first love, - how much more comfortably they could lie down and sleep at night, - how much more cheerfully they could awake in the morning, - how much better they could bear afflictions, and how much more becomingly they could enjoy the favours of Providence, - how much easier the thoughts of death were to them, and how much stronger their desires and hopes of heaven. (2.) They must repent. They must be inwardly grieved and ashamed for their sinful declension; they must blame themselves, and shame themselves, for it, and humbly confess it in the sight of God, and judge and condemn themselves for it. (3.) They must return and do their first works. They must as it were begin again, go back step by step, till they come to the place where they took the first false step; they must endeavour to revive and recover their first zeal, tenderness, and seriousness, and must pray as earnestly, and watch as diligently, as they did when they first set out in the ways of God.
4. This good advice is enforced and urged, (1.) By a severe threatening, if it should be neglected: I will come unto thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick out of its place. If the presence of Christ's grace and Spirit be slighted, we may expect the presence of his displeasure. He will come in a way of judgment, and that suddenly and surprisingly, upon impenitent churches and sinners; he will unchurch them, take away his gospel, his ministers, and his ordinances from them, and what will the churches or the angels of the churches do when the gospel is removed? (2.) By an encouraging mention that is made of what was yet good among them: This thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate, Rev 2:6. "Though thou hast declined in thy love to what is good, yet thou retainest thy hatred to what is evil, especially to what is grossly so." The Nicolaitans were a loose sect who sheltered themselves under the name of Christianity. They held hateful doctrines, and they were guilty of hateful deeds, hateful to Christ and to all true Christians; and it is mentioned to the praise of the church of Ephesus that they had a just zeal and abhorrence of those wicked doctrines and practices. An indifference of spirit between truth and error, good and evil, may be called charity and meekness, but it is not pleasing to Christ. Our Saviour subjoins this kind commendation to his severe threatening, to make the advice more effectual.
III. We have the conclusion of this epistle, in which, as in those that follow, we have,
1. A call to attention: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Observe, (1.) What is written in the scriptures is spoken by the Spirit of God. (2.) What is said to one church concerns all the churches, in every place and age. (3.) We can never employ our faculty of hearing better than in hearkening to the word of God: and we deserve to lose it if we do not employ it to this purpose. Those who will not hear the call of God now will wish at length they had never had a capacity of hearing any thing at all.
2. A promise of great mercy to those who overcome. The Christian life is a warfare against sin, Satan, the world, and the flesh. It is not enough that we engage in this warfare, but we must pursue it to the end, we must never yield to our spiritual enemies, but fight the good fight, till we gain the victory, as all persevering Christians shall do; and the warfare and victory shall have a glorious triumph and reward. That which is here promised to the victors is that they shall eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. They shall have that perfection of holiness, and that confirmation therein, which Adam would have had if he had gone well through the course of his trial: he would then have eaten of the tree of life which was in the midst of paradise, and this would have been the sacrament of confirmation to him in his holy and happy state; so all who persevere in their Christian trial and warfare shall derive from Christ, as the tree of life, perfection and confirmation in holiness and happiness in the paradise of God; not in the earthly paradise, but the heavenly, Rev 22:1, Rev 22:2.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–7 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write,....…
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write,.... Of the city of Ephesus; see Gill on Rev 1:11 and see Gill on Act 18:19. The church here seems to have been founded by the Apostle Paul, who continued here two years, by which means all Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, Act 19:10; of this church; see Gill on Act 20:17; it is named first, because it was the largest, most populous, and famous, and was nearest to Patmos, where John now was, and most known to him, it being the place where he had resided; and it was the place from whence the Gospel came to others, and spread itself in lesser Asia; but especially it is first written to, because it represented the church in the apostolic age; so that this letter contains the things which are, Rev 1:19; and in its very name, to the state of this church in Ephesus, there may be an allusion; either to "ephesis", which signifies "desire", and may be expressive of the fervent love of that pure and apostolic church to Jesus Christ at the beginning of it; their eager desire after more knowledge of him, and communion with him; after his word and ordinances, and the maintaining of the purity of them; after the spread of his Gospel, and the enlargement of his kingdom in the world; as well as after fellowship with the saints, and the spiritual welfare of each other: the allusion may be also to "aphesis", which signifies "remission", or an abatement; and so may point out the remissness and decay of the first love of these primitive Christians, towards the close of this state; of the abatement of the fervency of it, of which complaint is made in this epistle, and not without cause. This epistle is inscribed to the angel of this church, or the pastor of it; why ministers are called angels; see Gill on Rev 1:20; some think this was Timothy, whom the Apostle Paul sent thither, and desired him to continue there, Ti1 1:3, there was one Onesimus bishop of Ephesus, when Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna, of whom he makes mention in his epistle (x) to the Ephesians, and bids fair to be this angel; though if any credit could be given to the Apostolic Constitutions (y) the bishop of this place was one John, who is said to be ordained by the Apostle John, and is thought to be the same with John the elder (z), the master of Papias; but though only one is mentioned, yet all the elders of this church, for there were more than one, see Act 20:17; are included; and not they only, but the whole church over whom they presided; for what was written was ordered to be sent to the church, and was sent by John, see Rev 1:4; the letter was sent to the pastor or pastors, to the whole body of ministers, by them to be communicated to the church; and not only to this particular church did this letter and the contents of it belong, but to all the churches of Christ within the period of the apostolic age, as may be concluded from Rev 2:7.
These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand; the Syriac version reads, "that holds all things, and these seven stars in his right hand"; for the explanation of this character of Christ; see Gill on Rev 1:16; only let it be observed how suitably this is prefixed to the church at Ephesus, and which represents the state of the churches in the times of the apostles; in which place, and during which interval, our Lord remarkably held his ministering: servants as stars in his right hand; he held and protected the Apostle Paul for two years in this place, and preserved him and his companions safe amidst the uproar raised by Demetrius the silversmith about them; here also he protected Timothy at a time when there were many adversaries, and kept the elders of this church pure, notwithstanding the erroneous persons that rose up among them; and last of all the Apostle John, who here resided, and died in peace, notwithstanding the rage and fury of his persecutors: likewise Christ in a very visible manner held all his faithful ministers during this period in his right hand, safe and secure, until they had done the work they were sent about, and preserved them in purity of doctrine and conversation; so that their light in both respects shone brightly before men. Moreover, as this title of Christ is prefixed to the epistle to the first of the churches, and its pastor or pastors, it may be considered as relating to, and holding good of all the ministers of the Gospel and pastors of the other churches; and likewise of all the churches in successive ages to the end of the world, as the following one also refers to all the churches themselves:
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who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; see Gill on Rev 1:12; see Gill on Rev 1:13; Christ was not only present with, and took his walks in this church at Ephesus, but in all the churches of that period, comparable to candlesticks, which held forth the light of the Gospel, and that in order as the antitype of Aaron, to him these lamps, and likewise in all his churches to the end of the world; see Mat 28:20.
(x) Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 36. (y) L. vii. c. 46. (z) Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 39.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 Of the following letters to the angels of the…
Of the following letters to the angels of the seven churches it may be necessary to speak first in general, and then particularly. In general we may observe, when the Israelites were to receive the law at Mount Sinai, they were first to be purified; and when the kingdom of God was at hand, John the Baptist prepared men for it by repentance. In like manner we are prepared by these letters for the worthy reception of this glorious Revelation. By following the directions given herein, by expelling incorrigibly wicked men, and putting away all wickedness, those churches were prepared to receive this precious depositum. And whoever in any age would profitably read or hear it, must observe the same admonitions. These letters are a kind of sevenfold preface to the book. Christ now appears in the form of a man, (not yet under the emblem of a lamb,) and speaks mostly in proper, not in figurative, words. It is not till chap. iv, 1, that St. John enters upon that grand vision which takes up the residue of the book. There is in each of these letters,
1. A command to write to the angel of the church;
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2. A glorious title of Christ;
3. An address to the angel of that church, containing A testimony of his mixed, or good, or bad state; An exhortation to repentance or steadfastness; A declaration of what will be; generally, of the Lord's coming;
4. A promise to him that overcometh, together with the exhortation, "He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear" The address in each letter is expressed in plain words, the promise, in figurative. In the address our Lord speaks to the angel of each church which then was, and to the members thereof directly; whereas in the promise he speaks of all that should overcome, in whatever church or age, and deals out to them one of the precious promises, (by way of anticipation,) from the last chapters of the book.
Write - So Christ dictated to him every word. These things saith he who holdeth the seven stars in his right hand - Such is his mighty power! Such his favour to them and care over them, that they may indeed shine as stars, both by purity of doctrine and holiness of life! Who walketh - According to his promise, "I am with you always, even to the end of the world." In the midst of the golden candlesticks - Beholding all their works and thoughts, and ready to "remove the candlestick out of its place," if any, being warned, will not repent. Perhaps here is likewise an allusion to the office of the priests in dressing the lamps, which was to keep them always burning before the Lord.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–7 The epistle to the Church of Ephesus, commending their…
CHAPTER II.
The epistle to the Church of Ephesus, commending their labour
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and patience, 1-3.
And, reprehending their having left their first love, exhorting
them to repent, with the promise of the tree of life, 4-7.
The epistle to the Church of Smyrna, commending their piety,
and promising them support in their tribulation, 8-11.
The epistle to the Church of Pergamos, commending their
steadfastness in the heavenly doctrine, 12, 13.
And reprehending their laxity in ecclesiastical discipline, in
tolerating heretical teachers in the Church, 14, 15.
The apostle exhorts them to repent, with the promise of the
white stone and a new name, 16, 17.
The epistle to the Church of Thyatira, with a commendation of
their charity, faith, and patience, 18, 19.
Reprehending their toleration of Jezebel, the false prophetess,
who is threatened with grievous punishment, 20-23.
Particular exhortations and promises to this Church, 24-29.
NOTES ON CHAP. II.
I must here advertise my readers, 1. That I do not perceive any metaphorical or allegorical meaning in the epistles to these Churches. 2. I consider the Churches as real; and that their spiritual state is here really and literally pointed out; and that they have no reference to the state of the Church of Christ in all ages of the world, as has been imagined; and that the notion of what has been termed the Ephesian state, the Smyrnian state, the Pergamenian state, the Thyatirian state, c., c., is unfounded, absurd, and dangerous and such expositions should not be entertained by any who wish to arrive at a sober and rational knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. 3. I consider the angel of the Church as signifying the messenger, the pastor, sent by Christ and his apostles to teach and edify that Church. 4. I consider what is spoken to this angel as spoken to the whole Church and that it is not his particular state that is described, but the states of the people in general under his care.
The epistle to the Church at Ephesus.
Verse 1. Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus] By αγγελος, angel, we are to understand the messenger or person sent by God to preside over this Church; and to him the epistle is directed, not as pointing out his state, but the state of the Church under his care. Angel of the Church here answers exactly to that officer of the synagogue among the Jews called ציבור שליח sheliach tsibbur, the messenger of the Church, whose business it was to read, pray, and teach in the synagogue. The Church at Ephesus is first addressed, as being the place where John chiefly resided; and the city itself was the metropolis of that part of Asia. The angel or bishop at this time was most probably Timothy, who presided over that Church before St. John took up his residence there, and who is supposed to have continued in that office till A.D. 97, and to have been martyred a short time before St. John's return from Patmos.
Holdeth the seven stars] Who particularly preserves, and guides, and upholds, not only the ministers of those seven Churches, but all the genuine ministers of his Gospel, in all ages and places.
Walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks] Is the supreme Bishop and Head, not only of those Churches, but of all the Churches or congregations of his people throughout the world.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 Rev 2:1. Unto the angel — That is, to…
Rev 2:1. Unto the angel — That is, to the pastor, presiding elder, or bishop, called an angel because he was God’s messenger (as the word angel signifies) to the people, or his minister appointed to serve them. “That there was one pastor,” says Doddridge, “who presided in each of these churches, is indeed evident from the expression here used; but that he was a diocesan bishop, or had several congregations of Christians under his care, can by no means be proved. Nor is there the least hint of it in any of these epistles.” Of the church of Ephesus — Concerning Ephesus, see note on Act 19:1, and the preface of the epistle to the Ephesians. The first letter is addressed to the church in this city, as it was the metropolis of the Lydian Asia, and the place of St. John’s principal residence. According to Strabo, it was one of the best and most glorious cities, and the greatest emporium of the Proper Asia. It was called by Pliny one of the eyes of Asia, Smyrna being the other; but now, as eye-witnesses have related, it is venerable for nothing but the ruins of palaces, temples, and amphitheatres. It is called by the Turks Ajasaluk, or the temple of the moon, from the magnificent structure formerly dedicated to Diana. The church of St. Paul is wholly destroyed. The little which remains of that of St. Mark is nodding to ruin. The only church remaining is that dedicated to St. John, which is now converted into a Turkish mosque. The whole town is nothing but a habitation for herdsmen and farmers, living in low and humble cottages of mud, sheltered from the extremities of weather by mighty masses of ruinous walls, the pride and ostentation of former days, and the emblem in these of the frailty of the world, and the transient vanity of human glory. The Rev. H. Lindsay, Chaplain to the Embassy of Constantinople, in a letter to the British and Foreign Bible Society, relative to the present state of the Apocalyptic churches, dated Jan. 10, 1816, says, “The town consists of about fifteen poor cottages. I found there but three Christians, two brothers, who keep a small shop, and a gardener. They are all three Greeks, and their ignorance is lamentable indeed. In that place, which was blessed so long with an apostle’s labours, and those of his zealous assistants, are Christians who have not so much as heard of that apostle, or seem only to recognise the name of Paul as one in their calendar of saints. One of them I found able to read a little, and left with him the New Testament in ancient and modern Greek, which he expressed a strong desire to read, and promised me he would not only study it himself, but lend it to his friends in the neighbouring villages:” so strikingly hath the denunciation been fulfilled, that their candlestick should be removed out of its place. Write — So Christ dictated to him every word. These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand — To signify that he is the great support of his ministering servants, and directs their several situations and motions in the churches. Such is his favour to them, and care over them, that they may indeed shine as stars, both by purity of doctrine and holiness of life. Who walketh — According to his promise, I am with you always, even to the end of the world; in the midst of the golden candlesticks — Beholding all their works and thoughts, and ready to remove the candlestick out of its place, if any, being warned, will not repent. Perhaps here is likewise an allusion to the office of the priests in dressing the lamps, which was to keep them always burning before the Lord.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–7 The Epistle to the Church at Ephesus
The Epistle to the Church at Ephesus
The contents of the epistle to the church at Ephesus - the first addressed - are these:
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The attribute of the Saviour referred to is, that he “holds the stars in his right hand, and walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks,” Rev 2:1.
(2)He commends them for their patience, and for their opposition to those who are evil, and for their zeal and fidelity in carefully examining into the character of some who claimed to be apostles, but who were, in fact, impostors; for their perseverance in bearing up under trial, and not fainting in his cause, and for their opposition to the Nicolaitanes, whom, he says, he hates, Rev 2:2-3, Rev 2:6.
(3)He reproves them for having left their first love to him, Rev 2:4.
(4)He admonishes them to remember whence they had fallen, to repent, and to do their first works Rev 2:5.
(5)He threatens them that, if they do not repent, he will come and remove the candlestick out of its place, Rev 2:5; and,
(6)He assures them, and all others, that whosoever overcomes he will “give him to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God,” Rev 2:7.
Unto the angel - The minister; the presiding presbyter; the bishop - in the primitive sense of the word “bishop” - denoting one who had the spiritual charge of a congregation. See the notes on Rev 1:20.
Of the church - Not of the churches of Ephesus, but of the one church of that city. There is no evidence that the word is used in a collective sense to denote a group of churches, like a diocese; nor is there any evidence that there was such a group of churches in Ephesus, or that there was more than one church in that city. It is probable that all who were Christians there were regarded as members of one church - though for convenience they may have met for worship in different places. Thus, there was one church in Corinth 1Co 1:1; one church in Thessalonica 1Th 1:1, etc.
Of Ephesus - On the situation of Ephesus, see the notes on Act 18:19, and the introduction to the notes on the Epistle to the Ephesians, section 1, and the engraving there. It was the capital of Ionia; was one of the twelve Ionian cities of Asia Minor in the Mythic times, and was said to have been founded by the Amazons. It was situated on the river Cayster, not far from the Icarian Sea, between Smyrna and Miletus. It was one of the most considerable cities of Asia Minor, and while, about the epoch when Christianity was introduced, other cities declined, Ephesus rose more and more. It owed its prosperity, in part, to the favor of its governors; for Lysimachus named the city Arsinoe, in honor of his second wife, and Attalus Philadelphus furnished it with splendid wharves and docks. Under the Romans it was the capital not only of Ionia, but of the entire province of Asia, and bore the honorable title of the first and greatest metropolis of Asia. John is supposed to have resided in this city, and to have preached the gospel there for many years; and on this account, perhaps, it was, as well as on account of the relative importance of the city, that the first epistle of the seven was addressed to that church. On the present condition of the ruins of Ephesus, see the notes on Rev 2:5. We have no means whatever of ascertaining the size of the church when John wrote the Book of Revelation. From the fact, however, that Paul, as is supposed (see the introduction to the Epistle to the Ephesians, section 2), labored there for about three years; that there was a body of “elders” who presided over the church there Act 20:17; and that the apostle John seems to have spent a considerable part of his life there in preaching the gospel, it may be presumed that there was a large and flourishing church in that city. The epistle before us shows also that it was characterized by distinguished piety.
These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand - See the notes on Rev 1:16. The object here seems to be to turn the attention of the church in Ephesus to some attribute of the Saviour which deserved their special regard, or which constituted a special reason for attending to what he said. To do this, the attention is directed, in this case, to the fact that he held the seven stars - emblematic of the ministers of the churches - in his hand, and that he walked in the midst of the lampbearers - representing the churches themselves; intimating that they were dependent on him, that he had power to continue or remove the ministry, and that it was by his presence only that those lamp-bearers would continue to give light. The absolute control over the ministry, and the fact that he walked amidst the churches, and that his presence was necessary to their perpetuity and their welfare, seem to be the principal ideas implied in this representation. These truths he would impress on their minds, in order that they might feel how easy it would be for him to punish any disobedience, and in order that they might do what was necessary to secure his continual presence among them. These views seem to be sanctioned by the character of the punishment threatened Rev 2:5, “that he would remove the candlestick representing their church out of its place.” See the notes on Rev 2:5.
Who walketh in the midst, ... - In Rev 1:13 he is represented simply as being seen amidst the golden candlesticks. See the notes on that place. Here there is the additional idea of his “walking” in the midst of them, implying perhaps constant and vigilant supervision. He went from one to another, as one who inspects and surveys what is under his care; perhaps also with the idea that he went among them as a friend to bless them.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v1 To the Angel of the church of Ephesus. The…
To the Angel of the church of Ephesus. The great St. Timothy, who was bishop of Ephesus, died a glorious martyr about this time. But as for the admonitions and reprehensions given in these letters, we must take notice, that they are given to the faithful of each church, and not only to the bishops, as it appears by the words so often repeated. (Witham) --- Angel. This could have been no other than St. Timothy, who was then bishop of Ephesus. We must not suppose the faults, which are reproved by St. John, to belong individually to St. Timothy, but to some members of the Church. (Bossuet, and others) --- These things, with he who holdeth, &c. That is, Christ, or the Angel, who represented Christ, as appeareth by his titles repeated out of the last chapter. --- And hast not failed, or fainted, in opposing the teachers of false doctrine. --- Thou has left thy first charity, or first fervour, a common, yet a very dangerous disposition, and especially in a bishop, charged with the care of those under him. --- Do penance....practise the first works, return to thy first fervour, or I will remove thy candlestick out of its place. The church of Ephesus is threatened, as in danger to lose its faith, which faith should be transplanted and received in other places. It is said what God has divers times permitted, that churches flourishing in the profession of the true Christian faith should be perverted by infidelity and heresy, while the faith hath been planted in other kingdoms of the world. I need not bring instances, where candlesticks have been removed out of their places. (Witham) --- The Nicolaites were an infamous sect, who disturbed the rising Church by the superstitions and all the impurities of paganism. See St. Augustine, de hæresib. --- To him, to every one that overcometh, I will give to eat of the tree of life, (that is, eternal happiness, differently expressed in these letters) which is in the paradise of my God. It is spoke in the person of Christ, as man. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Revelation Chapter 2
Revelation Chapter 2
The first great fact is, that the assembly in this world is subject to judgment, and to have its whole existence and place before God as light-bearer in the world set aside; secondly, that God will do this if it departs from its first spiritual energy. This is an immense principle. He has set the assembly to be a true witness of what He has manifested in Jesus; of what He is when Jesus is gone on high. If it be not this, it is a false witness, and it will be set aside. God may have patience, and has blessedly so. He may propose to her to return to her first love, and does; but, if this do not take place, the candlestick is removed, the assembly ceases to be God’s light-bearer in the world. The first estate must be maintained, or God’s glory and the truth are falsified; and the creature must be set aside. But no mere unsustained creature does this, none as such. Hence all fails and is judged, save as in, or upheld by, the Son of God, the second Man. Ephesus had gone on well in maintaining consistency, but that forgetfulness of self and thinking only of Christ, which are the firstfruits of grace, were gone. As heretofore remarked, there were works of labour and patience; but the faith, hope, and love had in their true energy disappeared. They had rejected the pretension of false teachers, and laboured and not fainted. All that can be said of them is said to shew Christ’s love, and that He is not forgetful of them, or of the good manifested in them. Still they had left their first love; and this unless repented of and the first works done, involved the taking away of the candlestick.
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Another important principle is found here, that when the assembly had departed from faithfulness when collectively it had ceased to be the expression of the love in which God has visited the world, God throws back individuals on the word of God for themselves: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.” The assembly is judged, and thus cannot be the security for faith; the individual is called to hear what the Spirit says. The warning of taking away the candlestick here is specially worthy of notice, because there was a great deal the Lord highly approved of-encouraged them by shewing He did; but, for all that, if first love was departed from, the candlestick would be removed.
The character of Christ and promises are general, as the assembly is characteristic of the whole principle on which the assembly stands. Christ has the stars in His right hand and walks amidst the candlesticks. It is not a special character applicable to a special state, but the whole bearing of His position in the midst of the assemblies. The assembly, viewed as having left its first love, is never promised anything. It cannot direct a believer when it comes under reproof and judgment itself. The promise is then to the individual overcomer: a very important principle. The promise given to him that overcomes is the general one-is the contrast to Adam’s ruin, but in a higher and better way than that in which he enjoyed the good which he lost. He that overcomes shall eat of the tree of life. But this is not the tree of life in man’s paradise in this world, but the paradise of God Himself. We must remark, too, that it is not as the first Adam now, individually keeping one’s first estate, but overcoming. And what is before us to overcome in is, not only the world and its hostilities (though that may be), but within the sphere of the assembly itself. It is the call to hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies which gives occasion to the speaking of overcoming. This, in respect of the claim of the assembly to be heard, is an immensely important truth. The message is addressed to the assembly, not by it to individuals, and she is warned of her delinquency, and the individual saint is called to overcome.
The word to Smyrna is short. Whatever the malice and power of Satan, at the utmost, if permitted, he has but the power of death. Christ is First and Last, beyond as before death, God Himself; but more than that, has met and gone through its power. The saints were not to fear. Satan would work, be allowed to sift, to imprison. Let the saints only be faithful to the extreme point of his power; all beyond was beyond him, was Christ’s; and the faithful one would receive from Him the crown of life. Tribulation, poverty, the contempt of those who pretended to have the legitimate hereditary claim to be God’s people- always the persecutors, be they Jews or Christians- was the portion of the assembly here; and God suffered it. It was really mercy to the declining assembly. Their hope was beyond it all when Christ gave the crown of life. This made the assembly, sliding into the world, or about to do it insensibly through decline of its first love, sensible that the world was in Satan’s hands-was not the rest of saints. But, if the Lord permitted, He limited the tribulation. All was in His hands. Not only was there the crown for the sufferers but whoever overcame, his portion was secure: the death of judgment, the second death, would not hurt him.
We now need a closer judgment. Christ appears as the One having the two-edged sword of the word proceeding out of His mouth. It will be remarked here, that, in Smyrna and Pergamos, a special character of Christ applies to a special state. There is no general result for the assembly. In Ephesus we have Christ’s position as Judge in the midst of the candlesticks, and the assembly threatened with removal from its place of witness upon earth. In Thyatira He takes His place as Son of God, Son over His own house, and, as things are (as to the assembly) got to the worst, is revealed in all-piercing and immutable judgment, and the whole blessing of the new state is promised to the overcomer. In Pergamos we have faithfulness found in its previous path, Christ’s name and faith heldfast in spite of persecution. It differs from Philadelphia, that His word is not said to be held fast as that of Christ’s patience (that the assembly, in its Pergamos state, did not do), but it did hold fast the confession of Christ in the midst of persecution. But another kind of evil came in- seduction to fall in with the world’s ways by evil teaching within. The doctrine of Balaam was there. Idolatry flowed in. There were also sects within, which taught pretended sanctity but evil practice. These the Lord would judge.
The general truth of removing the candlestick had no place here, neither as a general truth, when the assembly could be called on to keep its first love, nor as fiery judgment, because it was gone wholly astray; but there were corrupters, and Christ’s servants led into idolatry and evil. Individual approbation by Christ, communion with Himself in future blessing (in spirit then), as the once humbled and rejected One (which the assembly was ceasing to be), a name given by Christ, and so of tenderness on His part, a link known only to him who had it. In a word, individual association and individual blessing of secret delight- this was the promise to the overcomer when corruption was advancing, not yet dominant and unhindered in the assembly.
In Thyatira the assembly reaches to the close. There was found, in what Christ owned in this state of things, increasing devotedness. But Jezebel was allowed; and both connection with the world, idolatry, and children begotten to it in the assembly itself. All would be judged, great tribulation fall on Jezebel, and her children be killed. Christ searched the heart and reins, and applied judgment in unchangeable righteousness. The faithful ones of this epoch, the “you” that Christ specially addresses, are but a “rest,” a remnant, but specially and growingly devoted. It is, we may remark here, what the assemblies are towards Christ, which is especially in view. What Jezebel did towards the faithful ones is not noted. The Lord’s coming is the time looked to; and the whole millennial blessing is promised to him that overcomes; both the reign with Christ, and Christ the Morning Star Himself. “He that hath an ear” is now put after the overcoming; not said in connection with the assembly, but with those who overcome in it. The state is the state characterised by this. Thyatira may go on to the end, but does not characterise the witness of God to the end; other states must be brought in to do that. It is, I have no doubt. the Popery of the middle ages, say to the Reformation; Romanism itself goes on to the end. The judgment on Jezebel is final. The Lord had given her space to repent, and she had not repented. It would be a forced association with those whom she had once seduced to the ruin of them all. The whole character here is piercing judgment according to God’s own nature and requirements; special trial and judgment, yet the blessing not special, but the portion of the saints at large in that which they have with Christ; as the departure and judgment were complete-adultery, not merely failure in first love.
We have seen the close at the Lord’s coming contemplated in Thyatira. Sardis begins a new collateral phase of the assembly’s history. Save the having the seven stars, none of the ecclesiastical characters of Christ, none of those noticed in Him as walking in the midst of the assemblies, are noticed. Still the assembly is noticed as such. It is still the history of the assembly. But, the Lord’s coming having been noticed, all characteristics of Christ refer to what He will have in the kingdom. Still He has yet the seven stars-supreme authority over the assembly. It is nothing peculiar to this assembly. He has it over, and as to, all. It is in this character He has to do with Sardis. He has the seven spirits, the fullness of the perfection in which He will govern the earth. Thus He is competent to bless in the assembly, though there is no regular ecclesiastical connection. He has power over all, and the fullness of the Spirit; both in perfection. Whatever the assembly is, He is all this. This is a great comfort. The assembly cannot fail in the place of witness through want of fullness of grace in Him. Nor can He fail him who has ears to hear.
But the state of the assembly shewed that it was far from availing itself of it. It had indeed a name to live; it was superior in its pretensions to the evil of Thyatira; nor were there Jezebels and corruption. But there was practically death. There was no completeness in her works before God. It was not evil here, but lack of spiritual energy. But this did leave individuals to defile their garments in the world. She was called to remember, not her first works, but what she had received and heard, the truth committed to her, the gospel and word of God; if not, she would be treated as the world. The Lord would come as a thief; for the Lord’s coming is now always in view.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 1. The Metropolis.1 [Ephesus.]
B.—EARTH-PICTURE OF THE CHURCH; OR THE REAL, EARTHLY WORLD-PICTURE OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. THE SEVEN EPISTLES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES
Rev_2:1-29
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1. The Metropolis.1 [Ephesus.]
1Unto the angel of the church of [in2] Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth [ins. fast] the seven stars in his right hand, who [he that] walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; 2I know thy works, and thy3 labor, and thy patience [endurance], and how [that] thou canst not bear them which [that] are evil: and thou hast tried [didst try4] them which [who] say5 they are apostles, 3and [ins. they] are not, and hast found [didst find] them liars: and hast borne [endurance], and hast patience [didst bear], and [om., and] for my name’s sake hast 4labored [om. hast labored], and hast not fainted [become weary].6 Nevertheless [But] I have somewhat [om. somewhat] against thee, because [that] thou hast left thy first love. 5Remember therefore from [om. from] whence [Lange: from what height] thou art fallen,7 and repent, and do the first works; or else [but if not] I will [om. will] come unto [Lange: upon] thee quickly [om. quickly8], and will remove thy candlestick out of his [its] place, except thou repent. 6But this thou hast [Lange: retainest], that thou hatest the deeds [works] of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;9 To him that overcometh [conquereth] will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of [om. the midst of10] the paradise of [Lange: my11] God.
2.12 The Martyr-Church persecuted by Judaism. Smyrna
8And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was [who became—ἐγένετο] dead [Lange: the First of the martyrs], and is alive [revived]; 9I know thy works13 and [ins. thy] tribulation, and [ins. thy] poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know [om. I know] the blasphemy of them which [thy calumny from those who14] say they are Jews [Lange: and the calumny of those who say they are (true) Jews], and are not, but are [om. are] the 10[a] synagogue of Satan. Fear none of [or not] those things [Lange: nothing of that15] which thou shalt [art about to] suffer: behold,16 the devil shall [is about to] cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation [Lange: a tribulation of] ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a [the] crown of life. 11He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh [conquereth] shall not be hurt of [injured by] the second death.
3. The Martyr-Church persecuted by Heathenism. Pergamus
12And to the angel of the church in Pergamus write; These things saith he which hath the sharp [ins. two-edged] sword with two edges [om. with two edges]; 13I know thy works, and [om. thy works and17] where thou dwellest, even [om. even] where Satan’s seat [throne] is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied [didst not deny] my faith, even in those [the] days wherein [in which]18 Antipas was my faithful19 martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 14But I have a few things against thee, because [that20] thou hast there them that hold [ins. fast] the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak21 to cast a stumbling-block [Lange: a means of infatuation] before the children [sons] of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols [Lange: idol sacrifices], and to commit fornication. 15So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans [ins. in like manner],22 16which thing I hate [om. which thing I hate]. Repent [ins. therefore23]; or else [but if not] I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight [war] against them with the sword of my mouth. 17He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh [conquereth] will I give [ins. to him24] to eat [om. to eat]25 of the hidden manna, and will give [ins. to] him a white stone, and in [on] the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving [except] he that receiveth it.
4.26 The Church stained by Idolatry. Thyatira
18And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his27 eyes like unto [as] a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass [to chalcolibanus—(Lange: as white-glowing molten copper)]. 19I know thy works, and [ins. the] charity [love], and service, and faith [the faith, and the service], and thy [the] patience, [endurance of thee;] and thy works; [om. and thy works;] and the [thy] last [ins. works] to be [are] more than the first. [Lange: thy love and thy faith, thy zeal in service and thy endurance in suffering 20(and how28); thy last works are more than the first]. Notwithstanding [But] I have a few things29 [om. a few things] against thee, because [that] thou sufferest [ὰφεῖς] that woman [thy wife or Lange: the woman30] Jezebel, which [who] calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce [and she teacheth and seduceth—Lange: and teacheth (applies herself to teaching) and seduceth]31 my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols [Lange: idol-sacrifices]. 21And I gave her space to [time that she might] repent of her fornication [om. of her fornication]; and [Lange: but] she repented not [om. repented not—ins. willeth 22not to repent of her fornication32]. Behold I will [om. will33] cast her into a bed,34 and them that [those who] commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their [her (αὐτῆς)] deeds [works]. 23And I will kill [slay] her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which [who] searcheth the [om. the] reins and hearts: and [Lange, and that] I will give unto every one of you [to you, to each,] according to your works. 24But unto you I say, and unto [om. and unto] the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine [teaching] [Lange: these doctrines] and [om. and] which [such as35] have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak [say]; I will [or om. will36] put upon you none [cast not upon you any] other burden. 25But that which ye have already [om. already], hold fast till [until] I [ins. shall] come [Lange: until I come37]. 26And he that overcometh [conquereth], and [ins. he that] keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27And he shall rule [shepherdize] them with a rod of iron [an iron rod]; as the vessels of a potter shall [om. shall]38 they be broken to shivers [are shattered or he shattereth]: even [om. even] as I [ins. also have35] received of my Father. 28And I will give 29[ins. to] him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Rev_3:1-22
5.* The Church for the most part Spiritually Dead. Sardis
1And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast 2a39 name that thou livest, and [ins. thou] art dead. Be watchful [Become thou watching], and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready [which were about]40 to die: for I have not found thy works [or any works of thine]41 perfect [completed] 3before [ins. my42] God. Remember therefore43 how thou hast received and heard [heardest] and hold fast [keep44], and repent. If therefore thou shalt [dost] not watch, I will come on [upon] thee45 as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. [ins. But]46 4Thou hast a few names even [om. even] in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for 5[because] they are worthy. He that overcometh [conquereth], the same shall [or om. the same, and ins. thus (after shall)]47 be clothed in white raiment [garments]; and I will not blot [wipe] out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
6.48 The Tried Church. Philadelphia
7And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy [the holy One], he that is true [the true One], he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth [shall shut49]; and [ins. he] shutteth and no man openeth [shall open50]; 8I know thy works: behold, I have set [given] before thee an open door [a door opened], and [which] no man can [is able to] shut it [om. it]: for [Lange: For] thou hast a little strength, and [Lange: ins. yet] hast kept [didst keep] my word, and hast not denied [didst not deny] my name. 9Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which [who] say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them [Lange: om. them] to come [that they shall come] and [ins. shall] worship [Lange: fall down51] before thy feet, and to [om. to—ins. shall] know that I have loved thee. 10Because thou hast kept [didst keep] the word of my patience [endurance], I also will keep thee from [Lange: through] the hour of temptation, which shall [is about to] come upon all [om. all] the [ins. whole] world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11Behold, [om. Behold,52] I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12Him that overcometh [conquereth] will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and [ins. out of it] he shall [ins. nevermore] go no more [om. no more] out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is [om. which is—ins. the] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of [from53] heaven from my God: [,] and I will write upon him [om. I will write upon him] my new name. 13He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
7.* The Lukewarm Church nigh unto Reprobation. Laodicea
14And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans [in Laodicea54] write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning [Lange: principle] of the creation of God; 15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot [Lange: warm]: I [om. I] would [ins. that] thou wert cold or hot [Lange: 16warm]. So then [Lange: However] because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot [Lange: warm], I will [am about to] spew thee out of my mouth. 17Because thou sayest,55 I am rich, and increased with goods [Lange: yea, I have become exceedingly rich], and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable [the wretched and pitiable one56], and poor, and blind, and naked: 18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in [burnt from (Lange: purified by)] the fire, that thou mayest be [become] rich; and white raiment [garments], that thou mayest be clothed [cover thyself], and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear [may not become manifest]; and [ins. eyesalve to] anoint thine eyes with eyesalve [om. with eyesalve] that thou mayest see. 19[ins. I, (Lange: (do thus).] As [as] many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous57 therefore, and repent. 20Behold, 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 21with me58. To him [om. To him—ins. He] that overcometh [conquereth] will I grant [I will give (ins.) to him] to sit with me in [on] my throne, even as I also overcame [conquered], and am [om. am] set [sat] down with my Father in [on] his throne. 22He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
general remarks on the seven epistles.59
In the use of the sacred number seven throughout the Apocalypse, we must note the indications of a distinction between four and three. Düsterdieck remarks (p. 21) that in the case of the seals and trumpets, the quaternary takes the precedence (this is additionally marked in the case of the four riders by the parenthesis of the four beasts; and in the vision of the trumpets, by the fact that the last three are designated as the three woes), and the trinary follows; in the seven churches and the vials, on the other hand, a three precedes the four. In the case of the vials, Düsterdieck, not groundlessly, regards the thought that we have presented as indicated by the interlocution of Rev_16:5-7; though the vials, in respect of their effects, may also be perfectly well divided into four and three. The first three epistles, according to this commentator (and Bengel, Ewald, De Wette and others, p. 141), are distinguished from the last by the form of the conclusion. In the first three epistles, the admonition: he that hath an ear, etc., is followed by the final promise (Rev_2:7; Rev_2:11; Rev_2:17), whilst in the last four, such a promise precedes the admonition (Rev_2:29; Rev_3:6; Rev_3:13; Rev_3:22). This variation is, we admit, well worthy of notice; yet the inner marks of the churches favor the distinction of four (mixed forms) and three (perfectly distinct forms). The fundamental forms of the individual epistles have been presented by Bengel, as follows (Hengstenb. I. p. 157): The plan of the seven epistles is the same in all. For in each we find: 1. An order to write to an angel of a church. 2. A glorious title of Jesus Christ [“taken for the most part from the imagery of the preceding vision.” Alford.—E. R. C.]. 3. An address to the angel of the church: wherein is contained a. a testimonial to the mixed, the bad or the good condition of the angel; an admonition to repentance or perseverance; b. an announcement of what is to come to pass, referring chiefly to the coming of the Lord. 4. A promise to him that conquereth, together with the word of awakening: he that hath an ear, etc.
“The titles put forth by the Lord at the beginning of each letter are most illustrious, as is also indicated by the words: these things saith—the Supreme Majesty,—like the Old Testament: thus saith the Lord.”
“The address in each epistle consists principally of plain and perspicuous expressions. In the promise, on the other hand, the Spirit deals more in figurative expressions. In the address, the Lord Jesus speaks principally and primarily to the churches then existing in Asia Minor, especially and particularly to their angels. The promise speaks in the third person of those who conquer—both in those first times and also in the ages after them.”
“Amongst the seven angels of the seven churches there were two, the one at Ephesus and the one at Pergamus, in a mixed state; and two, those at Sardis and Laodicea, were extremely corrupt. Not only the latter two, whose whole condition was bad, Rev_3:3; Rev_3:19, but also the former, who were defective in some particular respect, Rev_2:5; Rev_2:16, are recommended to repent. And so at Thyatira the adherents of Jezebel are admonished to repentance—the woman herself willing not to repent, and the angel of the church having no need of repentance so far as he himself is concerned, Rev_2:21-22. The condition of two of the angels, those at Smyrna and Philadelphia, was good; hence they needed no admonition to repentance, and are only encouraged to persevere. There is no mixed or good or bad state whose pattern might not be found here, as well as apt and salutary doctrine therefor. Though a man were as dead as the angel of the church at Sardis, or as flourishing as the one at Philadelphia and the aged Apostle John himself, this book suiteth his case, and the Lord Jesus hath somewhat to say to him therein.”
“In the seven epistles there are twelve promises. In the third, fourth, and sixth, there is a two-fold promise, and in the fifth a three-fold promise; each one of the promises being distinguished by a particular expression: I will give. I will not blot out, I will confess, I will write.—The promise to him that overcometh [conquereth] is declaratory, sometimes of the enjoyment of the most precious boons, sometimes of immunity from the extremest misery. The one is included in the other, and when a part of the blessedness and glory of the victor is expressed, the whole should be understood, Rev_21:7. That part is particularly expressed which relates to the virtues and deeds referred to in the address.—Some things contained in these promises are not again expressly mentioned in the Revelation; as, for instance, the manna, the confession of the victor’s name, the name of the New Jerusalem written upon the victor, the sitting upon Christ’s throne. Some things bear a resemblance to what is afterwards declared concerning Christ Himself; viz. the secret name, Rev_19:12; the shepherdizing of the nations, Rev_19:15; the Morning Star, Rev_22:16. Some things are expressly mentioned again in their proper place; as the tree of life, Rev_22:2; immunity from the second death, Rev_20:6; the name in the book of life, Rev_20:12; Rev_21:27; the abiding in the temple of God, Rev_7:15; the name of God and of the Lamb on the righteous, Rev_14:1; Rev_22:4.” Bengel.
The fundamental idea of all the seven epistles is the fundamental idea of the Apocalypse itself—the Coming of the Lord. The arrangement is the epistolary form in apocalyptic sublimity: superscription, substance, conclusion. The superscriptions have the common form of Christ’s self-designation, with the prophetic announcement: τάδε λέγει (Amo_1:3, etc.); they present the various attributes of His majestic appearance as described in Revelation 1. The distribution of the attributes harmonizes with the churches. For Ephesus, the metropolis: the seven stars and seven candlesticks. For Smyrna, the martyr church, He that was dead and is alive again. For Pergamus, where Satan’s seat is: the sharp, two-edged sword. For Thyatira, where the spirit of fanaticism is rampant: the eyes as flames of fire, and the feet like a glowing stream of molten metal. For dead Sardis: the Possessor of the Seven Spirits (of life) and the seven stars. For faithful Philadelphia: the Possessor of the keys of David, the Opener of a door to the church. For Laodicea, as for Ephesus, a more general designation of Christ, yet under the name of the Amen, Who certainly fulfills His threats. The attributes also correspond with the commendations, admonitions, and threats, i.e., with the criticisms and the promises. In the criticisms, praise and blame are sometimes united; and where praise predominates (as in the case of the first four churches), the first place is given to it; where censure predominates, it has the first place (Sardis). So in one case we find praise exclusively (Philadelphia), and, in another, only censure (Laodicea). The promises are always promises of entire blessedness in concrete terms, such as are appropriate to the condition, conduct, and conflict of the church. Ebrard remarks that the first four promises are taken from consecutive items of Old Testament history (Paradise, death, manna, David); the last three relate to the final establishment of the Kingdom (p. 157). The epistle proper is grounded upon the Lord’s complete knowledge of the state of the church (οἷδα, etc.). This is followed by a portraiture of the church and the award of praise and blame; next follows the prognosis, the prediction of good or danger; finally, the application: admonition, threat, consolation. The conclusion is a specific conditional promise, accompanied by the exhortation to hear the words of the Spirit; amid constant reference to the Coming of the Lord.
[See an exceedingly able and interesting article on “The Seven Churches of the Apocalypse,” in Schaff’s History of the Apostolic Church, p. 427 sqq.—E. R. C.]
First Epistle. Ephesus
Rev_2:1-7
Rev_2:1. Ephesus was the metropolis of proconsular Asia; not merely in a political, but also in an ecclesiastical sense. It is placed at the head of the seven churches as the actual see of John, Hengstenberg remarks; a proposition which is groundlessly denied by Düsterdieck. On Ephesus, see Winer, Das Wörterbuch für das Christliche Volk, and Books of Travel.60 [Conybeare and Howson’s Life and Epistles of St. Paul, Schaff’s History of the Apostolic Church, Kitto’s Bib. Cyc., etc.—E. R. C.] At the present day, the only remains of this once pleasant city are some ruins and the village of Ajosoluck. The church was founded by Paul (Act_18:19; Act_19:1). On its Pauline period, see the Commentaries on Ephesians and 1 Timothy. Because Timothy was the head of this church for a time, Alcasar, Cornelius à Lapide, and others, have regarded him as the angel of the church. This opinion was held even in opposition to the traditional notion, according to which John was the successor of Timothy.
That holdeth [fast].—Κρατῶν, stronger than ἔχων, Rev_1:16. Düsterdieck thinks it involves the idea of Christ’s ability to cast the stars out of His hand. [The idea is that of holding with power, comp. Joh_10:28.—E. R. C.] We must distinguish, however, between stars and candlesticks (Rev_2:5, Rev_3:1). The stars, perhaps, are “graven in His hand.”
Who walketh.—“The περιπατῶν resembles the passage Rev_1:13.” It is a stronger expression, however. [The idea presented seems to be that of one who walks about to trim the lamps. According to the opinion of Sir Isaac Newton. E. R. C.] Ebrard justly refers this more general designation of Christ, in respect of His relation to the churches, to the metropolitan character of Ephesus. Düsterdieck does not recognize this reference.
Rev_2:2. [I know=οἶδα.—Knowledge concerning, not approval, is indicated by this term; the same word is used in reference to the church of Laodicea, Rev_3:15. The commendation spoken of below is to be gathered from the context and not from this term.—E. R. C.]—Thy works.—With reference to Rev_2:4, it may seem a strange thing that He should begin with a commendation of the works of the church. Yet they are commendable, though not exactly heroic deeds against false teachers, as Hengstenberg maintains. The active zeal of the church may have formed a contrast to the heathen mysticalness and moonstruck character of the city. The form of the works branches first into labor or toil, and perseverance or endurance. It is thus [as perseverance or endurance] that we translate ὑπομονή in this place, since the word cannot be a mere repetition in Rev_2:3. [“This word κόπος, signifying, as it does, not merely labor, but labor unto weariness, may suggest some solemn reflection to every one who at all affects to be working for his Lord, and as under his great Task-Master’s eye. This is what Christ looks for, this is what Christ praises in His servants.” Trench.—“Κόπος and ὑπομονή form the active and passive sides of the energizing Christian life. The omission of the σου after τὸν κόπον, serves to bind the two together in one. They are epexegetic, in fact, of ἔργα; cf. 1Co_15:58,” etc. Alford.—E. R. C.]—With this zeal in the life of the Church, a healthy polemical system corresponds, which may also be divided into two forms. In the first place, the church cannot bear bad men—this means, of course, in the domain and mask of religion—and, secondly, it even dares, by means of a Christian proving of spirits, to unmask men giving themselves out as apostles, and to show them to be liars. False teachers, manifestly, are meant [see Act_20:29-30]; men assuming to possess apostolic authority, whether they appeared in the guise of inspired persons, or as Judaizing traditionalists. According to Düsterdieck, this saying would be meaningless after the destruction of Jerusalem. It is well known, however, that in all ages of the Church persons have appeared who have laid claim to apostolical authority. Düsterdieck thinks that these men were tried by their works pre-eminently; but false apostles should be pre-eminently, though not exclusively, tried by their doctrine. [Comp. 1Jn_4:1-3.—E. R. C.]
Rev_2:3. And that thou hast patience [endurance].—Here follows the third commendation of the church, for its good conduct under suffering; this also is exhibited under two aspects—suffering in general, for Christ’s name’s sake, and steadfast endurance under these sufferings. [There can be little doubt that the alteration of the text in this passage is due to an apparent inconsistency between οἶδα τὰν κόπον σου, and οὐ κεκοπίακας (see Textual and Grammatical). There is a world-wide distinction between being weary in the flesh (a mark of faithfulness in working) and being wearied in spirit (a mark of faithlessness), which, doubtless, the Apostle designed to indicate, and which the alterers failed to grasp.—E. R. C.]
Rev_2:4. [I have against thee.—The unauthorized introduction of somewhat into the E. V. weakens the force of the rebuke—which, as it came from the mouth of Jesus, was unqualified. Trench well remarks: “It is indeed not a ‘somewhat,’ which the Lord has against the Ephesian Church; it threatens to grow to be an ‘every thing;’ for, see the verse following, and comp. 1Co_13:1-3.”—E. R. C.]—That thou hast left thy first love.—This reproach is a contrast and counterpoise to all previous praise, almost outweighing it, in fact. Some of the different interpretations of this first love are characteristic. The two following are antithetic in their nature: Calovius understands the words as signifying a watchful zeal for the purity of the word of God (i.e., doctrine), while Eichhorn, on the other hand, thinks that the church is charged with a want of clemency in the judgment of the false teachers. Grotius understands the passage as referring to a defective care for the poor. Ebrard thinks it indicates a diminution, not of love to Christ, but of Christian brotherly love. Düsterdieck will not allow that the words bear a comparative meaning, but maintains that the first love was actually lost. If it were completely lost, as love, the church’s Christianity were at an end. What Düsterdieck means, however, is the maiden form of love, with reference to Züllig, Hengstenberg, and Jer_2:2. But the Spirit of Revelation cannot have intended to say that the first bridal or blossom-like form of development of Christian life must be permanent. Neither can brotherly love be called the first love, in comparison with love to Christ; nor can we suppose it possible for the former to vanish whilst the latter remained. Least of all is it assumable, after the commendations bestowed, that the church was lacking in its care for the poor. According to the presentation of the contrast in the epistle, there was, manifestly, in proportion to a flourishing outside show of churchly life, an incipient lack of inwardness and fervor—i.e., a lack of true divine knowledge, of habitual prayerfulness, warmth, contemplativeness; in a word, just those traits began to be lacking whose deficiency became more and more perceptible, not before the destruction of Jerusalem, but toward the end of the first century. Such a deficiency may be connected with a morbid prosecution of Christian works; as, for instance, is the case in our own time, even in evangelical circles. In a time when three important Lutheran ecclesiastical schools no longer sound the depths of the Lutheran doctrine of justification, and the religious expectation of the speedy coming of the Lord is almost universally exchanged for a chronological error, we have a practical illustration of what it is to have left the first love. [The words seem scarce to require a comment. The obvious reference is to the loss of that glowing, all-absorbing love to Jesus, as a personal Saviour, which at the first constrained them to devoted service (comp. Eph_3:16-19; Eph_4:15-16). This view is borne out by the following verse, where the decay of love is followed by the decay of works of righteousness. See also Jer_2:2 sqq.—E. R. C.]
Rev_2:5. Whence thou art fallen.—From what a height of ideal Christian life (comp. the writings of the Apostles and the works of the apostolic fathers).
And repent.—In reference to this fall, inward reflection is needed—a new internalization of Christian character. And thus, do the first works does not mean, do yet more outward works, but, do the living inward works on which all sound Christianity rests. [The reference doubtless was to both inward and outward works—to the internal works of love and faith, and to the bringing forth of fruits meet for repentance in the outward life. The “first works” do not mean more ritual observances, yet they do include such outward works as are described, Eph_4:17, to the end of the Epistle.—E. R. C.]
But if not.—The magnitude of the threatened punishment shows that the internal condition of the church is exceedingly bad. The grand trouble is that it is travelling a downward road. If the inward life be once neglected, and replaced or covered up by an external zeal for works, the false movement, if not corrected by repentance, goes on to spiritual death. This fact is demonstrated by the history of the mediæval Church, and by that of the modern evangelical awakening. [Not only was the internal condition of the church bad, but also the external. It is to be feared that many Protestants confound externality with mere externality, and so lose sight of vital truth. True religion has an outside as well as Pharisaism—an outside which differs from the latter not only in that it is more scriptural, but also in that it is broader, more complete. It may be indeed narrower in a merely ritual direction, but, in all other respects, it is more extensive. It should ever be remembered that our Lord exhorted, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works,” Mat_5:16, and that the Apostle Paul presented it as one of the characteristics of true Christians that they are “zealous of good works,” Tit_2:14. The Pharisees, in losing internal piety, narrowed the field of external religion; they placed it altogether in ceremonial observances; in tithing mint, anise, and cummin (which was a duty) and in other uncommanded rites, and ignored the weightier matters of the law, Mat_23:23. They omitted not merely the internal graces of judgment, mercy, and faith, but the actions proceeding from these graces. The mark of a decaying church is not an external zeal for works, but a zeal for works in a contracted, often an uncommanded field, whilst the broad surrounding territory of Christian duty is left uncultivated. This, doubtless, was the condition of the Ephesian church.—E. R. C.]
I come upon thee.—Properly, unto thee (σοί). (The ἐπὶ σὲ of Rev_2:3 is similar. Both forms are expressive of the unexpectedness of the coming.)
Will remove thy candlestick.—Since the church is also itself called the candlestick (Rev_1:20), the following explanation readily suggests itself: efficiam, ut ecclesia esse desinas (Aret.); or, if the angel be regarded as the bishop: I will take from thee thy church, thy position (Zeger)—the ordinary expression for which, however, would be: I will remove thee. The interpretations of Grotius and Ewald are also inadequate. But since the candlestick is here distinguished from the church, it doubtless denotes the Christian quality of the church, consisting, according to the Christian saying, of light and life. History teaches us what becomes of the dead body in the case of such a removal of the soul. This passage suggests a reference to the perfect desolation of Ephesus, as compared with Smyrna and Philadelphia.
Rev_2:6. But this thou hast.—Properly, doubtless: thou still retainest. The sign of hope presented in Rev_2:3 is again and more distinctly set forth. Hate cannot be resolved into disapprove (as De Wette interprets); it is, however, to be referred to the works of the Nicolaitans—not to them personally (Lyra). The dogmata lying at the foundation of the works, are doubtless also intended, though not exclusively, as Calovius supposes.
Nicolaitans.—A sectarian tendency in the Apostolic Church, on which comp. Church history and the Encyclopædias.61 It is obvious from the epistles themselves—1. That they form a contrast to “the Jews” in Smyrna and at Philadelphia [ch. Rev_2:9], Rev_3:9; and, on the other hand, 2. That they are akin to, and, in practice, even identical with, the Balaamites at Pergamus, Rev_2:14, and the school of Jezebel at Thyatira, Rev_2:20.62 We distinguish three opinions in regard to the Nicolaitans: 1. The Catholic tradition representing the deacon Nicolas, Act_6:5, as the founder of the sect; 2. The correction proceeding from Clement of Alexandria, stating that from a misunderstanding of an utterance of Nicolas, the doctrine that the lusts of the flesh must be indulged had been derived; 3. The assumption, since Heumann, that the term Nicolaitans is a symbolical expression; in support of this hypothesis it is alleged that the Greek word Nicolas means conqueror of the people; the Hebrew Balaam, devourer of the people; the two, in symbolical unity, signifying religious seducers of the people (analogous is the Antichrist Armillus, ἐρημόλαος [desolator, ravager of the people]). From the Epistle of Jude, Rev_2:11 (comp. 2Pe_2:15), we see that the name of Balaam had previously been symbolically employed in reference to antinomistic corrupters of the people. The apocalyptic symbolism might take advantage of this fact, freely translating the name. In this case, however, the Apocalyptist would most probably have made one name suffice him; and so the tradition of the misuse of the name of Nicolas does not seem to be altogether unfounded. It is possible that one and the same antinomianism branched into three forms: 1. A doctrinal form (Nicolaitans); 2. A worldly-wise form (Balaamites); 3. A spiritualistic form (Jezebel).
“The Nicolaitans are, undoubtedly, not identical (Hengstenberg) with the κακόι mentioned in Rev_2:2; yet they certainly do belong to those bad people.” (Düsterdieck.) On the confusion of opinions, see the last-named commentator. The reference of the false apostles [Rev_2:2] to “the Apostle of the Gentiles and his adherents,” is presumptuous and even audacious.
Rev_2:7. He that hath an ear, i.e., the organ of hearing; here in a spiritual sense. The singular is more significant, our plural [Luther’s version has Ohren, ears] more popular and emphatic. [Let him hear.—Hear in the sense of heed, as in Mat_18:15-17; Mat_13:18 (comp. with 15).—E. R. C.]
The Spirit.—The Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of Christ and the inspiration of the Prophet. Düsterdieck justly gives prominence to the fact that John’s personality is in no way abrogated, but glorified, by his ascription of what is said, to the Spirit.
To him that overcometh [conquereth].—The same exhortation at the close of all the seven epistles denotes the victory of a steadfast life of faith over the temptations and trials indicated, and over all adverse things in general. [It also implies that the Christian life, throughout the entire period covered by the seven epistles, is to be one of conflict. It pre-supposes the warfare and the preparation of Eph_6:10-20.—E. R. C.]
Will I give.—The give is emphatic, meaning—not bestow a portion—but grant power, authorize.
Of the tree of life.—A reference to the new Paradise (see chaps. 21, 22). To eat of the trees of life, the heavenly-earthly antitypes of the tree of life in the first Paradise. An emphatic promise of eternal life, of the enjoyment of eternal nourishment to eternal rejuvenation. Since the lack of the first love is a lack of life, the promise of heavenly life is a fitting one.
In the paradise of [My] God.—(Joh_20:17). The word My has been objected to (see the Textual Notes) probably because it was thought to militate against the Divinity of Christ. But even in glory, Christ can call the God Who, as the Faithful One, will so transcendently abide by His faithfulness, His God, in order to denote the infinite certainty of infinite promise. [Similar expressions occur, Joh_20:17; Eph_1:17; Rev_3:12. As the Fons Deitatis, the Begetter, the First Person of the Trinity is at once the God and the Father of the Divine Son.—E. R. C.]
Second Epistle. Smyrna
Rev_2:8-11
Rev_2:8. Of the church in Smyrna.—This city is situated on a harbor of the Ægean sea, and is flourishing even to this day. See the Real-Encyclopædias and Books of Travel. Letters of Ignatius, Polycarp, Church Histories.
“Many, particularly Catholic exegetes, etc., also Calovius and Hengstenberg, have regarded Polycarp as the angel of Smyrna.” [Altered from Düsterdieck.—Tr.] This assumption is based upon the false theory in regard to the angel.
[These things saith the first and the last, etc.—“Being addressed, as this epistle is, to the Church exposed, and hereafter to be still more exposed, to the fiercest blasts of persecution, it is graciously ordered that all the attributes which Christ here claims for Himself should be such as would encourage and support His servants in their trial and distress.” Trench.—E. R. C.]
Who became dead.—This self-designation of Christ harmonizes with the martyr-state of the church. [And revived.—“The words (both clauses of this designation) seem to point to the promises in Rev_2:10-11.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
Rev_2:9. Thy tribulation.—This has reference to sufferings from persecution—shame and distress—extending even to imprisonment and death (Rev_2:10 sqq.)
And poverty.—It is more probable that this has reference to the spoiling of the church’s goods (Heb_10:34, Primas and others), than to the helplessness of originally poor persons, in contrast to rich Jews, able to bribe the government (Hengstenberg).
But thou art rich.—In heavenly goods (Rev_3:18; Eph_1:3; Mat_6:20, [Rev_5:11-12], etc.) Soul-elevating contrast. (Πολύκαρπος, Hengstenberg!)
And (I know) thy calumny.—This calumny,63 as addressed to heathen, might be an accusation of riotousness and sedition (Act_17:6); as addressed to Jews or Jewish Christians, it might be an accusation of apostasy from the Law or from Ebionite Christianity. It is a query whether real Jews are intended here (most commentators), or Judaizing Christians (Vitringa and others). The two readily made common cause, however, in taking offence at the free development of Christianity, and the Prophet might reproach them both with not being genuine Jews, i.e., believers on the Messiah (comp. the Epistle of James). Hence, even if the Apocalyptist were speaking of real Jews, he would take the word in a higher, symbolical sense; we would remark in this connection, that, in the Gospel of John, on the other hand, the word Jews denotes, in the historical sense, Judaizers. Rev_3:9, however, seems to be more in favor of the supposition that Jewish Christians are intended. Though it cannot be denied that, in many cases, the Jews incited the heathen to the persecution of Christians, we cannot suppose (with Düsterdieck) that, at the beginning of the Jewish war, the Jews, who were almost all insurrectionists, could have accused the Christians, who were peaceable citizens, of anything like insurrection or sedition.64
A synagogue of Satan.—Cutting oxymoron. Not a synagogue of the Lord (Num_16:3 and elsewhere), but the extreme opposite of that. As Antichristian adversaries of the church’s Christianity (see Jam_2:2). Düsterdieck recalls Hos_4:15 : Bethel a Bethaven. [Alford referring to Trench: New Testament Synonyms, § 1, thus writes: “He (Trench) brings out there how ἐκκλησία, the nobler word, was chosen by our Lord and His Apostles for the assembly of the called in Christ, while συναγωγή, which is only once found (Jam_2:2) of a Christian assembly (and there, as Düsterd. notes, not with τοῦ Θεοῦ, but with ὑμῶν) was gradually abandoned entirely to the Jews, so that in this, the last book of the Canon, such an expression as this can be used. See also his Comm. on the Epistles to the Seven Churches.” It is to be observed that συναγωγή was not gradually abandoned, but was at once relinquished. As a term relinquished by the true Israel, it might be applied to an assembly either of those clinging to Judaism, or of an heretical Christian sect.—E. R. C.]
Rev_2:10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer.—The prison is indicative of persecutions on the part of the magistracy, which, however, in persecuting, is unwittingly the devil’s servant (see Revelation 12). Düsterdieck: “The meaning of the name (διάβολος, slanderer) should not be emphasized here (contrary to Züllig and Hengstenberg); otherwise we should expect to find ὁ διάβ, in Rev_2:9, and ὁ σαταν. in Rev_2:10.” Still, the idea of the adversary (Satan) takes precedence of the idea of the slanderer (devil), and the incarceration of the pious is a practical slander.
[Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, i. e., through his influence upon the minds of magistrates, as he influenced the Sabeans and Chaldeans against Job (Rev_1:15; Rev_1:17). This passage agrees with other Scriptures, in teaching not merely the personality of the devil (Satan), but also that his permitted power over the world and members of the Church, though weakened, is still continued. Comp. Luk_22:31; 1Th_2:18, 2Th_2:9; Eph_6:11-12; 1Pe_5:8, etc.—E. R. C.]
That ye may be tried.—Though temptation on the part of the devil is at the same time a testing or proving on the part of God, here the devil’s tempting to apostasy is intended. Three terms for the devil are presented here, therefore: enemy, accuser, tempter.
Tribulation ten days.—The numeral is not to be taken literally (Grot.), and denotes neither a long time (a Lapide and others), nor a short time (De Wette and others, [Alford, Trench]), but a divinely meted, periodical world-time, according, however, with the minor measure of the worldly life of Smyrna—numbered days; i. e., the period of the expiration of the old world-time in Smyrna; which period, if we regard it as thus meted and modified by days, may undoubtedly appear a short time. Interpretations: 1. Ten days are equivalent to ten years. The persecutions under Domitian or Decius. 2. The ten persecutions of the Christians (Ebrard). This time of persecution must be distinguished from the universal time of tribulation of the Church, Rev_13:5 (42 months=1260 days, Rev_11:3; Rev_12:6=3½ times, Rev_12:14).
Be thou faithful.—Γίνου is significant—pointing to a long and perilous way.
Unto death.—The faithfulness must be the faithfulness of the martyr, who is ready even for death; a faithfulness exceeding the persecutions. This exhortation may be beautifully generalized thus: be faithful until death. [The two ideas of unto and until death are conjoined. Be faithful, though faithfulness lead to death; be faithful until you die.—E. R. C.]
The crown of life.—1Pe_5:4. Τὸν στέφ. τ. ζωῆς. Düsterdieck: Genit. apposit. See, in opposition to this, the Lange Comm. on Jam_1:12, p. 47 [Am. Ed.]. “The summum of life as life’s prize of honor.” Genitive of appertinency, therefore. Various interpretations: Züllig: The royal crown of the faithful. Hengstenberg, figuratively: The most precious thing. Düsterdieck, correctly: The figure of the victor’s crown, taken from the competitive games. [The question here is as to whether the στέφανος spoken of is the diadem of the king, or the wreath of the victor. In favor of the latter interpretation may be urged that the term is στέφανος, and the further fact, that the promise is to the victor. This, at first glance, may seem to settle the question. It will not be denied that, according to strict classical usage, διάδημα represents the crown of the king, and στέφανος that of the conqueror in the Grecian games. It should be remembered, however, that at this very time the crown of the Roman Emperors was the στέφανος—(See Elliot, Hor. Apoc., Vol. I., p. 136 sq.), the symbol at once of victory and dominion. The question is as to the force of the term in the New Testament. Διάδημα occurs but three times, Rev_12:3; Rev_13:1; Rev_19:2; the word everywhere else translated crown is στέφανος. In 1Co_9:25 and 2Ti_2:5, there is, manifestly, reference to the wreath of the victor; but, on the other hand, the crown placed on the head of Jesus in mockery of His claim to be a King, was styled στέφανος, Mat_27:29, etc.; (see also Rev_4:4; Rev_4:10; Rev_6:2; Rev_14:14, where the crown of the ruler is referred to). A consideration of these Scriptures establishes the conclusion that, in the New Testament, this term, like the English crown, is used to designate both the diadem and the wreath. This conclusion is confirmed by the well-known fact concerning the Roman Emperors above alluded to. From this point of view there can be little doubt that the στέφανοι of the glorified saints are the symbols at once of their victory in the contest of earth, and of their authority as kings in the Kingdom of Heaven.—E. R. C.]
Rev_2:11. He that overcometh [conquereth].—The promise corresponds with the address and charge. Overcoming is here the concrete victory over temptation in the persecutions announced; a victory founded, as it necessarily must be, upon a general victory over evil.—To such a victor, invulnerableness against the second death is assured.
The second death.—A designation of damnation (Rev_20:6; Rev_20:14; Rev_21:8), with reference to Jewish Theology (see Düsterdieck, De Wette, Wetstein, Buxtorf). This, therefore, is indirectly the surest promise of eternal life. The more certain the first death seems to be, the more surely will the one assailed by it receive an entrance into that free realm, where all is imperishable and unfading, where death is a thing of the past. [See the Excursus on Hades, p. 364.—E. R. C.]
third epistle. pergamus
Rev_2:12-17
Rev_2:12. Pergamus or Pergamum in Mysia; formerly a royal residence; later, a principal city of Roman Asia. This was the city of Æsculapius, as Ephesus was that of Diana. It is now called Bergamo. There are many ruinous remains of the old city. See the Lexicons and Books of Travel.
The sharp, two-edged sword.—Here, too, the attribute of Christ corresponds with the situation of Pergamus; see Rev_2:16. The sharp sword is, however, not an instrument of external penal judgments, but the organ of the Spirit’s judgments (see Eph_6:17; Joh_16:8).65 It was an hypothesis of Lyra, that the epistle was addressed to a bishop named Carpus.
Rev_2:13. Satan’s throne.—The same idea is made prominent at the end of the verse: where Satan dwelleth.—Double recognition is made of the church’s faithfulness, on account of the perils of the place in which it is tested. Interpretations of the term throne of Satan: 1. Worship of Æsculapius, whose symbol was the serpent (=devil, Grotius, and others). 2. Acme of idolatry (Andreas and others). 3. Dwelling-place of heathen and Nicolaitans (Calovius and others). 4. Extreme of persecutions (Ewald and others). 5. Museum of Pergamus (Zornius). Pergamus being the seat of the supreme court, it was natural that it should be the central point of persecution (Ebrard). Düsterdieck also mentions this supposition, without giving it its due weight. It has reference, indeed, to a later period of the first century, when persecutions began to be judicial. [Trench judiciously remarks: “All which we can securely conclude from this language is, that from one cause or another, these causes being now unknown, Pergamum enjoyed the bad pre-eminence of being the headquarters in these parts of the opposition to Christ and His Gospel. Why it should have thus deserved the name of ‘Satan’s throne,’ so emphatically repeated a second time at the end of this verse, ‘where Satan dwelleth,’ must remain one of the unsolved riddles of these Epistles.”—E. R. C.]
And thou holdest fast My name.—Revelation and knowledge of the essence and governance of Christ. Düsterdieck, on the other hand, in accordance with a widely diffused and inevident interpretation: The true objective Person of Christ, together with its riches and glory. The same expositor denies that confession is intended, as De Wette maintains. The church has already given proof of this, its holding fast of the name of Jesus, in a time of tribulation and martyrdom, when it was tempted to deny and would not.66
My faith; i. e., belief in Christ, resting upon His faithfulness. Objective genitive; Rev_14:12, and other passages. Comp. Rom_3:25-26. [This interpretation is not required by the construction. Πίστις may be regarded as having been used concretely, as in Judges 3, etc., and the genitive as that of the source.—E. R. C.]
In which Antipas.—We follow the reading αἶς, supported by Cod. B. and adopted by Griesbach.67 This reading has been objected to, probably on the ground that the church generally was faithful. Accordingly, αἶς has been omitted—a proceeding which gave rise to still greater difficulties, on which comp. Düsterdieck (p. 158). Again, an explanatory ἐν has been prefixed to αἶς. On the plays upon the word Antipas, comp. Düsterdieck (Ἀντί-πας, against all: Anti-papa, or ἰσόπατρον = Athanasianism; Pergamus = Alexandria). De Wette: “A certain Antipas (Antipater) must have suffered martyrdom in Pergamus some time previously.” The later martyrologies announce that in the time of Domitian, Antipas, bishop of Pergamus, was killed by being placed in an iron image of a bull, heated red-hot. Tertullian mentions the martyr Antipas, taking the name, most probably, from our passage. Eusebius (Hist. eccles. vi. 15) cites three other martyrs of Pergamus. Hengstenberg conjectures that the symbolical name, against all (Saskerides68), denotes Timothy. Ebrard ironically expatiates upon this view (p. 174). Consistent symbolical interpretation may lead to attempts at the interpretation of names; but consistent symbolical interpretation does not demand that the names of the seven cities should also be interpreted.
Rev_2:14. A few things against thee.—We must not regard this as a litote and understand the opposite to what is said (Heinrich).
Thou hast there them.—Members of the church are intended, but not the whole church. It has not completely purified itself from these people; has been negligent in church discipline.
Who hold the doctrine of Balaam.—Persistently hold it fast, κρατοῦντας. The combination of the history of Balaam, Num_22:25 sqq, and the story of the avenging war of Israel against Midian, Rev 31, served for a foundation to a Jewish tradition to the effect that Balaam taught Balak how, by the institution of idolatrous sacrificial feasts, he might entice the Israelites to fornication and thus corrupt them.69 It was a doctrine, not in the sense of a system, but as a maxim. And whilst Balaam hoped for outward gain, and the Nicolaitans, on the other hand, were following an Antinomian principle, we find, together with the coincidence of the two names, a certain difference which we have previously pointed out.
[To cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat idol offerings.—“There are two words which claim here special consideration, σκάνδαλον and εἰδωλόθυτον. Σκάνδαλον, a later form of σκανδάληθρον. … and σκανδαλίζω … occur only, I believe, in the Sacred Scriptures, the Septuagint and the New Testament, and in such writings as are immediately dependent upon these (see Suicer, S. V.); being almost always in them employed in a tropical sense; Jdt_5:1, Lev_19:14, are exceptions. Σκάνδαλον is properly a trap (joined often with παγίς, Jos_23:13; Psa_140:9; Rom_11:9), or more precisely that part of the trap on which the bait was laid, and the touching of which caused the trap to close upon its prey; then generally any loop or noose set in the path, which should entangle the foot of the unwary walker and cause him to stumble and fall; σκάνδαλον = πρόσκομμα (Rom_14:13) and σκανδαλίζειν = προσκόπτειν (Mat_4:6; Rom_9:32); and next, any stone or hindrance of any kind (Hesychius explains it by ἐμποδισμός), which should have the same effect (1Pe_2:7). Satan, then, as the Tempter, is the great placer of ‘scandals,’ ‘stumbling-blocks,’ or ‘offences,’ in the path of men; his sworn servants, a Balaam, or a Jeroboam (1Ki_14:16), are the same consciously. All of us unconsciously, by careless walking, by seeking what shall please ourselves rather than edify others (1Co_8:10), are in danger of being the same; all are deeply concerned in the warning of Mat_18:7. Εἰδωλόθυτον is a New Testament word to express what the heathen sacrifices were, as they presented themselves to the eye of a Christian or a Jew, namely things offered unto idols. The Gentiles themselves expressed the same by ἱερόθυτον (which word occurs 1Co_10:28, according to the better reading, St. Paul there assuming a Gentile to be speaking, and using, if not an honorable, yet at any rate, a neutral word), or by θεόθυτον, which the Greek purists preferred.” Trench.—E. R. C.]
Rev_2:15. So hast thou also.—De Wette explains καὶ σύ as indicative of a comparison with Ephesus. Düsterdieck remarks: “It either refers to Balak, or, which is more probable, to the ancient congregation of the children of Israel. Yet this too would be a reference to Balak.” This fact, at all events, is indicated; viz.: that in Pergamus, as well as elsewhere, two kindred forms of Antinomianism occur. It is also intimated that the sect of the Nicolaitans had its own independent origin in a misinterpretation of the doctrine of Christian liberty. This lax tendency, on the ground of a misunderstood liberty, was springing up in Rome and Corinth at the time of the Pauline Epistles to the Christians of those cities; it had attained further development at the time of the pastoral Epistles, and subsequently received, among the methodical Anomians, the sect-name of Nicolaitanism. At the time of the Epistle of Jude and the Apocalypse it was illustrated by the Old Testament history of Balaam, an etymological kinship of names aiding this comparison. This is more probable than the supposition that the Greek name is a mere translation of the Hebrew Balaam. The practice of the different factions of Antinomianism (Balaamites, Nicolaitans, the fanatical school of Jezebel) amounted to the same thing, viz.: disorderly conduct under the cloak of liberty; the first specific mark of this disorderliness being a participation in heathen sacrificial banquets; the second, connected with the first, a sexual laxity amounting to actual unchastity.
Rev_2:16. Repent, therefore.—This repentance, as the painful self-prostration and stirring of the church, must result in its cleansing from Nicolaitanism. [“This command is addressed not only to the Nicolaitans, but to the Church, which did not, like that of Ephesus, hate them, but apparently tolerated them.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
But if not.—The threat appears much milder than that addressed to Ephesus.
I will come unto thee, i. e., upon thee. How?
And will war against them.—This act will be a humiliation for the church, inasmuch as it accomplishes directly, without the church’s instrumentality, what the church itself should effect—thus suspending, to a degree, the church’s authority, and making it appear in the light of a dependent church, taking away its independence. But how shall this be done? Grotius: Prophets are to accomplish what the bishop has neglected to do. Calovius; The Lord will act through another bishop. The fact is, the Lord comes to the slothful individual church with the spirit of the metropolitan church; and, when it becomes utterly sluggish, He comes to it with theocratico-hierarchical authority, or by means of separatist contrasts.
With the sword of My mouth.—This is indicative of a spiritual conflict and victory through the word and the Spirit of God. It has no reference, therefore, to the avenging sword which came upon the misguided Israelites (Ewald, De Wette, and others); particularly, in view of the contrast between the Old and the New Covenant. The sword of the angel that stood in the way of Balaam can scarcely come into consideration, for this reason, if for none other—because that passage in the life of Balaam preceded his actual sin.70
Rev_2:17. Of the hidden manna.—The victor in Pergamus is the recipient of two promises which, however, constitute a substantial unity. The hidden manna stands contrasted with the impure communion of idolatrous sacrifices, and hence, as well as in accordance with the Johannean idea (John 4), characterizes the enjoyment of the highest, heavenly communion with Christ and the holy and blessed, as the partaking of a manna which is hidden as yet—perhaps like that which was kept for the Jewish Sabbath—or as the mystery of the inner life of blessedness. With this manna, the white stone with the new name corresponds. The white stone is that acquittal in the judgment which shall be based upon a recognition of the verification and righteousness of the new life; and the new name is the distinct individual personality of the new life; every beatified spirit has a particular and unique consciousness of this personality—a consciousness known, in this uniqueness, to none but the recipient himself (Rev_19:12).
Different interpretations of the manna: The Lord’s Supper; Spiritual refreshments; Justification; The manna in the Ark of the Covenant, which has been hidden since the destruction of the Temple; Christ; Heavenly bread. [“There can, I think, be no doubt that allusion is here made to the manna which, at God’s express command, Moses caused to be laid up before the Lord in the sanctuary (Exo_16:32-34; of. Heb_9:4). This manna, as being thus laid up, obtained the name of ‘hidden’. This ‘hidden manna’ … represents a benefit pertaining to the future Kingdom of glory. … I would not indeed affirm that this promise has not prelibations which will be tasted in the present time. … The words imply that, however hidden now, it shall not remain hidden evermore; and the best commentary on them is to be found at 1Co_2:9; 1Jn_3:2.” Trench.—E. R. C.]
Interpretations of the white stone: The glorified body; Analogue of the names on the breastplate of the High Priest—priestly dignity, therefore; A reference to the heavenly reward; Tessera hospitalis; The stone used in casting lots for succession in the priestly function; The glory of victory.
The two meanings which attached to the white stone among the Greeks, viz.: acquittal in judgment and the award of some rank or dignity—are, manifestly, most intimately connected. Justification in the final judgment must, however, be distinguished from the justification of faith, though the two are connected and agree in the possession of a negative and a positive element (absolutio; adoptio in the principial sense; in the sense of consummation).
Interpretations of the name: The name of God; Consecrated to God; Son of God, or elect person. Most commentators: The victor’s own name. This is new as the pure expression of the new, heavenly life, in antithesis to the old conventional name, meaningless in many cases, and often a name of shame.
[The remarks of Trench (Ep. to the Seven Churches, pp. 170–181) on the white stone and the new name are worthy of the highest consideration. He repudiates the idea that these symbols “are borrowed from heathen antiquity,” declaring that “this Book moves exclusively within the circle of sacred, that is of Jewish, imagery and symbols; nor is the explanation of its symbols in any case to be sought beyond this circle.” Following Züllig (Offenb. Johannis, Vol. I., pp. 408–454), he suggests that the ψῆφος λευκή may be, not a white pebble, but the Urim and Thummim—probably a diamond, a precious stone shining white. The “new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it (the stone),” he identifies with the new name of Christ Rev_3:12, and suggests that it was symbolized by what was written on the Urim (probably the holy Tetragrammaton) which no one knew except the High Priest to whose charge it was committed.—E. R. C.]
Fourth Epistle. Thyatira
Rev_2:18-29
Rev_2:18. Thyatira.—In Lydia, between Pergamus and Sardis, a provincial city; now called Akhissar. See the Encyclopædias and Books of Travel. Lydia was a woman of Thyatira, Act_16:14. This Lydia may be referred neither to the loving zeal of the church nor to Jezebel (Düsterdieck). For a mention of wavering views in regard to the elements of the church and worthless views concerning the bishop, see Düsterdieck.
[The Son of God.—“Our Lord thus names Himself here, in accordance with the spirit of that which is to follow; Rev_2:27 being from Psalms 2, in which it is written, ‘The Lord hath said unto me, thou art my Son,’ ” (Alford); comp. Rev_2:26-27, with Psa_2:8-9. The reason of the reference to Psalms 2 may possibly be found in a comparison of Rev_2:20 with Psa_2:1-3, and the history of Jezebel, 1Ki_16:31; 2Ki_9:37. The Jezebel of the Old Testament was a heathen, a king’s daughter, and a queen; she took counsel against the Lord, and seduced the people of God to iniquity. This interpretation requires us to suppose that the Jezebel of Rev_2:20 occupied a position analogous to that of her Old Testament type. Symbolically (on the hypothesis that the churches represent different ages of the Universal Church) she may represent a world-power, professedly converted and assuming the position of a teacher, introducing idolatry and impurity into the Church.—E. R. C.]
His eyes like as a flame of fire.—With reference to the fanaticism in Thyatira. His eyes pierce through the sphere of spirit, and perceive the impure motives of all fanaticism, be it hierarchic or sectarian, ascetic or libertine; and this with a view to making it manifest and judging it.71
And His feet.—He, “Who, with His feet like unto brass, tramples on all that is unclean and inimical.” (Düsterdieck.) This, however, is not the way in which fanaticism is judged. It is made manifest in its nothingness by the feet of Christ, in their holy, glowing motion, passing over its imbecility and worthlessness and resolving them into themselves. To the extent that this nuisance is the originator of moral scandals, it is broken in pieces with the iron sceptre as heathenish (Rev_2:27).
Rev_2:19. I know thy works.—These are subdivided into four fundamental traits: love and faithfulness—the one showing itself in a loving service to those requiring help; the other manifested in steadfastness under persecutions and temptations. To these is superadded the fact of the church’s growth—that its last works are more than the first. The opposite of Ephesus (Düsterdieck).
Rev_2:20. But I have against thee.—There is a connection between the very vitality of the church of Thyatira and the fact that it suffers itself to be dazzled by the fiery semblance of life in the fanaticism of Jezebel and her followers; that it is unwatched on that side.
The woman Jezebel.—As the Anomians were formerly traced back to Balaam, so here they are traced to Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, 1 Kings 16. sqq.
The individual traits of the description call for the conclusion that Jezebel was a religious fanatic, who claimed to be a prophetess and had founded a school of Antinomianism, in which an impure intercourse of the sexes was reduced to a religious system, and clothed in the garb of pious enthusiasm. The name is symbolical, but scarcely the sex of the person. It should be observed that the seduction to fornication occupies the foremost place in this instance, and that much more stress is laid upon it than upon the eating of idolatrous sacrifices.72 Here, therefore, we have the primitive type of a story that has been often repeated by isolated Gnostic sects even down to the present day.
Other interpretations: 1. Jezebel was the wife of the bishop (Grotius and others); hence the reading τὴν γυναῖκά σου. 2. Heresy personified, or the Nicolaitan false teachers (Vitringa, Hengstenberg, and others). 3. A woman really called Jezebel (Wolf, Bengel). 4. The Jewish synagogue (Züllig).
The fornication to which the Old Testament Jezebel was the seducer, was connected with the service of Baal and Astarte; Jezebel had brought the worship of these gods with her from Sidon and propagated it in Israel (see 2Ki_9:22, and other passages). Hengstenberg conjectures that the ancient Jezebel was a demonically inspired prophetess of Baal.
Rev_2:21. And I gave her time.—Ebrard groundlessly takes this in a present sense; rendering it thus—from this time she shall have yet another respite for repentance.—She has not made use of her respite; she willeth not to repent.—The disorder, therefore, has already lasted some time, and though the church, as a church, has suffered its continuance, admonitions to repent have not been wanting. We need not conclude from this, however, that John has previously issued a written reprimand (Ewald. Nor does John here speak as a bishop).
Rev_2:22. Behold, I cast her into a bed.—The punishment, whose prefacing with behold indicates its severity and speediness, is, in its ironical expression, conformable to the sin; just as the cup of intoxication is poured out for the intoxicated. A bed of torment corresponds with the bed of fornication.
According to Lyra and others, κλίνη denotes the punishment of Hell; while most commentators regard it as indicative of the bed of sickness, with reference to Psa_41:3. [A bed of sickness, physical and symbolical, the result of her own impurity, maybe intended.—E. R. C.] But whether such a menace of sickness is intended to be conveyed here is exceedingly doubtful. By the bed we understand an insulated sectarianism, in which Jezebel and her followers will be the instruments of their own destruction; the threatened casting into this bed, therefore, we apprehend as a threat of excommunication, to be executed by the Spirit of the Lord in and along with the church (1Co_5:3 sqq.), if she do not thoroughly repent.73 We emphasize as follows: Behold, I cast her into a bed, and those that commit adultery with her—into great tribulation.—“For the destruction of the flesh,” St. Paul says. After its excision from the church, the school, as a sect, must necessarily be given over to eccentricity, discord, the pangs of remorse, and despair, to say nothing of the disgrace which would attach to it, and the censure of the world.
Those who commit adultery with her.—The fornication is now characterized as adultery, for together with the actual occurrences of this sort, religious apostasy, previously present in germ, is thus symbolically designated; in this case, it is apostasy from Christ and from the Spirit of His Church. With her. In fellowship with her; as her companions and followers.
Except they repent.—An ultimatum preceding excommunication, such as was addressed to the false teachers in the Galatian Church, Galatians 1.
Of her [ἀυτῆς=] works.
Rev_2:23. And I will slay her children.—According to Grotius and others, these are actual children of fornication—as such, however, they could not be the objects of so severe a threat. According to Düsterdieck and many others, they are the previously mentioned companions of Jezebel, the μοιχεύοντες. Ebrard: “The Jezebel brood, in which iniquity threatens to propagate itself in time to come.” These children are plainly distinguished from the immediate companions of Jezebel, both by name and by the form of the threatened punishment. They are the second generation of disorderly sectarianism, in which the whole power of spiritual and physical death becomes manifest; and there is an unlimited perspective into futurity in the threat—hence it is declared that all the churches shall know this Divine judgment.
With [Lange: By the power of] death.—Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (Jam_1:15). Explications of ἐν θανάτῳ: 1. Death is Hell: 2. Pestilence (Septuag. Eze_33:27); 3. The Hebrew formula: מוֹת־יוּמַת, as the penalty of adultery, Lev_20:10. Düsterdieck urges cogent reasons against the supposition, entertained by Hengstenberg, that the passage in Leviticus is alluded to. Ἐν signalizes θάνατος as the instrument of killing—hence, as deadly power. [“A strong Hebraistic expression, meaning that he would certainly destroy them.” Barnes.—“Others find a reference to the two sweeping catastrophes which overtook the Baal priests and votaries at exactly that period of Jewish history to which the mention of Jezebel here points (1Ki_18:40; 2Ki_10:25). To me it seems no more than a threat that their doom should be a signal one, that they should not die the common death of all men, nor be visited after the visitation of all (Num_16:29), but leaving the precise manner of that doom undefined.” Trench.—E. R. C.]
And all the churches shall know.—Düsterdieck: “Every Divine judgment upon the world is a manifestation of the Lord’s glory, resulting, in accordance with the Divine intention, in the advancement and strengthening of believers in knowledge.”—They shall know, especially, that God is the Holy One, that He is pure Light, and that He knows and judges all impurity, even when arrayed in the closest semblance of holiness.
All the churches—congregations—in the whole Church. We can say, with Grotius, “The Asiatic churches, if we only do not apprehend them externally, but as types of the whole Church.”
That I am He.—The absoluteness of God is here indicated, from the special point of view that it is He who tries and searches the reins and hearts, the whole inner life, and the innermost disposition of man. [“This is clearly a claim to Omniscience, and as it is the Lord Jesus who speaks in all these epistles, it is a full proof that He claims this for Himself.” Barnes.—E. R. C.] Grotius and Bengel make a distinction in the concrete unity of the expression, interpreting loins as the lusts or passions, hearts as the thoughts; this is in opposition to the unitous sense of the passage, in which, at the utmost, a harmonious contrast is indicated.
To you, to each.—Address to the guilty ones. Within the more general chastisement, the judgment upon each individual shall be proportioned to his works. [According to your works.—“This promise, or this threat, for it may be either (is it not both?—E. R. C.) is one which we commonly keep at this time too much in the background; but it is one which we should press on ourselves and others with the same emphasis wherewith Christ and His Word presses it upon us all (Ps. 62:13; Mat_16:27; Rom_2:6; Job_34:11; Pro_24:12; Jer_22:19). It is indeed, one of the gravest mischiefs which Rome has bequeathed to us, that in a reaction and protest, itself absolutely necessary, against the false emphasis which she puts on works, unduly trusting therein to share with Christ’s merits in our justification, we often fear to place upon them the true; being, as they are, to speak with St. Bernard, the ‘via regni,’ however little the ‘causa regnandi;’ though here too it must of course never be forgotten that it is only the good tree which brings forth good fruit; and that no tree is good until Christ has made it so.” Trench.—E. R. C.]
Rev_2:24. But unto you I say, [the rest in Thyatira, etc.—The and of the E. V. is omitted; see Text. and Gram. Notes.—E. R. C.]. Address to individuals who, as such (not as members of the church as a body), are guiltless. They are characterized by two marks. First, they have not this erroneous doctrine; and, secondly, they have hitherto not known the pretended depths in it as depths of Satan, as they express themselves now that their eyes are opened. The objectionableness of the doctrine in question was clear to them, but not its Satanic depth, its nature, and operation—ruinous to souls, poisoning the words of truth, fatal to spiritual life.
Interpretations: These false teachers boasted that they knew the depths of Satan (Neander, Hengstenberg). These false teachers, like the Gnostics, boasted that they knew the depths of life and, especially, of the Godhead; but the Apocalyptist sarcastically reverses this boast by intimating that their pretended depths are depths of Satan (Grotius and many others).
“As they say,” according to Vitringa, refers purely to the depths; this restriction, however, seems somewhat violent, and it is more probable that the innocent individual members of the church have themselves now recognized the greatness of the evil, and sarcastically handle the claim of the false teachers.
[“It was the characteristic of the falsely called γνῶσις to boast of its βάθεα, or depths, of Divine things. … We may safely therefore refer the expression οὐκ ἔγνωσαν τὰ βάθεα to the heretics spoken of. But it is not so clear to whom, as their subject, the words ὡς λέγουσιν are to be appropriated; and, again, whose word τοῦ σατανᾶ is, whether that (1) of our Lord, (2) of the heretics, or (3) of the Christians addressed. If ὡς λέγουσιν belongs to the Christians, then the sense will be, that they, the Christians, called the βάθεα of the heretics, the βάθεα τοῦ σατανᾶ, and were content to profess their ignorance of them. So Andr., Areth., Heinr., Züllig, Ebrard; and so far would be true enough; but the sentence would be left very flat and pointless, and altogether inconsistent in its tone with the solemn and pregnant words of the rest of the message. If ὡς λέγουσιν belongs to the heretics, we have our choice between two views of τοῦ σατανᾶ: either (1) that the heretics themselves called their own mysteries τὰ β. τοῦ σατανᾶ. But this, though held by Hengst., and even by Neander … as a possible alternative, and recently by Trench, can hardly be so, seeing that the words surely would not bear the sense thus assigned to them, viz.: that they could go deeper than and outwit Satan in his own kingdom: and seeing, moreover, that no such formula, or any resembling it, is found as used by the ancient Gnostic heretics: or (2) that the ὡς λέγουσιν applies only to the word βάθεα, and that, when according to their way of speaking, τοῦ θεοῦ should have followed (cf. 1Co_2:10), the Lord in indignation substitutes τοῦ σατανᾶ. This has been the view taken by most commentators, e. g., Corn.-à-Lapide, Ribera, Grot., Calov., Wetst., Vitr., Bengel, Wolf, Eichhorn, Ewald, De W., Stern, Düsterd. And, it appears to me, that this alone comes in any measure up to the requirements of the passage, in intensity of meaning and solemnity, as well as in veri-similitude.” Alford. See, as representing other views, Trench and Barnes in loc.—E. R. C.]
I cast not upon you any other burden.—Our first effort must be to gather the meaning of the other burden from the epistle itself. The sinful toleration of Jezebel must now be exchanged for the opposite course, i. e., the excommunication of the false teachers, unless they repent. And this, indubitably, is a painful and heavy task, a burden; the Apostle will, however, lay none other on the church.
Explanations: 1. No other suffering than that which ye already bear (Bengel and others); including the threats (Ewald). 2. No other obligation than the one indicated—to prohibit the eating of idolatrous sacrifices, etc., Act_15:28. Not the entire Mosaic law, therefore. The former of these interpretations is too indefinite, the latter too far-fetched.74 Equally valueless is the interpretation of Grotius: Jactant illi se rerum multarum cognitione, eam a vobis non exigo (gnosis, then, is the ἄλλο βάρος!); Bengel: As Jezebel was burden enough to them; Eichhorn gives a still different explanation, see De Wette.
By the following promise, we see what they are to do. They are to combat the new heathenism arising in that sectarian school; and to wield the iron sceptre of the Messiah, in accordance with the promise, yet in a spiritual sense.
Rev_2:25. But that which ye have.—The ἔχειν is to be converted into a κρατεῖν in the manner indicated.
Hold fast (have more than ever). Seek to hold it fast in its whole consistency. They need not, therefore, work themselves up to another stand-point, but must consistently work out their actual spiritual life (Rev_2:19). [“The aorist is more vivid and imperative than would be the present; it sets forth not so much the continuing habit, as the renewed and determined grasp of every intervening moment of the space prescribed.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
[Until I shall come.—“The ἄν gives an uncertainty when the time shall be, which we cannot convey in our language.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
Rev_2:26. And he that conquereth.—The promise, in this case also, is in perfect harmony with the tenor of the epistle. The overcoming is modified here by the keeping of Christ’s works to the end, or to the goal of the works themselves in their perfect consistency. In τηρεῖν, we find, on the one hand, the acknowledgment that they occupy the right stand-point, and, on the other, the demand that they should keep it pure, after the example of Christ, and as His instruments. Together with the eschatological goal, therefore, reference is had to the ideal goal of perfect Christian development. The works of Christ, which are particularly meant, however, are here those of purifying severity, Rev_2:27. The works of His people must in their purity be His works, and this in antithesis, also, to the works of Jezebel.
Power over the nations [heathen].—This, according to Düsterdieck, is to be fulfilled, “when the βασιλεία is set in operation at the Coming of the Lord.” A one-sided adjournment of the promises to the day of the Parousia, in accordance with Meyer’s method. It is apostolic doctrine that the Parousia does not bring the beginning of the blessedness and glory of the new life, but their final consummation. It is so with the preceding promises and so with this. The power of Christianity over the heathen world, which power is to be perfected at the end of the world, begins with the victorious power of the Christian spirit over heathen works and ways.75
Rev_2:27. And he shall rule [shepherdize] them with an iron rod.—Neither can the wielding of an iron sceptre be adjourned to the end of the world. This sceptre unmistakably denotes the element of severe discipline in the shepherdizing of the flock; a preponderance of spiritual power over the carnal mind (see the parable of the leaven) is also expressed by the antithesis of the iron sceptre and the earthen vessels dashed in pieces by it. Of course, the dashing in pieces is a spiritual act, and one that is performed only in proportion to the resistance offered.
Düsterdieck, in consequence of his peculiar views, fails to recognize the element of truth in Grotius’ explanation: Evolvam illum in gradum Presbyteri, ut judicet de iis, qui non Christiane, sed ἐθνικῶς; vivunt; and ῥάβδ. σιδ. = verbum dei, cujus pars est excommunicatio. Düsterdieck likewise denies that there is any reference to the conversion of the heathen, either separately or in connection with the idea of the future royal rule.
Shepherdize [ποιμαίνειν] is the Septuagint rendering of תרצם, Psa_2:9. Alcasar regarded the iron rod as significant of the bishop’s staff or crosier. “Brightman thought it denoted the power which Protestant princes have exercised over Popish cloisters,” etc., (De Wette).
As I also.—The personal Christ as the entire Christ in His Church.
Rev_2:28. And I will give him.—The morning-star is to be a recompense of that purity which is the fundamental requirement of the whole epistle. According to 2Pe_1:19, the morning-star symbolizes the full dawn of the New-Testament day. According to Rev_22:16, Christ, on the way of His speedy Advent, is the bright Morning-star. The promise, therefore, is that the pure and unadulterated Christian, as a victor over fanaticisms, shall, in advance of others, behold the morning-star of the new time, the last time, the Coming of the Lord, as if that morning-star were his own; nay, he shall even point to the morning-star as the object of his prophecy. He shall stand “in the morning radiance of eternity,” in the full enjoyment of Christian hope, Christian progress, the true ante-celebration of the Coming of Christ.
Interpretations: 1. The glorified body of Christ; 2. The devil, with reference to Isa_14:12; Isaiah 3. The king of Babylon; 4. Christ; 5. The gloria illustris, the heavenly δόξα; starry radiance.
[“It is observable that it is not said that He would make him like the morning-star, as in Dan_12:3, nor that he would be compared with the morning-star, like the king of Babylon, Isa_14:12; nor that he would resemble a star which Balaam says he saw in the far distant future, Num_24:17. The idea seems to be, that the Saviour would give him something that would resemble that morning planet in beauty and splendor—perhaps meaning that it would be placed as a gem in his diadem and would sparkle on his brow—bearing some such relation to Him Who is called ‘the Sun of Righteousness,’ as the morning-star does to the glorious sun on his rising. If so, the meaning would be, that he would receive a beautiful ornament, bearing a near relation to the Redeemer Himself as a bright Sun—a pledge that the darkness was past—but one whose beams would melt away into the superior light of the Redeemer Himself, as the beams of the morning-star are lost in the superior glory of the Sun.” Barnes.—E. R. C.]
Footnotes:
[1]Brandt: 1. “The Mother Church.”
[2]Rev_2:1. Read thus in accordance with A. B*. C. [ἐν Ἐφέσῳ]; instead of the Rec. Ἐφεσἰνης (which arose from too great haste [in transcribing]. See Delitzsch, Funde, p. 23). On the difference between τῆς and τῷ see Düsterdieck.
[3]Rev_2:2. The σου after κόπον, founded upon B*. [א.], etc., is wanting in A. C. [P.], etc. Omitted by Tischendorf and Düsterdieck [also by Lachmann and Alford]. Analysis [and analogy] seems to be in favor of its retention.
[4]Rev_2:2. Instead of the Rec. ἐπειράσω (see Delitzsch, p. 24), according to the best Codd. [א. A. C. P. B*.] ἐπείρασας.
[5]Rev_2:2. Read λέγοντας ἑαυτοὺς ἀποστόλους [with א. A. B.*C. P.; instead of the Rec. φάσκοντας εἶναι ἀποστόλους.—E.R.C.]
[6]Rev_2:3. Otherwise the Rec. See Düsterdieck. [The Rec. reads, Καὶ ἐβάστασας καὶ ὑπομονὴν ἔχεις, καὶ δια τὸ ὄνομά μου κεκοπίακας καὶ οὐ κέκμηκας. Alford gives a number of readings, and well remarks, “There is a seeming inconsistency in οἶδα τὸν κόπον σου. … καὶ οὐ κεκοπίακας, which caused those who were not aware of St. John’s use of the last word (Joh_4:6), to alter the sentence as in var. readd.”—E. R. C.]
[7]Rev_2:5. The reading πέπτωκας [with A. B*. C., Lach., Treg., and Alf., instead of Rec. ἐκπέπτωκας with P. Tisch. gives πέπτωκες with א.—E. R. C.]
[8]Rev_2:5. Ταχύ not firmly established. See Delitzsch, p. 24 [supported by B*; om. by א. A. C. P., etc.—E. R. C.].
[9]Rev_2:7. The ἑπτά in Lachmann not tenable; [supported by A. C.; om. by א B*. P., Alford.—E. R. C.]
[10]Rev_2:7. Not: in the midst of the Paradise. [Rec. gives ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τοῦ παραδείσου; א. 3a. P. ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τῷ παραδείσῷ. א. A. B*. C, with Lachmann and Alford, give τῷ παραδείσῳ.—E. R. C.]
[11]Rev_2:7. The μου after θεοῦ has A. C. א. [P.,] against it, but all versions, Church fathers and theological considerations in its favor: [B*. Vulg. etc., give it; Lach., Treg., and Tisch, omit; Alford brackets.—E. R. C.]
[12]Brandt: 2. “The churches of the beginning, martyr churches.” [Smyrna and Pergamus.]
[13]Rev_2:9. A. C., etc., omit τὰ ἔργα καὶ [also P., Lach., Treg., Tisch., and Alford; א. and B*. give it.—E. R. C.]
[14]Rev_2:9. [Rec. omits ἐκ with P.; it is given by א. A. C. B*., Lachmann, and Alford.—E. R. C.]
[15]Rev_2:10. The other reading μή is strongly attested by A. B. C., Lachmann [and Alford]. μηδέν in Tischendorf is supported by versions, fathers, and minuscules. The subsequent text is in favor of it. [μηδέν appears in א. and P.—E. R. C.]
[16]Rev_2:10. δἡ is omitted [by א. A. C. P., Lachmann; it is given by B*; Alford brackets it.—E. R. C.]
[17]Rev_2:13. [Rec. gives τὰ ἔργα σου καὶ with B*.; omitted by א. A. C. P., Vulg., Æth., etc., Lachmann and Alford.—E. R. C.]
[18]Rev_2:13. Of this passage there are three readings: viz. ἐν αἶς [Rec. א. P.] αἶς [B*., Alford brackets]—and both omitted [A. C., Lachmann]. The omission may be due to the fact of the seeming inconsistency with the foregoing hast not denied, etc. [Treg., and Tisch. (8th ed.) omit.—E. R. C.]
[19]Rev_2:13. [A. and C. give a second μου after πιστός, also Lachmann. Alford brackets, which would give as the translation—my martyr, my faithful one. Treg., and Tisch. give the μου.—E. R. C.]
[20]Rev_2:14. The ὅτι before ἔχεις seems to be sufficiently corroborated by A. B*. and many others.
[21]Rev_2:14. Τῷ. Unimportant variations.
[22]Rev_2:15. Instead of ὅ μισῶ read: ὁμοίως [with א. A. B*. C., Vulg., Lachmann, Alford, Treg., and Tisch.—E. R. C.]
[23]Rev_2:16. The οὖν which is wanting in the Rec. has strong authorities in its favor. [א. P., Vulg. omit; it is given by A. B*. C., Lach., Treg., and Alf. Tisch. (8th ed.) omits.—E. R. C.]
[24]Rev_2:17. [This σὐτῷ omitted by א.—E. R. C.]
[25]Rev_2:17. Φαγεῖν is a late addition. [P. gives it; it is omitted by א. A. B*. C., Vulg., etc.—E. R. C.]
[26]Brandt: 3. “The intermediate churches,” externally unimpeacbable, but in wardly fallen. a. Lapsed into idolatry; b. lapsed into spiritual death. (Both too strong). [Thyatira and Sardis.]
[27]Rev_2:18. Αὐτοῦ rests upon B. C. [P.], etc. It is omitted by Lachmann and Düsterdieck.
[28]Rev_2:19. Καὶ is omitted according to A. B. C., etc. [Lange is here mistaken; the καὶ omitted by the authorities cited, and also by א. B*. P., Lachmann, Düsterdieck, Alford, is the one before τὰ ἔσχατα—which requires the translation given in the text.—E. R. C.]
[29]Rev_2:20. The addition ὀλίγα is omitted. See Delitzsch, Funde, p. 22, No. 20. [א. gives πολύ; both are om. by A. B.* C. P., etc., and Crit. Eds. generally.—E. R. C.]
[30]Rev_2:20. Γυναῖκα without σου or σου τὴν, in accordance with C. א. Vulg. [σου is given by A. B*. Lachmann; Alford brackets.—E. R. C.] Thy wife is probably a conjecture founded upon the supposition that the angel was the bishop.
[31]Rev_2:20. Καὶ διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ. A. C. א. See Delitzsch, No. 20, [also B*. P. and critical editors generally.—E. R. C.]
[32]Rev_2:21. Καὶ οὐ θέλει μετανοῆσαι. [The reading of which the above is the translation is supported by א. A. B*. C. P., Lachmann, Alford, Treg., and Tisch.—E. R. C.]
[33]Rev_2:22. [A. C. Lach., Alford, Treg., and Tisch. give βάλλω; א.3a P., Vulg. βάλω.—E. R. C.]
[34]Rev_2:22. Cod. A. φυλακήν—a gloss
[35]Rev_2:24. Οἵτινες without καὶ. [Rec. gives καὶ with Vulg.; it is om. by א. A. B*. C. P., etc.—E. R. C.]
[36]Rev_2:24. [Rec. with א. B. Vulg. gives βάλω; A. C. P., Lach., Treg., Tisch., and Alf. give βάλλω. The former reading is probably correct. An alternative translation is given.—E. R. C.]
[37]Rev_2:25. [א. A. C. P., with Lach., Treg., Tisch., and Alf. give ἂν ἥξω); B*. reads ἀνίοξω.—E. R. C.]
[38]Rev_2:27. Συντρίβεται instead of the Future [with א. A. C.; B*. P. give συντριβήσεται.—E. R. C.]
[39]Rev_3:1. The article τό before ὄνομα is omitted.
[40]Rev_2:2. Instead of μέλλει, read ἔμελλον, according to A. C. etc. [א. P., Treg., Tisch., and Alf.—E. R. C.]
[41]Rev_2:2. [A. C. and Lachmann give ἔργα, without the article; א. B*. P. give τὰ; Alford brackets.—E. R. C.]
[42]Ver: 2. Μου is omitted by some manuscripts here as well as in Rev_2:7, but has still stronger authorities in its favor here than in the other passage. [The great authorities all support it; א. A. B*. C. P., Vulg.—E. R. C.]
[43]Rev_2:3. [א. omits οὖν; Alford brackets; Treg., and Tisch. give it.—E. R. C.]
[44]Rev_2:3. Καὶ ἤκουσας καὶ τήρει is groundlessly objected to by Matth.
[45]Rev_2:3. Επὶ σέ an addition of the Rec. [א. B*., Vulg. (Clem. and Am.) give it; A. C. P. omit with Lachmann and Alford. Treg., and Tisch. retain. The weight of ancient authority, as it seems to me, is in favor of retaining.—E. R. C.]
[46]Rev_2:4. [א. A. B*. C. P. give ἀλλά.—E. R. C.]
[47]Rev_2:5. Instead of οὖτος, read οὕτως, in accordance with A. C. etc. [also א.1 Lach., Treg., and Tisch.; א.3a B.* P. and Alf. read οὗτος—E. R. C.]
[48]Brandt superscribes Nos. 6 and Revelation 7 : The churches of the end; a. the beloved; b. the condemnable. Almost right!
[49]Rev_2:7. [Rec. gives κλείει with Vulg.; Crit. Eds., with א. A. B*. C. P., give κλείσει.—E. R. C.]
[50]Rev_2:7. [Ἀνοίξει, supported by א B*. Alford, Treg., and Tisch.; ἀνοίγει, by A. C. P., La h.–E. R. C.]
[51]Rev_2:9. A. C. א., ἥξουσι καὶ προσκυνήσουσι.
[52]Rev_2:11. [Ἰδού is omitted by Crit. Eds., with א. A. B*. C. P., etc.—E. R. C.]
[53]Rev_2:12. Καταβαίνουσα., A. C., etc.
[54]Rev_2:14. [Crit. Eds., with א. A. C. P., give ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ.—E. R. C.]
[55]Rev_2:17. [Lach., Treg., Tisch., with A. C., Vulg., give a second ὅτι after λέγεις; א. B*. P. omit; Alf. brackets.—E. R. C.]
[56]Rev_2:17. The article before ἐλεεινός is not established. [It is given by Lachmann with A. B*.; omitted by א. C. P.; Alford brackets; Treg., and Tisch. omit.—E. R. C.]
[57]Rev_2:19. Ζήλευε in accordance with A. C., etc. [So Crit. Eds. generally.—E. R. C.]
[58]Rev_2:20. B*. and א. read καὶ before εἰσελεύσομαι, against A. [P.], Lach. [Tisch. gives it; Treg. omits; Alf. brackets.—E. R. C.]
[59]See Lange’s Apostol. Zeitalter, II. 470.
[60]Also Lange’s Apostol. Zeitalter.
[61]See Lange’s Apostol. Zeitalter, II. 525. [Also, Schaff’s Hist. of the Apost. Church, p. 671, sq.—Alford in loc.—E. R. C.]
[62][The sole reason that can be drawn from the epistles for distinguishing them from “the Jews” is that they are separately mentioned—when, had they been the same, or allied, we should expect the fact to be declared. A similar and still stronger reason exists for distinguishing them from the Balaamites, arising from the fact that they are separately mentioned in the same epistle, and that without a word that could lead us to suppose that they were not distinct sects. No conceivable reason arises from the Scripture for connecting them with the followers of Jezebel. Those, indeed, who hold that the Nicolaitans were allied to the Balaamites, must also hold that they were allied to the school of Jezebel, since It is manifest that the last two were similar, comp. Rev_2:14 with 20.—E. R. C.]
[63][The translation given in the text—thy calumny from those, etc.—is more nearly in accordance with the Greek than the E. V.—E. R. C.]
[64][May it not be that our Lord used the term “Jews” in its highest sense, as indicating the true Israel (see note on p. 27.)? This explanation gives obvious and special force to the entire expression, “who profess themselves to be Jews, but they are not, but a synagogue of Satan.”—E. R. C.]
[65][The term in Eph_6:17 is, not as here, ῥομφαία, but μάχαιρα; and surely that single passage (neither term occurs in Joh_16:8) affords too narrow a basis upon which to build any hypothesis as to the general use of even the latter word—most certainly nothing can be gathered from it as to the symbolic force of ῥομφαία. The most natural interpretation of ῥομφαία (comp. Rev_2:16; Rev_1:16; Rev_6:8; Rev_19:15; Rev_19:21) is that it is symbolic of the destroying power of Christ’s word—it implies external penal judgment; (see also Isa_11:4; 2Th_2:8). A comparison of the declaration of the following verse, “where Satan’s throne is,” with 2Th_2:8 where it is declared that “the Lord shall consume with the Spirit (i. e., sword) of His mouth. … him, whose coming is after the working of Satan,” may shed light upon the use of this designation in this connection.—E. R. C.]
[66][The Am. Ed. would suggest that, by the expression My name in this place, and in Rev_3:8, is meant Christ Himself in all His offices. Two meanings of the term ὄνομα seem to prevail in the New Testament. 1. The verbal expression (title) which designates any person or thing, as in Mat_1:21; Mat_10:2 etc. 2. The personality itself, as in Mat_12:21 : Joh_1:12; Joh_2:23; Act_3:16 (bis.), Act_4:12; Rom_10:13, etc. To this class belongs the term when it occurs in such phrases as (1) for My name’s sake (Mat_10:22, etc.) i. e., for My sake; (2) in My (or Thy) name (Mat_24:5; Joh_17:12, etc., as the representative of My (or Thy) personality. A third sense is probably found, Rev_3:1. where it seems to indicate reputation; this sense, however, may be resolved into the first. The meaning assigned by Lange is unsupported by argument and is altogether unprecedented. The meaning suggested above is in accordance with a prevalent use of the term, and is consistent with the context.—E. R. C.]
[67][“As the shorter text runs (omitting αἷς), and probably also if we read the ταῖς of the Cod. Sin., Ἀντίπας is regarded as indeclinable, which circumstance has apparently led to all the perplexing varieties, of reading.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
[68]Why not: offering resistance—the whole man?
[69][“Certainly it is not expressly asserted in Num_31:16, that it was Balak whom Balaam advised to use this agency against Israel; but the narrative almost implies it. Balak was in power, and was the most likely person to authorize and put in force the scheme.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
[70][See note on Rev_2:12. The interpretation of Lange, in this and the preceding paragraph, requires us both to regard that which was manifestly spoken of as a threat against the persistently unrepentant, as a promise of highest blessing; and to take πολεμεῖν in the altogether unnatural and unprecedented sense of indicating the convincing influence of the Spirit. Comp. comment on Rev_2:12.—E. R. C.]
[71][The sins of Jezebel and her followers can hardly be styled “fanaticism;” they were lapses into idolatry and impurity (see note on Rev_2:20). The eyes of flame are not only indicative of spirit-searching power (Rev_2:23) but also of the wrath of the Son of God, the Husband of the Church, flaming against those guilty of spiritual, as well as physical, adultery.—E. R. C.].
[72][It is true that “the seduction to fornication occupies the foremost place,” but it is intimately conjoined with the eating of things sacrificed to idols. This conjunction, together with the distinct reference to the Old Testament Jezebel, implies that the fornication itself was connected with idolatry. Now, whilst it is conceivable that Christian fanaticism (i. e., fanaticism starting from Christianity) may have assumed the form of an improper intercourse of (he sexes, it is utterly inconceivable that it could have assumed that of idolatry. Far better is it to regard Jezebel as a heathen at heart, and those seduced by her, as errorists led astray by her heathen teaching, than as fanatics. She may indeed have been a heathen, but not a Christian, fanatic.—E. R. C.]
[73][The Church excommunicates; the woe here threatened is one that Christ Himself threatens and inflicts. Excision from the visible Church is not necessarily implied, but rather that spiritual corruption and death which follow a withdrawal of the influences of the Spirit.—E. R. C.]
[74][The view thus characterized is supported by a comparison of the sins of the Jezebelites with Act_15:28-29. In that passage abstinence from these very sins is enjoined, viz.: ἀπέχεσθαι εἰδωλοθύτων … καί πορνείας, and is characterized as a βάρος in almost the same language here employed. In support of the view advocated by Lange, it must be admitted, are the words of our Lord, Rev_2:20, “thou sufferest that woman,” etc., implying the duty of casting her out of the church. The reason assigned for this interpretation in the following paragraph is futile: The “iron sceptre” was not promised to the Church Militant, as an organism, but to individuals; and not to individuals in the present state of conflict, but to those who, at “the end,” should appear as conquerors (Rev_2:25-27).—E. R. C.]
[75][That Christianity possesses a power over the heathen world is not denied; the power, however, is not that of “the iron sceptre” (Rev_2:2)—the power of government. The adjournment of these promises to the day of the Parousia is in accordance with the express language of Christ Himself. See the preceding note, and the Excursus on the Basileia, ii.; (comp. Luk_19:17).—E. R. C.]
SPECIAL DOCTRINO-ETHICAL AND HOMILETICAL NOTES (ADDENDUM)
Section Third
Earth-picture of the Seven Churches. The Seven Epistles (Chs. 2, 3)
General.—The seven Churches as real portraits and at the same time as typical pictures of the whole Church, as regards (1) local extension and (2) chronological development.—The seven Churches as the centre of the seven loosed Seals or unveiled worldly history; as the occasion for the seven penitential Trumpets for the world in the Church and the Church in the world; as the organ of the seven Thunders of awakening and reformation; as the object of the enmity of the kingdom of darkness in the seven Heads of Antichrist; purified and saved by the hardening judgments of the seven Vials of Anger which are poured out upon the Antichristian world, in order to the mediating of Christ’s appearing and His union with the Bride, in that one Spirit in Whom the Seven Spirits are united.—The seven Epistles as the all-sided sum of all messages of the heavenly Head-Shepherd to the shepherds and congregations of the Church; as the all-sided ensample of pastoral ministry on the part of the shepherds; and, at the same time, as prophetic alarm voices from the Spirit of the Church to the flocks themselves.—The Johannean Theology.—The Johannean Church.—Its historic continuance within Church History.—Its abiding fundamental features.—Its future.
The seven Churches as the seven candlesticks of the earth:—As portraits of the manifold configurations of Christianity.—Parallels and antitheses: Ephesus and Smyrna. Smyrna and Pergamus. Pergamus and Thyatira (Balaam and Jezebel). Thyatira and Sardis. Philadelphia and Laodicea.—Lights and Shadows: 1. The Metropolis: Growing churchliness, decreasing Christliness. Increased external works at the expense of inwardness—the first love. 2. Smyrna, the Martyr-Church, in conflict with a Judaizing, orthodoxistic tendency. 3. Pergamus, the confessing Church, lax in the exercise of church discipline towards antinomianism. 4. Thyatira, the enthusiastic Church, spotted with immoral fanaticism. 5. Sardis, the Church with a show of churchly life, but spiritually dead. 6. Philadelphia, small and pure—hence also a mission Church. 7. Laodicea, the lukewarm.—How the Lord’s threats and promises to the seven Churches have been fulfilled. Historic life-pictures.—The manifold forms of Christ in relation to the seven Churches. All agreeing with individual traits of His total appearance (Revelation 1.).
Special.—To avoid repetition, we here simply refer to the exegetical department.
1. Ephesus. The Mother-Church externally and legally faithful, hut gathering inward and spiritual darkness
How Christ presents Himself to this Church, the metropolis, in accordance with its need (Rev_2:1). Commendation of the Church: its many virtues (Rev_2:2-3). In contrast to these, the one great, threatening want (Rev_2:4). Corresponding admonition, warning, threat (Rev_2:5). A hopeful sign, limiting the censure of Christ. In the Church’s hatred of Nicolaitanism there remains a trace of the first love (Rev_2:6). Alarm cry and ethically conditioned promise, in harmony with the Church’s stand-point. Ephesus the metropolis, and metropolises in Church History (Jerusalem, Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, etc.).
2. Smyrna. The Martyr-Church persecuted by Judaism
Picture of Christ, in conformity to the needs of this Church (Rev_2:8). Praise of the Church (Rev_2:9). Its tribulation in the present and in the future, and the Lord’s word of encouragement (Rev_2:9-10). The great promise (Rev_2:10). The alarm cry and the glorious goal, in harmony with the conflict of the Church (Rev_2:11). Smyrna and other martyr-churches in conflict with the various forms of Judaism and orthodoxism (with the false and the great ban). The synagogue of Satan.
3. Pergamus. The Martyr-Church persecuted by Heathenism
Proclamation: Christ as the possessor of the two-edged sword (Rev_2:12). Praise of martyr faithfulness in external conflict (Rev_2:13). Censure of false endurance when there was a call to spiritual conflict (Rev_2:14-15). Admonition to repentance and threat of the judicial interference of Christ (Rev_2:16). Peculiar promise, referring to the relations of the inner, spiritual life (Rev_2:17). Pergamus, or the libertine Church, defective in the observance of church-discipline towards Nicolaitans and Balaamites. Balaam, the type of the false prophet or apostasy. The first Old Testament Judas (followed by Ahithophel and others), a prelude of the last Judas, the false prophet (Revelation 13).
4. Thyatira. The excited Church stained with antinomistic spiritual fanaticism
Announcement of the Searcher of hearts and reins in His holy motion (Rev_2:18). Commendation of the Church’s zeal (Rev_2:19). Censure of its toleration of Jezebel and the antinomistic extravagances of which she is the instigator (Rev_2:20-21). Terribly earnest threat of punishment, in perfect harmony with the sin committed (Rev_2:22-23). Limitation of the threat by a promise to spare the guiltless (Rev_2:23-25). Promise of the spirit of holy discipline and of true progress in antithesis to a false advance—in harmony with the situation of the Church (Rev_2:26-28). The alarm cry comes at the end, instead of preceding the promise, as heretofore. The same change of position between the conditional promise and the alarm cry obtains in the following Epistles. The architectonic distinction hence arising between the first three and the last four Churches may at the same time be suggestive of the antithesis of their geographical position. Smyrna and Pergamus lie to the north of Ephesus; Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, to the south of Pergamus.—Phases of Jezebel in Church History, or the manifold re-appearance of fanatical and immoral sects and schools. Corrupting women in ancient and modern Church History, contrasted with the line of pious women.
5. Sardis. The Church for the most part spiritually dead
Christ addresses Himself to this Church—in which there is a lack of the Spirit—in His whole general sovereignty over the entire Church and in the fullness of His Spirit. He begins by bringing against it the heavy charge of deadness—doubly a crime, since it has the name of living (Rev_3:1). Alarm cry, in reference to the still extant remnants of life (Rev_3:2-3). Recognition of the few innocent ones, conjoined with a promise corresponding to the fact that they have not defiled their garments (Rev_3:4-5). Alarm cry (Rev_3:6).—Sad instances of dead or dying congregations, and even whole Churches.
6. Philadelphia. The pearl among the Churches
Christ in the solemn aspect of the Administrator of the keys of David, i. e. true communion (Rev_3:7). Great recognition of the Church’s faithfulness, and great promise—both in lively alternation (Rev_3:8-10). Encouragement and extraordinary final promise (Rev_3:11-12). Alarm cry (Rev_3:13).—Characteristic of living Christian Churches and communities: An open door. Open outwardly for missions; open inwardly for communion.
7. Laodicea. The lukewarm Church—nigh unto reprobation
The view which we take of Laodicea—viz., that it has fallen into lukewarmness in consequence of its spiritualistic [spiritualistisch] tendency—is supported by the characteristic announcement of Christ. He appears here entirely as the historic Christ, and characterizes Himself in this very peculiarity as identical with the ideal primal principle of the creation (Rev_3:14). The censure of the Church’s lukewarmness is immediately conjoined with the threat of the judgment of reprobation (Rev_3:15-16). The Lord then discovers the source of the lukewarmness of the Church to be, pride in its supposed spiritual riches, whilst it is, in reality, in a state of inexpressible spiritual necessity (Rev_3:16-17). With this condition, correspond Christ’s searching counsel (Rev_3:18), the expression of His love and compassion in the censure which He administers (Rev_3:19), and His peculiar admonition to repentance (Rev_3:20). The ethically conditioned promise is of as concrete a character as the self-presentation of Christ at the beginning, in perfect accordance with the needs of a church dissolved in spiritualism ([Spiritualismus], Rev_3:20-21). The closing paragraph concludes both the seventh Epistle and all the foregoing Epistles (Rev_3:22).—Spiritualistic [spiritualistisch] back-ground of the lukewarm Church. An idealistic dream-life as unbelief in the historic power of ideas, or, rather, in the Incarnation of the Word.
Upon glancing over the entire group, we behold in most of the Churches a juxtaposition of light and shade—yet in very different proportions; only Laodicea incurs blame alone, and only Philadelphia is entirely free from censure. This contrast is explained by the spiritual pride of the one, and the humility and modesty of the other. Christ is different and yet the same in His posture toward each individual Church.—The celestially perfect Shepherd of the flock and Physician of the soul.
The wealth of homiletical works upon the Seven Epistles is so immense, and the works in question are so accessible, that, instead of attempting to augment this treasure, we shall refer to what is already extant. Even in more ancient times the Seven Epistles have afforded inducement to manifold dissertations on them, as is evident, e. g., from the list of productions relative to them in Lilienthal’s Biblischer Archivarius, pp. 811–819. We have cited on p. 74 of the Introduction the special works of Meister, Wichelhaus, Heubner, Zorn, Van Oosterzee. We have still to mention, among others, Lisko, Christenspiegel, Betrachtungen über die sieben Sendschreiben der Offenb. Joh., Berlin, 1837.—To the above may be added the numerous homiletical or generally edifying works upon the whole Apocalypse (see the Int.), especially those of Bengel, Hahn, Schulthess, Roos, Wächtler, et al. The Sermons of Wichelhaus made considerable impression in their time; Wächtler’s Sermons are energized by study, spirit and fervor; the Sermons of Van Oosterzee are especially distinguished by a plenitude of spirit and a grand play of oratory.
Starke: The title of Christ at the opening of every letter is taken from the vision and description of Christ in Rev_1:11-18; it is, however, not always the same, but varies, on the contrary, in each epistle, corresponding in purpose and appearance with the contents of the epistle and the state of the Church addressed. The promise which in every epistle is given to the conqueror is adapted to the condition of each Church and to the evil that must be overcome.—The first love. The expression is drawn from the first love of married persons, which is wont to be pure and fervid, Jer_2:2. (This first love is, therefore, the pure bridal phase of religious consciousness—i. e. its receptivity, purity [in the sense of being without admixture of foreign or contaminating elements], freedom, warmth and devotion; in one word, genuine earnestness and depth [wahrhaftige Innigkeit und Innerlichkeit]).—As common traits of the Old Testament Balaam and the New Testament Nicolaitans may be mentioned: 1. Boasting; 2. Covetousness; 3. Seduction to apostasy; 4. Bringing under judgment.—Warm or cold. Warmth is positively wished for; coldness is desired only inasmuch as it is accompanied by less danger and responsibility than lukewarmness.—(Starke allegorizes the names of all the seven Churches—a procedure to which the name of Philadelphia might offer special inducements.)
Lavater: Jesus Messias, oder die Zukunft des Herrn nach der Offenb. Joh. (a poetical work). Smyrna: Und der Herrliche rief mir: Schreibe dem Engel in Smyrna: Also der Erste, der Letzte, der todt war und ewiglich lebet: Ich weiss deine Werke, etc. [And the Glorious One cried unto me: Write to the angel in Smyrna: Thus (saith) the First and Last, Who was dead and eternally liveth. I know thy works, etc.]
The Kreuzritter ([Knight of the Cross] Von Meyer, Schlüssel zur Offenb. St. Joh.; see p. 73). “Be faithful unto death and I will give thee the crown of life.” Wreath or crown, it is all the same—except that the crowns of victors were wont to be made of living foliage. The Lord over death and life here demands of His followers such faithfulness and steadfastness as shall go with them even to a violent death. He Himself has won the wreath of victory and the highest crown of eternal life, and His first martyr, Stephen (i. e. wreath, crown), in the name that he bears, exhibits, as it were, to all martyrs their heavenly reward.
Van Oosterzee: Let us, then, contemplate the Revelation of the glorified Christ on Patmos: as, for John, never to be forgotten—full of significance for all the centuries of the time following it—rich in instruction for each one of us.—Christ stands before you as the Image of the invisible God, the priestly King of the Kingdom of God, the faithful Friend of His servants, the Lord and Judge of the future.—Smyrna: Poor Smyrna enriched; calumniated Smyrna honored; threatened Smyrna ensured; militant Smyrna faithful; triumphant Smyrna crowned.
Literature: Trench, Comm. on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia, 1867 [New York, 1872].
[From M. Henry: Rev_2:1. He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand. The ministers of Christ are under His special care and protection.—He walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Christ is in an intimate manner present and conversant with His churches, and knows the state of each one of them.
Rev_2:2. I know thy works and thy labor. Those that are stars in Christ’s hand had need to be always in motion, dispensing light to all about them.—Thy patience. It is not enough that we be diligent, but we must be patient, and endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ.—Thou canst not bear them that are evil. It consists very well with Christian patience, not to dispense with sin, much less allow it.
Rev_2:4. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee. Those that have much good in them, may have something much amiss in them; and our Lord Jesus, as an impartial Master and Judge, takes notice of both.—Thou hast left thy first love. Observe, (1) The first affections of men toward Christ, and holiness, and heaven, are usually lively and warm. (2) These lively affections will abate and cool, if great care be not taken, and diligence used, to preserve them in constant exercise. (3) Christ is grieved and displeased with His people when He sees them grow remiss and cold toward Him, and He will one way or other make them sensible that He does not take it well from them.
Rev_2:5. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works. Observe, 1. Those that have lost their first love must remember from whence they are fallen; they must compare their present with their former state, and consider how much better it was with them then than now. 2. They must repent; they must be inwardly grieved and ashamed for their sinful declining, and humbly confess it in the sight of God. 3. They must return and do their first works; they must, as it were, begin again, go back step by step, till they come to the place where they took the first false step; they must endeavor to revive and recover their first zeal, tenderness, and seriousness, and must pray as earnestly, and watch as diligently, as they did when they first set out in the ways of God.—Or else I will come unto thee quickly, etc. If the presence of Christ’s grace and Spirit be slighted, we may expect the presence of His displeasure.
Rev_2:7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Observe, 1. What is written in the Scriptures is spoken by the Spirit of God. 2. What is said to one church, concerns all the churches, in every place and age. 3. We can never employ our faculty of hearing better than in hearkening to the word of God.—To him that conquereth. The Christian life is a warfare against sin, Satan, the world, and the flesh. It is not enough that we engage in this warfare, but we must pursue it to the end; we must fight the good fight till we gain the victory; and the warfare and victory shall have a glorious triumph and reward.—To eat of the tree of life, etc. They shall have that perfection of holiness, and that confirmation therein, that Adam would have had. If he had gone well through the course of his trial, then he would have eaten of the tree of life which was in the midst of paradise, and that would have been the sacrament of confirmation to him in his holy and happy state. So all who persevere in their Christian trial and warfare, shall derive from Christ, as the Tree of Life, perfection and confirmation in holiness and happiness in the paradise of God; not in the earthly paradise, but the heavenly (Rev_22:1-2).
Rev_2:8. Christ was dead, and by dying purchased salvation for us; He is alive, and by His life applies this salvation to us.
Rev_2:9. I know thy tribulation. They who will be faithful to Christ, must expect to go through many tribulations; but Jesus Christ takes particular notice of all their troubles.—Thy poverty (but thou art rich). Poor in temporals, but rich in spirituals: poor in spirit, and yet rich in grace; their spiritual riches are set off by their outward poverty. Many who are rich in temporals, are poor in spirituals. Some who are poor outwardly are inwardly rich. Spiritual riches are usually the reward of great diligence; the diligent hand makes rich.—I know the blasphemy. He knows the wickedness and falsehood of the enemies of His people.
Rev_2:10. He foreknows the future trials of His people, forewarns them of them, and forearms against them. Forearms them, 1. By His counsel. 2. By showing them how their sufferings would be alleviated and limited: (1) They should not be universal; (2) They should not be perpetual; (3) It should be to try them, not to destroy them. 3. By promising a glorious reward to their fidelity. Observe, 1. The sureness of this reward: I will give thee. 2. The suitableness of it: (1) A crown, to reward their poverty, fidelity and conflict. (2) A crown of life, to reward those who are faithful even unto death, are faithful till they die, and who part with life itself, in fidelity to Christ.
Rev_2:11. He that overcometh, shall not be hurt of the second death. Observe, 1. There is not only a first, but a second death; a death after the body is dead. 2. This second death is unspeakably worse than the first death, both in agony and in duration—it is eternal death, to die, and to be always dying. 3. From this hurtful, this destructive death, Christ will save all His faithful servants.
Rev_2:13. I know where thou dwellest, etc. Christ takes notice of the trials and difficulties His people encounter.
Rev_2:14. Observe, 1. Corrupt doctrines and a corrupt worship often lead to corrupt conversation. 2. To continue in communion with persons of corrupt principles and practices is displeasing to God, and causes those who thus do to become partakers of other men’s sins. Though the Church, as such, has no power to punish the persons of men, either for heresy or immorality, with corporal penalties, yet it has power to exclude them from its holy communion; and if it do not so, Christ will be displeased with it.
Rev_2:19. It should be the ambition and earnest desire of all Christians that their last works may be their best works.
Rev_2:21. Observe, 1. Repentance is necessary to prevent the sinner’s ruin. 2. Repentance requires time. 3. Where God gives space for repentance, He expects fruits meet for repentance. 4. Where the space for repentance is lost, the sinner perishes with a double destruction.
Rev_2:23. All the churches shall know, etc. God is known by the judgments that He executeth. Note here, 1. His infallible knowledge of the hearts of men. 2. His impartial justice.
Rev_2:28. Christ is the Morning Star: He brings day with Him into the soul; the light of grace and of glory.
Rev_3:3. I will come unto thee as a thief, etc. Observe, 1. When Christ leaves a people as to His gracious presence, He comes to them in judgment; and His judicial presence will be very dreadful to those who have sinned away His gracious presence. 2. His judicial presence to a dead declining people will be surprising; their deadness will keep them in security, and, as it procures an angry visit from Christ to them, it will prevent their discerning it and preparing for it. 3. Such a visit from Christ will be to their loss; He will come as a thief, to strip them of their remaining enjoyments and mercies, not by fraud, but in justice and righteousness, taking the forfeiture they have made of all to Him.
Rev_3:4. God takes notice of the smallest number of those who abide with Him; and the fewer they are, the more precious in His sight.—They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. In the stole, the white robes of justification, and adoption, and comfort; or in the white robes of honor and glory, in the other world. This is an honor proper and suitable to their integrity and fidelity, and no way unbecoming Christ to confer upon them, though it is not a legal, but a gospel worthiness that is ascribed to them; not merit, but meetness.
Rev_3:5. He that overcometh shall be clothed in white raiment. The purity of grace [Rev_3:4] shall be rewarded with the perfect purity of glory.—I will not blot his name, etc. Observe, 1. Christ has His book of life, a register and roll of all who shall inherit eternal life: (1) the book of eternal election; (2) the book of remembrance of all who have lived to God. 2. Christ will not blot the names of His chosen and faithful ones out of this book of life. 3. Christ will produce this book of life, and confess the names of the faithful who stand there, before God, and all the angels; this He will do as their Judge, and as their Captain and Head.
Rev_3:7. He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David. Note here Christ’s personal, and His political character.—Observe the acts of His government: 1. He opens—a door of opportunity to His churches, a door of utterance to his ministers, a door of entrance, the heart, a door of admission into the visible Church, laying down the terms of communion, and the door of admission into the Church triumphant, according to the terms of salvation fixed by Him. 2. He shuts the door; when He pleases, He shuts the door of opportunity, and the door of utterance, and leaves obstinate sinners shut up in the hardness of their hearts; He shuts the door of church-fellowship against unbelievers and profane persons, and He shuts the door of heaven against the foolish virgins who have slept away their day of grace, and against the workers of iniquity, how vain and confident soever they may be.
Rev_3:10. Observe, 1. The gospel of Christ is the word of His patience; it is the fruit of the patience of God to a sinful world, it sets before men the exemplary patience of Christ in all His sufferings for men, it calls those who receive it to the exercise of patience in conformity to Christ. 2. This gospel should be carefully kept by all who enjoy it. 3. After a day of patience we must expect an hour of temptation; a day of gospel-peace and liberty is a day of God’s patience, and it is seldom so well improved as it should be, and therefore is often followed by a day of trial and temptation. 4. Sometimes the trial is more general and universal; it comes upon all the world. 5. They who keep the gospel in a time of peace shall be kept by Christ in an hour of temptation.
Rev_3:15. Lukewarmness or indifference in religion is the worst temper in the world. If religion be a real thing, it is the most excellent thing, and therefore we should be in good earnest in it; if it be not a real thing, it is the vilest imposture, and we should be earnest against it.—I will spew thee out of my mouth. As lukewarm water turns the stomach and provokes to a vomit, lukewarm professors turn the heart of Christ against them. … They shall be rejected, and finally rejected; far be it from the holy Jesus to return to that which has been thus rejected.
Rev_3:17. Here observe what a difference there was between the thoughts that the Laodiceans had of themselves and the thoughts that Christ had of them.
Rev_3:19. Sinners ought to take the rebukes of God’s word and rod as tokens of His good-will to their souls, and should accordingly repent in good earnest, and turn to Him that smites them.
Rev_3:20. Observe, 1. Christ is graciously pleased by His Word and Spirit to come to the door of the heart of sinners. 2. He finds this door shut against Him. 3. When He finds the door shut, He does not immediately withdraw, but He waits to be gracious, even till His head be filled with the dew. 4. He uses all proper means to awaken sinners, and to cause them to open to Him; He calls by His word, and He knocks by the impulses of His Spirit upon their conscience. 5. They who open to Him shall enjoy His presence, to their great comfort and advantage; He will sup with them, He will accept of what is good in them, He will eat His pleasant fruit, and He will bring the best part of the entertainment with Him; He will give fresh supplies of graces and comforts, and thereby stir up fresh actings of faith, and love, and delight.
Rev_3:21. It is here implied that notwithstanding the lukewarm and self-confident character of this Church, it was possible that by the reproofs and counsels of Christ they might be inspired with fresh zeal and vigor, and come off conquerors in their spiritual warfare. 2. That if they did so, all former faults should be forgiven, and they should have a great reward.—Those who are conformed to Christ in His trials and victories, shall be conformed to Him in His glory.
From The Comprehensive Commentary: By a frequent Scripture metaphor a person, living in the defilements of this world, and neglectful of preparation for another, is said to be “dead while he liveth,” while he who meets death in the discharge of his Christian duty, is pronounced “living though he die,” Joh_11:25-26; 1Ti_5:6; 1Jn_3:14 : Judges 12. (Woodhouse.)
Barnes: Rev_2:10. Ye shall have tribulation ten days. Affliction in this life, however severe, can be but brief; and in the hope that it will soon end why should we not bear it without murmuring or repining? … Be thou faithful unto death, etc. It is true of every one who is a Christian, in whatever manner he is to die, that if he is faithful unto death, a crown of life awaits him.—Rev_3:3. It is always well for Christians to call to remembrance the “day of their espousals,” and their views and feelings when they gave their hearts to the Saviour, and to compare those views with their present condition, especially if their conversion was marked by any thing unusual.—Thou shall not know what hour I will come upon thee. Every man who is warned of the evil of his course, and who refuses or neglects to repent, has reason to believe that God will come suddenly in His wrath and call him to His bar. Pro_29:1.
Rev_3:15. I would thou wert hot or cold. Any thing better than this condition, where love is professed, but where it does not exist; where vows have been assumed which are not fulfilled.
Rev_3:20. If any one hear My voice. Any one, of any age, and in any land, would be authorized to apply this to himself, and, under the protection of this invitation, to come to the Saviour, and to plead this promise as one that fairly included himself.—Chaps. 2, 3. Though the churches to which these epistles were addressed have long since passed away, yet the principles laid down in them still live, and they are full of admonition to Christians in all ages and all lands.—From Trench: Rev_2:2 : I know thy works. These are words of comfort and, strength for all who, amid infinite weakness, are yet able to say, “Search me, O Lord, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me” (Psa_139:23-24), or with St. John, “Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee” (Joh_21:17); but words of fear for every one who would fain keep back any thing in his outer or inner life from the Lord.—Rev_3:4. Observe the gracious manner in which the Lord recognizes and sets His seal of allowance to the good which any where He finds.—From Vaughan: Rev_2:10. Christ says to each one of us, Be thou faithful: use well the talent that I have given thee; forget not Who gave it; forget not Who will call for an account of it.—From Bonar: Rev_3:7 : He that hath the keys of David. The key (1) Of David’s house, (2) Of David’s castle, (3) Of David’s city, (4) Of David’s treasure-house, (5) Of David’s banqueting-house.
Rev_3:20. Note here (1) the love of Christ: in the message as addressed to Laodicea, the unloving and unlovable; (2) the patience of Christ: I stand at the door; (3) the earnestness of Christ: I knock; (4) the appeal of Christ: If any man will hear my voice and open the door; (5) the promise of Christ: I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me.
Rev_3:21. We have here—I. The battle; II. The victory; III. The reward. I. The battle: The Christian’s life in this world a warfare: (1) Inner warfare; (2) Outer warfare; (3) Daily warfare; (4) Warfare not fought with human arms; (5) Warfare in which we are sharers with Christ. II. The victory: multitudinous as is the battle. Sure through Him Who Himself overcame. Individual. III. The reward: (1) A throne; (2) Christ’s throne.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–7 I know thy works--expressing His omniscience. Not merely "thy…
I know thy works--expressing His omniscience. Not merely "thy professions, desires, good resolutions" (Rev 14:13, end).
thy labour--Two oldest manuscripts omit "thy"; one supports it. The Greek means "labor unto weariness."
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patience--persevering endurance.
bear--evil men are a burden which the Ephesian Church regarded as intolerable. We are to "bear (the same Greek, Gal 6:2) one another's burdens" in the case of weak brethren; but not to bear false brethren.
tried--by experiment; not the Greek for "test," as Jo1 4:1. The apostolical churches had the miraculous gift of discerning spirits. Compare Act 20:28-30, wherein Paul presciently warned the Ephesian elders of the coming false teachers, as also in writing to Timothy at Ephesus. TERTULLIAN [On Baptism, 17], and JEROME [On Illustrious Men, in Lucca 7], record of John, that when a writing, professing to be a canonical history of the acts of Paul, had been composed by a presbyter of Ephesus, John convicted the author and condemned the work. So on one occasion he would not remain under the same roof with Cerinthus the heretic.
say they are apostles--probably Judaizers. IGNATIUS [Epistle to the Ephesians, 6], says subsequently, "Onesimus praises exceedingly your good discipline that no heresy dwells among you"; and [Epistle to the Ephesians, 9], "Ye did not permit those having evil doctrine to sow their seed among you, but closed your ears."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–7 I. EPHESUS.—The Church of former faith and power, but…
I. EPHESUS.—The Church of former faith and power, but present decline, Rev_2:1-7.
1. Ephesus—The messenger who bore this epistle to Ephesus would have a sea route through the blue AEgean, of sixty miles, a brief trip for a modern steamer. Of the great and noble city into whose harbor he arrives we have given some account in our notes on Paul’s visiting the city and founding the Church, in Act_19:1. Paul came down upon the city from the interior high-lands; our messenger approaches it, reversely, from the sea. How Paul here found a few believers in John the Baptist, preached in the school of Tyrannus, encountered Diana of the Ephesians, and founded the Ephesian Church, we have duly noted in that chapter. How afterwards Paul, returning from his final missionary tour, called the elders of Ephesus to a last interview with himself at Miletus, (see our map,) we have noted on Act_20:17-38. Paul’s warning to the elders should be read before reading this epistle to this same Ephesus. Next we have the epistles of Paul to Timothy at Ephesus, and we see Timothy either briefly or permanently at that city. John arrived there probably soon after the commencement of the Roman war against the Jews, or after the fall of Jerusalem, and was banished to the rocky isle of Patmos by the Emperor Domitian. And now this epistle of Christ to Ephesus gives us the last glance at the Church and city furnished us in the New Testament. After that we must go to history for a knowledge of their destinies.
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Historically, Ephesus had ever maintained an eminence among the cities of Ionia. In the earliest times, before their conquest by the Persians, Ephesus was head of the confederacy of twelve cities. Under the Romans, while the other cities tended to decline, its favourable commercial position, and the munificence of its Roman rulers, rendered it the emporium of Asia Minor. The Bishop of Ephesus, in later times, was a Metropolitan and a Patriarch. But when, in 1308, it submitted to the Turk, its inhabitants were transported to Tyraeum and there massacred.
Write—Mohammed wrote, or at least claimed to have written, his own Koran; but Jesus Christ dictates to another to write. It is not recorded that he ever wrote, except mysteriously, upon the pavement. His majestic words, uttered as by the voice of many waters, and penned by his apostle, were, doubtless, received at that apostle’s Ephesus as virtually written by Christ’s own hand. To none but these seven Churches did Christ ever address a written epistle, yet in these seven Churches are we all represented. What he wrote to them he writes to us.
Was one copy of each single epistle carried to each single church, or was the whole Apocalypse carried to the whole in a single volume or roll? We think that the whole first three chapters are one Christophanic Apocalypse; but as each epistle was truly for all the seven, (and really for us all,) and as the title and introductory parts preface all the epistles as a unit, we may believe that the whole first three chapters were, either in separate copies or in one common circular for each in succession, sent round to the whole circuit of Churches in the order in which they are named. Each Church could then transcribe its own copy, with the common understanding that this body of epistles was the harbinger of a further and great Apocalypse, with which it was to be a unit, and which was soon to be received from their own great apostle, now in Patmos. When, after the death of the savage Domitian, John and the other banished Christians were returned to their homes by the Emperor Nerva, Domitian’s successor, John resumed his apostolic circuit around the seven Churches, and may have reduced the Apocalypse to a unit, so that no separated copies survived.
These things—The two clauses by which the divine Speaker describes himself here, are taken from St. John’s description of his person, Rev_1:13; Rev_1:16. They describe his authority over the Churches, and are beautifully appropriate to the metropolitan Church of Ephesus, the Church of St. John’s own residence.
Holdeth—Is here a different word from had, in Rev_1:16, and a stronger, signifying graspeth, or holdeth fast. It asserts strongly this power and possession, as if each Church were a gem in his grasp and at his disposal. None can pluck them from his hand, (Joh_10:28,) and it is his to exalt them to heaven or cast them down to hell, according to their faithfulness or apostasy. When, therefore, these letters patent came from Christ at Patmos, with what earnestness did both he that readeth to the congregation and they that hear within the congregation, listen to the words of this prophecy! Rev_1:3.
Walketh—In St. John’s description, Rev_1:13, he is apparently standing, but here he walketh. He walketh in the midst of the… golden candlesticks, to watch the strength or fulness of their blaze, to supply the oil of grace, to trim their dead wicks, and to remove them when their lustre, in spite of his every care, persistently dies away. These seven Lydian Churches, lying on the soil of Asia as their names lie on our little map, know that the glorious Lord is walking around their circuit—that he is even present while they listen to his golden letters.
2. Epistles successively to the seven Churches, Rev_2:1 to Rev_3:22. The seven epistles to the Churches of Asia have been interpreted by a few commentators as a symbolical representation of the varying conditions of the Church through a chronological succession of periods. Thus Vitringa made them typify the history of the Church from its first founding down to his own time. But the failure to make out a due correspondence between the supposed representation and its fulfilments has been so evident, that even Elliott rejects that mode of interpretation. Nevertheless, that these Churches are typical of the varying spiritual conditions of the Churches of the world is evident from the symbolic seven, and from the variety of pictures presented, in which every Church may find its own traits, with its proper warnings and promises. These epistles are a permanent book for the Church. That this was a very early opinion in the Church is clearly indicated by these remarkable words in the Muratorian fragment, a document of the second century: “For although John in the Apocalypse writes to the seven Churches, nevertheless he speaks to all.” Hence Bengel, in his later days, earnestly commended these epistles to the solemn study of ministers and people; and Alford and Wordsworth notice, with profound regret, that the Anglican Church has placed no lessons from the Apocalypse in her ritual for the congregation.
The seven epistles are constructed on a striking and remarkably uniform type. Each one may be divided into three parts.
I. The divine SELF-ANNUNCIATION of the Speaker.
1. It is introduced in every epistle with the formula, Unto… the Church of… write.
2. It then begins with, These things saith. 3. He who saith, namely, Christ, is then specified by one or more of those glorious titles ascribed to him either in John’s personal delineation of the Christophany, or Christ’s annunciation of himself in the previous chapter.
II. A CHARACTERIZATION; namely, of the particular Church, solemnly reprehending its faults or graciously commending its excellences.
1. The characterization is introduced with, I know thy works.
2. A specification of traits, usually beginning with those that are good, with commendation, and then qualifying with adverse points, with reproof.
3. Of the seven, Smyrna and Philadelphia are in the most commendable condition; Ephesus and Pergamos are characterized with mingled approval and reproof; Sardis and Laodicea with almost unmingled reproof and warning.
III. A RETRIBUTIVE CONCLUSION; namely, of promise or threatening.
1. The retributive part in the first three epistles is preceded by the warning clause, He that hath an ear, etc.; in the last four epistles it is succeeded and terminated by that warning clause. Similar, the clause concerning him that overcometh, is in the first three placed first; in the last three last.
2. The promise or threat is generally anticipatively borrowed from the closing three chapters of the Apocalypse; mostly, the promises are from the description of the new state of Revelation 22.
Each epistle presents the Speaker in most divine majesty, criticises the Church with profound discrimination, and pronounces sentence with most solemn authority.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–7 1. the angel of the church of Ephesus] Some…
1. the angel of the church of Ephesus] Some think that this would be St Timothy, and go so far as to find in St Paul’s Epistles traits of his character analogous to those here noted. But even if the “Angel” here be a bishop, it is likelier that he would be one appointed by St Timothy, if not by St John himself. 2Ti_4:9; 2Ti_4:21, compared with Tit_3:12, seems to prove that permanent residence in one diocese was not implied by the apostolical commission which St Paul, toward the end of his life, gave to his disciples.
he that holdeth the seven stars] Ephesus being the chief city and, to some extent, the mother Church of the district, the Lord addresses the Church there in the character of Lord of all the Churches: as though (to illustrate by the later organization of the Church) he addressed all the Churches of the Province in the person of their Primate.
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The Church in Ephesus. Chap. Rev_2:1-7
These seven Epistles are marked by certain features common to them all. (1) They are all dictated by the Lord Himself. (2) The command to write to the Angel of the particular Church. (3) One of the great titles of our Lord taken for the most part from the Vision in chap. 1. (4) An address to the Angel of the Church, always commencing with ‘I know,’ describing the circumstances of the Church, exhorting to repentance or to constancy, and ending with a prophetic announcement. (5) A promise to “him that overcometh” generally accompanied with a call to earnest attention, ‘he that hath ears, &c.’ (See Alford).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–7 (1) Unto the angel of the church of (literally,…
II.
(1) Unto the angel of the church of (literally, in) Ephesus.—On the word “angel,” see Note on Rev_1:20, and Excursus A. Adopting the view that the angel represents the chief pastor or bishop of the Church, it would be interesting to know who was its presiding minister at this time; but this must be deternined by another question, viz., the date of the Apocalypse. Accepting the earlier date—i.e., the reign of Nero, or (with Gebhardt) of Galba—the angel is no other than Timothy. Some striking coincidences favour this view. Labour, work, endurance, are what St. Paul acknowledges in Timothy, and which he exhorts him to cultivate more and more (2Ti_2:6; 2Ti_2:15; 2Ti_4:5). Again, against false teachers he warns him (1Ti_1:7). Further, there is “a latent tone of anxiety” in the Epistles to Timothy. The nature with which he had to do was emotional even to tears, ascetic, devout; but there was in it a tendency to lack of energy and sustained enthusiasm. “He urges him to stand up, to rekindle the grace of God, just as here there is a hint of a first love left.” (See Prof. Plumptre, Ep. to Seven Churches.)
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Ephesus.—The chief city of Ionia, and at this time the most important city in Asia. It possessed advantages commercial, geographical, and ecclesiastical, and, in addition, great Christian privileges. It was a wealthy focus for trade; it reached out one hand to the East, while with the other it grasped Greek culture. Its magnificent temple was one of the seven wonders of the world; the skill of Praxiteles had contributed to its beauty. The fragments of its richly-sculptured columns, now to be seen in the British Museum, will convey some idea of its gigantic proportions and splendid decorations. But the religious tone induced by its pagan worship was of the lowest order. Degrading superstitions were upheld by a mercenary priesthood; the commercial instinct and the fanatical spirit had joined hands in support of a soul-enslaving creed, and in defence of a sanctuary which none but those devoid of taste could contemplate without admiration. But its spiritual opportunities were proportioned to its needs. It had been the scene of three years’ labour of St. Paul (Act_20:31), of the captivating and convincing eloquence of Apollos (Act_18:24), of the persistent labours of Aquila and Priscilla (Act_18:26); Tychicus, the beloved and faithful, had been minister there (Eph_6:21); Timothy was its chief pastor.
These things saith he. . . .—The titles by which Christ is described at the opening of the seven epistles are mainly drawn from Revelation 1. The vision is found to supply features appropriate to the needs of the several churches. The message comes in this epistle from One who “holdeth” firmly in His grasp (a stronger word than “He that hath” of Rev_1:16), and walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The Church at Ephesus needed to remember their Lord as such. The first love had gone out of their religion; there was a tendency to fall into a mechanical faith, strong against heresy, but tolerant of conventionalism. Their temptations did not arise from the prevalence of error, or the bitterness of persecution, but from a disposition to fall backward and again do the dead works of the past. There was not so much need to take heed unto their doctrine, but there was great need that they should take heed unto themselves (1Ti_4:16). But when there is danger because earnestness in the holy cause is dying out, and the very decorum of religion has become a snare, what more fitting than to be reminded of Him whose hand can strengthen and uphold them, and who walks among the candlesticks, to supply them with the oil of fresh love? (Comp. Zec_4:2-3; Mat_25:3-4.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–7 Ver. Re 1;
Ver. Re 1;
(3) the praise, or blame, or both, addressed to the angel, based in all cases on intimate personal knowledge know thy works;
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(4) the charge or warning, generally in connexion with Christ"s coming;
(5) the promise to the victor;
(6) the call to each individual to give ear.
Vers. 1-7. The epistle to the Church at Ephesus.
Unto the angel. (see on Rev_1:20) "The angel" seems to be the spirit of the Church personified as its responsible guardian. The Church of Ephesus. In Ephesus" is certainly the right reading; in all seven cases it is the angel of the Church in the place that is addressed. In St. Paul"s: Epistles we have in Rome," in Corinth," in Colossae," in Ephesus," of Galatia," of the Thessalonians." Among all the cities of the Roman province of Asia, Ephesus ranked as "first of all and greatest." It was called "the metropolis of Asia." Romans visiting Asia commonly landed first at Ephesus. Its position as a centre of commerce was magnificent. Three rivers, the Maeander, the Cayster, and the Hermes, drain Western Asia Minor, and Ephesus stood on high ground near the mouth of the central river, the Cayster, which is connected by passes with the valleys of the other two. Strabo, writing of Ephesus about the time when St. John was born, says, "Owing to its favourable situation, the city is in all other respects increasing daily, for it is the greatest place of trade of all the cities of Asia west of the Taurus." Patmos was only a day"s sail from Ephesus; and it is by no means improbable that the gorgeous description of the merchandise of "Babylon" (Rev_18:12, Rev_18:13) is derived from St. John"s own recollections of Ephesus. The Church of Ephesus was founded by St. Paul, about A.D. 55, and his Epistle to that and other Churches, now called simply "to the Ephesians," was written about A.D. 63. When St. Paul went to Macedonia, Timothy was left at Ephesus (1Ti_1:3) to check the wild speculations in which some Ephesian Christians had begun to indulge. Timothy probably followed St. Paul to Rome, (2Ti_4:9, 2Ti_4:21) and, after his master"s death, returned to Ephesus, where he is said to have suffered martyrdom at a festival in honour of the great goddess Artemis." He may have been still at Ephesus at the time when this epistle was written; and Plumptre has traced coincidences between this epistle and those of St. Paul to Timothy. According to Dorotheus of Tyro (circ. A.D. 300), he was succeeded by Gaius. (Rom_16:23) In the Ignatian epistles we have Onesimus (probably not the servant of Philemon), Bishop of Ephesus. Ignatius speaks of the Ephesian Church in terms of high praise, showing that it had profited by the exhortations in this epistle. It was free from heresy, though heresy hovered around it. It was spiritually minded, and took God as its rule of life (Ignatius, "Ephes.," 6.-8.). Write. (see on Rev_1:11; and comp. Isa_8:1 Isa_30:8 Jer_30:2 Jer_36:2 Hab_2:2) Holdeth (kratwn). Stronger than "had" (ecwn) in Rev_1:16. This word implies holding fast and having full control over. In ver. 25 we have both verbs, and again in Rev_3:11. A Church that had fallen from its first love (vers. 4, 5) had need to be reminded of him who "holds fast" his own; and one whose candlestick was in danger of removal had need to turn to him who is ever active (not merely is, but "walketh") "in the midst of the candlesticks," to supply them with oil when they flicker, and rekindle them when they go out. It is he, and not the apostle, who addresses them.
Vers. 1-7. Ephesus: the declining Church.
This letter to the Church at Ephesus, as welt as all the others, is sent to the Church through its "angel." It is not very easy for an English reader to understand to what office in the Church such an expression can refer. The various meanings of "bishop" or "overseer," "pastor," "messenger," have been assigned. We do not accept either to the exclusion of any other. We will, however, indicate some historic matters concerning Church officers, and then leave the student to draw his own conclusions. It is well known that some of the offices of the earliest Christian Churches were named after those of the later Jewish synagogue. The word "presbyter" is one of these. Among the synagogue officers we find one to which, by reason of our different form of organization and worship, we have no exact parallel. This officer was appointed to be the leader of Divine worship, going up before the ark, to conduct the service. He was not one ordained to a permanent office; but exercised it only as he was occasionally appointed thereto. Any lay member of the congregation might thus serve, provided he possessed the necessary qualifications. He was required to be in sympathy with the people, pure in life, ordering welt his family, with a good voice, able to read and expound, and to conduct with a devotional spirit the worship of the people, to whom he must be acceptable, as their representative therein. He was regarded as their legate; the mouthpiece of those who were present, and the deputy of those who were absent through illness or otherwise. There should not be any fierce disputation about this, for evidently we have no such officer in any of the main forms of Church government. There are those whose duties correspond in some respects, but none whose position is precisely the same. What name should we give him? Not bishop, and not pastor; for his was not a permanent office. Not a president; for he did not belong to the rulers of the synagogue he acted only for the time as leader of the worship, as expounder of truth; as the people"s mouthpiece in prayer. The Jews had a name for such a one. He was called the "angel of the Church." Now, it is far more likely that, at the outset of Christian Church life, it would be easy to find men who could occasionally than such as could permanently discharge such duties. In the transition period between the passing away of the synagogue forms and the settlement of new ones, it would be natural to use the old and familiar phrase, "the angel of the Church," although the office indicated by the name in former days was merging into the more sacred one of a permanent overseer of the Church. Although, therefore, there is now no office in the Church precisely corresponding to this old Hebraistic phrase, yet it is intensely interesting to find it retained as one of the last dying echoes in Scripture of the ancient forms; as a connecting link between the old and the new. At that time, if any message were sent to a Church, it would be sent to them through the "angel," who had to conduct their worship, at any rate pro tem. But whether Ephesus or any one of the seven Churches had, at the time of receiving these letters, substituted a temporary by a permanent officer, there are no data to enable us to affirm. Can we not well imagine the interest and excitement of the people, when the leader of their worship opened a roll prefacing, perchance, the reading thereof by saying, "Our loved Apostle John, who used to teach among us, but who is now in banishment at Patmos, has been caught up in the Spirit on the Lord"s day, and has been moved to send, in the Name of the Lord Jesus, the following letter"? With what deep emotion would its words be heard! In it there are six lines of thought suggested.
I THE ASPECT IN WHICH THE SAVIOUR PRESENTS HIMSELF TO THEM. It is twofold.
1. As holding the stars in his right hand.
2. As walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. (see homiletics on Rev_1:9-19, sect. I; 20, sect. II)
The first indicates the special care of Christ over the ministers of his Church. It is not for a minister to "lord it over God"s heritage," or to attempt dominion over their faith; but he is guilty of a sinful and a mock humility if he does not "magnify his office," and if he does not regard it as a trust from the Lord Jesus. He will also wrong his Saviour if he does not take comfort in the thought that, as a minister of the Church, he is the object of his Lord"s especial care. The second indicates the active energy of Jesus in watching over his Churches, to administer strength, help, comfort, commendation, cheer, rebuke, or warning, as the case may require. There is also a reminder that the Lord has an omniscient eye, to discern the state of things in every one of his Churches. "I know thy works." This attribute of the Lord Jesus is one which should awake the utmost solicitude in any Church, that it may be approved of him.
II THE SAVIOUR"S ESTIMATE OF THE CHURCH.
1. There had been much good, which, indeed, had by no means died out. They had laboured, even unto toiling (ver. 2). They had endured, when work had to be done under trying circumstances, in the midst of a great city, the inhabitants of which were carried away by the worship of the great goddess Diana. There was still an abhorrence of evil, and a keen and faithful detection of error in doctrine (ver. 3). They had applied to some false apostles a test so severe and so successful, that they were exposed and put to shame. And towards the close of the epistle the commendation is again renewed, as if to show how lovingly our Lord notices every virtue.
2. But still there is a grave charge against the Church. A charge not modified by the word "somewhat," which the Authorized Version thrusts into the translation. "I have it against thee thou hast left thy first love.Note: It is quite possible for all the machinery of a Church to be in full working order, while at the same time the spirit of love and zeal which first set it a going is on the decline. This is a great evil; for
(1) it is no part of the structure of the spiritual constitution that any decline should befall it;
(2) there is no difficulty against which Christ has not warned us;
(3) there is no emergency for which his grace is not all sufficient;
(4) there is no other object to which our love can be legitimately transferred;
(5) Christ is very jealous of our love;
(6) it is a grief and dishonour to him, whose love is a constant flame, to let our love flicker as it does;
(7) outside work and energy will not continue long where love is on the decline. No engine will continue to run long after the fire has gone out.
III THE SAVIOUR"S REBUKE. "I have it against thee." "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." Although it be the case that we must all stand before the tribunal of Christ, it is also the case that we are under his all-searching eye even now. "I the Lord search the heart.
IV THE SAVIOUR"S DIRECTION. "Repent," etc. There is a way back to the cross. It is the same as that by which the sinner came at first. Repent. There must be direct, personal confession to the Lord Jesus. It is indeed a great wrong done to a Church when its members bring a current of cold air with them, and leave it behind them everywhere; but the greatest wrong is towards that Saviour whose cause has been so solemnly espoused, and for whom the professor has sworn to live and die. Cold-hearted professor! thy Saviour calls to thee to renew thy broken vow, and to return to him.
V THE SAVIOUR"S WARNING. It is twofold.
1. The declining Church will sooner or later receive from Christ some stern reminder of its sin. "I will come unto thee." "The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.
2. If the warning be unheeded, the Church will in time disappear. "I will remove thy candlestick out of its place." Our Lord Jesus does not desire the prolonged continuance of a Church whose love is on the decline. A cold Church does not and cannot represent Jesus in the world; it is no longer accomplishing the object for which Churches are formed, and therefore there is no reason why it should continue. Where our Saviour would be most gracious he will, in such a case, be most severe. Churches, as such, are judged in this life.
VI THE SAVIOUR"S PROMISE. It is made to individuals. "To him that overcometh." It pertains to another realm, even to "the Paradise of God." The word "paradise" means an enclosed, park-like place, with all arrangements for refreshment, comfort, luxury. It is first used in Scripture for the garden of Eden, in which was a tree of life. At the Fall, man was barred both from Paradise and from the tree of immortality. We read no more of it till Christ says to the dying thief, "Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise the word being used to denote the realm of the blessed in the invisible world. Still the tree of life appears no more till we get it mentioned here, as in the higher realm of everlasting life, in the Paradise of God. There it is in Christ"s own keeping. The fruit of it HE will give to the victor! That is, to drop the figure, whosoever overcomes, to him, in the nobler and the deathless realm, Christ will be the Giver and Sustainer of a life that shall never, never die. There there will be no temptation to decline, for within the gates of that Paradise no tempter can ever come; and the supply of vital power shall be so rich and constant that all inward tendency to decline shall cease forever. What a motive power is this! Earthly cities, with their witchery and glare, may be before us and around us today. But beyond, beyond is the Paradise of God, with its halcyon rest, its genial clime, its steadfast life. And oh! let us not lose sight of the words, I will give." The communion with Christ will be close and intimate; we shall see face to face. Here the provisions of God"s love and grace are often marred through coming to us by such imperfect channels. But there the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the water of life! How large the promise! how attractive the vision! how glorious the reward! Surely it is worth while to struggle for a little here, that we may pass forever to a realm where we shall struggle no more. "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY. Vers. 1-7. The epistle to the Church at Ephesus.
Ephesus was a notable place in the days of St. John. It and Corinth, on either side of the Aegean, and between which there was a regular traffic, have been likened to the Liverpool and New York of our day, on either side of the Atlantic. Ephesus was large, populous, wealthy, the capital of the province and the centre of the religious worship of the great Diana, whose magnificent temple was accounted one of the wonders of the world. Nor is the place less notable in sacred history than in secular. The great names of SS. John and Paul, of Timothy and Apollos, are intimately associated with it; and the history of the planting of the Church there, given Act_18:19 and Ac 19, is full of interest. It was the chief of the seven Churches to which St. John was bidden to write. We have previously spoken of the title which in this letter the Lord takes to himself, and will therefore come at once to the contents of the letter itself. Noting
I THE COMMENDATION SO GREAT AND HIGH THAT IS GIVEN TO THIS CHURCH. It is indeed a great thing to have such commendation bestowed on any Church or individual Christian. Happy they or he who deserves it. The Church at Ephesus is commended for:
1. Their works. "I know thy works." No idle, listless people were they, but active, alert, open eyed to note and enter where the kingdom of Christ might gain new subjects. The Lord locked down upon them with approval, and here tells them, "I know thy works.
2. Their labour. Twice is this mentioned (vers. 2, 3), and it denotes the Divine delight in the quality as well as the quantity of their works. It was strenuous, whole hearted, earnest. Too many who work for the Lord do so as if with but one hand, or even with one finger. It is the merest shred of their activity that they give to the Lord"s work. But here it was as "with both hands earnestly." And they did this though it involved:
3. Their suffering. Thou "hast borne" (ver. 3). It means that they were not allowed to labour as they did unmolested. There would be plenty, as we know there were, from all manner of motives, to raise opposition and to resent what they so little liked, indeed hated. Cruel, fierce, relentless, unjust, the sufferings might be and were that their enemies inflicted, and which they had borne; but these did not daunt, dismay, or deter them from going right on. For next:
4. Their patience is commended. Generals in the armies of earth value highly what is called elan in their troops the dash and rush and enthusiasm with which the brave fellows spring to the attack; but they value yet more "staying power that which depends more on dogged pertinacity and enduring courage than on aught beside. And there is the like of this in the spiritual warfare. High, eager courage at the outset, hearts filled with enthusiasm, yes, these are good; but better still is what will ever be needed, and that is the grace of patience, the power to endure and not to faint. Thrice is this great and indispensable grace commended in this epistle, as if the Lord would show in how high esteem he held it. Oh for this power to labour on and not weary in well doing, to be patient and faint not! For one who has this there are many who will set out and set out well, but they soon get hindered and turn aside or stop altogether, and some even turn back to the world they had professed to leave. Blessed, then, is this grace of patience.
5. Their holy intolerance. There is an intolerance, and there is far too much of it, which is the fruit of conceit, of spiritual pride, of abject narrowness, of gross ignorance, and blind bigotry. They in whom it is found are perhaps amongst the very chiefest enemies of the Church of God, although they loudly boast to belong to its very elect. The intolerance of such is never holy. But, on the other hand, there is a tolerance which is a mere giving in to wickedness because we have not enough zeal for God and righteousness to withstand it. Such people boast of their broadness, but it is far too much of what Carlyle once called it when indignantly repudiating some of its teachings, "None of your heaven-and-hell amalgamation societies for me!" Of such people it could never have been said, as is here said of the Ephesian Church, "Thou canst not bear them which are evil." They would have palliated and explained and found some plausible pretext for even the most evil deeds. Now, in righteous contrast to these, the Ephesian Church would have no compromise with evil. That which is told in Acts 19 indicates this admirable quality in them. They brought their costly books of magic and burnt them not selling them, or giving them away, or shutting them up, but getting right rid of them altogether, though so much might have been urged for milder measures. But these books, contaminated as they were with the foulness of idolatry, burning, they believed, was best for them, and burnt they were. It was a prelude to that after excellence of character which is here commended of the Lord. Under the ban of this righteous wrath two sets of persons deservedly came, both being generally described as "them that are evil.
(1) Pretended apostles. Renan and those who with him accentuate so strongly the undoubted differences that there were between Christians of the Pauline and the Petrine types, affirm that by "those who say they are apostles, and are not," John meant Paul. But they seem to forget that it is added that the Ephesian Church had "found these pretended apostles false." If, then, Paul was one, it is strange that, instead of finding him out as false, the Ephesian Church and its bishops in the scene at Miletus should have cherished the most tender affection and reverence for him; and that Polycarp, one of St. John"s most distinguished disciples, should speak of Paul, as he does, as "the blessed and glorious Paul." No; it was not such as Paul that St. John meant, but wolves in sheep"s clothing, base, bad men, lured by the bait of the influence and power which they saw the true apostles had, and pretended to be such in order that they might make gain for themselves. But it could not have been very difficult to detect such as these, and, being put to the test, they were cast out for what they were. Woe to the Church that tolerates, knowingly, impostors in her midst! that lets them remain amongst the true, though they be false!
(2) The Nicolaitans (see Exposition). They were practically antinomians. The sect flourishes still. Nicolaitans are everywhere, because everywhere there are men who will profess, believe, and do almost anything by which they think they may escape the hard necessity of obeying the moral laws of Christ. Well is it for the Church, well is it forevery one of us, to allow no pretence whatsoever to palliate evil deeds. Even the grace of God may be turned into lasciviousness, and it seems impossible to keep men back from presumptuous sins sins, that is, for which they find, or think they find, encouragement in the doctrines of God"s great mercy, and the all-atoning efficacy of our Saviour"s death. But the Lord hates the deeds of such men, and may he help us to hate them too. The Church at Ephesus hated them, and are especially commended of the Lord for that they did so. But now the Lord says to them, "One thing thou lackest." Surely if ever there was a Church that seemed able to ask, without fear of an unfavourable reply, "What lack we yet?" this Church was such a one; but now, behold, the Lord turns from commendation to
II THE CENSURE. "I have... because thou hast left thy first love" (ver. 4). And this censure is very grave. It speaks of the conduct it condemns as:
1. A grievous fall. "Remember... whence thou art fallen." That which they had left and lost had lifted them high in the Divine love, had made them exceeding precious in his sight. But now all was changed. The Lord looked not on them now as he once did; they had "with shame to take a lower place.
2. A calling for prompt and practical repent. once. They were to "repent" and "do" their "first works.
3. Terrible in its consequences if there were not this repentance (ver. 5). Let Gibbon tell how, after more than a thousand years had passed such was the Lord"s long suffering the dreadful threat was fulfilled, and the light of the lamp of gold that represented Ephesus was, with all the rest, faithful Smyrna and Philadelphia alone excepted, finally quenched. Then "the captivity or ruin of the seven Churches of Asia was consummated; and the barbarous lords of Ionia and Lydia still trample on the monuments of classic and Christian antiquity. In the loss of Ephesus, the Christians deplored the fall of the first angel, the extinction of the first candlestick of the Revelation; the desolation is complete; and the temple of Diana or the church of Mary will equally elude the search of the curious traveller. The circus and three stately theatres of Laodicea are now peopled with wolves and foxes; Sardis is reduced to a miserable village; the god of Mahomet, without a rival or a son, is invoked in the mosques of Thyatira and Pergamos; and the populousness of Smyrna is supported by a foreign trade of the Franks and Armenians. Philadelphia alone has been saved by prophecy or courage. At a distance from the sea, forgotten by the emperors, encompassed on all sides by the Turks, her valiant citizens defended their religion and freedom above four score years; and at length capitulated with the proudest of the Ottomans. Among the Greek colonies and Churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, a column in a scene of ruins; a pleasing example that the paths of honour and safety may sometimes be the same". But this grave censure, and the awful consequences that ultimately ensued, lend urgency to the inquiry as to
III THE SAD CHURCH CONDITION THE CENSURE INDICATES. Probably it pointed:
1. To a slackening in those qualities for which they had been commended. And the moral atmosphere of a place like Ephesus could not but try them very severely. Even Timothy had to be warned against yielding to the sensuality of the place, and also against that rigorous asceticism to which tempted ones often resort as a sure defence against such sin. But the needs be that there must have been for such exhortation shows how strong the stream of evil tendency was in the place, and how difficult to continuously maintain that firm stand which in the first ardours of the Christian life they had taken and for a long while been faithful to. And undoubtedly this is how, in our own day, this leaving of our first love shows itself. What sincere Christian heart is there that has not once and again been pierced as he has remembered how true this censure is for himself? That sad but well known hymn of the saintly Cowper, "Oh for a closer walk with God!" is but one continued comment on this all too common sin. And so common has it become that we now almost expect that there will be this slackening of zeal when the first novelty of discipleship has passed away. The "goodness" of such will be, we all but assume, "as a morning cloud and as the early dew that goeth away." And the present all but impossible practice of personal and private pastoral dealing with individual souls lets this condition of things go on with all too much facility. But he who is faithful with himself will mark with sorrow the decline of his own spiritual life. When he has to drag himself to duty; when prayer and worship and work for Christ are turned from, in heart if not in act; when there is no longer any glow or fervour of feeling Christwards; when temptation, once resisted and spurned, now approaches and solicits, and is suffered so to do; all these, and others like them, are symptoms, sure and sad enough, that the Lord has this against him, that he has left his first love. And this fact shows itself also:
2. In the altered spirit in which work is done. And this, we expect, was the gravamen of the charge as it referred to the Ephesian Church. We are not told that they had left off their works. But it was possible for them to continue and even to increase them, and yet this censure to be deserved. For it is the motive at which the Lord looks. Ere ever he would restore the recreant Peter to his apostleship, thrice over was the question asked, "Lovest thou me?" as if the Lord would teach him and all of us that love to himself is the one indispensable qualification of all acceptable service. And if from any one out of a multitude of other motives mixed, and maybe mean, manifold certainly, as they are sure to be the works we do are done, for all acceptance with Christ they might as well, and sometimes better, have been left undone. You may work and labour, suffer and be patient under it, hate many evil things and persons, and yet there be scarce one shred of love to Christ in it all. (cf. 1Co 13) It is well, indeed, for us to ask ourselves not merely what we do, but why? The answer to that might lead to some strange self revelations, but they would be salutary too. Without doubt they would be if they led us to listen to
IV CHRIST"S ENCOURAGING CALL TO COME BACK TO HIMSELF. For he does not close this letter without such call, which may "he who hath ears to hear" hear indeed. In what was said on the common characteristics of these letters, it was noted how they all taught that all might overcome. Victory was possible to all; none need despair. And this lies in these last words of the letter. It said to the Church at Ephesus, "You need no longer yield to that which draws you away from me; you can resist, you can overcome, and so return to me whom you have left." Such is the force of the words, "to him that overcometh." And then, that the possible may become the actual, Christ holds out the prize of victory, the recompense of their return to their first love (ver. 7). The promise seems to point back and on. Back to the primeval Paradise from which our first parents and all their descendants were shut out, lest they should eat of the tree of life. Now it is promised that that prohibition shall be withdrawn, the flaming sword of the cherubim "which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life," shall be sheathed, and access granted once more. But the Paradise shall not be the primeval one, but the heavenly, "the Paradise of my God so the Lord speaks of it. Far more, then, than all that has been lost shall be theirs if they repent and return, and so win the victory and overcome. The temptations to which they were exposed were forever clamouring that they should seize upon the sensual pleasures of this short life, and fill it up with them, such as they were. But the Lord"s promise holds out to them the prize of a pure and perfect and perpetual life in the presence of God, and amid the pleasures forevermore which are in the Paradise of God. And that prize is held out to us as to them, and if it work in us our Lord"s will and purpose, it will lead to that diligent culture of the soul, by constant and fervent prayer, and by the cherishing of all spiritual affections, and by yielding to all the Christward drawings of which once and again we are conscious; and so the soul"s first love left and lost shall be found again; though it was as dead, yet shall it be alive once more. S.C.
The stars, the lamps, and the Lord.
"He that holdeth... golden candlesticks." We may well pause on the threshold of the first of these letters to the Churches to consider, as we have not done before, the truths that underlie the sublime symbols of the stars and the lamps of gold and the holding of the stars in the Lord"s right hand, and his walking in the midst of the lamps of gold. Here, as well as throughout these letters, "He that hath an ear, let him hear.
I THE STARS. The Lord himself has told us whom these represent the angels of the Churches; and in a previous homily we have given reasons for understanding these angels as the chief pastors of the several Churches. "If each Church had its angel, who had a letter addressed to him, who is spoken to in words of rebuke and exhortation, who could sin and repent, who could be persecuted and die, who could fall into heresies and be perfected by suffering, it seems to me a violent and unnecessary hypothesis that a superhuman being is in question." Furthermore, the name "angel," when applied to these august beings who dwell in the immediate presence of God, does by no means set forth their nature, but only their office and function of "messenger," which is what the word means. And is it not a most appropriate name for a Christian pastor? Not alone does he represent the Church over which he presides, and is largely responsible for its character and condition; but also he is, or should be, strictly speaking, their messenger, their angel. For is it not his bounden duty to go from them to God, and from God to them? Woe betide him if he fail herein! "God forbid," said the venerable Samuel, "that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you". (1Sa_12:23) And God forbid that any pastor now should sin against the Lord and his own soul and the souls committed to his charge by ceasing to pray for them. The path to the throne of grace should be a beaten track by him, and he should carry to their Lord their sins and sorrows, their cares and wants, and plead them as his people"s messengers and representative before the Lord. And he should come from God to them. It is ill when he goes into his pulpit or pastoral work if he has not first been with God, and come from him to his people and his work. Yes, pastors are, or should be, "angels," in that their office is to go to and fro between their people and God as his messengers and theirs. But wherefore are they called "stars"? We are not distinctly told; we can only conjecture and suggest. Stars:
1. Are symbols of honour, dignity, authority, rule. "A star," it is said, "shall come out of Jacob;" and this is explained by the added parallel sentence, "and a sceptre shall arise out of Israel". (Num_24:17) And wherever stars are symbolically spoken of, this idea of dignity and authority is seldom wanting. The Lord lovingly appoints this symbol that he might let all men know, however much his faithful pastors might be despised by the world for their poverty and manifold meanness, as the world counts meanness, nevertheless in his esteem they rank high, they are as stars. Now, if any pastor, on the strength of this august symbol, should demand all manner of deference and submission, and find that instead thereof he gets only contempt and disregard, let him not blame anybody but himself. If he demand deference, he will not get it; but if he deserve it, he will be likely to get too much of it. The honour and authority of the ministry must be such as is spontaneously given; it can be had in no other way. But this symbol tells also:
2. Of the pastor"s duty.
(1) He is to lighten the darkness of men, as the stars were to give light by night; the darkness of ignorance, of sorrow, of sin.
(2) He is to reflect the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Not by his own light, but by light reflected, is he to enlighten others.
(3) He is to keep his appointed course, in obedient, reverent service rendered unto God. "Wandering stars" are outcast from God. Men should ever know where to find the minister of God; his orbit the holy ways of God he should never quit.
(4) He should be above the world his conversation in heaven, his citizenship there.
(5) He should be a sure guide for men"s souls, as are the stars to the benighted, the traveller, the mariner; and, like the star of Bethlehem, he should ever guide men to Christ.
(6) And passing from the symbols to that which is meant, we find that pastors and Churches will very much resemble each other. "Like priest, like people," is true, but so is "Like people, like priest." A minister who, though he should be, is yet not as an angel, nor as a star, may, by his faithlessness, dim and darken, if not destroy, the light of the lamp he was appointed to tend. A congregation, a Church, a parish, to what depths may it not fall under the influence of a prayerless pastor! And, on the other hand, one who comes to the sacred office in all the ardour of his "first love" may, by the chill freezing atmosphere in regard to God and his cause which he finds around him, be gradually dragged down to their level, and become even as they. Ah! what would any do were it not that the Lord holds the stars in his right hand, and walketh amidst the lamps of gold?
II THE LAMP. We regard this word as every way more congruous than "candlestick." Candlesticks are not only a modern and mean article of furniture, but they were never used in the temple or tabernacle at all, and they suggest anything but the sacred and elevated idea that is here intended. We know that by these golden lamps the Churches are meant. But why are they thus called? Not without reason, we may be sure.
1. The lamps are to give light. That is their function. They are "lit not for themselves, but for their uses." Continually is this emblem made use of to tell of the character and conduct of Christ"s people, what it is or should be. Radiant, cheering, silent, penetrating, beneficent, revealing, manifesting its source, but not itself. We see the sun, but not the rays which stream from it. So men are to see our light, but to glorify not us, but God. Such should the Churches be.
2. Their light is not their own. The lamp must be lit and fed. In vision Zechariah saw this truth set forth when he beheld the great temple lamp, and by the side of it the two olive trees, from which, through golden pipes, the sustaining oil was continually supplied. Christ lights every one of these lamps, and if, like John the Baptist, we are a burning and shining lamp lamp, not light; Christ is the Light giver and if, as he was, we are light, it is because "we are light in the Lord." And the Holy Spirit nurtures the light. That was the meaning of Zechariah"s vision. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts such is the added explanation of the vision. Thus the light of these lamps of gold is not their own; they neither impart it at the first nor sustain it afterwards. Christ and the Spirit of God are the sources of the Church"s light.
3. Their light is committed light. Each lamp has one burning light, but that one is made up of the combined illumination of every member of the Church. Just as the character of any given Church is the resultant of the varied spiritual forces that each member supplies, so the light of its lamp is the combined effect of the light in each individual. "A Church is not to be merely a multitude of separate points of brilliancy, but the separate points are to coalesce into one great-orbed brightness.
4. It is to be consecrated light. All in the ancient tabernacle and temple that was used in the immediate service of God was to be of gold. The gold showed that the service of the vessel, or instrument, or whatever it was, was for God, dedicated and due to him. And this truth the gold of which the lamps are formed sets forth. Churches are for God, for his service and glory. May all Churches heed this!
III THE LORD. What is the relation between the stars, the lamps, and the Lord? Is it not that of:
1. Owner? He holds the stars in his strong right hand. They are his. He walks amid the lamps of gold as amid the possessions of his own house.
2. Protector? Who shall pluck the stars from his hand, or loosen his blessed hold? Who shall touch one of those lamps to hurt or harm it whilst he walks continually in their midst?
3. Searcher? The stars and the lamps are ever beneath his eye. He says to each one, "I know thy works.
4. Disposer? We are in his hand and power, to be dealt with as he wills. Though none other but he, yet he can unloose the grasp in which the stars are held, and can remove the lamp out of its place. May he forbid that this awful necessity should ever arise, for then the light of stars and lamps alike are quenched, and the blackness of darkness forever is their portion! And:
5. All this (vers. 1-4) he is evermore. "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Not for the primitive Church alone, but for the Church of all ages, is this most surely true. Today may every faithful pastor say to himself, "I am my Lord"s; he holds me in his right hand." And every Church of Christ may by faith behold him walking today to cheer, to bless, to restore, to uplift, to chide, to strengthen, to quicken, to console, to save amid the lamps of gold. S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN Vers. 1-7. (1) The epistle to the Church in Ephesus: the decay of early love.
The Ephesian Church highly commended for many things for "toil" in service and for "patience" in tribulation; unwearied endurance in suffering; repudiation of "evil men," and fidelity in trying them "which call themselves apostles, and they are not;" and even" hating the works" which the Lord says, "I also hate." But the works of the Church are all known to him who "walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;" and he has an accusation to bring against the otherwise faithful Church: "I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love." Love is the very core of the Church"s life; it is the central, hidden spring of all good service; it is the truest evidence of the purity and reality of the Church"s health. The departure from the first love is
I THE SIGNAL OF THE LOSS OF THE VITAL SPRING OF THE CHURCH"S RELIGIOUS LIFE. The outward forms may be perfect, zeal may be maintained, patience unwearied, orthodoxy untarnished; but if love the soul"s secret energy be impaired, time only is needed to bring the Church to utter decay.
II IT IS AT ONCE THE CAUSE AND INDICATION OF A FALLEN CONDITION OF THE CHURCH. "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen.
III IT EXPOSES TO THE JUDICIAL LOSS OF ALL. "Or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place." The means of recovery are:
1. Recollection. The thoughtful recall of the Church to its earlier condition. The very watchword of the epistle is "remember compare, contrast thy present with thy past state.
2. Repentance ever to follow the recollection, which is the needful after thought, the first step in the process of true repentance. How would a faithful review bring the keen sense of loss, and lead the Church to rue its loss and fall and danger!
3. Renewal. "Do thy first works." A true repentance will declare itself in works answerable to amendment. To every one that truly heareth and "overcometh," the words of promise hold out the cheering assurance of life "in the Paradise of God. R.G.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Ver. Luk_11:22) and but once by St. Paul, (Rom_12:21) is found in Joh_16:33 1Jn_2:13, 14 5:4, 5; and occurs in all these epistles to the Churches. The promise of the tree of life is appropriate:
(1) To the virtue commended. Those who had not indulged in the licence of Nicolaitanes shall eat of the tree of life.
(2) To the special weakness of the Ephesians. To those who had fallen, and lost the Paradise of first loving communion and fellowship with God, (comp. Gen_3:8 1Jn_1:3) is held out the promise of a restored Paradise and participation in the tree of life. (comp. Rev_22:2-14 Gen_3:22) This boon of immortality is the gift of Christ: "I will give. It is tasted in knowledge of God and of his Son; (Joh_17:3) it is enjoyed in their presence" (Rev_22:3, Rev_22:4) (Bishop Boyd Carpenter). D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 The address to Ephesus
Rev_2:1-7
Ephesus.
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The address to Ephesus
I. The form of address.
1. The place. Ephesus. Situated in a rich and extensive country, and upon the banks of a luxuriant river, it became, in all probability, celebrated for the pleasures of the chase, on which account its richest offerings were presented on the shrine of Diana. It was in its greatest glory in the apostolic age, its population at that time amounting to some hundreds of thousands. The ruins of its theatre still remain, which is computed to have accommodated twenty thousand spectators. Its commerce, its literature, its opulence, and its luxury were in similar proportion.
2. The Church of Ephesus.
(1) How great were the advantages which the Ephesian Church enjoyed! The foundation is laid during a few months visit from the great apostle of the Gentiles. It is sustained by the labours of Priscilla and Aquila. It is favoured with the discourses of the eloquent Apollos. It next enjoys the entire ministrations of Paul for two years and three months. He is succeeded by Timothy, of whom Paul says, he knew no man so like-minded with himself, who evidently gave the prime of his days to the Ephesians. A most instructive and encouraging letter is sent them by Paul, for their guidance both in doctrine and practice. Timothy receives full instructions from the apostle for the performance of his pastoral duties among them. And to crown all their privileges, during the apostolic age, John, the last of the apostles, gives them the benefit of the rich experience of his latter days, and the benedictions of his last breath.
(2) The chief difficulties with which the gospel had to contend in this city.
(a) The prejudices of the Jews.
(b) The pride of human learning.
(c) The influence of a popular idolatry and an interested priesthood.
(d) The effect of riches.
(e) Sensual indulgence.
(3) The gospel when faithfully preached, and accompanied by pastoral visits and fervent prayer, will surmount all opposition, and extensively prevail.
3. The angel of the Church at Ephesus.
4. The character in which Christ addresses this Church.
II. The subject of communication.
1. The Ephesians are commended here for their zealous and active performance of Christian duties; for their patience and submission under trial and persecution; and for their purity of discipline.
2. He has something against them, as well as in their favour. He does not dispute the sincerity of their love, but reproves them for its diminished fervour. It was not so pure, burning, and enkindling as at first. Diminution of love in His people is displeasing to Christ, on their account as well as His own. Love is the fruit of all other graces of the Christian combined. If this decays, the whole work of grace in the soul is on the decline.
3. The admonition: Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, etc.
4. The threatening: Or else I will come unto thee quickly, etc. Unless the flame of love be kept bright and glowing, He will withdraw His support. He will not hold up an expiring lamp. The light of the gospel is not extinguished, but is removed from one place to another. If it has become dim, or ceased to shine in one part of the earth, it burns with brilliancy in another. While its first fervour was declining in Judaea, it burst forth in the cities of the Gentiles. The gospel seeks the hearts of men. If they are withheld in one place, it seeks them in another.
5. The closing commendation: But this thou hast, etc.
III. General application is appended to the address to the Church at Ephesus, and the same order is observed in the rest: He that hath an ear, let him hear, etc. (G. Rogers.)
Ephesus--the strenuous Church
Ephesus is the type of a strenuous Church. There is something singularly masculine in the first part of the description. I know thy works--that is, thine achievements; not thy desires and purposes and aspirations, not even thy doings, but thy deeds. This Church in its severe self-discipline affords a welcome contrast to the easily-excited populace amid whom they lived, rushing confusedly into the theatre and shouting for two hours, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. The patience of the Church is twice men tioned; the second time it is patience not as a feature of the workman, but the patience of him who can suffer, and suffer in silence. And this virtue has a threefold delineation--patience, endurance, fortitude. Thou hast patience, and thou didst bear for My names sake, and thou hast not grown weary. There is another mark of the masculine character in Ephesus, a noble intolerance of evil--thou canst not bear bad men. And with this intolerance is the power to discriminate character, the clear judgment which cannot be deceived--thou didst try them which call themselves apostles, and they are not, and didst find them false. There is no surer mark of a masculine nature than this keen insight into pretentiousness, and fidelity of rebuke. Then comes the exposure of the great defect of Ephesus. I have against thee that thou hast left that love which thou hadst at the first. It is love in its largest sense which the Church once had and now has lost; the love of God animating piety undoubtedly, but no less certainly the love of men making service sweet. Nor is it the feeling alone which has changed, it is not that love as a sentiment is lost; but love in its far reach has gone, kindliness and tender consideration and disregard of self, the grace that suffers long and is kind, that beareth all things, hopeth all things, believeth all things. The toilsomeness, the endurance, the stern self-judgment, the keen discrimination of character, are obvious; but the spirit that rises above toil or sweetens toil, the grace to woo and wed, has fled. We can understand the history only too well. Life has many sore trials, none sorer than this--that virtues which are unexercised die out, and that the circumstances which call for some virtues and give occasion for their development seem to doom others to extinction. The Christian character cannot live by severity alone. There were two demands which the Church at Ephesus had forgotten--the demand for completeness of Christian character, never more urgent than when the times are making us one-sided; the demand of God Himself for the heart. There must be impulse in His people if they are to continue His people; there must be love in all who, not contented with doing their works, desire to do the work of God.
I. There is an obscured, a limited perception of the grace of Christ. These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars, etc. A strenuous Lord for a strenuous Church; but also a Lord holding His manifold graces in reserve when He has to do with a reserved people. For the nurture of piety we need all that He will reveal to us of Himself, all that can endear Him, all that can startle us, all that can exalt His image. There is not a single channel by which Christ finds His way to the soul which should not be open to Him; a full Christ is needed for a full man and for a complete Church.
II. The warning of the fifth verse must have been very surprising to the angel of the Ephesian Church. The Church seemed to be so efficient. Its works had been so hard, and yet they had been done. Its achieve-merits were patent. Especially its service in the cause of truth was conspicuous; the Church had not lost its zeal, its candour, its piercing vision. Ephesus warns us against the perils of the Puritan temper; it warns us also against the stoical temper, with its tendency to a not ignoble cynicism, of which some of our gravest leaders in literature have been the exponents. Puritanism plus love ham accomplished great things, and will do yet more; for a masculine tenderness is Gods noblest gift to men. But Puritanism, when the first love is lost, drags on a sorrowful existence, uninfluential and unhappy; its only hope being the capacity for repentance, which, God be praised, has never failed it. Perhaps the most solemn part of the message is that in which the Lord Himself declares--I am coming; I will shake thy candlestick out of its place. The Lord can do without our achievements, but not without love. He can supply gifts unendingly, can make the feeble as David; but if love be wanting He will shake the noblest into destruction, and remove them out of the way. There is one striking word immediately following this warning, a word of commendation; it is the only one of the messages in which a word of commendation does come in after the warning has been uttered, and it is a commendation of feeling. But this thou hast, that thou hatest, etc. Hatred is hardly the feeling we should have expected to be commended: but it is feeling, and any feeling is better than apathy or stolidity. Where men can feel hatred, other feeling may come; love may come where men have not reduced themselves to machines.
III. An altogether unexpected thing in the message to the Church at Ephesus is the promise with which it ends--To him that overcometh, etc. In only two promises of the New Testament does this word paradise appear, with its suggestion of the primeval garden, where the father and mother of men wandered innocent and happy: in the promise made by the dying Jesus to the penitent thief, and here. The faithful men of Ephesus, stern-featured, with drawn brows, fighting on, knowing that their hearts are withering in the conflict, and yet not seeing how they can relax, are caught with a word. An image is presented to them which may break down even their self-control, and set them longing for the wondrous things God hath prepared for them that love Him. And this was exactly what Ephesus needed, although it was the one thing it had schooled itself to do without. Ephesus had too little of what so many have too much of--sensibility, passiveness, willingness to receive, to be made something of, to be quiet and let the Blessed One save them who had long been striving, and of late so ineffectually, to serve Him. Good as strenuousness is--and of human virtues it is among the chief--even better is the responsive spirit. When God is the giver, it is well for us to receive rather than to give. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
Letter to Ephesus
I. The Head of the Church has a minute knowledge of all the services of His people.
1. There is distinguished labour. I know thy works, and thy labour. The Church at Ephesus had been a working Church. It had been operating on the sat rounding regions of depravity, darkness, and death. In its early life it was eminently an aggressive Church. I would have Christs Church as ambitious as Alexander. As he waved his battle-flag over a conquered world, so would I that the Church might unfurl the banner of a nobler conquest over every nation, and kindred, and people, and tongue.
2. There is distinguished patience. This patience may be understood as indicating long-suffering in relation to those by whom the saints in Ephesus were surrounded--long-suffering both in waiting for the germination of the seed which they had sown in many tears, and in the meek endurance of fiery trials. The point to be noted here is, that Christ is mindful, not only of the outward manifestations of the spiritual life--such as many labours and many offerings--but also of the hidden graces which cluster round the heart. He sees not only the moral warrior brandishing his sword in the thickest of the battle, hut also the wounded and suffering soldier; and sweetly says to such, I know thy patience. How few can tone themselves to the high strength of doing everything by doing nothing! Patience is undervalued by an excited world; but Jesus notes it in its long vigils, marks it trimming its dim lamp in the solemn midnight, and sweetly,whispers His word of commendation, which is always invigorating as the breath of immortality.
3. There is distinguished jealousy for the right. Thou canst not bear them which are evil, etc. It must ever be remembered that there is a spurious charity. It is morally impossible that Christians and anti-Christians can have any sympathetic fellowship. Woe unto the Church when moral distinctions are lightly regarded! To confound light with darkness, sweetness with bitterness, is to mock the first principles of holy government, and to destroy for ever the possibility of holy brotherhood. While, therefore, we would not presumptuously ascend the judgment-seat, we believe it is impossible to burn in too deeply the line which separates the sympathy of compassion from the sympathy of complacency.
3. There was distinguished persistence in the right course. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for My names sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. The eulogium might be read thus: I know thy labour, and yet thou dost not labour, i.e., thou dost not make a labour of thy duties: in such case duty was not a hard taskmaster. There was such a sunny joyousness and musical cordiality about these saints, that they came to their work--work so hard--with the freshness of morning, and under their touch duty was transformed into privilege. There is a lesson here for Christian workers through all time. When work is done with the hand only, it is invariably attended with much constraint and difficulty; but when the heart is engaged, the circle of duty is run with a vigour that never wearies and a gladness which never saddens. Not only so, the Ephesian saints eminently succeeded in uniting patience with perseverance. They were not only patient in suffering, but patient in labour. They did not expect the morning to be spring and the evening to be autumn, but, having due regard to the plan of Divine procedure, combined in wise proportions the excitement of war with the patience of hope. The Ephesians were right: they blended persistence with patience, and were extolled by Him who knew the hardest toil, and exemplified the most unmurmuring endurance. The fundamental point is, that Christ knew all this. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience. There is not a toiler in the vineyard on whose bent form the Master looks not with approbation. He sees the sufferer also. All that He observes influences His mediation, so that in every age He tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb.
II. The Head of the Church marks every declension of piety. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee. This method of reproof is eminently suggestive. It gives a lesson to parents. Would you be successful in reproving your children? Let commendation precede rebuke; let your nevertheless be winged with love and hope, and it will fly to the farthest boundary of your childs intellectual and moral nature, and showers of blessings will be shaken from those heavenly wings. It gives a lesson to pastors also. Our words of remonstrance or rebuke will be more successful as they are preceded by every acknowledgment which justice and generosity can suggest. When the Master is compelled, so to speak, to rebuke His Church, He proceeds as though He would gladly turn. The rebuke comes with a hesitation which did not mark the eulogy. He resorts to a negative form of statement--Thou hast left thy first love. Look at the declension spoken of.
1. This declension is described as having begun in the heart. Christ does not charge the saints at Ephesus with having changed their doctrinal views; but, placing His finger on the heart, says, There is a change here. You know the enthusiasm of first love. If any work is to be done in the Church--if any difficulties are to be surmounted--if any icebergs are to be dissolved--if any cape, where savage seas revel in ungovernable madness, is to be rounded, send out men and women in whose hearts this first love burns and sings, and their brows will be girt with garlands of conquest. Our business, then, is to watch our heart-fires. When the temperature of our love lowers, there is cause for terror. It is instructive to mark the many and insidious influences by which the gush and swell of affection are modified. Take the case of one who has been distinguished for much service in the cause of God, and see how the fires pale. He becomes prosperous in business. His oblations on the altar of Mammon are costlier than ever. He toils in the service of self until his energies are nearly exhausted, and then his class in the school is neglected; the grass grows on his tract district; his nature has become so perverted that he almost longs for an occasion of offence, that he may retire from the duties of the religious life. Could you have heard him in the hour of his new-born joy, when he first placed his foot in Gods kingdom, you would not have thought that he ever could have been reduced to so low a moral temperature. What holy vows escaped him! How rich he was in promise! But look at him now; turn the leaves over, and with eager eyes search for fruit, and say, Is the promise of spring redeemed in autumn? Innumerable influences are continually in operation, which would cool the ardour of our first enthusiasm for Christ. Satan plies us with his treacherous arts; the world allures us with its transitory charms; our inborn depravity reveals itself in ever-varying manifestations; pride and selfishness, ambition and luxury, appeal to us in many voices, and beckon us with a thousand hands.
2. This declension may be accompanied by an inveterate hatred of theological heresy--But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. The head may be right while the heart is going in a wrong direction. I am indeed anxious that we should maintain a Scriptural theology, that we should hold fast the form of sound words; at the same time we must remember that a technical theology will never save a soul; and that a mere verbal creed will never protect and increase our love for the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. This declension evoked the most solemn warnings and exhortations.
(1) The Church in its collective capacity may incur the Divine displeasure. There may be good individuals in the fellowship, yet the community as a whole may be under the frown of Him who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
(2) The Church in its collective capacity must betake itself to repentance. This is evident when we remember that there is certain work properly denominated Church work. Take, for example, either home or foreign evangelisation. It is not my work solely as an individual to go up and possess the land of heathenism: but it is our work as a Church to carry the light of heaven into the dark places of the earth. It can only be done by individuals, in so far as they are atoms in a fabric--parts of a whole. If, therefore, we have neglected to enter the door of opportunity as a Church, the cry of the angry Saviour is, Repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly.
(3) Jesus will unchurch every organisation that is unfaithful to His name; lie threatens to remove thy candlestick out of his place. Such language may well make us pause. Organisation is not spiritual brotherhood. Tell me not of gorgeous temples, of skilful arrangements, of complete machinery; I tell you that you may have all these in an unparalleled degree, and yet Ichabod may be written on your temple doors! What is your spiritual life? Is your ecclesiastical mechanism the expression of your love?
III. The Head of the Church has the richest blessings in reserve for all who overcome their spiritual enemies. Overcometh--the word tells of battle and victory. There is intimation here of an enemy. There is a hell in this word, and in it there is a devil. That your spiritual life is a fight you need not be reminded: every day you are in the battle-field; you live by strife. Eat--the word tells of appetite. Desire is in this word, and desire satisfied. Our desire for more of God shall increase as the ages of our immortality expire, and yet increasing desire is but another way of saying increasing satisfaction. The tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. It is but little we can say concerning such a tree: no worm is gnawing at its root, no serpent coils around its stem, no sere leaf trembles upon it as the prophet a coming winter; its every leaf is jewelled with purer dew than ever sparkled on the eyelids of the morning. A tree! Tis but another word for beauty, for beauty walks forth in ever-varying manifestations. A tree! Tis but another name for progress, for the circling sap bears through every fibre life and fruitfulness. A tree! Shall we assemble around that central tree? We cannot do so until we have assembled around the Cross. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The words of Christ to the congregation at Ephesus
I. Those which concern himself.
1. His relation to the Church.
2. His knowledge of the Church. He knows not merely overt acts, but inner motives.
II. Those which concern the congregation.
1. He credits them with the good they possess.
(1) Their repugnance to wrong.
(2) Their patience in toil.
(3) Their insight into character.
(4) Their hostility to error.
2. He reproves them for the declension they manifest.
3. He urges them to reform.
III. Those which concern the divine spirit.
1. The Divine Spirit makes communication to all the Churches.
2. Proper attention to these communications requires a certain ear.
IV. Those which concern moral conquerors.
1. Life is a battle.
2. Life is a battle that may be won
3. The winning of the battle is glorious. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Peculiarities of this Ephesian letter
I. Opposition to error.
1. The origin of religious error is often involved in great obscurity.
2. The manifestation of religious error is in deeds as well as doctrines. There are those, alas l who are orthodox in doctrine, but corrupt in character. Why is this?
(1) Because the sound doctrine remains in the head, and never enters the heart, and the heart is the spring of action.
(2) Because sometimes the tempting spirit suddenly excites impulses which for a time bury the beliefs.
3. The defence of religious error is generally by an appeal to Divine authority. The men who set themselves up as apostles are more likely to be apostates.
4. The dissemination of religious error is often very rapid.
(1) Because human nature in its depraved state has a greater affinity for it than for truth.
(2) Because religious errorists are generally zealous propagandists.
5. The very existence of religious error should be hated by Christians. Nothing is more damning to the intellect, heart, soul.
II. Patient endurance. It needed patience--
1. Because it had to disseminate truth. The stupidity, prejudices, and indifferentism of men call for this.
2. Because it has to encounter opposition.
3. Because patience is necessary to wait. The results of Christian labour are not reached at once, and are seldom so manifest as to compensate the labour expended.
III. The decay of love.
1. Remember. Review the past, and call to mind the sweet, delicate, blooming affection of thy first love, with all the fresh joys and hopes it awakened.
2. Repent. This does not mean crying, weeping, confessing, and throwing yourself into ecstasies, but a change in the spirit and purpose of life.
3. Reproduce--do thy first work. Go over thy past life, reproduce the old feeling, and re-attempt old effort.
4. Tremble. Let declension go on, and ruin is inevitable. (Caleb Morris.)
Phases of Church life; the Church declining in moral enthusiasm
I. That the Church which is declining in moral enthusiasm may be characterised by many commendable excellences.
1. This Church was active in work. Ministerial and Church work ought to be labour--so earnest in its spirit and determined in its effort that it shall not be mere occupation, but a moral anxiety.
2. This Church was patient in suffering. The Church, in our own time, has great need of this virtue, to prayerfully await the culmination of all its purposes, when its victory shall be complete and its enthronement final. We have far too many impatient men in the Christian community who cannot bear reproach or impediment.
3. This Church was keen and true in moral sensibility. The world delights in calling the Church intolerant, how can it be otherwise of evil? It cannot smile upon moral wrong.
4. It was judicious in the selection of its officials. Who these false apostles were we cannot determine; suffice it to say that their credentials were examined and found defective. Such deceivers have existed in all ages of the Church, and have become the authors of innumerable heresies. Christians should always test the conduct and doctrine of those whose pretences are great, and who seek to obtain authority amongst them; as men will even lie in reference to the most sacred things of life, and as zeal is not the only qualification for moral service.
5. It was inspired by the name of Christ. His name is influential with the pious soul, because it is the source of all its good and hope.
II. That the Church which is declining in moral enthusiasm is in a most serious condition, and invites the Divine rebuke.
1. In what may the first love, or moral enthusiasm of the Church, be said to consist? It is, indeed, sad when the Church is beautiful in the face but cold at the heart.
2. What is it for a Church to decline in first love or moral enthusiasm?
3. What is it that occasions a decline in first love or moral enthusiasm?
4. What is it that Christ has against the Church which declines in first love or moral enthusiasm? He regards such a Church as neglectful of great privileges; as guilty of sad ingratitude; as inexcusable in its conduct; and earnestly calls upon it to repent and do its first works.
III. That the Church declining, in moral enthusiasm must earnestly seek the renewal of its fervour.
1. A Church in such a condition must have a vivid remembrance of its past glory.
2. A Church in such a condition must have deep contrition of soul.
3. A Church in such a condition must repeat the loving activities of its new and early life.
IV. That the Church neglecting to regain the moral enthusiasm of its early life will meet with terrible retribution.
1. The retribution of such a Church will consist in the solemn visitation of Christ. It means affliction--it may be judgment.
2. The retribution of such a Church will consist in woful obliteration.
V. That the Church declining in moral enthusiasm should give timely heed to the threatened retributions of God. Lessons:
1. That the Church is surrounded by many hostile influences.
2. That the Church should, above all things, seek to retain its moral enthusiasm.
3. That the discipline of heaven toward the Church is for its moral welfare, but, if not attended to, will issue in great dejection. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
These things saith He who holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
Christs care in glory for His Churchs good on earth
I. Why is the Church called a candlestick?
1. A. candlestick hath no light in it of itself, but light must be put into it: and therefore in the case of the candlestick under the law, to which this here is an allusion, the priests were to light the candles.
2. The use of a candlestick is for no other end than to hold up and hold out the light, and to this very end the Lord hath instituted Churches.
3. A candlestick is a thing movable, and with the removing of the candlestick you carry away the light; the Lord removes the candlestick from place to place; though the land remain, the Church is gone, that is a dangerous judgment: not only an immediate removing of the ordinances, but of the Church, for which all ordinances were appointed; the kingdom of God shall be taken from them.
4. It is an allusion unto the candlestick under the law in the tabernacle, in Exo_25:31, which was a type of the Church of God.
II. Why is the Church called a golden candlestick?
1. Because gold is the purest metal, and the Lord will have His Church such; they shall differ as much from other men as gold doth from the common clay in the streets.
2. Because gold of all metals is the most precious, and of the highest esteem; there is as much difference between the Church of God and other men as there is between gold and dirt in the street; as between diamonds and pebbles in the Lords esteem.
III. How is Christ said to walk in the midst of the golden candlestick? It denotes a promise of especial presence and fellowship; this is the promise that the Lord made unto the Jews (Lev_26:12).
1. There is a gracious presence of Christ with His Church in all Church administrations.
2. There is the great glory of God to be seen in heaven; and you shall find that there is a great resemblance between His presence in His Church and in glory (Heb_12:22-23).
(1) Christ in heaven is present in majesty and glory; it is called the throne of His glory, and such is His presence in His Church too, and therefore observe it, He is said to sit upon a high throne in the midst of His Churches (Rev_4:8).
(2) In heaven the Lord is present as revealing His mind and will unto His people; there we shall know as we are known (1Co_13:12), and so He is present in the midst of His people (Deu_23:3).
(3) In heaven there shall be a glorious and full communication of all grace; as your communion shall then be perfect with Him, so shall the communication of all His grace be to you.
(4) In heaven the soul is wholly as it were resolved into God, that is, God wholly takes up the whole soul.
(5) In heaven there is the presence of His saints and angels. Application:
1. How should this command reverence in every soul of you when you come to have to do with any Church administrations!
2. Is there such a gracious presence of Christ in Gospel administrations, labour to see it there, labour to have your souls affected with the spiritual presence or absence of Christ there.
3. Remember Christ is present, but He is present in holiness.
4. Take notice He is present in jealousy.
(1) If you come at an adventure with God in Church administrations, the greatest temporal judgments shall be inflicted upon yon (Eze_10:2).
(2) If the Lord spare you in temporal judgments, He will pour out spiritual judgments. (Wm. Strong.)
The seven stars and the seven candlesticks
I. The Churches and their servants. I see in the relations between these men and the little communities to which they belonged, an example of what should be found existing between all congregations of faithful men and the officers whom they have chosen, be the form of their polity what it may.
1. The messengers are rulers. They are described in a double manner--by a name which expresses subordination, and by a figure which expresses authority. The higher are exalted that they may serve the lower. Dignity and authority mean liberty for more and more self-forgetting work. Power binds its possessor to toil. Wisdom is stored in one, that from him it may flow to the foolish; strength is given that by its holder feeble hands may be stayed. Noblesse oblige. The King Himself has obeyed the law. We are redeemed because He came to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. He is among us as He that serveth. God Himself has obeyed the law. He is above all that He may bless all. He, the highest, stoops the most deeply. His dominion is built on love, and stands in giving. And that law which makes the throne of God the refuge of all the weak, and the treasury of all the poor, is given for our guidance in our humble measure. But to be servant of all does not mean to do the bidding of all. The service which imitates Christ is helpfulness, not subjection. Neither the Church is to lord it over the messenger nor the messenger over the Church. All alike are by love to serve one another; counting every possession, material, intellectual, and spiritual, as given for the general good. The one guiding principle is, He that is chiefest among you, let him be your servant, and the other, which guards this from misconstruction and abuse from either side, One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.
2. The messengers and the Churches have at bottom the same work to do. Stars shine, so do lamps. Light comes from both, in different fashion indeed, and of a different quality, but still both are lights. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man for the same purpose,--to do good with. And we have all one office and function to be discharged by each in his own fashion--namely, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
3. The Churches and their messengers are alike in their religious condition and character. The successive letters treat his strength or weakness, his fervour or coldness, his sin or victory over evil, as being theirs. He represents them completely. Is it not true that the religious condition of a Church, and that of its leaders, teachers, pastors, ever tend to be the same, as that of the level of water in two connected vessels? Thank God for the many instances in which one glowing soul, all aflame with love of God, has sufficed to kindle a whole heap of dead matter, and send it leaping skyward in ruddy brightness! Alas! for the many instances in which the wet green wood has been too strong for the little spark, and has not only obstinately resisted, but has ignominiously quenched its ineffectual fire!
II. The Churches and their work.
1. The Church is to be light.
(1) Light is light, which circulates. The substance which is lit cannot but shins; and if we have any real possession of the truth, we cannot but impart it; and if we have any real illumination from the Lord, who is the light, we cannot but give it forth.
(2) Then think again how silent and gentle, though so mighty, is the action of the light. So should we live and work, clothing all our power in tenderness, doing our work in quietness, disturbing nothing but the darkness, and with silent increase of beneficent power filling and flooding the dark earth with healing beams.
(3) Then think again that heavens light itself invisible, and revealing all things, reveals not itself. The source you can see, but not the beams. So we are to shine, not showing ourselves but our master.
2. The Churchs light is derived light. Two things are needed for the burning of a lamp: that it should be lit, and that it should be fed. In both respects the light with which we shine is derived. We are not suns, we are moons; reflected, not self-originated, is all our radiance. That is true in all senses of the figure: it is truest in the highest. In ourselves we are darkness, and only as we hold fellowship with Christ do we become capable of giving forth any rays of light. He is the source, we are but reservoirs. He the fountain, we only cisterns. He must walk amidst the candlesticks, or they will never shine. Their lamps had gone out, and their end was darkness. Oh! let us beware lest by any sloth and sin we choke the golden pipes through which there steals into our tiny lamps the soft flow of that Divine oil which alone can keep up the flame.
3. The Churchs light is blended or clustered light. Union of heart, union of effort is commended to us by this symbol of our text. The great law is, work together if you would work with strength. To separate ourselves from our brethren is to lose power. Why, half dead brands heaped close will kindle one another, and flame will sparkle beneath the film of white ashes on their edges. Fling them apart and they go out. Rake them together and they glow.
III. The Churches and their Lord. He it is who holds the stars in His right hand, and walks among the candlesticks. The symbols ere but the pictorial equivalent of His own parting promise, Lo, I am with you always! That presence is a plain literal fact, however feebly we lay hold of it. It is not to be watered down into a strong expression for the abiding influence of Christs teaching or example, nor even to mean the constant benefits which flow to us from His work, nor the presence of His loving thoughts with us. The presence of Christ with His Church is analogous to the Divine presence in the material universe. As in it, the presence of God is the condition of all life; and if He were not here, there were no beings and no here: so in the Church, Christs presence constitutes and sustains it, and without Him it would cease. So St. Augustine says, Where Christ, there the Church. For what purpose is He there with His Churches? The text assures us that it is to hold up and to bless. His unwearied hand sustains, His unceasing activity moves among them. But beyond these purposes, or rather included in them, the vision of which the text is the interpretation brings into great prominence the thought that He is with us to observe, to judge, and, if need be, to punish. Thank God for the chastising presence of Christ. He loves us too well not to smite us when we need it. He will not be so cruelly kind, so foolishly fond, as in any wise to suffer sin upon us. Better the eye of fire than the averted face. He loves us still, and has not cast us away from His presence. Nor let us forget how much of hope and encouragement lies in the examples, which these seven Churches afford, of His long-suffering patience. That presence was granted to them all, the best and the worst,--the decaying love of Ephesus, the licentious heresies of Pergamos and Thyatira, the all but total deadness of Sardis, and the self-satisfied indifference of Laodicea, concerning which even He could say nothing that was good. All had Him with them as really as the faithful Smyrna and the steadfast Philadelphia. We have no right to say with how much of theoretical error and practical sin the lingering presence of that patient pitying Lord may consist. For others our duty is the widest charity,--for ourselves the most careful watchfulness. For these seven Churches teach us another lesson--the possibility of quenched lamps and ruined shrines. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Christs
care over Churches and ministers:--
I. What is meant by our Lords holding the stars, His ministers, in His hand.
1. It implies that it is He who appoints them to their office.
2. It is He who imparts the qualifications which are necessary for the effectual discharge of their office.
3. They are, with all their concerns, at His absolute disposal.
II. The import of His walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks.
1. It imports an accurate impression of the state, both as a society and as individuals.
2. It implies that His business, so to speak, lies in the management of His Churches. It is His building, His husbandry.
3. It denotes the complacency He takes in them. (R. Hall, M. A.)
Watchman, what of the night?
The mention made of stars and candlesticks (or rather lamp-stands) shows that it is night. It is the worlds night; it is the Churchs night. Day needs no lamps nor stars; night does both, for the outside earth and the inside chamber.
I. Who is He that thus walketh? It is as Priest and King that He appears in the midst of His Churches: as such they are to acknowledge Him. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we see Him specially as Priest; in the Book of Revelation as King.
II. Where does He walk? Among the seven golden candlesticks.
III. What does this walking mean?
1. He is near. A present Christ is specially taught us here--Jesus in the midst of His saints and His Churches. He is near to all of them, even the backsliding; as near to Laodicea and Sardis as to Ephesus and Philadelphia.
2. He watches over them. I know thy works. His eye, the eye of the watchful Priest and King, the eye of the watchful Saviour and Shepherd, is upon them. He inspects them, oversees them, cares for them, values them, delights in them, takes all interest in their welfare.
3. He supplies their need. All His fulness is at hand for each of them.
4. He mourns over their sins. His holy eye detects the sin; His loving heart mourns over it. There is no anger, no fury here. All is gentleness and grace.
5. He cheers them with the promise of victory and recompense. As if He would say to each, Fight on, for I am with you; faint not, for I, with all My fulness, am near. Shine on, for I delight in your brightness, and will enable you to shine. And My reward is with Me: to him that overcometh! (H. Bonar, D. D.)
I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience.--
False apostles
1. Christ would have us always walking in the sense of His Omniscience.
2. Christ is an unprejudged witness, as Its taketh notice of their good as well as their evil.
3. Such as Christ never called, may take on them highest titles in the Church, as it seemeth these had who called themselves apostles.
4. That diligence in duty, and difficulty in the performance of it, often go together: to do and to bear are often joined.
5. Patience in suffering, and impatience against corruptions and corrupt men, can well stand together.
6. There is no name, privilege, or title that should scare people, especially the ministers of God, from searching or trying corrupt men, that bring corrupt doctrine, though they should have the pretext of apostles, and had never so great gifts.
7. If folks will put to proof many things and persons that have fair names, they will be found very unlike the names they take.
8. The censuring of corrupt unsent ministers is a most difficult task, what from their nature, and sometimes from their parts; what from the addictedness of many unto them, yet it is a special duty: yet that it is acceptable before Jesus Christ may appear from these considerations.
(1) That the Scripture holdeth forth no kind of persons as more abominable in themselves and more hateful to Him (Isa_56:10).
(2) There is no kind of persons that prove more dishonourable to our Lord Jesus and to His gospel than such: these make the law to be despised.
(3) The scandalous unfaithfulness of ministers brings a special blot upon all religion, as if it were but mere hypocrisy.
(4) There is no such contempt done to our Lord Jesus, as for one to pretend to have commission from Him; and yet to be running unsent by Him; or, having gotten commission, to miscarry by unfaithfulness in it.
(5) As there is a suitableness in the censuring of such Church-officers to Christs mind, so there doth appear in the same a tenderness of and zeal unto His glory. Hence it is, that His most zealous servants, as Elias, Paul, did set themselves most against that generation.
(6) There is no sort of men more hurtful to the Church.
(7) Not only is there an obstruction to godliness by such, but they have a main influence upon the advancing of profanity. (James Durham.)
What Christ likes to see in a Church
1. Jesus likes to see a Church at work. He does not like to see a Church standing still, doing nothing to lengthen its cords and strengthen its stakes. It is our duty to ask ourselves, Does our work as a Church come up to the standard of what a Christian Church ought to be?
2. He likes also to see His people patient. He likes to see them labouring and not fainting, not becoming weary in well-doing. He likes to see them continuing instant in prayer, depending on Him to send the answer in His own good time.
3. Then, also, He likes to see within His Church a zeal for truth. Thou canst not bear them which are evil. The dread of being thought narrow-minded, or of giving offence to the godless, makes the Church become far too tolerant of sin. No society of men is considered strict or narrow-minded if it has certain rules of membership, and if it expels those who violate its rules. Why should the Christian Church be afraid or ashamed to maintain a discipline which even the societies of the world will carry out? Let us try to imitate the Church of Ephesus in this--and let us not be afraid of the charge of intolerance in doing so--that we cannot bear them who are evil. (C. H. Irwin, M. A.)
Religion active
The new creature is not a marble statue or a transparent piece of crystal, which has purity but not life. It is a living spirit, and therefore active. (S. Charnock.)
Unwearied patience
Patience must not be an inch shorter than affliction. If the bridge reach but half way over the brook, we shall have but an ill-favoured passage. (T. Adams.)
And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.--
The false apostle tried and discovered
What a dangerous and mischievous people false teachers and false apostles are. They do deceive men in the matter of their souls; they are called deceivers and seducers (Joh_2:7; 2Ti_3:13), and deceitful workers (2Co_11:13; 2Co_11:6). Now a man loves not to be deceived in anything, no, not in a small matter. If I had spent or given away much more, it would never have grieved me, you say; but I cannot endure to be cheated and deceived. And if a man cannot endure to be deceived in lesser things, what an evil thing is it then to be deceived in the matters of his soul? Such are the things that these false teachers do deceive men in; yea, they will and do subvert mens faith, and spoil them of the very fundamentals of their religion. Though they be a dangerous and mischievous people, yet it is an hard thing to discover them, for they walk in the dark, and transform themselves into ministers of light; they creep, and they privily creep into houses, saith the apostle; and they will come to you, saith our Saviour, in sheeps clothing (Mat_7:15). That is, look whatever garb the true prophet was or is found in, that will they be found in also. Did the true apostles preach Christ? so did the false apostles also (Php_1:15-16). Did the true apostles and prophets declare the deep things of God? (1Co_2:10), so did the false prophets also (chap. 2:24). Look what that is which the true preachers do, that will false teachers in appearance do. The same crow of iron, the same scripture that is in the hand of a friend, is made use of by a heretic, one that is a thief, who comes to make a prey of your faith. All teachers are to be tried three ways. By their call; their doctrine; their fruits or lives. And thus you see how those that are false apostles, or false teachers, may be tried and discovered. And is it a commendable thing in the eyes of Christ to make discovery of them? That it is the special work of Church officers to try and discover false teachers; for this epistle is directed to the angel of the Church of Ephesus. But though it is their work especially, yet it is a work incumbent upon all the saints and Churches. Therefore, yet more practically, go to God for wisdom and the spirit of discerning; it is Christ alone that doth see mens fruit under all their leaves: beg this discerning spirit, therefore, at the hands of Christ. Take heed that you do not lie in any sin or error, for all sin and error blinds. How shall you see the error of another, if you be blinded with your own sin and error? Be sure that you keep to the Scripture, and take heed that you do not judge of doctrines by impressions. Take heed that you have not too great a charity towards, and opinion of, those that are suspected to be false teachers. And if you would be sure to make up a right judgment in this great discovery, then stay your time, and wait long before you close with any of their opinions; for saith Christ, Ye shall know them by their fruit. Now the fruit of a tree is not presently seen; an ill tree in winter may seem to be as good as the best: stay therefore your time. (W. Bridge, M. A.)
Hatred of evil essential to love
This hate (of evil) in as essential to true love as shade to light, ever deepening with the intensity of it. (Isaac Williams.)
For My names sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.--
Labouring and not fainting
I. The positive and negative good here combined.
1. Thou hast laboured. To labour means hard work, vigorous action. Men may work, but yet not labour, and I fear there are many who claim to be working men who do not often trouble themselves with anything approaching to labour. There are also working Christians who do not approach to labouring; yet a lifetime of such work as theirs would not exhaust a butterfly. Now, when a man works for Christ he should work with all his might. If any master is to be served badly, let it not be our Master who is in heaven: we owe Him too much to wish to be eyeservants towards Him. If anywhere a dilatory servant may be excused, certainly it cannot be in the service of Him who redeemed us with His most precious blood. If I may use the figure, we ought to employ every particle of our steam power: we should drive the engine at high pressure; we have no force that can be allowed to escape in waste. But labour implies not merely strong effort, but a continuance of it, for a man might take up a workmans tool and for a few minutes make a mighty show of effort, and yet be no labourer, unless he kept on working until his task was done. He merely plays at labour, that is all. So have we known too many whose service for God has been occasional; fits and starts of effort they have, but they are soon over; their spasmodic zeal is to-day so hot as to be well nigh fanatical, and to-morrow it will be succeeded by an indifference far more astounding. If the Church is said to labour, it means that she puts forth all her strength as a regular thing. Like the sun and moon she continues in her orbit of duty. She keeps at her life-work; with all her might she continues in well-doing, and is not weary. There is the positive good.
2. The negative crowns the positive--And hast not fainted. Now, there are different degrees of fainting. Some may be said to faint comparatively when they flag in exertion. They drop from running to walking, from diligence to indolence. They did run well; what did hinder them? Many continue to do as much as ever they did outwardly, yet their heart is not in it, and so they faint. Some flag by growing weak in all they do. They do put forth such force as they have, but they are essentially feeble. The power of God has departed from them, and, though they may not know it, Ichabod is written upon their works. Too many go further than this; they renounce all or a large part of the Christian work they were accustomed to do. Content with the efforts of other days they surrender to the sluggards vice. And some go even further than that, for after retiring from labour themselves, they cease to have any care about the Lords work.
II. Excuses for fainting.
1. There are some who faint in the work of God because the work itself has proved very tedious to them. When they first undertook it and the novelty was upon it they did not tire, but now the freshness is gone, and they have come into the real wear and tear of it, they do not enjoy it quite so much as they thought they should. They hoped for an office in which the chief labour should be to gather lilies, or lie upon beds of roses. The service of the Crucified is far less romantic, and far more laborious. There is no royal road to eminence in anything, it is always uphill work and rough climbing; and certainly there is no such road in the service of God.
2. Other excuses, however, will be sure to come, and amongst them this, that we have been disappointed up till now in the success of what we have attempted. We have sown, but the most of the seed has fallen upon the wayside, or upon the rocks. We must not give up the war because we have not conquered yet, but fight on till we can seize the victory. Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.
3. Another set of excuses I must mention. They are little, pettish, pitiful, proud excuses, but they are very common. Here is one. I shall leave the work, for I am sure I am not appreciated as I ought to be. Do you mean to give way to such pettiness and silliness? If so, I have done with you, for you will never do any good in this world. The slave of such a mean feeling is incapable of being free. Ah, cries another, my complaint is more reasonable, for I am discouraged because no one aids me in my work. Oh, my brother, does your life after all depend upon the breath of other mens nostrils? Has it come to this, that you cannot live upon the approbation of your master unless you gain also the smile of your fellow-servants?
III. The real causes of fainting.
1. The first is an actual decline in spiritual strength. It is not merely that you do not do so much, it is that you are not so much; you have not the amount of life in you which you once had. And is not this a sad thing? Oh, to be dead to these spiritual realities in any degree is a dreadful death, and to be callous to holy things is a terrible hardness. May God keep us from spiritual insensibility, and may we be sensitive to the faintest motion of the Holy Spirit.
2. It is to be feared, also, that those who faint have lost their reliance upon Divine power, at least in a degree. Confidence in God makes us strong, but by turning away from our great unseen Helper, we straightway begin to faint.
3. Moreover, I am afraid that we forget that the Lord requires of us an unselfish dedication to His service, and that we do not serve Him at all unless His glory is our chief object. You must feel that you would have the Lord use you just as in His infinite wisdom He sees fit to do. You should be a piece of iron on the Almightys anvil: to be welded into a sceptre, if He chooses with you to break the potters vessels; to be beaten into a ploughshare and plunged into the earth, if by you He means to turn up the furrows of the fallow ground; or fashioned into a spear-point, if by you He intends to smite His enemies.
IV. I have a little medical business to do in closing. Four sorts of persons are very common among us. To each of these four I desire to administer a little medicine.
1. There are some who neither labour nor faint.
2. The next sort of persons to be dealt with are those who faint but do not labour.
3. Our third patient is one who did labour once, but has fainted.
4. But there are some who labour and are ready to faint. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Endurance
To lift up some heavy weight from the ground argues some strength; but to carry it for an hour, or all day, is a more perfect thing. (Thomas Manton.)
Thou hast left thy first love.--
Inward deterioration
Does it not often happen in the Christian life that the soul retains earnestness, patience, truth, endurance, a hatred of evil, long after it has left its first love; that its religious service is continued, apparently unaltered, while the spirit that prompted that service is changed for the worse? But though love is altered, there may yet remain the sense of duty. None without can detect the difference. The soul itself is perhaps hardly conscious of it. Or if conscious of anything, it is that prayer is not so easy and pleasant as it used to be, that the thoughts are more wandering, that temptation is more attractive, and thanksgiving is irksome, unreal, and unblessed. The whole tendency of our being is to deteriorate. Most of us can remember a time at which we think we were more fit to die than we are now. Our self-examination has told us that we are not now what we were; and perhaps self-examination was hardly necessary for the acquirement of this knowledge. It is forced upon us continually throughout the day as we feel and act so coldly towards good, so readily and kindly towards evil. Now if it be really that we have fallen back only one step in faith and love, if we have left our first love, what must we do? We must struggle against the languor which threatens to benumb us. We must struggle with all our might, not giving up any one duty merely because it is irksome. This may not indeed be restoration, but it will at least maintain that communication with the Source of all strength by which restoration may be looked for. When we have realised what we once were, and reflect that by Gods grace we might have lived the rest of our lives according to that beginning, and neared the goal in the heavenward race, then we may be able to measure our decline, and, weeping over what we have lost, pray for grace to regain it. And repent. Yes I this must be, We will not trust in that which remains, in our hatred of the worst sins, in sympathy with Him, not in our works, or our labour, or our patience, our distrust of false teachers, our perseverance under trial. These are nothing without love. We will confess that other lords besides Him have had dominion over us. We will confess that we have left our first love, and implore Him to recover us, and turn our hearts. (W. Mitchell, M. A.)
The enthusiasm of the first love
I. What is it? Most of us can probably remember an early enthusiastic preference or affection for some one. It was like nothing else in our lives. It stirred in us as the spring stirs in the earth when the green shoots appear. New capacities of working, enjoying, suffering, began to reveal themselves. Now, the same thing happens when Christ and His love are first revealed to us, and we rise up and meet them. It is an absolutely new experience. We feel an intense interest and a strong drawing of the heart. Spiritual things which seemed far off have suddenly come near. Life has become of meaning and value, not so much for what it brings to us, as for what it is; because it has become so full of love and of God. And we feel within us the working of a new passion--a yearning to do good, to sacrifice ourselves in some way, to make some return to that wonderful Divine love which seems to surround us like an atmosphere and lift us like an inspiration. It is so easy to do right; it seems shameful, almost impossible, to do wrong; we could not be so disloyal as to think of any forbidden thing, and a keen remorse seizes us if we appear to swerve by a hairbreadth from the straight path. In this first love, where vividly experienced, there are these three elements--an awakening, an enthusiasm, and a jealous preference. We realise God; we realise life; we realise the claims of men, the beauty of goodness, the baseness of sin, the triumphant power of righteousness, and the wide, deep meaning of eternity. But this love is not mere contemplation. We are eager to act in the light of this revelation, because all these beliefs are full of conviction and impulse, and we must do something for the Christ who has made all things new--who has given us a possession in all things, and, above all, a possession in Himself. That is the enthusiasm of the first love. But love is not love unless it is jealous--jealous not in a mean, but in a high sense--jealous of any interference with its course. Nothing can be tolerated which takes the edge off the soul, that keen edge which ensures success in work and conflict and prayer.
II. Losing it, or rather leaving it. Sometimes a man looks back on the first love he felt to Christ with philosophic indifference: Yes, I was rather interested in these things at one time--enthusiastic even after a fashion. Very curious, you know, how the mind works; I can scarcely credit it now. Oh, one of those passing phases of feeling, of course. Sometimes a man looks back to it scoffingly or contemptuously: I believe I did once rather make a fool of myself about religion. I have got more important things now to attend to. Others assume a tone of self-congratulation. They narrate how they threw themselves into this piece of work or that; how there was nothing they would not do. A man plumes himself on the fact that, though, of course, he would never think of making sacrifices and exerting himself in Christs cause now, that at one time he was just as active and self-denying as any ardent young Christian. Others I have known look back despairingly: Yes, I once had these experiences you speak of--hopes bright beyond expression, and feelings fresh as the dawn. But the light is gone; the tide has ebbed, and wont flow again. I would that these feelings could come back, but we dont look for miracles nowadays. That is what some people say despairingly. Now the ways by which men generally forfeit their best spiritual possession are mainly these: Failure to feed it. All love is hungry, and the finer and purer a love is, the more it demands suitable nutriment. If your first love shows signs of failing, ask yourself, Am I not starving it? You are starving it if you are not seeking Christ as you sought Him at first, asking Him to reveal Himself to you; setting apart still hours; letting your heart go out to the only object to whom it is quite worth while for our hearts to cling. Or again, perhaps you are failing to develop your first love-to give it exercise. What sacrifices is your love making? what is it bringing to the Divine loved ones feet? Once more, you may be forfeiting your first love through failure to guard it. There is a keen spiritual edge with which all the best part of spiritual work is done. We must whet the edge; but we must also sheathe it. In contact with certain things it gets blunt.
III. Keeping first love. There are two theories about love that are thoroughly false--the theory of disenchantment and the theory of emotional exhaustion. Sometimes we are told that all love in its very nature is illusion; that our enthusiasm for a person or cause is very largely a creation of our own fond imagination; and that the cold touch of reality slowly dispels all that sort of thing. This is the philosophy of the cynics, and cynics are a set of fools, blinded by the conceit of their own superior wisdom. Of course there is excuse for disenchantment when the object of our affection changes, or when we have been deceived in it. But that cannot happen here; Christ does not change. And then as to what may be called emotional exhaustion. Love necessarily exhausting itself! what ignorant nonsense! Why, love grows by what it feeds on. And to love Christ is to keep near the fresh fount of all love. It is not an emptying of our full hearts; it is a filling of our empty hearts. Of course the Divine love--the first love--is not stereotyped. It does not retain always the same complexion or the same expressions, but it retains, or ought to retain, the same intensity. All love passes through phases, and develops not by standing still, but by moving forward. It is not meant that our first love to Christ should retain its juvenile form. But it is meant that it should retain its ardour, its capacity of sacrifice, and its jealous watchfulness. (John F. Ewing, M. A.)
The Peculiarities of the Christians first love
The prominent characteristic of every soul truly converted to Christianity is love to the Saviour. The faith which is the gift of God, and which is wrought in Christians by the Holy Spirit, always works by love. Love is, therefore, set down as the first and principal fruit of the Spirit. Now, there is something peculiar in the exercise of this first love of the young convert.
1. Its exercise is fervent and tender, not founded, indeed, on such accurate views of the character of Christ as are afterwards acquired; and commonly less pure from mere animal excitement, than that of the mature Christian, but accompanied with more joy and exultation.
2. Another thing which stamps a peculiarity on the first love of the Christian is the novelty of the objects and scenes which are now presented to his enlightened mind. All his lifetime he has been in darkness respecting the true nature of spiritual things. But now the eyes of his understanding being opened, and the true light shining into them, everything appears new and attractive; and sometimes a Divine glory is exhibited to the contemplation of the enlightened mind.
3. Again, God deals with His children in the infancy of their spiritual life as mothers with their children while they are young. They furnish them with the sweetest nutriment, cherish them in their bosoms, carry them in their arms, and rock them in the cradle. But when they have been weaned, and have grown strong, they are turned out to shift for themselves. Thus, our heavenly Father, who exercises a warmer and tenderer affection for His children than the kindest mothers, is pleased to deal very tenderly with young converts; and often pours streams of Divine comfort into their susceptible hearts. They are for a season led in smooth and pleasant paths. In their prayers and other religious exercises they enjoy liberty of access to their heavenly Father. These are indeed halcyon days, and will be often afterwards remembered with a mournful pleasure, when the scene is greatly changed; and especially when inbred corruption grows strong. The early days of the true Christian may also be well illustrated by the feelings of the newly enlisted soldier. He rejoices in the pomp and circumstance of the military life; is animated by the sound of martial music, and by the sight of splendid banners, and the gorgeous costume of his officers. But how different are the condition and feelings of the same person when he receives marching orders; and especially when he is led into battle. (A. Alexander, D. D.)
Spiritual declension reproved, admonished, and threatened
I. A reproof. Who does not lament to see an exquisite piece of workmanship marred by some one defect; for in this case, the neighbourhood and prominency of the excellency renders the fault more obvious, and more offensive. Everything in the Divine life is prone to degenerate. Where is the denomination or church that has long remained in its glory? But the reproof is addressed to individuals. There were those who had fallen, and the charge is-dereliction of their first love. Now in Christianity provision is made not only for a believers perseverance in the ways of God, but for his growth and progress. Add to your faith, virtue, etc. And as the Saviour demands this, so you must acknowledge that He deserves it; and why, do you love Him the less and serve Him less. What, says he, have you been mistaken in my character, have I injured you; have I not been increasing my claims upon you; and while I am doing more for you, are you doing less for me?
II. An admonition.
1. Remember. All religion commences in serious thought. There is nothing more useful than self-recollection; there is no means better for reviving the soul than a review of former experiences.
2. Repent. This is enjoined in Scripture not only on sinners, but also on saints; and they will be the subjects of it as long as they remain in the world, as long as the performance of duty has deficiency in it.
3. Renewed obedience, do the first works; begin again, be as simple, as earnest, as patient, as circumspect, as at first. How mortifying would be such a requisition to an Israelite in the wilderness, to be turned back to walk over all his journey again;--how mortifying to an apprentice, after being for years engaged in business, expecting to get forward, to be put back to his first work, and to have the first rough implements put into his hands again;--how mortifying to a scholar when hoping to be dismissed from his studies, and to return home, to be led back from class to class, and have the first elementary book again put into his hands.
III. A threatening.
1. How are we to understand this threatening? how is it to be accomplished? It is accomplished when men tall into such languor and insensibility in Divine things as to be incapable of edification. If a man cannot use aliment, or it he cannot digest it, it is the same as if it was taken away, for he will surely die; and such is the condition of thousands who, from week to week, hear the gospel; it makes no impression, they hear it, but they are sermon proof, heaven proof, and hell proof. The gospel is to them of no avail whatever.
2. The dreadfulness of this state. If God were from tiffs hour to declare that the sun should never rise again on this country, or that no rain should ever again drop upon the land, it would be an infinitely less judgment, than if he were to withdraw the gospel and the means of grace; for this judgment does not so much regard the body as the soul; or time so much as eternity. Some judgments are corrective, but this is penal. Some judgments are meant to convert, but this to destroy.
3. The certainty of this threatening. We are slow to believe. How superficial our belief is in this respect appears from the unsteadiness of our Christian practice. Surely if we believed we should be established; but when you hear such language as this, you are prone to suppose it never can be realised. It; will be necessary for me, therefore, to inform you, that he who has denounced this threatening is faithful. God is not a man that He should lie, or the Son of Man that He should repent. (W. Jay, M. A.)
On leaving our first love
I. A charge preferred. Thou hast left thy first love.
1. What is meant by the first love? Ask the young convert, who, after having received the sentence of death in his conscience; after trembling under the curse of a broken law; after struggling in the bondage of darkness, doubt, and fear, has come forth under the leading of the Spirit, into the light, liberty, and joy of the gospel!
2. What then is it to leave this happy state? It is to let the heart grow cold and indifferent to Him whom we can never love enough! It is to lose the sweet enjoyment of privileges, and consider duty wearisome. It is to have services formal and ordinances barren. It is to have idols in the temple of the soul, so that the whole is not, as it ought to be, consecrated to the Lord.
II. We have an admonition given.
1. This admonition relates to the past. The Lord here calls the Ephesian Church to bring their past experience and character to mind. They had fallen. They had been once much higher in Christian standing than now. Their minds had been more elevated in holy and heavenly conceptions, and their practice more dignified and honourable. Then, leaving our first love to Christ is falling. Now, this is a state just the reverse of what a Christians state ought to be.
2. This admonition relates to the present. Repent! seeing by a review of the past, to what danger the soul has been exposed; what guilt has been contracted; what honour and enjoyments have been lost; what injury has been done to religion; what injustice to Christ, the work of reformation must immediately begin.
3. This admonition relates to the future. And do thy first works. All will be vain and unreal without this. There must be fruits meet for repentance, to prove it genuine.
III. A threatening denounced. Lessons:
1. It is possible for there to be many things commendable in Christians, and yet something to call for a solemn threatening, like that in our text.
2. It is evident that leaving our first love is very criminal in the sight of Christ.
3. The removal of the gospel from souls in any way is a most awful punishment. (Essex Remembrancer.)
Loves complaining
I. Christ perceives.
1. He does not so perceive the faults as to be forgetful of that which He can admire and accept. He has a keen eye for all that is good. When He searches our hearts He never passes by the faintest longing, or desire, or faith, or love, of any of His people. He says, I know thy works.
2. But this is our point, that while Jesus can see all that is good, yet in very faithfulness He sees all that is evil. His love is not blind. It is more necessary for us that we should make a discovery of our faults than of our virtues.
3. This evil was a very serious one; it was love declining. It is the most serious ill of all; for the Church is the bride of Christ, and for a bride to fail in love is to fail in all things.
4. It was Jesus Himself who found it out. How good of Him to care one jot about our love! This is no complaint of an enemy, but of a wounded friend.
5. Jesus found it out with great pain.
6. The Saviour, having thus seen this with pain, now points it out.
7. The Saviour pointed out the failure of love; and when He pointed it out He called it by a lamentable name. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen.
8. The Master evidently counts this decline of love to be a personal wrong done to Himself. I have somewhat against thee. It is an offence against the very heart of Christ.
II. What the Saviour prescribes.
1. The first word is Remember. Thou hast left thy first love. Remember, then, what thy first love was, and compare thy present condition with it. At first nothing diverted thee from thy Lord. He was thy life, thy love, thy joy. Remember from whence thou art fallen. Remember the vows, the tears, the communings, the happy raptures of those days; remember and compare with them thy present state. Remember and consider, that when thou wast in thy first love, that love was none too warm. Even then, when thou didst live to Him, and for Him, and with Him, thou wast none too holy, none too consecrated, none too zealous. Remember the past with sad forebodings of the future. He who has sunk so far may fall much farther.
2. The next word of the prescription is Repent. Repent as thou didst at first. Repent of the wrong thou hast done thy Lord.
3. But then he says in effect, Return. The third word is this--Repent, and do the first works. There must be in every declining Christian a practical repentance. Do not be satisfied with regrets and resolves.
III. He persuades.
1. With a warning. I will come unto thee, etc. Our Lord means, first., I will take away the comfort of the Word. But the candlestick also symbolises usefulness: it is that by which a Church shines. The use of a Church is to preserve the truth, wherewith to illuminate the neighbourhood, to illuminate the world. God can soon cut short our usefulness, and He will do so if we cut short our love.
2. With a promise. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Observe, those who lose their first love fall, but those who abide in love are made to stand. In contrast to the fall which took place in the paradise of God, we have man eating of the tree of life and so living for ever. If we, through grace, overcome the common tendency to decline in love, then shall we be confirmed in the favour of the Lord. Note again, those who lose their first love wander far; they depart from God. But, saith the Lord, if you keep your first love you shall not wander, but you shall come into closer fellowship. I will bring you nearer to the centre. I will bring you to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. The inner ring is for those who grow in love; the centre of all joy is only to be reached by much love. Then notice the mystical blessing which lies here, waiting your meditation. Do you know how we fell? The woman took of the fruit of the forbidden tree, and gave to Adam, and Adam ate and fell. The reverse is the case in the promise before us: the Second Adam takes of the Divine fruit from the tree of promise, and hands it to His spouse; she eats and lives for ever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Forsaking the first love
I. The greatness of the sin of coldness in Christians, and how offensive it is to God.
1. You have no right to feel this indifference towards God or man.
2. This coldness is not a mere defect, it bespeaks some degree of the positive action of the most polluting passions.
3. It is a dreadful abuse of God. It is passing by His infinite glories after other objects.
4. It involves all the guilt of base ingratitude.
5. There is in this thing the violation of an oath, or a solemn breach of covenant.
II. What is to be alone, and how we are to escape from. This fearful condition. (E. Griffin, D. D.)
Backsliding
I. Its nature.
1. Some backslide in heart. This consists in the withdrawment of the affections from God.
2. Some backslide in life. When a person becomes careless of God in his heart, he will probably soon manifest the defect in his conduct.
3. There are others who backslide in doctrinal sentiment.
II. Its symptoms.
1. Love of the world.
2. A cold formal spirit in the exercises of devotion.
3. When the heart has lost all delight in spiritual things, we have another evidence of being in a backsliding state.
4. Association with men of the world is another evidence of a backsliding state. By this we mean, all that association which is uncalled for by the business or relationships of life.
5. A state of backsliding is testified by negligence in attending the means of grace.
III. Its evils.
1. It dishonours God.
2. It deprives us of happiness. The pleasures of religion are suspended where there is inconsistency of conduct, and where the spirit of the world reigns.
3. It gives our enemies advantage over us.
4. It prepares us for terrible darkness in a dying hour.
IV. Its cure. We must take heed of that disposition which would lead us to suppose that the case is incurable. This is the greatest obstacle in the way of recovery. We must remember that against such reasoning the testimony of the word of God is directed. The facts of Scripture prove it. David, Peter, and others fell far from God; and they verified the word, the a just man fall seven times, he shall rise again.
1. Come back with fervent prayer.
2. If we would have this state rectified, we must begin where we began at first: we must repent and do our first works. And in doing this, let us be sure that we rest on the right foundation.
3. We must call to mind former days, and compare them with the present. (Essex Remembrancer.)
Declension from first love
I. What was our first love? Oh, let us go back--it is not many years with some of us. Then if you are Christians, those days were so happy that your memory will never forget them, and therefore you can easily return to that first bright spot in your history. Oh, what love was that which I had to my Saviour the first time He forgave my sins. I could realise then the language of Rutherford, when he said, being full of love to Christ, once upon a time, in the dungeon of Aberdeen--O my Lord, if there were a broad hell betwixt me and Thee, if I could not get at Thee except by wading through it, I would not think twice, but I would plunge through it all, if I might embrace Thee and call Thee mine. Now it is that first love that you and I must confess, I am afraid, we have in a measure lost. Let us just see whether we have it. When we first loved the Saviour how earnest we were; there was not a single thing in the Bible that we did not think most precious; there was not one command of His that we did not think to be like fine gold and choice silver. That first love does not last half so long as we could wish. Some of you stand convicted even here; you have not that burning love, that ridiculous love as the worldling would call it, which is, after all, the love to be most desired. No, you have lost your first love in that respect. Again, how obedient you used to be. If you saw a commandment, that was enough for you--you did it. But now you see a commandment, and you see profit on the other side; and how often do you dally with the temptation, instead of yielding an unsullied obedience to Christ! Again, how happy you used to be in the ways of God. There was a time when every bitter thing was sweet; whenever you heard the Word, it was all precious to you. Now you can grumble at the minister. Alas! the minister has many faults, but the question is, whether there has not been a greater change in you than there has been in him. Again, when we were in our first love, what would we do for Christ? Now, how little will we do.
II. Where did you and I lose our first love, if we have lost it? Have you not lost your first love in the world, some of you? Is it not marvellous, that when you grew richer and had more business, you began to have less grace? It is a very serious thing to grow rich. Dost thou not think, again, that thou hast lost thy first love by neglecting communion with Christ? Has there not been, sometimes, this temptation to do a great deal for Christ, but not to live a great deal with Christ? Perhaps, too, you attend the means so often, that you have no time in secret to improve what you gain in the means. Mrs. Bury once said, that if all the twelve apostles were preaching in a certain town, and we could have the privilege of hearing them preach, yet if they kept us out of our closets, and led us to neglect prayer, better for us never to have heard their names, than to have gone to listen to them. We shall never love Christ much except we live near to Him.
III. Seek to get your first love restored. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Loss of the first love
I have often been constrained to notice that when Christians, from time to time, throw themselves into actual labour for the Lord, there is a great danger of a reaction coming, a consciousness of weariness: they begin to grow weary of well doing; perhaps there are a few disappointments; the work is not going on so flourishingly. When the wind and tide are in our favour, there are some of us who can work very hard; we can pull a very lusty oar as long as the boat. It seems to make progress, but when we find the tide dead against us, and it seems as though we were making no headway, we begin to feel faint, and weary, and ask somebody to take the oar. That is a dangerous snare. Can we honestly and truthfully say that we are workers, that we are labourers, and that we are patient labourers, so plodding that we have not fainted in spite of all the difficulties with which we have been surrounded? Is there anything more that could be said in their favour? Yes, something still. These Ephesian converts had held to Gods truth in a day when there was a good deal of theological discussion, and also theological misconception and error. They were orthodox to the backbone; our Lord had no fault with them in this respect; they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, they would have nothing to do with them. How happy were these men! the Word of God, how they loved to pore over it! what treasures they found in it! It was a joy to them to open the sacred page. But, you say, I suppose Christian experience will not always be identical: and, certainly, it is not. Well then, when we have first passed out of darkness into light, it is natural that there should be a good deal of emotion in our experience, and much of this may reasonably be expected to pass away as we become more established Christians. Now there may be a great deal of truth in all this, and yet such pleading may indicate but too surely the loss of the first love. Our experience is subject to change. But how is it to change? I wonder whether St. Paul loved his Master less, or more, when he said towards the end of his life, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, than he did at the moment when he first committed his soul into His hands. Do you suppose it is a sign of ripening experience to substitute work, energy, and a thousand other things for love. Oh, let us not delude ourselves. There is one thing more important than work, yes, more important than labour, even more important than orthodoxy, and that one thing is Jesus Christ Himself. If we have got Him we shall have all the rest, and if we have got the rest and have not got Him, we have nothing. I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. How do people lose their first love? We think, as we first experience it, that it is so delightful in itself, there is so much of heaven upon earth in such experience, that we must be worse than mad ever to forfeit it. Now do not suppose that anybody throws it away wilfully. It is little by little that the first love is lost.
1. Many people lose it by earthly business. They lead bustling lives; they have so many cares pressing upon them, so much to think about, so much to be undertaken. It is even so with some of our Christian workers. Or, perhaps, in our worldly employment, we are bent upon certain objects which are out of harmony with the will of Christ. There is some dark form of worldly care, or it may be of religious activity--something or other has crept in between us and God, and the whole heaven is darkened, the light is eclipsed, and the blessedness is gone.
2. Or, again, there are many Christians who lose their first love by forming another love. Thou art forfeiting that blessed inner life of love, which can only be realised by those who understand the full force of the first great commandment, Thou shalt have none other gods but Me.
3. Yet again, how many of us lose our first love by little acts of thoughtlessness. Love is a very jealous thing. (W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.)
Spiritual declension
I. Its symptoms: The first test, to which we would bring the professing Christian who is anxious to determine whether love is growing cold in himself, is that furnished by secret prayer and the study of Gods Word. Prayer has been not inaptly called the breathing of the soul; and you may be sure, that where this grows shorter and more difficult, there can be no healthful play in the organs of life. And as one great symptom of spiritual decline may be derived from the more private means of grace, so may another from the more public. The Christian in whom vital religion is in a healthy condition, attaches great worth to the public ordinances; neglect of these is, however, a sign of declining love. But now take another symptom--equally decisive, though perhaps more easily overlooked. There is no feeling stronger in the Christian than that of desire to promote Gods glory in the salvation of his fellow-men. But suppose him to become comparatively indifferent to the diffusion of the gospel--so that it is not with the heart, though it may be with the purse and the hand, that he helps forward the cause of the Redeemer; ah! who will say that the love is not losing its fervour? who will deny the spiritual decline? But again; there is a broad separating line between the men of the world and the men of religion. And the healthful Christian is quite aware of this. He guards accordingly with godly jealousy against any such conformity as would do violence to his profession. But there may be--and there often is--a great change in these respects. The man of religion comes to view the world with less fear, and less repugnance. Alas! this is one of the strongest of symptoms that the fervour is departing from the love. And not unlike the symptom of making light of the difference between religion and the world is that of making light of the difference between various creeds. The distinguishing doctrines of the gospel are prized by the ardent Christian as treasures without which he were unutterably poor. Hence he looks with abhorrence, for example, on Socinianism; it would strip Christ of His Divinity, and this he feels would be the stripping himself of immortality. But this repugnance to error may not continue. And wheresoever there is this lowered sense of the indispensableness of fundamental truths, and of an increasing disposition to think gently of wrong systems of religion, you may be sure that the love is fast losing its fervour. You may be certain, further, that where there is no increase in religion there must be some radical deficiency; nay, where there is no increase there must be a decrease. Judge then yourselves, ye who would know whether ye are the subjects of spiritual declension. Is it a greater privilege to you to pray, and a less labour to be obedient? Have you a firmer command over your passions? Is the will more in harmony with the Divine? Is the conscience more sensitive, and is the judgment prompter in deciding: for what is right against what is agreeable?
II. Its dangers. For some of you might be disposed to say--Well, what if our love be less ardent than it was? it does not follow that we must be in great peril; the love may be warm enough for salvation, and yet not as warm as it was at first. But if you remember how our Lord reasoned in regard of the salt which had lost its saltness--and this is but another figure to express the same thing as the love losing its fervour. The grand difficulty is not that of producing love at first, but of restoring its heat when it has been suffered to grow cold. Even amongst ourselves, in reference to human attachment, the difficulty of rousing a decayed affection is almost proverbial. The party who has loved and then ceased to love, is of all others the least likely to love again. The ashes of the decayed sentiment seem to smother the fresh sparks. And the difficulty which is experienced in the revival of human affection might be looked for, when it is the love of God and of Christ which has grown languid. You are to observe, that a great deal must have been done for the man in whom the love of God has once been kindled. The Spirit of God must have striven with this man--so as to arouse in him the dormant immortality, and brought him to experience the power of the gospel. But it is not the course of this celestial Agent, to persist in working where there is no earnestness in holding fast what He has already granted. If you expose yourselves to the damps of the world or unnecessarily permit the icy winds of temptation to beat upon you, He will work on you with less and less energy or communicate less and less of animating grace. And we cannot but suppose, that this Spirit is more displeased when neglected by one on whom He has effectually wrought, than when resisted by another with whom He has striven in vain. But the Spirit may be recalled; and then the smothered flame may be rekindled. We will not deny it; God forbid that we should. We are not required to make the case out hopeless, but only full of difficulty. Take away the life from religion, leave us nothing but formality, and there is not upon the face of the earth an individual, so useless to others and to himself, as the one in whom the love remains, but remains in its ashes and not in its fires. It is the insidiousness of the disease which makes it so difficult to cope with. The resemblance is continually fixed on us, between what our medical men call consumption, and what our theological call spiritual decline. You know very well, that the presence of consumption is often scarcely suspected till the patient is indeed past recovery. There is perhaps no disease which less tells its victim what its fatal errand is. You know how beautifully brilliant it often makes the eye and the cheek. Alas! this is but emblematic of what it does to the heart, flushing it with hope and suffusing it with life, when the winding sheet is woven and the shadow is falling. But this disease, so insidious, so flattering, so fatal, is the exact picture of spiritual decline. Ministers and kinsmen may perceive no difference in the man; equally regular in the public duties of religion, equally large in his charities, equally honourable in his dealings, equally pure in his morals. The fatal symptoms may be all internal; and because they are not such as to draw observation, there may be no warning given by others; and the sick man, not examining himself, and not finding that his religious friends suppose him to be on the decline, will be all the more likely to feel persuaded of his safety, and to learn his disease, alas! only from his death. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The true problem of Christian experience
I. The relation of the first love, or the beginning of the Christian discipleship, to the subsequent life.--What we call conversion is not a change distinctly traceable in the experience of all disciples, though it is and must be a realised fact in all. There are many that grew up out of their infancy, or childhood, in the grace of Christ, and remember no time when they began to love Him. Even such, however, will commonly remember a time when their love to God and Divine things became a fact so fresh, so newly conscious, as to raise a doubt whether it was not then for the first time kindled. In other cases there is no doubt of a beginning--a real, conscious, definitely-remembered beginning--a new turning to God, a fresh-born Christian love. It is now realised, as far as it can be--the very citizenship of the soul is changed; it has gone over into a new world, and is entered there into new relations. But it has not made acquaintance there; it scarcely knows how it came in, or how to stay, and the whole problem of the life-struggle is to become established in what has before been initiated. What was initiated as feeling must be matured by holy application, till it becomes one of the souls own habits. A mere glance at the new-born state of love discovers how incomplete and unreliable it is. Regarded in the mere form of feeling, it is all beauty and life. A halo of innocence rests upon it, and it seems a fresh made creature, reeking in the dews of its first morning. But how strange a creature is it to itself--waking to the discovery of its existence, bewildered by the mystery of existence. An angel, as it were, in feeling, it is yet a child in self-understanding. The sacred and pure feeling you may plainly see is environed by all manner of defects, weaknesses, and half-con-quered mischiefs, just ready to roll back upon it and stifle its life. It certainly would not be strange if the disciple, beset by so many defects, and so little ripe in his experience, should seem for a while to lose ground, even while strenuously careful to maintain his fidelity. And then Christ will have somewhat against him. He will not judge him harshly, and charge it against him as a crime that has no mitigations; it will only be a fatal impeachment of his discipleship, when he finally surrenders the struggle, and relapses into a prayerless and worldly life.
II. The subsequent life, as related to the beginning, or first love. The paradise of first love is a germ, we may conceive, in the souls feeling of the paradise to be fulfilled in its wisdom. And when the heavenly in feeling becomes the heavenly in choice, thought, judgment, and habit, so that the whole nature consents and rests in it as a known state, then it is fulfilled or completed. At first the disciple knows, we shall see, very little of himself, and still less how to carry himself so as to meet the new state of Divine consciousness into which he is born. At first nothing co-operates in settled harmony with his new life, but if he is faithful, he will learn how to make everything in him work with it, and assist the edifying of his soul in love. A very great point to be gained, by the struggle of experience, is to learn when, one has a right to the state of confidence and rest. At first the disciple measures himself wholly by his feeling. If feeling changes, as it will and must at times, then he condemns himself, and condemning himself perhaps without reason, he breaks his confidence towards God and stifles his peace. Then he is ready to die to get back his confidence, but not knowing how he lost it, he knows not where to find it. But finally, after battering down his own confidence and stifling his love in this manner by self-discouragement for many years, he is corrected by Gods Spirit and led into a discovery of himself and the world that is more just, ceases to condemn himself in that which he alloweth, so to allow himself in anything which he condemneth; and now behold what a morning it is for his love! His perturbed, anxious state is gone. Gods smile is always upon him: first love returns, henceforth to abide and never depart. Everywhere it goes with him, into all the callings of industry and business, into social pleasures and recreations, bathing his soul as a divine element. By a similar process he learns how to modulate and operate his will. On one side his soul was in the Divine love. On the other he had his will. But, how to work his will so as perfectly to suit his love, he at first did not know. He accordingly took his love into the care of his will; for assuredly he must do all that is possible to keep it alive. He thus deranged all right order and health within by his violent superintendence, battered down the joy he wished to keep, and could not understand what he should do more; for, as yet, all he had done seemed to be killing his love. He had not learned that love flows down only from God, who is its object, and cannot be manufactured within ourselves. But he discovers finally that it was first kindled by losing, for the time, his will. Understanding now that he is to lose his will in Gods will, and abandon himself wholly to God, to rest in Him and receive of His fulness; finding, too, that will is only a form of self-seeking, he makes a total loss of will, self, and all his sufficiency; whereupon the first love floods his nature again, and bathes him like a sea without a shore. And yet it will not be strange if he finds, within a year, that, as he once overacted his will in self-conduct, so now he is underacting it in quietism; that his love grows thin for want of energy, and, returning to his will again, he takes it up in God; dares to have plans and ends, and to be a person; wrestles with God and prevails with Him; and so becomes, at last, a prince, acknowledged and crowned before him. At first he had a very perplexing war with his motives. He feared that his motive was selfish, and then he feared that his fear was selfish. He dug at himself so intently, to detect his selfishness, as to create the selfishness he feared. The complications of his heart were infinite, and he became confused in his attempt to untwist them. He blamed His love to God because he loved Him for His goodness, and then tried to love Him more without any thought of His goodness. He was so curious, in fact, to know his motives that he knew nothing of them; and finally stifled his love in the effort to understand it, and act the critic over it. At length, after months or years, it may be, of desolation, he discovers, as he had never done before, that he was a child in his first love, and had a childs simplicity. And now he has learned simplicity by his trial! Falling now into that first simplicity, there to abide, because he knows it, the first love blooms again--blooms as a flower, let us hope, that is never to wither. His motive is pure because it is simple; and his eye, being single toward God, his whole body is full of light. You perceive, in this review, how everything in the subsequent life of the disciple is designed of God to fulfil the first love. A great part of the struggle which we call experience, appears to operate exactly the other way; to confuse and stifle the first fire of the Spirit. Still the process of God is contrived to bring us round, at last, to the simple state which we embraced, in feeling, and help us to embrace it in wisdom. Then the first love fills the whole nature, and the divine beauty of the child is perfected in the divine beauty of a vigorous and victorious manhood. The beginning is the beginning of the end--the end the child and fruit of the beginning. Where the transition to this state of Divine consciousness, from a merely self-conscious life under sin, is inartificially made, and distorted by no mixtures of tumult from the subjects own eagerness, it is in the birth, a kind of celestial state, like that of the glorified--clear, clean, peaceful and full, wanting nothing but what, for the time, it does not know it wants--the settled confidence, the practically-instructed wisdom, the established and tried character of the glori-fled. And yet all the better is it, imparadised in this glory, this first love, this regenerative life, this inward lifting of the souls order, that a prize so transcendent is still, in a sense, to be won or fought out and gained as a victory. For life has now a meaning, and its work is great--as great, in fact in the humblest walks and affairs as in the highest. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
The decline of spiritual love
I. Its indications. How can we discern the subtle beginnings of this decline? At the outset, let us clear away an error which has been the source of perplexity and even needless despondency to some earnest men. The loss of the first freshness of spiritual emotion is not necessarily a decline of spiritual love. The early excitement is not strength--true strength comes when it passes into action. The early splendour of the morning is beautiful, but who would wish that it should never melt into the stronger glory of the noonday? The first emotions of childhood are beautiful, but who would not exchange them in all their freshness for the calm, sober power of manhood? So in Christian life: the young excitement must mature into more quiet but abiding power. We must, then, look deeper than the changefulness of emotion to detect the signs of declining love; we must enter into the very nature of love itself, and we shall find them there.
1. Love is profound self-sacrifice. In love the soul comes out of the sphere of merely personal life: the thought of the I, and the mine, are no longer supreme; they almost vanish in living for another. A mans self becomes associated with another self, and the two souls become one in devotion. Therefore, when our life finds another centre, and the world, or its friendships, or its ambitions, create our ruling emotions; when to be alone with God is no longer blessedness; when prayer loses its inspiration; when we begin to trust in our own power--to rest in self, and be coldly contented there; when the feeling rises, I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing, knowing not all the time that we are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, then the light of love is fading, and earthborn clouds are quenching its brightness.
2. Love proves its reality by the resemblance it creates to the beloved. No man can long conceal the fire that burns on his hearts altar, so no true Christian can conceal his love to Christ. If we do not grow more true, more holy, more submissive, our resemblance to Christ is growing fainter and our love is declining.
3. Love proves its reality by its courage m confronting opposition. Therefore, when men can turn us aside, when expediency can mould us, when we stand like cowards looking back lingeringly on the path we have forsaken, afraid to return, afraid to go on; when, in the midst of a sinful generation, we are ashamed of Christ, and deny Him by selling our Christian principle for gain, truth for peace, devotion for safety, Christian profession for the friendship of the world--then is the fire of our love going down, the altar becoming cold, the temple growing dark, and we have left our first love.
II. Its dangers.
1. It renders the Christian a hindrance to the power of truth. A man professing to live for Christ, professing to be inspired by an infinite love, professing to believe in a glorious immortality, and yet cold and indifferent! The world reads that, and what wonder that it mocks at faith? Like an iceberg, such a man stands between the world and the sun of Gods gospel, chilling its warmth, and killing its power.
2. The inner coldness of heart is the beginning of denial in the life. The man whose love is declining is going on a path that will soon lead him into open denial, for when spiritual love lights not his altar, there are dark powers ever slumbering near that will kindle another fire there. The mans besetting sin is never far away, and it will soon crowd his circumstances with temptation. And this danger is all the greater because it is so silent.
III. Its remedy.
1. Remember. It is sad work to look back over the past, and trace the path of failure and decline. The decay of all beautiful life is sad, but sad it is indeed when a man can trace it in his own soul. It is well to be thus sorrowful; it is a blessed thing if the tears do fall!
2. But rest not in mournful retrospect. Repent, and do the first works. Go back to the Cross of Christ, and gaze there till your coldness is melted and your love springs afresh. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)
Spiritual declensions
I. Inquire into the nature of this first love, and the manner in which it generally operates in the commencement of the Christian life.
1. The early love of true believers has in it something which distinguishes it from that which follows afterwards, not indeed in its nature, but in its adjuncts and mode of operation. An increasing knowledge of Christ will increase and confirm our attachment to Him, and we shall be rooted and grounded in love, in proportion as we cultivate communion with Him. Yet at first there is often a greater warmth of affection, a more operative energy, a greater disposition to make sacrifices and to encounter difficulties, than is displayed in the subsequent parts of life.
2. This first love is probably so-called because it is generally the first principle that discovers itself in Christian converts; and before the other parts of their character have had time to develop themselves, we often witness some of the effects of this holy principle.
(1) In producing an aversion of the mind from what is displeasing to the object beloved.
(2) The Christians first love produces ardent desires and a vigorous pursuit after spiritual and heavenly objects.
(3) It appears in a fixed and decided resolution to cleave to the Lord, and to follow Him.
(4) Early love discovers itself in an affectionate regard for those who have been the honoured instruments of bringing us to the knowledge of Christ.
(5) Another effect of this principle is, a readiness to submit it to the institutions of the gospel, and openly to profess the name of Jesus, notwithstanding the difficulties which may lie in the way.
II. Point out some of the symptoms of spiritual declension, or when it may be said that we have left our first love.
1. Losing that relish and savour of heavenly things which was formerly experienced, is an unhappy sign of religious declension.
2. A vain and trifling conversation is another of these symptoms of decay. When persons are disposed to talk about anything rather than the concerns of their souls, and the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, though there may be nothing directly sinful in the subject of discourse, yet it betrays a great want of spirituality, and a declension in the power of religion.
3. Religious declensions generally begin at the closet; and where the important duties of meditation, self-examination, and private prayer, are either totally neglected or performed in a superficial manner, we need no stronger proof of having indeed forsaken our first love.
4. The prevalency of a selfish spirit is another fearful sign. Instead of adding grace to grace, and building up themselves on their most holy faith, they are adding house to house, and land to land, while the edification of the Church and the general interests of religion are only regarded as secondary objects. What can more fearfully portend the ruin of a people who are in such a case!
5. A disposition to contend for doctrinal religion, rather than for that which is practical and experimental, is a sign of spiritual decay. Where persons are over-zealous about minor points, and are little concerned to promote the religion of the heart and a universal obedience to the will of God, they resemble the Pharisees, who were punctilious enough in tithing mint and anise and cummin, while they neglected the weightier matters of the law, judgment, faith, and the love of God.
6. When the care of our families is neglected, and the observance of the Sabbath is not strictly inculcated, this also is a sign of spiritual declension. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
First love left
These are words of complaint; some would call it fault-finding; and, as such, might have repelled us from the complainer. But such is the nature and tone of the complaint, that we feel attracted, not repelled; humbled, but not hurt. The reproof is keen, yet it casts no shadow on the grace of the reprover. But the preface to the complaint claims special notice; for that complaint does not stand alone. And what strikes us most in it, is the minute enumeration of services performed by this Church, ere He speak the words of censure. I know thy works, etc. He was no austere man, no hard master, no censorious fault-finder, but loving and generous, possessed to the uttermost of that charity which suffereth long, etc. But it is not the mere recital of His servants good deeds that strikes us; it is His manifest appreciation of these, His delight in them, His grateful sense of the service rendered. Faults there would be in these labours, but He sees none; imperfections in the endurances of trial, but He makes mention of none. He speaks as one full of gratitude for favours conferred. He names His servants name, and is not ashamed to confess him. What a dignity, what a value, is thus affixed to every act, even of the simplest, commonest service for Him! But our text goes beyond all this. It teaches us His desire for our love, and His disappointment at losing it, or any part of it. It is not so much our labour as our love that He asks. The star had grown dim, the flower faded, warm love had cooled, and the Ephesus of the second generation was not the Ephesus of the first. Over this lost first love He mourns, as the gem which of all others He prized the most. It is not of slothful service, or waning zeal, or failing liberality, or slackening warfare that He complains. This is the substance of the complaint, the burden of the disappointment--the loss of half a heart! What true hearted man but must be humbled and melted down beneath it! Why should He love so much and I so little? But let us follow out a little further this Divine rebuke, this touching remonstrance. Thou hast left thy first love! And for what reason? Did the coldness begin on My side or on thine? Have I become less lovable, less loving? Thou hast left thy first love! And what or whom hast thou substituted? Hast thy power of loving ceased, and thy heart contracted? Or is there some second love that has usurped the place of the first? Is it the world that has thus come in? Is it pleasure? Is it literature or science? Is it business? Is it politics? Is it the creature in some of its various forms, and with the seductive glitter of its many-sided beauty? Thou hast left thy first love! And what hast thou gained by the leaving? What has this strange turn of capricious affection done for you? Has it made you a happier, holier, truer, stronger, more noble, more earnest man? Ah! ask your hearts what has been your gain? A few indulgences which once you did not dare to venture on. A few gay smiles of worldly companionship. A few pleasures, for which, till your first love had gone, you had no relish. These are some of the things for which thou hast exchanged thy first love! For these thou hast sold thy Lord! Oh, heartless Ephesian, retrace thy steps at once! Thou didst run well: who hath hindered thee? Begin once more at the beginning. Go back to the fountain head of love--I mean thy Lords love to thee, the sinner--there refill thy empty vessel. Go back to the blessed Sun, whose light is still as free and brilliant as ever; there rekindle thy dying torch; there warm thy cold heart, and learn to love again as thou didst love at first. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
The fatal flaw in the Ephesian Churches
It is curious that a Church so marked for its patience and purity should be threatened with the loss of its very existence unless it repented. Had sensuality, or violence, or fraud entered the Church? Far from it, the Church is praised for its exclusion of the evil lives. A high morality marked its members, and in maintaining their high standard they had exercised their patient endurance of the worlds scorn and opposition. Such a character had seemed to us almost perfect. But God looks upon the heart. He saw beneath this admirable exterior a weakening in the springs of spiritual life. The pride of consistency had continued to keep the Church to its old forms of excellence, but the Divine love in the heart, which had been before its only source of conduct, had lost its strength. The outward life was beautiful, but the heart was decaying. Zeal, orthodoxy, carefulness, boldness, heroism, were all there, but the love of God, out of which all these virtues should spring, in order to be Godlike and permanent, was failing, and on this failing oar Lord rests His eyes as He warns this prosperous Church of its danger. It had begun to lose its spiritual stimulus: to substitute self for Christ, pride for humility; to change principle into routine, and to make the religious life a perfunctory life. It was only a beginning, but God saw the danger of a beginning, and warned the Church accordingly. The beginning was the great departure; all else would be but natural sequence. Hence the beginning was to be stoutly rebuked. The beginning was the sin, the root-sin, to be repented of. We do not know to what influences the Ephesian Church yielded when it began to lose its love principle as the source of its life. It may have been a strong satisfaction with its own attainments. It scarcely could have been a conformity to the world. That side of error it seems to have avoided, and to have exposed itself on the other to spiritual pride. But these extremes meet. They are equally hostile to a genuine godly life. The worldly conformity is the more odious because it is so open and conspicuous, but the spiritual pride is as really a departure from God and a surrender to Satan. It is often hard to detect, because it goes clothed with the garb of a strict outward life, and this fact makes it peculiarly dangerous as a guide to undeveloped Christians. Still, there are marks by which even this type of Christian can be discovered, and its harmfulness avoided. These spiritually proud Christians are apt to show great severity toward all who differ with them. They are right in all their views and practices, and all others are wrong. Dogmatic and dictatorial, they will brook no opposition, and in disposition and in action (as far as they can be) they are as relentless as the Dominican inquisitors. Their faith is presumption, their zeal fanaticism. And all this comes about because their love is giving place to pride. You will see these zealots oversetting the Divine order for their favourite hobby. They will dip the shafts of controversy into poison and spend their strength in aiming them at their brethren who cannot pronounce their shibboleth. In all this they are most sincere. Their lives are pure and honest. They have much that commands commendation, and their steadfastness is a glory to the Church. But they have allowed the principle of love to fade in their hearts, and Satan has found an entrance there to vitiate motive and impulse. (H. Crosby.)
Red-hot religion
has its place and value, but white-hot religion, the silent, intense force which acts without sparks or noise, is a diviner thing. Is it thus with our love to God? Has that passion simply changed from red to white? Has sentiment become principle, the ecstasy a habit, the passion a law? If so, the former days were not better than these. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Ashes on a rusty altar
The religious profession of some people is like the ashes on a rusty altar, which show that there once were warmth and light and flame, but which also show that it is long since they worshipped there. (J. Hamilton, D. D.)
Emotion wanted in religion
It is said we want principle in religion, not sentiment. We want both. As well say we do not want sails, only the hull of the vessel. With conscience for the rudder, and truth for the hull, we want emotion--for that is motion, surely. And Christ says: I know thy works. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou has left thy first love.
Decay of love
As when the root of a tree perisheth, says Thomas Manton, the leaves keep green for a while, but within a while they wither and fall off; so love is the root and heart of all other duties, and when that decayeth other things decay with it.
Neglected love
The hottest heart of love, like heated iron, if left, will get cold of itself. (W. W. Andrew, M. A.)
Zeal for truth must be loving
There is something without which even zeal for truth may be but a scorching and devouring flame; and that is the first love, the love ever fresh and tender for Him who first loved us, the love which teaches us to win and not to alienate, to raise and not to crush, those who may only be mistaken in their views, and are not determined enemies of God. (W. Milligan, D. D.)
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen.--
Now, and then
A celebrated orator once delivered a lecture, the title of which was Now and Then; and he proceeded to point out in eloquent language the vast improvements in civilisation and in useful arts which had been effected since his own early days. But a very different Now and Then is suggested by the text.
1. First, consider man as he appears to view when newly created. How great he seems! He was created in the image, after the likeness, of God Himself. This was true of him in respect of his personality. As distinguished from the things and creatures having life, which had been previously created, man was a person with powers of will, of origination, of causation, of thought. As a person, he was made capable of holding communion with a personal God. Man was created in the image of God, too, in respect of his dominion. He is the vicegerent of God on earth, ruling a mighty empire; the rest of creation lies at his feet. Everything animate and inanimate was subjected to his sway. And this supremacy of man was a shadow of the sovereignty of God. Again, man was created in the image of God in respect of purity. There was not a thought of his heart which he would have been ashamed for God to know. His will was in entire harmony with the will of God. He rejoiced in fellowship with Him.
2. Remember from whence thou art fallen. The fall of man. It is an event which we cannot ponder without being oppressed by a sense of awful mystery. Like all the facts connected with sin, its nature, its punishment, and the cure provided for it in the gospel, the narrative of the Fall leaves on the mind a deep conviction that God regards sin with a hatred which we cannot fully comprehend, and to which revelation itself does not supply the key. Mysterious as this doctrine of original sin is, the whole religion of the Bible assumes the truth of it and is based upon it. The evil extends not only to the actual deeds of men, but to the imaginations, the thoughts, desires, and affections of the heart. Those who have been brought up in a moral and religious atmosphere are happily guarded from the outbreak of sin by their habits and associations and the good opinion of those around them. But this outward appearance does not affect or govern the state of the heart. Even under favourable circumstances the corrupt state of the heart may be recognised. Remember from whence thou art fallen.
(1) Let the remembrance of it remind us of the absolute necessity of conversion. Man must be changed in nature and disposition, in mind and heart, in order that he may be restored to the image of God.
(2) Let the remembrance of it deepen our humility. There is nothing which effectually hides pride from man, save the consciousness wrought in him by the Holy Spirit that he is by nature sinful. Where is boasting then? It is excluded.
(3) Let the remembrance of it strengthen our hatred of sin. It is the man who comes up to the Temple, crying out of the depths of a contrite heart, God, be merciful to me a sinner, whom God sends down to his house justified.
(4) Lastly, let the remembrance of it exalt our conceptions of the surpassing love of Christ, and of the mighty work of redemption, which He died to accomplish. He came to restore in man the image and likeness of God. There is no salvation in any other. Think of what man is. There is no tribe, no race, not infected with this taint of sin. The holiest men ever known are those who have most keenly felt, most bitterly lamented, their own sinfulness. There must be a mediator, a sacrifice, an advocate, to make such beings acceptable to God. (F. F. Goe, M. A.)
Backsliding
I. What then, in the first place, are the great evils which are peculiar to the sin of backsliding from God?
1. In the first place, I say to you that it is awfully aggravated for the reason that it is committed against more light than others have. There are men that sin through ignorance. This cannot, however, be said of the man who has once tasted that the Lord is gracious: he does not sin because he knows no better. But you are to observe that there is a light which he cannot extinguish: and what is that? There is the light which his memory casts upon him.
2. Secondly, backsliding is a sin not only against light, but against the love of God. Backsliding is a sin against pardoning mercy.
3. In the third place, remember that this conduct greatly injures the cause of God. First of all it has a saddening effect on the Church itself. And, secondly, it very often happens that when one backslides from God he takes others with him.
4. This conduct condemns itself, and is a witness against itself. Observe the two states. Once you sought the Lord earnestly, and called on Him in sincerity and in truth. Remember what you were, and look at what you are now. I ask you for a moment, which of these two states is the right one? Would you say, I am right now; or must you not be obliged to say, Oh, no, those were the days in which indeed I was right.
5. Remember that you are bringing, by your conduct, an evil report on good men. How is it that you left the Lord, and left His people? What is the language of this conduct to those that are round about you but this--I tried religion, and I did not like it? There are, as I have said, evils in your case. And will you just allow me to remind you that you are in danger. You are in danger of desertion from God. Secondly, I must remind you that you are in danger not only of desertion, but of the terrors which are consequent on the fulfilment of His awful threat. If this be the case, then take heed, brethren, some of you are standing on the brink of a precipice now, into which, if you fall, oh, the terrors of that eternity, the horrors of that state, into which you will plunge yourselves by the carelessness of walking and backsliding from the Lord your God! (P. C. Turner.)
Religious declension
I. What are the first works of the sincere convert? They were penitence, prayer, and faith.
II. A state of religious declension, of spiritual decay, will manifest itself either in a partial or total abandonment of these first works.
III. The only way is to retrace the steps you formerly took, or as it is emphatically described in the text, to do the first works. (T. Morell, M. A.)
His lost ideal
The degenerate plant has no consciousness of its own degradation, nor could it, when reduced to the character of a weed or a wild-flower, recognise in the fair and delicate garden-plant the type of its former self. The tamed and domesticated animal, stunted in size, and subjugated in spirit, could not feel any sense of humiliation when confronted with its wild brother of the desert, fierce, strong, and free, as if discerning in that spectacle the noble type from which itself had fallen. But it is different with a conscious moral being. Reduce such an one ever so low, yet you cannot obliterate in his inner nature the consciousness of falling beneath himself; you cannot blot out from his mind the latent reminiscence of a nobler and better self which he might have been, and which to have lost is guilt and wretchedness. (J. Caird.)
I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.--
The coming of Christ a warning against declension
The awfulness of this warning will the more appear, if we consider to what Church it was directed. It was not spoken to the Church of Galatia, which had been so soon shaken from the faith, and entangled in the heresies of Gnostics and judaising teachers: nor to the Church in Corinth, which had been rent by schisms, tempted by rivalry among its gifted members, and profaned by a contemptuous usage of the Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood. It was spoken to the Church in Ephesus, famous from the beginning for its burning and indignant zeal against the illusions of Satan; in the midst of which they that had used curious arts brought forth their costly books and burnt them before all men; illustrious for the long abode of St. Paul; for his three years of tears and warnings; for his epistle of prayers and commendations; it was to this Church so cherished, illuminated, and blessed that these words were spoken; I have somewhat against thee: because thou hast left thy first love. The Ephesian Church in its outset so kindled and ardent, had, by slow and measured decrease, parted with its inward devotion. There are certain inferences which bear pointedly upon our own state and probation to be drawn from this warning, and to these we shall do well to turn.
1. For example, one great practical truth issuing from what has been said is this: that there may be much fair and really commendable religion, where all is not right at heart. Whole branches of the Church, with all their altars standing, and with all their visible appointments of Divine worship abundantly and publicly maintained, may yet be far gone before God. And a Christian, with all his usages of religion still continued, may yet have left his first love. For these outward and passive customs are the last to give way; the inward disease must be far advanced towards its full and fatal ripeness before the outward habits, which cost so little and imply so much, are visibly affected. Cankered trees still put forth their leaves, long after their source of fruitfulness is dry. A sense of duty outlives all fervour of heart. What was once a delight is still felt to be an obligation. There can be no doubt that such is the state of multitudes whom the Church refrains to censure, and the world believes devout.
2. Another truth we may learn is, that when there is anything wrong at heart, all beside, how good soever it may appear and be, is marred. The state of the heart is the very soul of a religious life; and it is on this that the direct eye of God is fixed. Where there is any permitted declension of the heart, there two evils are always present. It cancels and annuls the whole worship and service of outward religion. It opens the beginnings of incalculable departures from God. And that for this reason. All acts of a religious life are thenceforth done with a slack and unmeaning intention. But all the force of obedience is in the motive. It is this that gives emphasis and meaning to fasts, prayers, labours, alms, for the Name of Christ. To feed natural hunger from mere natural benevolence is not ministering to Christ, but obeying a mere animal impulse, good indeed, but stunted, and not necessarily Christian. The same is more manifestly true of the higher acts of religion; for instance, the Holy Communion. What does it become but a dutiful formality, a heartless reverence? And further, as the motives of the heart grow slack, they become divided. It is intensity that unites the will; when it moves slowly and with reluctance it is soon distracted by s multitude of forces. Self-sparing, neighbouring temptations, worldly regards, personal schemes, private attachments, the influence of example, indulgence of particular affections of the mind, soon come in to divide a heart which has ceased to be united in the love of Christ. Where the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. And this slack and divided state of heart, as it cancels the force of all religion, so it is the beginning of unknown declension. Even though it begin in no more than a colder affection or a relaxed resolution, yet it may end in quenching the Spirit of God. Slight diseases bring on great decays: the least bias in a never-resting wheel tends to the extremest deviations: a selfish heart may end in crucifying Christ afresh unto itself; and a soul without love may sink into the darkness of atheism. There are certain classes of people to whom these truths are especially needful.
1. As first, to those that have been carefully broughti up from childhood in the knowledge and duties of religion. It often happens that those who in childhood have been deeply affected by religion, become in after years cold and relaxed. Little by little a new tone of feeling comes over them, and combines uneasily with old practices; and as the new power strengthens, they must needs give way first in one habit, then another, till the barriers of the whole character are broken through.
2. Another class of persons to whom these warnings are most pointed are those who, after a sinful or careless life, have once been brought to repentance. Afflictions, death of friends, great sicknesses, narrow escapes of life or ruin, worldly reverses, and the like, often bring about great changes of heart. They awaken sharp pangs of remorse, and a sudden sense of danger. This is followed by deep humiliation, and by emotions of sorrow and shame, by earnest resolutions. Perhaps few people have been afflicted without some such emotions as these; and true and heartfelt as they are, they often endure but a little time. They are the sudden burst of a forced shoot, not the steady growth of years. Their very fulness makes them unstable. After recovery or return to the usual ways of life, their first emotions gradually find a level in the ordinary commonplace of former habits. After awhile they countenance doubtful acts, and in the end themselves commit them: and then begins a reaction against the change. Little by little it is rescinded: first one resolution is annulled, and then! another. In the end they return into their former selves with this only difference, that they have once repented, and again turned from their repentance.
3. And once more, these thoughts are full of wholesome admonition to those that habitually communicate. It is the effect of the Holy Communion to confirm the habits of mind with which we approach the altar. If we come to it with a lively repentance, and an awakened conscience, with thankfulness, and love, howsoever faint, be it only true, the spiritual virtues which go forth from that Holy Sacrament will deepen and perfect all these devout affections. Ii we come with unimpressed hearts and a sluggish conscience, with shallow emotions, and thoughts that terminate on the bread, and on the wine, frequent communion will be an occasion of making these dangerous states of heart inveterate. Perhaps you can remember that day when, after long preparation, and fear, and anxious searching of yourselves, you came with a beating heart to the altar. How you were only half aware, as you knelt before the unseen Presence of your Lord, how near He was to you; and yet your hearts burned while your eyes were holden; and all that day, and all the day after, the consciousness was present still. Have you ever so communicated since? Do you now go to that Holy Sacrament with a cold self-possession, as to some familiar thing which you have measured, and weighed, and scrutinised; or with a mind less sensitive and fearful, and with a whole tone of character lowered and less devout? To all these, then, and to all who are conscious that they are not what they were, there is but one way of return. The first step is penitent recollection. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen. Call up again with all the vividness of memory the holier seasons of your past life. Remember your confirmation--your first communion--your earlier devotions--the aspirations you once breathed towards Him whose love has waxed cold in you; and the tokens of His tender care, to which you once clung so fast. The next step is by special confession of our particular and detailed offences, to repent; that is, in sorrow to forsake our present self with a perfect change of heart. Before we can be once more what we have forfeited, our new and debased character must be thoroughly put off. This is the penalty of sin. And, lastly, we must begin the greatest work of life all over again. Do the first works; that is, the earliest and the best--the first-fruits we offered in better days to God. This is the inevitable law of our recovery. Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. (H. E. Manning.)
Neglect of the gospel followed by its removal
What then is it which a man has to do who is desirous of becoming truly repentant? We reply that his great business is earnest prayer to Christ, that he would give him the Holy Spirit, to enable him to repent. Of course we do not mean that he is to confine himself to prayer, and make no effort at correcting what may be wrong in his conduct. But there is more in this exhortation than the summons to repentance: memory is appealed to as an assistant in the duty to which men are called. The great evil with the mass of men is, that, so far at least as eternity is concerned, they never think at all--once make them think, and you make them anxious; once make them anxious, and they will labour to be saved. We should feel that we were gaining a great moral hold on a man, if we prevailed on him to contrast what he is with what Adam was ere he ate the forbidden fruit. It is a contrast which must produce the sense of utter degradation. And if I have been like the Ephesian Church, what Scripture calls a backslider, may not memory tell me of comforts I experienced, when walking closely with God, of communion with eternity so real and distinct that I seemed already delivered from the trammels of flesh? It may well be, if indeed I have declined in godliness, that through musing on past times, there will be excited within me a poignant regret. There will come back upon me, as upon the criminal in his cell, the holy music of better days; and there will be a penetrating power in the once gladdening but now melancholy strain, which there would not be in the shrill note of vengeance. And thus in each case, memory may be a mighty agent in bringing me to repentance. But we turn from the exhortation to the threatening contained in our text, I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. Where are those Christian societies to which St. Paul and St. John inscribed their Epistles? Where is the Corinthian Church, so affectionately addressed, though so boldly reproved, by she great apostle of the Gentiles? Where is the Philippian Church, where the Colossian, where the Thessalonian, the letters to which prove how cordially Christianity had been received, and how vigorously it flourished? Where are the Seven Churches of Asia, respecting which we are assured that they were once strenuous in piety, and gave promise of permanence in Christian profession and privilege? Alas, how true is it that the candlesticks have been removed. And never let it be thought that such sentence is of no very terrible and desolating character. Come any evil rather than the unchurching which is threatened in our text. It is not merely that Christianity is taken away--though who shall measure, who imagine, the loss, if this were indeed all?--but it is that God must frown on a land from which He hath been provoked to withdraw His gospel; and that, if the frown of the Almighty rest on a country, the sun of that countrys greatness goes rapidly down, and the dreariness of a moral midnight fast gathers above it and around it. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The gospel removed
I. That a nation has been unchurched, and the gospel has been removed.
1. The Jews are an eminent instance. They had the gospel in a type while they enjoyed the ceremonies, they had the gospel unveiled while they had the presence of Christ among them.
(1) They were a people that had the greatest titles. They were called by His name (Jer_2:2-3). They were His peculiar treasure; yet He hath flung this treasure out of His coffers.
(2) The privileges they enjoyed.
(3) The multitude of strange providences they had. He delivered them to the amazement of all round about them; they were a happy people, in being a people saved by the Lord (Deu_33:29). They never were conquered, but God raised them up some patrons. Yet notwithstanding all these providences, whereby God so miraculously owned them, and all the dangers from whence He so powerfully delivered them, they are now pulled up by the root, persecuted by man, abandoned by God, the generation of His wrath (Jer_7:29). No spiritual dew falls upon these mountains of Gilboa.
2. The Seven Churches of Asia, to whom these Epistles are written, are another instance. How do their places know them no more, as once they were? Not only their religion, but their civil politeness is exchanged for barbarism. They have lost their ancient beauty for a Turkish deformity. Mahomets horse hath succeeded in the place of the Gospel-Dove. The triumphant banners of an impostor advanced where the standard of the gospel had been erected.
II. That the removal of the gospel and unchurching a nation is the greatest judgment. Can there be a greater judgment than to have the Word of God removed, to want a prophet to instruct and warn? The shutting up the book of mercy is the opening the book of justice.
1. The gospel is the choicest mercy, and therefore the removal of it the sharpest misery. The gospel is so much the best of blessings, as God is the best of Beings. Without this we should sink into an heathen or devilish superstition.
2. It is made worse than those judgments that are accounted the severest. Plagues, wars, famine, are lighter marks of Divine anger than this. God may take notice of a people under the smartest afflictions, but when He takes away His Word He knows a people no longer. We may live in our souls by the influence of the Word, when we have not bread to convey strength to our bodies; but how must the soul languish when it is deprived of spiritual food to nourish her (Isa_30:20)? how doleful would it be to have the ground parched by the sun, the sky emptied of clouds, or the bottles of heaven stopped close without venting a drop of refreshing rain? But how much more deplorable is this judgment than the withholding the clouds from dropping upon our earth, or the sun from shining upon our fruits?
3. When the gospel departs all other blessings depart with it.
(1) The honour and ornament of a nation departs.
(2) The strength of a nation departs. The ordinances of God are the towers of Sion. The Temple was not only a place of worship, but a bulwark too. When the gospel of peace removes eternal peace goes with it, temporal peace flies after it; and whatsoever is safe, profitable, prosperous, takes wings and attends it.
4. God hath no other intention in the removing the gospel, and unchurching a nation, but the utter ruin and destruction of that nation. Other judgments may be medicinal, this is killing; other judgments are but scourges, this is a deadly wound.
5. This judgment is accompanied with spiritual judgments, which are the sorest. The pounding of the jewel is far worse, and of greater loss than the breaking the casket.
Use:--Doth God often remove the gospel upon provocations, as the severest judgment he can inflict upon an unworthy people? Then--
1. Be afraid of this judgment. How do we know but that God hath limited the preaching of the gospel, and the standing of the candlestick in this and that place only for a time; and when that is expired, it may be carried to another place? We see it hath been so with others.
(1) Is not our profaneness a just ground of our fear? Have not many that have been lifted up to heaven by the presence of the gospel walked as if they had the seal of hell in their foreheads? A fulness of iniquity makes the harvest ripe and fit for the sickle (Joe_3:13).
(2) Is not the slighting of the means of grace a just ground of this fear? What can be expected, when children throw a precious commodity in the dirt, but that the parents should take it away, and lay it in another place, and lash them too for their vanity? God will not obtrude the gospel long against mens wills.
(3) And what shall I say of the barrenness of the Church? When the ground yields but a faint increase, and answers not the cost and labour of the husbandman, he lays it fallow. The abatement of the powerful workings of the spirit is a presage of a removal or dimming the light in the candlestick.
(4) And may not the errors in the nation step in as the occasion of our fears? Not little petty errors, but errors about the foundation.
(5) What should I speak of the divisions amongst us? These preceded the ruin of the Jews, and made way for the fall of the Seven Churches of Asia. We may justly fear God will take away that light which we quarrel by, instead of walking and working by.
2. If the removal of the gospel be so great a judgment we have reason to bless God for its continuance so long among us.
3. It should teach us to improve the gospel while we enjoy it. The time of the gospel revelation is the time of working. Good entertainment and good improvement invites the gospel to stay; ill-usage drives it out of doors.
4. Let us prevent by repentance and prayer the removal or eclipse of the gospel. The loss of your estates, the massacring of your children, the chains of captivity, are a thousand times more desirable than this deplorable calamity. Estates may be recovered, new children raised, fetters may be knocked off, new houses may be reared upon the ashes of the consumed ones, the possession of a country regained; but it is seldom the gospel returns when carried away upon the wings of the wind. Let us therefore seek to Him, chiefly to Him, only to Him; He only can remove the candlestick; He only can put His Hand as a bar upon the light. (S. Charnock.)
`To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life.--
The heavenly Christs first promise to the victors
I. The victors reward.
1. As for the substance, it is simply that all-comprehensive, and in one aspect greatest of all hopes, the promise of life. It is as impossible for us to conceive of what the manner of future existence is as it is to predict, from looking at the egg, what plumage shall deck the wings of the creature that shall, in due time, come forth from it and soar to the empyrean. It doth not yet appear what we shall be. Only this we know, that life in all its meanings shall be perfect. Limitations shall drop away; weariness, weakness, languor, disgust, which often creeps over us, shall have no place there. The eternal life of heaven is one in kind with the eternal life that Christians possess here. If we are to have the life beyond, we must have its beginnings to-day.
2. Turn to the form which this promise assumes. It carries us back to the beginning of Scripture, and reminds us of the story of Eden, and the tree of life there. So the end circles round to the beginning, and the purpose of God shall be fulfilled, and more than fulfilled, and all the weary centuries, with their sin and crime and failures, shall be, as it were, in a parenthesis.
II. The giver of the reward. Jesus Christ steps into the place here of the absolute disposer of all human affairs and settler of mans destiny. In another place in Scripture we read that the gift of God is eternal life; here the Giver of it is Jesus Christ. So He said on earth, as well as from the heavens. He is the Judge. He knows the history and the affairs of all men. He gives eternal life. The Giver is more than His gift. No mere humanitarian ideas of Jesus Christ and His mission avail to explain such words as these of my text.
III. The condition of receiving. To him that overcometh. Well, then, all noble life in the world is a fight. And to say I trust in Jesus Christ is not enough, unless that trust manifests itself in strenuous antagonism to evil, and realises victory over it. To him that believeth the promise is made in other places, but we must carry with that promise this other, to him that overcometh; and remember that no man who cannot say I have fought a good fight will ever be able to say with truth, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. What is an overcoming life? Many a man goes out of this world apparently a dead failure, beaten; none of his plans having prospered, none of his enterprises having been much else than semi-failures. And yet he may be one of the victors. And, on the other hand, a man that has achieved all that he desired, prospered in his business, been successful in his love, happy in his family, abundantly blessed with good, and crowned with universal applause, that man may be one of the beaten ones. For he conquers the world who uses it to bring him nearer to Jesus Christ; and the world conquers him whom it draws away from God. And how is that victorious life to be achieved? This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. I have said that mere trust without conflict and conquest cannot inherit the crown, but I also say that, wherever there is the true trust there will be conflict, and wherever there is the trusting conflict there will be victory. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The great condition
I. Success in this world is not a matter of course. Life in this world is surrounded by dangers, beset by enemies, liable to failure. This truth has its illustration in all spheres of life; even down to the lowest. The conflict of the ages is miniatured in the life of the ephemera. The few hours of their existence are full of little dangers, little enemies, possible ills; and so with these the battle of life goes on. Now come up a little higher, and into a clearer region. Every species of vegetable life is shut off from its highest and fullest end by the line at the enemy. Every grain of wheat is menaced; so is every stalk of corn, every springing grass-blade, every flowering shrub, and every fruiting tree. And not otherwise is it in the animal kingdom--in the region of organised physical life. Of birds and beasts only a few reach the end. The rest perish by the way; are beaten back; are overcome. How full is our earths crust with the dust of infant forms I And even if they continue, why continuance is often not health, not strength, not beauty, not the victory of physical life. But I widen the view. Within the body hides the true man, who, with the hand of his free choice, reaches out for the supreme object of life; and, by the voice of his will, summons all his powers to the contest. But is success sure to such s one? Why, the world is full of men who have failed here. Full of men who have murdered their manhood for gain, and then failed of the gain. But now come up higher. Introduce moral quality, and how still farther does this reduce the class who have overcome t Ever in the highest regions the classes are smaller. There are more toadstools than Yosemite pines. There are more ants than elephants. There are more in the schools who know how to read than there are who are able to call the stars by their names, or to paint a Madonna. So there are more who have made money than there are who have grown manhood; more who haze gotten office than there are who have gotten character.
II. The danger to each human life is special. That which is a temptation and a snare to me is none to you. The rock upon which you may split may be altogether out of your neighbours path. He may not be steering in that direction. As with the body, so with the soul. What is poison to one is harmless to another. Some men can be trusted with money. It is not a bait for them; not what they care to sell their souls for. While others never can feel the money of others passing through their hands without an involuntary itching to close upon it. Then there is alcohol; nausea to many a stomach. No more desired, no more palatable, than croton oil. There is no possible danger to such from this quarter. Then right by their side are others who, with diseased brain and trembling nerves and blood on fire, would jump into hell itself for a draught of the accursed poison.
1. Natural constitution rules here. I do not mean in such a sense as to rid any man of responsibility. No matter where his blood came from, when at last it runs in his own veins a man must feel that it is his own. My father was a drunkard before me, and I must be one. This is fatality, contradicted by our sense of freedom. It is materialism, contradicted by our own knowledge of ourselves, as more than mere matter. It is reasoning which no mans conscience accepts, and with which no man can go to the bar of God. So with a mans mind. It is his own at last. His own to correct, to guide, to inform. And if a man finds himself with a sceptical tendency, it is his duty to overcome here, as truly as in the region of physical appetite.
2. Providential circumstances rule here. Joseph was thrown into Egypt, and into the presence of great temptation, by no choice of his own. What now? Is Joseph thus relieved from responsibility? By no means. His providential circumstances govern as to the danger which he must overcome. The responsibility is still his own. So with us all. Your great spiritual danger may lie hidden in a circumstance which you had no voice in choosing. This may be wealth, or it may be poverty; your familiar associations, or an unavoidable crisis in your business affairs. But this does not free you from responsibility. Your obligation is still found in the word overcome. You must overcome the temptation which is brought to bear upon your integrity, or you fall guiltily, and shall never eat of the Tree of Life.
III. It is possible for a man, for any man, to overcome. His crown is his own, and he may defy any hand of earth or hell to rob him of it.
1. This truth rests upon the sincerity of the Saviour of men. To him that overcometh, says He. And, when He so declares, He surely does not mean to mock men by grounding their salvation upon an impossible condition.
2. This truth, that a man may overcome, rests upon the infinite love of God. It is not possible for the human mind to conceive of infinite love allowing man to be placed in a condition that he may not overcome.
3. This truth rests upon the great provision of salvation which God has made for man. This salvation, inaugurated by the Great Fathers love, must reach unto the end of making the salvation of every man to whom it comes possible.
I now turn to the applicatory fulness of the text.
1. It holds up religion before us in its true greatness and worthiness. Overcome. This is the voice with which Christ speaks to men. Overcome. This is the true view of religion; the religion which thoughtful men need, which endangered lives need; which this world, so full of shams, needs.
2. Again, this subject Palls to a careful ordering of the external circumstances of our lives, so far as these are in our power. If your fortune depended upon your lifting a certain weight, you would not first place your feet upon bog or quicksand. Yet, in the moral world, how many needlessly expose themselves to disadvantage!
3. This subject holds up the Church and all the means of grace in their true light. They are so many helps to man in his great struggle. Let us not think of the Church as an end in itself; as a beautiful and dignified institution to which we ought to contribute our quota of respectable living. But rather let us think of the Church as our servant; as something out of which we can get help. So of the prayer hour in the midst of the busy week. So of any Christian service, and of every Christian duty. (S. S. Mitchell, D. D.)
The conflict of the Christian life
I. The conflict of the Christian life. The Christian life is one of severe moral conflict. Its enemies are seen and unseen. They are malignant. They are subtle. They necessitate constant vigilance on the part of the good.
1. It is a conflict with evil principles. The soul of the good must be pure in its feeling, holy in its dispositions, loyal to Christ in its affections, and devout in its contemplations.
2. It is a conflict with evil men. It is sometimes hard to withstand the charming, but sinful, attractions of a friend, who would lead us into the very camp of the enemy.
3. It is a conflict with evil spirits. They watch the varying attitudes of the human mind, as manifested in external conduct, and seek each moment to effect the moral ruin of the good.
II. The victory of the Christian life.
1. The victory is present. This is a distinguishing feature of the battle of the soul. It feels now the inspiration, and can sing the hymn of triumph, though, no doubt, when the last enemy has been conquered, which is death, and the soul joins the army above, its triumph will then be more jubilant.
2. The victory is progressive. Every time the soul is victorious in its battle it gathers new energy, and is more prepared for the conflict of the future.
3. The victory is glorious. It is a token of heroic manhood. It is strengthening. It is ennobling. It makes the soul veteran in goodness.
III. The reward of the christian life.
1. The Christian victor shall be rewarded with eternal life.
2. This reward will be Divinely bestowed and richly enjoyed. Christ is Himself the life, which He will bestow upon the faithful victor. The life will be such that the soul will be able to appropriate.
Lessons:
1. That the Christian life is a stern conflict.
2. That the Christian has many aids in the conflict.
3. That victory over sin is possible to the good. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The tree of life
This first of the sevenfold promises to the victors carries us back to the earliest pages of Scripture. The end circles round to the beginning. The fruit is accessible again, not now, indeed, by mans reaching out his own hand to it, but as a gift from the Captain under and by whom the victors fight. This recurrence of the early possibility as a finally-accomplished reality is significant. Whatever Adam threw away Christ brings back. There shall never be one lost good. But there is more than that. Paradise is better than Eden.
I. The gift. In the Gospel and Epistles of St. John, Life and its antithesis, Death, are two of his key-notes. In these letters to the Seven Churches the frequent recurrence of the same significant word Life, and its correlative, Death, is one of the main links of connection which, with all differences of form, bind together the Apocalypse and the Gospels. Now I cannot persuade myself that by this great word the writer means nothing mole than continuous existence. He means that, but he means something more than that; and the something more is what warrants him in calling continual existence life. He means, in fact, the whole aggregate of blessednesses which makes the State of men whose lives are passed in communion with, and likeness to, God. This is his conception of what life consists in. Wheresoever a heart is knit to God, there is the germ and the beginning of the only real Life. And the highest promise that can be given for the blessedness of that blessed and far-off future is, I will give him to cat of the Tree of Life. It is well and fitting that this most comprehensive and general promise should be the first in the sevenfold series. Those which follow unveil various portions of its contents, and show us various aspects of its glory. Then, mark, it is the life of Jesus Christ Himself which He gives. He is the Life of our lives, the Soul of our souls, the Heaven of our heaven; and in Him is all that we need. Then, note how, in the other reference in this Book to that Tree of Life, we have set forth, very beautifully, the infinite variety and unbroken succession of the blessednesses that result to those who partake of it. The last chapter of this Revelation tells us that it bare twelve manner of fruits, and that every month. The former of these symbols sets forth that all delights and nutriments which spirit, heart, will, intellect, and whatever else may make up the immortal man can require are to be found there. Whatsoever is pleasant to behold, or sweet to taste, is all in Jesus Christ. And the other symbol of yielding fruit every month suggests the unbroken succession of delights and blessednesses and sustenances. Sparkle will touch sparkle as in the moons path across the sea, making a broad and continuous band of silvery shimmer. So in Thy presence are pleasures for evermore. Then note, further, that this Life must begin here ii it is to be perfected hereafter. Here we must begin laying hold of that Lord in whom are the life and the light of men, if we are ever to stand by His side, and receive from His hand fruits from the Tree of Life. They are sent across the sea to us in our island home, though it be planted in a happier and sunnier clime, and we dwell here amidst frost and snow. But the perfecting will be when we shall go to it. Fruit tastes best if fresh plucked from the tree.
II. The giver. This ascended Christ speaks in royal fashion. He assumes to be the Bestower of the fruit from the Tree of Life. And that suggests large thoughts about Him. I believe that in all senses of the word Life, from the lowest physical up to the highest spiritual, immortal, and eternal, the revelation of the New Testament, is that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the Father, and the Agent of all creation and of all preservation, is its Giver and its Source. By virtue of His Divine nature He gives physical life to all that live. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. But it is not His Divine nature alone which has made it possible for Him to give to us the better life, of which my text speaks. He is the Source thereof, because He Himself has experienced the opposite. He died that He might be the Lord and Giver of Life; and rising from the grave, by the power of His death, and the merit and might of His sacrifice, He has become, for all who will trust Him, the Source of that life which standeth in the knowledge of God, and is perfected hereafter in immortal felicity and blessedness. Further, there is involved in this representation of Jesus Christ as the Giver of Life, the thought that, through eternity, all who live that blessed being in the heavens shall be as dependent upon Him for every moment (if we can speak of moments in the timeless state) of their continual existence as we are here below. He is the Fountain who hath life in Himself. We are the empty vessels that are filled from Him.
III. The recreants. In the original the language is made very emphatic: To him that overcometh, to him will I give. And that emphasis is very significant, ii we remember how strongly this same John, especially in his Gospel, sets forth the thought that the condition of receiving life here and hereafter is faith. Faith without fighting is nothing. Fighting without faith, indeed, is impossible; but it is not enough that a man shall exercise an idle and inoperative trust, unless he can show his faith by his works. It is not the same whether you, calling yourselves Christian people, live in the daily struggle with the evil that besets you, or indolently let yourselves be carried unresisting along by the stream. It is the victor, that is crowned. Then, again, observe that martial metaphor. To him that overcometh. Then the highest conception of a noble life on earth is conflict. God has set us here, not to enjoy ourselves, but to wrestle and to run and to fight. Shame on us ii we choose the indolent, self-indulgent, luxurious, and fatal course [ What is it to overcome? The sailor who trims his sails and sets his helm so that adverse winds and opposing currents help him to run his course has conquered, though they howl about his ears and beat upon his barque. And the man who does not let the world hinder him from godly obedience, who does not allow it to divert him from the path of duty, who does not let its dainties spoil his appetite for the bread of heaven, who does not permit its near and flaunting beauties to affect his heart so that he sees no beauty in God and Christ, who does not take its good for his best--that man has conquered it. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The tree of life
I. The tree of life as exhibited in the primitive paradise. The garden of Eden is not to be regarded merely as a place of delight and pleasure. It was a kind of natural temple; a sacred enclosure. In this consecrated spot was planted the tree of life; planted that its fruit might be eaten, and not prohibited like that of the tree of knowledge. Yet it was not to be partaken of in the same manner as the fruit of the other trees, which was appointed for food, since this tree was specially distinguished from them. Not without reason have many eminent divines considered this tree as a constant pledge to Adam of a higher life; and since there was a covenant of works, the tenor of which was, This do, and thou shalt live--and as we know that God has ever connected signs, seals, and sacraments with His covenants--analogy may lead us to conclude that this tree was the matter of a sacrament, the eating of it a religious act; and that it was called the tree of life, because it was not only a means of sustaining the immortality of the body, but the pledge of spiritual life here, and of a still higher and more glorious life in a future state, to which man might pass, not, indeed, by death, but by translation.
II. The substitution of Christ for the tree of life, to give hope to man as a sinner. We see man, the sinner, expelled from the garden of Eden; all hope of receiving the pledge of mercy and kindness, by being allowed to eat of the tree of life, gone; and the way to that tree fearfully guarded. But it is equally certain that he was not absolutely excluded from hope. The judge passes sentence, but the judge also gives a promise; and man is bidden to hope in another object, the seed of the woman. That seed was henceforward to be his tree of life.
1. This presence of God was always approached through sacrifice.
2. It is this atonement which always keeps the way to God open and safely accessible.
3. To eat and live is the term both of the covenant in paradise and the new covenant of grace; but the subject is changed. To live in paradise, the fruit of the tree of life was eaten; but it was not a sacrifice. It was a pledge of life, but not through the death of a victim. There was then life without death. The flesh of Christ which He gives for the life of the world, and which we eat spiritually, this also is the pledge of life, but of life through death. Nor is the act of eating under the two covenants the same. One is expressive of the confidence of an innocent creature in the goodness and faithfulness of God never offended, promising life; the other of faith, properly speaking,--the trust of a guilty creature, of one who feels and acknowledges his guilt, in the rich and sovereign grace of God offended, and exercised through Christ alone.
III. The tree of life, in the midst of the paradise of God.
1. The residence of the saints in another and a blissful state is called paradise. Could we remove from this world death, disease, age, infirmity, hatred, prejudice, ignorance, sin, the separation of friends, what a transformation should we witness! All this, and more, is done in the heavenly paradise; and upon its inhabitants and their blessedness is stamped the character of eternity.
2. The tree of life is there; and he that overcometh shall eat of it. This is a figurative representation of Christ. He is there to give this immortal blessedness, and to sustain it, and thus the benefits of His death run on for ever. The tree represents Christ to remind us that our life is from Him, and the whole of our salvation shall be eternally ascribed to His dying love. (R. Watson.)
Conquest and immortality
See what the promise is. Mans life seems to die out in death; to him that overcometh the world there shall be given a vitality that goes beyond this world. It is in virtue of mans power to overcome this world that he lays hold upon immortality. The reason why man, in spite of every discouragement, in spite of disease, and death, and the grave, has so inextinguishable a belief in immortality of life is the mastery which he has had over this life. If all men had been slaves of circumstances, mankind never could have believed in immortality. It is because man has proved his power to conquer circumstances that he has believed ultimately in his power to conquer that last great circumstance, and believed that death was nothing but an event, an experience in life. To him that overcometh it is given to eat of the tree of life, and to know himself immortal. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)
How to conquer
When I was a child I read a book of Eastern Tales. It was the reading of the same book that stimulated Dr. Adam Clarke to study Eastern literature. One of the tales was to this effect: In a certain place, among bleak and gloomy mountains, was a steep and narrow pass, at the summit of which a spring sent forth streams of living waters. By the margin of the spring, nourished by its immortal rills, stood a tree which bore golden fruit, and as the breezes blew upon the trees it gave forth enchanting music. Whosoever might force his way up the difficult ascent should have these delights as his reward; but if he halted in his way, or attempted to turn back, he died upon the spot. Thousands made the trial, but none succeeded. At last an adventurous youth determined to win the prize, or perish in the effort. He asked one stationed at the foot what was the real difficulty, and how it could be overcome. He was assured there was no danger whatsoever, but that as he went along he would be assailed by hosts of voices assuming every kind of tone. All he had to do was boldly to go forward, and not regard them. Resolving not to heed the voices, he nerved himself for the endeavour. The moment he entered the valley the sounds began. It was as if the very rocks had tongues. Some groaned and entreated and warned, some mocked and jeered. As he stumbled on knee-deep among the reedy shanks and shapeless skulls of those who had perished in the attempt, a voice, seemingly at his very ear, implored him to take warning, and pause. Sometimes he was on the point of halting, but he pressed his fingers to his ears and hurried on. As he neared the top a chorus well-nigh stunned him; but he pressed his fingers the closer to his ears, and thus gained the summit. Then every voice that had assailed him broke forth in loudest plaudits. (F. J. Sharr.)
An exhortation and encouragement to individual Christians
It is as if He said, No matter what the Church of Ephesus may be, to him that overcometh will I give a special blessing. Jesus says that to every member of His Church still. No matter what the Church is, it does not take away your individual responsibility. If the Church be holy and active, that does not lessen your responsibility to work. If the Church be sinful and idle, that makes your responsibility all the greater. The Church may have lost its first love. It is your duty, in the first instance at least, not to leave it, but to try to make it better. It is your duty, so far as in you lies, to overcome. Overcome evil with good, overcome strife by promoting a spirit of peace, overcome slothfulness by giving an example of activity, overcome fault-finding by showing a spirit of charity. Overcome, in the strength of Christ, the sins of yourself, the sins of the Church, the sins of the world around you. (C. H. Irwin, M. A.)
But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.--
The Nicolaitane doctrine hateful to Christ and His Church
Here are two things.
1. An exception from the former reproof, But this thou hast.
2. A commendation, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitunes. In the exception, note how careful the Spirit of God is, not to pass over any good in this Church, without due commendation.
Reason:
1. He walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, and exactly discerneth their works and describeth them.
2. Iniquity is not in Him to call good evil or evil good (Isa_32:5). He justifies not the ungodly nor condemns the innocent.
3. His pure eyes sever between the precious and the vile. He hath a fining pot, which tries gold from the dross; and a fan in His hand, which in the same floor severeth wheat and chaff.
Use:
1. To teach us to imitate this goodness of God in acknowledging and encouraging good gifts and graces wherever they be.
2. Those sin against this example of Christ who (as flies follow festers) fasten upon the faults of men and are eloquent in disgracing their evils; some perhaps only pretended or conceived, but all that is praiseworthy they bury and traduce.
3. The ministers (the angels of the Churches) must imitate their Lord in writing to the angel of this Church, namely, so warily to touch upon the faults of professors, as not to throw down their profession or oppose all that is good in them. A wise husbandman will rather spare the weeds than hurt the corn.
4. Encourage good men in pursuing what is good; for, howsoever they may reap reproach among men, yet there is nothing commendable in them which shall want its due praise before God.
5. To keep us in humility. Sometimes we may be commended for many things, as was this Church, and yet be in great danger and near cutting off. Let us, therefore, take notice of these rules of wisdom. First, let no man content himself with some good things unless he separate from all evil, both in affection and actual endeavour. Secondly, content not thyself with the presence of some good things unless thou hast attained the best things and graces which only shall prevent this danger of casting off; such as are faith, love, repentance, humility, and the fear of God. Thirdly, content not thyself with many acts of goodness, but labour for sincerity, else many seemly and good things will prove unsound and unfruitful in the end.
6. Note the lively power of the Word of Christ. As His eyes are pure and sharp to discern between good and evil, so is His Word as piercing and descries in the soul and conscience that good or evil which other men, yea, the own heart itself, never takes notice of (Heb_4:12). Of the commendation that followeth, Thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitanes. This commendation is for a work of the soul, for an affection, and that not such an affection as whereby they were carried unto good, but such an affection as whereby they were averted from gross evil. The good commended was this affection. Where observe the abundant patience and pity of the Lord, who for a poor affection, and that not unto good, but against evil, and that very weak and cold spareth this Church and removeth not her candlestick as she had deserved. The true commendation of a people or person is from true inward disposition and affection (1Co_4:5).
Reason:
1. The just judge of all the world judgeth by the surest rule of trial, and approveth or reproveth from that which is within, and that which is hid from mens eyes.
2. The affections and desires are the feet which move the soul, and are most respected of God as being chiefly and principally commanded in the taw; all the duties of the first table, and all service and worship of our Creator being comprised under that one affection of love.
3. The chief matter of praise or dispraise, both in good and bad men, is the desire and affection, because, first, action without affection is but as a body without a soul, as a painted fire without heat, or the picture of a man without life. Secondly, God accepteth the affection more than the action, as in many kings of Israel, who did such and such good things, but the heart and soul and inward affections being wanting, they lost their commendation. Thirdly, for evil men: they are not so bad in action as in affection and desire; they have more evil in their hearts than in their hands. Fourthly, for good men: their goodness is not in perfection but in affection, and striving to perfection. And they have more goodness in their hearts than in their hands, as there is more water in the fountain than in the stream.
4. It is affections and desires that formally make a man good or bad, and lead him either to a final happy or unhappy estate. By all which arguments we have cleared the conclusion, that the true commendation of a people or person is from true inward disposition and affection.
Use:
1. To discover the vain practice of many professors that engross knowledge and please themselves in speculation, contemplation, and place all their religion in hearing, reading, and adding to their knowledge; but look not to their affections or desires, to add or gain anything unto them, as if Gods image consisted alone in knowledge and not in righteousness and holiness.
2. Hence we learn which is the most commendable ministry and most approved of God, namely, that which worketh most (not upon the understanding, but) upon the heart and affections, to warm the heart and make it burn within a man, as Christs speech did the two disciples going to Emmaus.
3. To show who are the best hearers in our assemblies, namely, those that bring best desires and affections unto these sacred ordinances and exercises of religion.
4. If the Lord especially commendeth good affections, how unlike are they to the Lord, that pinch and reproach good affections, and are of that malignant quality that no good desire or affection can peep or appear in any near them, but they nip and blast it.
5. All Christians must be ambitious to seek this true commendation from the Lord, that He may say of us, But this thou hast, a true affection and sound desire of grace. In the persons that hate the works of the Nicolaitanes, note that a man may live in a deep consumption of grace for a time and yet retain the hatred of some foul sins.
Reason:
1. A man wanting grace may hate some sins; and much more a man in decay of grace. A Jew may abhor a Samaritan, and yet have no love to the light and truth offering itself unto him. And hardly can we conceive any so wicked, but may hate some sin.
2. Carnal policy and earthly respects may ground the hatred of some sin, when neither the love of God nor the hatred of sin as sin, doth ground it. And any Ephesian can hate a Nicolaitane if his works will not stand with the light of nature, or credit of men, or name of profession.
3. Where the love of goodness is decayed, no marvel if hatred or evil be for sinister respects; and men may hate what the Lord hateth, though not because the Lord hateth it, for so did this Church. And no hatred of evil is good, but that which floweth from the love of good. Use: Here is a rule of trial of our hatred of evil. As is our love of good so is our hatred of evil. Fervent love stirs up earnest hatred; little love of good, little hatred of evil; no love of good, no hatred of evil. We must not hate the persons of men, but their evil works. Not the Nicolaitanes but the works of the Nicolaitanes (Psa_101:3; 2Sa_15:31).
Reason:
1. The object of our hatred must be works, not the man, because we must hate nothing that comes from God by grace or nature. God made the man, but the man made himself sinful.
2. We must hate no man without a cause. For, as we must not love vices for persons, so neither may we hate persons for vices, nor the man for his evil manners.
3. All just hatred floweth from the love of God; therefore we may not hate the person of our brother (1Jn_4:20).
4. There is an unwarrantable hatred which fasteneth on that that God hateth not. This is a hatred of malice, not of zeal which is kindled in heaven. But we know not the state of the persons of our brethren, whether they belong to God or no, but their works are hateful to God, and condemned in His law.
Use:
1. We must not hate where no hateful work appeareth; and where it doth appear we must hate nothing else.
2. Seeing much deceit lieth herein, and we often do mistake ourselves thinking we do well in hating sins, when, indeed, our hatred is against persons, we shall do well to examine our hatred. For the trial whereof take these rules.
(1) Hasty reproofs issue commonly more from the hatred of persons than of sins, when a man is reproved before his offence be proved (1Co_5:1).
(2) When our own causes be primarily interested with Gods cause, we may suspect ourselves carried rather against persons than sins. When a man is as a lamb, mild and moderate in the cause of God, but a lion in his own cause, here is apparent hatred of persons more than sins.
(3) The hatred of sin in another, but not of the same sins in ourselves, is the hatred of the person, not of the sin. For true hatred of sin hateth it in himself most of all. No man can hate that sin in another which he loveth in himself.
(4) The true hatred of sin doth restrain from sin in the hatred, and casts out raging, railing, scorning, swearing, reviling, or abusing of the person. For, where any of these discover themselves, the hatred is of the person, not of the sin. Satan is not cast out by Satan.
(5) True hatred of sin goes ever with love and pity of the person. Moses so hates the sin of Israel that he still prayeth for their persons.
(6) According to the measure of true hatred of thy brothers evil is thy rejoicing in his good. Here is the reason of the commendation: because they hated what God hated. God is well pleased when our affections are comfortable to His; whence are those many precepts and exhortations (Mat_11:29; Luk_6:36; 1Pe_1:15).
Reason:
1. His affections flow from His righteous will; He loveth good, because His nature is goodness itself, and His will the rule of all goodness. So He hateth evil, because His nature and will is absolutely contrary unto it. And, therefore, because His will must be our will, our affections must be framed to His also.
2. He is an unfailing pattern and an unerring example, and we shall be sure never to miss in the proper object of our love or hatred if we love what He loveth and hate what He hateth.
3. That perfection which we expect in heaven we must begin on earth. But this is the life of heaven, that our souls shall so perfectly cleave unto Him, as we shall be like Him, and be satisfied with His image. We shall never love nor hate but what He loveth and hateth. And to this life we must frame here in sincere affection and endeavour.
4. If one affection of ours resembling His prevail so much with Him, as we see in this text, how much more if all our affections were trained to His? If the hatred of gross evils bring us in request with Him, what would the love of all the goodness that He loveth. Use: This doctrine affords us many directions concerning our affections which are quick and hardly kept in order, and in which as many sins lie in the dark as in any other faculty.
I. Concerning the matter of our hatred. Whatsoever we love or hate we must ask ourselves whether God loveth or hateth it. If God love it, it is worthy of our love. If God express hatred against anything we must take heed we affect it not.
II. Concerning the rule of our hatred. That which we may lawfully hate we must inquire whether we hate it because God hateth it. For, first, heathen can hate some sins for the inconveniences they bring who hath no eye to God in them. Secondly, to avoid sin because men punish it, or human laws condemn it, or because shame attends it is not praiseworthy. Thirdly, even so it is in embracing good. To love religion and embrace the truth because the law favours it and the kingdom embraceth it, and is now the safest, is but policy, and an atheist can do it. But a truly religious heart therefore embraceth it, because it is the truth of God, and because God Himself loveth, honoureth, and promoteth it, and hath commended it to our love and trust.
III. Concerning the measure of our hatred. Our direction is, that wheresoever the Lord expresseth the greatest measure of hatred, we must also there most earnestly hate. For our affection must even in the measure of it be framed to Gods. The manner of our hatred.
1. We must try the intention and vehemency of our affections. The Lord doth not lightly hate sin or barely mislike it, but pursues it with an hostile hatred, and abhors it as the most hateful thing in the world, even so we must not only simply refuse sin or forbear it, but bear a fervent indignation against it, esteeming it the most hateful and hurtful thing in the world (Psa_119:163).
2. The Lord hateth sin generally and universally; not one, or two, or more scandalous sins, but all sin everywhere, both all kinds and all acts of sin. So we must try our hatred by the generality, whether we hate all the ways of falsehood. It is not enough to hate this or that sin, but the heart must be set against all that is called sin.
3. The Lord hateth sin only and innocently; so hateth evil, that He hateth not the good near it or with it; no, nor will not hate the good for it. He will be sure His wrath shall fasten on the works of Nicolaitanes, but rejects no good for evil, no wheat for chaff, no gold for dross. So we may not hate good with evil or for evil.
4. The Lord hateth sin implacably; He can never be reconciled unto it, but goes on to the abolition and destruction of it. So must we try our affection against sin, whether it be a short fit of anger or an extreme just hatred. And the rule of trial of just hatred is, that of the Jews toward their wives, If thou hatest her put her away; divorce thy sin from thyself: allow it no room or harbour. One thing it is for a Jew to be angry at his wife, another to hate her to divorce. And so are many sometimes angry at some sins in extremity, and will curb and moderate and keep them in some compass; but they put them not away altogether because they hate them not.
5. The Lord hates all sin perpetually and constantly. His wrath is so kindled against it that it can never be quenched, but burneth to the bottom of hell. So if our hatred of sin be true it will be lasting and increasing. We see, therefore, what an advantage it is to hold our affections in conformity unto the Lords, and a piece of His own image who, being perfectly good, cannot but hate that which is perfectly evil. And the more we grow to His perfection in good the more perfectly must we hate all that is evil. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.--
Gods voice to the Church
I. That Divine revelations are given to the Christian Church.
1. They are revelations of the truth of God.
2. They are revelations of the condition and duty of the Church. They are practical in tendency. They are faithful. They are definite. They are plain. They are merciful.
3. These revelations are given by the Divine Spirit. He only can give men to see the beauty of truth and the beauty of holiness.
II. That Divine revelations should be attentively heeded by the Christian Church.
1. The Church should seek to understand the revelations of God. These revelations of God are clear to the devout soul.
2. The Church should believe the revelations of God. They are precious. They are Divine. They contemplate important issues. They ought, therefore, to awaken the warm assent of the Church.
3. The Church should submit to the revelations of God. If these Asiatic Churches had meekly yielded to the messages sent to them, they would have averted the retribution that came upon them so woefully.
III. That Divine revelations are frequently neglected by the Christian Church. Lessons:
1. That God speaks to the Church.
2. That the Church should cultivate its hearing faculty.
3. That the utility and destiny of the Church is dependent upon the heed it gives to the messages of God. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The paradise of God.--
Heaven, a garden
I. Heaven is not merely a state, but a place. Men try to be too sublimely immaterial when they deny the thought of locality to human conceptions of heaven. Dr. Chalmers says we make it a lofty aerial region, floating in aether, suspended on nothing. Are we not wrong then? For--
1. Is it not probable that God is the only pure Spirit?
2. Do not all human instincts and all Scriptural revelations point to a place?
II. Heaven is a place of surpassing beauty.
III. Heaven is a place of appropriate labour
IV. Heaven is a place of Gods special habitation. It is a most sacred reminiscence of paradise that the Lord God was there amid the trees of the garden. The central glory of heaven is the felt presence of God. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Paradise
1. First of all, it is plain, is it not, from the persistent use of this word paradise, that departed saints already find the consequences of the fall reversed, and the old primaeval blessedness of man restored to them in Christ? To be done with unfriendly estrangements such as part the best friends here, and all fear of change, which haunteth even earthly love; to be done with unrequited labour, done with evil speaking and ingratitude, done with an unquiet mind and black care that sits behind the rider; to find for all the ills of this life only refreshment and sweet repose, to find peace in the place of strife, and for labour rest, and progress with contentment, and endless youth and gain of knowledge that adds no sorrow, and ever perfect love and charity--this reversal of all that ancient curse which sits upon mankind, this, were there no more but this, how good were it I how good to look forward to! how blessed to possess!
2. In the next place, it is made abundantly evident that the second paradise excels the first in this--that its blessedness is secure from loss or change. Not only is sin shut out, with all sins fruits, but it is shut out for ever. Under whatever aspect the state of the beatified dead is represented, its permanence is always made emphatic. Is it the home of a heavenly Father? Then its chambers are styled mansions, abiding places, as the word signifies, they never lose their tenants. Is it like Eden, a garden of God? Then my text tells you that the tree of life stands open there to all the happy dwellers, and the Lamb shall guide their feet to fountains of immortal life. Or is it a strong city as well as a garden enclosed? Then the conception of its imperishable foundations and lofty walls is that it stands secure at the centre of the Almighty empire--a capital free from the possibility of corruption, dreading no foe.
3. But, in the third place, a careful examination of all the intimations in Scripture leave it, I think, beyond doubt that our paradise is no middle ground of temporary exile, like the Sheol of the Hebrews, but includes admission to the immediate presence and vision of God. One thing only seems needful to complete the felicity of our Christian dead that is, the resurrection of the body. But though that be wanting, there is, nevertheless, a heavenly paradise, for they behold the face of God in light and glory, even while they are waiting still for the full redemption of their bodies. In all the higher moods of earthly experience after what do you find the pure heart of Gods children pant, when at their best, if not after full knowledge of Jesus, full fruition of His wondrous love, full likeness of His holiness, full devotion to His service, full communion with His person? These deep yearnings of saintly hearts on earth, think how they are to be gratified when, every veil withdrawn, these saints behold Him as He is, and are satisfied with His likeness. Close to that primal fountain of spiritual life, of light and joy and energy and bliss, low, at His feet, near to His heart, within the reach of His voice, within the beaming of His eyes, there must be the Christian heaven. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)
The paradise of God
Eden, with all its loveliness, is to be surpassed. It was but a faint type of that heavenly paradise which is opened by Christ to all believers. Futurity is to transcend antiquity. The best is to come at the last. How can we speak of that heavenly paradise? Experience cannot help us. And imagination grows dumb beneath that weight of glory (2Co_4:17), or is blinded by that excess of light. It hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive it. Emblems we have, but they are nothing more. We can only know the Invisible as shadowed by the things that do appear. What various and enchanting hopes start at such words as these: life, a feast, a temple, a city, a kingdom, a Fathers house, glory, the paradise of God. Walking in permitted meditation amid that heavenly paradise, behold--
1. Beauty. How lovely the brief descriptive touches found in the Divine Word! Emblem mingles with emblem and glory blossoms into glory. Is it a garden? The privileged John thus describes it (Rev_22:1-5; Rev_6:16-17). Is it a city? It is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev_21:2). Her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal (Rev_21:11). And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished, etc. (Rev_21:19-21). These are emblems of surpassing loveliness. Nothing more than emblems? Is there no city radiant in splendour? Is there no garden with its crystal river and trees of unfading beauty? Who can say? Any way, if only emblems, heaven is a place of transcendent beauty.
2. Knowledge will mark the inhabitants of the paradise of God. We shall not need to ask, What is it? We shall know it by intuition, and not by tedious search. There to see will be to understand. No mistake will be made by us. And the Great Teacher will instruct us by parable no more. Wide, and ever-widening, will be that sphere of knowledge. But how little all else will be to the knowledge we shall then possess of the Divine character and dealings.
3. In that heavenly paradise there will be supreme enjoyment. Not the sensual pleasures of a Mahometan paradise, but the highest satisfaction and delight of our quick and ever-quickening spiritual powers.
(1) The joy of fellowship. In heaven there will be no solitude in a crowd. Thought will be interchanged. Love will glow. No distrust will cool that warmth of friendship. And more, infinitely more than all, we shall be with Christ. It will be more than vanished paradise come again--more than a restitution of all things.
(2) The joy of holiness. No hindering defilement! No lingering spot!
(3) The joy of rest. The hurly-burly done, the last stroke struck, the last foe vanquished--oh, how blessed the everlasting rest!
(4) The joy of service. Who can tell in what various ways we shall find highest, purest exhilaration in doing Gods commandments? (Rev_22:3). One part of the service will be worship (Psa_16:11).
4. And yet another thought in the paradise of God--eternity. No tree of the knowledge of good and evil is there. The life of probation is over. In that paradise is no decay, no old age, no death (1Pe_1:4). And this high estate of glory, this paradise of eternal bliss, is Christs purchase for men, Christs donation to man. (G. T. Coster.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Rev_2:1-29; Rev_3:1-22
CHAPTER I I
THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY.
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Rev_2:1-29; Rev_3:1-22
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 candlesticks: 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 names sake, and hast not grown weary. But I have this 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 candlestick 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 will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which became dead, and lived again: I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but 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. 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 Satans throne is: and thou boldest 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. 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 this against thee, that thou sufferest thy wife 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 gave 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 her 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 end, to him will I give authority over the nations: and as a shepherd he shall tend them with a scepter of iron, as the vessels of the potter are they broken to shivers; 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. 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 stablish 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. 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. 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 none can shut), that 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 inhabited earth, to try them that dwell upon the earth. I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown. He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall come no more forth: 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 saith to the churches. 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 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 that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest, and eyesalve 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 (Rev_2:1-29, Rev_3:1-22).
THE fortunes of the Church are to be traced in the Revelation of St. John; and the first thing necessary therefore is that we shall learn what the Church is. To accomplish this is the leading aim of the second and third chapters of the book. An object precisely similar appears to determine the arrangement of the fourth Gospel. The Introduction or Prologue of that Gospel is found in Rev_1:1-18; and there can be no doubt that we meet there, in brief and compendious form, the ideas afterwards illustrated and enforced by its selection of incidents from the life of Jesus. After the Prologue follows a section, extending from Rev_1:19-20 to Rev_2:1-11, in which it is obvious that that struggle of Jesus with the world, together with His victory over it, which it is the chief purpose of the Evangelist to relate, has not yet begun. The question thus arises, What is the aim of that section? and the answer is, that it is to set forth the Redeemer with whom the Gospel is to be occupied as He enters upon the field of history. Thus also here. The first chapter of Revelation is the Introduction or Prologue of the book, containing the ideas to be afterwards illustrated in the history of the Church. The struggle of the Church with the world does not yet begin, nor will it begin until we come to Rev. 6. In the meantime we are to see in chaps. 2 and 3 that Body of Christ the struggle and victory of which are to engage our thoughts.
These chapters consist of seven epistles addressed to the churches of the seven cities of Asia named in Rev_1:11, and now written to in the same order, beginning with Ephesus and ending with Laodicea. Each epistle contains much that is peculiar to it, but we shall fail to understand the picture presented by the two chapters as a whole if we look only at the individual parts. General considerations, therefore, regarding the seven epistles first demand our notice.
Each epistle, it will be observed, is addressed to the "angel" of the church named. The object of this commentary, as explained in the prefatory note, renders an examination of the meaning of the word "angel" here used a point of subordinate importance. A few remarks, however, can hardly be avoided. The favorite interpretations of the term are two: that the "angels of the churches" are either the guardian angels to whom they were severally committed, or their bishops or chief pastors. Both interpretations may be unhesitatingly rejected. For as to the first, there is a total absence of proof that it was either a Jewish or an early Christian idea that each Christian community had its guardian angel; and as to the second, if there was, as there seems to have been, in the synagogues of the Jews, an official known as the "angel" or "messenger," he occupied an altogether inferior position, and possessed none of the authoritative control here ascribed to the several "angels" mentioned. Besides this, both interpretations are set aside by the single consideration that, keeping in view what has been said of the number seven in its relation to the number one, the seven angels, like the seven churches, must be capable of being regarded as a unity. But this cannot be the case with seven guardian angels, for such a universal guardianship can be predicated of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Head of the Church, alone. Nor can seven bishops or chief pastors be reasonably resolved into one universal bishop or the moderator of one universal presbytery. The true idea seems to be that the "angels" of the churches are a symbolical representation in which the active, as distinguished from the passive, life of the Church finds expression. To St. John every person, everything, has its angel God proclaims and executes His will by angels.1 He addresses even the Son by an angel.2 The Son acts and reveals His truth by an angel.3 The waters have an angel.4 Fire has an angel.5 The winds have an angel.6 The abyss has an angel.7 On all these occasions the "angel" is interposed when the persons or things spoken of are represented as coming out of themselves and as taking their part in intercourse or in action. In like manner the "angels of the churches" are the churches themselves, with this mark of distinction only, that, when they are thus spoken of, they are viewed not merely as in possession of inward vigor, but as exercising it towards things without. (1 Rev_7:2; Rev_8:2; Rev_14:6; Rev_14:8-9; Rev_15:1; Rev_15:6; 2 Rev_14:15; 3 Rev_1:1; Rev_20:1; Rev_22:6; 4 Rev_16:5; 5 Rev_14:18; 6 Rev_7:1; 7 Rev_9:11)
The interpretation now given is confirmed by the fact that the "angels," as appears from the words of Rev_1:20, "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches," are not different from the "stars," for it is the province of the star, instead of hiding itself in some secret chamber, to shine, and from its place in the firmament to shed light upon the earth. The uniformity of treatment, too, which must be claimed for the number seven when used both with the churches and the stars, is thus rendered possible; for if the former may represent the universal Church in what she is, the latter will represent the same Church in what she does. Thus, then, in the seven "golden candlesticks" and in the seven "stars" or "angels" we have a double picture of the Church; and each of the two figures employed points to a different aspect of her being. It is possible also that the double designation may have been chosen in conformity with a rule, often observed in the Apocalypse, which leads the writer to speak of the same thing, first under an emblem taken from Judaism, and then under one from the wider sphere of the great Gentile Church. The "golden candlestick" burning in the secret of Gods Tabernacle gives the former, the "star" shining in the firmament the latter.
Such then being the case, the seven epistles being addressed to the seven churches, and not to any individual in each, the following particulars with regard to them ought to be kept in view: -
1. They are intended to set before us a picture of the universal Church. At first sight indeed it may seem as if they were only to be looked at individually and separately. The different churches are addressed by name. In what is said of each there is nothing out of keeping with what we may easily suppose to have been its condition at the time. There is as much reason to believe that each epistle contains an actual historical picture as there is to believe this in the case of the epistles of St. Paul to Rome, or Corinth, or Ephesus, or Philippi. Any other supposition would convey a false idea of the principles upon which the Apocalypse is framed, would destroy the reality of the Apostles writing, and would compel us to think that his words must have been unintelligible to those for whom, whatever their further application, they were primarily designed. The question, however, is not thus exhausted; for it is perfectly possible that both certain churches and certain particulars in their state may have been selected rather than others, because they afforded the best typical representation of the universal Church. Several reasons may satisfy us that this was actually done.
(1) We have good ground for believing that, besides these seven churches of Asia, there were other churches in existence in the same district at the time when the Apostle wrote. One of the early fathers speaks of churches at Magnesia and Tralles It is also possible that there were churches at Colossae and Hierapolis, although these cities had suffered from an earthquake shortly after the days of St. Paul. Yet St. John addressed himself not to seven, but to "the seven churches which are in Asia," as if there were no more churches in the province.* More, however, there certainly were; and he cannot therefore have intended to address them all. He makes a selection, without saying that he does so; and it is a natural supposition that his selection is designed to represent the universal Church. (* Rev_1:4)
(2) Importance must be attached to the number seven. Every reader of the book of Revelation is familiar with the singular part played by that number in its structure, and with the fact that (unless Rev_17:9 be an exception) it never means that numeral alone. It is the number of unity in diversity, of unity in that manifoldness of operation which alone entitles it to the name of unity. Such expressions, therefore, as the "seven Spirits of God" or the "seven eyes of the Lamb," are evidently symbolical. The same idea must be carried through all the notices of the number, unless there be something in the context clearly leading to a different conclusion. Nothing of that kind exists here. Were these two chapters indeed out of harmony with the rest of the book, or had they little or no relation to it, it might be urged that they were simply historical, and that no deeper meaning was to be sought in them than that lying on the surface. We have already seen, however, that their connection with the other chapters is of the closest kind; and we cannot therefore avoid bringing them under the scope of the same principles of interpretation as are elsewhere applicable. Their number seven must thus be regarded as typical of unity, and the seven churches as representative of the one universal Church.
(3) The nature of the call to the hearers of each epistle to give heed to the words addressed to them leads to the same conclusion. Had each epistle been designed only for those to whom it was immediately sent, that call would probably have been addressed to them alone. Instead of this it is couched in the most general form: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
(4) The character in which the Saviour speaks to each of the seven churches is always taken from the vision of the Son of man beheld by St. John in the first chapter of his book. It is true that in the case of one or two of the particulars mentioned this is not at once apparent; but in that of by far the larger number it is so clear that we are entitled to infer the existence of some secret link of connection in the mind of the sacred writer even when it may not be distinctly perceptible to us. The descriptions, too, of the epistles are no doubt fuller and more elaborate than those of the vision; but this circumstance is easily accounted for when we remember that the seven different delineations of our Lord contained in the second and third chapters are in the first chapter combined in one. Keeping these considerations in view, the main point is incontestable that the germ of the epistolary description is to be found in every case in the preliminary vision.
Thus to the first church - that of Ephesus - Jesus introduces Himself as He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, He that walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.1; and the description is evidently that of Rev_1:12-13; Rev_1:16, where the Seer beheld "seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto a Son of man; and He had in His right hand seven stars." To the second - the church of Smyrna - Jesus introduces Himself with the words, These things saith the first and the last, which became dead, and lived again2; and the description is taken from Rev_1:17-18 : "I am the first and the last, and the Living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore." To the third - the church of Pergamum - the introduction is, These things saith He that hath a sharp two-edged sword3; and the original of the description is found in Rev_1:16 : and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. To the fourth - the church of Thyatira - the Saviour begins, These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like unto burnished brass4; and we see the source whence the words are drawn when we read in Rev_1:14-15, "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." Of the latter part of the salutation to the fifth church - that of Sardis - which runs, These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars,5 it is unnecessary to speak; but the first part is more difficult to trace. Comparing Rev_5:6 and Rev_4:5, we learn that the seven Spirits of God are the possession of the Redeemer, and that they are symbolized by seven lamps burning before the throne of God. Turning now to chap. 1, we find the Seer speaking in ver. 4 {Rev_1:4} of "the seven Spirits which are before the throne," those very spirits which in Rev_5:6 he tells us that the Redeemer "hath." This latter thought therefore he is accustomed to associate with them; and though in Rev_1:4 he does not expressly say that the seven Spirits there referred to are the possession of Jesus, this view of them is obviously a part of his general conception of the matter. In Rev_1:4, therefore, the source of the words addressed to Sardis is to be found. To the sixth church - that of Philadelphia - it is said, 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 openeth6; and we can have no difficulty in recognizing the germ of the extended description in Rev_1:14; Rev_1:18, where we are told that Jesus Christ, in token of His holiness, hath "His head and His hair white as white wool, white as snow," and that He hath "the keys of death and of Hades." Lastly we have the introductory address to the seventh church - that of Laodicea - These things saith the Amen, thtjaithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God7; and the origin of it is to be seen in Rev_1:5, where we are told of "Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness, and the first-born of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth." Each salutation of the seven epistles is thus part of the description of the Son of man in the first chapter of the book; and it is a legitimate inference that the contents of the epistles are, like the salutations, only portions of one whole. (1 Rev_2:1 2 Rev_2:8; 3 Rev_2:12; 4 Rev_2:18; 5 Rev_3:1; 6 Rev_3:7; 7 Rev_3:14)
(5) Many expressions are to be met with in the seven epistles which find their explanation only in those later chapters of the book where a reference to the Church universal cannot be denied. The tree of life of the first epistle meets us again, more fully spoken of, in the description of the new Jerusalem.1 The second death mentioned in the second epistle is not explained till judgment upon the Churchs enemies is complete.2 The writing upon believers of the new name, promised in the third epistle, is almost unintelligible until we behold the hundred and forty-four thousand upon Mount Zion.3 The authority over the nations, and more especially the gift of the morning star, referred to in the fourth epistle, cannot be comprehended until we are introduced to the vision of the thousand years and the last utterances of the glorified Redeemer.4 The white garments of the fifth epistle can hardly be rightly understood until we see the white-robed company standing before the throne and before the Lamb.5 The mention in the sixth epistle of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, remains a mystery until we actually witness her descent.6 And, finally, the sitting in Christs throne of the seventh epistle is only elucidated by the reign of the thousand years with Him.7 (1 Rev_2:7; Rev_22:2; Rev_22:14; 2 Rev_2:11; Rev_20:14; 3 Rev_2:17; Rev_14:1; 4 Rev_2:26; Rev_2:28; Rev_20:4-5; Rev_22:16; 5 Rev_3:5; Rev_7:9; Rev_7:14; 6 Rev_3:12; Rev_21:2; Rev_21:10; 7 Rev_3:21; Rev_20:4. Comp. Trench, The Seven Epistles, p. 37)
(6) It is worthy of notice that the descriptions of our Lord given in the first and last epistles have a wider application than to the churches of Ephesus and Laodicea, to which they are immediately addressed, thus making it evident that, while each of these epistles has its own place in the series, it is at the same time treated as the first or last member of a group which is to be regarded as a whole.
To the church of Ephesus the Saviour describes Himself as He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, He that walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks1; and the description has no more reference to Ephesus than to any other of the churches named. In like manner to the church of Laodicea He describes Himself as the Amen, the Witness faithful and true, the Beginning of the creation of God.2 The first of these appellations is no doubt derived from Isa_65:16, where we have twice repeated in the same verse the formula "God Amen;" and the meaning of the name as applied to Jesus is, not that all the Divine promises shall be accomplished by Him, but that He is Himself the fulfillment of every promise made by the Almighty to His people. The second appellation reminds us of Joh_18:37, where Jesus replies to Pilates question in the words, "To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." His whole mission is summed up by Him in the idea of "witnessing." He is the perfect, the true, the real Witness to eternal truth in its deepest sense, in its widest and most comprehensive range. The third appellation, again, cannot be limited to the thought of the mere material creation, as if equivalent to the statement that by the Word were all things made. It would thus fail to correspond with the two appellations preceding it, which undoubtedly apply to the work of redemption, while at the same time the addition of the words "of God" would be meaningless or perplexing. Let us add to this that In Rev_1:5, immediately after Jesus has been called the "faithful Witness," He is described as the "first-begotten of the dead," and we shall not be able to resist the conviction that the words before us refer primarily to the new creation, the Christian Church, that redeemed humanity which has its true life in Christ. It may not indeed be necessary to exclude the thought of the material universe; but, in so far as it is alluded to, it is only as redeemed, in its ideal condition of rest and glory, when the new Jerusalem has come down out of heaven, and when the Churchs enemies have been cast into the lake of fire.3 The three appellations, it will be observed, have thus a general rather than a special aspect; and the salutation containing them is to be distinguished from the salutations of the other epistles, all of which, with the exception of the last, exhibit the closest possible connection with the contents of the epistles to which they respectively belong. It is no mere fancy, therefore, when we say that we have in this a proof that the first, and last epistles are not simply members of a continuous series, the last of which may leave the first far behind, but that they are binding terms which gather up all the members of the series and group them into one. (1 Rev_2:1; 2 Rev_3:14; 3Comp. Rom_8:21-22; Jam_1:18)
(7) It ought to be noticed that all the cities to which the seven epistles are addressed were situated beyond the boundaries of the Holy Land, and that the Christian Church in each was certainly composed, at least in large measure, of Gentile converts. These churches cannot therefore represent the Jewish Church alone, but must embody that wider idea of the Christian Church which was brought in when the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles was broken down, and when both were reconciled in one body by the Cross, becoming one Church in the Son and in the Father. Were we dealing with the Jewish-Christian Church, we should unquestionably find it located in Jerusalem or in some of the cities of Palestine. When we are taken to heathen soil, and to churches known to have been at least for the most part Gentile, it is a proof that we have before us that great Gentile Church in the very conception of which lies the thought of universality.
(8) The view now taken is confirmed by the general nature of the Apocalypse. That book is symbolical. It begins with a symbolical representation in the first chapter. Symbolism, by the admission of all, is resumed in the fourth chapter, and is continued from that point to the end. Now it is certainly possible that between these two groups of symbols a passage only strictly historical might be introduced. But if there be reason on independent grounds to think that here also we have facts used at least to a certain extent to serve a higher than a simply historic thought, it cannot fail to be allowed that the general unity of the book is thus preserved, and that a completeness is lent to it which we are entitled to expect, but which would be otherwise wanting.
The seven churches then of Rev. 2 and 3 are thus intended to represent the one universal Church, The Seer selects such particular churches of Asia and such special features of their condition as afford the best illustration of that state of Gods kingdom in the world which is to be the great subject of his prophetic words. He is to keep in view throughout all his revelation certain aspects of the Church in herself and in her relation to the world. But these aspects were not merely in the bosom of the future. Still less are they an ideal picture drawn from the resources of the writers own imagination. To his enlightened eye, looking abroad over that part of the world in which his lot was cast, they were also present, one in one church, another in another. St. John therefore groups them together. They are "the things which are," and they are types of "the things which shall come to pass hereafter."* (* Rev_1:19)
The universalism of the Apocalypse is from the first apparent.
2. A second characteristic of the epistles addressed to the seven churches demands our notice, for these epistles are clearly divisible into two portions, the first consisting of the first three, the second of the other four. Every inquirer admits the fact, the proof resting upon the difference of place assigned in the two portions to the call, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. In the first three this call comes in as a central part of the epistle, immediately before the promise to him that overcometh1; in the last four it closes the epistle.2 There is a still more interesting difference, though the Authorized English Version conceals it from view. According to the best attested readings of the original, the second and third epistles - those to Smyrna and Pergamum, - omit the words, found in all the others, I know thy works. The circumstance is at least remarkable, and it seems to admit of only one explanation. In the mind of the writer the first three epistles were so closely associated together - more closely perhaps than even the seven or the last four - that these words occurring in the first epistle were thought by him to extend their influence over the second and third, much in the same way as the description of the exalted Lord in the same epistle sent its voice forward, and that in the last epistle its voice backward, through the rest. At all events, it is impossible not to see that the first three epistles and likewise the last four, to whatever extent they form parts of one whole, constitute in each case a special unity. What, we have now to ask, is the ground of the distinction? In what light is the Church viewed in each of the two portions spoken of? (1 Rev_2:7; Rev_2:11; Rev_2:17; 2 Rev_2:29; Rev_3:6; Rev_3:13; Rev_3:22)
There are two aspects of the Church which may be said to pervade the whole Apocalypse: first, as she is in herself, in her own true nature; and secondly, as she is engaged in, and affected by, a struggle with the world. The distinction between the two may be traced in the grouping of which we speak. The first three epistles lead us to the thought of the Church in the former, the remaining four to the thought of her in the latter, aspect. In the first three she is the pure bride of Christ; in the last four she has yielded to the influences of the world, and the faithful remnant within her is separated from her professing but unfaithful members.
The numbers into which the two portions of the even epistles are distributed illustrate this. Three is the number of the Divine; four, as appears from many passages of this book, is the number of the world. The simple fact that we have a group of three as distinguished from one of four epistles is sufficient to lead to the impression that, in one way or another the thought of the Divine is more closely associated with the former, and the thought of the world with the latter.
This impression is confirmed when we look at the contents of the epistles. Let us take the first three, and we shall find that in not one of them is a contrast drawn between the whole Church and any faithful remnant within her borders, that in not one of them is the Church represented as yielding to the influences of the world. No doubt she has evil in her midst; and evil always springs from the world, not from God. But she is not yet conscious of the sin by which she is surrounded. She has not yet begun to traffic with the world, to accommodate herself to it, or to lust after what it bestows. The great charge against the church in Ephesus is that she has left her first love.1 She has passed out of the bright and joyous feelings which marked the time of her espousals to the heavenly Bridegroom. But from sin the Church as she actually exists in the world can never be wholly free; and, so far in particular as the Nicolaitans are concerned, she shares in Ephesus the feelings of her Lord, and views them with the hatred which they deserve. No reproach is directed against the church in Smyrna. She is rather the object of her Lords perfect confidence; and He is only preparing trial for her in correspondence with the law by which He trains His people: "Every branch that beareth fruit, He cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit."2 Remarks of a similar kind apply to the church in Pergamum. There is no charge against the church there that she is allowing the world to gain dominion over her. She has certainly persons in her midst who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans, but they are few in number; they are no more than "some,"3 and she lends them in no countenance. On the contrary, though dwelling in the place where Satan has his throne, she has remained true to her Lord, and has been purified in the fires of persecution then raging even unto death. In none of the three cases is the church perfect, but in none is she really faithless to her trust. She is in danger; she needs to be perfected by suffering4; by suffering she is perfected: but she knows that he who will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God, and the enemies of God are her enemies. (1 Rev_2:4; 2 Joh_15:2; 3 Rev_2:14-15; Rev_2:4; 4Comp. Heb_2:10)
When we turn to the second group of the seven epistles, we at once breathe a different atmosphere; and the contrast is rendered more striking by the fact that in the first of the four we have the very sins spoken of which have already twice crossed our path in the epistles to Ephesus and to Pergamum. According to the best critical reading of Rev_2:20, the charge against Thyatira is, "Thou sufferest" (Thou lettest alone; thou toleratest) "thy wife Jezebel" Jezebel was a heathen princess, the first heathen queen who had been married by a king of the northern kingdom of Israel. She was therefore peculiarly fitted to represent the influences of the world; and the charge against Thyatira is thus that, in the persons not of a few only, but of her united membership, she tolerated the world, with its heathen thoughts and practices. She knew it to be the world that it was; but notwithstanding this she was content to be at peace, or even to ally herself, with it. The church in Sardis is not less blameable. There are a few names in her that have not defiled their garments; but the church as a whole has deeply sinned. She has reproduced the Pharisaic type with which the Gospels have made us acquainted, substituting the outward for the inward in religion, and then yielding to the sins of the flesh to which she has thus given the supremacy. The church in Philadelphia, like that in Smyrna, is not blamed, and it is well that there should be one church even in the midst of the world of which this can be said; yet even Philadelphia has only a little power1 while the exhortation, Hold fast that which thou hast2 appears to indicate that she has been losing much. Lastly, no one can mistake the willing identification of herself with the world on the part of the church in Laodicea. She says that she is rich, that she has gotten riches, that she has need of nothing.3 Her members are well-to-do and in easy circumstances, and they have found so much comfort in their worldly goods that they have become blind to the fact that man needs something better and higher for his portion. In all these four churches, in short, we have an entirely different relation between the Church and the world from that set before us in the first three. There is not simply danger of decay within, and the need of trial with the benefit resulting from it. There is actual conflict with the world; sometimes, it may be, a victory over it, at other times a yielding to its influences and an adoption of its spirit. In the first three churches all, or all with few exceptions, are on the side of Christ; in the last four the "remnant" alone is true to Him. (1 Rev_3:8; 2 Rev_3:11; 3 Rev_3:17)
Attention to the promises to him that overcometh in the different epistles seems to confirm what has been said. There is a marked contrast between the tone of these promises as they are given in the two groups of epistles; and even where a certain amount of similarity exists, the promises in the second group will be found to be fuller and richer than in the first. At Ephesus, at Smyrna, and at Pergamum "he that overcometh" is rewarded much, as one still in a simple and childlike state would be. The first promise made to him is that he shall eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God1; the second, that he shall not be hurt of the second death2; the third, that he shall eat of the hidden manna, and be like the high-priest in the innermost recesses of the sanctuary.3 All is quiet. The appeal of Him who promises is to the gentler susceptibilities of the soul. The privileges and enjoyments spoken of are adapted to the condition of those who have not yet experienced the struggle of life. (1 Rev_2:7; 2 Rev_2:11; 3 Rev_2:17)
When we turn to the second group of epistles there is a different tone. We enter upon rewards conceived in bolder and more manly figures. The first promise now is, He that overcometh, and he that keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations: and as a shepherd he shall tend them with a sceptre of iron; as the vessels of the potter are they broken to shivers.1 This is the reward of victory after well-fought fields. The warrior thus crowned must have braved the strife and won with difficulty. The second promise is not less marked in its character. He that overcometh shall not simply, as in the case of Smyrna, receive the reward of not being "hurt of the second death;" he shall be arrayed in white garments, and Jesus will confess his name before His Father, and before His angels.2 The third promise is at least a large extension of that given to Pergamum, for of him that now overcometh it is said, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall come no more forth - that is, shall come no more forth to a struggle with the world similar to that in which he has been engaged - 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.3 Finally, the fourth promise is the noblest of all: 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.4 All the promises of the second group of epistles are clearly distinguished in tone and spirit from those of the first group. They presuppose a fiercer struggle, a hotter conflict; and they are therefore full of a more glorious reward. (1 Rev_2:26-27; 2 Rev_3:5; 3 Rev_3:12; 4 Rev_3:21)
Such seems to be the relation to one another of the two groups into which the seven epistles naturally divide themselves. In the first group the Church has stood firm against the world. She is full of toil and endurance; in her poverty she is rich; and the troubles of the future she does not fear. She holds fast the name of Christ, and openly confesses Him. Seeds of evil are indeed within her, which will too soon develop themselves; but she has the Divine life within her in as much perfection as can be expected amidst the infirmities of our present state. She walks with God and hears His voice in her earthly paradise. In the second group the evil seed sown by the enemy has sprung up. The Church tolerates the sins that are around her, makes her league with the world, and yields to its influence. She rallies indeed at times to her new and higher life, but she finally submits to the world and is satisfied with its goods. There are many faithful ones, it is true, in her midst. As in the Jewish Church there was a "remnant according to the election of grace," so in her there are those who listen to the Saviours voice and follow Him. Yet they are the smaller portion of her members, and they shall eventually come forth out of her. It is the same sad story which has marked all the previous dispensations of the Almighty with His people, and which will continue to be repeated until the Second Coming of the Lord. That story culminates in this book of the Revelation of St. John, when the bride, allying herself with the world, becomes a harlot and when the Seer hears "another voice out of heaven, saying, Come forth, My people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."* (* Rev_18:4)
We have considered the epistles contained in these chapters as a unity representative of the universal Church in the two main aspects of her condition in the world; but before leaving them it will be well to look at them individually, and to mark the peculiar condition of each Church addressed.
1. The first epistle is that to Ephesus, the central or metropolitan city of the district to which all the seven churches belonged, and with which the almost unanimous voice of antiquity associates the later years of the pastorate of St. John himself. Hence, in part at least, as we have already seen, the general nature of the salutation with which the glorified Lord presents Himself to that church. He does not merely hold its star in His right hand, nor does He merely walk in the midst of it alone. He holdeth the seven stars in His right hand. He walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. He is present in every part of His Church on earth. To every part of it He says, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the consummation of the age."* (* Mat_28:20)
The church at Ephesus is faithful as a whole, I know, is the language of her Lord to her, 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 names sake, and hast not grown weary. The tribute is a noble one. The church is not only working, but toiling, in her Masters service; she is firm amidst trial, whether from within or from without; she views with abhorrence all workers of iniquity; she tries, only in order to reject, those pretended messengers of Christ who would have preached another gospel than that the power of which she knew. Amidst all the speciousness of their claims, she had "found" them false. Then she turned again to her steadfast endurance until it became a settled principle in her life, and it could be said to her, with the strong force of the word in the writings of St. John, that she "had" it. The spirit of all this, too, had been found in the "name" of Jesus, the revelation of the love and grace of God given her in Him. Finally, she had not grown weary. Seven marks of faithfulness appear to be mentioned; and, if so, the fourth - her judgment of false teachers - occupies the central position. Nor does it seem fanciful to say this when we notice that of all the seven points the fourth is the only one returned to, and that in a more specific form, at a later point in the epistle: But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. In other words, doctrinal faithfulness was the peculiar distinction of the Ephesian church. She knew that the revelation of God in Christ must be kept pure, or toil would lose its spring, patience its encouragement, shrinking from evil men its intensity, and perseverance its support. Therefore she valued the doctrinal truth which had been committed to her, and held fast the "form of sound words" which she had received, for the sake of the life to which it led.
Amidst all this the church at Ephesus was not wholly what she ought to have been. I have this against thee, had to be said to her, that thou didst leave thy first love; and she needed words of exhortation and warning: Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. The church had declined from the bright and joyous feelings of her first condition. Might her very zeal for the purity of Christian doctrine have had anything to do with this? It is not impossible. Eager defense of truth against error, notwithstanding its importance, is apt to shift the centre of the souls inner life. The strifes of theologians and the cry "First purity, then peace" translated into "Purity without peace," have been in every age the scandal and the weakness of the Church. Well might even David speak of it as one of the most signal instances of Gods goodness to them that fear Him, "Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues;"* and never, alas! have tongues been sharper or more contentious than in the maintenance of the faith. There is something without which even zeal for truth may be but a scorching and devouring flame; and that is the "first love," the love ever fresh and tender for Him who first, loved us, the love which teaches us to win and not to alienate, to raise and not to crush, those who may only be mistaken in their views, and are not determined enemies of God. (* Psa_31:20)
Possessed of this spirit, we shall overcome; and the first love will meet its first reward. To him that overcometh, says the Lord, recalling the blessedness of Eden, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.
2. The second epistle is that to Smyrna, a rich, prosperous, and dissolute city, and largely inhabited by Jews bitterly opposed to Christ and Christianity. Here therefore persecution of those leading the pure and holy life of the Gospel might be peculiarly expected, as indeed it also peculiarly appeared. The church at Smyrna thus becomes the type of a suffering church, the representative of that condition of things foretold in the words of Christ, and constantly fulfilled in the history of His people, "A servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you."* (* Joh_15:20)
It will be observed that at Smyrna the church is still faithful, and that against her no word of reproach is uttered. Hence the aspect under which the Redeemer presents Himself to that church is purely animating and consolatory, the same as that which, in the introductory vision in chap. 1, followed the action of the Lord when He laid His right hand upon the Apostle, who had fallen to the ground as dead, and when He said to him, "Fear not."1 So now: These things saith the first and the last, which became dead, and lived again. Death and resurrection are the two great divisions of the work of Christ on our behalf, and the Gospel is summed up in them. Just as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians when he would remind them of the substance of his preaching in their midst, "For I declared unto you first of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He hath been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,"2 in like manner here the same two facts include all the truth which Smyrna held fast, and with which come the life that conquers sin and the joy that triumphs over sorrow. (1 Rev_1:17; 2 1Co_15:3-4)
The state of the church is then described: I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Tribulation, persecution, the blasphemy of men calling themselves the only people of God and denying to Christians any portion in His covenant, are alone alluded to, though the church is at the same time cheered with the remark that if she had no share in worldly wealth and splendour, she was rich. "God had chosen them that were poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to them that love Him."* (* Jam_2:5)
The church then was in the midst of suffering. Was not that enough; and shall she not be told that her sufferings were drawing to an end, that the night of weeping was gone by, and that the morning of joy was about to dawn? So we might think; but Gods thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways, and we are like children bathing on the shore,
Buried a wave beneath;
The second wave succeeds before
We have had time to breathe.
How often does it happen in the Christians experience that one burden is laid upon another, and that one wave succeeds another, till he seems left desolate and alone upon the earth. Yet even then he has no assurance that his sufferings are at a close. The consolation afforded to him is, not that there shall be a short campaign, but only that, whether long or short, he shall be more than conqueror through Him that loved him. Thus our Lord does not now say to His church at Smyrna, Fear none of those things that thou art suffering, but 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. It is hardly necessary to say to any intelligent reader of the Apocalypse that the "ten days" here spoken of are neither ten literal days, nor ten years, nor ten successive persecutions of indefinite length. In conformity with the symbolical use of numbers in this book, "ten days" expresses no more than a time which, though troubled, shall be definite and short, a time which may be otherwise denoted by the language of St. Peter when he says of believers that "now for a little while they have been put to grief in manifold temptations."* Encompassed by affliction, therefore, those who are thus tried have only to be faithful unto death, or to the last extremity of martyrdom. He who died and lived again will bestow upon them the crown of life, the crown of the kingdom, incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. (* 1Pe_1:6)
3. The third epistle is that to Pergamum, a city at the time devoted to the worship of Æsculapius, the god of medicine, and in particular largely engaged with those parts of medical science which are occupied with inquiries into the springs of life. That the wickedness of the city was both greater and more widespread than was common even in the dark days of heathenism is borne witness to by the fact that the first words addressed to it by Him that hath the sharp two-edged sword were these: I know where thou dwellest, even where Satans throne is. The word "throne" (not, as in the Authorized Version, "seat") is intentionally selected by the Seer; and its use affords an illustration of one of his principles of style, the remembrance of which is not unfrequently of value in interpreting his book. Everywhere it is his wont to see over against the good its mocking counterpart of evil, over against the light a corresponding darkness. Thus because God occupies a throne Satan does the same; and inasmuch as in Pergamum sin was marked by a refinement of greater than ordinary depth, Satan might be said to have his "throne" there. This circumstance, combined with the promise to the Church contained in the seventeenth verse, 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, may help us to understand the main thought of this epistle as distinguished from the others. We have seen reason to believe that there was some secret mystery of evil in the city; and, contrasted with this, we have now the promise of a secret mystery of life to the faithful church. The Church then in the secret of her Divine preservation is here before us. She lives a life the springs of which no one sees, a life that is hid with Christ in God.
It will be observed, accordingly, that, whatever may be said against the condition of the city, nothing is said against the church within it. There is no hint that she has yielded to the influences of the world. She has certainly evil-doers in her midst; but these, though in her, are not of her: and the Christianity of the great majority of her members remains sound and sweet. Let us listen to the words of commendation: 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. Those who are described in these words as "holding the teaching of Balaam" and those who are here called "the Nicolaitans" are the same, denoted in the first instance by a description taken from the history of Balaam in the Old Testament, and in the second by a word formed in Greek after the fashion of Balaams name in Hebrew. That the church in her corporate capacity had not yielded to the sinfulness referred to is manifest from this, that they who had done so are described as "some," and that in the threatening of the sixteenth verse it is not said, I will war against "thee," but I will war against "them." The sin therefore found in the bosom of the church was not, as we shall find it to have been at Thyatira, with her consent. She failed, not because she encouraged it, but because she did not take more vigorous steps for its extinction. She did not sufficiently realize the fact that she was a part of the Body of Christ, and that, if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. Believers in her community were too easily satisfied with working out their own salvation, and thought too little of presenting the whole church "as a pure virgin to Christ."1 Therefore it was that, even amidst much faithfulness, they needed to repent, to feel more deeply than they did that "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,"2 and that in the Church of the Lord Jesus we are to a large extent responsible, not only for our own, but for our neighbours sins. By keeping up the Christian tone of the whole Church the tone of each member of the Church is heightened. (1 2Co_11:2; 2 1Co_5:6)
We thus reach the close of the first three epistles "to the churches;" and we see that, while each is accommodated to the particular circumstances of the Christian community to which it is sent, the three taken together present to us the three leading considerations upon which, when we think of Christs Church in this world, we naturally dwell. First, she is in the main true to her Divine Master, even when compelled to confess that she has left her first love. Secondly, she is exposed for her further cleansing to many trials. Lastly, she is sustained by the unseen influences of Divine love and grace. She eats of the hidden manna. She has within her breastplate a white, glistering stone, upon which is inscribed the new name which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. She dwells, like the high-priest of old at the moment of his greatest dignity and honour, in the secret place of the Most High. She abides under the shadow of the Almighty. As a child she has entered into the garden of the Lord; and yet, in all the simplicity of her childhood, she is both king and priest.
Such is the Church of Christ in Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamum. Happy days of innocence and bliss! We may well linger over them for a little. Too soon will they pass away, and too soon will the Churchs conflict with the world and her yielding to it begin.
4. With the fourth epistle we enter upon the second group of epistles, where the Church is brought before us less as she is in herself, than as she fails to maintain her true position in the world, and as that separation between a faithful remnant and the whole body which meets us at every step of her history, throughout both the Old Testament and the New, begins to show itself. Now therefore there is a change of tone.
The first of the four, the fourth in the series of seven, is that to Thyatira; and to the church there the Lord presents Himself in all the penetrating power of those eyes that as a flame of fire search the inmost recesses of the heart, and in all the resistless might of those feet that are as "pillars of fire:"* These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like unto burnished brass. (* Rev_10:1)
The commendation of the church follows, what is good being noted before defects are spoken of: I know thy works, and thy love and faith and ministry and patience, and that thy last works are more than the first. The commendation is great. There was not only grace, but growth in grace, not only work, but work in Christs cause abounding more and more. Yet there was also failure. To understand this it is necessary, as already noticed, to adopt the translation of the Revised Version, founded on the more correct reading of the later critical editions of the Greek. Even in that version, too, the translation, given in the margin, of one important expression has to be substituted for that of the text. Keeping this in view, the Saviour thus addresses Thyatira: But I have this against thee, that thou sufferest (that thou toleratest, that thou lettest alone) thy wife 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 gave 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 her 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. In these words "Jezebel" is clearly a symbolical name. It is impossible to think that the "angel" of the church was the chief pastor, and that the woman named Jezebel, spoken of as she is, was his wife. We have before us the notorious Jezebel of Old Testament history. Her story is so familiar to everyone that it is unnecessary to dwell on it; and we need only further call attention to the fact that the sentence in which her name is mentioned is complete in itself. The sin of the church at Thyatira was that she "suffered" her. In other words, the church tolerated in her midst the evil of which Ahabs wife was so striking a representative. She knew the world to be what it was; but, instead of making a determined effort to resist it, she yielded to its influences. She repeated the sin of the Corinthian Church: "It is actually reported that there is fornication among you. . . . And ye are puffed up, and did not rather mourn, that he that had done this deed might be taken away from among you."1 The world, in short, was in the church, and was tolerated there. Of the threatened punishment, the "bed" of tribulation and sorrow instead of that of guilty pleasure, nothing need be said. It is of more consequence to observe the change in the manner of address which meets us after that punishment has been described: 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. For the first time in these epistles we meet with those who are spoken of as "the rest," the remnant, who are to be carefully distinguished from the great body of the Churchs professing members. The world has penetrated into the Church; the Church has become conformed to the world: and the hour is rapidly approaching when the true disciples of Jesus will no longer find within her the shelter which she has hitherto afforded them, and when they will have to "come forth out of her" in her degenerate condition.2 It is a striking feature of these apocalyptic visions, which has been too much missed by commentators. We shall meet it again and again as we proceed. In the meantime it is enough to say that the moment of withdrawal has not yet come. The faithful "rest," who had rejected the false teaching and shunned the sinful life, are to continue where they were; and the Lord will cast upon them none other burden. Well for them that they had such a promise! Their burden of suffering was heavy enough already. Hard to contend with under any circumstances, suffering rises nearer to the height of the sufferings of Christ when the Christian is "wounded," not by open foes, but "in the house of his friends." "It was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: but it was thou, a man mine equal, my companion, and my familiar friend. We took sweet counsel together; we walked in the house of God with the throng."3 (1 1Co_5:1-2; 2Comp. Rev_18:4; 3 Psa_55:12-14)
The trial was great; so also is the consolation: And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations: and as a shepherd he shall tend them with a sceptre of iron, as the vessels of the potter are they broken to shivers; as I also have received of My Father: and I will give him the morning star. It was a heathen element that clouded the sky of the church at Thyatira. That element, nay the nations out of which it springs, shall be crushed beneath the iron sceptre of the King who shall "reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously."l The clouds shall disappear; and Jesus, "the bright, the morning star,"2 having given Himself to His people, He and they together shall shine with its clear but peaceful light when it appears in the heavens, the harbinger of day. (1 Isa_24:23; 2 Rev_22:16)
5. The fifth epistle is that to Sardis, and in the superscription He who sends it describes Himself as One that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars. Both expressions have already met us, the former in Rev_1:4, the latter in Rev_2:1. A different word from that used in the address to Ephesus is indeed used here to indicate the relation of the Lord to these stars or angels of the churches. There the glorified Lord "holdeth the seven stars in His right hand;" here He "hath" them. Like every other change, even of the slightest kind, in this book, the difference is instructive. To "hold" them is to hold them fast for their protection; to "have" them is to have them for a possession, to have them not only outwardly and in name, but inwardly and in reality, as His own. Thus Christ "hath" the Holy Spirit, who in all His varied or sevenfold influences is, as He proceedeth from the Father and the Son, not only Gods, but His. Thus also Christ "hath" the seven stars or churches, here spoken of in immediate connection with the Spirit, and therefore viewed chiefly in that spirituality of feeling and of life which ought to be the great mark distinguishing them from the world. It was the mark in which Sardis failed. Let her take heed to Him with whom she has to do.
I know, are the words addressed to her, thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead. Be thou watchful, and stablish 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 1 will come upon thee. The world had been tolerated in Thyatira, the first of the last four churches; in Sardis, the second, it is more than tolerated. Sardis has substituted the outward for the inward. She has been proud of her external ordinances, and has thought more of them than of living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit. True piety has declined; and, as a natural consequence, sins of the flesh, alluded to in the immediately following words of the epistle, have asserted their supremacy. More even than this, Sardis had a name that she lived while she was dead. She was renowned among men. The world looked, and beheld with admiration what was to it the splendor of her worship; it listened, and heard with enthusiasm the music of her praise. And the church was pleased that it should be so. Not in humility, lowliness, and deeds of self-sacrificing love did she seek her "name," but in what the world would have been equally delighted with though the inspiring soul of it all had been folly or sin. A stronghold had been established by the world in Sardis.
Yet there also the Good Shepherd had His little flock, and there again we meet them. But thou hast a few names in Sardis which did not defile their garments. These were to Sardis what "the rest" were to Thyatira. They were the "gleanings left in Israel, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree."1 They were the "new wine found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it."2 To them therefore great promises are given: 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. It is the glorified Lord who, as the High-priest of His Church, "walketh" in the midst of the golden candlesticks; and, as priests, these shall walk with Him in a similar glory. Upon earth they were despised, but beyond the earth they shall be openly acknowledged and vindicated. They shall be arrayed in those garments of glistering purity which were with difficulty kept white in the world, but which in the world to come Divine favour shall keep free from every stain. (1 Isa_17:6; 2 Isa_65:8)
6. The sixth epistle is to Philadelphia; arid the remarkable circumstance connected with this church is that, though spoken of as having but "a little power," it is not seriously blamed. In this respect it resembles the church at Smyrna in the first group of these seven epistles. What has mainly to be noticed, however, is that it is not simply, like that at Smyrna, a suffering church. It has been engaged in an earnest and hot struggle with the world, as the superscription, the commendation, and the promises of the epistle combine to testify.
The superscription is, 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. The figure is taken from the Old Testament; and both there and here the context shows us that it is neither the key of knowledge, nor the key of discipline, nor the key of the treasures of the kingdom that is spoken of, but the key of power to open the Lords house as a sure refuge from, all evil, and to preserve safe forever those who are admitted to it. "I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah," says the Almighty by His prophet, "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 house of Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open."* Whoever be our adversaries, we know that in the hollow of the Lords hand we are safe. (* Isa_22:21-22)
The commendation of the epistle tells the same tale: I know thy works (behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut), that thou hast a little power, and didst keep My word, and didst not deny My name. The Church had "a little power," and she had shown this in the struggle.
So also with the promises: 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 inhabited earth, to try them that dwell upon the earth. I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown. He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall no more come forth: 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. How fierce the struggle of Philadelphia had been with the world we learn from these words, in which the enemies of the Church "Jews" they call themselves, the people of God, but "they are not" are brought before us like vanquished nations at her feet, as she sits in the heavenly places, paying homage to her against whom they had so long, but vainly, struggled. It is impossible not to see the difference between this church and that at Smyrna. No doubt there had been "blasphemy of them which say they are Jews" in the latter case, but worse trials were only spoken of as about to come. Here the trials have come, and the church has risen triumphantly above them. Therefore will the Lord admit her to His heavenly mansions, and will make her a pillar in His Fathers house, whence she shall come forth no more. He Himself "went forth" from His Father that He might be the Captain of our salvation and might die on our behalf. He returned to His Father, and never again "comes forth" as He came in the days of His flesh. Having died once, He dieth no more; and they who have borne His cross shall wear, when victors in His cause, His crown of victory.
7. The seventh epistle is to Laodicea, and here there can be no doubt that we have the picture of a church in which the power of the world carries almost all before it The church is addressed by Him who de scribes Himself as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, upon which immediately follows a charge as to her condition in which there is no redeeming point. Only later do we see that there is hope. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would 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 that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. To interpret the boasting of the church given in these words as if it referred to spiritual rather than material riches is entirely to mistake the meaning. Worldly wealth is in the writers view. The members of the church generally have aimed at riches, and have gotten them. Possession of riches has also been followed by its usual effects. The seen and the temporal have usurped in their minds the place of the unseen and the eternal. Perhaps they have even regarded their worldly prosperity as a token of the Divine favor, and are soothing themselves with the reflection that they have made the best of both worlds, when they have really sacrificed everything to one world, and that the lower of the two. The last picture of the Church is the saddest of all.
Yet is Laodicea not altogether without hope. Behold, says He whose every word is truth, 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. Even in Laodicea there are some who, inasmuch as they have fought the hardest battle, shall be welcomed to the highest reward. 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 that neither hope nor imagination can rise.
The epistles to the seven churches are over. They present the Church to us as she appears on the field of history. They set before us the leading characteristics of her condition partly as she was in "Asia" at the moment when the Apostle wrote, partly as she shall be throughout all time and on the widest, as well as the narrowest, scale. These characteristics may be shortly summed up as in the first group of three, love to the Redeemer, yet love liable, and even beginning, to grow cold; persecution and trials of many kinds; preservation by the secret grace of God and in the hidden life: in the second group of four, yielding on the part of the majority to sins associated with unchristian doctrine; formalism in religion; weakness in the midst of trial, even though not accompanied by faithlessness; and lukewarmness, springing from a preference of the things of time to those of eternity. To these characteristics, however, have to be added, as more or less accompanying them, many of the active graces of the Christian life: labour, and patience, and faith, and charity, and works, whatever makes the Christian Church a light in the world and the object of her Lords care and watchfulness. In reading the seven epistles, we behold a lively picture of the Church of Christ in her graces and in her failings, in her strength and in her weakness, in her joys and in her sorrows, in her falls under the influence of temptation and in her returns to the path of duty. The characteristics thus spoken of are not peculiar to any particular age, but may mark her at one time less, at another more, at one time individually, at another in combination. Taken as a whole, they present her to us in her Divine ideal marred by human blemishes; we are prepared to acknowledge the necessity, the wisdom, and the mercy of the trials that await her; and we learn to anticipate with gladness her final and glorious deliverance.
One brief concluding remark ought to be made. The epistles now considered ought to be sufficient in themselves to show that the Apocalypse is not a series of visions intended only to illustrate one or two ideas which had taken a strong hold of the Apostles mind, or one or two great principles of the Divine government in general. St. John starts from the realities around him as much as any writer of the New Testament. It is true that he sees in them eternal principles at work, and that he rises to the thought of ideal good and of ideal evil; but he is not on that account less true to fact, less impressed by fact. On the contrary, his very depth of insight into the meaning of the facts makes him what he is. He who would write a philosophy of history is not less, but more, dependent upon the facts of history than he to whom a fact in valuable simply in its individual and isolated form. It is the present therefore that stirs the writer of this book, but stirs him the more because he beholds in it principles and issues connected with Him who was, and is, and is to come, the covenant-keeping God, the Judge of men, the unchangeable I AM.
Hence also the mistake sometimes made of thinking that the purpose of unfolding the principles of the Divine government could not be a sufficient motive to St. John to write.l Every cruelty to the saints of God which he witnessed, every cry of oppression which he heard, supplied a motive. We may not feel these things now, but the iron of them entered into the soul of the disciple whom Jesus loved. We need more prophets like him to make it ring in the ears of selfish wealth and of ease indifferent to the ills festering around it, "For the spoiling of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord."2 (1Dods, Introduction to New Testament, p. 244; 2 Psa_12:5)
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1–7 1–3. To the angel. See note on the Angels…
1–3. To the angel. See note on the Angels of the Churches at close of chapter 1. The church of Ephesus. The city of Ephesus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia, and the greatest city. As a great center it was sought by the Apostle Paul, who founded the church and labored there more than three years (see Acts, chapter 18), and afterwards addressed to it the Epistle to the Ephesians. At a later period he placed Timothy there and addressed two epistles to him. All early church tradition declares that John from about a.d. 70 made this city his home until his death. There is not now standing a single house upon the site of the ancient city, though the ruins are of the most imposing character. The Turkish village of Agasalouk, upon the Smyrna and Aidan R. R., is about two miles distant. These things saith he, etc. See 1:13, 16, 20.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Rev_2:1. Angel.—If this be taken as the chief pastor…
REVELATIONS OF CHURCH LIFE
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
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Rev_2:1. Angel.—If this be taken as the chief pastor of the Church, it is quite? possible that Timothy is the person addressed. Holdeth.—As a figure for exercising dominion over, having power over. Walketh.—Is present among Christian societies and exercises particular inspection over them. Ephesus is first addressed, as the chief city of the district.
Rev_2:2. I know.—Often used to denote approbation or complacency. Works.—Perhaps “all developments of character,” but better treated as a general term, which is explained as embracing “labour” (strain) and “patience.” The word “labour” here means “labour carried on unto weariness.” “Patience” here expresses the brave and persistent endurance of the Christian. Canst not bear.—Or cannot do with; cannot put up with. Evil.—κακούς Evil ones. Perhaps the morally evil were specially in mind. Found them liars.—For St. Paul’s warning of false teachers, see Act_20:28-31. Tried is a strong word. Thoroughly tested their pretensions. Apostles.—Involving claim to direct Divine authority. They were probably Judaisers, either of the antinomian or the Gnostic type. The word translated “liars” is ψευδεῖς—false. They who made false claims would be sure to teach false things. They could be tested
(1) by comparing their teachings with those of St. Paul;
(2) by recalling the characteristic features of heretical doctrine, as described by him; and
(3) by the moral and spiritual influence which their teachings were found to exert.
Rev_2:3. Not fainted.—Or, not been wearied out, though the strain has been long continued. See the word translated “labour” in Rev_2:2. “They had toiled on to very weariness, without wearying of their toil.”
Rev_2:4. Left.—Let go. “I have it against thee that thou givest up the love thou hadst at the beginning.” The first love may be
(1) their first fervour of love to Christ; or
(2) their former spirit of benevolence and kindness toward all men. Stuart inclines to the second explanation. Plumptre says: “Whether the ‘first love’ is that which has God, or Christ, or man, for its object, I am not careful to enquire, for the true temper of love or charity includes all three.”
Rev_2:5. Fallen.—The height of Christian attainment gained has to be maintained. To be satisfied with a lower level is to fall. Do the first works.—This is possible at once. To restore the feeling may not be possible at once; but resuming the works puts us in the way of the restoration of the feeling. Or else.—Lit. “but if not.” Will come.—Am coming. Remove thy candlestick.—A providential and spiritual visitation of Christ is meant. “The judgment threatened was determined by the symbolism of the vision. The lamp was not burning brightly. If it were rekindled and trimmed and fed with oil, well. If not, there would come on it the sentence which falls on all unfaithfulness, and the lamp should be removed. The Church which had not let its light shine before men would lose even its outward form and polity, and be as though it had never been” (Plumptre). A few huts only remain on the site of ancient Ephesus.
Rev_2:6. Nicolaitanes.—A branch of the Gnostics who held it to be lawful to eat meats offered to idols, and who practised fornication. They traced their origin to Nicolas, one of the seven deacons, but there is no clue to the assumed connection between them. They were the antinomians of the Asiatic Church. Some think the word is but a Greek form of the name Balaam, or as symbolical of Balaam, and so Nicolaitanes was equivalent to Balaamites.
Rev_2:7 The Spirit.—τὸ πνεῦμα. Yet the Living Christ is the speaker throughout. “The mode of transmission to the Churches is, however, by the Spirit, in His dispensation, ‘giving utterance’ to John.” Remember, however, that to Christ’s human nature the Spirit was imparted without measure. Tree of life.—Figurative description of eternal life (see Gen_2:9). “The promise of the tree of life is appropriate
(1) to the virtue commended: those who had not indulged in the license of the Nicolaitanes shall eat of the tree of life;
(2) to the special weakness of the Ephesians: to those who had fallen and lost the paradise of first loving communion and fellowship with God is held out the promise of a restored paradise, and participation in the tree of life” (Bishop Boyd Carpenter).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rev_2:1-7
A Church Weak in the Springs of Life.—We are treating the book of Revelation as a spiritual rather than as a historical book. Not anxious to fit it to any history, or to find events that seem to match its symbols, but purposing to find what suggestive spiritual and practical applications can be made of the symbols. In this and the following chapter is the picture of the Living Christ, the searching White Christ, moving among His Churches, carefully inspecting them. And what He notices, and remarks on, in these seven representative cases, may help us to discover what, in the Churches of to-day, must be grieving Him who would have them white as He is white.
I. The Living Christ accepts the fact that His Church on earth is a fighting Church. (Compare St. Paul’s address to the elders of Ephesus, Act_20:28-30.) That the enemies of the Church are mainly within itself is seen in all these seven cases. The chief wrong is always some wrong in themselves. Outside evils and temptations are easily over-mastered when the internal spiritual health and vitality are well maintained. The Living Christ is not content with surface impressions; He goes to the very root of the evil. He sees—
1. Inconsistency—the failure to harmonise spirit and conduct.
2. Inefficiency—the failure to rise to a high standard of Christian life, or to meet the higher spiritual obligations.
3. Influence of false teachers, regarded rather as the source of moral than of merely intellectual mischief. The conflict of Christ’s Church must partly be with circumstances and with persecutors; but the real importance of their influence lies in the strain put on Christian motive, and the injury done to Christian character. Christ does not expect present perfection in His Church. He does expect “overcoming,” which is the pursuit, step by step, of perfection—steady progress, by advancing triumphs, towards perfection. Christian life should be a series of victories, small and great.
II. The Living Christ may notice a wavering, changeable spirit in a Church.—This is the point of importance in the inspection of this Church. The Searching Lord found out that they were not actually what they had been. Surface appearances were, indeed, the same, but they had “left their first love.” The history of this Church may be reviewed. First, certain disciples of John the Baptist had taught a reformed Judaism. Then came the eloquent preaching of Apollos. Then the instructive work of Aquila and Priscilla, and then the three years’ ministry of St. Paul. The Church was greatly attached to the apostle, but in the epistle to Timothy there have been found signs of what seems to be a change of feeling toward him. And this may suggest one meaning of the expression, “thou hast left thy first love.” There was much that deserved commendation in the Church at Ephesus. It must be borne in mind that it was a very difficult city to live a Christian life in. It was Eastern; Diana’s great Temple was there; it was noted for its superstitions and magical arts. The Living Christ was able freely to praise their
(1) works,
(2) patience,
(3) zeal,
(4) good motive. But if the tone of Christ’s praise is carefully estimated, it will be seen that He observed an intensity in these things, which itself indicated a sense of flagging soul life. Over-activity is a bad sign. Though surface things seemed right, there was weakness in the springs of life. There were signs of a serious change in them. Changed feeling towards St. Paul showed a changed state of soul; they were not keeping soul-steadfast. How did this changeableness, fickleness, come about?
1. Partly it was due to natural disposition. Fickle people need to watch themselves, and their varying moods, with unusual care. Impulsive people seldom have also staying power, and they soon flag.
2. Partly it resulted from the influence of circumstances. The strain of continuance is always trying, and the subtlety of false teachers undermines Christian vitality.
3. The neglect of private soul-culture leaves the inner life to flag. Such neglect often follows from undue absorption in worldly things. Application may be made to the sin and peril of the changeableness that is so sadly characteristic of Christian Churches nowadays. The signs of it are
(1) craving for excitement;
(2) wanting to be made to feel;
(3) distaste of quiet spiritual influences. When a man has lost his soul’s love and life, he tries to make up for the loss by ceremonies, or singing, or revivals. Men should ask themselves this question: How is it we want to be revived? Why are we not keeping up our high standard of Christian life?
III. The Living Christ encourages wrestling with this weakness by promising permanency to them who overcome.—“Eating the tree of life.” See the tree in the Garden of Eden; and the tree figured later on, in this book of Revelation, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and these every month, so that it was permanently refreshing, sustaining a continuous high life and vigour. “Overcoming” includes
(1) recognising the evil, as evil;
(2) returning upon a better spirit—humility—new purposes—dependence;
(3) watching against new failures. In all such recovery the Living Christ helps, fixing the new and better way into a permanency of goodness.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Rev_2:1. The Seven Stars and the Seven Candlesticks.—This vision is the natural introduction to all that follows, and, indeed, defines the main purpose of the whole book, inasmuch as it shows us Christ, sustaining, directing, dwelling in, His Churches. The words of the text are meant to set forth the Churches and their servants, the Churches and their work, the Churches and their Lord.
I. We have in the symbol important truths concerning the Churches and their servants.—“The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches.” The word “angel” means messenger, and it is applied to priests, and, in one passage, to an officer of the synagogue. It does not mean here a supernatural being, but the minister, or spiritual pastor, of the Church. 1. The messengers are rulers. They are described in a double manner—by a name which expresses subordination, and by a figure which expresses authority. And this perfectly embodies the very essential characteristic of all office and power in Christ’s Church. Dignity and authority mean liberty for more, and more self-forgetting, work. Power binds its possessor to toil. But to be servant of all does not mean to do the bidding of all. The service which imitates Christ is helpfulness, not subjection. Neither the Church is to lord it over the messenger, nor the messenger over the Church. 2. The messengers and the Churches have at bottom the same work to do. Stars shine; so do lamps. Light comes from both—in different fashion, indeed, and of a different quality; but still, both are lights. These are in the Saviour’s hands, those are by his side; but each is meant to stream out rays of brightness over a dark night. So, essentially, all Christian men have the same work to do. The ways of doing it differ, but the thing done is one. We have all one office and function, to be discharged by each in his own fashion—viz., to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
3. The Churches and their messengers are alike in their religious condition and character. The messenger, or minister, represents the Churches completely. The religious condition of a Church, and that of its leaders, teachers, pastors, ever tend to be the same, as that of the level of water in two connected vessels. There is such a constant interaction and reciprocal influence, that uniformity results.
II. The Churches and their work.—
1. The Church is to be light. Light is spontaneous, suggesting the involuntary influence of character. Light is silent and gentle, though so mighty. Light is self-invisible; revealing all things, it reveals not itself. The source you can see, but not the beams. So we are to shine—not showing ourselves, but our Master.
2. The Church’s light is derived light. Two things are needed for the burning of a lamp: that it should be lit, and that it should be fed. In both respects, the light with which we shine is derived. Reflected, not self-originated, is all our radiance. A derived and transient light is all that any man can be. The condition of all our brightness is that Christ shall give us light. And the soul kindled by Christ must constantly be supplied with the grace and gift of His Divine spirit.
3. The Church’s light is blended, or clustered, light. Each of these little communities is represented by one lamp. And that one light is composed of the united brightness of all the individuals who constitute the community. They are to have a character, an influence, a work, as a society, not merely as individuals. A Church is not to be merely a multitude of separate points of brilliancy, but the separate points are to coalesce into one great orbed brightness.
III. The Churches and their Lord.—His strengthening and watchful presence moves among the Churches, and is active on their behalf. That presence is a plain literal fact, however feebly we lay hold of it. He is with us, to hold up and to bless; to observe, to judge, and, if need be to punish. And He is the same loving and forbearing Lord whom the apostle had learned to trust on earth, and found again revealed from heaven.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Christ’s Presence in His Church.—There is a subject of unusual interest suggested by the attitude in which the Living and Infinitely White Christ is represented as standing, and the relations which He is represented as actually bearing to the “stars” and the “candlesticks,” which are the symbols of the Church, and its ministry. “The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches; and the seven candlesticks are seven Churches.” That subject is, the actual presence, and practical working, of Christ, in His Church of every age, and in His Church of to-day. To put it in another form: Does the Living Christ still reserve to Himself, even into this nineteenth century, His executive and administrative, as well as His legislative, rights? Those rights He certainly did exercise in the first Churches of the redeemed, for the Church at Ephesus is called to recognise Him in this way—“These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, He that walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.”
I. The actual presence of the Living Christ with His Church is the Church’s most precious truth.—It always, and everywhere, has been recognised as such. So far as theory is concerned, the living headship of Christ has always been the Church’s theory. What we have to complain of is, not that the truth has ever been really lost, but that it has so often been buried, and therefore practically lost. The constant work of the Christian ages has been recovering lost truths, and getting neglected truths estimated at their right value. If the truth of the actual presence of Christ in His Church to-day were a new truth, it could not be true. It is only a half-buried old truth; one that has been covered over with the dust of men’s formulæ; one that claimed the first place, but was soon pushed back into a second, when ecclesiastics grasped the duties and rights of Him who is “above for evermore”; and then into a third, when men made so much more of getting into the kingdom than of the conduct becoming to those in the kingdom. I want to show you that Christ’s permanent abiding in His Church was the true Messianic expectation; it was our Lord’s own anticipation, and it was the realisation, and the teaching, of His apostles. We may possibly come to see that the indwelling and presiding “Holy Ghost” of the Church of the redeemed is simply the form under which this presence, and consequent presidency, of the Living Christ is now to be recognised by us. Christ, spiritually present, and spiritually working, is the Holy Ghost. There are three possible thoughts that we may cherish concerning the continuance of Christ’s life beyond His human death on the cross. We may think of Him as simply alive again, as men, we assume, will be alive again after the great resurrection-morn. Or we may think of Him as altogether removed from earthly scenes, dwelling away in the heavenlies, and there wholly engaged in what may be found necessary for the completion of His redemptive work. Probably most Christian people cherish this thought of the Risen Christ, to the exclusion of all others. To them He is the great High Priest; the Advocate with the Father; the Angel of the Covenant. He is there, and only there, in the “Temple not made with hands.” But there is another thought of Him, which it would be a new inspiration to us to cherish. He is back again amid mortal scenes. He is as really, nay, more really, here with us now, than when He seemed to live in our homes, eat our food, and speak our words. He went away in order that He might come and abide. He went away from our senses that He might come to our souls. The Church is His Temple; in it He dwells and rules. All is spiritual, the Church, the Temple, the rule; but then, the spiritual is the real, the material is only the picture and the seeming. It is this truth concerning Christ that heroic souls have kept alive through the long Christian ages of struggle and of error. It is this truth which is now every day getting into clearer light. It is this truth which is destined to revolutionise Christianity—not the Christianity of Christ, that only needs restoration, but the Christianity that men have made for themselves out of the revelation that has been given to them. The key-note of the Christianity of the future will be, Christ come; Christ here; Christ spiritually present; Christ saving now; Christ sanctifying now; Christ ruling now. Really, to-day “holding the stars, and walking among the candlesticks.”
1. It is the truth foreshadowed in Messianic picture-teachings. Men would make less of particular Messianic psalms, and Messianic prophecies, if they more clearly saw that the Mosaic dispensation was, in its very essence, Messianic. It is but the expression, fitted for the times, of the primary idea of the “theocracy”; and the “theocracy” was but the preparatory picture-teaching of Christ’s spiritual rule over His Church and in His Church. By the term “theocracy” is meant, God’s immediate and direct rule. Without delegation, or mediation, or intervention, He, actually present with them, controlled, instructed, guided, rewarded, punished, the Jewish nation. That material rule fitted to the times, but it prepared the way for a spiritual realisation of the spiritual truth that it embodied. Christ is God, spiritually present in His spiritual Church, spiritually ruling, and ordering, and sanctifying.
2. And this is the relation He would sustain which was anticipated by Christ. We cannot be surprised to find it held in reserve by our Lord during the earlier part of His ministry. It would have been of no use whatever to speak of a spiritual presence to His disciples while they were so full of worldly ideas and expectations. He had to wait until some beginnings of spiritual apprehension were made by at least some of them. And yet there are many indications that it was always in His thoughts, and hints of it were given when plain words could not be spoken. When He referred to His coming rejection and death, He usually closed His remarks with an allusion to His resurrection, as if He would set the disciples thinking what He would be to them in that risen life. When He came to them in the grey and misty morning, walking upon the sea, He evidently intended to help them towards realising His presence with them in other than sense conditions. That was a stage in His education of them to the apprehension of the unseen. When He had only the chosen band around Him in the upper room, He could speak more freely than He had ever been able to speak before. He felt the closing of the earthly, sensuous relations. He knew what a strain it would be to those disciples. And therefore He bent all His effort to the work of cheering them by the repeated assurance that it would be no real loss to them; it would, indeed, be the most real gain. They might at first think that it was another one who would come to be in them, and to abide with them for ever; but presently it would seem clear to them that Him they called the “Holy Spirit” was, in deepest reality, Jesus Himself with them in a spiritual way, fulfilling His own gracious word, “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you; the world seeth Me no more, but ye see Me.” And then that strange coming into vision, and passing out of vision, of the Resurrection day, was His most gracious way of loosening their hold on His bodily presence, and clearing their apprehension of His spiritual presence. And when they saw Him go up from earth, and the cloud hid Him from their sense-view for ever, His last words were in their souls, and they were left to think out, and feel out, their wondrous meanings: “Lo, I am with you all the days.”
3. And this truth of Christ’s present spiritual abiding in His Church was distinctly the realisation, and the teaching, of His apostles. St. Peter stood by the bedside of sick Æneas, and spoke as if Jesus was actually there; he could see Him, and Æneas might if he would look aright. “Æneas, Jesus Christ, maketh thee whole.” It is firmly asserted that, on certain occasions, “the power of the Lord was present to heal.” In the great crises of St. Paul’s life, Christ’s presence with him and ruling of his course, was revealed to him in personal visions. In such a chapter as the third in the epistle to the Colossians, every act and effort of the Christian life is directly referred to Christ’s present inspection: everything is to be done “as unto the Lord.” And the one purpose of the book of Revelation is to associate the Living, Spiritual Christ, in a very direct way, with all the growth, the sins, the frailties, the conflicts, the sorrows, the varied experiences, of His Church. The key-note of the book is struck in the first chapter. The Christ presented in such suggestive symbols is not the Christ of the heavenly places—how the book is misconceived when that idea is unduly pressed!—it is the Christ of the Churches—the presiding Spirit of the Churches; it is the infinitely White One with the sword, who “holds the stars in His right hand, and walks among the candlesticks”; who presided over every movement of the Churches of that day, Ephesus, and Smyrna, and the rest; who presides over every movement of His universal Church in all the ages.
II. The Living Christ, spiritually present, stands in a twofold relation to His Church.—The one relation is universally admitted; the other is generally obscured, misrepresented, neglected, and imperilled: and to some is entrusted the work of recovering, and setting forth afresh in view of men, the imperilled relations. Every human government has two functions, legislative and administrative. It makes laws, and it provides the machinery for carrying out its laws, actually presiding over their administration. A curious relic of the idea that the Sovereign actually executes her own laws is found in the ceremony of opening the Assizes in our county towns. The judges are met, on entering the town, with a state ceremony, as if they were actually the Queen. The Assize is opened on the assumption that it is the Queen herself who is going to try, and condemn or acquit, the prisoners. The fiction of her presence is constantly maintained, and her executive, as well as her legislative, rights are preserved. The right of the Lord Jesus to make laws for His Church is never disputed. The Pope of Rome is but the Vicar of Christ, and he is as zealous as we can be of the legislative claims of his supreme and sovereign Lord. But the assumption is that He only makes the laws, and makes them away up in heaven, and commits the carrying out of His laws to some delegates here on earth. It is supposed that He committed the carrying out of His laws first to St. Peter, through him to the Pope, through the Pope to the bishops, and through the bishops to the priests. And so we have on earth now, not Christ, but a Church, which is supposed to represent Him, and carry His authority. Or we may say that, while the legislative rights of Jesus are duly honoured, He is thought of as having surrendered His executive and administrative rights. He keeps Himself now altogether in the heavenly spheres—He is not here; and His Church, or rather a certain order of priests in His Church, consider they have the right to take His place and do His work. Now you can clearly see the principle for which contest has been variously made through all the Christian ages—the principle for which again, in our day, a holy fight must be waged. As to particular methods of organising Churches, special arrangements of ministry, or systems of government, we have nothing whatever to say. Let every man find out what is best for him, and let every man give me full liberty to find out what is best for me. “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” Only we take our stand here; we draw the line here. No plan, no system, must touch the real, present, practical administrative rights of the Lord Jesus. No scheme must even seem to shut Christ up in heaven, and keep Him seated on His throne. No effort must be made to teach that Christ has put his royal rights into commission, so that we can now have no direct dealings with Him, but must deal with priest, or bishop, or earthly sovereign, or Roman Pope, who claim to speak in His name. It is not some fact of a bygone age that He once held the stars in His right hand, and once walked among the candlesticks. It is the fact of the hour; it is the truth of to-day. He is the executor of His own laws. He does now actually Himself hold the stars in His right hand, and walk among the candlesticks. The history of Christianity is really the story of man’s varied efforts to establish a mediatorship between Christ and men. There must be none. There can be none. Christ is mediator between man and God. But Christ’s relation to man is direct. There must be no attempt to push in any mediation between Christ and the soul. The history of Christianity is the heroic story of the struggles of men who fought for, and died for, the administrative rights of Christ. Their conflict took a variety of forms, but the essence of it always was the resistance of all human mediatorship between Christ and His Church.
Rev_2:4. Losing First Love.—The first love had gone out of their religion; there was a tendency to fall into a mechanical faith, strong against heresy, but tolerant of conventionalism. Their temptations did not arise from the prevalence of error, or the bitterness of persecution, but from a disposition to fall backward, and again do the dead works of the past. There was not so much need to take heed unto their doctrine, but there was great need that they should take heed unto themselves (1Ti_4:16; compare Act_20:28). When there is danger because earnestness in the holy cause is dying out, and the very decorum of religion has become a snare, what more fitting than to be reminded of Him whose hand can strengthen and uphold them, and who walks among the candlesticks to supply them with the oil of fresh love (Rev_2:1)? The decay of love is the decay of that without which all other graces are as nothing (1Co_13:1-3), since “all religion is summed up in one word, Love. God asks this; we cannot give more, He cannot take less.” Great as the fault is, it is the fault which Love alone could have detected. Can any one more touchingly rebuke than by commencing, “Thou no longer lovest me enough”? There is at present, in the Ephesian Church, little outward sign of decay; they have resisted evil and false teachers; they have shown toil and endurance; but the great Searcher of hearts detects the almost imperceptible signs of an incipient decay. He alone can tell the moment when love of truth is passing into a noisy, Pharisaic zealotism; when men are “settling down into a lower state of spiritual life than that which they once aimed at and once knew.”—Bishop Boyd Carpenter.
The True Problem of Christian Experience.—There are many disciples of our time, who, like the Ephesian disciples, are to be warmly commended for their intended fidelity, and are yet greatly troubled and depressed by what appears to be a real loss of ground in their piety. They are compelled to sigh over a certain subsidence of that pure sensibility, and that high inspiration, in which their discipleship began. The clearness of that hour is blurred, the fresh joy interspaced with dryness.
I. The relation of the first love, or the beginning of the Christian discipleship, to the subsequent life.—What we call conversion is not a change distinctly traceable in the experience of all disciples, though it is, and must be, a realised fact in all. There are many that grew up out of their infancy, or childhood, in the grace of Christ, and remember no time when they began to love Him. Even such, however, will commonly remember a time when their love to God and Divine things became a fact so fresh, so newly conscious, as to raise a doubt whether it was not then for the first time kindled. In other cases there is no doubt of a beginning, a real, conscious, definitely remembered beginning, a new turning to God, a fresh-born Christian love. What is the import of such a state? what its relation to the subsequent life and character? It is a character begun, a Divine fact accomplished, in which the subject is started on a new career of regenerated liberty in good. But it is not a completed gift, which only needs to be held fast. It is one of God’s beginnings, which He will carry on to perfection. In one view, indeed, it is a kind of perfect state—a state resembling innocence. It is free, it is full of God, it is, for the time, without care. In this flowering state of beauty the soul discovers, and even has in its feeling, the sense of perfection, and is thus awakened from within to the great ideal, in which its bliss is to be consummated. The perfection conceived, too, and set up as a mark of attainment, is something more than a form of grace to be hereafter realised. It is now realised, as far as it can be. There is a certain analogy between this state, paradisaically beautiful, pure, and clean, and that external paradise in which our human history began. Still, the probability that any one will continue in the clearness and freshness of his first love to God, suffering no apparent loss, falling into no disturbance or state of self-accusing doubt, is not great. Where the love is really not lost, it will commonly need to be conquered again, over and over, and wrought into the soul by a protracted and resolute warfare. A mere glance at the new-born state of love discovers how incomplete and unreliable it is. An angel, as it were, in feeling, it is yet a child in self-understanding. The significance of the first love, as related to subsequent life, is twofold. In the first place, it is the birth of a new, supernatural, and Divine consciousness in the soul, in which it is raised to another plane, and begins to live as from a new point. And, secondly, it is so much of a reality, or fact realised, that it initiates, in the subject, experimentally, a conception of that rest, that fulness, and peace, and joyous purity, in which it will be the bliss and greatness of his eternity to be established. In both respects it is the beginning of the end; and yet, to carry the beginning over to the end, and give it there its due fulfilment, requires a large and varied trial of experience.
II. The relation of the subsequent life, including its apparent losses, to its beginning.—The real object of the subsequent life, as a struggle of experience, is to produce in wisdom what is there begotten as a feeling or a new love, and thus to make a fixed state of that which was initiated only as a love. It is to convert a heavenly impulse into a heavenly habit, to raise the Christian childhood into a Christian manhood. The paradise of first love is a germ, we may conceive, in the soul’s feeling, of the paradise to be fulfilled in its wisdom. At first the disciple knows very little of himself. At first nothing co-operates in settled harmony with his new life; but if he is faithful, he will learn how to make everything in him work with it, and assist the edifying of his soul in love. A great point is the learning how to maintain his new supernatural relation of sonship and vital access to God. And through the same course of experience, he conceives more and more perfectly what is the true idea of character. At first, character is to him a mere feeling or impulse—a frame. Next it becomes a life of work and self-denial. Next, a principle—nothing but a matter of principle. Next he conceives that it is something outwardly beautiful—a beautiful life. Character is at last conceived as a life whose action, choice, thought, and expression, are all animated and shaped by the spirit of holiness and Divine beauty which was first breathed into his feeling. A great point to be gained in the struggle of experience is to learn when one has a right to the state of confidence and rest. By a similar process he learns how to modulate and direct his will. His thinking power undergoes a similar discipline. At first he had a very perplexing war with his motives. The new love kindled by the Spirit has to maintain itself in company with great personal defects in the subject. And his temporary failures may occasion great distress. Still, the process of God is contrived to bring us round, at last, to the simple state which we embraced, in feeling, and help us to embrace it in wisdom. The beginning is the beginning of the end—the end, the child and fruit of the beginning. The fact, then, of a truly first love, the grand Christian fact of a spiritual conversion or regeneration, is no way obscured by the losing experiences that so often follow. On the contrary, its evidence is rather augmented by these irregularities and seeming defections. And, if it be more than nothing, then it is, of all mortal experiences, the chief; a change mysterious, tremendous, luminous, joyful, fearful—everything which a first contact of acquaintance with God can make it.—H. Bushnell, D.D.
Rev_2:7. Overcoming.—Life on the earth for moral beings is not what we would have made it, if we had been entrusted with the making. Why should it cost such conflict for moral beings to win, and keep, goodness? For it does.
“The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the place where sorrow is unknown.”
That is a truth concerning our life on the earth which there is no gainsaying. Nothing, indeed, that is really worth having is easy to gain. That which costs nothing always proves to be nothing worth. St. Paul speaks of the battle of life, and shows us how to win it. St. John speaks of our “overcoming.” The fight is a continuous and prolonged one. We never end it, save with the ending of our earthly life. This fact, this truth, is freshly and vigorously impressed by the message of the Living Christ sent to the Churches of Asia. These seven messages tell what the Living Christ watches—us in the fight; us fighting. These seven messages tell what the Living Christ will do. Reward those who overcome.
I. All of us have something to wrestle with and overcome.—
1. Something preventing our success in life. Often we say that circumstances hinder us. Nay, the truth is this: we will not fight.
2. Something preventing our surrender to Christ. Something we persist in clinging to, something we will not wrestle with and master.
3. Something preventing our union with His Church. 4. Something preventing growth of character. It often is something in the self, in the natural or educated disposition, that makes our great fight; some weakness of character, some besetting sin, some unworthy habit. Or it may be something in our surroundings, our place of business, our companionships, our pleasures. It may be something of sin or temptation, as it meets us out in life. Whatever it may be, we are not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.
II. There is only one way in which we may hope to overcome.—There are self-reliant ways that men try. They trust in vows, resolves, character, efforts. But life sternly deals with all merely self-efforts, and refuses to let man reap a moral victory in his own strength. There is really only one way. The fight must be waged under the leading of the great Captain of Salvation. By the sign of the cross we conquer, or, to use a Scripture figure, we “overcome by the blood of the Lamb.” David conquered Goliath because the wisdom and strength of God were upon his wisdom and strength. St. Paul could do all things “through Him who strengthened him.” We may be “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” It is a spiritual fight, and for it we can have our Lord’s spiritual presence—and this presence as help for the small things of life.
III. Gracious rewards await those who overcome.—There is nothing for those who never knew what it was to fight. But the rewards of victors in the moral conflict can only be presented to us in figures. The messages to the Seven Churches indicate that the reward will be precisely adapted to each precise fight, and each precise victor. But, whatever else may be said, the smile and acceptance of Jesus is the one all-satisfying reward.
1. Ephesus—fading, or lost, life of love. Reward: the quickening and sustaining tree of life.
2. Smyrna—test of martyrdom (Polycarp). Reward: “Not hurt of second death.”
3. Pergamos—failing purity. Reward: gift of the White Stone.
4. Thyatira—outward heathen temptations. Reward: mastery over influence of evil.
5. Philadelphia—the steadfast. Reward: made a pillar, with Christ’s great Name inscribed upon it.
6. Laodicea—the self-satisfied. Reward: sit beside Christ, the King of the lowly. It should be our joy that we are in the Lord’s war, and under the Lord’s eye, and assured of the Lord’s acceptance. Then, every day, and everywhere, let us be fully determined that we will “overcome.”
The Symbol of Eating of the Tree of Life.—Prominent as this symbol had been in the primeval history, it had remained unnoticed in the teaching where we should most have looked for its presence—in that of the Psalmists and the Prophets of the Old Testament. Only in the Proverbs of Solomon had it been used, in a sense half allegorical and half mystical. (See Pro_3:18; Pro_11:30; Pro_13:12; Pro_15:4.) In connection with the revival of the symbol in the Apocalypse, it may be noted—
1. That it was the natural sequel of the fresh prominence that had recently been given to the thought of Paradise.
2. That the writings of Philo had specifically called attention to the tree of life as being the mystical type of the highest form of wisdom and holiness—the fear of God (θεοσεβεία) by which the soul attains to immortality. We trace, in other things at least, the indirect influence of Philo’s teaching on the thoughts and language of St. John, and as we must assume that all imagery is adapted, even in the words of the Divine Speaker, to the minds of those who hear, there seems no reason why we should not admit the working of that influence here. It may be asked, however, What is the meaning of the symbol, as thus used? How are we to translate it into the language of more abstract truth? And here, if I mistake not, the more developed form of the symbol, at the close of the Apocalypse, gives us the true answer: “The tree of life bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev_22:2). The leaves and the fruit obviously represent, the one the full and direct, the other the partial and indirect, workings of that eternal life which St. John thought of as manifested in the Incarnate Word. The “healing of the nations,” the elevation of their standard of purity and holiness, of duty and of love—this has been the work of that partial knowledge which the Church of Christ has been instrumental in diffusing. Its influence has counteracted the deadly working of the fruit of the other tree of “the knowledge of good and evil,” which we trace as due to a wisdom that is earthly, sensual, devilish. But to “eat of the tree of life” implies a more complete fruition, a higher communion and fellowship with the source of life. And here, therefore, I cannot but think that the promise of the Judge points to the truth that He is Himself, now, as ever, the “exceeding great reward” (Gen_15:1) of those that serve Him faithfully; that the symbol veils the truth; that “this is life eternal, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent” (Joh_17:3).—Dean Plumptre.
Legends Concerning the Tree of Life.—In an old, rare book, called “Adam’s Repentance,” it is said that Seth, the third son of Adam, went to the gate of Paradise at the request of his dying father, and there received from the angel in charge three seeds of the tree of life, which he put in the mouth of Adam when he buried him. From these grew three saplings, from which were taken the wood for Moses’ rod, and that by which the waters of Marah, in the desert, were sweetened. The temple of David was also built of the wood of these trees, and the bench on which the heathen Sibyls sat when they prophesied the coming of Christ. Moses’ rod was planted in Canaan, and also became a tree, from which the cross of Christ, the new tree of life, was made, and the eternal life, lost in Adam, regained. This legend is fully portrayed in a picture on the altar of a Church in Leyden. It is, perhaps, founded on a simpler story told by Sozomen, the ecclesiastical historian, that at Hermopolis, in Egypt, stood the tree Persis, the fruit, leaves, and bark whereof possessed wonderful healing qualities. When the Virgin Mary, on her flight to Egypt with the infant Jesus, rested under this tree, it bowed its whole length in humble reverence to Jesus as the true Lord of life and health. The arbor vitœ, familiar to us, is sculptured on Egyptian tombs, as a symbol of belief in another existence beyond the grave. In the Middle Ages it was said that whosoever would eat of the wood of this tree of life would be preserved from weakness and decrepitude, and would be rendered invincible as Achilles. It was also said that to eat of its foliage would cause one to forget all hunger and care.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Rev_2:1. Ruins of Ancient Ephesus.—Let us go with the traveller, as he journeys over the scenes of Asia Minor—of which Homer, Hesiod, Æschylus, and Euripides, sang, and of which Herodotus and Xenophon wrote—scenes of ancient myths, of high adventure, of sacred narrative,—scenes where Pagan mythology recorded its wonders, and where gospel doctrine claimed its triumphs; and let us rest for a moment with him as he surveys, in the ancient district of Lydia, on the borders of the Ægean Sea, a poor Turkish village, bearing the modern name of Aiasalûk. From the eminence upon which that hamlet stands, built of materials in which are constantly to be seen traces of a more dignified antiquity, the eye wanders over immense heaps of chaotic ruin in the valley below. These masses of ancient masonry are partly overgrown by the wild luxuriance of an almost tropical vegetation, and only the serpent, the lizard, and the scorpion, are at home on the spot. The elegant forms of Corinthian architecture, shafts of Ionic columns, and the less graceful remnants of later Roman days, may be traced amidst the inextricable confusion. A considerable river (the Cayster), the waters of which were originally clear as crystal, having broken loose from its bounds, wanders at will amidst the ruins, and converts the whole into a malarious swamp. Here and there a corn-field offers a contrast to the surrounding desolation, yet only serves to make that desolation more marked and emphatic. Among other remnants of the past are the ruins of an ancient theatre, whose circular seats, uprising one above another, may still be traced, whilst numerous arches remain witnesses of its former grandeur. But though the broken masonry is most extensive, not an apartment remains entire. No Christian dwells in its vicinity; there is no certainty as to the site of any one of the buildings which gave to the city its peculiar character. Confusion has done its utmost work. Such are the ruins of ancient Ephesus. Its position and prospects have undergone a total revolution; “the very sea has shrunk from its shores.” Everywhere are visible the traces of the spoilers’ hand. The columns which once adorned its temples, and which were the envy of the beholder, were removed by Justinian, to ornament the church of Sophia, in Constantinople. Barbarians pillaged all that emperors had spared; and as the traveller gazes upon the fallen fortunes of so much antecedent magnificence, he shudders at the too visible fulfilment of the threat, “I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” While all trace of the temple of Diana has been lost, Chandler relates that he found amongst the ruins of the city an inscription, commencing as follows: “Inasmuch as it is notorious that, not only among the Ephesians, but also everywhere among the Greek nations, temples are consecrated to her, and sacred portions,” etc., which strikingly illustrates the address of the town clerk of Ephesus: “Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana” (Act_19:35)?
Rev_2:7. Overcoming.—As on some battlefield, whence all traces of the agony and fury have passed away, and harvests wave, and larks sing where blood ran and men groaned their lives out, some grey stone, raised by the victors, remains, and only the trophy tells of the forgotten fight; so that monumental word, “I have overcome,” stands to all ages as the record of the silent, lifelong conflict.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Tree of Life.—Comparing this verse with Christ’s declaration to the penitent thief, “To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise,” Parkhurst maintains that the tree of life is not an emblem of any agent through which Christ bestows blessings, but that it symbolises our Lord Himself. So, following out the idea, he points out that the cherubim, after Adam was expelled from the Edenic paradise, were set to guard the approaches to the tree of life: the time had not yet come for Christ to be manifested in the “glory of His work of redemption.” In Luk_23:31 we find that Christ alludes to Himself in His attitude of a sufferer as “the green tree”; that is to say, He was under the constant influence of the spirit of God, and brought forth the fruit of perfect holiness in His Divine manhood.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 1. Ephesus was the New York of Western Asia…
1. Ephesus was the New York of Western Asia — the metropolis of idolatry, honored with the Temple of Diana, which occupied two hundred years in building, and was one of the seven wonders of the world. Such was the importance of this city that Paul actually spent three years there preaching the gospel when he founded the Church. This was written a generation after the death of Paul, of the people converted and sanctified by his ministry. Many had back-slidden, and many more doubtless had come into the Church unsaved; still, however, they were pertinaciously orthodox.
SEVEN is the number constantly symbolizing Christ and denoting perfection. While there were hundreds of Churches in Asia at that time (for John wrote this Apocalypse about A.D. 100), these seven symbolize the visible Church from the Apostolic Age till the Lord comes in His glory to reign.
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ECCLESIA
Is the Greek word used by the Holy Ghost for Church. It is from ek (out), and kaleo (to call), and means the souls who hear and obey the call of the Holy Ghost, come out of the world, enter into covenant with God, and become his disciples.
Hagiadzo means to take the world out of you. (1Jn 2:16). All this is the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. Hence there is a Church within the Church, consisting of people who have come out of the world in regeneration, and had the world taken out of them in sanctification. This is the blood-washed bride of Christ, and has always been a glorious success. At the present day, she hears the voice of the Heavenly Bridegroom, is under the blood, robed and ready to meet Him coming in the cloud. Noah’s Ark, in which eight souls went up from the doom of a drowning world to re-people the earth, in the good time coming, typifies the cloud in which the Lord is coming, and will take up His Church from the awful tribulations, bursting like ten thousand volcanoes on this wicked world, with its lukewarm Laodicean Churches, in calamities, as our Savior says, more appalling than Noah’s Flood.
Reader, have you heard the voice of God knocking at the door of your heart — “Come out of the world” — then heeded His call to holiness, and had the world all taken out of you, so that you are now safe in the Divine Ecclesia, which the Lord, at His coming, will take up in the cloud, carry over the great tribulations, which shall sweep the unsaveable and incorrigible millions out of the world, and thus prepare all nations for the coming kingdom? The great theologians who stand in the Laodicean Churches which belt the globe at the present day are blind to these momentous realities, because they will not use the eye-salve which the Holy Ghost, especially through the Holiness people, offers them. Good Lord, have mercy on them amid their momentous responsibilities, while they prophesy smooth things, and let their members, who pay them big money, slip through their fingers into hell!
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 From Whom the Epistle Comes.
Rev 2:1
From Whom the Epistle Comes.
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I. The form that John beheld in the opening vision, and at whose feet he fell down as dead, was that of the glorified Jesus, arrayed as a royal Priest, holding seven stars in His right hand. The holding has energy in it; none can pluck them out of His hand. These stars are explained to be the angels of the Churches. Through them as chosen agency the Lord is pleased to impart light to the Churches. The fact that the Lord holds the stars in His right hand seems to symbolise that they belong to Him, are dependent upon Him for their place and lustre, are His gift for the illumination of His people, and give. Him pleasure by their clear shining. They are not like torches, consuming their own substance and speedily going out; they derive their light from the source of light.
II. The main idea to be apprehended from the symbol of a golden candlestick is that a Church is designed to hold up and hold forth the word of life. It is not merely that individual believers are lights in the world and ought to let their light shine, but a Church viewed as a community ought to do so. This design is to be carried out in part by the various arrangements and methods whereby a public exhibition is made of the Gospel. These methods may be included under the general head of preaching, which is the proclamation of the Gospel without selecting your audience, and irrespective of moral condition, culture, social rank, nationality, geographical limits, or any other distinction between man and man.
III. The Lord walketh in the midst of the candlesticks. This walking in the midst implies inspection. But we must not be misled, as if this inspection were designed only for a terror and a check to evil. The Lord’s searching eye is welcome to the believer. Knowing this, we may not only be willing to have His light shine in upon us, but we may well pray that He would search and know our heart, in order that He may lead us in the way everlasting.
J. Culross, Thy First Love, p. 14.
I. We have in this symbol important truths concerning the Churches and their servants. Note (1) that the messengers are rulers. They are described in a double manner: by a name which expresses subordination and by a figure which expresses authority. I need not do more than remind you that throughout Scripture, from the time when Baalam beheld from afar the star that should come out of Jacob and the sceptre that should rise out of Israel, that has been the symbol for rulers. It is so notably in this book of Revelation. (2) The messengers and the Churches have at bottom the same work to do. Stars shine, so do lamps. So all Christian men have the same work to do. The ways of doing it differ, but the thing done is one. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man for the same purpose: to do good with. And we have all one office and function, to be discharged by each in his own fashion—namely, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (3) Again, observe the Churches and their messengers are alike in their religious condition and character. There is such a constant interaction and reciprocal influence that uniformity results. Either a living teacher will, by God’s grace, quicken a languid Church, or a languid Church will, with the devil’s help, stifle the life of the teacher.
II. Note the Churches and their work. (1) The Church is to be light—light, silent, gentle, and itself invisible. (2) The Church’s light is derived light. (3) It is blended or clustered light.
III. The text shows us the Churches and their Lord. He is with them to hold up and to bless. His unwearied hand sustains, His unceasing activity moves among, them. He is with us to observe, to judge, and, if need be, to punish. Let us hold fast by the Lord, whose blood has purchased, and whose presence preserves through all the unworthiness and the lapses of men, that Church against which the gates of hell shall not prevail.
A. Maclaren, Sermons in Manchester, 2nd series, p. 150.
To Whom the Epistle is Sent.
The letter to Ephesus is addressed "unto the angel of the Church." It is an unwarranted inference that Christ is hereby putting the Church at a distance. He is simply employing the most natural instrumentality that could under the circumstances be employed to communicate with them and to restore them to their first love.
I. Who or what, then, was the angel of the Church of Ephesus? According to one view, he was a purely spiritual being, appointed of the Lord to be the guardian or ministering angel of that particular Christian community. A second view makes the angel of the Church a purely ideal figure or personification, having no real, but only an imaginary, existence, and intended, in a highly symbolical book, to denote the manner of spirit characterising the particular Christian community. A powerful objection to both these views is that a letter, written with pen and ink on paper or parchment, is required to be put into the hands of the angel, to be communicated to the Church, which could not be done if he were a celestial being or a mere ideal personification or symbol.
II. Without entering into discussion, I can say that we must regard the angel as a name either for the eldership collectively, or for a single individual occupying a place of service and responsibility under Christ, and the natural channel of communication with the Church—in all likelihood a lowly, undistinguished man. He who knows and believes the great message of the Gospel has a right to tell it forth and expound it to his fellow-men. I do not say that he has a right to be listened to that is for the hearer to judge. The man to whom the Lord gives fitness for this service and whom He calls to it is in so far the Lord’s "angel" or messenger; and in each of the seven Churches there was, as a matter of fact, one such man as Christ’s minister, known and acknowledged to be such by his brethren. The letter, however, while it is directed to the angel and while it undoubtedly touches him first, is not a personal and private one. It is for universal use. Every age needs it, and every age is summoned to listen.
J. Culross, Thy First Love, p. 1.
Reference: Rev 2:1-7.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. ii., p. 186.
Rev 2:2
What Christ approves in Ephesus.
These words disclose the Lord’s marvellous generosity. He is quick to see and ready to acknowledge all the good that exists among His people; in this how different from many that speak in His name, and who are perpetually engaged in faultfinding and depreciation. Even where we err, we may ask Him to overrule and bless our very blunders.
I. First the Lord says, "I know thy works." There is to be no dealing with us in the dark, as man is oftentimes compelled to deal with his fellow-man. He brings us into the light. The true knowing of a man’s work involves the knowing of the heart, inasmuch as the quality of the work depends on the motive. It is because of this that even our own works are so ill understood by us. There are dim, half-lighted chambers of thought into which we have not penetrated with all our self-scrutiny, and a cunning self-complacency gives everything a turn in our own favour. The Lord knows all our works.
II. Opening out His initial statement, the Lord says, "I know thy labour and patience." (1) One department of labour is Christian learning; (2) a second thought is the labour involved in spreading the Gospel; (3) standing out as the grandest of all things is the doing of Christ’s will in our daily life.
III. The Gospel is essentially intolerant—intolerant, not merely of evil in the abstract, but of evil men. Such men we must learn to "try" as the Ephesian Church did. And if they are liars, then, whatever their professions of zeal, spirituality, or holiness, we must reject them.
IV. The patience of Ephesus is commended. Christian patience is not the result of a process of deadening the sensibilities. There is nothing stoical in it, no pretence that we do not feel, but the hardihood that is associated with the keenest capacity of suffering, and that has its root in a firm confidence in God.
J. Culross, Thy First Love, p. 27.
Reference: Rev 2:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1069.
Rev 2:4
What was Wrong in Ephesus.
I. The spectacle Ephesus presented was that of a Church working most laboriously and patiently, the machinery kept steadily in motion, all at work and always at work, but with waning love, the fires going down. The word "somewhat" in our English version suggests that the evil was comparatively slight. In point of fact, however, there is no "somewhat" in the original, and the charge is really a very grave and serious one: "I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love." It is as if the doctor, called in to prescribe for what you deem a trifling ailment, should startle you by pronouncing, "There is disease of the heart."
II. How is this decline of love to be accounted for? The answer must vary according to the case. In the onset we must be clear about this: that it is not due to any capricious action on the part of Christ, to any unaccountable desertion of the soul by Him, to any arbitrary hiding of Himself behind a veil, far less to any change in His heart. (1) One man tries to retain the joy of conversion all his days, without making any progress or seeking anything beyond. A kind of fitful emotion is kindled, a flashing up of affection with vows of fresh consecration and a better life, followed in a little while by apathy and gloom, and he resigns himself helplessly to let things take their course. This cause of declension is operating today more widely and subtly than many of us think. (2) Another cause of waning love is the abuse of self-examination. It is beset with many and most subtle dangers. (3) Again, a Christian man becomes absorbed in worldly pursuits and enjoyments. He has no time for spiritual pursuits, for meditation, for making acquaintance with things unseen and eternal. Can any one be surprised that he loses his first love? Would it not be a miracle if he kept it? Or again, there are worldly friendships, followed in no long space by worldly conformity. "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?"
J. Culross, Thy First Love, p. 62.
References: Rev 2:4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 217; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 42. Rev 2:4, Rev 2:5.—Ibid., Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1926.
Rev 2:5
The Cure of what was Wrong.
How shall old, faded love be revived? In reply to this question, a great many plans have been proposed and urged, while the Lord’s own method has been either overlooked or perversely set aside. The directions He gives are few and simple, but they go to the very core of the matter, whether it be a single individual who has left his first love or a whole Church. Let us mark the things that He names, and the order in which He names them. Memory, conscience, will, are called into play.
I. "Remember whence thou art fallen." That is sure to be painful, but it is the first step towards healing. There was a better estate, an estate that has been left by thine own fault; thou art "fallen" from it. Remember this better estate; call it up again into memory; live the old days over again, those days of heaven upon earth when the name of Jesus sounded so sweetly in your ears, and joy dwelt in your soul. Take the best of them, the most heavenlike of them, and in thought live them over again. This is one of the most blessed uses of memory, and it is the first step in a return to first love.
II. "And repent." This is the Lord’s second word of direction. It is an absolutely vital word. He who summons to repentance will see to it that nothing of needful grace is lacking. He "gives" repentance, and we are to take this for granted without need of argument, however dull or insensible our hearts may have become. This word "repent" is one of the profoundest words in the Bible, however superficially modern evangelism or modern legalism may deal with it. It does not indicate mere regret, such as may be caused by the consequence of our actions. That regret may be the beginning of good, but of itself it is not repentance. Repentance is a change in the mind. It implies a true sense of sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. It is the turning of the inner being from sin to God.
III. The Lord’s third word is this, "And do the first works." They might seem at Ephesus to have ground for saying, "We have never ceased working from the very beginning," and in a sense they had not. But their works were not the same as at first; in a measure the love was out of them, the love that not merely made them vital, but gave them beauty in the Lord’s sight. The summons to do the first works is, therefore, a summons to begin, as it were, over again, throwing love into every deed. To secure compliance He adds this word of warning: "Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent." He will bring salutary fear into play as well as gratitude, love, and hope. It is not loss of the soul that is threatened, but loss of the privilege of usefulness and the suppression of them as a Church. The sure way to ruin and extinguish a Christian Church as a light in the world is that it should lose its love.
J. Culross, Thy First Love, p. 86.
Backsliding.
Those who have fallen in the Church and those who are fallen from the Church are both to be found in the midst of us. The world abounds with backsliders in heart and in life; and if the census could be taken of the multitudes now irreligious, of the prayerless households and Sabbathless families, the result would be something absolutely appalling.
Consider:—
I. Some of the ordinary causes of falling: (1) adverse or persecuting influence brought to bear upon the soul; (2) an overweening attachment to the present world; (3) self-confidence; (4) a neglect of secret intercourse with God. Only the heart that has renewed its strength on the mount can maintain its consistent walk with the multitude and its influential citizenship in the world, and it is certain that many of the temptations under whose terrible pressure so many are apt to yield would either be entirely disarmed, or would assail with diminished power, if the soul were strengthened from the onset by secret fellowship and prayer.
II. The signs that it has taken place. The Scriptures speak of individuals who may have left their first love, while many of the characteristics of a religious profession continue to be maintained, backsliders in heart, who hang on as useless encumbrances to a Church from which their affections are estranged. Minor apostacy prepares the way for greater; the restraints of conscience once violated, the gap grows wider and wider; easy is the descent to perdition, and you are speeding thither. Your only safety is in a renewed application to the Saviour, who has promised to heal your backslidings and to love you freely.
W. M. Punshon, Sermons, p. 51.
Rev 2:6
What was Hopeful in Ephesus.
At a first glance this verse seems out of its place. It looks like a part of the Lord’s commendation that had been forgotten at the proper moment, and is now mentioned as an afterthought. A little reflection, however, shows that it occupies its proper place, and it carries force from this very fact. Here is, so to speak, a starting-point for return to first love. This very "hatred" will make the revival of love the easier. Let them be encouraged and take heart and hope accordingly.
I. I do not think we can speak with much certainty about Nicolaitanism. We may set it down as a heathenish mode of life under a Christian designation, turning the grace of God into licentiousness, a reconciling of Christian faith with the practice of fleshly lusts, or Antinomian principles.
II. The Ephesian believers had not been poisoned by that false and deadly charity which speaks smooth and honeyed things to sin, and stands on friendly terms with it. They "hated" the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, and we are to take the word "hate" in its full force as the opposite of love. Coexistent with hatred of their deeds, there doubtless was compassion for the men themselves and some endeavour to save them.
III. Christ hates as well as loves. He would not be perfect if He did not; He would lack one of the most regal qualities of His nature. The angel of the Church of Ephesus was at one with Christ in hating the deeds of the Nicolaitanes; and this, so far as it went, was a token of vitality and vigour in the Church’s system, and it formed a starting-point for return to first love. It was not merely a good sign, but a good thing. Once let a Church or an individual cease to be shocked by Nicolaitane deeds, make light of them, wink at them, apologise for them, and the downward course is all but certain. On the other hand, so long as evil is sternly hated, there is not merely the possibility, but the hope, of returning first love, with all that this restoration involves.
J. Culross, Thy First Love, p. 95.
Reference: Rev 2:6.—W. Arnot, Good Words, vol. iii., pp. 189-191.
Rev 2:7
The Promise to the Overcomer.
I. In Ephesus the special evil to be contended against was the waning of first love. The overcomer, therefore, in Ephesus, would be the man who rose above the tendencies to waning love, the man in whose heart love continued, not merely to abide, but to deepen and intensify. Health and strength might fail, inducing physical languor; age might come stealing on, with its feebleness and loss of enjoyment; but even unto death would love continue, profounder, and more ardent, and more fit for service and sacrifice in the end than the beginning, able to take up the glorious challenge, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"
II. To this victor, loving on in spite of deadening and benumbing influences, a very great promise is given. The promise is announced with the utmost solemnity, in the hearing of the whole Church, in order that all might be inspired for the conflict, the promise of blissful and glorious, if yet mysterious reward, not as bribe, but as hope set before them. The doctrine of reward is really a further disclosure of the infinite generosity of Christ, and is fitted to captivate the heart. In suspecting the doctrine, we are really mistrusting, if not blaming, Christ Himself.
III. The Christian victor shall eat of fruit that grows in the paradise of God; the overcomer shall enjoy a Divinely sustained and everlasting life. While the life eternal in its beginnings is a present possession of the believer in Jesus, yet in its glorious fulness, or what Jesus calls its abundance, it shall be also the future reward of him that overcometh. What we are sure of is that body, soul, and spirit shall all share in the perfectness of the redemption; and that the perfected and triumphant life of love shall have suitable nourishment, Divinely provided and supplied, in the fruit of the tree of life. The very mystery of the promise enkindles desire, and gives intensity to the prayer, "Even so come, Lord Jesus."
J. Culross, Thy First Love, p. 103.
The Tree of Life.
We always look with great interest on any representation of a future state of things which borrows its imagery from the paradise wherein our first parents were placed. There is nothing which more assures us how complete will be the final triumph of the Redeemer than sketches of the thorough restoration of what sin hath destroyed or defaced, so that the garden of Eden shall again blossom in all its loveliness, and be once more filled with its sacramental mysteries. The question is not whether these sketches are accurate delineations of what is yet to occur. They may be only employed as parables, and not to be literally interpreted. But the mere fact that representations of the future are given in what may be called the language of paradise does always seem to us a most striking proof that the effects of redemption shall at last be commensurate with those of apostacy; so that there is nothing of what the one hath lost which shall not be finally recovered through the other. Let this globe resume its lost place among the morning stars of the universe, let its first verdure return, and everything like discord and unhappiness be banished from its habitations, and then will there be a demonstration such as can hardly be given on any other supposition that Christ Jesus hath effected the very purpose for which He was "manifested"—namely, "that He might destroy the works of the devil."
I. Our text is a beautiful instance of the employment of what we call the imagery of paradise. Our Lord Himself is the Speaker. He is addressing the Church of Ephesus, which, though still presenting many things for which it gains commendation, had somewhat declined from its first love, and needed, therefore, to be bidden to remember from whence it had fallen—to "repent and do the first works." And Christ would encourage the Ephesians to the attempting of the recovery of the ground which has been lost by speaking to them of the recompense which is laid up for the righteous: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches." The Christian life must be a warfare: a constant battle has to be maintained with "the world, the flesh, and the devil"; but "to him that overcometh"—to him who perseveres to the end, "fighting the good fight of faith"—to him "will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."
II. We must not forget that our text refers to the heavenly state. The paradise in the midst of which is the tree of life is the final dwelling-place of those who shall overcome in the "good fight of faith." Therefore we must not illustrate the matter under review by reference to what belongs only to our present condition. Yet who shall say that what is figuratively set forth by the combination of the river and the tree will not equally hold good in our eternal inheritance? Rather, since it is in our eternal inheritance that the combination is represented as subsisting, we are bound to believe that the river, whose streams shall "make glad the city of our God," will be bordered hereafter, as it is now, by the tree of life; in other words, that Christ and the Spirit will never be separated from the experience and the happiness of the Church. The occupation and gladness of eternity shall greatly consist, we may believe, in the searching more deeply into the mysteries of redemption and comprehending more and more that love which will always pass knowledge. Now we see only through a glass, darkly; and dim and feeble are our apprehensions of that magnificent scheme which perhaps includes the whole universe of animated beings in that unlimited mercy which held nothing too costly that this scheme might be perfected. But hereafter, in the manhood of our faculties and in possession of eternal life, we shall be admitted into acquaintance with the height, and depth, and breadth of the Atonement; and we shall be able at last so to climb, and penetrate, and explore, as vastly to outstrip our present feeble progress, though the result of every advance may be that untravelled immensity is still stretching beyond. And why may we not suppose that in these our lofty and glorious researches we shall be aided by the Spirit who now "takes of the things of Christ and shows them" to the soul?
III. But the Evangelist John tells us yet more of this tree of life—more by which he encourages us in the endeavour to overcome all the enemies of our salvation. It may be that wherever the river rolls only one species of tree is found on its banks; nevertheless there is no sameness, for we are told of this tree that it bears twelve manner of fruits, and yields fruit every month. It is not, surely, for us to suppose the number of twelve is the exact number of fruits which are produced. The number is evidently given with reference to the length of the year, that we may know that the tree, unlike every other tree, yields fruit at all seasons, and is at no time barren—a beautiful emblem of the Lord our Redeemer! He is represented as the tree of life, inasmuch as He is the root whence every order of being derives its animation. But He is also the tree of life to sinners who have banished themselves from paradise, where that tree was first planted. The grand thing for us to be satisfied of in reference to the Redeemer is that there is in Him a supply for our every necessity. If He be the tree of life, we must be able to obtain from Him whatever we require as candidates for immortality. And what can more admirably affirm that He is such a tree than the saying that it bears twelve manner of fruits and yieldeth fruit every month? This is certainly a description, if any can be, of the largeness and fulness of the Mediator’s office. This sets before us the Mediator as offering to every individual case exactly what is suited to its circumstances. We do not believe that the variety and sufficiency which we can now find in the Mediator shall have ceased in another state of being. There will not, indeed, be precisely the same wants to satisfy, nor the same desires to appease; and therefore neither do we suppose that precisely the same fruits will hang on the branches of the tree. But this is only saying that the fruits change with the season. Why should they be the same beneath the cloudless shinings of eternity as amid the bleak winds of time? Nevertheless there may be a great variety, and yet there may still be the twelve manner of fruits. There are to be degrees in heaven hereafter, each being happy up to the full measure of his capacity, but the capacity of one differing from that of another, as "one star differeth from another star in glory." Why may not this be represented by the twelve manner of fruits? Why may we not think that when the tree of life grows in the midst of the celestial paradise—for we read of no other tree, though every species were found in the terrestrial—and when this is represented as yielding varieties of produce, why may we not think that it is a figurative declaration that Christ will hereafter fill the capacities of the whole company of the redeemed, giving Himself to each individual exactly in that measure in which there is power to receive Him? Every one who enters heaven shall find himself made perfectly happy. Eating of that tree which is in the midst of the paradise of God, he will enjoy in full measure the highest felicity of which he is capable. But there must be warfare, struggle, endurance, beforehand. "To him that overcometh," to no other, is the promise made. Fight, then, as those who strive for the mastery. The prize is worth the conflict. Yet a little while, and the battle shall be ended; and they who have "overcome," by the aid of that Spirit "which speaketh unto the Churches," shall sit down beneath the shadow of "the tree of life," and its fruits shall be "sweet to their taste."
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1807.
References: Rev 2:7.—G. T. Coster, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 206; J. Oswald Dykes, Ibid., vol. xxix., p. 248. Rev 2:8-10.—T. Hammond, Ibid., vol. xv., p. 204. Rev 2:8-11.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. ii., p. 374.
Rev 2:10
Faithfulness is the main distinction of the noblest and best of all these angels of Christ’s Church. The high moral excellence of honourably discharging the duties which were assigned to them is obviously made by our Lord the great principle and test of acceptable service. These words of the Master mean—
I. Faithfulness to the human heart. We sometimes make mistakes by not listening to what our hearts tell us about our fellow-men. When under the power of conscience, in the hard grip of logic, and amid the unyielding dicta of our theological dogmas, we are often in danger of forgetting some of the most fundamental facts of human nature which are witnessed to us by our "heart of hearts."
II. Faithfulness to the conscience. The spirit that overcomes the world is the spirit of Christ. It is only when we arm the soul with the same mind that was in Him, only when we take up the cross to follow Him even to Calvary, and there to suffer with Him, that we can gain the victory. He has promised victory to him that overcometh.
III. Faithfulness to our Master and His word under all circumstances. We may be forgotten by our fellows, hidden from all eyes but His; we may have no sympathy from companions, no cheering words from comrades in the fight; we may even hear nothing further on this score from the great Captain of our salvation. But we must be faithful unto death in our spirit, our trust, our obedience, and our love. He looks at death as a foe whom He has worsted; He knows the mettle and the malice of His great antagonist; He has put him to the proof, and the proof was too great. Whereas we tremble at the thought of the encounter, with Him it is the moment of our discharge from doubt, from temptation, from servitude, from waiting, from patience, from tedious toil; to Him it is our acceptance of the reward, the crown, and the glory.
H. R. Reynolds, Notes of the Christian Life, p. 353.
I. These words of the Divine Redeemer imply that a sacred trust has been confided to our keeping.
II. Fidelity in keeping our sacred trust is another point brought out in the text. "Be thou faithful" is the command of our Lord and Saviour to every one who has enlisted in His holy service.
III. The length of the period to which our faithfulness is expected to extend is "unto death"—"faithful" at home and abroad; "faithful" in prosperity and adversity; "faithful" through the whole course of our lives; "faithful unto death. A reward is promised in the text to all who have loved the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity which should stir up the most languid of us to renewed and increasing effort: "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
J. N. Norton, Every Sunday, p. 494.
References: Rev 2:10.—E. Paxton Hood, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii., p. 257. Rev 2:12-17.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. ii., p. 433. Rev 2:13.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. vi., p. 155.
Rev 2:17
The New Name.
I. The new name is Christ’s and ours. It is His first; it becomes ours by communication from Him. (1) It includes revelation: "I will give him a new name"—a deeper, a more inward, a fresh knowledge and revelation of My own character, as eternal love, eternal wisdom, all-sufficient, absolute power, the home, and treasure, and joy, and righteousness of the whole heart and spirit. (2) On this new revelation of the name of Christ there follows as a consequence assimilation to the name which we possess, or transformation into the likeness of Him whom we behold. The gift of the name is such an inward revelation of Christ in His glory and perfectness as presupposes full sympathy with Him as its condition, and implies a still more thorough conformity to Him as its result. (3) Then there is a third idea implied in the promise, if the new name be Christ’s, and that is possession or consecration. His name is given; that is, His character is revealed, His character is imparted, and further by the gift He takes as well as gives: He takes us for His own even in giving Himself to be ours. It is a sign of ownership and authority to impose one’s name. We belong to Him in the measure in which we are like Him. He possesses us in the measure in which we possess His name—that is, His revealed self.
II. Look at the other thought which is here, namely, that this new name is unknown, except by its possessor. The text seems to imply that though there shall be no isolation in heaven, which is the perfection of society, there may be incommunicable depths of blessed experience even there. We must possess to understand; we must stand before the throne to apprehend; and after countless ages we shall have to say, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be."
III. The text gives the condition and the true cause of possessing this new nature. The new name is won and given; it comes as the reward of victory; it comes as a bestowment from Christ: "To him that overcometh will I give." No heaven except to the victor. The victor does not fight his way into heaven, but Christ gives it to Him.
A. Maclaren, Sermons in Manchester, vol. iii., p. 75.
Rev 2:17
I. Note the large hopes which gather round this promise of a new name. (1) The new name means new vision; (2) it means new activities; (3) it means new purity; (4) it means new joys.
II. Look at the connection between Christ’s new name and ours. Our new name is Christ’s new name stamped upon us. On the day of the bridal of the Lamb and the Church the bride takes her Husband’s name.
III. Note the blessed secret of this new name. There is only one way to know the highest things of human experience, and that is by possessing them.
IV. Note the giving of the new name to the victors. The renovation of the being and efflorescence into new knowledges, activities, perfections, and joys, is only possible on condition of the earthly life of obedience, and service, and conquest.
A. Maclaren, The Unchanging Christ, p. 223.
References: Rev 2:17.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 50; Homiletic Magazine, vol. ix., p. 304. Rev 2:18-29.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. iii., p. 48. Rev 2:21.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 233. Rev 2:23.—S. Minton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 280. Rev 2:25.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. vi., p. 161. Rev 3:1-6.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. iii., p. 204; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 303. Rev 3:2.—J. H. Thom, Laws of Life, p. 281. Rev 3:4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 68; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 343. Rev 3:7.—Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 167.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Section 1. (Rev 2:1-29.)
Section 1. (Rev 2:1-29.)
General identity and unity to Thyatira in which it is more strongly asserted than ever, though division is then beginning, and a remnant being separated.
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In the first four epistles, then, we find a general identity and unity, however different they may be in development and in Thyatira that which asserts this more strongly than ever. It is the Church in the fullest way asserted to be catholic, -the Church with its authoritative voice, to which all that are of God are bound to listen. This is the woman who calls herself a prophetess, but who is really Jezebel. Here we find a preparation for what follows, a remnant now becoming separated, although not yet distinctly standing apart: the separation is more in heart and spirit than in outward position but, for all this, the examination of the details is absolutely requisite. It is enough, therefore, simply to indicate it here.
The first section (with its four addresses) divides again into two parts. This, it has been noticed elsewhere, would indicate no bright and happy state of things. Four is, as we know, the number of the world, or of the creature: but creation as manifesting -as it should manifest -the glory of the Creator, is a three and one, these being the numbers of manifestation and of divine unity and supremacy. Two, on the other hand, is the number of division, therefore of essential frailty, contradiction and evil. This is what we find, accordingly, in what we have here.
1. In the first part we find what may be given as its character, Christ’s rule over His people in measure maintained. In the second part we shall find, on the contrary, the dwelling where Satan’s throne is, implying, of necessity, something opposed to this while the woman Jezebel shows us a further step in departure from it. Here again this can be only stated at present. The proof can only be found as we take up the addresses in detail.
(1) We start, then, with Ephesus. The assemblies, as we have noticed, are all Asiatic assemblies, and we have seen already the significance of this; Asia being the scene of a movement which Paul speaks of distinctly as a departure from himself, that is, evidently from his doctrine, (for that is it with which he identifies himself). Asia also, if the apostle’s own voyage to Rome has the typical significance which has been elsewhere given it, represents a stage in the Church’s declension; the vessel which carries him, but as a prisoner, being bound first for the shores of Asia, "the miry land," -that is, as it would seem, the significance of the name -the Church being mired with the world; how soon, in fact, that came to be its condition! Ephesus itself was, as we know, the church to which the apostle addressed that epistle which gives us the doctrine of the Church itself; not its earthly, but its heavenly character. The highest truth of Christian position, the wonderful character of the Church as the body of Christ, the house of God, and again the spouse of the Lord Jesus, is developed in it. The saints were yet in their first brightness here, and the apostle’s heart was free to give them that which he could not minister to the Corinthians or to the Hebrews, being checked by their condition. It is, therefore, most significant that we find just Ephesus here characterized by the beginning of departure from the Lord, the beginning of all real departure, wherever it exists. Ephesus is characterized now by first love left, and as a consequence the first works also. The two things go necessarily together. Ephesus means "desirable," or "object of desire;" and this may speak of that which makes the picture sadly perfect. It is the Church, the object of the Lord’s love, which is leaving the first freshness of its love to Him. This is what makes the whole address so significant. It is not, as many have supposed, that Ephesus is here first addressed as being the metropolitan church of Asia; for the Church in the beginning knew nothing of metropolitanism, and had to be degraded from heaven to earth to bear thus the stamp of earth. Political rank has no place in spiritual things; and if men point to Jerusalem, as they would, and to what they are pleased to designate as the first council there (Act 15:1-41), they only show by this how they have got back to Judaism, and are confounding thereby the earthly with the heavenly.
In the book of Acts we have had necessarily before us that asserted council which we have no need to deny having been such, but with a very different result from that which is sought to be deduced from it. The appeal is certainly made there, on the part of the Gentiles, to Jerusalem; and not only so, but the apostle Paul speaks of going up by revelation there (Gal 2:1-21) so that it was of God that there should be this appeal: but for what purpose? In order that at Jerusalem itself the hold of Jerusalem upon the people of God might be broken, and the Church set free! Nothing could possibly be so effectual as to make Jerusalem itself set aside what was claimed to be her own jurisdiction; and thus it is that in the letter which goes out from thence at this time, it is put as what seemed good "to the Holy Spirit and to us;" not to the Holy Spirit in us or by us, but the Holy Spirit having, as Peter argues, in fact already settled the matter by the bringing in of Cornelius and others with him; Jerusalem had nothing further to do than to profess its subjection to what the Spirit had already done. This is the plain matter of fact, as the whole history demonstrates, and it settles definitely the question of the Spirit of God making known His mind through councils of the Church -the mischief which men inexcusably have made out of this. The metropolitan character of Ephesus, as asserted by tradition, grows naturally out of its actual political place at that time; and when politics began to influence the Church, it became perfectly natural that Ephesus should have the spiritual place answering to its political one. Scripture itself knows nothing of all this. There is in it the Church at large, and the churches (or assemblies); but the Church at large consists, not of churches, but of individuals. The body of Christ has members, and nothing else. Yet there are churches, assemblies, which in each place, in the original condition of things, was but the one assembly in that place -everywhere the assembly of God represented in those who might be gathered together there. The local assembly represented in this way, of necessity, the assembly as a whole, but it was no distinct body. The only body was the body of Christ. There cannot be bodies of Christ, but only the body. The local assembly in this way owed all that was distinctive in it to mere locality. The assembly as a whole, scattered as it is over the world, cannot, therefore, assemble; the actual assembly must of necessity be local. But it was thus at the same time no separate body, and could not be so without an independence being asserted by this, which in Scripture at least is never thought of.
A quotation from a commentary of recent date, and which is in its character much beyond the ordinary, may yet show us how far from the scriptural view Christians have in general departed -"The gospel everywhere speaks of a calling and an election, and the Church is the organized society of the called and elected. It is the assembly or community of those whom God has called out from the world into a common fellowship of faith, hope, and obedience, and which is preserved and perpetuated by means of functions and services included in the call. And wherever there is a company of such as have received and believed the gospel, organized into one body, in the charge of one authorized minister, and coming together in the same stated services, there is a true church; and such societies were the seven assemblies."
How strange the contradiction here! First of all, we have what is perfectly true, that "the Church is the organized society of the called and elected." Who has organized it? He, certainly, who formed it. How is it formed? "By one Spirit," answers the apostle, "we are all baptized into one body." How is the baptism of the Spirit conferred? By man’s hands or what? Certainly according to Scripture it is as when, in that sample case which decided things for them in the council at Jerusalem, the Spirit fell upon Cornelius and those with him, as they heard in faith the word of God which was preached to them. He who admits into the body of Christ is thus Christ Himself and no other. But we are told now that, "Wherever there is a company of such as have received and believed the gospel, organized into one body," there is a true church. Is this, then, a body, an organism distinct from the general organization, the body at large? Scripture has certainly no such thought anywhere. The body of Christ is in each place as represented by the members there; but there is, as the apostle declares and as the necessity of the case shows, one body alone. The definition is rendered still more unscriptural by the addition that in order to be a true church it must be "in the charge of one authorized minister." Where shall we find the scripture for this? The same writer will not himself venture to produce for it the angels of the churches, but distinctly disallows this. Where else has he found it? Where else can any one find it today? It is a thing, no doubt, of old date and which is accepted apparently because of what is thought its reasonableness, and much more because of its antiquity. Scripture is absolutely against it everywhere, and the assumption of it has been the cause of untold disaster in the Church at large. We shall find it shortly stigmatized by the Lord Himself under the title of Nicolaitanism. In the body, the Lord Himself has set the members, with gifts corresponding in each case to the place He has given these. Every member is thus responsible to know his place, and responsible for the use of the gift which that place implies. The Head over all is Christ Himself. The Spirit uniting all in subjection to the Head is the Spirit of Christ. It is of the first importance that the conscience here should be before God alone, and that there should be none to dictate as to how or by whom the ministry everywhere is to be determined and regulated. The voice of God must be free everywhere to reach His people, and there must be no order of things which will shut it out, by whomsoever He may please to minister. Must not necessary disaster result from the interposition here of that "one authorized minister" (by whom authorized?) who is to have charge of the whole?
The church at Ephesus comes first, then, here, not because of any metropolitan position that it had, but simply because of the truth which was committed to it, -that truth to which, alas, it is beginning to be untrue. The condition of Ephesus, in fact, stands for the condition of the Church universal from that time to the present. Whatever may be said for individuals, when has the Church gone back to its first love? And that is the root of the whole matter here.
But what then is this angel of the assembly in Ephesus to whom the apostle is directed to write? It is natural enough with the thoughts that fill our minds today, to think of some official who presided over it, and, as we know, it has been sought to make of him either a diocesan bishop, or at any rate such a minister as is almost universal in the present day. It is the angel who is, in fact, looked at as responsible for the condition of things indicated. It is the angel who is therefore rebuked or exhorted. Who is represented here if there be no such official? To this, Scripture in general answers clearly that the word of God is always addressed to the assembly itself, and in no wise to its officials, whatever these might be. Philippi has its bishops and deacons, but it is not either to bishops or deacons that the apostle writes his letter, but "to the saints in Christ Jesus" who are there -to all the saints, along with these. At Ephesus itself, where we know there were bishops, Paul yet writes to "the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus," and the bishops have in the epistle no peculiar place at all.
In the epistle to the Romans, the address is in the same way "to all that be in Rome beloved of God, called saints;" and to the Corinthians, to whom he speaks of the special order of the Church on earth, it is, "Paul unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them which are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours." There is not, in fact, a hint anywhere of such a responsibility on the part of any officials for the state of the Church as would be indicated, according to the common way of thinking, in the epistles of Revelation. We need not consider the dream of some, that the angels here were literal angels, "guardian" as they are called. This is only, if possible, more baseless than the ordinary thought. Whatever be the truth with regard to the angel, it is most certain that every one that has an ear to hear is called to hear "what the Spirit saith," not to officials, but "to the assemblies;" and is there not just here a key to the meaning of the angel symbol? Revelation is a book of symbols, as is indicated in the opening of it, and as ought to be plain to all who read it; and therefore we need not wonder so much at a symbol here. It has been thought that as "angel" just means "messenger," and is applied to others than the heavenly messengers, there might have been messengers sent to the apostle from these different assemblies, and that it is these which he is called to address thus. This is a possibility, although there is no proof of it that we can find. Nevertheless, if such a thing could be admitted, it would make this clear how the assembly could be addressed in its angel or messenger without in any wise resigning its responsibilities as such. The address to the angel would be, in fact, an address to a representative of the assembly; the assembly would be addressed in him. This is, at any rate, a view of the matter which commends itself far more than the common thought; but we must nevertheless take into account what has been said already as to the angel before the addresses begin. The seven stars, says the Lord "are the angels of the seven assemblies, and the seven lampstands are the seven assemblies." There is a difference surely, as there is a connection also here. The lampstands were on earth, with responsibilities inferred of giving light there; but that light might, as we know, sadly fail, while, on the other hand, the star as the true heavenly light could hardly do so. Now if we consider the double aspect of the assembly which these addresses so thoroughly enforce, the responsible, actually existing assembly on the one hand, the assembly positionally and by profession, and on the other hand, the true people of God who soon cease to be identical with the profession as a whole, but among whom alone there could be found an ear to hear the voice that was speaking, -does it not seem plain that it is these latter for whom the angel stands? If the superscription of the epistles is to the angel of the assembly, the subscription, as we may say, is to him that hath an ear to hear. These, therefore, seem to be the same; and everything would agree with this. Here alone is the heavenly, real light. Here are the stars that shine in the darkness of the night. Here are those who can be considered responsible, and addressed with full urgency of this responsibility by the Lord.
Thus, on the whole, we may conclude that here is the truth as to the angels of the churches, all the more because it does not affirm any official representatives such as can nowhere else be found in Scripture, and that it does bring, as all Scripture does, the responsibility home to every individual heart, whatever may be his place and his gift in the Church of God. Let us see, then, that our hearts are awake to respond to the voice that calls us here, not merely a voice which called to those in Ephesus or Smyrna or the rest of the assemblies, but which calls us, every one of us, and with more fulness and emphasis then ever, at the present day.* To the assembly in Ephesus the Lord presents Himself as "the One who holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks." It is evident that the characteristics here are more general than special. It is what the Lord is for all His people. The heavenly light is sustained by the Lord Himself.** The lampstands speak of responsibility; Christ walks in the midst of them to ascertain their condition. In Israel, as we know, it was the duty of the priest morning and evening to put in order the lamps upon the golden candlestick. Here the general thought is, on the one hand, of power that can always be reckoned upon; or the other hand, of human responsibility.
{*This view is borne out by the use of the term "angel" to designate the spirit as contrasted with the body, as in the passages noted in the references. Peter’s angel was his spirit, and they supposed that he had been put to death. Thus the angel of the Church would be the spirit of the Church, that which was really united to Christ as contrasted with its body, that which professed to be it. In this way the angel stands for all there is of God in a company of people -not exactly the spiritual, but all who have life. -S.R.
** As has been already said, Ephesus represents the state of the entire Church ever since the time of the apostles. Loss of first love is what has characterized it. Hence the appropriateness of our Lord presenting Himself as in connection with the whole Church, as described in the first chapter, rather than in any specific way. -S.R.}
The Lord, as always in these addresses, speaks first of what He can approve. It is His desire to approve and justify, and the consciousness of approval puts the soul into the right place to receive also the warnings and the reproof which love in its very faithfulness must give. He begins here with the works, the practical test of everything, which we find emphasized in John’s own epistle. He does not pronounce upon the works, but what they connect with here implies at least a measure of approbation. They had not only works, they labored. If it is faith that sets to work and gives character to the working, it is love that labors; so to the Thessalonians the apostle speaks of the "work of faith and labor of love." The labor here implies that it went as far as weariness; not spiritual, of course, but that the labor was real and hard. This might readily exhaust the strength, and bring the labor to an end; but here it was sustained, enduring; and that was in Thessalonians the characteristic of hope. Hope has in it, as we know, the spirit of endurance. Let hope decline, there is no longer energy for this. Thus faith, love, hope, have their proper place here;* but there is more than this. Endurance itself may end sometimes in tolerance of that which is to be endured. At Ephesus they could not bear evil men. There was no tolerance in this way. There was no lessening of evil in their eyes by the having to meet it constantly. They had met it, in fact, as it was making the highest pretensions. They had had to try those who said they were apostles, and were not. How remarkable to find so early such a pretension! They had not been daunted by it, but had tested and found them liars. Already we have an intimation of what was soon to come in. There are, as we know, presumed successors of the apostles at the present time. Paul has taught us in his own case how God has broken through that thought of succession, and that an apostle must produce his credentials direct from heaven. There is no thought anywhere in Scripture of succession to such an office. A succession to Peter himself, as the first of the apostles, was beyond even the height of the pretension here, and God has sufficiently guarded against it. Thus Paul it is who receives both the gospel in its fulness and the truth of the Church in its full character, and takes Peter himself to task for conduct that was inconsistent with this. Peter here disappears from the history, while Paul is the instrument of the Spirit, taken up and presented to us in the Acts, with whom the character and success, or otherwise, of Christian doctrine is henceforth identified; but men are easily daunted by a high pretension, and fear irreverence too much in questioning that which comes in such a way. At Ephesus as yet they had not feared to question. Already, therefore, there was that in the Church itself which would rightly awaken alarm for what was coming in; but they had endured and borne, and for Christ’s name’s sake too; and as to spiritual energy had not wearied.
{*But is it not significant that neither faith, hope nor love are mentioned here? The works of these were present, produced indeed by them, but with a loss of spiritual energy suggested by the absence of the first love; the motive power has also been lost, and significantly it is not mentioned, suggesting at least its decline. -S.R.}
All thus far is plain commendation then. How strange and solemn that with all this there was yet a worm at the root which might destroy it all! "But I have against thee," the Lord adds, "that thou hast left thy first love." There is no "somewhat," as in our common version. It is not put as if this could be a little thing; and this is the more striking because afterwards, where we find that when evil had grown much beyond what we have here, the Lord does speak of it as "somewhat." Thus to Pergamos He says, "I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there those that hold the doctrine of Balaam;" but we should say, and rightly say, that that was a great thing. Here, on the other hand, Ephesus hates the works of the Nicolaitans, who were only the beginning, as we shall see, of that Balaam evil. Yet the Lord cannot say "somewhat" here. The evil had not yet outwardly appeared at all. It was the Lord alone, as we may say, who could detect the actual decline which had taken place. But this beginning of decline is, after all, the great thing. Were there no beginning, there could be no fruit such as follows afterwards; and the loss of first love here is that which touches most nearly the heart of Him to whom Ephesus is an "object of desire." Love seeks love that shall answer to it, and the stronger the love that seeks, the more is every failure to find it realized. Here was in fact, the beginning of all the long history of evil; first love was already gone; not love, of course, but the first freshness and fulness of it. What characterizes first love is evidently full satisfaction with the object of it; and here is what Christ must be to the soul that knows Him. The knowledge of the new man is, "Christ is all;" and when He has ceased to be all for the soul, the anchor of the soul has slipped. How far one may drift after that, is an open question. Christ, we know, will not be unfaithful; and if He goes after that which is lost until He find it, -if we have all been found when we were lost, -the love that was towards us then will never leave us. But, as far as we are concerned, how far the soul may drift we cannot say, except that, of course, it cannot be into apostasy. But the loss of first love affects everything. Then the "first works" are of necessity gone with it, and so the Lord speaks here: "Remember from whence thou hast fallen, and repent, and do the first works;" for the soul that is no longer finding full satisfaction in Christ must of necessity seek to supplement Him in some way, and must of necessity seek this in that which only increases the uneasiness.* There will be need still more and more of finding that which never can be found. Christ all, to the soul, is fulness of satisfaction. With Christ alone, we cannot fail of entire happiness. But Christ supplemented by something else is Christ dishonored, and thus we find a famine in our own land, and are, as it were, driven down to Egypt perforce -a terrible thing for a Christian, when that which is really his own has thus waned in its power over him: when he has yet so much sense of what Christ is that he can no longer find in the world even what the worldling finds in it, and yet cannot find satisfaction in that which is his own either. Communion is lost, for there can be no proper communion with a dishonored Christ; and thus there is no true repentance for a soul until it has got back to the first condition.
{*Note that the Lord does not say "See to what," but "remember from what thou hast fallen." They were turned back, were not even to be unduly occupied with their present condition. This would enable them truly to measure the distance of their fall, and at the same time held out the means of their recovery. -S.R.}
There is solemn question for us all here, and we can see how this book of Revelation will search out our hearts! No proper servant can there be with a half-heart for Christ, and thus we can understand how we should have this set before us at the very entrance upon that which is addressed to the servant. Christ must have His place, not a place, but His own place; and if not, there will be no proper light for the world. The removal of the lampstand out of its place is naturally what comes of it.* The testimony of the Christian is that he has found an Object of satisfaction which the world has not found. When such an one seeks the world, the world itself knows well how to estimate this. When the objects that other men have become our objects, we may profess what we will as to Christ, but we shall only be the more false witnesses to Him by the very profession. It is a solemn thing to realize that a Christian cannot in this way really give up his place as witness, but he is a witness either for Christ or against Him. Identified with Christ as he is, the world turns necessarily to him to inquire what he has found in Christ. If he is seeking water at all the broken cisterns around him, there will be no need to say that, some way, that continual spring of which the Lord has spoken as in the soul of him that knows Him, is nevertheless failing. Thus the lamp which is lighted to go out to meet the Bridegroom, of necessity fails. It is not a question of doctrine, but of the heart; and we can no longer commend the doctrine when the heart is out of it. The condition here is just so much the more significant that there is no evil work spoken of; and how easily we satisfy ourselves with looking at our lives with a dull conscience which can recognize nothing particularly wrong, and from the world’s point of view has nothing, in fact, to recognize. Spite of all this, there may already be at work that which has made distance between the soul and Christ, the very distance itself only making one less capable of estimating evil; recognizing it, no doubt, where natural conscience would, but nothing further. The natural conscience, merely, knows nothing of Christ; and how soon a Christian may get into a condition in which he too is content to judge much as the world judges, and thus does not accept the reproof which a moment with Christ would make him conscious of.
{*Here again the warning is characteristic and significant. It is in keeping with the way in which our Lord presents Himself, as we saw. Holding the lights -the stars -in His hand, He has power to remove the very vessel of testimony. This really looks on to the end when the Church is set aside as in Laodicea. How solemnly thus the beginning and end of a course of departure from the Lord are brought together. -S.R.}
In fact, at Ephesus they had not yet departed far. Only they had had to turn from Him necessarily to depart at all. Yet the Lord closes here with words which once more have a certain commendation in them: "This thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate." We shall find by and by a "doctrine of the Nicolaitans" which has come in. It is no doctrine that is yet spoken of. We may be sure, therefore, in spite of the commentators, that doctrine there is as yet none. Nicolaitanism is as yet something in the heart rather than the mind, -none the less evil indeed on that account, for it is through the heart that the mind is perverted, and we may remember how in the epistle to the Ephesians itself the apostle speaks of the eyes of their hearts being enlightened. The heart that is astray forms its doctrine to justify itself. The error of the heart becomes thus the error of the mind.
But what was this Nicolaitanism? We are referred by Church writers to a set of gnostics, who, if they existed, (which is doubtful,) could only have arisen after this. We are told, also, that what is here is simply Antinomianism; but there is no evidence at all to justify the statement. Any sect of Nicolaitans, known as such, it has been impossible to find; and it is evident, in fact, that whatever tradition may say in the matter is the fruit of the effort to find that which, from what is spoken here, was thought must have existed. How could the Lord speak of Nicolaitans if there were none? It is obvious He could not; but the question is, is the name simply historical, or is it symbolical -as all Revelation so manifestly is? The word means, as there can be no doubt whatever, "One who conquers (or gets the upper hand of) the people;" and the word for "people" here, "the laos," is that from which, significantly, has come "laity," -a word never found in Scripture, but in common use everywhere. It is as plain as can be that there is no Christian laity in the New Testament; and that which is the opposite of it, which is in contrasted connection, the clergy, is not in Scripture either. The clergy, "cleroi," are, according to the name, those who are the Lord’s lot, His peculiar portion. It is a term derived from the Old Testament and Judaism, where the Lord, however, was to be the lot in an especial way of those brought near to Him as the people at large were not -the priests and Levites. Nothing remains for us really to judge of what is here except that significant name. If we judge by it, "Nicolaitans" are a class who (themselves, of course, not laity) subject the Lord’s people as laity to themselves. There is nothing necessarily immoral about them, and what is stated of them here cannot be rightly held to such an inference. They are not the Balaam-followers who in Pergamos are distinctly separated from them. We have, in fact, nothing that can more define them than the fact that they were Nicolaitans, whose "works" are first spoken of, and then their doctrine. If we are to judge by Scripture, (and we have positively nothing else to judge by,) then these who are not laity must be naturally clergy, a result which one would think would suggest itself to any mind. They are not yet in a positive place as such. There is no doctrine with regard to it. The Lord’s people have not been content as yet to take their place as in subjection, as laity, to any separate class of this kind. There are Nicolaitans in deeds, not yet in doctrine. There are people, we may say, who take, in fact, such a separate place, act as if they were in a nearness to the Lord which others have not, and that, we would say, officially. It may seem intensely strong, the condemnation of such in the Lord’s words, "which I also hate." He does not, of course, say that He hates the persons, but their deeds; and when we realize what such things mean, when we realize how the whole character of the Church has been affected by them, we shall not, perhaps, wonder any more at the strength of such an expression.
God has given gifts to the Church. Christ gone up on high has given gifts to men. By the very fact of the Church being the body of Christ, gifts are implied (Rom 12:6), for each member must have its functions. This is what a "body" necessarily means. This is organization, and an organization of the Church is thus of God. It is in no wise left to man’s arrangements. The gift is from God Himself, and the responsibility to use it results from the having it. Moreover, every member having its gift, there can be no separation of one from another in this way. There is, of course, diversity in the gifts themselves. Says the apostle, "He has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers." Some things here, moreover, are necessarily public in a way that others are not; but there is no special class who are beyond others "God’s lot," or to whom beyond others God is their lot. Apostles and prophets laid the foundation. There remains for us only the work that they have accomplished: the foundation does not go all the way up the building. Evangelists, pastors and teachers remain. They are a continual necessity to the Church, and as this are continually being given. We are surely to thank God for His mercy in this way. But are not His chief mercies in our hands oftentimes the things most abused; the best things, capable of worst corruption? With all this we cannot find anywhere in Scripture what the quotation given awhile since makes necessary to the constitution of an assembly, the "authorized minister" who takes charge of it, who is to have in this way the laity subject to himself. Ministers are servants, as the apostle reminds the Corinthians, and belong to the saints and not the saints to them; and, moreover, there is not such an idea anywhere as any teacher being the exclusive teacher of an assembly, nor any pastor being the exclusive pastor of a flock which may thus be called his flock; and as to the evangelist, there needs no assertion that the evangelist is not the evangelist of an assembly, but one who in his very character goes out to the world with the message of life and death, by which souls are to be converted and the Church built up. These gifts are gifts which belong to a common treasury. They are given as common blessings to the whole Church of God. Being men, they are still imperfect and fallible, however qualified by the Spirit for their work, and as thus imperfect and dependent they are not set in solitary places to be all-sufficient even to two or three in any particular place, but as helpers to one another, helpers to the Church at large; they have everywhere their open field of blessed service with which no one can interfere without derogation to the authority of Christ Himself, who is alone their Master. The thought of even the fewest conceivable number of God’s people being handed over to any one, -the most highly gifted that could be, -to minister to all their necessities, is not only, as it plainly is, entirely unscriptural, but it is the depriving of the Church at large of the use of gift which belongs to all, and the ready means by which the different assemblies become built up in errors naturally consequent upon such a state of things as this, where the defects of the individual are not compensated by that which is ordained of God for the correction of mere individualities, and the needful supply of that which the individual may be entirely incompetent to give.
The epistle to the Corinthians already shows us the natural growth of what we have here. At Corinth surely there was not, as to the whole, a state of first love. This is clear by what else was going on. Christ was being supplemented in various ways. The wisdom of the world was replacing the wisdom that was in Him; and in spite of their coming behind in no gift, they were at the same time, as the apostle tells them, carnal and even babes in Christ. In such a condition of things Nicolaitanism is the natural result; but we find its growth here not at first due to the assumption of individuals so much as to the condition of the saints as a whole, who were already forming themselves into schools of teaching with such or such a teacher as the leader of the school. They were saying, "I am of Paul and I of Apollos," and were thus making themselves disciples of men. They were coming to belong to those who in God’s thought belonged to them. This is the very secret of Nicolaitanism -the people subjected to the one who leads them. It is evident that all that is needed now is for men to step into the places thus prepared for them. Consent is required on both sides before there can be what indeed did prevail at Corinth. Here Paul and Apollos were not those who could adapt themselves to the system forming; and in fact, as the apostle says, he only "in a figure transferred these things" to Apollos and himself. The actual leaders were far different ones; but it is easy to see how, with the worldliness which prevailed among them, such a system would necessarily find favor. The mass might devote themselves to their worldly occupations, assured that their interests would be better cared for by a class devoted to spiritual things, who could give their whole energies to them. It was only a most suitable division of labor in their eyes, and still commends itself to the mass everywhere as such. In Ephesus there were those who were ready to act this part, but the assembly at large refused it. Christ too refuses it with His whole heart. Here it was as yet scarcely even in its forming stage; but we shall by and by find it fully formed, and learn better with what it connects itself, and how sure a sign it is of declension from primitive Christianity.
It is here that the warning voice is heard, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the assemblies." There is need already of such an admonition as this, and let us notice that it is to the assemblies that the Spirit speaks, and it is the assembly that is to know, therefore, what the Spirit says. There is nowhere recognized an intermediate class which, if it existed, would be surely, rather, that which the Spirit would address; but all here is intensely individual. "He that hath an ear, let him hear" points out at once the overcomer and the need of overcoming, and the promise is connected with this: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God." There is to be an overcoming now in the Church of God itself, and thus no going with the multitude is possible. Each must be awake to his responsibility. He is addressed to be, in a right way, independent of circumstances, of the condition of those around him, dependent upon Christ alone. It is the voice of Christ to which the Spirit gives utterance. The promise itself carries us back, as we have seen it characteristic of Revelation to do, to the beginning; and yet not really to the old state of things as that would imply, but to that which lay hidden as a germ, nevertheless, in that primitive condition. Here is again the tree of life and paradise, but it is not Adam’s paradise any more; it is the paradise of God; and the tree of life speaks of another life than what was Adam’s naturally -life in dependence still, for that must necessarily be the condition of the creature, and while the life which we have is eternal life it is none the less dependent. It derives its stability from the One in whom the believer finds it. It is life in Christ, and thus abides for us beyond the power of anything within us or around to take away. Here it is the partaking of the fruits that is in question, of course, and we shall find these fruits at the close of Revelation in the picture given us of the heavenly Jerusalem, where the tree of life yields its abundant fruitage continually, and unexhausted. The life itself we have, thank God, already; but the fruits of it, how little can we speak of these as yet! They remain to be known, as the promise here implies, when we are in the blessed scene to which the tree of life belongs.*
{*The promise to the overcomer is in keeping with the general character of the state described, while of course divinely suited to that state. To partake of the tree of life is the common portion of all the Church, and the special contrast with that loss of first love which the believer is to overcome. -S.R.}
(2) We pass on now to the assembly at Smyrna, and here we find what is admitted on all hands to be a perfect representation of the Church in its early persecutions under the heathen emperors. The very name "Smyrna" speaks of this. It means "myrrh," the bitter but fragrant perfume with which they embalmed the dead, but which speaks, therefore, of a death which is not simply death, a death that is precious; that is, as it were, incense to God; for myrrh formed part of the incense which God commanded Israel to prepare, and "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." In such death there must be of necessity the promise of resurrection. We have here, then, the open assault of the enemy on the one hand: we have a much more successful snare even, because secret, of the enemy on the other. The two go suitedly together. The roar of the lion is well suited to drive into the hidden snare; and here, in fact, was the preparation for what we shall find later in Pergamos, where the Church is now "dwelling where Satan’s throne is," under the protection, as it were, of Satan himself. The Church assailed by the world is tempted to seek even to the world for defense against this. In compromise with it it will find deliverance from these open attacks, -yea, more than this, even a place and respectability in it, as at Corinth again they were all finding. They were "full," were "rich," had reigned as kings, anticipating the time when the saints indeed shall reign, and losing by this anticipation the fellowship of those who were, as Paul says, set forth even as men appointed to death.
To the angel of the assembly in Smyrna the Lord writes with sympathetic encouragement as "the First and the Last," the One beyond all human changes, and abiding with all the preciousness of this at all times for His saints. Nevertheless, He is one who has been in death and come out of it. They have but to follow Him to find how fully the way is prepared for them through death itself, and that truest life which is beyond it. He recognizes, then, the tribulation in which for His sake they were, and the poverty in a worldly sense which suited well a state of spiritual riches. The words here are in commendation, not such as we shall find addressed to Laodicea at the close. In Laodicea they too were rich, they had grown rich; but not with such riches as Christ could recognize. For Him, although they knew it not, they were the wretched and miserable, the poor and blind and naked. Here, while He recognizes the poverty in which they were at Smyrna, it is He Himself who reminds them of how rich, nevertheless, they are.
The next words here are in question as to their application. By most "the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not" is taken to refer to the well known, constant enmity of the unbelieving nation against the followers of the Messiah whom they had rejected. They are spoken of evidently here as if outside those whom the Lord is addressing. Nor is the angel charged with responsibility for their presence. They thus might easily be understood to be entirely outside Christianity, enemies and nothing else; especially as we know from the history in the Acts itself how thoroughly the Jewish opposers, stirred by the Gentiles against the growing Church, as in the case of Paul himself, were thus largely the authors of Gentile persecution. Nevertheless, if the matter were so simple an one, it is evident that it becomes by so much less significant in such an address as the present. Moreover, as we look at the words, it is hard to understand them of those who were in some sense (however little they were in God’s sight such) Jews, really the seed of Abraham after the flesh, however little partakers of his spirit. Nor can we understand the need that they would have for asserting what they were in this way. A Jew was very evidently a Jew, and had his acknowledged status as such in the Roman empire. Again, if these words do not speak of it, then it is certain that what was one of the most striking features in the Church’s decline is wholly omitted in what we have here, which, certainly, is just the place in which we might expect to find it.
Judaism was not simply an external evil to the Church at the beginning It was, as we know, from the very beginning that which threatened really its existence according to the constitution God has given it. This was the matter which the assembly at Jerusalem had to consider -the question whether the Gentiles were under the law or no. For a moment and so far, this was decided in that letter in which it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to them to put upon the Gentiles no such burden as was sought to be imposed. The principle here went much further than the letter itself actually did, for if the burden of the law which, as the apostle says, neither they nor their fathers were able to bear was not to be imposed upon the Gentile, then how could it be left upon the Jew? The Church is one. In it there is neither Jew nor Greek, and, as Paul writes to the Galatians, those who were justified, as all were necessarily, apart from the law ("for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified"), could not after this rightly return and put themselves under that law which had thus already been set aside for them. Thus the question might seem decided; but it was not really so, and the Judaizing Church we see beginning in that epistle to the Galatians, in which the apostle speaks after this manner. The Galatians were Gentiles, and not Jews at all. They had received God’s grace, and the Spirit as the fruit of that grace -a gift which Judaism had not for its proselytes; and yet those who had begun in the Spirit were now seeking, as he tells them, to be made perfect in the flesh, and going back to carnal ordinances.
In the epistle to the Colossians we find the apostle meeting also tendencies of this nature, where he tells them that the handwriting, or obligation, of ordinances, which was against them and contrary to them, Christ had taken out of the way, nailing it to His cross. They were not to be judged, therefore, with regard to a sabbath, or the meats and drinks of Judaism.
The epistle to Timothy speaks still more decisively of those who, in the Church though they were, were seeking to be teachers of the law, not understanding, as he says, what they were saying -the terrible consequences which would ensue from this. But thus the struggle with Judaism was not a mere outside one, but one which in the Church itself had its fullest significance. It was now, in fact, that in which the attack of the enemy upon the grace of the gospel was most apparent, and the Church itself became changed, not merely in outward form, but in the whole spirit of it, into a mere continuation of what men speak of still as the Jewish Church -no doubt with added privileges, and a certain freedom from the regard of Jewish observances, but still rather the heir of the earthly Jerusalem than that which is above, "our mother." If it is impossible, as it is indeed impossible, that so mighty and significant a change could be overlooked, then we may well realize the strength of the language of the Lord here, which characterizes the party identified with the introduction of such a change as men who said they were Jews and were not, but were "the synagogue of Satan." We could not expect that the assembly would be branded as this. The Lord could not do so. Yet, as we look at what is here, we cannot but see how thoroughly the change which steadily went on is marked for us. The synagogue was, of course, the name of the Jewish assembly, and exactly characterized it. It was not, in the Christian sense, an assembly, an "ecclesia," a people called out of the world and separate from it, but simply "a gathering together," as "synagogue" means, indefinite and promiscuous, believers and unbelievers confounded in it, as in fact was the case in Judaism. The thing sought thus to be introduced, synagogue instead of ecclesia, would be manifestly Satan’s synagogue -that which the adversary was setting up in opposition to the truth. For Judaism introduced into Christianity can no longer be the Judaism that once was. It is impossible to recall that. When God gave it, it was, of course, for the time being, according to God; it was something, as the apostle says of the law, which came in by the way as a schoolmaster until the time that faith should have distinctly taken its place as God’s principle, the only principle that He can recognize. Thus "Christ died," says the apostle John, "for that nation" (of Israel); "and not for that nation only, but also that He might gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." The Jewish system necessarily scattered these. It did not own the children of God as such. It did not distinguish them in Israel from those who were not such, and those that were outside of Israel it did not recognize at all. Now the principle is, as was proclaimed to Cornelius, that "God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him." This, of course, could only be the work of divine grace, and the principle itself is, as we see in the case of Cornelius, the setting aside of Judaism.
But thus manifestly also the mixed congregation which Judaism tolerated could not be brought into that nearness to God which faith alone could claim and there being no distinct separation, those that were true children of God must accept the distance which alone was possible in the case of the others. Thus it should be plain what the introduction of a Jewish system into the Church would signify for the Church. The law could not justify. It was intended to condemn, and could rightly do nothing else than this. Could it have done so, it would not have answered the purpose for which God gave it. But thus, as the law could not justify, believers under it could never enjoy that justification which it is now the privilege of every saint to know, assuredly, as the foundation of everything for him. In fact -how soon! Paul’s doctrine being left behind, (for he alone it is who distinctly speaks of justification) this came into corresponding uncertainty among professing Christians. For centuries, until the Reformation, justification by faith was known only -and even then scarcely with perfect clearness -by a few scattered if not hunted souls, buried in a mass of mere profession in which the old conditions of Judaism were necessarily found once more.
But again: the knowledge of justification lacking, meant, of course, the impossibility of distinguishing the true Church from the false. The true Church became, as people have even now to say, the invisible Church, and with every one it became a question of how to gather the best way he could the indications of his faith. He had, according to the way the apostle’s words are quoted, to "examine himself whether he was in the faith and prove his own self." On the other hand, it became the part of charity to exclude as few as possible from the possibility of being what they professed. Sacraments came in thus to give a kind of certainty which was else lacking. Baptism was "for the remission of sins." It was plainly easy for any to determine for himself whether or not he was baptized, much easier than to prove satisfactorily his conversion. Thus the great stress came to be laid on baptism. In it God’s grace could be emphasized in the fullest way, and even a Chrysostom could say, "Although a man should be foul with every vice, the blackest that could be named, yet should he fall into the baptismal pool, he ascends from the divine waters purer than the beams of noon." It is quite true that, in the face of what these baptized Christians very frequently turned out to be, it was impossible to think of a salvation for them eternally, as Scripture makes it. The doctrine as to this was necessarily, therefore, soon lost; and while thus Chrysostom could say again that with baptism "are connected all the benefits of heirship and the community of interests with the family (of God), yet to fall after baptism became not only possible doctrinally, but had abundant examples pleaded in proof. How to find their way back in this case to the condition they had lost was the problem then. It was manifestly much more difficult to find forgiveness of sins once more after having lost it. Here penances and what not naturally came in to give a measure of ease to the conscience, while priestly absolution represented, on the other side, once more, divine grace; and thus a hope, somewhat indefinite, no doubt, could be gained or regained at last by almost any. With this the power of the Church, that is to say, what practically stood for it now, the clergy, grew apace.
The inheritance from Judaism is in all this plainly to be seen, only it was now a Judaism far more pretentious than that of old, and thus very different in character. In Judaism the ceremonies plainly pointed onwards to what was still to come. In many ways their inefficacy for true salvation was made manifest; while, on the other hand, in the Judaized Christianity now coming in, that which had before been only pointed to was asserted to have come. Christ the Saviour had plainly come, and this being all the salvation that He had wrought, it was all the salvation that any could look for. The darkness was no longer the darkness of men who were waiting in hope for the daybreak. It was a darkness this side of eternity little relieved. Those most careless might hope most easily. Those realizing more what sin was would come more completely under the power of the priestly system which had now become the Church itself, but against which, none the less, the awakened conscience pleaded, spite of all that could be done to assure it. Who that will contemplate all this (which is only the statement of what was undeniably the doctrine of what assumed to be the Catholic Church for centuries) but must realize the truth of the title given by the Lord to those who introduced it, of "the synagogue of Satan." It is not meant, of course, that the Church became this, at whatever time in her history and amid all the darkness we are called to contemplate her. The Lord would make a difference, and teach us to make a corresponding difference therefore, between the teachers and the taught, those who introduced the system and those who came into it as a sad inheritance left them by their fathers -Scripture itself more or less kept from them, with only enough pleaded from it to put the Church in the authority sought for it, as in that clipped quotation, "Hear the Church;’’ the word of God being thus made to sanction its own abandonment, and to deliver up souls to the most enormous imposture that the world has ever seen.
But we are going on beyond where we have yet arrived, in the period which Smyrna characterizes, and the Lord’s words here would teach us that not without a struggle was all this accomplished. Indeed, Church history alone assures us (and that by comparison with Scripture) of the fact of the accomplishment. For it, of course, it was no transformation, but professedly Christianity as it came from the Lord and the apostles. That there was no struggle against it is impossible to be believed, and it is to this that the words here plainly point. The "blasphemy," or slander, of the Jewish party accordingly had been directed against those, who have the Lord’s commendation here. Here we must remember that the making of history has been in the hands of what, according to this, would be the triumphant party; and we can hardly expect that, this being so, we should have in it, in any wise as it was, the true account of the matter. It was an age in which men did not hesitate to forge the names of those who were in repute to spurious documents, and even with the express design of giving authority to some favorite doctrine. Scripture itself is decisive as to the rapid departure from Paul, while, of course, his name was held in becoming honor; yet his own words as to what was taking place in this very Asia, at the time he wrote his last epistle, give us more than a hint of what was going on; while at Rome there was already a state of things which would clearly allow of such departure. Solemn it is to realize the completeness of it at so early a date as we are forced to do, but it is only in the order of things with regard to anything entrusted to man from the beginning. How long did our first parents live in Paradise? What has been the constant record of succeeding generations? The history of the ancient people of God closes with the decisive rejection of the Son of the Father sent to them in divine love; and in the Church, with all the additional blessings which God had made its own, we must yet not wonder if history repeats itself. From Paul himself we know that "the mystery of iniquity" was already at work, and that the final issue would be an apostasy, out of which would rise that "man of sin" who is destroyed only by the breath of the Lord, and consumed in the brightness of His coming.
We thus find in Smyrna a second stage of the decline. The Church was seeking to make terms with the world. God in mercy was suffering them, on the other hand, to find what was the world’s essential opposition to the grace of which they were witnesses. It was, alas, for the mass ineffectual, as we know, and the Church, come out of her ten days’ tribulation prophesied here, came out of it only to clasp hands with the world in full reality.* It is to the suffering, not to the reigning Church that the Lord is speaking; and we need not wonder that to her His words are full only of encouragement and assurance: "Be thou faithful unto death" He could say to those who were thus in fellowship with Him in His rejection; "I will give thee the crown of life." The resurrection of the saint would be, in fact, such a crown of life to these sufferers, the eternal life which was already theirs manifesting itself in supremacy over death, through the power of Him who had vanquished it for them, and who will, as the apostle expresses it in the epistle to the Romans, "reign in life by the One, Christ Jesus." His encouragement to the overcomer is similar in character to this: "He that overcometh shall in no wise be hurt of the second death." He is not here using, as we shall find Him doing presently, "the sharp sword with two edges," but rather applying His own sweet balm for the wounds inflicted by the enemy. He puts alongside of the death which some of them are to suffer the awful darkness of the second death, only to say, You have escaped entirely from this, how light a thing, then, is the other!**
{*The "ten days" persecutions spoken of here are no doubt symbolic, as so much else is in this book. Ten is the number which speaks of the full measure of responsibility. Thus their persecution will be only up to that measure. God would not suffer them to be tried above what they were able to bear -such as was "common to man." This would apply both to the local assembly and to that period of the Church’s history which it symbolized. It has been sought to identify these ten days with ten specific times of persecution under the Roman Emperors, but it is difficult and needless to attempt this. In like manner, reference has been made to the ten plagues in Egypt; doubtless the only connection is in the significance of the number in each case. -S.R.
** It is needless to say that life, while spoken of here as a crown, is not in any sense earned by the faithful. It is the gift of God, but in connection with that gift is the reward, not distinguished from it. So too the promise to the overcomer. All believers do overcome and none shall be hurt of the second death. For those, however, who have passed through the Smyrna persecutions there will be special significance in that escape. They might be called to pass through the first death, might incur all the malice and rage of man, but that which God inflicts they will forever escape. -S.R.}
2. As we pass into the second section now, we find the evil threatening become a positive fact, and the Church more openly slipped away from Christ and from subjection to His Word, accepting the enemy’s alliance; and here again we have two stages. In the first, at Pergamos, they are dwelling where Satan’s throne is. They have accepted, consciously or not, a place in what is his kingdom, in that world whose prince is not Christ, but the adversary of Christ. The consequences are marked and many, as we would expect; but there is still a second stage to follow, in which a more pretentious form appears. The name of Jezebel is connected with the old Jewish history in such a manner as to stamp the woman here without any question; all the more because she assumes, nevertheless, to be a prophetess, and to teach by divine authority. We have had in the parables of the thirteenth of Matthew the woman, in just such connection, introducing the leaven into the meal which is in her hands -the pure doctrine of Christ committed to the Church. Here is certainly in Thyatira the same thing, only more openly done; and from this point, as we look back at Pergamos, we can realize that we have there also one of the parables of Matthew exemplified. The parable of the least of all seeds becoming a tree precedes that of the leaven, as Pergamos here precedes Thyatira; and in that tree -the evident type of the Church rooted in the earth and becoming a worldly power -the birds of the air lodge in the branches. The Lord Himself has interpreted this for us in the parable preceding, where they take away the good seed sown by the wayside; and the Lord refers this to Satan taking away from men what is sown in the heart. Now the tree shelters that which does this -again a picture which in Revelation is given from another side, in which the features are more developed, as we have seen is the case also with Thyatira. In both stages that are before us here the power of Satan manifest is unmistakable.
(1) Pergamos succeeds, then, to Smyrna, and now we find what surely has fullest meaning for us, that He who addresses it reminds them that He has the sharp "two-edged sword." There is reference to this also in the address itself. The Lord is using His Word here as that which is "living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow;" but it is a Word which will come out in the end, as we find in the nineteenth chapter, as a Word of most positive judgment upon all His adversaries. There is no encouragement at all in such an appeal as this, but we shall find, all the more, a sweeter encouragement for the overcomer before the close. The darker the night, the more His stars will shine in it; and we know that He holds them in His hand all through. But there is now no more the blasphemy of adversaries of which He spoke to, Smyrna. It is the actual state of the assembly itself with which He is concerned. Yet this is put in a way which presents precisely such a difficulty as only enables us to see the more the prophetic character and real power of what is in it. They are addressed as dwelling where Satan’s throne is; and immediately it is added, in a way which seems to be commendation, that they hold fast Christ’s name, and have not denied His faith, even in the days (martyr days now passed) in which Antipas His faithful witness was slain among them, where Satan dwelleth." Thus it may seem as if, after all, here was, on the whole, a good state to be commended. Their dwelling where Satan’s throne was would seem their misfortune more than their fault; and the whole matter becomes, for those who see no more than the actual Pergamos, a mystery scarcely to be understood. Trench even says, in speaking of Pergamos, "Why it should have thus deserved the name of ’Satan’s throne, ’ so emphatically repeated a second time at the end of this verse, -’where Satan dwelleth,’ -must remain one of the unsolved riddles of these epistles." We may allow that it remains thus a proof of how incompetent a merely local rendering is to explain what has in fact much larger and deeper application. It is somewhat bold, and for one like Trench, to assure us that if he has not solved the mystery in question, it is destined to remain unsolved; but if so, the Lord’s exhortation to us to keep the things that are written in this book must remain, in this respect, without any possibility of fulfilment. The fact is, we have little need of any historical inquiry in this case. If the fact be as Grotius and others have suggested, that there is here reference to the worship of Aesculapius, whose symbol was the serpent, this discovery only dismisses it at once from all concern of ours. It makes, as already said, the dwelling where Satan’s throne is, as one may say, rather an accident than as anything that would characterize the assembly here; whereas, in fact, in the order of development which these addresses so plainly manifest, we have come exactly to that which in the most marked way characterizes the period which followed that of the heathen persecutions. Every one knows it was Constantine who put an end to these; and that the imperial throne became thus the recognized protector of the delivered Church. It might be urged, no doubt, that it then was Satan’s throne no longer; but we must look much deeper before we can get proper assurance as to this. Satan’s throne, which the world is, is not a local one. It is neither at Pergamos nor at Rome. It is universal, "The prince of this world cometh," says the Lord, "and hath nothing in Me." That too, it may be urged, was said before the cross, in which Satan received his judgment, and therefore before Christianity had even come in its proper character; but the apostle, as we find elsewhere, has met this argument in the completest way, and overthrown it. Satan, says the apostle, writing to the Corinthians, is not merely the prince of this world, but the "god" of it. He says, literally, not the god of this world, but "the god of this age." "In whom the god of this age hath blinded the minds of those who believe not, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." The difference as to the word is significant. "The age" here is the word used in the second of Ephesians for the "course" of this world. It is the world in its course from the beginning to the end of it; a course which certainly had not ended when the apostle wrote. Christianity had then come, as no one can question; yet Satan still was the god of the age. He ruled the "course of the world," not as an ordinary ruler even, but as one who attracted -awful as it is to think of it -the worship of men’s hearts. That is what "the god of this age" means; and that does not cease until, in the period yet to come, Satan is cast into the abyss, and shut up there, to deceive the nations no more until the 1000 years are fulfilled. Thus it is plain how little Satan’s throne is limited to Pergamos, or is in any wise local.
Dwelling "where Satan’s throne is," therefore, is simply dwelling in the world of which he is prince; yet some may ask as to this also, what moral character attaches to dwelling in the world? But Scripture at least is plain that the world is the place of our pilgrimage, not the place where we dwell.* It is the wilderness, not the "city of habitation," for the saint; and we shall find elsewhere, as we go on in Revelation, the dwellers upon the earth spoken of in this way. They are those who, instead of being pilgrims, have settled down in it. How this connects with Pergamos as giving us the time of the establishment of the Church, as men speak, is plain. In fact, everything was at once and largely changed, and it is quite in accordance with this also that it should be said to those here, "Thou holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My faith." It was, truly, a time of zealous orthodoxy; though this was altered afterward, when Arianism for the time came in like a flood. But the Council of Nice, which has given its name to one of the orthodox creeds of Christendom, showed this character. There is a glance here at the past in a special manner -"the days in which Antipas was My faithful witness," (witness and martyr were one in him,) "who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth." Antipas "every one against") was a suited general name for such witnesses, when every one was against the man who testified for Christ. Times had changed since then, as is intimated, and another character belonged to the present. Thus everything suits the time succeeding the persecutions, and the name Pergamos is thoroughly significant. If divided in two, the latter part of the word is "gamos" a "marriage." The other part is "though" -"a marriage though"! as if it were said, in spite of all that had so recently manifested the spirit of the world as against Christ, here now was the Church united to it in permanent relationship. The heart astray from Him, the spouse of Christ has given herself to another -a condition of things to which the words in James are the sharpest rebuke: "Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?"
{*In this connection it is significant that the same word is used to describe Satan’s connection with the world; it is, "where Satan dwelleth." Surely that which can be described as the abode of Satan is sufficiently characterized. What reproach, then, when the same expression is also used of the professed people of God! -S.R.}
No doubt they would have said, and indeed did say, that the world was a changed world under these circumstances; but when was the world ever changed so as really to have received Christ? It might throw the mantle of profession over its nakedness, but that was no change, surely, for the better; and if we take Scripture, there is not a hint throughout the New Testament of any betterness to be expected in it in this way The position of the Christian is characterized by this, that he is crucified to the world by the cross of Christ. No doubt the light of Christianity let in upon it had still power to drive many of the unclean things into their native darkness; and that manners were benefited, if not hearts purified, there need be no contention. The latter, the hand of Constantine, imperial ruler of the world as he might seem, was plainly inadequate to accomplish, and his own life was in no wise Christian. It is plain, then, how much was needed the two-edged sword to cut this unholy tie between the Church of Christ and the world of Satan. Such a compromise at the very beginning was necessarily setting God’s word aside, and gave up His rights, as the very condition of its existence. Every such compromise is, in fact, but a surrender. The state induced, the Lord’s next words show us; although here again they present a certain difficulty such as we have before found, and which requires the spiritual mind to set us free from. How could the Lord say in such a case as this, "I have a few things against thee," when, plainly, there were so many? The secret of this is a sorrowful and solemn one. Where first love is lost, and the soul therefore adrift from its true anchorage, the measure of things becomes necessarily altered. All afterwards would necessarily be little in comparison with the loss of that, to lose which was, in fact, to lose all power for steadfastness. Faith may still be held, while no longer in a good conscience; and, as the apostle warns in that connection, that is the way to shipwreck of the faith itself. The "few things" here were only in this sense few; but when the back is upon Christ, it is only a question of the depth of the resulting darkness. The Church was now settled in the world, and there follows as a matter of course that it should now have in it those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, -prophet of God in some sense, yet loving "the wages of unrighteousness." From hence came his "doctrine," in which the power of Moab (the world) was taught to cast a snare before the sons of Israel. The history we have in Numbers; and Jude has referred us to it as characterizing an intermediate state in the history of apostasy, between those who simply went in the way of Cain, and those who come out openly in the end in insurrection against the divine King and Priest, and so perish in the gainsaying of Korah. It is the ecclesiastical evil here, as Cain’s is that of simple unbelief, and Korah’s open apostasy. We know how much Balaam could say that was true and right, and how zealously he could profess that not all the silver and gold that Balak could give could bribe him to say other than God had put into his mouth to say. Yet, spite of all this, Balaam was, according to his name, but "the destroyer of the people," who could take advantage of his very knowledge of what the people were to God, and what the God was to whom they were a people, to betray them to their ruin. We know by the history that the snare was to mix up the people of whom he had said, as from God, that they dwelt alone, and were not reckoned among the nations -to mix them up with these, so as to learn their manners.* The eating idol-sacrifices, and the moral evil connected so constantly with these, came in as the necessary result. Here we are not to think of a literal fulfilment. The impurity before us is that which, as we have seen, God speaks of in the same manner as, indeed, adultery; and idolatry soon came in, alas, in various shapes and under Christian names. In truth, it was another God than the One whom Christ had manifested, whom the masses came to worship -an evil against which the apostle John protests so earnestly in the last words of his first epistle, saying -"Children, keep yourselves from idols." Men must have some God; and there is no snare so seductive as what is in fact a false one, worshiped under the name of the true. Jesuitism afterwards taught the heathen everywhere simply to baptize their idols and retain them; and this has been repeated many times in the history of the professing Church. The temples dedicated to the Assyrian Queen of Heaven in Egypt became, one after another, nominally Christian churches, when Christians once had learned to talk of a queen of heaven too. The substitution of Mary for Astarte made no great difference.
{*It will be remembered that this mixture of Israel was with Moab and Midian, which typically suggest profession -Moab being kinsman with Israel according to the flesh -and the world, the "strife" coming in through lust. This is in accord with the spiritual meaning of Pergamos. Here is the unholy alliance with the world, and it is through profession that this is effected. The child of God instinctively shrinks from the world, open and manifest; but then profession is tolerated, so that the union with the world is effected by this go-between. Moab will lead on to the unholy marriage with Midian. -S.R.}
In Balaam himself, as we know, the ruling motive was the seeking of reward. He was, for the time at least, Balak’s hired prophet, and prophesied to suit his master, though compelled first to declare the counsel of God. It is easy to understand how, when the Church came to have in her hand the good things of the world, there should be plenty of false prophets after this manner, who would necessarily seek to maintain that worldly association to which they owed so much. Balaam had himself, as far as the history goes, no enmity against the people whom he thus betrayed. He merely sought his own, as the hired prophets of Christendom now would naturally do. There were of course many who, though connected with the system, were not in spirit followers of Balaam; nor is it here put as if this were the universal evil. The thing charged is that the professing Church had now manifest room for these. The system favored, and did not cast them out. The trouble is that men look at the individual without realizing the evil of the system of which the individual is the fruit. Moreover, the fact that all were not alike in this would incline men naturally to such a thought. An Ambrose or a Chrysostom would by his personal character, though exceptional, justify in the eyes of how many that with which they were connected; and when things are once established, the tendency is to accept them very much without question. "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain" is an argument as notable as ever. The comparatively few are those who, as the unsettled souls for which they are counted, disturb others with their desire to dig to the foundations. Tradition grows in honor by the multiplication of the generations who follow it, while truth strangely has no such ability, but needs to be constantly maintained of God, or is inevitably corrupted. Thus Rome has gone on adding doctrine to doctrine, as the years passed; always more and more away from the truth, and never turning towards it. Alas, it is only an exhibition of "the course of this world." Call the world the Church if you like; it does not alter it -a course which is under the rule of "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." How great a snare, therefore, is this union of Church and world, in which necessarily the world gains all the Church loses, and the grieved Spirit seems almost no restraint upon the growth of the evil!
It is no wonder that here we find, along with those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, those now who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans in like manner. The two work well together. Nicolaitanism is, as we see now, a "doctrine." That which is spoken of as "deeds" in Ephesus is now crystalized into a doctrine to be accepted and defended. The people sunk in worldliness have become merely secular, and unfit for spiritual things. They naturally commit them, therefore, to those who are set apart to such things, who have time to devote themselves to them, and a training which they need, to find their way amid all the complexities that are necessarily arising. The Church must have its creeds, its canons, and its councils. The word of God can no more be trusted to settle things, where, on the contrary, so much is needed to be unsettled. Scripture would change the whole condition; but this only sets aside Scripture as unsuited to the times; and the wayfarer must not be a fool, but skilled in much traditional learning, if he would not err. The Jewish character of all this is evident. The work of the synagogue of Satan has wrought disaster enough. Scripture, with its direct simplicity of utterance, its word for individual consciences, its imperative claim of authority, if it cannot be permitted any more to judge, must be judged, or at least must practically drop very much out of thought; and this, we well know, was more and more the case. Souls everywhere in comparative distance from God, even those of the truest, were groping thus largely in the darkness. The spiritual were the clergy, or the spiritual life might be permitted to be realized in those who would bury themselves in the convent or hide in the desert. The Church, instead of the Spirit, was becoming the interpreter of Scripture; the Church determined doctrine for the mass, who, while in the mass they belonged to it, individually had scarcely place at all.
With all this, the ministry had naturally become a priesthood. This would be part of its inheritance from Judaism, but which on that very account was significant of the loss of Christian place and privilege which had come in. The very word "priest," in its history, is an indication of this. In Greek the word is hiereus, "one devoted to God" or "the God," "to the things of God." In this way the offerings, which were the hiera, were naturally in his hand to offer. The Latin word was similar, sacerdos, in the same way, "a person sacred or devoted to God." But this is characteristic of the whole Christian assembly, not of a class among Christians; and it is the apostle Peter himself, pre-eminently the Jewish apostle, and claimed by Rome as its first pope, who claims for them this character. They are, he says, "a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ;" but the very word "priest" shows how this had been departed from, for "priest" is nothing else than a contracted form of "presbyter" or "elder," which had naturally no such connection. With the elders the epistles to Timothy and Titus make us familiar; and we know from the Acts that the apostles appointed them in various assemblies. The elder, as we see in Timothy, was, as the word indicates, a man in years, who could take naturally the place of adviser to others, ministering the wisdom which he had gained by long familiarity with the needs and difficulties of the saints. "Elder" and "bishop" were thus practically synonymous, the last word simply meaning "overseer," thus characterizing the office which the elder had, one of fatherly oversight in the assembly. But there is no thought in it of any special privilege in drawing near to God. The transformation thus of elder or presbyter into priest is intensely significant. It originates in that which shows how the original place that all had as priests with God was lost, and this had become the inheritance of an official class. The special priesthood in Israel’s case even, was contrary to that which God proposed for the Jewish people. They were to be what Christians are, "a kingdom of priests;" but under the legal covenant this was impossible. No one could upon that ground draw near to God at all. Even the priests were in the mass shut out from His presence; and the exceptional privilege of the high priest upon the day of atonement was scarcely privilege at all, in view of all the circumstances connected with it. The voice of the law was, as the Lord Himself declared it even to Moses, the mediator between Himself and the people, "Thou canst not see My face. There shad no man stand before Me and live." The official priesthood there, instead of involving any going out in ministry, such as the possession of the gospel necessitates for the Christian, was sustained with the well known fact that in Israel there was really none of this. The way into the holiest was not made manifest. God was in the darkness, not in the light. In very mercy He could not come out to the people, for it would have been their destruction; and thus, as there was no real coming out of God, no real going in to God, there was no message of peace and joy such as now His grace has given us. Christ "came and preached peace," says the apostle (Eph 2:17) "to those who were afar off," but also to those that were nigh as well; and he significantly adds, "For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father." This is the new thing in Christianity without which even priesthood in its full character was impossible, and thus the Christian priesthood goes far beyond the Jewish one: but in this way it is the priesthood not of a class, but of all. And if it has become that of a class, Christianity has lost of necessity one of its distinctive characters. And this is what the very thought of a laity implies, a "people" such as were Israel, -people of God, in a sense, but not brought near to God: a people who could not therefore, as those brought near, take up the things of God. Thus we see what a doctrine of Nicolaitanism must imply as to the general condition.*
{*While in the mercy of God the extreme of hierarchy ceased in the churches of the Reformation, yet much of the spirit of it remains in the clergyman. He is a person of special privilege, and alone permitted to perform certain rites. Thus the root of Nicolaitanism abides. We may thank God that many who bear the name of clergymen are true-hearted servants of Christ, and would repudiate any thought of being a sacred class. But the principle remains. -S.R.}
We need not wonder then that the Lord said, "which thing I hate." Now His word is, "Repent therefore; and if not, I am coming to thee quickly, and will make war with them with the sword of My mouth." He does not say, with thee -guilty even as all were in the matter; but He knows how, as Jude instructs, of some to have compassion, making a difference." And this sword of His mouth is, as we know, that which is in character discerning, discriminative. It separates between "joints and marrow," between "soul and spirit," and "is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." If we put all this together, it is impossible not to see that we have a growing evil condition among Christians plainly pointed out to us. There is an active energy of evil, a "mystery of iniquity," which already works; a power of Satan which is seeking to get between the soul and God, and under which all evils will be fostered and come more and more to their ripe fruit. There may be, and there is, as the apostle has told us, a present restraint. The Spirit of God is in the Church, and is not to be driven out by all the efforts of the enemy. Nevertheless, the path of His people is becoming more and more individual. Those that are true to Him will of necessity be more and more separated from the corrupt mass, and, if not outwardly, yet will be in spirit mourners over that with which they are in contact.
The address to the overcomer now is in perfect keeping with what we have seen to be the character of Pergamos as a whole. The Lord, significantly, in the first place carries us back to the wilderness, for the world with the Church settled in it is not less a wilderness on that account, but rather the more. But it is only he who realizes this wilderness condition who will find the gracious provision which God has made for him. In the wilderness, because it grew nothing for them, because they were mere pilgrims through it, God provided, as we know, the bread from heaven; and now, says the Lord, "To him that overcometh will I give of the hidden manna." But we must notice, nevertheless, that it is the hidden manna of which He speaks. The hidden manna was that preserved in the wilderness to be carried into the land, that the children of Israel, when there, might see the food with which the Lord had sustained them in the wilderness. For us it is the evident and beautiful picture of what will be the result in eternity of the realization of the wilderness condition here. The food of the wilderness will be there enjoyed again; and, must we not say, in that time, when everything will be perfected, enjoyed in a fuller way than even in the wilderness it could have been? For, what is this manna? It is Christ Himself, as He has declared of Himself, "the bread that came down from heaven," the food of His people ever. Christ has come down, not merely in manhood, but Himself also into the conditions of the wilderness, come down to know all that is proper to man here, apart from sin; and even as to sin, to bear it, though the sinless One, in His own body upon the tree. It is, as we know better day by day, through the trial of the wilderness that we learn continually better the grace of Him who has come down into it, and are made to learn His thoughts, His ways, His grace and tenderness, and to find thus communion with Himself in all the power of this to sustain the soul. But the manna is hidden now; Christ is gone on high; but He is the same Christ, without any possibility of change. On the throne He is still the One who served us in our need in the lowliest condition; and the Servant’s heart, that which love gave Him, is still His own. We are to realize that now; but how we shall realize it, when we are above with Him, when we shall be competent to see Him as He is; when we shall be able under the glory manifest in Him better to realize that glory which faith has learned to be in Him, the glory of the love which brought Him down in service! How we shall turn back then to the wilderness itself to read again the old experiences that we had of Him when we went through it, to taste them with a new freshness and sweetness in that place where there will be no more inability, no remnant of indifference, but when every spiritual sense will be always at its highest! What shall we not learn of the Man Christ Jesus there! And one can see in this way how we must have been in the wilderness, must have had the experiences of the wilderness, in order to be able to enter into this. No angel, it is plain, could know Him thus as we do. And must it not be that while every one of us will find with Him a deeper enjoyment than we have ever known, yet this enjoyment will be measured by that which we have had of Him on the way there? We must bring, in this sense, the manna with us out of the wilderness, in order to enjoy it in the land. A solemn consideration for us surely this is, which makes the reward here in a very strict sense the reward of the overcomer, the one whom the world does not overcome, but who overcomes it; all the more difficult indeed when the Church itself is in the world and laying hold of the world as having right to it in a way which, however, does not make him who does this the master, but the slave!
There is another promise here, the promise of the white stone, and it speaks to us clearly also of the time when we shall be with Him, and of that which speaks of the intimacy in which we shall be with Him also. The white stone was that which was put into the voter’s urn with the name of the candidate approved upon it; and the white stone here speaks of such approval, but the approval is on His part. In the manna we see the appreciation of Christ by the saint, but in the white stone the appreciation of the saint by Christ. It is His approbation of the overcomer that is emphasized here, and the new name written on the stone is something between Him and the individual alone. "No one knoweth it but he that receiveth it." A "name" is in Scripture not the mere distinguishing of one individual from another. It is always significant. How significant is Christ’s own name! He, too, has a new name which He speaks of later on. But if names are thus significant, they are so as really characterizing the person who is named. Here, therefore, the name must characterize that which Christ recognizes in the overcomer, recognizes and appreciates, recognizes as a tie between the overcomer and Himself; as a secret, as it were, of love which can be enjoyed together. What an enjoyment to have His approbation thus! And how brightly the individuality comes out here, forced, one may say, upon His people in a day of departure such as we have before us now, but none the less dear to Him when in faith we accept it, and learn day by day better to walk our individual path under His eye, as if there were no other. How clearly we see in all this that that expression with which His word to Pergamos begins, and which some think is such a hopeless enigma to discover meaning in it, is indeed the very thing that gives character to all here. It is the Church dwelling where Satan’s throne is -an evil which we may not realize by becoming so familiar with it; which opens wide the door for the followers of Balaam; with seekers of their own things instead of the things of Christ; with the idolatry which the spirit of covetousness itself is and leads to, and with all else as laxity connected with this. Yet God’s way is ever a way of peace and encouragement, and the hidden manna and white stone face thus the overcomer in just such a scene as this.
(2) We come now to Thyatira, to find here only a further development of what we have been looking at. The Lord presents Himself still more with characters of judgment. He is the Son of God who hath His eyes as a flame of fire and His feet like unto fine brass." The eyes speak of the present; the feet, of the future. Those feet are yet to tread "the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God." And He is the Son of God who speaks here. How significant of the degradation which His professing people have been giving Him, who have taken His very humiliation, the lowly door by which He entered into humanity itself, to keep Him at the door and humble Him continually -the Son of a human mother, thus the Babe in His mother’s arms to listen to her word and do her will! Who that realizes what we are coming to now but must realize the indignant glance at a Mariolatry which He will not honor more by noticing it, only letting His own divine glory shine out to consume it upon the instant! Yet He is writing here still, after His old manner, patiently ready to own all that He can own, taking forth the precious from the vile, as His mouth always must. "I know thy works, and love, and faith, and service, and thine endurance, and thy last works to be more than the first." One would say, here certainly is something that is even the opposite of Ephesus, as being a condition improving instead of degenerating -last works more than the first. It is quite evident indeed that He is separating those to whom He speaks from that which is, nevertheless, in the Church itself, and, alas, not without toleration more or less of those whom He can yet praise after this manner. As we go on in this address we shall find, indeed, that there is a remnant more and more being separated from a mass which is getting more and more corrupt -the mass itself in fact so corrupt that He does not address it. He had spoken, but He speaks no more. He had given time for repentance, but it was all in vain: and it is here that that significant change takes place which has been noticed before -the address to the overcomer taking precedence of the call to "hear what the Spirit saith." There is no hope of the mass. It is "the rest," "as many as have not this doctrine," those who "have not known the depths of Satan," among whom alone He can look now for him "who hath an ear to hear." The significant thought here is manifestly "the woman Jezebel." She is not a mere disfiguring excrescence, but the very heart of the condition -"the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess," while teaching and leading astray Christ’s servants to commit fornication and to eat of idol sacrifices. Thus she is herself the direct follower and fruit of those Balaam followers whom we have had to do with in Pergamos; only it is plain that now there is something infinitely more pretentious than anything that has gone before. This woman, while propagating her abominable iniquity, does not hesitate to claim the very authority of God for what she is doing. She is a prophetess. Her voice is thus the voice of God Himself. Yet she is but "the woman Jezebel." That is not accidental, that significant name. It is not a mere piece of history that one with that name happened to be there. It is not meaningless, this link with the history of one of those times of debased apostasy on the part of Israel when Ahab was leading Israelites into the worship of Baal, he "whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." It is from this connection with that history, very probably, that there is a reading here in some old manuscripts which makes it "thy wife Jezebel," instead of "the woman;" but, most certainly, Jezebel is not the wife of the angel whom the Lord addresses here. He could not represent or be represented by Ahab, while none the less Jezebel keeps the significance of her name and of the historical connection, only with added features that Jezebel of old did not even present; for we find nothing, at least as to her, of her calling herself a prophetess, as this woman does, although she had her hundreds of false prophets as her retainers.
If we go back to those parables of the Lord in the thirteenth of Matthew which we have already had to refer to in connection with the addresses here, we shall find another point of significance. Pergamos, it is clear, represents the mustard seed grown into a tree -Christianity rooting itself in the world, and with the powers of darkness, the birds of the air, lodging in its branches. The next parable is that of the woman; and it is a woman who has to do now with the doctrine: doctrine which, as we know, was in fact entrusted to the Church to hold, but in no wise to manufacture. The woman is making a kind of bread of her own. She is putting leaven into the three measures of meal which she has in her hands, a leaven which is by and by to permeate the mass of it. The woman is the constant figure of the Church at large -woman, not man. Christ is the "man," the husband to whom she is espoused, to whom she is to be true and subject -the Church that Christ loved and gave Himself for, "that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." He shall have that joy at last; but meanwhile there is this external Church that represents Him here upon the earth; fatally at last misrepresents Him, and goes astray in heart to others than Himself. This is the woman Babylon, as we see her in the seventeenth chapter of this book, which gives us all the features, more depraved if possible, of the woman before us now. Jezebel is but the woman with the leaven; and if those three measures of meal represent indeed -as we have seen when looking at it, -the fine flour of the meat-offering, which was not to be adulterated with leaven, but which represents Christ Himself as the food of His people entrusted to the care of His own to preserve it without adulteration, then we can see the full extent of wickedness here in this woman who calls herself a prophetess, but only prophecies to teach and lead astray Christ’s servants. The "woman" is the Church, which is taught and can hold what she is taught, but never teaches. And it is significant that that very teaching which claims authority as the teaching of the Church, is that which, for every one who has an ear to hear, has most emphatically led astray God’s people wherever it has been listened to. That voice of the Church is a lie on the very face of it, as represented in its principle, "Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus" -"What always has been believed, everywhere, and by all." The moment that is attempted to be justified by history, the consent of the fathers, of councils, or whatever else, it is an open, proved, notorious fraud, just fit for a false prophetess whose very name carries her false pretension, Jezebel, "the chaste," but whom God stamps as a harlot, "the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth."
That which is spoken of as the voice of the Church is simply the voice of chosen witnesses, who have usurped in men’s minds the place of the Church, who often witness against one another, as also in most cases against the very system which claims them and would make much of them. The Church becomes thus the councils, the clergy, finally the pope; narrowing continually in proportion as it rises more and more into complete domination of that which is now indeed a mere conquered populace, bound and burdened by that which has assumed the authority of Christ, only to seduce His servants. The long time that she has lasted is interpreted here by the Lord, simply as a time given her to repent, and she will not repent. It is of the very essence of Rome that being infallible she cannot do it. It would be the loss at once of her whole pretension. Thus nothing but judgment can await her. "Behold," says the Lord, "I cast her into a bed, and those that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they shall repent of her works." This evidently contemplates the time of which the Lord promises to Philadelphia that she shall be kept out of "the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try those that dwell upon the earth." It speaks of the time when the ten horns and the beast shall destroy the woman, and eat her flesh and burn her with fire. The children produced by her are not owned as even the possible children of God at all. "I will kill them with death," the Lord says. They are the proper fruit of the blasphemous system, and to be distinguished, as the Lord does immediately distinguish, from those who are indeed suffering her, and who may have felt the power of her seduction, but who, nevertheless, have something better in their hearts than this would intimate; and the Lord is He that searches the reins and hearts, and who, amid all the confusion, will give to each one according to his works.
He turns now from Jezebel and her followers to separate from them a people who are beginning to be more or less separated -in heart, if no more: "To you, I say, the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, such as have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I cast upon you no other burden." Plenty of burdens they have, alas, of necessity, in such a condition of things as has arisen and is pictured here, when in the common speech of professing Christians there are what He calls "depths of Satan." Let any one think of the maxims of Jesuitism, for instance, which have gone far and wide beyond themselves. Who can for a moment think that this language is too strong? The very foundations are removed. Morality and religion have no necessary connection. Brigands, as is well known, in Italy bring the gains of their infamy to deposit them at the feet of the Queen of Heaven. The whole system is such that no one can be any longer certain of anything. The child is not baptized if the priest never meant to baptize it, however scrupulously the outward form may be observed. The mass is not celebrated, except the priestly intention is all right about it. And who can any longer say, even according to themselves, what remains to them of these sacramental ordinances, which, after all, are all they have to trust in? What a mockery of Satan it all is! Amid it all there were, as we know, hunted, persecuted companies who, more and more, refused these abominations; and no doubt many who come down to us in history, the victims of the slanders of their persecutors, but whom God will bring out in another character in His own time. Doubtless at the best they might know little, for these were, as is even commonly said, "the dark ages," and darkness there was everywhere -darkness just in proportion as the Church ruled -the light of the world, as she should have been in the absence of the day; but it was much, with God, to maintain any integrity at all in this confusion, and what they have the Lord bids them to hold fast until He shall come.
It is now that we have, first of all, in these addresses, the intimation of His coming: and it furnishes one of those proofs, of which there are many, that the condition here continues more or less to exist until that time. Until the Lord has taken His people to Himself, Babylon will still reign a queen, and count herself no widow and to see no sorrow. But then "shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine; and she shall be utterly burnt with fire, for strong is the Lord God that judgeth her." How differently men have learnt to speak, in the false and hollow liberalism of the day, from the way in which the word of God speaks of these abominations! It is quite true that God has His own amongst them, as has been already said; but that makes only the things themselves worse, that spatter and befoul the people of God themselves. His servants, there may be many, more or less led astray. Shall we count that less evil which is leading them astray? The Lord’s words are now to the overcomer simply; and here, in opposition to the false rule of the woman, it is said, "he that overcometh, and that keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with an iron rod, as the vessels of a potter are broken in pieces, as I also have received from My Father."
At Corinth, where they were already in their measure, though not in this measure, reigning as kings apart from those whom they yet owned their leaders, -men appointed unto death, -we see the beginning of that which has developed into an open assumption of authority, all the worse for its being a spiritual pretension, as with Rome. The time of rule for the Church, says the apostle, will not come until all the saints reign together, and reign with Christ. The very pretension of rule in the meanwhile is stamped thus as necessarily false. When the time to reign comes, there will be no manner of doubt, no need to assert any longer a power which is manifest; and then it will be indeed a rule with an iron rod necessarily: for it is the time when judgment will return to righteousness, and when through judgment the inhabitants of the earth shall learn it. They have despised and refused grace. They must of necessity bow when Christ goes forth in power. And yet the word "rule" here shows the peculiar character of it, the heart which, nevertheless, is directing everything. It is the rule of a Shepherd that is signified by it; and if it be an iron rod, a rod of irresistible power that is in the Shepherd’s hands, yet it will always recognize that it is for the flock that He is contending -indeed, for the earth itself, to deliver it from that which has oppressed it for ages, and, as is said afterwards in this book, "to destroy those that destroy the earth." Throughout the long time of patience, God has not been regardless of what was going on: strong and patient, and provoked every day, He will at last arise in irresistible power, and with one blow shatter the power of all His adversaries. Christ’s foes shall be put as a footstool under His feet. The mere human clay will be manifested indeed as but the easily shattered vessels of the potter. How different from the thought men have of the quiet conversion of the world by the gospel, and which so many still entertain, in spite of the centuries through which that conversion has lingered, and in spite of the apostasy of a large mass of those that have borne His name! But with the uprising of the Sun of Righteousness the day will arise at last. Suddenly, when the blackest hour of night has come, when darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the peoples, the Lord shall arise upon Israel once more, and His glory shall be seen upon them (Isa 60:2). But the promise here anticipates the day. The Lord says to the overcomer, not that His people "shall shine forth as the sun" (Mat 13:43) when the Sun arises, but here, "I will give him the morning star." The morning star comes before, and heralds the day. It does not lighten the earth, but it prophesies of the coming light; and thus the Lord will remove His own, as we have seen in Thessalonians, caught up to meet Him in the air, and they shall be ever with the Lord; when He comes forth, therefore, to come forth with Him. Here is the Morning Star, and it strikingly characterizes the standpoint of the book of Revelation. If Malachi closes the Old Testament with the announcement of the Sun of Righteousness arising upon the earth with healing in His wings, the book of Revelation closes the New with the announcement of the hope of His heavenly saints, Christ as the bright and Morning Star (Rev 22:16.).
Here ends now the first division of these epistles, in which we have seen the Church still in measure one, but with the growth of evil manifest in it, the mystery of iniquity thoroughly at work, whatever restraint there may be upon it. No doubt Rome, spite of its boast of being the Church, is not after all the whole profession. The Greek and Eastern churches have not known the woman Jezebel. They have halted at Pergamos, of which the civil head of the Russian church is a plain example. It is Constantine, so to speak, who is their ruler still, and not the woman. But this is but a merciful restraint which has hindered the full development of principles which are at work in her; and she has not broken off from the line of development, but simply halted, as it were, upon the way. We are now to see how God, in His grace, has come in to deliver His people, not merely from subjection to the woman’s rule, but from the system which would naturally ripen into this. God has come in to deliver. How far His people have profited by His intervention for them, and what will be the final issue, we are to see in the three assemblies which remain to be looked at, and which are no longer histories of the Church in general, but manifestly of a remnant, little as the remnant may show itself to be what God would have it. Failure, alas, is everywhere. We must not expect, if God comes in to deliver, that the deliverance must necessarily be full and entire, as He would have it. He awaits the response of His people to that which He is doing for them; and, (as we find in the history of Israel in the times of the Judges) when God raises up a deliverer who shall judge the people according to the light which God is giving, spite of all this, decline will follow: and the final ruin with which God has already threatened them at Ephesus -the complete removal of the church’s candlestick -is only delayed, and not averted.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv1, 7
Revelation
THE SEVEN STARS AND THE SEVEN CANDLESTICKS
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Rev 2:1
It is one of the obligations which we owe to hostile criticism that we have been forced to recognize with great clearness the wide difference between the representation of Christ in John’s Gospel and that in the Apocalypse. That there is such a contrast is unquestionable. The Prince of all the kings of the earth, going forth conquering and to conquer, strikes one at once as being unlike the Christ whom the Evangelist painted weeping at the grave of Lazarus. We can afford to recognize the fact, though we demur to the inference that both representations cannot have proceeded from one pen. Surely that is not a necessary conclusion unless the two pictures are contradictory. Does the variety amount to discordance? Unless it does, the variety casts no shadow of suspicion on the common authorship. I, for my part, see no inconsistency in them, and thankfully accept both as completing each other.
This grand vision, which forms the introduction to the whole Book of the Apocalypse, gives us indeed the Lord Jesus clothed with majesty and wielding supreme power, but it also shows us the old love and tenderness. It was the old voice which fell on John’s ear, in words heard from Him before, ‘Fear not.’ It was the same hand as he had often clasped that was lovingly laid upon him to strengthen him. The assurance which He gives His Apostle declares at once the change in the circumstances of His Being, and in the functions which He discharges, and the substantial identity of His Being through all the changes: ‘I am the first, and the last. ... I am the Living One, who was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.’ This vision and the whole book calls to us, ‘ Behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah’; and when we look, ‘Lo, in the midst of the throne, stands a Lamb as it had been slain’ ‘the well-known meek and patient Jesus, the suffering Redeemer ‘ the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.’
Still further, this vision is the natural introduction to all that follows, and indeed defines the main purpose of the whole book, inasmuch as it shows us Christ sustaining, directing, dwelling, in His Churches. We are thus led to expect that the remainder of the prophecy shall have the Church of Christ for its chief subject, and that the politics of the world, and the mutations of nations, shall come into view mainly in their bearing upon that.
The words of our text, then, which resumes the principal emblem of the preceding vision, are meant to set forth permanent truths in regard to Christ’s Churches, His relation to them, and theirs to the world, which I desire to bring to your thoughts now. They speak to us of the Churches and their servants, of the Churches and their work, of the Churches and their Lord.
I. We have in the symbol important truths concerning the Churches and their servants.
The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches. Now I need not spend time in enumerating all the strange and mystical interpretations which have been given to these angels of the Churches. I see no need for taking them to have been anything but men; the recognized heads and representatives of the respective communities. The word ‘angel’ means messenger. Those superhuman beings who are usually designated by it are so called, not to describe their nature, but their function. They are ‘God’s messengers,’ and their name moans only that. Then the word is certainly used, both in its Hebrew and Greek forms, in reference to men. It is applied to priests, and even in one passage, as it would appear, to an officer of the synagogue. If here we find that each Church had its angel, who had a letter addressed to him, who is spoken to in words of rebuke and exhortation, who could sin and repent, who could be persecuted and die, who could fall into heresies and be perfected by suffering, it seems to me a violent and unnecessary hypothesis that a superhuman being is in question. And the name by which he is called need not imply more than his function, that of being the messenger and representative of the Church.
Believing this as the more probable meaning of the phrase, I see in the relations between these men and the little communities to which they belonged an example of what should be found existing between all congregations of faithful men and the officers whom they have chosen, be the form of their polity what it may. There are certain broad principles which must underlie all Christian organizations, and are incomparably more important than the details of Church government.
Note then, first, that the messengers are rulers. They are described in a double manner by a name which expresses subordination, and by a figure which expresses authority. I need not do more than remind you that throughout Scripture, from the time when Balaam beheld from afar the star that should come out of Jacob and the sceptre that should rise out of Israel, that has been the symbol for rulers. It is so notably in this Book of Revelation. Whatever other ideas, then, are connected with its use here, this leading one of authority must not be lost sight of.
But this double representation of these persons as being in one aspect servants and in another rulers, perfectly embodies the very essential characteristic of all office and power in Christ’s Church. It is a repetition in pictorial form of the great principle, so sadly forgotten, which He gave when He said, ‘He that is greatest among you, let him be your servant.’ The higher are exalted that they may serve the lower. Dignity and authority mean liberty for more and more self -forgetting work. Power binds its possessor to toil. Wisdom is stored in one, that from him it may flow to the foolish; strength is given that by its holder feeble hands may be stayed. Noblesse oblige. The King Himself has obeyed the law. ‘Jesus, knowing the Father had given all things into His hands, took a towel, and girded Himself.’ We are redeemed because He came to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. He is among us ‘as He that serveth.’ God Himself has obeyed the law. He is above all that He may bless all. He, the highest, stoops the most deeply. His dominion is built on love, and stands in giving. And that law which makes the throne of God the refuge of all the weak, and the treasury of all the poor, is given for our guidance in our humble measure. Wheresoever Christian men think more of themselves and of their dignity than of their brethren and their work; wheresoever gifts are hoarded selfishly or selfishly squandered; wheresoever the accidents of authority, its baubles and signature, its worldly consequences, and its pride of place, bulk larger in its possessors’ eyes than its solemn obligations; there the law is broken, and the heathen devilish notion of rule lays waste the Church of God.
The true idea is not certain to be held, nor its tempting counterfeit to be avoided, by any specific form of organization. Wherever there are offices, there will be danger of officialism. Where there are none that will not drive out selfishness. Quakerism and Episcopacy, with every form of Church government that lies between, are in danger from the same source our forgetfulness that in Christ’s kingdom to rule is to serve. All Churches have shown that their messengers could become ‘lords over God’s heritage.’ The true spirit of Christ’s servants is not secured by any theory about the appointment or the duties of the servants, but only by fellowship and sympathy with the Master who helps us all, and cares nothing for any glory which He cannot share with His disciples.
But to be servant of all does not mean to do the bidding of all. The service which imitates Christ is helpfulness, not subjection. Neither the Church is to lord it over the messenger, nor the messenger over the Church. The true bond is broken by official claims of dominion; it is broken just as much by popular claims to control. All alike are to stand free from all men in independence of will, thought, and action; shaping their lives and moulding their beliefs, according to Christ’s will and Christ’s word; and repelling all coercion, from whatsoever quarter it comes. All alike are by love to serve one another; counting every possession, material, intellectual, and spiritual, as given for the general good. The one guiding principle is, ‘He that is chiefest among you, let him be your servant,’ and the other, which guards this from misconstruction and abuse from either side, ‘One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.’
Another point to be observed in this symbol is that the messengers and the churches have at bottom the same work to do.
Stars shine, so do lamps. Light comes from both, in different fashion indeed, and of a different quality, but still both are lights. These are in the Savior’s hands, those are by His side; but each is meant to stream out rays of brightness over a dark night. So, essentially, all Christian men have the same work to do. The ways of doing it differ, but the thing done is one. Whatever be the difference between those who hold offices in God’s Church and the bulk of their brethren, there is no difference here. The loftiest gifts, the most conspicuous position, the closest approach to the central sun, have no other purpose than that which the lowliest powers, in the obscurest corner, are meant to subserve. The one distributing Spirit divides to each man severally as He will; and whether He endows him with star like gifts, which soar above and blaze over half the world with lustre that lives through the centuries, or whether He sets him in some cottage window to send out a tiny cone of light, that pierces a little way into the night for an hour or two, and then is quenched it is all one. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man for the same purpose to do good with. And we have all one office and function to be discharged by each in his own fashion namely, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
Again, observe, the Churches and their messengers are alike in their religious condition and character. The successive letters treat his strength or weakness, his fervor or coldness, his sin or victory over evil, as being theirs. He represents them completely. And that representative character seems to me to be the only reason worth considering for supposing that these angels are superhuman beings, inasmuch as it seems that the identification is almost too entire to be applicable to the relation of any man to the community. But, perhaps, if we think of the facts which every day’s experience shows us, we may see even in this solemn paralleling of the spiritual state of the Churches and of their servants, a strong reason for holding to our interpretation, as well as a very serious piece of warning and exhortation for us all.
For is it not true that the religious condition of a Church, and that of its leaders, teachers, pastors, ever tend to the same, as that of the level of water in two connected vessels? There is such a constant interaction and reciprocal influence that uniformity results. Either a living teacher will, by God’s grace, quicken a languid Church, or a languid Church will, with the devil’s help, stifle the life of the teacher. Take two balls of iron, one red hot, and one cold, and put them down beside each other. How many degrees of difference between them, after half an hour, will your thermometer show? Thank God for the many instances in which one glowing soul, all aflame with love of God, has sufficed to kindle a whole heap of dead matter, and send it leaping skyward in ruddy brightness! Alas! for the many instances in which the wet, green wood has been too strong for the little spark, and has not only obstinately resisted, but has ignominiously quenched its ineffectual fire 1 Thank God, that when His Church lives on a high level of devotion, it has never wanted for single souls who have towered even above that height, and have been elevated by it, as the snowy Alps spring not from the flats of Holland, but from the high central plateau of Europe. Alas! for the leaders who have rayed out formalism, and have chilled down the Church to their own coldness, and stiffened to their own deadness!
Let us, then, not bandy reproaches from pulpit to pew, and from pew to pulpit; but remembering that the spiritual character of each helps to determine the condition of the whole, and the general condition of the body determines the vigor of each part, let us go together to God with acknowledgments of common faithlessness, and of our individual share in it, and let us ask Him to quicken His Church, that it may yield messengers who in their turn shall be the helpers of His people and the glory of God.
II. The text brings before us the Churches and their work.
Of course, you understand that what the Apostle saw was not seven candlesticks, which are a modern piece of furniture, but seven lamps. There is a distinct reference in this, as in all the symbols of the Apocalypse, to the Old Testament. We know that in the Jewish Temple there stood, as an emblem of Israel’s work in the world, the great seven-branched candlestick, burning for ever before the veil and beyond the altar. The difference between the two symbols is as obvious as their resemblance. The ancient lamp had all the seven bowls springing from a single stem.
It was a formal unity. The New Testament seer saw not one lamp with seven arms rising from one pillar, but seven distinct lamps the emblems of a unity which was not formal, but real. They were one in their perfect manifoldness, because of Him who walked in the midst. In which difference lies a representation of one great element in the superiority of the Church over Israel, that for the hard material oneness of the separated nation there has come the true spiritual oneness of the Churches of the saints; one not because of any external connection, but by reason that Christ is in them. The seven-branched lamp lies at the bottom of the Tiber. There let it lie. "We have a better thing, in these manifold lights, which stand before the Throne of the New Temple, and blend into one, because lighted from one Source, fed by one Spirit, tended and watched by one Lord.
But looking a little more closely at this symbol, it suggests to us some needful thoughts as to the position and work of the Church, which is set forth as being light, derived light, clustered light.
The Church is to be light . That familiar image, which applies, as we have seen, to stars and lamps alike, lends itself naturally to point many an important lesson as to what we have to do, and how we ought to do it. Think, for instance, how spontaneously light streams forth. ‘Light is light, which circulates.’ The substance which is lit cannot but shine; and if we have any real possession of the truth, we cannot but impart it; and if we have any real illumination from the Lord, who is the light, we cannot but give it forth. There is much good done in the world by direct, conscious effort. There is perhaps more done by spontaneous, unconscious shining, by the involuntary influence of character, than by the lip or the pen. We need not balance the one form of usefulness against the other. We need both. But, Christian men and women, do you remember that from you a holy impression revealing Jesus ought to flow as constantly, as spontaneously, as light from the sun! Our lives should be like the costly box of fragrant ointment which that penitent, loving woman lavished on her Lord, the sweet, penetrating, subtle odour of which stole through all the air till the house was filled. So His name, the revelation of His love, the resemblance to His character, should breathe forth from our whole being; and whether we think of it or no, we should be unto God a sweet savour of Christ.
Then think again how silent and gentle, though so mighty, is the action of the light. Morning by morning God’s great mercy of sunrise steals upon a darkened world in still, slow, self-impartation; and the light which has a force that has carried it across gulfs of space that the imagination staggers in trying to conceive, yet falls so gently that it does not move the petals of the sleeping flowers, nor hurt the lids of an infant’s eyes, nor displace a grain of dust. Its work is mighty, and done without ‘speech or language.’ Its force is gigantic, but, like its Author, its gentleness makes its dependents great. So should we live and work, clothing all our power in tenderness, doing our work in quietness, disturbing nothing but the darkness, and with silent increase of beneficent power filling and flooding the dark earth with healing beams.
Then think again that heaven’s light is itself invisible, and, revealing all things, reveals not itself. The source you can see, but not the beams. So we are to shine, not showing ourselves but our Master not coveting fame or conspicuousness glad if, like one to whom He bore testimony that he was a light, it be said of us to all that ask who we are, ‘He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light,’ and rejoicing without stint or reservation that for us, as for John the Baptist, the necessity is, that we must decrease and Christ must increase.
We may gather from this emblem in the text the further lesson that the Church’s light is derived light. Two things are needed for the burning of a lamp: that it should be lit, and that it should be fed. In both respects the light with which we shine is derived. We are not suns, we are moons; reflected, not self-originated is all our radiance. That is true in all senses of the figure: it is truest in the highest. It is true about all in every man which is of the nature of light. Christ is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Whatsoever beam of wisdom, whatsoever ray of purity, whatsoever sunshine of gladness has ever been in any human spirit, from Him it came, who is the Light and Life of men: from Him it came, who brings to us in form fitted for our eyes, that otherwise inaccessible light of God in which alone we see light. And as for the more special work of the Church {which chiefly concerns us now}, the testimony of Christ to John, which I have just quoted in another connection, gives us the principle which is true about all. ‘He was not that light,’ the Evangelist said of John, denying that in him was original and native radiance. ‘He was a lamp burning ‘where the idea is possibly rather ‘lighted’ or made to burn and therefore shining, and in whose light men could rejoice for a little while. A derived and transient light is all that any man can be. In ourselves we are darkness, and only as we hold fellowship with Him do we become capable of giving forth any rays of light. The condition of all our brightness is that Christ shall give us light. He is the source, we are but reservoirs. He the fountain, we only cisterns. He must walk amidst the candlesticks, or they will never shine. He must hold the stars in His hand, or they will drop from their places and dwindle into darkness. Therefore our power for service lies in reception; and if we are to live for Christ, we must live in Christ.
But there is still another requisite for the shining of the light. The prophet Zechariah once saw in vision the great Temple lamp and by its side two olive trees from which golden oil flowed through golden pipes to the central light. And when he expressed his ignorance of the meaning of the vision, this was the interpretation by the angel who talked with him: ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.’ The lamp that burns must be kept fed with oil. Throughout the Old Testament the soft, gracious influences of God’s Spirit are symbolized by oil, with which therefore prophets, priests, and kings were designated to their office. Hence the Messiah in prophecy says, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me.’ Thus the lamp too must be fed, the soul which is to give forth the light of Christ must first of all have been kindled by Him, and then must constantly be supplied with the grace and gift of His Divine Spirit. Solemn lessons, my friends, gather round that thought. What became of those who had lamps without oil? Their lamps had gone out, and their end was darkness. Oh! let us beware lest by any sloth and sin we choke the golden pipes, through which there steals into our tiny lamps the soft flow of that Divine oil which alone can keep up the flame. The wick, untrimmed and unfed, may burn for a little while, but it soon chars, and smokes, and goes out at last in foul savour offensive to God and man. Take care lest you resist the Holy Spirit of God. Let your loins be girt and your lamps burning; and that they may be, give heed that the light caught from Jesus be fed by the pure oil which alone can save it from extinction.
Again, the text sets before us the Church’s light as blended or clustered light.
Each of these little communities is represented by one lamp. And that one light is composed of the united brightness of all the individuals who constitute the community. They are to have a character, an influence, a work as a society, not merely as individuals. There is to be co-operation in service, there is to be mingling of powers, there is to be subordination of individuals to the whole, and each separate man and his work is to be gladly merged in the radiance that issues from the community. A Church is not to be merely a multitude of separate points of brilliancy, but the separate points are to coalesce into one great orbed brightness. You know these lights which we have seen in public places, where you have a ring pierced with a hundred tiny holes, from each of which bursts a separate flame; but when all are lit, they run into one brilliant circle, and lose their separateness in the rounded completeness of the blended blaze. That is like what Christ’s Church ought to be. We each by our own personal contact with Him, by our individual communion with our Saviour, become light in the Lord, and yet we joyfully blend with our brethren, and, fused into one, give forth our mingled light. We unite our voices to theirs, knowing that all are needed to send out the Church’s choral witness and to hymn the Church’s full-toned praise. The lips of the multitude thunder out harmony, before which the melody of the richest and sweetest single voice is thin and poor.
Union of heart, union of effort is commended to us by this symbol of our text. The great law is, work together if you would work with strength. To separate ourselves from our brethren is to lose power. Why, half-dead brands heaped close will kindle one another, and flame will sparkle beneath the film of white ashes on their edges. Fling them apart and they go out. Rake them together and they glow. Let us try not to be little feeble tapers, stuck in separate sockets, and each twinkling struggling rays over some inch or so of space; but draw near to our brethren, and be workers together with them, that there may rise a glorious flame from our summed and collective brightness which shall be a guide and hospitable call to many a wandering and weary spirit.
III. Finally, the text shows us the Churches and their Lord.
He it is who holds the stars in His right hand, and walks among the candlesticks. That strong grasp of that mighty hand for the word in the original conveys more than ‘ holds,’ it implies a tight and powerful grip sustains and guards His servants, whose tasks need special grace, and whose position exposes them to special dangers. They may be of good cheer, for none shall pluck them out of His hand. That strengthening and watchful presence moves among His Churches, and is active on their behalf. The symbols are but the pictorial equivalent of His own parting promise, ‘Lo, I am with you always!’
That presence is a plain literal fact, however feebly we lay hold of it. It is not to be watered down into a strong expression for the abiding influence of Christ’s teaching or example, nor even to mean the constant benefits which flow to us from His work, nor the presence of His loving thoughts with us. All these things are true and blessed, but none of them, nor all of them taken together, reach to the height of this great promise. He is absent in body, He is present in person. Talk of a ‘real presence’! This is the real presence: ‘I will not leave you orphans, I will come unto you.’ Through all the ages, in every land wheresoever two or three are gathered in His name, there is He in the midst of them. The presence of Christ with His Church is analogous to the Divine presence in the material universe. As in it, the presence of God is the condition of all life; and if He were not here, there were no beings and no ‘here’: so in the Church, Christ’s presence constitutes and sustains it, and without Him it would cease. So St. Augustine says, ‘Where Christ, there the Church.’
I know what wild absurdities these statements appear to many men who have no faith in the true Divinity of our Lord. Of course the belief of His perpetual presence with His people implies the belief that He possesses Divine attributes. This mysterious Person, who lived among men the exemplar of all humility, departing, leaves a promise which is either the very acme of insane arrogance, or comes from the consciousness of indwelling Divinity. He declares that, from generation to generation. He will in very deed be with all who in every place call upon His name. Who does He thereby claim to be?
For what purpose is He there with His Churches?
The text assures us that it is to hold up and to bless. His unwearied hand sustains, His unceasing activity moves among them. But beyond these purposes, or rather included in them, the vision of which the text is the interpretation brings into great prominence the thought that He is with us to observe, to judge, and, if need be, to punish. Mark how almost all the attributes of that majestic figure suggest such thoughts. The eyes like a flame of fire, the feet glowing as if in a furnace, hot to burn, heavy to tread down all evil where He walks, from the lips a two-edged sword to smite, and, thank God, to heal, the countenance as the sun shineth in his strength this is the Lord of the Churches. Yes, and this is the same loving and forbearing Lord whom the Apostle had learned to trust on earth, and found again revealed from heaven.
Brethren! He dwells with us; He guards and protects His Churches to the end, else they perish. He rules all the commotions of earth, all the errors of His people, all the delusions of lies, and overrules them all for the strengthening and purifying of His Church. But He dwells with us likewise as the watchful observer, out of these eyes of flame, of all our faults; as the merciful destroyer, with the sword of His mouth, of every error and every sin. Thank God for the chastising presence of Christ. He loves us too well not to smite us when we need it. He will not be so cruelly kind, so foolishly fond, as in anywise to suffer Bin upon us. Better the eye of fire than the averted face. Better the sharp sword than His holding His peace as He did with Caiaphas and Herod. Better the Judge in our midst, though we should have to fall at His feet as dead, than that He should say, ‘I will go and return to My place.’ Pray Him not to depart, and submit to the merciful rebukes and effectual chastisement which prove that, for all our unworthiness, He loves us still, and has not cast us away from His presence.
Nor let us forget how much of hope and encouragement lies in the examples, which these seven Churches afford, of His long-suffering patience. That presence was granted to them all, the best and the worst the decaying love of Ephesus, the licentious heresies of Pergamos and Thyatira, the all but total deadness of Sardis, and the self-satisfied indifference of Laodicea, concerning which even He could say nothing that was good. All had Him with them as really as the faithful Smyrna and the steadfast Philadelphia. We have no right to say with how much of theoretical error and practical sin the lingering presence of that patient pitying Lord may consist. For others our duty is the widest charity for ourselves the most careful watchfulness.
For these seven Churches teach us another lesson the possibility of quenched lamps and ruined shrines. Ephesus and her sister communities, planted by Paul, taught by John, loved and upheld by the Lord, warned and scourged by Him where are they now ? Broken columns and roofless walls remain; and where Christ’s name was praised, now the minaret rises by the side of the mosque, and daily echoes the Christless proclamation, ‘There is no God but God, and Mahomet is His prophet.’ ‘The grace of God,’ says Luther somewhere, ‘is like a flying summer shower.’ It has fallen upon more than one land, and passed on. Judaea had it, and lies barren and dry. These Asiatic coasts had it and flung it away. Let us receive it, and hold it fast, lest our greater light should bring greater condemnation, and here, too, the candlestick should be removed out of its place.
Remember that solemn, strange legend which tells us that, on the night before Jerusalem fell, the guard of the Temple heard through the darkness a voice mighty and sad, saying, ‘Let us depart,’ and were aware as of the sound of many wings passing from out of the Holy Place; and on the morrow the iron heels of the Roman legionaries trod the marble pavement of the innermost shrine, and heathen eyes gazed upon the empty place where the glory of the God of Israel should have dwelt, and a torch, flung by an unknown hand, burned with fire the holy and beautiful house where He had promised to put His name for ever. And let us learn the lesson, and hold fast by that Lord whose blood has purchased, and whose presence preserves through all the unworthiness and the lapses of men, that Church against which the gates of hell shall not prevail.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Epistles to the Seven Churches (Rev_2:1 to Rev_3:22)
The Epistles to the Seven Churches (Rev_2:1 to Rev_3:22)
Since 'seven' is the perfect number, the 'seven churches' represent all the Churches of the province of Asia. At the same time, the special circumstances of each Church are faithfully pictured in each epistle. Ramsay points out that St. John alludes, as well, to the special circumstances of each city. He suggests that the Churches are mentioned in the order in which a messenger carrying letters would travel. The letters, however, were not to be sent separately to the Churches. The book was to be taken as a whole. St. John adopted the familiar form of an 'apocalypse' through which to deliver his message, and added to that the equally familiar form of 'letters.' In every epistle Christ is described under an aspect, mostly drawn from Rev_1:12., suited to the special needs of the Church addressed. Each Church is then assured that Christ knows it, whether for praise or blame, but always with love, and receives the exhortation suited to it, followed by a special promise with a special token.
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The main purpose of the epistles is to give courage to the Church to pass victoriously through its trials. For this reason it is told of Christ's presence and help, and bid to look forward to the glory that Christ will soon give to those who overcome. The chief trials of the Church consist in persecution from heathen and Jews, and in corrupt teaching within. The false teaching is of the character denounced in 2 Pet. and Jude. It seems to have desired that Christians should be permitted to take part in the clubs and organisations of the heathen society around them, and in their festivals, permeated though they were with idolatrous observances.
1-7. To the Church in Ephesus Christ speaks as He who is present with the Churches (Rev_2:1). The Church is praised for its work for Christ, its endurance of suffering, and its faithfulness to the truth (Rev_2:2-3), yet it is blamed, not because of its deeds, but because the love which used to animate them has cooled (Rev_2:4). Even for this fault repentance is necessary; a Church without love must perish (Rev_2:5). To those members of the Church who pass victoriously through their trials, eternal life with God is promised (Rev_2:7).
1. Ephesus] the metropolis and great commercial centre of the province of Asia, famous for a temple to Diana. After St. Paul's work in Asia was ended, Timothy was stationed there for a time (cp. 1Ti_1:3), with general authority, till 2Ti_4:9. Soon afterwards it became the home of St. John. After Roman times, the harbour of Ephesus, 3 m. from the sea, silted up, and the place decayed. Except for a small Turkish village, only ruins remain.
2. Apostles] i.e. traveling envoys representative of Christ, in a sense not limited to the twelve: see on Rom_16:7. The title was claimed by some to whom it was not due. Hast.. liars] RV 'didst find them false': cp. 2Co_11:3, 2Co_11:13.
4, First] i.e. at the beginning of their Christian course.
5. First works] i.e. such as those inspired by their early love. I will come.. quickly] RV 'I come to thee.' Remove thy candlestick] If the flame of Christian love dies down, the candlestick will be put away as useless, i.e. the organised Church will come to an end: cp. Joh_15:6. The Church in Ephesus flourished for centuries, so we may presume that it did repent.
6. Nicolaitanes] Mentioned again in the letter to Pergamum, in connexion with Balaam (Rev_2:14.), and probably referred to in the letter to Thyatira (Rev_2:20.). It has been supposed, from the mention of Balaam, that they were Antinomians, i.e. men who held that Christians were not bound by the moral law, and that sin was no sin for those who had faith: cp. 1Co_6:13.; 1Co_8:9.; 1Co_10:28; Gal_5:13; 2Pe_2:1, 2Pe_2:14. Jdg_1:4, Jdg_1:11. It has also been suggested that they may have claimed the authority of the deacon Nicolas (cp. Act_6:5); but perhaps St. John used the term 'Nicolaitan 'as a Greek word representing the Hebrew 'Balaam.' Ramsay thinks that the 'Nicolaitans' were some who attempted to effect a compromise with the established usages of Grseco-Roman society, permeated with luxury and tainted with idolatry though these were, and that they also wished to comply with the State's demand, and show their loyalty by burning incense before the emperor's statue, St, John saw, as St, Paul did in 1 Cor., that the Church must conquer the imperial idolatry, or be itself destroyed (Ramsay, 'Letters to the Seven Churches,' pp. 299f.). By 115 a.d. Ignatius wrote to the Ephesians, 'in your midst no heresy has its dwelling.'
7. He that hath, etc] cp. Christ's words, Mat_11:15, etc. The Spirit] John was under the influence of the Spirit: cp. Mat_1:10. Overcometh] i.e. continuously. The Christian life is a continual fight against sin and tribulation, and this book's purpose is to give heart to overcome.
To eat of, etc.] i.e. he shall have eternal life: cp. Rev_22:2; Gen_2:9. Paradise] a Persian word for 'garden,' used in LXX for the garden of Eden. The later Jews employed the word to denote various ideas of heavenly blessedness: cp. Luk_23:43; 2Co_12:4. Here it is equivalent to the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21 f.
8-11. To the Church in Smyrna Christ speaks as the Eternal, who tasted death, and whose death ended in life (Rev_2:8). There is no blame for this Church. It is praised for its endurance of tribulation and poverty, and for its spiritual condition (Rev_2:9). More persecution is to be expected, which may be borne without fear. After death for Christ, nothing but life will follow (Rev_2:10.).
8. Smyrna] about 50 m. N. of Ephesus, was a wealthy port and the most splendid city in the province of Asia. In 26 a.d. a temple was founded there in honour of Tiberius. Polycarp, its bishop, was martyred 155 a.d., when he had served Christ 86 years. Smyrna was the last stronghold of Christianity in Asia Minor, and even now is called by the Turks 'Infidel Smyrna' (HDB.). Is alive] RV 'lived again,'
9. Works, and] RV omits. Rich] i.e. spiritually: cp. Mat_6:19; Jam_2:5. Blasphemy] RM 'calumny,' i.e. which thou sufferest.
Say they are Jews] i.e. they are Jews in name only: cp. Rev_3:9; Rom_2:29. The Apostle uses the name as an honourable one, equivalent to 'those who are not Gentiles, but are the people of God.' By their enmity to God's will and word, these men, Jews by race, had forfeited their position of privilege, and had become as bad as Gentiles. It is implied that it is the Christian Church in Smyrna which has succeeded to the privilege: cp. Rom_2:28. Jews joined in the martyrdom of Polycarp. Synagogue] i.e. congregation: cp. Num_20:4; Num_31:16. Of Satan] i.e. they called themselves God's, but were serving Satan.
10. Devil] Persecution is prompted by the devil: cp. Rev_12:17; Rev_13:4; 1Pe_5:8. Prison] i.e, as a prelude to execution. Tried] cp. Jam_1:3, Jam_1:12; 1Pe_1:7; 1Pe_4:12. Ten days] not lit.; the persecution would be short and sharp. Faithful] Ramsay suggests that here, as in each letter, St, John refers to the local history of the city, Smyrna was honoured for its faithfulness to Rome, Cicero calling it 'the most faithful of our allies,' It was also proud of its 'Crown,' which was 'the garland of splendid buildings encircling the rounded hill Pagos.' A crown] RV 'the crown,' i.e. eternal life will crown your victorious death.
11. Second death] a Jewish phrase for the final condemnation of sinners: cp. Rev_20:6, Rev_20:14; Rev_21:8; Mat_10:28.
12-17. To the Church in Pergamum Christ speaks as He who destroys the wicked (Rev_2:12). The Church is praised for faithfulness during a time when Christians might be called upon to deny Christ and worship the emperor. One of the Church, at least, had confessed Christ at the cost of his life (Rev_2:13). Yet even this Church was corrupted by immoral teaching (Rev_2:14.), and must repent, for a corrupt Church will suffer Christ's judgment (Rev_2:16). Those who live victoriouly are promised heavenly food, and knowledge of Christ in their secret souls (Rev_2:17).
12. Pergamos] RV 'Pergamum,' about 50 m. N. of Smyrna. Under the Roman empire it was resorted to by invalids, who attended for healing at the temple of Æsculapius. Until the 2nd cent. a.d. it was regarded as the capital of the province of Asia. Under Augustus a temple was built at Pergamum, probably 29 b.c., and dedicated to Rome and Augustus, and Pergamum became the centre of the imperial worship and 'Satan's throne.' 'It has continued to be a place of some consequence, preserving the ancient name Bergama, down to the present day' (HDB.).
Sword] As the centre of the worship of the emperor, Pergamum must have been the seat of authority, and the sword was the symbol of the highest order of authority. The message is that in the city in which the Roman proconsul has the power of life and death, Christ has power and authority greater than his (Ramsay).
13. Satan] i.e. the official authority opposing the Church. Seat] RV 'throne,' in the temple at Pergamum. Name] Christians had to conform to the State religion or suffer death. Even in those, etc.] RV 'even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one.'
14. Cp. Num_25:1.; Num_31:16; Act_15:28; 1Co_8:9-10; Jdg_1:11.
14, 15. Them] RV 'some.' Doctrine] RV 'teaching.'
15. Nicolaitanes] RV 'Nicolaitans in like manner,' i.e. the Nicolaitans held the teaching of Balaam: see on Rev_2:6. Which thing I hate] RV omits.
16. Repent] RV 'Repent therefore,' i.e. by casting out the Nicolaitans.
17. To eat] RV omits. Hidden manna] cp. Exo_16:33; Heb_9:4; Jewish tradition held that the ark and its contents, including the pot of manna, were hidden by Jeremiah, and that they would be restored when the Messiah came. This tradition is used here to symbolise the bread of life: cp. Joh_6:31.
White stone] Ramsay explains this as a 'tessera,' i.e. a little cube of stone, ivory, or other substance, with words or symbols engraved on one or more faces. Here the 'stone' is simply to bear the name, and the stress of the passage is on the name. It is a stone, imperishable, because that which is to last is put on imperishable material; and it is white, as the fortunate colour.
New name] A new name implied entrance on a new life: cp. the new name given in baptism. So by this 'new name' is meant that the victorious Christian will enter upon a new and higher stage of existence. But the name is also the secret name of God (cp. Rev_3:12), and it was anciently supposed that the knowledge of the name of God gave power over spirits. So the Christian, triumphant over persecution, will enter into life, and have new knowledge of God and new power.
18-29. To the Church in Thyatira Christ speaks in His majesty as Son of God (Rev_2:18). The Church is praised for its increase in love and faith and the service of others, and its patience under trials (Rev_2:19). Yet it harbours corrupt teaching (Rev_2:20), and those who follow such teaching without repentance must suffer under Christ's chastening hand. Every member of the Church must be judged by what he himself does (Rev_2:21.). But he who wins the victory over the temptations of the enemies of Christ, will share in Christ's glorious reign in light (Rev_2:24).
18. Thyatira] a busy commercial city in the northern part of Lydia, between Pergamum and Sardis. Fine] RV 'burnished.'
19. Charity] RV 'love.' Service] RV 'ministry,' i.e. towards men: cp. Mar_10:43.
And thy works; and, etc.] RV 'and that thy last works are more than the first,' i.e. the Church was even more faithful and earnest than at the time when it was founded: see on Rev_2:4.
20. Notwithstanding', etc.] RV 'But I have this against thee, that.'
Jezebel] probably so called because she led astray Christians, as the wife of Ahab had led astray Israel. She seems to have been a prophetess, who taught that it was possible to be a Christian while remaining in ordinary pagan society and belonging to the social clubs which were characteristic of pagan life. These were idolatrous and luxurious, celebrating in a corporate manner the pagan religion and joining in common banquets carried out with revelry. This 'Jezebel' sanctioned. The minority of the Church who were against this teaching, yet tolerated 'Jezebel' ('sufferest'): see on Rev_2:6. (See HDB.) To teach, etc.] RV 'and she teacheth and seduceth.'
22. Bed] i.e. the couch of the feasts, now changed into a couch of tribulation. Adultery] i.e. unfaithfulness to God.
23. Death] RM 'pestilence.' Reins, etc.] i.e. the inner thoughts and desires: cp. Psa_7:9; Jer_17:10.
24. And unto the rest] RV 'to the rest.'
Doctrine] RV 'teaching.' Depths] RV 'deep things.' Speak] RV 'say'; i.e. these misguided Christians called their philosophical arguments 'deep things of God' (cp. 1Co_2:10), but they were really 'deep things of Satan': cp. Rev_2:9. None other burden] probably a reference to the letter from Jerusalem: cp. Act_15:28. The directions of that letter would guide them in the difficulties as to their relations with pagan society.
25. That which ye have] i.e. the faithfulness, etc: cp. Rev_2:19. Hold fast] because the Deliverer is near.
26. Power] RV 'authority': cp. Psa_2:8. Christ's disciples will share in His kingdom: cp. Rev_20:4, Rev_20:6; Rev_22:5;
27. Rule, etc.] quotation from Psa_2:9. A figurative description of the victory of the Messiah in which His people would share. At this time 'Rome was the only Power on earth that exercised authority over the nations, and ruled them with a rod of iron, and smashed them like potsherds' (Ramsay). But the Christian, victorious through death, will be stronger than Rome and conquer Rome. Received] cp. Joh_10:18.
28. Morning star] i.e. the glory of Christ, who brings in the perfect day: cp. Rev_1:16, Rev_1:20; Rev_22:16; Num_24:17; 2Pe_1:19.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 The natural explanation of the "messengers" is that they…
angels
The natural explanation of the "messengers" is that they were men sent by the seven churches to ascertain the state of the aged apostle, now an exile in Patmos (cf) Php 4:18 but they figure any who bear God’s messages to a church.
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churches
The messages to the seven churches have a fourfold application:
(1) Local, to the churches actually addressed;
(2) admonitory, to all churches in all time as tests by which they may discern their true spiritual state in the sight of God;
(3) personal, in the exhortations to him "that hath an ear," and in the promise "to him that overcometh";
(4) prophetic, as disclosing seven phases of the spiritual history of the church from, say, A.D. 96 to the end. It is incredible that in a prophecy covering the church period, there should be no such foreview. These messages must contain that foreview if it is in the book at all, for the church does not appear after Rev 3:22. Again, these messages by their very terms go beyond the local assemblies mentioned. Most conclusively of all, these messages do present an exact foreview of the spiritual history of the church, and in this precise order. Ephesus gives the general state at the date of the writing; Smyrna, the period of the great persecutions; Pergamos, the church settled down in the world, "where Satan’s throne is," after the conversion of Constantine, say A.D. 316. Thyatira is the Papacy, developed out of the Pergamos state: Balaamism (worldliness) and Nicolaitanism (priestly assumption) having conquered. As Jezebel brought idolatry into Israel, so Romanism weds Christian doctrine to pagan ceremonies. Sardis is the Protestant Reformation, whose works were not "fulfilled." Philadelphia is whatever bears clear testimony to the Word and the Name in the time of self-satisfied profession represented by Laodicea.
mystery (See Scofield "Mat 13:11").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1
II. THE THINGS WHICH ARE,
THE SEVEN CHURCH MESSAGES,
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AND THEIR PROPHETIC MEANING
CHAPTER 2
1. Ephesus: The post-apostolic period (Rev 2:1-7)
2. Smyrna: The period of persecution (Rev 2:8-11)
3. Pergamos: The corruption period (Rev 2:12-17)
4. Thyatira: The Romish corruption (Rev 2:18-29)
The two chapters which follow the introductory chapter contain seven messages to seven local churches which were in existence in the province of Asia in the days when the Apostle John was prisoner in the isle of Patmos. The view held by the late Dr. Bullinger and a few of his followers that these churches are yet to come into existence in connection with believing Jews during the great tribulation with which the age closes, must be rejected as extremely fanciful. The omniscient Lord on the throne detected in each of these local assemblies certain traits which at different periods of His church on earth would become the leading features. We have therefore, in the seven messages the history of the entire Church in embryo. This assertion is fully confirmed by a closer study of these messages.
Rev 2:1-7.
Ephesus was the church characterized by the greatest purity in doctrine and in walk. To the Ephesians, as “the faithful brethren in Christ,” was addressed the most wonderful revelation God has given to man. It stands therefore for the model church in the apostolic age. But when Paul said farewell to the elders he predicted not smooth things, but the incoming failure (Act 20:1-38). Ephesus means “desired” and that corresponds with her original holy character. He reveals Himself afresh as being in the midst and holding His own in His blessed pierced hands, so true of believers at all times. The descriptions of Ephesus suit the apostolic church, and immediately after the apostles had passed away, except John. But He finds fault with it. His omniscient eyes look to the heart and there He finds declension. “I have against thee that thou leavest thy first love.” He, the one altogether lovely was no longer the all absorbing object before their hearts. Paul manifests the full meaning of first love. His constant cry was: “Not I but Christ”--”That I may know Him”; for him to live was Christ. Declension began in the church not with less service, less suffering or anything else, but with a decreasing heart-devotion to the Person of our Lord. That is where all backsliding begins. He calls to repentance, a return to Himself The Nicolaitanes, whose works the church then hated, are mentioned again in the third message, where we shall define the word and the teaching of the Nicolaitanes. A promise to the overcomer follows.
Rev 2:8-11.
Smyrna means “bitterness” and is a form of myrrh which was largely used for the embalming of the king of the Jews, the meaning of it was that the King would have to die. Smyrna was a suffering church, many of its members had to seal their faith by dying the martyr’s death. Corresponding with this characteristic, the Lord speaks of Himself as “The First and the Last, who was dead and is alive.” That is His comfort for the Church passing through the horrors of persecution and intense sufferings. In connection with this message to Smyrna the synagogue of Satan is mentioned. It means the Judaistic faction of the church, who, while they claimed to be Christians, also claimed to be Jews, observing the law, the Sabbath day and other parts of the legal system of Judaism. This synagogue of Satan helped in the afflictions of Smyrna. Nor is the same “synagogue of Satan” missing today in the professing sphere of Christendom.
He announces that the devil would cast some of them into prison, that they should have tribulation for ten days, and that it would require faithfulness unto death to gain the crown of life. The Apostolic age was followed by the martyr age, which lasted up to the beginning of the fourth century. Pagan emperors under the inspiration of Satan, the roaring lion, persecuted the Church. No one knows how many hundreds of thousands died the martyr’s death, flayed and burned alive, cast before wild animals and cruelly tortured; thus they were faithful unto death and gained the crown of life. It is also significant that the address to Smyrna contains the number ten; Church history records ten great persecutions.
Rev 2:12-17.
After the devil had played the roaring lion for several centuries, trying to exterminate the church of Jesus Christ, he discovered that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” He then stopped the persecutions suddenly and began to corrupt the Church. This is the meaning of the message to Pergamos, which means “twice married,” a typical name for the professing Church which claims to be the bride of Christ, but is married to the world. Pergamos is dwelling where Satan has his throne. Milton described Satan being in hell.
High on a throne of royal state, That far outshone the wealth of Ormuz or of Ind, Satan exalted sat.
But that is not Scripture. Satan will be in hell, in his final abode “the lake of fire,” but he is not there now. He is the god of this world (age): his throne is right here on earth. And Pergamos had been married to the world. This is also indicated by the mention of Balaam, who cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, by inducing them to take the daughters of the heathen and thus give up their God-demanded separation. The Church then gave up her pilgrim character, settled down in the world, became a world institution, as revealed by our Lord in the parable of the mustard seed. What happened in the beginning of the fourth century church-historians have proclaimed as the “triumph of Christianity.” It was rather “the defeat of Christianity,” for that happened which corrupted the Church of Christ.
The instrument of the devil used to bring about this was the emperor Constantine. He had a rival by the name of Maxentius, whom he faced in battle. Constantine claimed that the night before he had a vision of Christ bearing a cross with the words: “In hoc signo vinces (in this sign thou shalt conquer). He had the next morning a beautiful banner made, which was called the Labarum, and went forth to battle, in which Maxentius was defeated as well as another competitor by name of Licinus. Constantine then became emperor and nominally a Christian and head of the Church, while retaining his heathen title as Pontifex Maximus, the high-priest. Then the corruption of the Church resulted. The Church became a political world institution, like the mustard seed, rooting itself in the field (the world) became a great tree, opening its branches to the fowls of the air to defile (Mat 13:1-58; see annotations there). Heathen priests became Christian priests. Heathen temples were changed into Christian churches; he demanded all children to be “christened,” that is, made Christians by putting water upon their heads; heathen days of feasting and drinking were made into Christian days, like our “Christmas” and nearly all the other saints’ days.
Here again the Nicolaitanes are mentioned, but, while the Ephesians hated the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, here in Pergamos we find the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, and the Lord says: “which thing I hate.” What is it, then? Some say that there was a certain Bishop Nicol who taught bad doctrines and his followers were called “the Nicolaitanes.” But this Bishop Nicol is a fictitious person; he cannot be historically located.
Nicolaitanes is Greek; it is a compound. Nikao is a verb and means to have the upper hand, to domineer; laos means the people (our English “laity”). Nicolaitanes signifies “the domineerers of the people.” A priestly class had sprung up in the Church, domineering over the rest of the people, the so-called laity. And this domineering class claimed a superior place in the body of Christ. This evil was rejected in Ephesus, but is fully sanctioned and tolerated in Pergamos. Priestly assumption became then, and ever since has been, the corruption of Christianity. This is what our Lord hates and what He hates we must hate with Him.
Rev 2:18-29.
The corruption which set in like a great flood with the fourth century increased till the depths of Satan (Rev 2:24) were reached. Thyatira brings us into the period of the Papacy and its wickedness, ecclesiastical and otherwise. Here our Lord reveals Himself as “the Son of God.” Rome speaks more of Him as the son of the virgin, the son of Mary, than as the Son of God. The Roman Catholic apostasy has put a woman in the place of the Son of God. Her corruption is fully revealed in Rev 2:20. Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess, was permitted to teach and seduce God’s servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Jezebel the wicked woman represents the Papacy. Jezebel was a heathenish woman married to an Israelitish King. She was a queen and an idolatress and persecuted the true prophets of God (1Ki 18:1-46; 1Ki 19:1-21; 1Ki 20:1-43; 1Ki 21:1-29).
Apply all this to the Romish church with her spiritual fornication and idolatry. The church, or, rather, the papacy, assumes the place of teacher and dictator and Christ is rejected. The name Jezebel has a twofold meaning. It means a chaste one”; the other name is “dunghill.” Rome claims to be the bride of Christ; in reality she is a harlot, and called so in chapter 17 and therefore a dunghill of all vileness and corruption. In Rev 2:21 we find another important hint. It is said, “She repents not.” Rome does not change. She is the same today in every respect as she was 500 years ago. She will continue in her perverted state of impenitence till her predicted doom will overtake her. (Compare Rev 2:22 with chapter 17.) She is the woman of which our Lord spoke in the fourth kingdom parable in Mat 13:1-58 (see annotations there) which took leaven (corruption) and put it into the three measures of meal (symbolical of the doctrine of Christ). It is noteworthy that beginning with the message to Thyatira the Lord announces His coming, that is, His second visible coming. Every following message speaks of it. This shows that the three preceding church periods and conditions are passed and the conditions pictured in Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea will continue till He comes. The apostolic age cannot be brought back; nor will there be again a persecution by Roman emperors nor will the church again become corrupted as in Pergamos. The Romish conditions continue to the end of the age.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The letter to the congregation at Ephesus:
The letter to the congregation at Ephesus:
v. 1. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write: These things saith Re that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks:
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v. 2. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil; and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars;
v. 3. and hast borne, and hast patience, and for My name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.
v. 4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
v. 5. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
v. 6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
v. 7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches: To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
The seven open pastoral letters which are included in the Book of Revelation all have the same outline: the command to write, supported by some description of the person and office of Christ; the body of the letter with a testimony concerning the state of the congregation, an admonition to repentance or steadfastness, and a prophecy of the future; a promise to the conquering believers.
The congregation at Ephesus had been founded by the Apostle Paul, Act 18:19, who worked there for three years, and very successfully, in spite of many difficulties, Act 20:31; 1Co 15:32; 1Co 16:9. Subsequently Aquila and Priscilla, Apollos, and Timothy, were active in the congregation at Ephesus, Act 18:16-24; 1Ti 1:2-3. Since the death of Paul, and probably also that of Timothy, St. John had resided at Ephesus, if the historical account in this case may be relied upon. What Paul had foretold in regard to this congregation, Act 20:17-29, had come to pass. Therefore the Lord of the Church Himself dictated this letter to John: To the angel of the congregation in Ephesus write: These things says He that holds the seven stars in His right hand, that walks about in the midst of the seven golden lamp-stands. The letter is addressed to the pastor of the congregation, for he has the first responsibility for the souls in his pastoral care; he is to watch over both doctrine and life. It is the Lord of the Church that is speaking. He that holds the pastors of the seven congregations in His protecting hand, He that not only stands in the midst of the cressets, but walks about among them. He is ever watchful, continually active in behalf of every Christian congregation, He wants the Christian congregations to shine as lights in this world of sinful darkness, but He knows also that they require constant replenishing and care, and He is willing to be of assistance to them, lest their light flicker and fade.
The Lord’s first remarks are words of commendation: I know thy works and hard labor and thy endurance, and that thou canst not bear wicked men, and hast put to a test those that claim to be apostles and are not, and hast found them liars, and hast endurance and hast borne up for My name’s sake, and hast not grown weary. Nothing escapes the notice of the omniscient Lord, nothing is hidden from His interested search. He knew the works of faith that were performed in the midst of the Ephesian congregation, the hard labor done by those that were active in the ministry and in the many works of charity, the enduring patience toward the weak brethren within and the perils from without. See 1Ti 3:1; 1Ti 5:17. There was also careful vigilance in the congregation at Ephesus, a holy zeal for the truth which would not permit obviously wicked men to remain members. Men that claimed to be apostles and to be the bearers of new revelations were put to a severe test and their deceit and falsehood exposed. The Christians of Ephesus were noted for the fact that they suffered and bore and persevered in the midst of the severest afflictions, taking up their cross and following after the Lord without complaint. They showed true Christian endurance and hopeful patience. All the disgrace heaped upon them, all the persecution on the part of the world, was not able to take away the courage of their faith. For the sake of the name of Christ which they bore they remained faithful; they did not grow faint and weary. Mark: True Christian conduct, faithfulness in the service of the Lord, proper brotherly discipline, firm adherence to the pure doctrine, patience and perseverance in the midst of enmity and tribulation: all these should be distinctive signs of every Christian congregation.
A rebuke and a warning: But I have against thee that thou hast left the first love. It is a sad "but" that introduces such a reprimand. In spite of the many praiseworthy factors in the congregation at Ephesus this sad state of affairs existed, that they had left the first fire and zeal for the Truth, for the Word of the Gospel, for the honor of the Lord which had been so prominent in the early days of the church. They were no longer filled with that bliss which is the essence of the believer’s first experience of the love of God; the eyelids of their spirit had grown heavy, they were in danger of falling asleep, Mat 25:5. It was the same experience which has been undergone innumerable times since where congregations have been established for two or more generations. The Lord, therefore, calls out: Remember, then, whence thou hast fallen, and repent, and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to thee, and I shall remove thy lamp-stand from its place, if thou dost not repent. The congregation at Ephesus should have remained on the heights of the first love and grown ever stronger in their affection for the Lord of salvation, Son 8:6-7. Since, now, it had fallen from this perfection, from this ideal state, there was only one way of restoring the relation between the Lord and His church, namely, by sincere repentance, by a return to the first works as they were surcharged with love for the Lord, as they were pleasing to God through Jesus Christ. Should they refuse to hear this faithful admonition, then the Lord would find Himself obliged to deal harshly with the Christians of Ephesus, by taking away the light of His Gospel from their midst. That has been the result of indifference in scores of cases, as the history of the Christian Church shows; and this warning is rendered none the less severe by the added condition that repentance is essential where the first love is no longer found in the Christian congregations.
At the same time the Lord does not withhold from the congregation at Ephesus the praise it deserved: Still, this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. The Nicolaitans, named after a certain Nicolaus, whom some identify with the deacon of that name, Act 6:5, were a sect whose members turned Christian liberty into license, practicing religious sensuality and immorality, and trying to introduce many heathen customs into the Christian Church. The hatred which the congregation of Ephesus as such showed for the ways of these libertines proved that the ways of the world had not yet gained the upper hand in their midst. In this they had the emphatic approval of the Lord, who wants this hatred for heathen abominations continued by all means, since He is a jealous God and cannot bear impurity in the Church which He ransomed by His blood.
The promise of the Lord: He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the congregations: To him that conquers I shall grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Here is a powerful appeal for close attention, addressed primarily to the Christians of Ephesus, but also to believers everywhere and at all times. Every one that has ears to hear should yield them in careful application of mind and heart to this promise of the Lord. It is the Spirit of Christ that is speaking, and the words are the words of the Holy Ghost, 1Co 2:13. To everyone that conquers or overcomes the many enemies and perils that obstruct his path in this life, to everyone who through the power of faith passes successfully through life’s temptations, the Lord will grant, out of free favor and love, to eat of the fruit of the tree of life. Adam and Eve, by their transgression of God’s command, lost the earthly paradise with its tree of life, Gen 3:24. But we Christians look forward to the heavenly paradise, in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, our Savior, in which we shall have fullness of joy and bliss unspeakable at His right hand forevermore. Christ’s relation to God guarantees His promise of such privilege, for Christ’s gift is God’s gift, Rom 6:23.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6 General Information:
General Information:
This is the beginning of the Son of Man's message to the angel of the church in Ephesus.
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the angel
Possible meanings are 1) a heavenly angel who protects the church or 2) a human messenger to the churches. See how you translated "angel" in Revelation 1:20
stars
These stars are symbols. They represent the seven angels of the seven churches. See how you translated this in Revelation 1:16. (See: Symbolic Language)
lampstands
The lampstands are symbols that represent the seven churches. See how you translated this in Revelation 1:12. (See: Symbolic Language)
I know ... your hard labor and your patient endurance
"Labor" and "endurance" are abstract nouns and can be translated with verbs "work" and "endure." AT: "I know ... that you work very hard and that you endure patiently" (See: Abstract Nouns)
but are not
"but are not apostles"
you have found them to be false
"you have recognized that those people are false apostles"
translationWords
angel
church
Ephesus
word
right hand
gold
lampstand
hard
labor
patient
endure
evil
test
apostle
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 2:1–3:22 The seven messages to the seven churches reflect…
2:1–3:22 The seven messages to the seven churches reflect the state of Christ’s church when Revelation was written, and it is similar today. God still calls Christians to faithfulness and integrity. Those who heed Christ’s message will reap God’s promised rewards; those who fail to do so will be judged.
2:1-7 The letter to the church in Ephesus addresses tradition-bound Christians who are faithful but have lost their early, zealous love for Christ and for each other (see 2:5).
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2:1 Write . . . to the angel: This repeated command that introduces each of the seven letters suggests the importance of the message. • Ephesus had become the main city of the Roman province of Asia. It contained the temple of Artemis (see Acts 19:23-35) and became the richest banking center in that part of the world. The people of Ephesus were very independent; they declined help from Alexander in rebuilding their temple after it was destroyed (300s BC), arguing adroitly that one god should not stoop to build a temple to another god (see Strabo, Geography 14.1.22). The Ephesians’ protective pride also led to the uproar against Paul (Acts 19:23-41).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.