More than sixty years had passed since the church was established in Jerusalem on the Pentecost following Christ's resurrection. The gospel, first preached in Jerusalem, had spread from there over Judea and Samaria and had gone out into all the world. Wherever it was preached congregations sprang up. Churches were established everywhere. Enough time had now elapsed for the churches to get well on their way, and for each church to acquire a character of its own (for every congregation has its own peculiar character and atmosphere); and it was possible now to forecast from the direction these had taken what would be the career and prospect of the churches of God. Now once more, and for the last time, the Lord Jesus breaks the silence of the heavens. Once more He opens the door and sends a word back to His church in these profoundly significant messages to the Seven Churches.

      These seven churches in Asia were selected by the all-knowing Lord, that to them and through them He might speak His mind to all the congregations everywhere whether then or since or now. The seven (as brought in the chapter preceding) form a complete and perfect cycle, embodying either in fact or in principle every possible phase and condition of the church. They were, of course, actual churches, and they are directly addressed, each concerning its own affairs; but through them the Lord speaks to all the churches (22:16). Moreover, to every individual Christian comes in each message the solemn admonition: "HE that hath an ear let HIM hear what the Spirit says UNTO THE CHURCHES." In all the New Testament there is nothing more direct and practical for every one of us than these seven epistles.

      Certain features of these seven messages are common to all the seven. They are constructed on the same pattern. There is first, always, the address to "the angel." Each message is prefaced by a short description of Him who sends it; mostly taken from the Vision of Chapter I. To each one of them He says, "I know"--for all the conditions and circumstances of every church and of each several member are open to Him. Then a word of praise or blame, or both, follows in each case. In every message there is the admonition, "He that hath an ear;" and in each a wonderful promise to the overcomer. These are features common to all the seven. Let us now make a brief examination to each in particular.

      To the church at Ephesus the Lord presents Himself as the One who holds the seven stars in the grasp of His right hand; and who walks in the midst the seven golden candlesticks. He is the Chief Shepherd of the whole fold and of every flock. (1 Peter 5:4.) He is the Supreme Bishop (episkopos, overseer) who exerciseth the oversight; who deals with the "stars" at will, [16] and moves or removes candlesticks as seems good to Him.

      And what of Ephesus? He knew her deeds, her hard work, her stedfastness; her inability to put up with wicked men; and the fact that they had tried pretended apostles and proved them to be imposters. (Here is a contrast with the easy-going, spineless, convictionless sort common in our day!) It was not only works that Ephesus had, but toil, and that toil steadily-continued. Neither fear nor favor kept them from ridding their fellowship of wilful evildoers; nor did they shun the bitter labor and strife required to expose false apostles. And all this the Lord Jesus greatly approves and commends. He mentions again the fact that they hated, not the Nicolaitans, but "the works of the Nicolaitans"; "which," said the Lord Jesus, "I also hate"; and the fact that they had borne burdens for His Name's sake, and had not grown weary. The Lord's appreciation is sweet and wonderful; if churches today knew what it meant, they would find in it a powerful incentive.

      "But I have this against thee, that thou hast left thy first love." In view of their much good, this seems a small blame. But it was not a trifle: it was a very serious thing. Read 1 Cor. 13:1-3 for reasons. The failure of love depreciated all else they had. Once love is gone, all that is done of work, of worship or sacrifice, or in defense of the faith, is worthless. Truth itself is lost where love is dead.¹ The solemn warning that follows is therefore perfectly fitting and deeply significant. "Remember"--how it helps us to remember the better days!--and "repent:" get back to the old way, and "do the first works." Not more works He wants, but works of the first sort: works prompted by, and expressive of real love. Without that no church can shine for Him.

      Lastly, the promise to the overcomer--which of course applies to the overcomer in general, but specifically to him who overcomes this fatal tendency to decline in love. To the overcomer He will give that which was for ever refused to the first Adam and all his seed; the fruit of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God--whereof if a man eats he shall live for ever. Note that it is the Lord Jesus who has authority over this gift and bestows it upon whom He will. And this is true of all the promises to the overcomers.

      This church was facing suffering--a great privilege (Phil. 1:29). Since she must pass through these trials, and some among them may have to die for their faith, the Lord Jesus announces Himself to her as "the first and the last, who became dead and [17] lived again." He had gone through it all in His own Person, had suffered all, and had explored all its terrors. "Be of good cheer, I have overcome." His victory counts for us: in the strength of it we also can conquer. "I know," He says to Smyrna--not "thy works" this time, for Smyrna was called to endurance rather than to achievement:--"I know thy tribulation and thy poverty."--Smyrna was a wealthy and prosperous city; yet here as elsewhere (1 Cor. 1:26f) God's faithful church was composed chiefly of the poor--"thou are rich": the one short but very meaningful word of commendation the Lord granted her. The reader will consider the contrast between this poor church which was rich, and the rich church so miserably poor in chapter 3:17. (Also weigh Luke 12:21, 33, 34, and James 2:5.) He mentions specially also the blasphemies they had been enduring from Jews unworthy of the name (Rom. 2:28) who were but a synagogue of Satan (John 8:44). Working through such instrumentalities, the devil would cast some of them into prison and they should have tribulation for a short and limited time: "ten days." God would use it for their testing and blessing. (Zec. 13:9; Luke 22:31.) So let them not be afraid of it; and if the worst come to worst, if it mean death for some of them, be faithful even to the point of death, "and I will give you the crown of life"--which, as the "crown of righteousness" (2 Tim. 4:8) and the "crown of glory" (1 Pet. 5:4) is awarded, not at death, but when Jesus comes.

      It is indeed not all of life to live nor all of death to die: there is another life, far more worthy of the name; and there is another death far more terrible than the common death. (Luke 12:4, 5; Rev. 20:14, 15). "He that overcometh," who abides this test, who will not for any threat or suffering turn away from his Lord "shall not be hurt of the second death." Over such the second death has no power. (Rev. 20:6.)

      Thus in this message to Smyrna, the shortest of the seven, the keynote is of suffering and faithfulness, of life and death. How few of us have ever suffered aught for the Lord Jesus' sake! How we shrink and hide ourselves from every little trouble and danger! Lord, grant Thy servants boldness of faith, to enter into the fellowship of Thy sufferings!

      With the sharp, two-edged sword, that pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit (Heb. 4:12), that smites to slay (19:21) or cuts to heal; which is for execution of judgment or for the excision of evil--the sword that proceeds out of His mouth (1:16) he comes to Pergamum. "I know." It is in her case as in the case of Smyrna, not her works that He specially speaks of. But "I know" the difficulties of your position, the hostile atmosphere, the unfavorableness of your surroundings. How much more difficult is it to be faithful in an unfavorable environment! (Cp. Ps. 120:5.) "I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne is, and thou holdest fast my name and didst not deny my [18] faith, even in the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth." They lived at Satan's headquarters; where Satan dwells, where Satan's throne is. The idea held by many that Satan has his throne in hell is preposterous, and needs no refutation. Satan is "the prince of the world." (John 12:31; 14:30.) He is "the god of this world." (2 Cor. 4:4.) The whole world lies in the embrace of his power. (1 John 5:19.) Now Pergamum was Satan's residence and capital, the seat and center of his rule and authority. From thence reigned this world-spirit--"the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience." (Eph. 2:2.) We can easily estimate what it must have meant to the faithful to Christ there! And they had been faithful to the true King, in the very camp of the Enemy. The Lord saw it, knew it, appreciated it.

      However, there were a few things, some serious, that the Lord Jesus held against them. Among them were some who held the teaching of Balaam--that hireling prophet who, when he saw that he could not curse Israel, showed Balak (the king who had hired him) how to corrupt the people (Num. 31:16; 25:1-3), "to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication." These Balaamites were Satan's agents working from within to betray God's people into Satan's hands. And the Pergamum church was blind to it, and tolerated it! (The Nicolaitans of v. 15 are doubtless the Balaamites of v. 14.) Unless they repented of this, the Lord would come to them quickly in judgment and would war against those evil-doers with the sword of His mouth. (Cp. 1 Cor. 3:17.) But the overcomers, those who stood immovable against the power of the world and the devil, seeing they refused the world's sweets and declined its honors and despised its wrath--the Lord will reward them with a threefold honor and satisfaction: they should eat for ever of the secret bread of heaven (as it were, of the golden pot of manna kept hid in the ark of the covenant); and theirs should be a white stone (alluding to the precious stones on Aaron's breastplate on which were engraven the names of Israel), and on that stone written a new name, a secret between themselves and their Lord (indicating a special and exclusive relation to Him. Comp. Rev. 19:12). It is to be noted how throughout the message, though it is addressed to "the angel," the Lord is really talking to the church itself; as shown by the "among you" in verse 13.

      To Thyatira He comes as the Son of God. His eyes as a flame of fire, His feet like unto burnished brass. He knows her works--the motives behind them, (love, faith), their nature (patient service), their steady growth--"thy last works are more than the first." (1 Thess. 4:1). But they were tolerating there "the woman Jezebel." This woman, here spiritually named after the [19] wicked mistress of Ahab's house, through whose influence Baal-worship was introduced in Israel, set herself up as a prophetess, and assumed the role of a teacher in the church (in direct defiance of God's revealed will, 1 Tim. 2:12-14; 1 Cor. 14:34, 35). The seductive influence of her teaching led the servants of Christ into fornication and idolatry. (Comp. 1 Cor. 10:19-22.)

      His dealings with even this wicked woman are wonderful for graciousness. From the church's viewpoint she was an unmitigated nuisance, and should long before have been dealt with. Yet He gave her time to repent! However, she had no intention at all of repenting; and her judgment was coming swiftly. She and her dupes (unless they repented of her works) should be cast into a bed of terrific sufferings. And as for "her children" (not originally Christ's, led astray by her; but her own evil seed, begotten of falsehood from the start, Isa. 57:3)--them would He kill with "death" (i. e., pestilence). And all the churches shall know that His burning eyes search the deepest recesses of the hearts and that His retribution is sure.

      In Thyatira, as in the church next addressed, we mark an important feature: a defined righteous remnant within a corrupt church. "To the rest that are in Thyatira"--those untainted by Jezebel's wicked teaching, unversed in the deep lore of Satan--on these "I cast no other burden." (Comp. Acts 15:28, 29.) But what you have, those excellent things I spoke of (v. 19)--"hold fast till I come." "Till I come!" Is not this always the goal and terminus of the Christian's work and hope? "Occupy till I come." "Trade ye herewith till I come." "Be patient . . . until the coming of the Lord." That the Lord did not come during the time of the Thyatira church does not affect the matter: those who so held fast, their hope fixed on His coming, though they fell asleep before He came, have lost nothing. He might have come in their day; but whether He did or not, in that attitude shall they be found when He comes whether they wake or sleep. (1 Thess. 4:15-17.) The promise to the overcomer here is striking. To this church Jesus spoke as "The Son of God." The title is not, like most of the other descriptive items, taken from the first chapter. There He is spoken of a "one like unto a son of man". But the Son of man is the Son of God. Psalm 2 prophetically declares Him: "Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my Son." Now it is in this same psalm that the nations are promised to Him for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession; that He might rule them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces as a potter's vessel. In this rule and power and sovereignty with the overcomer (2 Tim. 2:12) shall share with Him. "And I will give him the morning-star," The Lord Jesus Himself is "the root and offspring of David, and the bright morning-star." It is the promise, therefore, that they shall share with Him in His kingdom and glory (1 Thess. 2:12) when he cometh to judge the earth, and the world in righteousness, and the peoples with equity. (Ps. 96:13; 98:9.) [20]

      To the church reputed to be alive (what was the stir they were making at Sardis that caused men to think she was alive?) but known to the Lord to be really dead, He comes as the One who has the "seven Spirits of God." The Holy Spirit in fullness is His to bestow; and the Holy Spirit is the need of the church because He is the life of the church. The works of Sardis--not her claims and professions!--proved that she was dead. Yet she was not so utterly dead but that she might yet be revived. There were works, but no works that came up to the measure of acceptableness: no work of God was fully done, nothing thoroughly, nothing wholeheartedly; nothing carried through with sincere purpose and intent, but all done indifferently and without reality. Such spiritual apathy and paralysis may go side by side with much carnal energy and worldly boost and boast. And what brought her into this spiritual deadness? She had started well. "Remember therefore how thou hast received and didst hear; and keep it and repent." The reason is implied in the "Be thou watchful," and "If therefore thou shalt not watch." They had not watched. Insensibly, carelessly, they had drifted along. They fell asleep and slumbered unto death. There is one kind of watching which includes every other: the watching for the Lord's return. (Mark 13:33-37.) "If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." Thus will He come upon the unbelieving world (Luke 21:34, 35) and so shall His coming be to a faithless and dead church.

      Yet--here is the remnant again: a few names in the midst of dead Sardis, who kept their garments undefiled (implying that all the rest had defiled theirs: comp. Jas. 1:27, and 1 Tim. 5:6, which throws light upon the kind of life they had been living in Sardis). Think what faith and hope and love it must have been that enabled these few to stand against the whole drift of the times in Sardis: what they must have borne and suffered, how they must have fought! Those who are also anxious to keep their garments white now and here shall surely walk with Him in white when He comes!

      The promise to the overcomer is threefold: (1) the white garments repeatedly afterward referred to in this book; (2) their name shall not be blotted out of the book of life,--the book of the living, in which no "dead" church-members have any place (that also means exemption from the second death, chap. 20:14, 15); and (3) "I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels." This latter, because they had confessed His name before men and were not ashamed of Him nor of His words in the midst of a wicked and adulterous generation--they were not even ashamed to be real Christians in the midst of an easy-going, nominal, conventional lot of church-members. And that is often harder than resisting the world. But the recompense is sweet! (Mark 8:38.) [21]

      Her name is by interpretation, "Brotherly Love." "He that is holy, and true (6:10), he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth"--is the One who addresses this church. For this church there is no censure whatever--only commendation. It is therefore possible, yea, and feasible also, for a church to be well-pleasing to her Lord. Philadelphia was so. The Lord specially commends three things in her; and to her He specially promises three things.

      The things commended: (1) thou didst keep my word; (2) and didst not deny my name; (3) thou didst keep the word of my patience.² The three promises: (1) a door opened which none can shut, (2) their bitter enemies of the synagogue of Satan shall be made to come and fall down at her feet, and shall acknowledge her as beloved by the Lord--her full and complete vindication. (Comp. Isa. 60:14.) (3) Exemption from the hour of trial which "is to come upon the whole world to try them that dwell upon the earth." Then follows the warning: "I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown"--lest in mistaken security she might forfeit the high reward now in store for her.

      There is also a threefold promise to the overcomer: (1) I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; (2) he shall go out thence no more; (3) I will write on him: (1) the name of my God; (b) the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem; and (c) mine own new name.

      All of this needs but little comment. The key of David represents the right and authority which belongs to our Lord by virtue of the fact that He is "the offspring of David," sole Heir of all the blessings, rights and privileges that belong to the Davidic covenant of promise.--The "hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole world to try them that dwell upon the earth," is not to be distinguished from that "great tribulation," unparalleled in all the world's history, "such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be" (Matt. 24:21), which immediately, precedes the portents and the appearing in glory of our Lord. (Matt. 24:29, 30.) Because Philadelphia had kept the word of His patience--had patiently endured and stood true and faithful throughout--the Lord will keep her from (literally, "out of") that hour of the world-wide trial--not only from the trial but from the hour of it. If the meaning of the preposition "ek" translated "from" does not of itself determine whether Philadelphia would be removed out of the great trouble, or kept safely through it, the expression "I will keep thee from the hour of trial" indicates that she will not have to face that time at all. (Comp. Luke 21:36; Isaiah 26:20, 21.) In this appears again the representative character of these messages. The Philadelphian church [22] itself may disappear before the great hour of trial actually arrives. But whether it come in her day or not, she will be kept from it in any case. When finally that awful hour breaks there will be some congregations and individuals here answering to the pattern of Philadelphia, to whom the promise will be literally fulfilled. (1 Thess. 4:16.) "I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast." It pays to be true to the Lord.

      For this church the Lord has no commendation. Laodicea was utterly displeasing to the Lord: and that not because of gross sins (such as were rebuked in Pergamum and Thyatira) but for her compromising spirit. She was not anything wholeheartedly:--neither openly, honestly bad or good. She was lukewarm, not hot, not cold. Not hot for the devil (they were too religious for that) nor hot for the Lord. Nor were they just cold toward the Lord; but neither were they cold toward the world and the devil. They were a little of both, not very much of either. "I would that thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth."

      Such a half-hearted, double-minded life produces a spiritual blindness, in which a man is apt to become well pleased with himself and impervious to appeal and admonition. Therefore the Lord comes to this church with the most solemn assurance of the truth of His judgment, and His exalted right to speak--"the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." "I know thy works"--and here as elsewhere it is the works that tell the tale. The Lord does not judge by our words, sentiments, or professions (not denying the great importance of these in their place), but the works are the final test. Laodicea's works proved what she was--lukewarm and worthless. She is also self-satisfied, self-complacent, self-deceived--for that goes with it. She is destined, therefore, to a terrible awakening and undeceiving. How much of nominal church-membership stands in her shoes today!

      But the Lord's grace is the more marked toward her. To her He offers, without money and without price (yet at the price of her self-abasement and repentance), that which would meet all her need. (Verses 17, 18.) And the gracious word with it: "As many as I love I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent." He loved her also--even her. Although she has shut Him out, He stands outside, knocking at the door which is closed against Him. And it strikes us that the promise to the overcomer in Laodicea is the most splendid and gracious of the seven. Even she who has so failed may yet rally by His grace and stand and overcome, and may yet inherit the very highest promise of fellowship with Christ in His reign and glory. "He that overcometh, I will give him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father in his throne." The most worthless church (or Christian) may come to highest place and honor, if there is repentance and turning. [23]

      These, then, are the seven representative churches, the Lord's lampstands. Two shone bright and clear: Philadelphia, greatest and foremost; and Smyrna, in her trouble, also. Three were more or less mingled: Ephesus, very good, but having begun to decline in the most vital point; Pergamum, good and true, but admitting a leaven of evil that was threatening to infect the whole lump; Thyatira, having much that was commendable, but with a Jezebel and her victims and her abominable brood in her midst. Two were utterly bad: Sardis, practically dead, with only a few acceptable names in her midst; Laodicea, without one redeeming feature, whose light was practically out. Have we in the state of these churches a general forecast of the proportion of the success and failure of the church throughout the age? Would the professing churches today average even as high as these seven? Will the conditions be better or worse as the end of the age draws nigh? I leave it to the reader to think it over.

      Many have observed how the characters of these seven churches correspond with the prevalent conditions in the professed church at large in successive stages of her history. So, for example, Ephesus portrays the general conditions in the post-apostolic era, when doctrinal purity still prevailed, but love had begun to decline. Smyrna answers to the era of persecution immediately following; and Pergamum to the commingling of church and world in Constantine's day and after. Then (but not so clearly marked) Thyatira and Sardis represent conditions during the supremacy of Rome and the later stages of Protestantism, respectively. Philadelphia and Laodicea represent the conditions of the end of the church-age; Philadelphia, the faithful, who will escape the great tribulation; and Laodicea, the mass of professing Christendom (2 Tim. 3:1-5) whom the Lord will spew out of His mouth. This is worthy of consideration. Aside from this, however, the messages to the Seven Churches hold the Lord's last word to all the churches everywhere throughout the age. The church-conditions here examined and set in the light of His countenance, sum up "the things that are." (1:19.) And henceforth we have to do with things that "shall come to pass hereafter." (4:1.)

[TR3A 16-25]